Please be seated. As you take your seats, I invite you to turn in your copies of God's Holy Word to Numbers chapter 3. In the order of service, it says that the sermon is coming from Numbers 3 and 4. We obviously will not be digging into all of the details of a large portion like that, but I want to give you a big picture. of what is being revealed here to us as this is not just the book of numbers, but especially discussions on things like the Levites is just one of those areas that many of us are unfamiliar with and we can get lost in details. I want to give you a big picture so that you might be able to better work whenever you are reading, as you are interacting, you can remember that big picture as well. I'm going to read from a portion of Numbers chapter 3. Both of these chapters fit together as they are dealing with the census, the purpose, the work of the Levites. In the census that we've already looked at, the Levites were not mentioned here. Now we get to them. These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests whom he ordained to serve as priests. But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest that they may minister to him. They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting. and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.' And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine, I am the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai saying, list the sons of Levi by father's houses and by clans, every male from a month old and upward you shall list. So Moses listed them according to the word of the Lord as he was commanded. And these were the sons of Levi by their names, Gershon and Koath and Merari. And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans, Libni and Shimei, and the sons of Koath by their clans, Amram, Ishar, Hebron, and Uziel, and the sons of Merari by their clans, Mali and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites by their fathers' houses. Let's pray. Oh Father, help us to once again hear you speak through your word. Help us to see Jesus Christ, convince us of who we are, and then enable us through this word to go forth and to carry out the purposes that you have for us. It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. I do not know very much about music. I know a little bit. I know enough to be dangerous. I know enough to ignorant people to sound like I know something, and I know enough to people who know something to sound ignorant. It's a wonderful, wonderful position to be in. I was not aware of the piece in terms of knowing about the piece that was played for us moments ago. But I want to take a moment and act on something that I think the Lord was helping me with even as I was listening. So this is not planned, so I'm sorry if something crazy comes out of my mouth. When I heard that piece, I don't know what you heard, but when I heard that piece, there was something about it to me that I kept describing to myself as hauntingly beautiful. that there was an element to the piece, and Sarah, please correct me later if I'm wrong on this, but there was a part of that piece that sounded very haunting to me, but not in a bad way, not in a way that was leading me not to hear the beauty that was there, but it was beauty that was being filtered through this haunting, lens, or not lens, that's visual, what would be the right word for, you know, a filter for music, whatever it is, that it was like the beauty was being filtered through the haunting part of the music. And as I was listening to that, for me, I think that that is a wonderful way for us to understand what God is revealing about himself, not only throughout the scripture, but right here in Numbers 3 and 4, as in these two chapters that are dealing with the Levites and their role in the life of Israel. What their role helps us to understand about God is that he is hauntingly beautiful. This is the experience of Isaiah as he finds himself in this vision of experiencing the Lord in his throne room in the heavenlies as he is struck by the beauty. He is struck by the glory as he is experiencing, as he is hearing it, as he is seeing it. And at the same time, what that leads him to understand about himself is that he is out of place. And as a result, he is both drawn to what is happening and he is also scared of what is happening. He knows that something needs to happen to him for him to enjoy that beauty in safety rather than experiencing that beauty set on a precipice of will he remain or will he not. In Psalms 15, Psalm 24, the psalmist uses this to ask us, who is it that may ascend the hill of the Lord and stand there? Because everyone is going to ascend and everyone is going to appear before the Lord. The question is, who's gonna stay? Who can be in God's presence and be safe? In these two chapters, with all the different details that are present here and some of the weird and strange stuff to us that is present here, there are three basic things that I want you to see. And that first of all, the way that the Lord describes himself and the Levites here is that the Lord here is concerned with your protection. Right from the very start, He picks up on the theme that he very briefly introduced back in chapter 2, and that is the idea that the Levites are to guard the tabernacle and they are to guard the people. Their work is described as guarding. In fact, here in chapter three, as we read in that first section, over and over and over and over, we keep hearing this word guard. They are to guard, they are to guard, they are to guard. This is not new. For those who have been in some of my Sunday school classes, you remember, as we looked at Genesis in the opening chapters of the Bible, that the way the Garden of Eden is being described as a temple, And that within that temple, you have Adam and Eve who have been put there and they are to serve that temple. And of Adam, what we are told is he is to guard and keep. Did he do so? No. There is always something about God's presence that requires guarding and not because of sin. The guarding that is necessary that is being described here is not solely because of sin. It is because of who God is. when he failed, when he did not guard, when he did not keep. As a result, Adam and Eve and all of their posterity were removed