Good morning, everyone.
I say this every week, but I mean it every week.
It really is a joy and a privilege to worship with you
and to be able to preach God's word to you.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 23.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand
and we'll bring a Bible to you
that you can use while you're here.
We are at the end of the book of the covenant
in Exodus 23 verses 10 to 19 today.
I think we've been in Exodus for almost a year now
because we had some breaks in between.
And believe it or not, we're actually coming near to an end
because the latter half of Exodus goes by pretty quickly.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.
Heavenly Father,
we have gathered in the name of your son Jesus Christ once again
to remember your faithfulness,
to remember your promises
so that we might live our lives trusting you,
leaning on you.
For we know that you are the one sure foundation
who will never let us down.
So inspire fresh faith among us this morning
as we look at your word.
Speak to us.
Remind us of your goodness,
your grace,
so that we marvel again
and worship you with our whole heart.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you're able,
please stand for the reading of God's word
from Exodus 23 verses 10 to 19.
And we'll read for us.
For six years,
you shall sow your land and gather in its yield.
But the seventh year,
you shall let it rest and lie fallow
that the poor of your people may eat
and what they leave,
the beasts of the field may eat.
You shall do likewise with your vineyard
and with your olive orchard.
Six days,
you shall do your work,
but on the seventh day,
you shall rest
that your ox and your donkey may have rest
and the son of your servant woman
and the alien may be refreshed.
Pay attention
to all that I have said to you
and make no mention
of the names of other gods,
nor let it be heard on your lips.
Three times in a year,
you shall keep a feast to me.
You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread.
As I commanded you,
you shall eat unleavened bread
for seven days at the appointed time
in the month of Abib.
For in it,
you came out of Egypt.
None shall appear before me empty-handed.
You shall keep the feast of harvest
of the first fruits of your labor,
of what you sow in the field.
You shall keep the feast of ingathering
at the end of the year,
when you gather in from the field
of fruit of your labor.
Three times in the year,
shall all your males appear
before the Lord God.
You shall not offer the blood
of my sacrifice with anything leavened,
or let the fat of my feast
remain until the morning.
The best of the first fruits
of your ground,
you shall bring into the house
of the Lord your God.
You shall not boil a young goat
in its mother's milk.
This is God's holy
and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
Yeah.
In the United States,
the Congress has the right
to declare a federal holiday,
and that's when all the non-essential
federal government offices are closed,
and the federal government employees
get a paid day off.
So for example,
we have President's Day coming up,
which is officially Washington's birthday,
when we celebrate the founding father
and the first president
of the United States.
And then Independence Day
similarly celebrates
the U.S. Declaration of Independence
from British rule.
And Juneteenth
and Martin Luther King Jr. Day
celebrate the emancipation
of African American slaves
and the triumphs
of the civil rights leader,
respectively.
Memorial Day honors
U.S. military personnel
who fought and died
while protecting this country.
That's just a sampling of,
it's not all the holidays,
but these are not,
you know,
arbitrary days
that some politicians
just chose
to give some people
a paid day off.
These are reminders.
They serve as reminders
of significant
historical milestones
and foster intentionally
a sense of national identity
and solidarity.
The same was true
for the nation of Israel,
where the people observed
holy days
and feasts
that were designated
not by men
but by God.
Holy days are,
in fact,
where we get the word
holiday.
And this passage
tells us about
the seventh year
and the seventh day
and then about
the three feasts,
the major feasts,
the pilgrimage feasts
that the Israelites
were supposed to celebrate.
And then we're going to talk
finally about
the one God
we are to worship
and pay attention to.
So let's first look
at the seventh year
and day.
The first two paragraphs
of this passage,
verses 10 to 11
and verse 12,
each begin with the number six.
So if you look at it,
it says first six years
in the verse 10
and six days
in verse 12.
It says in verse 10
to 11,
for six years
you shall sow your land
and gather in its yield,
but the seventh year
you shall let it rest
and lie fallow
that the poor
of your people may eat
and what they leave
the beasts
of the field may eat.
