 So here we are in Joshua chapter 21, so we've been using the last few chapters in Joshua as the Bible talks about the land allotments to the tribes of the children of Israel to talk about the details of the different tribes, not necessarily going to go through verse by verse in Joshua chapter 21. I'm going to kind of give you an overview of what the chapter is talking about, and then we're going to look specifically at this tribe this evening, the Levites. There's a lot of parallels and a lot of pictures that the Levites provide for us as Christians today, and we're going to look into some of those details this evening. Look down at Joshua chapter 21 and look at verse number one. So here in Joshua chapter 21 we're continuing in the story here. So of course last week we talked about the cities of refuge which ties into Joshua chapter 21. When you say how, let's look down at verse number one. The Bible says, The heads of the fathers of the Levites, under Eleazar the priest, and under Joshua the Son of Nun, under the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel they spake unto them as Shiloh and the land of Canaan saying, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. So here we're seeing a difference already in the tribe of Levi. They don't get a territory. Remember the previous chapters we went through the territories of all the other tribes. It wasn't describing cities, I mean it would mention cities, but the main portions of the chapter were talking about little borders of land. So it was big allotments of land for the other tribes of Israel. And here we see that the Levites only get cities. So they're asking, they're saying where are our cities at this point. Now we talked about the cities of refuge last week. So if you go to verse number 41 of Joshua chapter 21, we kind of see the conclusion of the matter, but basically the entire chapter goes through each tribe of Israel and it names the different cities in that tribe that the Levites will have. So in every single tribe there is several cities that the Levites will have. So they'll have the city and then they'll have the outskirts of those cities. So they do have some land. It's just that they don't have these massive chunks of land that is like a nation in itself. They have these cities and the suburbs around the cities for their land. So the Levites do have some property for cattle, but that's not their main inheritance. So we'll look at that towards the end of the sermon. So every single tribe is stepped through in this chapter. It says these 13 cities, these four cities in these different tribes. So literally the Levites are scattered throughout the entire nation of Israel. Look at verse 41 for a conclusion of the matter. So it goes through all the tribes and explains all the cities. And then in verse 41 it kind of gives us a conclusion. It says all the cities of the Levites with the possession of the children of Israel were 48 cities with their suburbs. So basically we had 48 cities in the 12 tribes of Israel that belong to the Levites. And they were scattered throughout all the different tribes. And then you'll also see in this chapter what we talked about last week, which is six specific cities of the 48 that were refuge cities. So we talked about the cities of refuge last week. But let's look at the Levites this evening. Why are they different? Why the cities instead of an allotment of land? Let's go back to where we've been starting with every other tribe. Go back to Genesis chapter 49. What are the Genesis chapter 49? So we see that we see 48 cities and six of those are cities of refuge. But let's go back to Jacob's prophecy about Levi. And we'll see if we can find the beginning of what happened here. Jacob's prophecy, of course, he gives to all his twelve sons. And then we've been taking that forward and seeing how that is fulfilled. Of course, Genesis chapter 49, Levi's prophecy is tied in in verse number five with Sinian's prophecy. We've already kind of talked about the story with Sinian. I'll refresh you for just a minute. But the Bible says in Genesis 49 verse five, Sinian and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul come thou into their secret, unto their assembly. Mine honor be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel. And I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. So a few different things here. Obviously this is talking about go back to Genesis 34. But let me just point out a couple of things that I purposely left out in the story of Sinian. Notice how Jacob points out their anger. He says in their anger they slew a man, and they slew much more than a man. I mean we know from the story. But in their anger, but then look what he says. He says in their anger and in their self-will. So it says their anger was driven. He says cursed be their anger. He says in the next verse. He says their anger was sinful, their anger was cursed. I'm cursing what they did because it was anger driven from what? From their self-will. What they wanted to do. We're going to look at that in a little bit more detail in a few minutes. He says for it was fierce and their wrath it was cruel. I'll divide them and I'll scatter them, he says in Israel. So he's cursing them here. I mean if you're Levi and you're hearing this, you're like my father is cursing me right now. You're not