from the garden temple. And what were we told? The only way to get back into that garden temple is to get past an angel with a sword. Now the point there is you're not gonna get past that. The only way to get back to the Garden of Edom for Adam and Eve is through death. Because of God's holiness, and then not only just because of his holiness, because of sin, there is a real separation between God and his people. And as a result, his presence needs to be guarded from them. and they need to be guarded from God. This is life in the fallen generation. This is what all of us are faced with because of the sin of our first father in Adam. That first priest that we had in Adam where he failed. As a result, we now need to be guarded from God and God has to be guarded from us. And so within the nation of Israel, within the camp that we looked at last week, if you remember that visual diagram from your order of service, what we saw is that the tabernacle is in the center, the different tribes are arranged around the tabernacle, but between the tabernacle and the people of God are the Levites. not just theoretically, not just in terms of ministry, but their very existence is an existence that has lived between God and his people. And that is because God's presence absolutely must be a mediated presence. And as a result, what we see here for the Levites is that the call to ministry that they have received is not a call to having a higher position that allows them to tell people what to do and to keep certain things for themselves. It's not a position of power in order for them to wield that to somehow keep people out. They have been given a do or die ministry. And we know that not only on the basis of holiness, we know that because we are reminded right out of the chute here in Numbers 3, that there are two sons that were Levites, that were sons of Aaron, who were priests because of that, who died because they offered strange fire before the Lord. They did not exercise their guardianship in the proper way, in the way that they went about offering sacrifice. And as a result, we are told that fire from the altar shot out and consumed them. God in his holiness being protected from sinful sacrifice. And so we are reminded here about this, the importance of protection. the importance that we absolutely need to be protected from God. Even the priests need to be protected because they, like us, share in the sin of their first father, Adam. They, as priests, as earthly priests, are a continuation of the failed earthly priesthood of Adam. And as a result, there is a most certain protection that is needed. God is so holy, is described for us here, that if the wrong person approaches, they are to be put to death. Not only is the priest to approach the right way to avoid death, there are certain people that cannot approach at all. that the wall of separation is so large that there's only one tribe that is even allowed to minister in the tabernacle. And even among that one tribe, what we learn is that there are three basic sub-families within that tribe, and even within those sub-families, not everyone gets the same access and not everyone gets to do the same stuff. depending on which subfamily that you are a part of, determines your ministry in the tabernacle, both when the tabernacle is erected, as well as when the tabernacle is moving. If you are of a certain tribe, then you get the responsibility of carrying certain things from the tabernacle. If you are of a certain family, you have the job of preparing certain things within the tabernacle. There is a gradation of holiness and ministry that is being described for us here. Now this aspect, I don't want to spend any more time on this, because this aspect of God's holiness is something that I think we get, at least academically. Especially in reformed churches, we are really good at emphasizing God's holiness from that perspective of it being something that should sober us. It is something that should lead us to understand rightly his holiness, and our need of protection from him and his need of protection from us. We get that. We're really good at preaching those types of sermons where we can get in there and start hammering on sin and man, I could if I wanted to really make all of you feel really bad about yourselves. But what did we just sing moments ago? On the basis of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, Is my job supposed to grind you into the dust? Is that what I'm here for? To perpetuate in you a sense of being scared before the Lord? Is that what I'm here for? Is that what the ministry is for? Because of that necessity of protection, am I supposed to just hammer that over and over and over so that you live in this constant state of fear or trepidation or unsurity or discomfort? Is that what holiness is about? Is that what you living a holy life is about? That you live on the precipice all the time. I've got to make sure I do things just right right now so that I can somehow avoid God's judgment. Is that holiness? Sometimes I think in our circles that is what gets impressed upon us. And what I would say to you, beloved, is that is a half truth. Because what we sang moments ago because of the high priestly work of Jesus Christ is that our souls are not to be grounded down into the dust, but our souls are to arise. And that because of the work of Jesus Christ, we are to shake off guilty fears. Is it because we're not guilty? No, we just confessed before that that we are guilty. but it's because not only do we need protection from God, but he has given us a provision in Jesus Christ. And numbers three and four are just as much if not more about provision than they are protection. Protection we get, it's easy, it's an easy concept. God's holy, I'm a sinner, so there needs to be some protection, I get that. What's hard for us, beloved, is to understand God's provision in spite of the need of protection. And so the Levites here are a provision from God to his people whose purpose is not only to guard, but whose purpose is to help secure things in such a way so that the people of God are able to rest in God's presence, so that they rightly live in the presence of God, that they rightly approach the Lord as the Lord is instructing, that they don't come to the Lord however