You shall do likewise
with your vineyard
and with your olive orchard.
This is an extension
of the fourth commandment
of the 10 commandments,
the Sabbath principle
of working for six days
but resting
on the seventh day.
For six years
the Israelites
are supposed to work
the land,
but on the seventh year
they are to let
the land rest
and leave it fallow,
meaning uncultivated.
They're not supposed
to work the ground.
It's not only the people
who need rest,
this verse tells us,
even the land
needs rest.
It's supposed to rest
and observe the Sabbath.
Leviticus 25,
2-7,
which provides more details
regarding this command,
specifically says
that the land
shall keep
a Sabbath
to the Lord.
The farming benefits
of leaving a land
fallow for a time
is widely known.
When you leave the land
unworked
and unfarmed,
it restores
the nutrients,
restores organic matter
to the soil.
That's why periodically
if you have potted soil,
you have to replace it
so that your plants
can keep thriving
because it has
fresh nutrients.
It also disrupts
the pest cycle,
the pest's life cycle
because they don't have
anything to feed on
and grow on,
so they die off
and you have
pest-free ground
in which to plant.
And it also gets rid
of soil-borne pathogens
like bacteria
and fungi
and roundworms
that infect plant roots.
The land also
needs rest.
But this is not
the reason
that is given
explicitly here
in this context
for letting the land
lie fallow.
The reason God gives here
is in verse 11,
that the poor
of your people
may eat
and what they leave,
the beasts
of the field
may eat.
You might be wondering,
well,
if they're not farming
on the seventh year,
what is there to eat?
And the answer is that
in the way
the Israelites
in the ancient world
farmed,
inevitably there would
be seeds spilled
during the harvest
and there would be
some natural growth
without any intervention
from human beings.
And so there would be
crops that they could
eat of.
And the Israelites
were allowed to forage
and eat,
but they were never
to harvest that
on the seventh year
so that there's enough
left for the poor
among them to eat
and after them
even the beasts
of the field
to eat.
So the same principle
applied for
the olive orchards
with the olives
and also the vineyards
with the grapes.
And it's not only
on the seventh year
that the poor
get to eat
because God
in Deuteronomy 24,
19 commands this,
when you reap
your harvest
in your field
and forget a sheaf
in the field,
you shall not go back
to get it.
It shall be for
the sojourner,
the fatherless,
and the widow
that the Lord
your God
may bless you
in all the work
of your hands.
So even during
the normal harvest times,
the Israelites
were forbidden
from returning
to collect
dropped sheaves
in the field.
They were to leave it
so that the poor
among them
can collect it
and eat.
So then in the six years
of work,
as well as on the seventh year
when they are resting,
God makes specific
provisions for the poor
among the Israelites.
It would have been tempting
for the Israelites
to harvest the crops
that are growing
unsupervised on their land
during the year of rest.
You know,
they could have
thought to themselves,
well, it is my land
after all,
and it is growing
on my land,
so let me just go there
and pick the field clean
and I could have
the produce
for my family.
But that exactly,
that attitude
is exactly the problem.
In that same chapter
in Leviticus 25,
when God commands
the Sabbath year
for the land
and the year of Jubilee,
God says in verse 23,
the land shall not be sold
in perpetuity
for the land is mine.
For you are strangers
and sojourners with me.
That's an amazing concept.
God does not want
the Israelites to forget
that the land
that they're living on
is actually God's land.
God gave it to them.
God owns it.
And they are living
on it as sojourners.
They're mooching off of God.
They are aliens
and sojourners in the land.
So the Sabbath year
for the land
is a reminder
to the Israelites
of this theological reality.
We need to remember this
about,
not only about the ground,
but all the gifts,
in fact,
that God has given us as well.
It's easy for us to think,
well,
I worked hard
to earn this money,
so I'm going to keep
every dollar for myself,
but not so fast.
Walden Wall,
who wrote a book
called Money and the Gospel,
says this,
one of the great
presumptuous sins
of humanity
is the thinking
that we create success
and influence
and wealth.
