Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. If I have not had the joy to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. If you have a Bible, would you open up to the book of Leviticus? We're going to be in chapter three. And guess what? This is the last Sunday of our series in not the book of Leviticus. I got you all excited. And the feast of Israel. We're actually almost done with this book, but this is our last Sunday talking about the feast of Israel. To launch into this, I want to share with you one of my least favorite words, because behind this word is one of my least favorite things to see in myself or in someone else. Here's the word entitlement.
[00:00:51] You even feel like, just as, like, ooh, like, there's this sense of like, oh, you know, like when you see it in yourself or you see it in somebody else, it's objectively just ugly. So entitlement says this.
[00:01:04] I deserve this.
[00:01:08] The world owes me.
[00:01:12] You owe me.
[00:01:15] Entitled people, here's a few things that you can kind of identify them with. They seem to be above the rules. Well, that doesn't apply to me. I'm special. I'm different.
[00:01:27] Oftentimes entitled people, they demand things that they didn't even work for.
[00:01:35] Sometimes you'll notice somebody is entitled because they'll kind of jump into a group of people and they'll just start making executive decisions for the entire group, not because anybody asks them to, but because their ideas are the best and I'm me.
[00:01:46] Or sometimes you'll notice maybe someone's entitled because they go and they buy things that they objectively don't have money for go into debt. Why? Because I deserve it.
[00:01:57] You know this. When you see entitlement, and we're all. We are all at one time, we have had grossly entitled Hearts. And one of the best ways to be convicted of it is to see it in someone else, see how ugly it is, and say, I don't want an ounce of that in my heart. Now, entitlement doesn't just begin big and ugly. It actually has a progression to it. So let's kind of walk through the progression of entitlement. Entitlement begins with forgetfulness. You're forgetting who you really are and who God really is. For example, every single thing you have, it's from him. And every penny you've ever made, every accolade you've ever received, it didn't get to you unless Jesus first gave permission for it to get to you. And so we step back, we're like, here's who I am, and here's who you are. But then forgetfulness very quickly turns to ingratitude. I mean, why would I be grateful, God, when I'm pretty sure I'm the one who built this business. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who built this department. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who built this body. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who did it for forgetting, right? Where did you even get the ability to do those things in the first place?
[00:03:06] Well, ingratitude inevitably turns to credit stealing, because I'm gonna begin to take credit in my life for things that I should objectively be giving God glory for.
[00:03:18] Well, then credit stealing. When you watch somebody do this, you start to see a heart of arrogance, and I think you all would know this. There is a difference between the haughty and the humble. There's a difference in how they walk. There's a difference in how they talk. There's a difference in how they carry themselves. And somebody who thinks more highly of themselves than they should, they walk with a haughtiness to them.
[00:03:44] So, so far, what I've described is a progression. And for most people, we're smart enough to not say things out loud like, you owe me.
[00:03:54] But every once in a while, our heart betrays us through our words. And the next progression is we become demanding.
[00:04:04] I want this.
[00:04:07] I need this.
[00:04:09] I must have this.
[00:04:12] You must give this to me.
[00:04:16] I won't give you what you want till you give me what I want.
[00:04:22] And when you hear these things, and I'm telling you, the older you live, the more you hear verbally, sentiments like this come out of people's mouths. In kids, we understand it. But as you grow up to be an adult, you're like, that is ugly.
[00:04:38] Well, when the entitled person doesn't get what they want, they now become, finally the powder, the pouting, the victim.
[00:04:48] How could you withhold this from me?
[00:04:53] You don't love me. If you loved me, you would meet my demands and give me what I want. Can we just agree? Entitlement, whether it's in the heart or it's gotten big enough that it's coming out through your mouth and demands, entitlement is ugly.
