"We don’t have God giving us a bunch of commandments and God telling us to do a bunch of stuff and we can’t figure out how to do it.
"I think about Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu. He had four boys. Moses said, ‘All right, Aaron, you’re going to be the chief priest and your boys are going to be the priests and run the tabernacle. The top guys." ‘Now here’s the rules. You go to do this, this, this and this and one thing you can’t do--the fire that’s going to be on the altar has to be fire that’s lit by God Himself. You can’t do it.’
“So they go out there on the very first day and Leviticus 10 says they brought 'strange fire':
[1] And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
[2] And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
“Have you ever read that stuff back there in Leviticus? I mean REALLY read it? One time I asked Bill Cash, a master carpenter with 50 years of work, to take the passages in the Book of Exodus where Moses talks about building a tabernacle and then draw what those things would look like. God said, ‘Here, make it like it like this and do it exactly like that.’
“Bill came back to me several months later and said, ‘You know I can’t do this. I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Well, it says do this and do that and I’m not sure what this is. I‘m not sure what it looks like. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be.’
[2] And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
"They said, ‘Well we need a fire here. Let’s get out our Bic lighter!' and put the little coal burner and get their fire lit and you know what God did? He killed them right on the spot. Deader than door nails.
"I don’t know about you, but if I’d have been there, I would have been a little reluctant to send my next two boys into the fray: ‘Only got four. Two of them are now gone.’
“Have you ever read that stuff back there in Leviticus? I mean REALLY read it? One time I asked Bill Cash, a master carpenter with 50 years of work, to take the passages in the Book of Exodus where Moses talks about building a tabernacle and then draw what those things would look like. God said, ‘Here, make it like it like this and do it exactly like that.’
“Bill came back to me several months later and said, ‘You know I can’t do this. I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Well, it says do this and do that and I’m not sure what this is. I‘m not sure what it looks like. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be.’
"I said, ‘Let’s go look up some of these words,’ and you know what? You couldn’t figure it out from Scripture. And I’m thinking, ‘Now, wait a minute. I got do this and I got to do it exactly right or God’s going to kill my kids or me, and I can’t even figure out exactly what it is!’
“Now, how confident would you be doing that?! Well, I’m thinking I’d be looking for a little less prominent job in the tabernacle myself.
“Now, how confident would you be doing that?! Well, I’m thinking I’d be looking for a little less prominent job in the tabernacle myself.
"You look at that passage in Leviticus and see the possibility of perfection is that issue back there, and then you think, ‘How would God live in human flesh?’ Well, He would do it perfectly and the place you look is Jesus Christ. That’s the wonderful thing about Him.”
(new article tomorrow)
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