This is completely false.
The blessings we have,
even if we work
to acquire them,
are all from God's hand.
Have you ever wondered
why you were born
where you were born
or how you came
to have the talent you have
or the intellect
or the opportunities
or the health
or the money?
Everything comes
from the hand of God,
even if we work hard.
So your land
is not yours.
Your job
is not yours.
Your house
is not yours.
Your car
is not yours.
Your intellect
is not yours.
Your talents
are not yours.
Your health,
even,
is not ultimately yours.
Ultimately,
they are all gifts
from God.
So,
we are right
to ask ourselves,
what do you have
that you did not receive?
And if then
you received it,
why do you boast
as if you did not receive it?
If we feel entitled
to what we own,
we will not be generous
toward the poor.
But if we are grateful
for what we own
because we recognize them
properly as the gifts
that they are,
then we can be free
to be generous.
But it's not only
the poor
that God is looking after.
Verse 11 adds,
and what they leave,
what the poor leave,
the beasts
of the field
may eat.
There is a clear
priority here,
lest we forget.
The poor people
get to eat
from the field
first,
and only afterward,
the beasts
of the field
are to be allowed
to eat
the leftover.
People created
in the image of God
are more valuable
than animals
who are not created
in the image of God.
So,
we should be
more concerned
about human welfare
than animal welfare.
But with that said,
it is remarkable
that in the law of God,
God himself
here is speaking,
and God himself
deigns to address
the welfare
of the wild beasts
of the field.
God cares even
for the jackals
of the field.
The God who governs
the hundreds
of billions
of galaxies
in the universe
and probably more
ensures that even
the wild beasts
have something to eat.
This highlights
God's providential care
and encourages
a generous spirit
of creation stewardship
among us.
I have three daughters,
which means
I watch
many princess movies,
which I enjoy
more than I care
to admit.
And one of our
household favorites
is a live action
version of Cinderella
from 2015
with Lily James.
You guys might not
have seen it
because it's not
actually on Disney Plus
due to some
copyright issues.
And in the movie,
Cinderella's stepmother
and stepsisters
are too miserly
to share
even their
meager portions
that are left over
with Cinderella.
But Cinderella,
in contrast,
is so open-handed
and generous
that she even
shares her portion,
which is
the crumbs
and the leftover
from her stepmother
and sisters,
she shares that
openly with even
the mice
in her own house.
And Cinderella
names and feeds
those pests
of the house,
jack and goose,
so that one of them
gets fat.
And Cinderella
sharing food
with the mice
shows her,
it's supposed to
reveal her
generous and
selfless spirit
in stark contrast
to the stingy,
shriveled heart
of the stepmother.
We are drawn
to generous characters
like that.
Why?
Because she
resembles God
who cares
even
for the jackals.
And if God
so cares
for the wild beasts,
will such an
attentive,
loving,
generous God
neglect us
who are made
in his own image?
And that's why
Jesus says
in Matthew 6,
25 to 26,
therefore I tell you,
do not be anxious
about your life,
what you will eat
or what you will drink
or about your body,
what you will put on.
Is not life
more than food
and the body
more than clothing?
Look at the birds
of the air.
They do not sow
or reap
or stow away
in barns
and yet
your heavenly
Father
feeds them.
The God
the Father
is not the bird's
father,
but he is
your father.
Will he
neglect
you?
God is no
Scrooge.
So see here
in these verses,
God's generous
heart
toward you
and don't
ever think
of him
as a begrudging
or stingy
God.
This leads us
to the principle
of the Sabbath
day in verse 12.
Again,
it begins
with the number
six,
six days.
You shall
do your work,
but on the seventh
day you shall
rest,
that your ox
and your donkey
may have rest,
and the son
of your servant
woman and the alien
may be refreshed.
This is again
an elaboration
of the fourth
commandment.
Remember the
Sabbath day,
keep it holy,
working for six
days and ceasing
from work on
the seventh
day.