looking at this. You're going to be scattered. Your people are going to be scattered. No one wants to hear that. No one wants to hear brother so and so. Let me prophesy how your future generations are going to be. Your people are going to be scattered all over. Nobody wants to hear that. Everybody wants to hear that their generations after them will be unified and together. I mean think about what you want for your families. Raise your hand if you want all your kids just to be scattered all over the world. You know after they leave your home. Nobody wants that. People want unity and people want people to be together. Not scattered. So Levi is certainly sitting here thinking I'm being cursed. This is I'm being punished. And you know I mean Jacob it seems like he's angry here when he's saying this. Okay go back to Genesis 34 and look at verse 25. This is what they did. Of course we remember this from just a few weeks ago. But the Bible says they came to pass on the third day. So these guys they tricked Sesham and they tricked this city and they had them all circumcised. And they said oh we'll give our daughters to you to marry. You can marry our daughters but you have to be circumcised. And they came to pass on the third day when they were sore. The two of the sons of Jacob, Scythian and Levi. Dina's brethren took each man as sword and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males. And they slew Hamar and Sesham his son with the edge of the sword. And took Dinah out of Sesham's house and went out. So you know just another example that she was there willingly. She was there still again. And the sons of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city because they had defiled their sister. And they took their sheep I mean it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. They took their sheep their ox and their asses. That which was in the city and that which was in the field. And all their wealth and their little ones they took their kids and their wives they took captive and spoiled even all that was in the house. I think this was cruel what they did. This was cruel anger ridiculously cruel. Actually when you actually think about you know the you know what actually physically happened here it all stemmed from what Jacob says. It all stemmed from the anger over what had happened to their sister. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. So Levi along with Scythian and we're not going to talk about Scythian but Levi here is being cursed by Jacob for his anger and his part in this angry cruel thing that they did. So the question is and we didn't look at this the last time we went through this story but the question is this. Is anger bad altogether? Is anger just bad? Is that what it is? Look at Ephesians chapter 4. I mean think about this. Just think about it for a second. It's not the last time you were angry. Just start mixing that around in your head. Some of you look angry right now. So just think about when is the last time you were angry. But Ephesians chapter 4 is actually talking about our context. The context of Ephesians 4 is our relationships with each other. Our relationships with our brothers and sisters. And look at verse number 25. The Bible says, Wherefore put away lying? Speak every man's truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. That's pretty good advice. Let's be truthful to each other. That sounds like a good basis for relationships right there. Just be truthful. And then look at verse 26. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Now let's read that again. The Bible says here it says Be angry. You heard what that says. Wouldn't you expect it to say be not angry? When you're reading the Bible. Many times when I read the Bible the first few times I read this I'm just like I only go back all the time and I'd be like Shouldn't it say be not angry? You know? But look it says be angry and sin not. And let not the sun go down upon your wrath. So notice how it doesn't say don't ever get angry. It just says When you're angry it's saying when you're angry sin not is what it's saying. It's showing us here in this one simple phrase in this one simple verse that there can be an anger that is not sinful. So let's explore anger for just a couple of minutes. Turn to John chapter 2. Now when I asked you that question when's the last time you got angry? Was it difficult to think of the last time you got angry? Probably not right? I mean you know if you're normal and you're a human being you know you probably get angry I don't know. Hopefully not every five minutes but you know you get angry sometimes. Let's just be real. Look at John chapter 2. Look at John chapter 2. So let's break it down. Let's break it down. Let's look at anger for just a few minutes and then we'll get back to the Levi's. But this is worth looking at. Look at John chapter 2 in verse number 13. The Bible says this, And the Jews Passover was in hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And when he had, look at verse 15 and when he had made a scourge of small cords, that's a whip. He made a whip or a weapon of small cords of, you know, leather. He drained them out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables. So I mean this took some time. He drove them all out of the temple. He drove all the cattle out, all the animals out and flipped