Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you even for hard passages in your Word. Teach us who you are and who we should be; be holy in our eyes and reveal yourself to us by your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Conduct Prescribed for Priests
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: 9 “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, 11 and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”
12 And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: “Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings made by fire to the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; for it is most holy. 13 You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, of the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord; for so I have been commanded. 14 The breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you shall eat in a clean place, you, your sons, and your daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ due, which are given from the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. 15 The thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to offer as a wave offering before the Lord. And it shall be yours and your sons’ with you, by a statute forever, as the Lord has commanded.”
16 Then Moses made careful inquiry about the goat of the sin offering, and there it was—burned up. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, 17 “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in a holy place, since it is most holy, and God has given it to you to bear the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? 18 See! Its blood was not brought inside the holy place; indeed you should have eaten it in a holy place, as I commanded.”
19 And Aaron said to Moses, “Look, this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things have befallen me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord?” 20 So when Moses heard that, he was content.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Le 10:8–20.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Lord commands Aaron and his sons to remain sober so they can distinguish holy from unholy, clean from unclean, and teach Israel. The passage then shows Aaron handling the required offerings amid grief with sincere fear of God rather than empty ritual.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Leviticus 10:10-11
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
Bryan does not explicitly identify a best verse after announcing the A-B-C framework. Verses 10-11 best summarize his emphasis on sober discernment and faithful teaching before a holy God.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Treat God as holy and approach leadership and worship with sober, heartfelt fear rather than pretense. Pray for revival and walk in the sobriety of a life redeemed and led by the Spirit.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
hey hey good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2023 Lord willing will make it from Genesis through Leviticus I'm glad to be with you this morning we have another sobering passage for us yesterday Daniel and I looked at naab and ab who is not a fun story it's a heavy story those who are close to God are those who are demanded most to understand his holiness today that story continues in how Aaron is to interact with God and his sons as well so why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll see what the Lord has for us today let's pray father we thank you so much for this day Lord we thank you for hard passages in your word they're not easy to read but father we pray that you would please teach us who you are and who we're supposed to be we pray that you would be holy in our eyes and that you would reveal yourself to us please teach us Lord we need your spirit in Jesus's name amen okay so we are at Leviticus chapter 10 Leviticus chapter 10 we'll begin at verse 8 we'll get to the end of the end of the chapter again I'm going to kind of break it down but as we go asking ourselves a what's this about B what's best for us to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this so here we go then the Lord spoke to Aaron saying but this is the only time God speaks directly to Aaron naab and ab who or dead and God doesn't speak through Moses to Aaron but he speaks directly to Aaron he's still the high priest do not drink wine or intoxicating drink you nor your sons nor nor your sons with you when you go into the Tabernacle of meeting lest you die can imagine this is still the same day you can imagine the hurt that this stung to Aaron it shall be a statute forever throughout your Generations that you may distinguish between holy and Unholy between unclean and clean and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has given to them by the hand of Moses so God himself right after the death of n ABI who he tells Aaron and his sons when you're on duty no drink him why because they've got to make decisions and they need a clear mind they need to be able to say this is Holy this is not holy this is clean this is not clean they need to be able to say to someone this is right and this is not right they need to be able to teach the law and so they are to have a sober mind but why why would this come right after the death of Aaron's sons well there's a couple different options one of the options that people suggest is that it was normal at the time if somebody was grieving to give them alcohol you know to kind of soothe their hearts I've seen many people do this that they drown out their sorrows and maybe that's a possibility a whole bunch of ancient rabbis said that this was specifically tied that naab and ABI who probably made this horrible decision between what was commanded what was not commanded what was clean what was unclean by getting drunk before they did this there's no proof for that but it's possible but no matter what the Lord here is telling him you need to be sober you to be a sober in mind I think this is the same reason why for elders it's specifically said that they had have to be temperate we look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 and that's one of the qualifications for one of God's overseers that an a bishop an overseer and Elder needs to be one who isn't addicted to much wine and Moses spoke to story goes on here now verse 12 and Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and ithamar his sons who were left four down to two take the grain offering That Remains on the AL on the offering made by fire to the Lord and eat it without leaven beside the Altar for it is most holy you shall eat it in a holy place because it is your due and your son's due of the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord for so I have been commanded right Moses is concerned for his brother you're still the high priest there's still a sacrifice to finish you got to do this man the breasts of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you shall eat in a clean place you your sons and your daughters with you for they are your due and your son's due which are given from the sacrifices of Peace offerings of the children of Israel the thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring to with the offering of fat made by fire to offer as a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be yours and your sons with you a statute by statue forever as the Lord has commanded Moses is worried about his brother he's worried about the Commandments of God and he says you still got to make this sacrifice and you still got to eat it this purification still needs to happen this experation of sin still needs to go on and so that's part of the purging process you got to eat this man then Moses made quick careful inquiry right that then means after a while Moses made careful inquiry about the goat of the sin offering and there it was burned up and he was angry with Eleazar and ithamar the sons of Aaron who were left saying why have you not eaten the sin offering in the Holy place since it is most holy and God has given it to you to Bear the guilt of the congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord see its blood was not brought inside of the Holy Place indeed you should have eaten it in a holy place as I commanded you they did that they slaughtered the animal they put it on the altar they burned it up but they left it there couldn't bring themselves to eat it and Moses says that's not the way this supposed to go what are you doing you hear The Echoes of you not know what happened to your brothers when they didn't follow the Lord's command what are you guys doing and Aaron steps in at the end of this and he intervenes for his sons Eleazar and ithamar and he says in verse 9 19 and Aaron said to Moses look this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord and such things have befallen me if I had eaten the sin offering today would it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord so when Moses heard that he was content See Aaron shows us something Aaron shows us that he understands he has to regard God as holy and a God who has commanded something has also is also a God who has commanded that has got to actually be real heartfelt worship it's got to be experiential worship and he's not just going to take a sham for it they offered their burnt offerings they offered the sin offerings but their father wouldn't eat and he knows that the Lord wouldn't accept it and this seems to pacify Moses because it seems in Aaron's grief he himself has now learned to fear the lord he's learned to sanctify God to treat him as holy and to know that even his life is but a very breath do we understand God this way do we treat God as holy like that I wish the Ministers of God's Church wish that I would more frequently that those who lead the church the Elders of the church would be those who would know that they are going to be judged more severely that with sobriety we have to proclaim the whole counil of God in season and out of season and we must do it with fear and trembling that our God is a consuming fire so go go to him pray to him Our Father who is in heaven H be thy name this how Jesus treated his father that's how we should remember him also the one who does take away our sins forgives our iniquities gives us our daily bread protects Us from Evil but he will be regarded as holy among his people let's pray father we pray that you would please teach us to Know You Are Holy and father we pray for Revival I pray for it in my own heart I pray for it in the hearts of the leaders of the churches in your kingdom not just here in Iowa but in the United States and internationally that frauds and drunkards Liars manipulators Twisters of your word would know that you will not be mocked father please please Lord teach us to know that you are holy and to walk in the sobriety that comes by a life redeemed in your spirit in Jesus's name amen may you walk in the sobriety of God's holiness knowing that he loves those who Marvel at his glory I'll see you next time bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rule Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week