There when God
gave the fourth
commandment in
Exodus 20,
he gave this
specific rationale
which is in the
background here.
For in six
days the Lord
made heaven and
earth,
the sea and all
that is in them,
and rested on
the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord
blessed the
Sabbath day and
made it holy.
So God
himself,
we need to
remember,
needs no rest.
God didn't rest
because he was
tired.
We know this
because Isaiah
40, 28 tells us
that God neither
faints nor is
weary.
He never gets
weary.
He never faints.
He never tires.
And Jesus
confirms this in
John 5, 17 when
he tells the
Pharisees who are
criticizing him for
healing on the
Sabbath that my
father is working
even this day.
God the Father
works on the
Sabbath.
He doesn't take
days off.
However,
for our benefit,
because we as
human beings,
finite creatures,
need rest,
God the Father
rested on the
seventh day of
his creation.
The Sabbath is a
reminder that we
are not all
powerful, that we
are not indefatigable
or indispensable
like we think we
are.
When even God
rested on the
seventh day from
his work of
creation, do we
really have the
audacity to say
that our work is
so important, that
I am so important
that I can't afford
to take a day of
rest?
The world will not
stop spinning because
we stopped working.
This rationale for
the fourth
commandment is in
the background here,
but a different
reason is in the
foreground in this
verse.
Why must Israelites
rest and not
work on the
seventh day, that
your ox and your
donkey may have
rest, and the
son of your
servant woman and
the alien may be
refreshed.
So here the
concern that is
emphasized is love
of neighbor.
Not only do we
need rest, the
people who work
for us need rest.
The son of your
servant woman, the
alien, they need
refreshment.
This is necessary
because if we're
working, then other
people who are under
our charge and care
have to work as
well, imagine
having a manager, I
think some of you
guys have this,
imagine having a
manager who never
stops working.
You're on vacation,
ping, hey, have you
done this?
Weekends, evenings,
early mornings, all
hours of the night, you
get emails, pings on
your Slack, work Slack,
have you done this?
You would never be
able to rest because
your boss hasn't
stopped working.
You'll be constantly
stressed that you're
not doing enough work,
that you need to be
doing more and more
work.
It's for this reason
that we need to think
of people who are
under our care and
under our charge and
rest for their sake
also so that they may
be refreshed.
And once again, God
demonstrates his care
even for the animals.
He says that we should
rest so that your ox and
your donkey may have
rest.
Even farm animals, just
beasts, they need
rest.
And if God is concerned
about making sure that
the livestock get
necessary rest, how
much more do you think
God cares about your
rest, about your
well-being, about your
refreshment?
The Sabbath was so
important for the
Israelites that later in
Exodus 34, they're
specifically commanded not
to work even in the
busiest months of the
agricultural calendar,
during the plowing time,
in the harvest time.
The most time-sensitive
periods in an
agricultural society,
that's when the ox and
donkeys are the busiest
working.
But even then, you must
cease working on the
seventh day and rest.
Even then, you must let
your animals rest on the
seventh day.
That's the seventh year
and the seventh day.
After addressing those
two things, verses 14 to
19 turn their attention
to the three feasts that
they are to celebrate
throughout the year.
And verses 14 to 16 are
paralleled by verses 17 to
19.
This is important, and I'm
going to bring it up again
later.
Both paragraphs begin with
the word three.
Three times in the year you
shall keep a feast to me.
Three times in the year
shall all your males appear
before the Lord God.
Women and children can
come, but the males were
required to be there.
Presumably, their wives
are holding down the fort
home while they represent
their households in the
temple or before the
presence of God.
And so this parallel
structure between the two
sections, verses 14 to 16
and 17 to 19, suggests
that the three sentences
in verses 18 to 19
actually correspond to
the three feasts mentioned
in verses 15 to 17.
So first is the feast of
unleavened bread.
It says in verse 15,
As I commanded you, you
shall eat unleavened bread
for seven days at the
appointed time in the month
of Abib.