[00:05:08] Entitlement is ugly all the time. And every single one of us in this room have a heart that leans in the direction of entitlement. It's part of having a sinful nature. Now with entitlement in our minds, welcome to this last series. On feast. And what God did is he designed an entire annual feast to kill entitlement in the nation of Israel before entitlement killed them. Now, every one of these feasts that God has set up for the nation of Israel, he has designed them to instill a core value into the nation that would last for generations. So let's just take a brief moment, and we're gonna summarize the feast so far and what we've seen. We have, number one, the feast of Passover, which the core value here is without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
[00:05:57] The feast of unleavened bread. We get rid of sin the moment we realize it. The feast of first fruits. God gets your first and your best for his mission. I forgot to put this one up, but it's supposed to say the feast of weeks or Pentecost. We sow gospel siege, and we watch God provide the harvest. The feast of trumpets. Now we confess our sins, and we live in the joy of forgiveness. The feast of Yom Kippur. We didn't preach on that in this series because a few months back, I preached in Leviticus, chapter 16, on the feast of Yom Kippur. You can go back and listen to that sermon. But we remember this, that we need a holy mediator between us and God and a perfect sacrifice for our sins. And this morning, we get to the final one, which is the feast of Sukkot. And here's the core value. We give God alone all the glory for all that we have. Now, you might be wondering, Sukkot. That is a funny word. Sukkot literally means a tenta or a booth. Or you might know the word tabernacle. And here's just kind of a picture of what a sukkot or a tabernacle or a booth would have looked like at this time. And it literally looks like a booth that you're gonna find at some event, right? And so this is a dwelling place where people would live if they were in a more nomadic situation instead of a permanent situation. All right, Leviticus, chapter 23. We're gonna explain what Sukkot is, but here's the challenge of Sukkot. Sukkot is like explaining it is like explaining Christmas to somebody who has never heard of Christmas before, because not only are they, like, the big things, and then there's the calendar, but every country does it a little bit different, and every culture does it a little bit different, and every family does it a little bit different. So you have, like, these core values, but the way it is expressed all over the world, and even over time, it shifts. So what I'm gonna try to do is I can't deal with all the nuance and facets of Sukkot because it is a very complex, rich feast holiday festival. So what I am going to do is I'm going to try to just focus on a few of the highlights. But if you kind of get into this and you're like, I would like to know a bit more. There is a great website called templeinstitute.org. dot. It is a jewish website, not a christian website, but what it does is it actually shows you with pictures and explanations all of the different aspects of Sukkot, especially aspects that are more traditions that are extra biblical, super helpful, very insightful. So if you want more, you can go there. But for now, we're going to be Leviticus, chapter 23. We're going to start in verse 39. I want you to notice the dominant theme of Sukkot on the 15th day of the 7th month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land. This is the grain harvest happens in the fall. So after you have brought it all in, you shall, what's the word?
[00:08:53] Celebrate the feast of the Lord. Seven days. We'll go to verse 40, and you shall say with me, rejoice before the Lord your God. Seven days. Verse 41, you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute throughout your generations. Verse 41, you shall everybody. What is that? Celebrate it in the 7th month. So to start off, Sukkot is a week of great and joyous celebration. Every aspect of Sukkot is designed to celebrate God, his presence with us, his provision for us. Anything less than celebration and joy on Sukkot is sort of just missing the mark. And so all of these traditions happen. There would be on Sukkot, there'd be worship, there'd be offerings, there would be communal parties, there would be traditions that every family had their unique way of doing things. There would be daily worship services, there would be unique, like really quite a few sacrifices that happened every single day of Sukkot. It was really an amazing week, very much like the few days before Christmas, how we kind of just have all of these things that happen in the church calendar and our family calendars, and we all come together on multiple occasions, very similar to what Sukkot is like. Deuteronomy 1615 describes Sukkot this way.
[00:10:18] For seven days, you shall keep the feast of the Lord your God at the place. The Lord will choose. Because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you will be altogether joyful. Can I get an amen village church on that one? Like, how many of us were like, bless the work of our hands. Bless our produce, bless our jobs. We would love to have provision and then step back and say, God, all of this was from you, for you. And we give you all the glory. But life doesn't always work like that, does it? Number two, Sukkot is a week long reality check. Look at verse 42.
[00:11:02] You shall dwell in booths, tents, tabernacles. You shall. You should dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths. Now, there was one thing that would get in the way of Sukkot being a time of joy and celebration. And we'll summarize it in one word. Can you guess what that word is?
[00:11:30] Entitlement.
[00:11:33] Everybody in Israel, from the extremely wealthy to the poorest of the poor, from the king to beggars, everyone had to live in a humble tent for an entire week.
[00:11:51] For an entire week. There were no classes. Everyone was equal.
[00:11:57] And it was a stark, vivid reminder that we all come from the same place, and every single good gift we have is from God.
