Time. So, if you're here for children's church, now is your opportunity. Alright. Alright. Amen.

Yes. That was I just I skipped over it in the bulletin, but yeah. So We also I in the, bullets in there is a teen afterglow that's not this week, but on the twenty eighth that kinda skipped over because I got talking about all the stuff from workday. But, that is for the teens and the young adult classes. Welcome at that as well.

That is on the twenty eighth. So, alright. First, Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. We're going to read verses one and two, then we're to skip down to verses eight through 11.

Verses one and two and eight through 11. Leviticus chapter 10. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put censer thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Look down if you would to verse eight.

And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying, do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean, And that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Thank you, Lord, for your word today. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior, the one who is truly holy and righteous, who took our place that we too might become the children of God, saints in Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that we would take that privilege and responsibility maybe a bit more seriously than we sometimes do. The world around us desperately needs to see Jesus, to see you. Lord, I pray that our words and our deeds, our worship and our prayers would show them, would demonstrate to them the holiness and love of the God we serve and how much you mean to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Ezekiel twenty-two 26 says, Her priests have violated my law and have profaned mine holy things.

They have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 4four 23 says, and they shall teach, that is the priests, shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. Between that which honors who? God and that which does not. Okay?

Now, in the day that the priest ministered under the Lord, the application of this was a little bit different. Okay? The priests were a special chosen people, class, group among Israel. They were a minority. They were a small group that had a special task, mission, and privilege In service to the Lord in the tabernacle and the temple, they ministered for the Lord to the people and they were a mediator between the people and God as they took care of the sacrifices, as they took care of the temple and tabernacle.

They were also tasked as the priests with exemplifying the holiness of God in their lives, in the tasks that they performed, also in their character and in their own personal morality. They were to teach the people the difference between right and wrong. They were also to be careful in their exercise of their task and their ministry to only use those things in worship of God and in service in the tabernacle that were consecrated and dedicated for that specific purpose. In the case of Nadab and Abihu, these were Aaron's two eldest sons. They failed to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, between the clean and the unclean, between that which was consecrated to the Lord and that which was not.

Either they didn't care, they made a mistake. That mistake cost them what? Their lives. God brought judgment upon them to make an appoint, to teach a lesson, a hard lesson for Aaron who lost his two eldest sons and their two brothers who followed them as the next priests of Israel, that they needed to take their their ministry and their responsibilities seriously. In verse eight of chapter 10 and verse nine of chapter 10, in addressing this with Aaron, the Lord says, do not drink wine nor strong drink, he's speaking of the priests nor thy sons through the priests, when you go into the tabernacle of congregation, lest ye die.

Now, why mention that in this context? Well, I suppose conjecture that probably that was the reason that they have an Abihu got the wrong incense because they weren't completely sober and they messed up and it cost them. And they weren't completely sober because they weren't taking their ministry what? Seriously. To demonstrate the distinction between the holy and the unholy, between right and wrong, between that which honored God and that which did not.

This this mistake in in the symbolism of the worship cost them their lives. Does that have any application to us today? I think it does. I think it does. I'm afraid when it comes to the worship of our God, the service of our God, our daily obedience to our God as Christians, that we are not taking it as seriously as we should, that we do not view our our service to the Lord as sacred, that we do not recognize the role that we have as believers today to show the distinction between the holy and the unholy, that which honors the Lord and that which does not in what we say or do.

In the age of grace, we've, in some ways, sometimes use grace as an excuse or justification to be flippant in our service to the Lord and in the importance to be holy as he is holy. As Paul points out in Romans six, we've looked at this on Thursday mornings. Grace is not a justification to sin. It is a reason not to because of what God has done for us and what God will do and can do in us. But yet sometimes I think we have treated it otherwise.

God, it seems sometimes, is expected to just accept whatever we like without regard for what he likes. Our musical tastes and our appearance preferences are most important. Our convenience and comfort are paramount. Our time and money is ours first and God's second. Our morality or lack thereof, God will just have to, you know, live with.

It's not a big deal. Or is it? Since when did God save us just to leave us the way he found us? That's certainly not what t scripture teaches. We have a higher calling as the priest, a glorious calling in life to be salt and light, to point men to Jesus, to his love and holiness, to his justice and mercy in our words and in our actions.