For in it you came out of
Egypt.
None shall appear before me
empty-handed.
In Exodus 12, God already
gave detailed instructions and
rationale for this feast.
The seven day of the feast
of unleavened bread immediately
followed the celebration of
the Passover.
The Passover day when God
struck down the firstborn
sons of Egypt as retribution
for not letting the firstborn
son of God, Israel, go.
And so because of that,
Egyptians let the Israelites
go in a hurry, fearing for
their lives.
And so the Passover was when
the Israelites sacrificed an
unblemished lamb as kind of an
atoning sacrifice.
And they daubed the blood of
the lamb on their doors and
the angel of death when he
came through to destroy the
firstborns, firstborn males of
Egypt, spared the Israelites
because they saw the blood of
the lamb.
That was the Passover day and
the Israelites celebrated that
annually by slaughtering a lamb
and eating it.
And the seventh day, seventh day
unleavened bread, the feast of
unleavened bread immediately
followed the Passover and
sometimes they're combined and
they're called together called
the feast of the Passover or the
feast of the unleavened bread.
And this was the rationale for
the feast of unleavened bread in
Exodus 12, 33 to 34.
It says because the Egyptians
ushered the Israelites out of
Egypt in haste and they left in
such a hurry that they had no
time to leaven their bread.
They had no time to leaven the
bread and let the dough rise.
And so that's why they had to eat
unleavened bread when they were
exiting Egypt.
And so to commemorate that, they
are now to for seven days eat
only unleavened bread.
They came out of Egypt in the
month of Abiv, which is now the
has reset the Jewish calendar.
That's when the Jewish calendar
begins after the Exodus.
And that's when they are to
celebrate the Passover.
It's the Jewish equivalent of
Independence Day where they were
freed from the yoke of the
Egyptian tyranny.
And the command none shall appear
before me empty handed is a
reference to the sacrifice that
participants in the feast were to
offer to God.
In fact, this command applies to
all three of the feasts because
according to more detailed
instructions found elsewhere in
Leviticus 23, Numbers 20, 29,
Deuteronomy 16, each of these
three feasts require the offering up
of sacrifice.
And each of these three feasts
specifically require the sacrifice
of a year old male lamb without
blemish.
Just like the Passover.
As I mentioned earlier, verses 14
to 16 are paralleled by verses 17
to 19 and both paragraphs begin
with the word three.
And the three specific instructions
given in 18 to 19 correspond to the
three feasts outlined in verses 15
to 17.
So verse 18 then corresponds directly
to the feast of unleavened bread.
And you can see that it's
confirmed by what it says because
it says offering anything unleavened
with the sacrifice is prohibited.
It says you shall not offer the
blood of my sacrifice with anything
leavened or let the fat of my feast
remain until the morning.
Not letting the leftovers of the
lamb remain until the morning is
also parallel to the instruction that
God gave to the Israelites about
the feast of unleavened bread in
Exodus 12.
They were supposed to burn up any
leftover instead of letting it
remain to maybe rot until the next
day to spoil and it has to be thrown
out or maybe they eat leftovers
the following day.
If they did that, it would cheapen
the sacrificial meal.
It would make it seem common and
ordinary.
And so burning the leftovers kind of
blazoned in their mind the reality
that this is a holy meal.
This is a sacrificial meal and is
offered to God and shared in his
presence.
So no leaven is allowed and no
leftovers are allowed.
The second of the three major
pilgrimage feasts that the
Israelites are to celebrate is the
feast of harvest or the feast of
first fruits of your labor of what
you sow in the field as it says in
verse 16.
This feast came at the beginning of
the harvest season and according to
more detailed instructions in the
chapters I mentioned earlier, this
feast was inaugurated.
It started when the sickle is first
put to the standing grain.
So the very first crop of the
harvest that you get is the first
fruits.
That's when you begin the feast.
And you are supposed to bring those
first fruits to God as an offering
and you are supposed to wave it
before him.