they want and put themselves in danger like Nadab and Abihu, but they come in the right way. so that the wrong people don't show up to the wrong place and die, so the wrong people don't touch the wrong thing and die, so the wrong people don't try to, out of a good heart, serve the Lord by carrying something that they're not supposed to carry and die. So holy is the Lord that we know that there is a Kohathite Right? He is mentioned specifically as a Kohathite because he is of the subfamily of Kohath, whose responsibility was to help transport the things of the tabernacle. That when the Ark of the Covenant is being returned to Jerusalem, one, it was not supposed to be on an ox cart. It was supposed to be carried by hand, but only by the Kohathites. Secondly, it's on an ox cart, The ox cart hits a bump. It starts to fall over. A Kohathite reaches out to steady it. I can't let the Ark of the Covenant fall, so I've got to serve the Lord and steady it. And he touches it and he dies. The Lord, beloved, is giving us provisions so that we don't have to make those kinds of mistakes with his holiness. And so he gives the people of God here in the old covenant, he gives an entire tribe. And he says, here, you have the danger of being around me so that my people can remain in safety. Your lives are gonna be put on the line in order to help protect the lives of my people. And so what is beautiful here to me in a haunting way is that God's presence, as it is a presence that brings death to sinners, he provides a way for sinners to remain safe with him. And the point there is this, it's because he wants you to be safe with him. This is not merely as so often it gets talked about. It's not merely that God has to do this. He does have to do it. But He has to do it because He wants to do it. He wants you as His people to be with Him. He wants you to dwell with Him. He wants you to enjoy Him. He wants you to see His beauty. and not have to live aghast of being scared because of the beauty of His holiness. He wants you to be able to take in the beauty of His holiness as those who can rest in it, as those who can rejoice in it, and those who find purpose in it. The beauty of God's holiness is the purpose of my existence. It's what leads me out of bed in the morning. It's what leads me in the way that I try to carry out being a mom and a dad. It's what drives me as I'm working out my vocation, as I am trying to not only imbibe of the beauty of God's holiness, but also to reflect it as I bear witness to my exalted God and key. Beloved, all that you see, when we get into these details, when you start getting into, you know, this Levite group, that Levite group, who gets to do what, and you start getting lost in some of the details, and why do they have to wear that? Why do they have to live there? Why do they, you know, you get onto those details. Take those details, beloved, and filter them through this. These details are God's love for you. These details are an expression of his heart for you. He wants you as his own. And he does not, in his holiness, intend for you to live a life of being scared. When God calls us to be holy as He is holy, that is not a call for you to live in constant fear of Him. And maybe I'm not doing it just right, or maybe there's something I'm leaving out. He doesn't want you living in that situation. He has given you provisions. The provision of a priesthood. But not this priesthood. here in the Levitical priesthood. The Levitical priesthood is meant to point us to a greater need because, as I said, the Levitical priesthood, they lived under the same curse that you and I live under. And as a result, guess what would happen? Those Levites that were there to serve and to live between you and God, they would die. And they would die. And they would die. What happens if they would have died off and there was no more? Where would the priesthood be? A better priesthood was needed. And a greater priesthood has been provided. Because the provisions of God are not merely earthly provisions to keep you safe when you are in his camp. The provisions of God are to give you a priest that leads you to find a new home, not as one living around the tabernacle, but to be drawn up to a new life that has lived in the Holy of Holies within the heavenly tabernacle. The work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, beloved, is a do or die ministry that has been changed into a did and died ministry. Because he is that priest that was perfect. He was that priest who had not sinned. He was that priest that didn't live under the Adamic curse. He was that priest that could finally do what the Levitical priesthood could never accomplish for you. And he did it! And in his doing it, he died. The litical priesthood is do or die. The Christological priesthood is a did and died. And because of his death, beloved, everything that the types and shadows of the details of the old covenant all found their eternal fulfillment. And now the provision that you have in Jesus Christ is a provision that leads you into the safety of God's presence in the heavenlies. where your life is now tied to a Savior who died, a Savior who shed blood, and yet a Savior who rose again from the dead and who ever lives, not like the Levitical priests who would die and stay dead, he ever lives and he ever ministers his eternal blood for you where he is constantly interceding before you, moment after moment after moment after moment. There is never a second in your life, if you are in Jesus Christ, where your life is not mediated through your high priest. Which means there is never a moment in your life, if you are in Christ, in which God ever sees you as anything but holy. Don't be afraid to say amen in here. I know we're Presbyterians, but feel free to give a witness. This is amazing stuff. And this is where your comfort is to come from. That before the Lord, you don't have to live in discomfort. You can find comfort. Make no mistake, when you live an unrepentant sin, you're going to be uncomfortable, but not because you've lost your comfort in Christ. It's because you're turning away from it and you're choosing not to experience that comfort. But make no mistake that all that is required for you to then once again enter into that comfort is to but repent. and to renew