[00:12:09] And it's a stark reminder that every single thing you have, it's not just from God. It was only ever given by the permission of God. Have you ever gone on vacation and you've slept in, like, beds, that you're just like, I can't sleep. I can't sleep. And then all of a sudden, you get out of that bed, you go home, and you sleep in your own bed. And the great joy and satisfaction. Anybody else know that feeling? Like, if you're sleeping on the ground in Sukkot and you all of a sudden get back to your bed, you're like, God, thank you. Thank you for every single thing that you have provided for me. But if you're entitled and Sukkot is coming up, you might say something like, people like me don't live in tents.
[00:12:52] Or, I didn't work hard my whole life to live like this.
[00:12:58] Or, we left that old life behind. Why would we go back and revisit it? So verse 43 tells us a little bit more as to why they do this.
[00:13:11] He says that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Here's the deal. God is giving them these instructions while they are in the wilderness. But there is going to come a day when they go into a land of plenty, and there's going to come a day when they have children who never, ever experienced the difficulty of the wilderness.
[00:13:44] And if you have a mom and a dad who have entitled hearts, guess what happens to their children's heart? It becomes even more entitled and ugly. And so here's what God does. God's like, listen, this first generation, you know what it's like to live in tabernacles, tents, or booths? You know what it's like to live in danger? You know what it's like to have every single day provision from God, like your food and your water? They came from him. You were protected by God himself. You know what that's like. But your children have never known that. So for generations, every year, every one of your entitled children, they're gonna go live in tents to be reminded of where our people came from.
[00:14:25] Now, our student ministries, they had a local mission trip called Edge. And I love this. It's like their own little feast of booths of tabernacles, because they got to live in tents for, I think, three nights. And I'll tell you, one night it rained. Like, I woke up and it was pouring rain. I was like, lord, I feel so bad for those kids who are going to get soaking. I mean, it was torrential rain. And you know what happens when you get out of those tents and you go back to your bed? You're like, praise God, from whom all blessings flow. When you come out of the booths, your heart of gratitude goes through. Goes through the roof.
[00:15:01] Okay, so there's more about the why. So, Sukho, it's a week long celebration. It's a week long reality check, but it's also a reenactment of what life was like in the wilderness.
[00:15:13] So turn with me to the book of deuteronomy. We're gonna be chapter eight. We're gonna start in verse three.
[00:15:19] Why did God make Israel dwell in tense? Why is he doing all of this? Verse three says, and he humbled you how? I mean, if you have to live intense your entire life as a nomadic person, when all you want is to have a home, that's a humbling experience.
[00:15:42] Verse three tells us more. It says, and he humbled you and let you hunger. Now, did he let them hunger forever? No. Verse three goes on and says, he fed you with manna, which is funny, because the word manna literally means, what is it he fed you with? What is it? Which you did not know. Nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
[00:16:14] You think that bread is what you need more than anything else. Everything comes by the permission of Jesus. And so, as Israel celebrated Sukkot daily meals celebration, they were being reminded every year what God saved them from. Not just slavery in Egypt that was Passover, but also of living a wandering, nomadic, unsafe tent life.
[00:16:41] Now, he didn't leave them hungry forever. We need to go back to verse two. I skipped this on purpose. Let's look at this. He says, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you. And then he goes on, he says this, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments.
[00:17:09] There's a principle here, and I think we all, as followers of Christ, need to become really comfortable with what I'm about to tell you. God intentionally allows discomfort.
[00:17:23] This is the way he works, and he has always worked this way. Some of us have this little prosperity gospel in our heart. We're like, God, if you loved me, you would never let me feel pain or anything of the sort. You make my life easy.
[00:17:35] Apparently, Jesus is really clear that in this life, you're gonna have trials and tribulation. I'm gonna give you four reasons why God allows discomfort. Number one is that you might be tested. And this is from verse two, will I obey him when it's hard?
[00:17:52] I need you to hear this. The nation of Israel failed miserably, and God killed all of them. But two, in the wilderness, they absolutely failed the test. And apparently a grumbling, complaining in grateful spirit toward God irritates him. Second to very few things.
[00:18:11] And I also can see here that there's a principle that your future kingdom opportunities are likely on the line with how you respond to difficulty today.
[00:18:23] I'm just gonna let that sink in.
[00:18:25] The things that God has for you in the future. He is testing our obedience. And Jesus reiterates his teaching.
[00:18:33] God intentionally allows discomfort. Number two, that you and I might be humbled.