But it seems for many professing believers in Christ, we have settled for the mediocre and the muddled. We don't see the importance of giving that distinction to the world around us between that which is holy and unholy, between that which is right and wrong, between what's that that which has eternal value and that which is passing away. We are we are holy ones. We are called saints. Most importantly today as believers in Christ, you must understand that it is not the furnishings of this building that are holy.

It is not the utensils that we use to collect the offering or eat in the fellowship hall. It's not the candles or the incense that they burned or the oil in the tabernacle. What is holy is you. You are holy. You are a consecrated vessel for the Lord.

You are the temple of the Holy Ghost who lives within you. You are a saint. I'm not talking about the football team from New Orleans. You are a holy one set apart unto who? Unto God and his service.

You are special. You have a special purpose, a higher calling. Romans one seven, Paul writes to all that be in Rome, beloved of our God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. When when Paul writes and says called to be saints, he's not talking about a special, unique, little minor group of Christians. He is talking to every believer where?

In this case, in in Rome because he's writing a letter to the Romans. Okay? In first Corinthians one two, under the church of God, which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Paul writes the church at Corinth. And he says, you are sanctified, set apart in Christ Jesus.

You are called to be saints, to be holy ones with every believer, every one in in every place who calls upon Jesus Christ as their Lord. If you are a believer in Christ, you are a saint. You are holy. You are sacred. What are you going to do with your life?

Are you going to demonstrate the difference between right and wrong by what you do with what you have been given? Are you going to use your life in service to the Lord? In first Peter two nine, it says this, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. If you're a child of God, you are a peculiar person. Now that word doesn't quite have the same connotation that that peculiar does to us, but it means unique.

It means special. We have a special place in this world. Our place is as representatives of the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Our place is his servants of Jesus Christ, priests, if you would, in this world. It is we that are the priests of today, And by we, I don't mean pastors.

I mean Christians because, well, that's that's what Peter meant right here in this verse when he said it. The idea of the clergy and the laity in the church today is not really taught in scripture. God calls us all to ministry. We are all saints. We are all servants.

He calls some to one kind of ministry and others to another, but we are all priests in Jesus Christ. I'm afraid that we and, yes, particularly the leadership and the ministers, are failing in this regard. To to give the distinction today to the world around us of the holy versus the unholy. The right and the wrong, the sacred versus the carnal, and our words indeed are in our worship. It is up to all of us in our realm of ministry and service to do our best to give that distinction.

Those of us who are called to teach, to give that in our teaching, to teach the world around us about God, to reach those who are younger in Christ than us, They are watching us and rightly so. What are they seeing in our worship in the use of our time, our finances, our language, our entertainment, and the level of our commitment to Christ. Do they see in us the distinction between right and wrong? Are they gonna see it otherwise? Does the world in general today teach the difference between right and wrong, holy and unholy?

No. It's we who have been called to be salt and light to show the world the love and holiness, the mercy and grace, the righteousness, and the integrity of the God we serve. We are called to live holy lives dedicated, consecrated to our God as were the utensils and furnishings of the tabernacle and the priests. Lives separate from the world and worldliness. Romans twelve one and two, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is not a negative passage. This is a positive passage. Paul says to the Christians in Rome, he says, I plead with you. I plead with you.

Don't miss your opportunity. You have the opportunity to be the priests of today, to serve the Lord, to point the world to Jesus, to demonstrate the difference between right and wrong, to help people to see that there is a God who loves them and that there's sin that's killing them and destroying them. Don't miss your opportunity. Don't take for granted your privilege. Give your lives a living sacrifice, holy set apart unto the Lord.

Not conformed to the what? To the world, but renewed in your mind by the word and the spirit of God that lives inside of us. In first Peter one fifteen and sixteen, But as he which has called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be holy for I am holy. What is the phrase all manner of conversation? It means in every aspect of your conduct and your way of life.

Word conversation here doesn't mean just what you say, but what you what you do. What you communicate by what you do. What are we communicating? What are communicating to our God? What are we communicating to our family?