over all the tables and poured out all the money that was there. So here you had people in the temple and they were selling. Look, I've actually seen this before. I've actually seen this. When I was on a trip to Armenia I was on a business trip many, many years ago and the guys, they took me on a day off. They took me up to these churches in the mountains like these churches like completely carved out of the mountains. It was like the craziest thing I've ever seen. And it was out in the middle of nowhere and this just church carved out of this granite mountain. And of course it was a sight to see. So there was tourism there. And of course there was people literally selling doves there. And I was like why are they selling these birds and the guys told me, well if you go and you stand on this rock and you let one of the birds go you can go to heaven or something. I don't know what it was. But it was something that, it was a religious thing. They were turning it into merchandise. So I mean they had turned God's actual temple in Jerusalem into a place to sell things. Of course, you know, you use doves and you use these types of things. It was like hey, there's money to be made here and that's what they were doing. And then with verse 16 and Jesus said, and said in the name of the soul of doves take these things hence make not my father's house and house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house have eaten me up, quoting Psalm chapter 69 right there. So Jesus, Jesus, I mean clearly is angry here. That's the point. I mean the point is he literally, he sat down, turned to 1 John chapter 3. He literally sat down, he took time to make a weapon and then he uses that weapon to drive all the people and all the animals and all the cattle out of, out of the house. Now look at 1 John chapter 3. So Jesus got angry. Jesus got angry. Look at 1 John chapter 3 and verse number 4. And of course we know that Jesus is without sin but let's look at it in the Bible. Look what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 and verse number 4. Whosoever commands sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. So if you ever want to explain what sin is to anybody that's the verse right there. You know, what is sin? People don't know. Well it's when you break God's law. It's the transgression of the law. It's the definition of the word sin. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. So Jesus was without sin. He was man like us. He was flesh like us. But because he was also God he went through his entire life without sinning one time. So if Jesus got angry it clearly proves that if Jesus being angry in John chapter 2 and verse John chapter 3 are both true that there is an anger that is without sin. Now turn to Psalm chapter 7. And look we don't have to make that logical connection because the Bible just straight up tells us that God gets angry. Look at Psalm chapter 7 in verse number 11. Psalm chapter 7 in verse number 11. Look what the Bible says. Psalm break the middle of your Bible. The book of Psalms Psalm chapter 7 look at verse number 11. God judgeeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked like once. It's every day. God is angry with the wicked every day. So look the point being is that God's perfect nature gets angry. God's perfect nature gets angry every single day. So we know that there is an anger that is without sin. Now just think about this for a minute pragmatically. You've been thinking about the last time that you got angry. Think about the kind of person you know what kind of person are you or what kind of person would you be if you just never got angry. If you never had any anger towards anything ever at all in your life. Think about them. What kind of person would you be? Think what kind of father would you be? What kind of father would you be if you never got angry at anything? Like somebody was hurting your children and you're just like yeah you know I mean it's crazy to even think about something like that. What kind of mother would you be? You just never got angry. You know what kind of person in general would you be if you never got angry at anything? You would literally be a terrible human being if you never got angry at anything. And look you would be completely worthless to those around you. Just lack of anger. That one thing. You would basically have no principles. You'd have no backbone at all. You would just I mean just whatever. Yeah I mean have you ever met people like this? I have. I've met people like this. They're just like whatever about anything. Like their whole life everybody I mean they're just like whatever. You know maybe I mean I don't know maybe they're potheds or something but I mean some people just don't seem to care about anything. You know I mean I'm sure even those people would still get angry but just imagine a person that never got angry. It doesn't. I don't think that it even exists but it would be a terrible human being if that's the case. That's how stupid by the way that's how stupid this whole philosophy is today. Because you can apply everything that I'm saying about anger. It works also about hate. It's exact. I mean they're basically the same philosophy in the Bible. I mean what the Bible does say in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 it's like there's a time to love and a time