[00:18:39] How many of you want to be humbled? I don't, in any way. It is never easy. It is always challenging. The human heart has a bent towards entitlement, arrogance and pride. And so this is one of the reasons that God allows discomfort, challenges and difficulty. It is to keep us humbled. Now, this is interesting, because when we understand the way that God has made the body, the mind, the heart, all of this.
[00:19:06] We are designed to flourish and to thrive when we are dependent on God. It's the way we're made. And when we become independent, when we become self dependent, things stop working. Cause that's not the design. And here's what God knows. I need you to be dependent on me if you're going to be my people and flourish. So here's what I've learned with adults all of every age.
[00:19:34] I don't know that I've met an adult who's lived ten years as being an adult who said, man, life is so easy. There's never been a challenge or a trial.
[00:19:41] Everybody I know says the same thing. Life is hard.
[00:19:46] And God, he could have stopped any one of the difficulties that came our way. He could have. And yet one of his objectives is to test you and to keep us humble and dependent.
[00:19:58] Number three, God. Intentional discomfort. That you would never forget that God is the source of everything. Everything you have, everything you have is from God.
[00:20:13] Oftentimes, difficulties threaten something that we really value.
[00:20:17] And then we are reminded in those moments that the only reason we have this thing in the first place is because of Jesus permission.
[00:20:26] Number four, God intentionally allows discomfort to do you good in the end. Verse 16, it says, God, who fed you in the wilderness with Manna. What is it? Manna that your fathers did not know that he might humble you and tests you. And this phrase, so striking to do you good. In the end, in the moment, difficulty does not feel good, does it?
[00:20:57] It's scary, it's challenging. You can't see how things are going to play out. Your brain goes to the what if?
[00:21:05] But whatever difficulty God allows into your life, or maybe ordainse, is so that in the end, when you have the opportunity to look back on it, you will say, God was good, and I am more like Jesus because of what he allowed me to go through.
[00:21:28] Typically, before God blesses his children with more, he refines them with difficulty. And so what you have to understand is when you're in a season of difficulty, God is looking to humble you, God is looking to ground you, he is testing you, and it is all for your good. Now, let's just be honest about something.
[00:21:51] We are generally petrified of the wilderness. How do I know this?
[00:21:56] If I just start listening to some of the most dominant prayers that I pray? And I've heard you guys pray a lot, and most prayers actually sound something like this. Now, you're not using these words, but here are the themes.
[00:22:08] God, take this wilderness from me. God get me out of this wilderness. God protect me from the wilderness. Like the majority of our prayers when we ask God for things is get me out. I don't want to experience the pain, the difficulty, the challenge, the trauma of being in the wilderness. And so we are like regularly begging, God, protect me, safety, security, protect me. I don't want to deal with it. And God's like, still being tested. The humbling process isn't over yet. And by the way, when this difficulty is over, do you think there's going to be another one on the horizon? The answer is yes.
[00:22:47] We're petrified of the wilderness.
[00:22:50] God is not afraid of the wilderness because in the wilderness, this is where dependence is learned and entitlement is killed.
[00:23:00] The very thing that you need to flourish as a human dependence on God and this great threat to your dependence on God, entitlement. The wilderness is the place where God shows you dependence and kills entitlement.
[00:23:16] The rest of deuteronomy eight, it describes in detail the true danger of the wilderness.
[00:23:23] What's interesting, this is lying ahead for Israel and the greatest danger in the wilderness. It's really not the wilderness. It's not even the Canaanites who are dwelling in the areas around the land, these evil people.
[00:23:38] The true danger of the wilderness is actually God's future blessing that they're going to have on the other side of the wilderness. That may sound weird, but I want you to watch this in verse seven. Here's what he says. He's talking about the land that they're going to go into. They're not there yet, but they're going to go. He says, for the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. A land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills. Guys, is this like a great place? You'd want to have a home. A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive trees and honey. A land which you will eat bread without scarcity. That's my favorite line in here. Eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. Verse ten. And you shall eat and be full. And you shall after you are full. Bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Okay, Pastor Michael, what's the danger? Look at verse eleven.
[00:24:40] Take care lest. Funny word. Lest you forget the Lord your God. You're not forgetting his existence. You're forgetting that he is the source of every penny, every provision that comes into your life.
[00:25:02] Take care. Lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I commanded you today. I'm above the rules. I'm entitled. Verse twelve. Here's the word again. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
[00:25:47] The human heart has space for one God, one provider, and for one to get the glory.
[00:25:57] And our heart voraciously desires to be that one.