And you brought the first, I mean
that would have been tempting for
them as well because if you are like
me and you like to plan for the
future, you like to have emergency
supplies and savings, well you don't
know what's going to happen to the
rest of your field.
What if there's hail, locusts, and the
rest of your produce get destroyed?
Well here you have the first fruits,
maybe if I store this up at least I'll
have some in case some disaster
happens for the rest of the year.
It would have been tempting to have
that mindset but not according to this
first.
It says God commands us to offer the
first fruits, the feast of first fruits,
the first fruits of our ground we are to
bring to God as an offering.
So after the first fruits are waved,
you're supposed to count down seven
weeks.
And after the seven weeks, so 49 days,
on the 50th day, they were to offer
more sacrifices.
That's why sometimes this feast is
instead called the feast of weeks.
Or it's also called Pentecost, which is
the way it's referred to in the New
Testament because it comes from the
Greek word for 50.
On the 50th day, they celebrate.
So the feast of first fruits, the feast
of weeks, feast of harvest, Pentecost is
all referring to the same feast.
Now by bringing the first fruits offerings,
they're giving it as a pledge of trust
to God.
And the first fruits offering is also to
be from the best of the first fruits,
it says.
Not the worst of your first fruits.
It's supposed to be the cream of your
crop, not the crumbs of your crop.
As I've been saying throughout our series
in the book of Exodus, these laws are not
legally binding on Christian as laws because
they are stipulations of the old covenant.
And we are under the new covenant, under
the law of Christ.
For this reason, everything in the Old
Testament, including these verses, have
to be interpreted through and applied
through the lens of Jesus who has fulfilled
the whole law, fulfilled all of the
scriptures and have brought it to its
intended purpose and goal.
With that said, this is still the inspired
word of God.
And it teaches us about God's character.
And it gives us ideas about how we might
honor God.
So do you have a desire to honor God in this
way?
To bring him the first fruits and not the
leftovers?
My mom instilled this in me and my sister when
we were growing up from an early age.
Whenever we started a new job, she encouraged us
to give the entire first paycheck as an offering
to God in the church as a first fruits offering.
And she encouraged us to give the first 10% of
your income at the beginning of the year.
Not beginning of the month, the first 10% to
God instead of giving the leftovers.
And before taxes, before the government takes its
portion.
And this is what Hannah and I have done throughout
our entire marriage.
And I say this not to boast but to set an example
and to show you what this in some limited way looks
like.
And we do this not because we have to, but because
we get to.
Because we want some way to express to God that you
are first in my life.
Because we want some way to be able to acknowledge
and say to God that everything I have comes from you.
You're the giver of every good gift.
It brings me so much joy and pleasure to be able to give
it to God.
And God has blessed us abundantly and we have never
known any lack.
Do you want to give the first place in your life to God?
Do you want to give the best of your life to God?
I've heard some people say after, you know, after I've had
a career, have made some money and maybe raised a family.
Well, then after that, I will serve the Lord in ministry.
Or after that, I will consider going into the mission field.
But why wait until you're old?
You might not even live that long.
Why not give the prime of your life, the best of your youth
to God?
And then trust God to take care of the rest.
The third and final major feast the Israelites were to
celebrate was a feast of ingathering at the end of the year,
most likely the end of the agricultural year because it
comes at the end of the harvest around September, October.
This feast is more commonly called the feast of tabernacles
or the feast of booths because during the harvest,
Israelites set up booths, tabernacles, tents in the field
for the farmers, the harvesters to take shelter in.
So this would be the modern equivalent of our Thanksgiving
or other similar harvest festivals throughout the world.
And following the pattern we have observed so far,
verse 18 gives specific instructions for the feast of unleavened bread.
And verse 19a, giving specific instructions for the feast of weeks,
that leads us to conclude following the pattern that verse 19b
is most likely specifically connected to the feast of booths.
That's the third feast and that's the third specific instruction
given in the parallel section.
But the connection is not immediately apparent
because the instruction is quite curious.
It says,
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Right?
