Lev 10:3, Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the Lord spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. 
	In this morning’s reading we are given a very vivid portrayal of how God considers that man’s estimation of God’s holiness is very seriously and justly guarded. The Lord does not take how mankind considers Him lightly or with mere happenstance. The two sons of Aaron decided that they would offer God their own strange fire that God had not ordained. They thought so little of the holiness of God and His ordinances concerning bringing the offerings and sacrifices, that they felt they could do what they wanted and nothing would happen. They are an example of what does take place when man thinks that he knows better than God how to please the Almighty. 
As a consequence, they were struck down by the fire from God. As well, their family was not permitted to mourn them because to do so would be to give credence to the manner in which they had conducted themselves before God. It would have been a joining together in the sinful actions of Nadab and Abihu, and those who did so would have received the same judgment from God. 
Please consider the fact that these were consecrated priests who had done everything to that point in serving The Lord. They were the representatives of the people before the throne of God bringing the sacrifices and the offerings and fulfilling the just requirements that would bring cleansing of sin for the people. This was no small or insignificant thing. As a result, they had to undergo all the vast and detailed preparation of even the garments they were to wear into the presence of God. Despite all of this, these two sons of Aaron decided that they knew better than God how to please Him and they chose their own thoughts and ideas over the instructions strictly laid before them by God. 
This is so indicative of mankind’s manner of making decisions and choices in this world. Despite the every injunction laid out by God in His Word, man is always seeking to short cut or bypass what is there and rather choose his own way and means of conducting the affairs of life. 
These are so often rationalized with statements along the lines of that used by the serpent in the Garden in Gen 3:1. Gen 3:1, Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" This is a questioning and twisting of that which God has given in His Word to make it fit what we want to do. We think that we know better than God what is needed and necessary and effective in our lives, even in terms of coming before Him.
There is a preparation that should be in place within our lives in the manner in which we approach God. It is the recognition and the realization and the honor and the reverence that He still deserves today as it was in the day of this morning’s text. Things have not changed with respect to the esteem that should be in our minds and hearts and desires with regard to the privilege given to us to come into His very presence by Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something that we should ever take for granted or perform in sloppiness of training and groundwork. It is an awesome thing to be permitted to come before the Living Lord God Creator of the heavens and the earth and to bring Him sacrifices of praise and worship and adoration. 
The words of this morning’s passage should resonant within us every time we think of the privilege and the responsibility that has been afforded us to join together in our times of prayer and worship and supplication and adoration. …'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'… This is not a message that we can just dismiss or take lightly. The example of the sons of Aaron was not just an anomaly put into the Bible as a suggestion that it would be better for us if we did not follow their illustration of coming into the presence of God with our own thoughts and ideas of what is the OK thing to do!
Rather, the seriousness of what happened to Nadab and Abihu should still resound within our hearts with the lesson that we best not fool around when it comes to pleasing God. What was true then is still very much the case today in the fact that God holds very firmly that …'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'… 
Do we so respect the Lord God Almighty that we will do whatever He requires of us in order to show that we esteem Him as holy and to be honored? Think on this for a moment within our inner beings. I fully include myself in this admonition as there are no extenuating circumstances or careless disregard in the terms of how we come unto God. We do not have the luxury of being considered an exception to the rule and not under the same ordinances of honoring God as the rest of His people. Young and old, male and female, new to Christian life or well established in our relationship with the Lord, it matters not! The only message that we need to hear in our heart is what the Lord declared on that fateful day of these priest’s disobedience, …'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'…
This means that we have to choose aright the manner in which our hearts are prepared to worship and to hear and to value His Word. It means that we do not have the luxury of only coming to the House of the Lord when we feel like it. This necessitates that we make every adjustment that He stipulates in the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds and that our pattern of behavior and habits of lateness and slothful preparation and demeanors of indifference must be dealt with and dealt with absolute earnestness. We are a very slack and sloppy and disgustingly careless people when we do not address the real issue that we do not regard God as worthy of our expressed honor in the manner of our coming into His presence! 