[00:26:04] And God knows this. And the human heart, it needs to be tamed. It needs to be disciplined, because it's bent, especially in prosperity, is entitlement and pride and arrogance in a demanding spirit. And so God loves us so much that he allows discomfort to train and to discipline. The human heart.
[00:26:34] Verse 15 clues us a little bit into some of the physical dangers of the wilderness. Verse 15, he says, who led you through talking about Yahweh, the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions? How many of you are petrified of spiders? Okay, snakes, give me a hand. Raise on this one. Snakes. Mice. Just for fun. That's my wife.
[00:27:04] Who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water? Who brought you water out of the flinty rock? Who led you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end, the greatest dangers of the wilderness, it was not marauders. It wasn't the heat of the day. It wasn't the frigid cold of night. It wasn't the wild animals that wanted to tear you into pieces. It wasn't the fiery serpents and the scorpions. It wasn't the lack of food. It wasn't the lack of safety. The greatest danger in the wilderness is that they would build a heart of entitlement and take this heart with them into the promised land.
[00:27:48] And so God went out of his way to make sure we are going to keep this nation humble. And every single year, the people are going to gather, even generations after. These people, generations later, had no experience of having to live in tents for 40 years. But God was going to make sure that the people of Israel regularly subjected themselves to this kind of humility so that they might kill entitlement verse 17 brings us back to the warning. He says, beware, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.
[00:28:28] Sukkot is about remembering.
[00:28:31] Sukkot is about humbling ourselves so that God doesn't have to.
[00:28:38] Sukkot is about putting ourselves in our rightful place as the receivers and God in his rightful place as our master, king, and provider.
[00:28:51] Verse 18, you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers. As it is to this day, I want to share with you two. So whats about Sukkot? Number one, kill entitlement. Everywhere. It's ugly, but especially spiritual entitlement. Let's play a little game. You might be spiritually entitled if you withhold from others what God has lavished upon you. Why? It's mine. It's mine, Gollum. Okay.
[00:29:32] I will not do an oppression because it'll be terrible.
[00:29:35] Number two, you willfully sin on a regular basis. Why? Because I want it. I need it. It's mine. I have to have this thing.
[00:29:46] You withhold your first and your best from Jesus. Why?
[00:29:52] Because I'm the most important. Because I deserve this.
[00:29:59] You worship number four when it's convenient. Why?
[00:30:04] Well, I'm tired.
[00:30:08] My comfort is more important today than the exaltation of my God.
[00:30:13] You might be spiritually entitled to death, but God's antidotes for spiritual entitlement through Sukkot are very simple.
[00:30:19] Celebratory worship for provision. Whatever God provides. It might be financial, it might be a friendship, it might be a thing. It might be a gift. We stop and we worship and we say, God, thank you. This is from you, and I want to use it for your glory.
[00:30:37] Second antidote is we give to God the first and the best of all of our provision. God, whatever you give to me, I'm going to handle this in a way that makes sure that you are first because I am yours, period. I want to make sure that I'm using these things to build your kingdom. Number three, intentionally humbling yourself. I think the more physically blessed you are, especially for your children. This is really important. I just so love that God, on an annual basis, subjected every single israelite to live in a tent for seven days.
[00:31:15] And so sometimes we have to enter into willingly, against maybe even our impulses, into circumstances that are profoundly uncomfortable and profoundly humbling. When we were in Mexico this last week, a bunch of our students had the opportunity to go into, literally, the dump. And you know what they called it? The dump. And there are a crew of people, most of whom are all drug addicts and alcoholics, who live in the dump. And every day, the trash people, what he called the cars, garbage trucks. I was like, there's a word for it. They show up and they just dump more and more trash. People die in there. They get shoved over by the movers, pushed over the edge. Their bodies are forgotten forever. And it was a beautiful experience to be able to sit that night and listen to our students process, who had the opportunity to go to the dump, and every single one of them, their reaction, yes, was sadness, heartbreak.
[00:32:24] But with God, it was gratitude. God, thank you. Like, I didn't choose to be born to these parents.
[00:32:35] I didn't choose to be born in this place. I didn't choose to have this home, to be born in this country at this time. I didn't choose any of this. And yet, God, here I am. Like, that could. That could be me.
[00:32:46] And when you take yourself out of your comfort and subject yourself to profound discomfort, it does something powerful in your heart, and you realize you're not better than them, but you have been profoundly blessed and protected.