I'm pretty sure some of you guys, when I read that,
are just like, what in the world is that?
And, well, unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you
that is sure, you know, that is perfectly,
I mean, I'm not sure that this is right.
I think it's plausible.
In the 12th century AD, Jewish philosopher Maimonides,
many scholars follow his line of reasoning that
Maimonides argued that forbidding the Israelites
from boiling a young goat, a goat kid, in its mother's milk
had to do with ancient Near Eastern pagan rituals,
fertility rituals, which involved boiling a goat in its mother's milk.
And there's a chance that a ritual similar to that
is described in an ancient Ugaritic text.
The text is fragmented, so it's not perfectly clear
that that's what it's referring to, but it's possible
that some pagan rituals involved boiling a young goat in its mother's milk.
And it's plausible that that's some kind of fertility ritual
because life, you know, milk represents life
and a young goat also represents fertility.
This is possible but impossible to prove.
Another possible reason is that there's just something perverse
about boiling a young goat in its own mother's milk.
The young goat is supposed to be fed and nourished by the mother's milk,
not cooked in it.
Plus, it seems so greedy to consume both the mother's goat
and the kid and the mother's milk in one dish.
So this may be yet another command in this passage
where God is enjoining the responsible stewardship of creation,
being merciful even to the animals.
The way this section of the book of the covenant
is structured in parallel format, as I've been mentioning,
six years, six days, three feasts, three feasts,
they bring the focus intentionally to verse 13,
which is the centerpiece, the crux of this passage.
And this is the main takeaway really of the passage.
And it says in verse 13,
pay attention to all that I have said to you
and make no mention of the names of other gods,
nor let it be heard on your lips.
Not only are the Israelites to not worship other gods,
they are not even to mention their name on their lips.
Their name should not even be heard on the lips of the Israelites.
And that's really the purpose of the Sabbath year
and the Sabbath day and the feasts of unleavened bread
and weeks and booths.
They are designed to remind them of God's faithful provision for them
and reaffirm their exclusive allegiance to him.
Remember that.
This is what God says.
Remember that at this point of the Exodus,
the Israelites are not yet in the promised land.
And yet, almost all of the instructions here in this passage
pertain to when the Israelites come into possession of the promised land.
Right now, they don't own any land that they can leave fallow on the seventh year.
Right now, they don't have any harvest to give thanks to God for.
But God gives these instructions in anticipation of the fact
that he will fulfill his promises
as if they have already been fulfilled.
Because when God promises something,
it is as good as done.
God is saying to the Israelites,
remember how I provided manna for you daily in the wilderness
and a double portion for you on the sixth day
so that you can rest and still have food to eat on the seventh day.
Remember that.
And when you come to possess Canaan,
let the land lie fallow.
Give it rest and trust in my provision for you.
Remember how I struck down Egypt with a mighty arm at the Passover day
and how you were ushered out so quickly from Egypt
that you had to eat unleavened bread.
Well, remember that.
And when you come into possession of the land of Canaan,
celebrate these feasts.
Eat unleavened bread for seven days
so you will not forget that it was Yahweh
who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
And it is Yahweh who provided this land for you.
And it is Yahweh who provided the harvest for you.
Not Baal, not Asherah,
or any of the other idols of the surrounding nations.
That's the point of these feasts.
Pay attention to all that I have said to you.
Note the contrast here.
Pay attention to all that I have said to you
and make no mention at all of the other gods.
God demands absolute exclusive allegiance
because he deserves nothing less
and will not countenance anything less than that.
Who or what are the idols in your life
that you look to as your redeemer and provider?
In theory, you might say that God is your deliverer.
God is your savior and redeemer.
But functionally, do you relate to God that way?
Or are you finding your identity in something else
or someone else?
Do you live in fear like you need to save
and deliver yourself from your slavery, sin, and death?
In theory, you might say that God is your provider.
But functionally, do you relate to God that way?
Do you really rest in his provision?
Or are you always wrecked with anxiety
because you feel that you are your own provider?