What are we communicating to our neighbors, our coworkers, and the lost around us? That God is no different than the gods of this world, that God's expectations are minimal, that sin is not that distinguishable. We have a wonderful privilege, and I'm afraid, one which we have taken for granted. We're to live lives which bring glory to God by demonstrating to the world around us the difference between that which pleases him and that which does not. First Corinthians ten thirty one, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

If you can't do it to the glory of God, then maybe you shouldn't what? Shouldn't do it. But the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not specifically do this thing. That doesn't mean you can do that thing or you should do that thing. There are other principles in God's word like, does it bring glory to him?

God's given us a mind to apply his principles. He doesn't have to give us a rule for every little nitpicky situation in life. He expects we who have his word and his spirit to be able to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, between the right and the wrong and show others. First Timothy four twelve, Paul writes Timothy, he says here, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity. Paul says to Timothy, you don't give them a reason to say, oh, yeah.

Well, that's you know, he's one of those young people. No. You be an example. You set the tone. You show them the difference between right and wrong.

You show them the love of God. You show them his power. If this then is our solemn obligation and privilege, why must we then be so bent on being like the lost world around us? Why must we look at the trappings and trends and pleasures of this world and long after them and desire to be like them? Why allow the world to set our standards, to dictate how we spend our time or how we worship our savior or how we live and work and amuse ourselves?

We're not of this world. Right? Proverbs twenty four nineteen, we read, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious of the wicked. Proverbs twenty four one and two, be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them, for their heart studyeth destruction, their lips talk of mischief. Proverbs twenty three seventeen, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

What is God trying to communicate to those who believe in him? Follow me. Don't follow them. Don't envy the world. Don't strive to be like the world.

Don't let them set the tone for your life. Don't let them lead your decisions about how to serve your God or worship him or how to deal with others. Don't envy the world. Don't follow them. Follow the Lord.

If you do that, you're going to be maybe in the eyes of the world a bit peculiar. Is that alright? Yeah. That's alright. Matter of fact, it's necessary that they might see Jesus in us.

Like priests of the Old Testament, it is the Lord who sets our standards or it should be and our responsibility to carry them out who also rewards us for our faithfulness. We must not ride the fence. We must not be content to live in the gray area. Why can't we be happy and content with living our lives in a manner in which we unmistakably distinguish between that which is right and wrong, true and false, holy and unholy. Now the key is not having the most rules or obsessing over them or living the most sheltered or puritanical way of life.

That's not what is being said here in scripture. God doesn't want us to live in monasteries because if you lived in monasteries, who's going to see who's going to see Christ in you? Well, just the other people in the monastery and that's it. God doesn't want us to live in monasteries or dress like someone from three hundred years ago or be the person with the least technology. There is no prize for that.

God doesn't want you to be a legalist, always comparing yourself or judging others based upon how well each keeps the instructions, God's instructions to us, or which person's convictions are superior to another. That's not what God is saying here. We are under grace, not the what? The law. And it is not our job to judge everyone else, but who?

Ourselves. But neither does God want us nor should we be dismissing God's instructions, should we? Or his commandments or his warnings or his clearly stated expectations for his children because we're under grace. In Romans six, Paul says, God forbid that we should do that. We should be walking daily with Christ that we might be changed more into his what?

Into his likeness. That others might see a holy God in us by walking with him, by by hiding his word in our heart, By avoiding the things which he detests, pursuing the things that he loves, that we might bring him glory in our hearts, in our private and public lives, and certainly in our public worship. We need to see how holy we can be, how much our savior rather than how much like the world. Because my responsibility as a child of God is not to see how much the world I can be and still be pleasing to God. My my joy and my privilege is to be more like who?

More like Christ. First John two fifteen, John writes, love not the world, neither things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. Make a choice. Which do you love?

Why do we seem consumed with mixing the holy with the unholy and blurring the lines when we should be helping people to do what? Distinguish between the two. But yet it seems sometimes the church today thinks their goal is to blend the two, and it should be the what? It should be the opposite. Our worship, our language, our appearance, our activities should help the world to see the difference.

And instead, sometimes we're making it harder for them to see the difference. We should choose entertainment which doesn't mock our faith and promote sin. Psalm one zero one three, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me.