[00:33:05] And so this thing happens in our students heart, where they are just filled with gratitude. Like when they went on the edge trip and they sleep in tents and they get home. Like, the whole design of all of this is to put kids in environments that are way outside of their comfort zone, and they should walk away with immense, immense gratitude to God. But moms and dads, we probably all need this, don't we?
[00:33:30] I don't care how poor you are. You are richer than the majority of people on planet earth right now if you're in this room or watching this.
[00:33:37] And so we have to take this time to say, we're going to. We're gonna do something irrational. We're gonna take a week as a family, a couple days, and we're gonna kill entitlement. We're gonna put our phones away, and we're gonna do something insane. We're gonna serve. We're gonna live humbly. I'm not saying don't go on vacation. I'm saying, but sometimes when you start seeing entitlement in your kids or your grandkids, sometimes we just gotta step back and say, we need to inject some humility, because if I don't create a culture of humility, God's going to.
[00:34:07] And so we humble ourselves before we force God's hand to do it in our family.
[00:34:14] So at number two, Sukkot was always ultimately about Jesus. They didn't know that when this was made, they thought it was a holiday to commemorate God and keep him first and to really just make sure we're celebrating his provision.
[00:34:30] So here's what happened with the festival structure. There were seven festivals, and the first four were what's called springtime festivals. And what's interesting is, when Jesus came the first time, the first four festivals found their fulfillment in him. So, for example, Passover. Look to Jesus's crucifixion. Jesus blood covers the sins of all. Who would believe the feast of unleavened bread? Looked at Jesus sinless body. He was our sinless sacrifice. First fruits. Look to Jesus, who is God's first and best given for us. The first, the festival of weeks, or pentecost. Look to the coming of the Holy spirit, the spirit of Jesus in us and with us. The last three festivals are what's called the fall festivals, and they are all fulfilled in Jesus, but not at his first coming. They're all fulfilled at his second coming. And so we have the feast of trumpets, which looks forward to the second coming of Jesus, which when he comes back, there's going to be a great trumpet that everybody will hear, and we will know exactly what it means. We have the day of atonement, which looks forward to the final judgment of Jesus, when all sin everywhere will be publicly exposed and dealt with justly forever. And then finally, we have Sukkot, which looks forward to the day when Jesus dwells with his people forever, looking forward to the new heaven and the new earth, where God and man dwell together forever.
[00:35:58] Jesus is a beautiful reminder that God also dwelled in a sukkot, in a tent in the nation of Israel. God himself dwelled in a tabernacle, a portable, movable tent.
[00:36:14] Finally, they built him a temple. But for a long time, God dwelled and moved around in a tent with the nation of Israel, because our God, as glorious as he is, is a humble goddess. And then even after the temple was actually built and he had a house of stone with a ceiling that was permanent and immovable, God became flesh, and he took on a human tent, a human tabernacle. And his name is church. You can say it. Jesus. John 114 says, it's the word. The eternal God became flesh, and he dwelt among us. And what's interesting is this word dwelt. It's the word. It's the verb for tabernacle. He tabernacled. He tented among us, and the tent he took up was the human body of Jesus.
[00:37:06] At Christmas, we celebrate Emmanuel God with us. In the most amazing act of humility, the son of God laid aside the privileges of deity and took on a human tent. Now, over the centuries, just like Christmas, Sukkot began to develop all of these new traditions and things that the people of God would do necessarily commanded in the scripture, but they're not bad either. So by the time we get to Jesus, about 2000 years ago, in the second temple period, there is all of these traditions that happened. And in fact, what I want to do is I want to explain two of them for you, because as we explain them, we're going to make sense of some things that Jesus said on the festival of Sukkot that were really important. So here's the first ceremony that actually happens during Sukkot about 2000 years ago. It's called the water drawing ceremony. So each day in Sukkot, a priest would draw water from the pool of Siloam and there would be trumpets and there would be singing and celebration. This was like a huge parade. And so what the priest would do is he would take this water and he would go from the pool of Siloam, he would go to the temple and he would pour it out. And he would pour it out as an offering. And the water symbolized the provision of God. It was God, thank you for sending the rain so that we could have this water. It also functioned like a prayer. Would you continue to be our great provider? And this ceremony was one of the most joyous that the Israelites had. In fact, the way many of the Jews 2000 years ago would describe it is that this was the best of all the feasts, the most joyous, the most happy. And so I want to read to you from what's called the Mishnah. It's jewish writings that happened about one to 200 years after Jesus. And here's what they said about Sukkot. He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life.