to hate. So it's the same exact philosophy with anger. If you don't hate or get angry at anyone I mean that's this woke mouth today. That's what they're preaching. They're preaching oh you should never hate and you should never be angry yet they literally want to kill and harass and you know and just completely destroy people that don't exactly agree with everything that they say. They're the most angry people you ever meet. I mean they hate, harass and assault anybody that doesn't agree with their stupid philosophy. It's crazy. It's crazy. So you must be anger, hate. Look there's a place for them according to the Bible. I mean Americans, especially Christian Americans need to grow a backbone and start realizing this. Today listening to this garbage that is out there today saying oh don't ever get angry. Don't ever hate anyone as these people hate everybody that doesn't agree with them. So there is a righteous anger all that to say that. There is a righteous anger. The problem is this. So here's the other side of the coin. There's a righteous anger. God gets angry every day. And look God doesn't get angry with like God doesn't get angry with wicked things that happen. That's not what the Bible says in Psalm chapter 7. It says it doesn't say God gets angry with the wicked acts or God gets angry with the wickedness. It says God gets angry with the wicked. He's talking about the people. God gets angry with people just like God hates certain people. So there is a righteous anger in the Bible. The problem is this though. The problem is this. Now let's get back to ourselves and think about the last time you got angry. Think about the last five times you got angry. Here's the problem. People justify their anger as righteous anger all the time. That's what people will end up doing. When most of the time when us as people when we do get angry or a lot of the time or I guess it depends on the person we're just kind of in the flesh. Kind of like Levi was. He was doing what? He was serving himself with his anger. So this is what you have to add. I mean this is just plain. Somebody just loses their temper. They don't like what somebody did to them and they just lose their temper and they just explode. And they become angry. They're just in the flesh is all that is. So think about that last time you got angry. Let me ask you this. You've all got that moment in your life where you got angry the last time, you know, last year whenever it was was it in defense of God? Was it in defense of morality? Was it in defense of the word of God when you got angry? Is that why you got angry? Or was it because somebody didn't see things your way? This is what we always have to be asking ourselves because we can certainly take this oh there's a righteous anger I'm righteously angry and you can just apply that to every single thing you get angry about. And then guess what? You're just going to be an angry jerk. Is what you're going to be. You're going to be an angry negative person. This is what Ephesians chapter 4 is talking about. It's talking about number one, it's saying hey when you get angry don't sin and it says get over it quickly. Get over it quickly. So you don't sin. Implying that if you let anger really any kind of anger linger with you it's a danger of you sinning from it. Doesn't that make sense? How many times have you been in an argument where you felt like you were right at the beginning and you got so angry and then you know maybe you said some different things and all this and you're like oh man now I gotta apologize for all this stuff because you didn't get over your anger quickly and it caused you to go into sin. That's why it says in the very next verse neither give place to the devil. So you sit there and you just let yourself okay I've got a righteous anger here or maybe it's not a righteous anger either way get it done quickly or it's going to stew and it's going to boil and it's going to lead you into sin. That's what the Bible is saying in Ephesians chapter 4. Don't give place to the devil. Get it done, get it over because you'll say look you will say and do stupid things especially in unrighteous anger situations in your life and it will just bring more sin upon yourself. So this is a brilliant piece of advice in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 25, 26, and 27. So that's really the question you know what is the anger in defense of is it in defense of God in defense of His word, in defense of morality or is it in defense of myself there's your question on whether it's righteous or not righteous is it are you defending your pride that's not righteous anger so people unfortunately I think get pretty good at making unrighteous anger they kind of twist it and turn it into righteous anger in their own eyes but then you end up with an angry person that sins all the time that's how you end up with that type of person so there's a righteous anger but keep it in its place let's go back to the Levites look at 1 Chronicles chapter 23 so what about the priests what about the priests so they're scattered but they're also the priests now you know who else was a Levite let's look at 1 Chronicles chapter 23 look down at verse number 14 look down at verse number 14 of 1 Chronicles chapter 23 so yes they're scattered but what about the Levites and what about the Levite priesthood how did