yourself before the Lord as you cling to the cross and as you cling to the priest who pleads his blood for you. One other point, protection, provision, there's not another P and I'm glad because I hate when that happens. What I want you to see this morning in numbers and what is being provided in the Levites, it's not just protection, it's not just provision. but it's that the Lord does these things in tangible ways. The Lord's mediation for his people is something that is tangible. What do I mean by that? Well, if you had set up your camp right, and if you had set up your tent correctly with the door opening to the tabernacle, you would step out, and you would see the Levites. And then you would see the tabernacle. You would see the Levites. You would see their tents. You would see them living among you. When you showed up to the tabernacle, you didn't just show up and go, what do I want to do today? You showed up and there were Levites there who were there who had all the instructions of the Lord that were to help take you through what was necessary so that you rightly approached the Lord. and rightly approaching him received the blessing of being near. They walked you through things. They spoke to you. They could touch you and you could touch them. You could hear them speak. You could see them work. The Lord is capable in what we know from Genesis 1.1, we know that the Lord is capable of accomplishing his purposes out of the thin air. Well, he had to create air and then from the thin air, right? That God created all things from nothing. What is nothing? Nothing is what sleeping rocks dream of. Think about that later. He can immediately do things. He can directly do things. He can speak and it happens. He can. But what the Bible tells us over and over and over is that that's not his chosen method. What he does is he chooses to use things that can be seen, that can be heard, that can be handled, that can be touched. And he uses these outward means as a way of communicating himself and the eternality of his existence, of his being, of his love. We have things like music. We have things like simple, ignorant, fallen men that get to read the Bible and pray for you. that get to speak the word of God to you, where you have a minister in John Olson, not me, in John Olson, who's coming back, that you can see, that you can touch, that you can hear. that when you are wrestling with sin or when you are struggling with something in your life, you're not left to yourself to just try to imagine your way out of the situation. Although, I'm going to say this, too many of you do that and stop doing that, please. You have wonderful provisions in ministers and elders at this church whose purpose in being here is to hear you and to pray with you. give you a hug, that the reality of God's presence is as real as what you were touching. And with me, unfortunately, what you might smell, but still, it's the senses, it's important. Too many have engaged in self shepherding, where there is something going on. And I don't know how many times I hear this, I heard this last night, sorry to bother you. Beloved, that's why I'm here. If I didn't want to be bothered, I would have gone into business, but I wouldn't do that either because I'm awful at business. But you know, you get what I'm saying. I'm here to be bothered. I'm here to pray with you. I'm here to pray for you. I'm here to listen to you. I'm here to help guide you through the gospel. so that you might enjoy a life of repentance and faith, and so that you might rightly live in the comfort that Christ has provided to you, that you so often get in the way of enjoying. And you ask any elder in this room, and they will tell you, call me, email me, reach out to me. Don't try to walk through this alone. The Lord has given us incredible provisions, beloved, that are tangible. Because not only in Christ are you not living a life of isolated faith, but you are part of a community of believers. That community is not ethereal. It's not just something spiritual that's just kind of out there. It has a body. It has breath. And that is because we as the church are united to the body of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is living and breathing. As a resurrected high priest who is living and with the breaths that are coming out of his mouth, even right now, praying for you. Interceding for you. Father, see them in me. Father, love them in me. Father, accept them in me. Father, sing and rejoice over them in me. God's heart is for you, and so he has provided protection. He has given you the provision, and the provisions that you are to look to are not merely immaterial things floating around. And so listen to the word. Read the word. Hear someone speak it that has been rightly ordained by God to do so. Listen to the prayers and you pray yourself. Because in prayer what you are doing is not merely offering something to God. You are participating in what Jesus is offering already for you. you are entering into his prayers. In a moment, we're going to get to look to the body and blood of Christ as it is presented to us in the table. This is not a mere act of remembering what happened, beloved. This is a participation in the ongoing priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, as he is pleading his body and his blood for you. That our faith is not tied only to words, but words that have been made visible, words that you can touch, words that you can taste. And in touching and tasting, you can know the goodness of your Lord, You can see the protection that he has for you and you can enjoy the provision of what you have in Jesus Christ. Beloved, make no mistake. Our God is holy and that holiness is hauntingly beautiful. But do not let that scare you away. Let that drive you to the safety and protection and the comfort that is eternally yours in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, impress these things upon us. Take your word and make it real to us. A living and active word that is not something that we are meant merely to understand for it to be beneficial. But where your spirit takes your word and works and does something in us. As Jesus said, even when we do not know where the wind blows, what we can trust is that your spirit is at work. Bless us in Jesus name. Amen.