[00:39:07] Another section of the Mishnah describes it this way. The pious and men of good deeds used to dance before them with lighted torches in their hands, and they sing songs and praises. And the Levites without number, with harps and lyres and cymbals and trumpets and other musical instruments were there. I mean, this was an enormous party. So with that in mind, I want you to just look at John, chapter seven with me. Look at verse one it says this. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee, he would not go about in Judea. By the way, that's where Jerusalem is and where the feast of tabernacles, or booths, Sukkot, is being celebrated because the Jews were seeking to kill him. So would you guys go to a place where people are trying to kill you? And he goes, no. Now the Jews feast of Booths Sukkot was at hand by the end of the chapter, chapter seven, what you find is that at the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus kind of sneaks into Jerusalem, shows up at this water drying ceremony. It's a huge party. And here's what happens in verse 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and he cried out, by the way, this is not like a, hey, everybody. This is like shouting at the top of his lungs, breaking through the chaos, the noise, the trumpets, the instruments, the celebration.
[00:40:26] Jesus stood up and he cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
[00:40:33] Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And Sukkot is the context, as God provided you water, if you want the water that leads to everlasting life, not just life here that sustains you, it's Jesus.
[00:40:56] Now, there's a second ceremony that happened during Sukkot, and it was called the illumination ceremony. And the illumination ceremony would happen between days two and six because days one and seven were a sabbath. Two to six, it would happen at dawn into the night and go throughout the entire night. This also was a huge, huge party just for fun. They had jugglers. I mean, that is an actual thing like people described it. And so what would happen is they would have these four enormous menorahs or lampstands that were so big, and then they had four bowls at the top of them. And then each of them are filled with oil. And then a young priest would go up and he would light each of them on fire, and they would say that it was so bright when all of these were lit that they would. That it would light up the entire city of Jerusalem. And they would party all night long under these lights. They would dance, they would sing. This is now the same night where Jesus interrupted the water drawing ceremony and basically said, I'm the water of life. Jesus now is going to interrupt this ceremony in John 812. And here's what he does. This is all going on. The light is lit, there are jugglers, and Jesus says, hey, everybody, excuse me.
[00:42:13] I am the light of the world. It's happening at this ceremony. And whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
[00:42:25] How do you think the religious leaders felt when Jesus interrupted their party, right? Interrupted their celebration and said, by the way, it's me again. Like, I'm the light of life. I'm the water of life.
[00:42:41] All the provision that you need, I'm it. I'm the source. All the direction you need. You want to know who God is and what's important and what to do. You want to know what is real and true. You want to live not in darkness, but in light. That all comes from me. And so Jesus shouts out, I am the water. I am the provision, I am the light. And what we find here is that Jesus takes this festival and he makes it all about himself. Why? Because at the end of the day, Sukkot and every other one of the festivals was ultimately about Jesus.
[00:43:15] And so if you're here and you're a believer, here's the response to Sukkot.
[00:43:20] Everything you have is from God. Be filled with unbelievable gratitude and generosity. But if you are not a believer and you are here, here's the message for you.
[00:43:32] Everything you need is only found in Jesus.
[00:43:37] All the provision you need, temporary and eternal, all the direction you need about life, answers to questions, all of it is only ever found in Jesus. And so if you're here today and you have never trusted in Jesus, I have great news for you. He is offering you reconciliation with Goddesse, forgiveness of sins for anyone who believes in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And if you were here today and you have never trusted in him, the great news is that God offers you forgiveness and he offers to tabernacle in your heart by the Holy Spirit. Any person who trusts in Jesus has forgiveness of sins, the spirit dwelling in you, and the promise of eternity with God in his presence. I cannot think of a better deal. Shall we pray? Village church? Let's do this. Father, we love you. We're thankful. We are grateful. Thank you for your word. Thank you for these feasts. Thank you for the core values that you are instilling in the nation of Israel. And you are still instilling these core values into our hearts today.
[00:44:40] Kill entitlement in us.
[00:44:43] Create humility in us. Please teach us to humble ourselves and God. If there's someone who does not know you as their God, would you show them the beauty and the truth that Jesus is their spiritual water and he is their light.
[00:44:58] We love you. We pray all of this, we do it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