that come about look at 1 Chronicles chapter 23 look who was a Levite look at 1 Chronicles 23 verse number 14 now concerning Moses the man of God his sons were named of the tribe of Levite Moses and his older brother Aaron were Levites they were of the tribe of Levite turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18 Deuteronomy chapter 18 look at Deuteronomy chapter 18 and look at verse number 1 and we start to see the story come together on how the priests became or how the Levites became the priests look at Deuteronomy 18 and verse number 1 the priests the Levites and all the tribe of Levite shall have no partner or inheritance in Israel they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren the Lord is their inheritance as he has said unto them and this shall be the priests do from the people from them that offer a sacrifice whether it be oxen or sheep they shall give unto the priests the shoulder and the two cheeks and the mom the first fruit also of thy corn and thy wine and thy oil and the first of the priests of the sheep thou shalt give them for the Lord thy God have chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord him and his sons forever so the Lord God chose the Levitical tribe specifically Aaron and his family to be the Lord's priests but in Numbers chapter 3 Numbers chapter 3 you can read a lot of different things on why people think God chose the Levites but I think that the best way to look at it and the best way to think of why God chose the Levites well I think that they were loyal they were loyal to the Lord and of course Moses and Aaron were kind of the first leaders that the Lord took and take his people so it's pretty simple to see it that way but you can see after they were chosen how well they remained to the Lord look at Numbers chapter 3 for one example look at Numbers chapter 3 for one example, look at verse number 1 these also are the generations of Aaron and Moses and the day that the Lord spake with Moses in Mount Sinai and these are the names of the sons of Aaron Nadab the firstborn and Baihu, Eliezer and Ithymar Aaron the priest which were anointed whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office and Nadab and Baihu these are Aaron's sons died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai and they had no children and Eliezer and Ithymar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father and the Lord spake unto Moses saying bring the tribe of Levi here and present them before Aaron the priest that they may minister unto him and they shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole congregation before the Tabernacle of the congregation to do the service of the Tabernacle we see this priesthood of the tribe of Levi they take care of the Tabernacle and they are the priests and they shall keep all the instruments of the Tabernacle of the congregation and the charge of the children of Israel to do the service of the Tabernacle Aaron and his sons, they are holy given unto him out of the children of Israel. And now shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall he put to death." So the Bible here is saying that from now on, from this point, it is Aaron and his sons and these Levites that are going to be doing this service to the tabernacle. And it's interesting, in Numbers chapter 3 and verse number 1, here you had Aaron's own sons did something wrong, they didn't follow the proper, you know, procedures for offering to the Lord, and they decided, hey, we're going to, you know, I mean, people do this all the time. They're like, hey, I'm just going to do it my way. I know the Bible says to do it this way, but I'm just going to do it my way. Well, when it came to the priesthood, you know, the Lord just killed them. The Lord just killed them for not offering the way that they were supposed to offer and offering in a strange manner, offering strange fire. And look, those were Aaron's own sons and Aaron remained loyal and they all remained loyal to the Lord. So look, they show, the point is, they show the willingness to execute judgment regardless of the person, regardless of the person. And look, that's what the Lord needs. That's what the Lord needs. Look at Exodus chapter 32. Look at Exodus chapter 32 and look at verse number 26. Exodus chapter 32 and look at verse number 26. I mean, hey, be loyal to a man. Be loyal to a man in your life as long as he's loyal to the Lord. That's what you should do, but only as he's loyal to the Lord. Aaron's own sons and the stranger has no chance. That's the biblical Bible saying, they say, Aaron's own sons, the priest better listen to the way I say things need to be done, including the sons of the first high priest, Aaron. Look at Exodus 32 and verse 26. Here's another example of just the Levites, they're just their loyalty to the Lord. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp. This is after the golden calf and after the people had betrayed the Lord and were worshiping idols. And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? And he's saying this to everybody. Let him come unto me and look what the Bible says, and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. So it was the Levites that had the Lord's back that was super loyal to the Lord. So they were chosen to be the priests. Now how did the priests have worked? There was priests, they took care of the tabernacle and all the instruments and just the ton of work that it must have been to do all these sacrifices and constantly be doing everything that's basically listed in the book of Leviticus, but there was also a high priest, Aaron being the first. So Aaron was the high priest, Aaron was the high priest, he was the first high priest, and in Leviticus chapter 16 it explains what kind of the main, the day of atonement, you know, exercise that the high priest was supposed to do, which is once a year he would actually go into a special chamber inside the tabernacle, which later became a special chamber inside the temple itself, and go in there and do a sacrifice for the sins of the entire nation once a year. It was very specific, you can read through it in Leviticus chapter 16 on how he was supposed to do this. I mean the Bible literally says if you don't do it right, or you don't do it, you know, if you try to like go in more than once, you can't just go in whenever you want, it's like, or you're going to die, the Bible says. But go to Exodus chapter 30 in verse number 10, just go back a couple of chapters, Exodus chapter 30, look at verse number 10, and the Bible says here, talking about Aaron the first high priest, talking about this day of atonement, the Bible says, and Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements, once in the year shall he make an atonement upon it through your generations, it is the most holy unto the Lord. So this was the job of the high priest, he was to be the one that would go in once a year and make this intercession for the people. The priesthood itself, there was lots of work administering that the priest did, and we'll get to that in a minute, but the high priest himself, this was his biggest responsibility, was to go in and make this atonement for the people once a year, year after year after year, and when Aaron died there was another high priest and another high priest and another high priest, there was always a high priest up until Christ that was doing this. Now go to Matthew chapter 27, Matthew chapter 27, God put an end to the high priest with Christ, so this was a picture of Christ, this high priest. Look at Matthew chapter 27 and look at verse number 50, there's a reason that when Jesus died on the cross something very specific happened in the temple. So the temple was of course, the tabernacle was the tent and there was this inner chamber. But the temple also had this inner chamber that was separated by a veil and when Jesus died on the cross, in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 50, a very specific thing happened in the temple. I mean there was darkness, there was all these things that took place in Matthew through the fiction, there was darkness that came over the land, there was an earthquake but something very specific happened. Look at verse 50. Matthew chapter 27 and look at verse number 50. The Bible said Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. This is when Jesus physically died. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent entwined from the top to the bottom and the earthquake quake and the rocks rent. So when Jesus died, this veil that separated the normal chamber of the temple to the holy of holies or this place where the art was, it was torn. It was torn from the top to the bottom. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 4. God put an end to the high priest when Jesus died on the cross. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Look at verse 14. Because Jesus is now the new high priest. In Hebrews chapter 4, look at verse 14. All of these things that you read about in the tabernacle in the temple and throughout the Old Testament, all through the book of Leviticus, these are all pictures of what Christ was to represent. And Hebrews ties all that together. Look at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14. Look what the Bible said. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is cast into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. So the Bible here is explaining and it explains several other places in Hebrews that Jesus is now our high priest. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17. So Jesus replaced the office of the high priest. And of course Jesus had to make what's the difference. Jesus doesn't have to go and make a sacrifice year after year. Jesus had to make a sacrifice one time because he is the high priest. He's the best sacrifice and it doesn't need to be made by year after year after year. As a matter of fact, all of those sacrifices never took away sins. It was just a picture of the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It was an example of what God was going to do. Now let's look at the priesthood in general. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17. What was the job? So we see the job of the high priest. We see that Jesus replaced the high priest as Jesus was always the high priest. All the priesthood and the high priest was just a picture of Christ. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17. But what about the priesthood? What about all the other Levites? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse number 8. What about all the other Levites that were priests? If there arise a matter too hard for the in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke, between being matters and controversy within thy gates, then thou shalt arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shalt choose, and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites and unto the judge that shall be in those days and inquire and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. Deuteronomy chapter 33. So here the Bible is saying that the priests, just the Levites that were priests, they were part of actually judging the people about helping carry out justice in the nation. That was a job of the priesthood. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 33. Look at verse number 8. So that's a big job talking about just all kinds of matters. Imagine a massive nation with hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people. There's going to be a lot of conflict. There's going to need to be people that will be able to judge conflict and deal with all these situations and dish out justice is what the Bible is saying. Look at Deuteronomy 33. Look at verse number 8. And of Levi he said, Let thy Thugan and thy Urum be with a holy one whom thou didst prove at Massa and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Maraba who said unto his father and to his mother, they were not seen in, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children, for they had observed thy word and kept thy covenant. They, being the Levites, they shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law, and shall put incense before thee and the whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. So we already know that the priests, they do the work of the Tabernacle, all these sacrifices that were done. The day of Atonement, sacrifice. They also were involved, not just in the work of the temple and all the sacrifices and everything that went with that, they were involved in judging the people. And then we see in Deuteronomy 33, it was their responsibility to teach the law to the people. I mean it would make sense, right? It would make sense if you had a nation that you were going to judge out of the book of the law. It would make sense to probably do a little bit of preliminary, you know, teaching so maybe you wouldn't have so many trials and you have to deal with it. Because people don't know what's right and what's wrong. So that was put upon the Levitical priesthood itself, was they were to not only just judge, but they were also to be proactive in teaching the law to the nation. That's a big job. That's a big job to be out there in teaching the law to the nation. They say, well, man, that's been terrible to be there. Well, I got bad news for you. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. So we see that there's a high priest. That high priest was just a picture. It was a picture of Jesus Christ. Look, guess who you're dealing with today? We're dealing with Jesus Christ directly today. That's who we, as saved believers, deal with. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. So what about the priesthood? This is where the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer comes in, right here. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 9. 1 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 9. The Bible says, but ye, meaning believers in Jesus, you all sitting here tonight, ye are a chosen generation. A what? A royal priesthood and a holy nation of peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him that he called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Look, the tribe of Levi and the priesthood of the Levites is a picture for us today. We are the priesthood today. You say, Jesus is the high priest. Who's the priesthood? Who are the priests? It's us. It's us. Christ is our high priest. We have access to the Father that the high priest would go in and intercession into the holy place. We have access to the Father through Jesus Christ. But the priesthood itself is us. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, look at verse 18. The Bible says about Jesus. I can just read it for you. For through him, we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Look, there's a lot there in that verse right there. Or there's the Trinity right there in that verse. The Trinity is in a lot of verses in the Bible. But look, there's a lot in that verse but the point being is that we have access through our high priesthood to Jesus Christ. But back to the priesthood is us which means that we have the same responsibility that the priesthood in the Old Testament had. Which is what? What was the responsibility? Well, we're not taking care of a temple but the Bible says that our body is a temple. We do have a church here that we take care of but the bottom line is we are to teach the law to the people. We are to know what the Bible says and we are to go out and teach the law to the people. We are to preach, as Jesus would say it was Jesus preaching, the kingdom of heaven. We are to preach the kingdom of heaven to the people. That is our priesthood. We are to carry the gospel. And then when people come to church, we are to teach the law. Is what we're to do. So look, it's our priesthood. It's our priesthood. The Levitical priesthood is just a picture of what we're supposed to do. So when you're reading about the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament, just be thinking how does this apply to me? Because that's what you are. You're a priest today. It's a perfect picture. It's a perfect picture of how God used something in the Old Testament to show what our responsibilities are going to be today. Now let me make one last comment about the Levites. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Now I bet if you were Levite so we see that the Levites are just a great picture of the believer today. You ever heard, if you ever hear the doctrine the priesthood of the believer, it's exactly what I just preached to you. Now look, look at Deuteronomy chapter 10 and look at verse number 9. I kind of read past this in a verse already but I want to go back to this. But just imagine being Levite and having your dad, Jake, upset you. Cursive be your anger. You are going to be scattered amongst Israel. Cursive be yourself serving angry, cruelty. You know, you're just like, you know, I mean all the others, he's like, well Ruben didn't give such a good one, but all the others he's like, oh you know, you're going to be strong and aligns wealth and you know all this and you are like Cursive be your anger, you're going to be scattered everywhere and you're just kind of like you know, but I just want to show you look at Deuteronomy chapter 10 in verse number 9. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 10 in verse number 9. Look what the Bible says in verse number 9 of Deuteronomy 10. No part nor inheritance with his brethren. So that sounds bad. That sounds bad. That's kind of probably what what Levite heard when Jacob was giving the Genesis chapter 49, you know, a curse upon him. But then look what the Bible says. The Lord is his inheritance. According as the Lord thy God promised him. So here we see here we see with it with the tribe of the Levites. We see something in Genesis chapter 49 that seems like this terrible curse. Yes, Levi did a terrible thing as an individual. Levi and Simeon did a terrible thing. It was horribly cruel. They murdered all these people. They kidnapped all these people. But look at what God did as this tribe became super loyal to the Lord. They became, I mean Moses and Aaron came from this tribe that led the children of Israel literally into, you know, well, up to the promised land and just, you know, advocated for the Lord and advocated for the people again and again and again. Aaron became the first high priest and then his sons became the high priest just serving the Lord, serving the Lord, serving the Lord. Look what the Bible does. Look what the Bible does with this curse. He turns it into this wonderful blessing because they didn't get land. They didn't get land. They didn't get borders. They didn't get these chunks. So we looked at these, you know, we looked at the five insignificant tribes. They got the little tiny pieces and Dan had this little tiny piece and they went and they raided this city and got some more land because they weren't strong enough to conquer the land they were supposed to in the first place. No, you look at Judah. Well, they had a lot of land. You look at Ephraim. They did pretty well. They came out of it pretty well. But but they got the Lord. Their curse became this huge blessing. So that's what the Lord can do with things that you may see, you may see as a curse at first. You may see something in your life that's like, you know what, I'm being punished for this but look, God can turn that into anything that he wants in ways that you can't even tell you can't even see. Because I'm sure Levi didn't have anything positive that he was thinking that would come out of this. Yet this tribe generations later, hundreds of years later, ended up being the ones that were the most loyal to him that had the Lord's back and he literally is like, yeah, you're not going to get any land. Instead, you're going to get me as your inheritance. They were going to get the Lord as their inheritance. Think about that when you're serving the Lord in your life. Think about that inheritance in your life. I know it's hard not to think about things that you need in your life. Things that you have to purchase and things and we all want to live comfortable lives but look, the most important inheritance this horrible curse became the best blessing out of all the tribes. And that can happen to you as well as you are a priest and you go out and you serve the Lord and you're loyal to the Lord and you have God's back and God will give you himself as an inheritance. These are your rewards in heaven. You will also reward you here. You know what I mean? The Lord will be your inheritance just, I mean, you are the priest. This, do it around me chapter 10 and verse number 9 it applies to you that the Lord is your inheritance. I mean, are you a priest? It is what you need to act yourself this evening. Are you serving the Lord? Are you loyal to the Lord? Are you teaching the law to your families? Are you teaching the law to people? Do you want to disciple people? Are you out preaching the gospel to people? That's your priesthood. And from that work, from that priesthood your reward is God. That's what the Bible teaches us here and that's what we can take away from this. I mean this great what Levi thought for sure was a curse became the most blessed tribe in the whole nation of Israel. Let's bow our heads.