We should use language which is unquestionably clean, edifying, and honoring to God. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that may minister unto grace unto the hearers. I am just floored. I I I used for seven years, I was a crossing guard at a Christian school in the mornings and the afternoons, and I can't repeat language that I heard coming across that street often, not just out of the mouths of teenagers, but Christian parents who stopped to pick up their kids. Shouldn't be.

We should be modest in our appearance, chased in our actions and thoughts, showing respect towards God and others. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God. Sensual lust, that's what lust of concupiscence means. We we live in a world that is just obsessed with that. Was Paul's world that much different?

No. It wasn't. Paul is asking the Thessalonians to show to give a distinction in the way they choose to live between the holy and the unholy in a world that didn't see it but needed to. Our world today needs it just as bad. And yet, I don't know how many people, professing Christians I've heard, churches I've seen, ministers I've heard that seem to be all muddled in their morality put rainbow flags on the front of their church, not because they're as a reminder of the flood and God's promise that he made, but for other reasons.

Our neighbors need to see that we love them and God loves them, but they also need to see we know the difference between that which is right and that which is what? Wrong. We need to stick to God honoring music and expressions of faith and gratitude in our worship instead of striving to gratify the flesh, I'm not here to entertain you, Though I hope you are, every now and then, a little bit entertained by my getting my tongue tied or something like that, which is usually I don't tell jokes. I learned a long time ago I can't tell a joke. I'm very bad at it, so I just don't tell jokes.

But we're not here for the entertainment value. We're here to worship who? Worship God. And so we do our best. We don't always succeed a 100%.

But we do our best to honor the Lord here and to do things that we know make the distinction between that which is holy and unholy, that signify to a world around us that we serve a holy God. Bible says he hath put a new, fresh and excellent song in my mouth. Even praise unto our God, many shall see it in fear and trust in the Lord. Colossians three sixteen, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The word spiritual means not carnal.

Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. We need to spend more of our time and money in the work of the Lord and less on things that are passing away. We need to look and take opportunities to speak to our neighbor about Christ and gossip less to our friends. To those who worship those whose worship and lifestyle, to those who are content of living in the gray area, They they say that if you wanna reach the world, you need to become what? More like them.

But that's not what my Bible says. Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. And touch not the what? The unclean thing. Paul quotes in Corinthians from the Old Testament.

The word separate doesn't mean physically isolated. It means different. Set apart in service to who? To the Lord. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Why do we live in the gray? Why not strive to give God our best and not our least? Maybe we don't understand his word, our place, our responsibility as a holy priesthood for the Lord today. I I think maybe that's the case for many Christians. They haven't they don't understand.

You're not just a saved individual on your way to heaven. You're a priest in service of Jesus Christ. You are a holy one. Maybe we don't take seriously his authority. We're not fully committed to his glory and his agenda.

Maybe we're just more concerned about whose agenda. Maybe we're not willing to let God in the driver's seat. Maybe we don't sense the urgency of the need, and I think that's true. We just don't sense the what? The urgency of the need.

The need is great. God isn't asking you to be perfect. He knows that we will fail at times. He knows our frame, but I do believe he expects us to care and to recognize that we, as his priesthood today, have a responsibility before the world to make a distinction between holy and unholy, between right and wrong, and what we say and what we do, That others might glorify who? God.

That others might be drawn to him. It is up to us to show the world both the holiness and love of God. If you don't, who is? The answer to that is no one. Let's pray.

Dear God, thank you, for being the holy one who came and died on the cross for our sins, that you might make us holy unto the Lord our God, that you might forgive us of our sins and cleanse us, that that you might give us the opportunity to represent you as children of God here in this place. And, Lord, I pray we would not take that for granted, that in the busyness of life, we would forget about that responsibility that we have. I pray that if there's one here today that is yet to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior, that that they might consider their need today and that you can change their lives and their eternity forever. And I pray, Lord, for us who know Christ that we might not leave this place and just go back out into our daily lives and the world with with little thought to what our God expects and and what he deserves of us and what others around us need to see in us. The priests of the Old Testament did not just serve the Lord, they served the people.

We have a responsibility to both. Lord, help us this coming year to to grab ahold of that, to reach forth in our lives each day with that pursuit that you might be magnified. In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen. Take your hymn books if you would and turn to hymn number 394.

Let's stand and sing together. I surrender