Or maybe you're in a codependent relationship
and look to your partner as your ultimate provider
rather than God.
Jesus has fulfilled all of these holy days
and years and feasts for us.
And that's why Paul writes in Colossians 2.16,
Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you
in questions of food and drink
or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
We no longer need to observe these feasts and Sabbaths
because these feasts were intended to point forward
to the coming of Jesus.
And Jesus has already come
and he has already fulfilled these feasts.
He has already fulfilled the whole law.
That's why in 1 Corinthians 5.68,
Paul references the feast of unleavened bread
and the Passover
when he tells the Corinthians
to purge their church of sexual immorality.
He says this,
Do you not know that a little leaven
leavens a whole lump?
Cleanse out the old leaven
that you may be a new lump
as you really are unleavened.
For Christ, our Passover lamb,
has been sacrificed.
Let us therefore celebrate the festival
not with the old leaven,
the leaven of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Because Jesus, the unblemished Passover lamb of God,
has been sacrificed on the cross
for our sins, for our forgiveness.
And because of that,
we have been redeemed from our slavery to sin and death.
We ought to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread,
not with the literal feast,
but by removing the leaven of malice and evil from our lives
and replacing them with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth.
Because Jesus rose from the dead
and ascended to the right hand of the Father
far above the heavenly places,
and because Jesus, after ascending,
sent down the Holy Spirit
that he had promised to us
at, do you guys remember what feast?
The feast of weeks, feast of first fruits.
That's why Romans 8.23 describes those who believe in Jesus Christ
as those who have the first fruits of the Spirit.
We have the first fruits of the Spirit.
The Spirit of God indwelling us
is the guarantee of the full harvest that is coming,
of the full inheritance that God has promised us
that we will inherit and receive.
That's why it says in that same verse,
in Romans 8.23,
we who have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons,
the redemption of our bodies.
Are you groaning right now?
Are you grieving right now
because of your suffering and affliction?
Do you have unanswered questions in your life
because you're living in this time
between Jesus' two comings?
You can have hope
because you have the first fruits of the Spirit.
All the answers are coming.
The full harvest is coming
because you already have the first fruits.
And Jesus also fulfilled the Feast of Tabernacles.
It is no coincidence
that Solomon built his temple
and dedicated it during the Feast of Boots
or the Feast of Tabernacles
in 1 Kings 8.65.
The Feast of Boots came to be connected
to Israel's wilderness wanderings
because while they were wandering the wilderness,
they built boots and tents for themselves
and they built the tabernacle,
the tent of God.
And so Solomon,
when he is dedicating the newly built temple,
he is very intentionally superseding
the tabernacle of old.
This is the dwelling place of God.
And in the new covenant
that Jesus brought about,
it says in 1 Corinthians 3.16
that we, God's people,
are God's temple
and the Spirit dwells in us.
And according to 1 Peter 2,
God is currently building us up
as a spiritual house,
as the house of the Spirit
with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.
Jesus is the one who fulfilled
all of these feasts,
all of these laws.
And he is the rightful object
of our exclusive allegiance
and attention
as told here in verse 13,
pay attention to all that I have said to you
and make no mention of the names of other gods
nor let it be heard on your lips.
So let's remember
God's faithful provision in the past
so that we can live with faith
and hope in the fulfillment
of his promises for the future.
Let's pray together.
Father,
yes, Father,
thank you for sending your son,
your only son, Jesus.
It's because of him
that we know
the cleansing,
the atoning blood
of the Passover lamb
and we have been washed clean.
It's because of him
that we have
the first fruits of the Spirit.
And we know
that that day is coming
when our faith
will be turned to sight,
when our prayers
will be turned to praise,
when what is not yet
will be reality.
Thank you for gathering us
and building us up
as a house for your Spirit.
Oh God,
all of these privileges
we enjoy because of Jesus
and we love him.
We want to honor him.
We want to give him our very best.
We want to show him
that he is our first,
our only Lord and Savior.
So help us to do that, Father.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.