The seriousness with which God considered His presence with His people was reiterated over and over again by the Lord in admonition to His people, such as recorded in Ex 29:43-46. Ex 29:43-46, And I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. And I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God. 
This has not changed and it has not ceased to be the focal point of the relationship that we have before us with God. He has opened it much more fully in the giving of His Only Begotten Son, but the truth of Christ has not diminished the full measure of the magnitude of our breadth and depth of bringing unto God the honor that He is due. Just as He consecrated those who would be permitted to come before Him then, so has He consecrated us in Jesus Christ. This is all the more reason that we should be serious in our endeavors to Honor Him as Our Lord and God and Redeemer. 
In Lev 21:6-8, The Lord gives very precise details of those things that the priests could not engage in because they were consecrated and holy unto Him. They had to maintain a proper decorum among the people because they represented the people unto God and God unto the people. Therefore their behavior and their manner of living had to be above reproach and that which declared that they belonged wholeheartedly to the Lord. 
Lev 21:6-8, 'They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the bread of their God; so they shall be holy. 'They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. 'You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the bread of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. 
Notice the continued emphasis over and over again that they would be holy because they were consecrated unto God and God is Holy. This was not an option nor was it a suggestion. These priests were to be actively seen in their communities as holy, set apart unto God, unique and above reproach. This did not mean that they could lord their position over the rest of the nation, but rather that they were to be of service and working on the behalf of the people. They offered the sacrifices and the petitions of the people unto God and then brought His responses and teachings back to the people. 
Lest we argue at this point that this could not possibly pertain to us, let us jump ahead for a moment to the New Testament and the writing of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:9+10. In this passage, the Apostle makes a very astounding declaration regarding you and me in this current context. 1 Peter 2:9+10, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 
	Because of the most effective work of Jesus Christ, we have become priests to our God. He has chosen us as His nation and we are a royal priesthood and fully need to take to heart the every detail that this means in respect to the way in which we live before God and before man. We are no longer free to choose to conduct our lives according to the ways and means that we deem appropriate. Rather, we are to live those lives that are always and forever honoring and consecrated to God in our communities. Our family and neighbors and friends should be witness to the truth that our lives are different. There must be a distinct separation from that which this world puts forth as the way to live and the life that we now live unto the Lord. It is a life that is always by His direction and under the control of the Holy Spirit, fully in line with the Word of God. 
	As well, this life is characterized by the reality that the manner in which we treat others is always in line with the honor that we hold in our hearts unto the Lord. He has always been very serious about this as exemplified by the dealings that He had with Moses. 
Please turn in your Bibles to Num 20:8-13, so we can read this together. In it, we have the account of when Moses struck the rock out of anger with the people for the manner in which they were grumbling and complaining. He did not act as the Lord directed, keeping the holiness and the obedience due the Lord at the forefront of his dealing with this stubborn and rebellious people. Rather, he acted out of anger and frustration, thus presenting to the people his lack of reverence for the Lord God Almighty. As a result, he was prohibited from entering the Promised Land. 
	Num 20:8-13, "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink." So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them. 
    	This is what we need to constantly hold forth in our hearts and minds as we deal with those unto whom we present the truth of the difference that the life of Jesus Christ manifests. We are constantly on display as the living testimonies in this age of how much God truly means to us and how much His life is near and dear to us.
	Ps 89:5-8 is our last passage of the morning. In it is detailed how we are to view God and to hold Him as the One Who is worthy of all the praise and adoration of His people and all of His Creation. Ps 89:5-8, And the heavens will praise Thy wonders, O Lord; Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord, A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him? O Lord God of hosts, who is like Thee, O mighty Lord? Thy faithfulness also surrounds Thee. 
	If we would always consider this reality, our witness and testimony would be reflective of the awe and wonder that God Alone deserves. We would be prepared, every day, to honor and to reverence and to appreciate the life that He has given us in Jesus Christ. We will continue forth with this next week, Lord willing. So be it.     
	Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the Lord spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'"… Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ps 66:1-3a. Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are Thy works! Amen.