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Sermonette: The True Circle of Life
#FT26-04s
Ronny H. Graham
Given 29-Sep-26; 22 minutes
2026-09-29
summary: Leviticus 23 establishes both the weekly Sabbath and the annual feasts as holy convocations, sacred times that God desires to share with His people. The Feast of Tabernacles is commanded to last seven days, with the eighth day designated as a sacred assembly, a distinction shared only with the last day of Unleavened Bread. The phrase "for seven days" appears six times in Leviticus 23 alone, and the command to keep the feast in the place where God chooses to place His name is repeated six times in Deuteronomy 12. God's repetition reflects His seriousness and His awareness of human tendency to rationalize away specifics. Since the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God, zeal for keeping the full feast has faded for many. Some believe attending only the first Holy Day and the Last Great Day is sufficient, but this falls short of what God commands. A 2004 sermon by Kim Myers declared that attending only part of the feast is an abomination, a statement confirmed by John Reitenbaugh. According to Merriam-Webster, an abomination is something that causes extreme disgust or loathing. Picking and choosing which commands to obey is idolatry, breaking the first commandment. Satan whispers that the specifics do not matter, yet God's law functions as a plumb line that never bends or compromises. Zechariah 14 warns that during the millennium, nations failing to observe the Feast of Tabernacles will receive no rain, a physical consequence that parallels the spiritual danger of God withholding His Holy Spirit now. Deuteronomy 11 repeats six times the command to keep God's statutes and judgments, while also emphasizing three times the foundational requirement to love God with all one's heart and soul. John 14:15 and 1 John 5:1-3 connect love for God directly to keeping His commandments, clarifying that obedience is not burdensome but is the very expression of love for the Fat
transcript:
Uh, the last time that I spoke happened to be one month ago on August twenty-ninth. And we took a look at a couple of the commandments of God. The first one being the 4th commandment, which is remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now, the second one is not one of the 10 commandments, but nonetheless, it is a command of God and it should be observed as he has instructed us. And hopefully, that's what we are here for at the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, we find both of these in Leviticus 23 and we've been there before, but go ahead and turn to Leviticus 23 and we will read verses 1 through 3. Leviticus 23:1 through 3, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. 6 days shall work be done, but the 7th day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. With the euphoria that surrounds the Feast of Tabernacles, we sometimes tend to gloss right over the weekly Sabbath, but God instructs us here that like The annual Holy Days, it is a solemn rest, a holy convocation. The Sabbath of the Lord. I never thought much about it before, but in creation, as far as we know, this space of time which the world at large knows little about is the first thing that God made holy. Up until the 7th day, all that God had made He considered to be good and called it that, but the Sabbath was set apart, made holy, and just like he proclaims here in verses 1 through 3, the feasts of God are also holy convocations as well. They are dear to God, and He desires to spend them with us, all of them. Looking on down into Leviticus 23, let's drop down to verse 34 and 36. 34 through 36 we are speaking of the Feast of Tabernacles here. And he says, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The 15th day of the 7th month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for 7 days to the Lord. On the 1st day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For 7 days you shall offer an offering made by fire. To the Lord. On the 8th day, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly and you shall do no customary work on it. There are a few things here that I wanted to remind us of and I believe this first one, Mark Schindler went over a few weeks ago. And that is the feasts of God are called holy convocations. The second one is that the 8th day, the last day in God's plan of salvation, is not only a holy convocation, but it's also named a sacred assembly. Now a sacred assembly or solemn assembly is one that is very serious, formal, and dignified, often without humor or lightness. The 8th day, as far as we understand, pictures the 2nd resurrection and the Day of Judgment. For all of those who died in ignorance of the truth of God, they will be given a chance to receive salvation. Other than Passover and the Day of Atonement, this has to be one of the most solemn assemblies in all of history. In addition, the 8th day being described as a holy convocation is also declared to be a sacred assembly. The only other holy day that receives this distinction is the last day of unleavened bread. And we can only surmise that these are very special to God and should be regarded as He commanded. Now, the third thing that I would like to mention in regards to what we find in Leviticus 23 is one that I mentioned briefly back in August as well. And that is from verse 34 to 42, we find the phrase for 7 days. This phrase appears 6 times. We will not read the whole thing, but I wanna just skip through them. Just to get it into our minds. In verse 34, we find that the Feast of Tabernacles is to be kept for 7 days. Verse 36, for 7 days you shall make an offering by fire. Verse 39, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for 7 days. Verse 40, we are to rejoice before the Lord for 7 days. Verse 41, you shall keep a feast of the Lord for 7 days. The last one we find here in verse 42, you shall dwell in boos for 7 days. That seems to be pretty clear what he means here. Why is this command repeated so many times in one chapter? How many times do we have to repeat things to our children, and many times they just do not get it. God knew very well that he was dealing with a stiff-necked people, so he had Moses repeat it 6 times. That's 2 3s. Here in this one chapter, sir, there is no mistaking what he meant. The Feast of Tabernacles is a 7-day feast, no more and no less. We are commanded to keep it that way all 7 days. I also would like to add here that the feast is to be held in the place where God has chosen to place His name. We also find that command repeated 6 times in Deuteronomy 12. Is God serious about His feet and how we keep them? Now why do I bring this up? Looking back and considering the old worldwide days, which a few of us may remember, it seemed that people had a zeal to get to the feast by hook or by crook. And when they got there, they did not want to leave. But since the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God, it seems that the zeal has faded and the desire has waned for many to attend when they can, however long they can spare the time and wherever they feel like going. I know people who decided that as long as they made it to the first holy day and the Last Great Day, they felt like they were OK. That's not what God says here in Leviticus brethren. 7 days means 7 days, and adding the Last Great Day makes 8. In the place where God chooses to place His name. Now looking back in a feast sermon titled The Faith Once Delivered back in 2004, Kim Myers made a statement that ruffled the feathers of some people. And I'd like to just read it the way he wrote it so I do not mess it up. Quoting Kim in the sermon in 2014, the feast is not one day, two days, seven days, it is eight days. If you cannot keep the feast for that long, brethren, do not come. It is an abomination to the rest of us. End quote At the time, Ali and I were a little bit taken aback, saying that's a strong declaration. Is it really an abomination to our brother? So Allie went to her dad, John Reitenbaugh, and asked him, is this a true statement? And he said emphatically, yes. The command to keep the feasts of God are His holy commands and to break them. is an abomination not only to God. But do we consider how we keep the feast can be an abomination to our brother. This is one of those words that the world would just as soon do away with. But what about us? What is an abomination? According to Merriam-Webster, an abomination is a person, thing, or action that causes extreme disgust, hatred, loathing, or abhorrence. Boy, do we want God to look at us that way? Do we really love God? Do we really love our brother? Do we love the truth? David said back in Psalm 11997, 0 how I love I thy law. Do we? God says that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. This means all of them, including the commands to keep God's feet. We do not get to pick and choose. That's what the world does. And if we do that, brethren, do you know what that is? It's very simple It's idolatry, and right off the bat we break the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Do we risk becoming an abomination in God's eyes? First Peter 5:8 says, you do not have to turn there. Be sober-minded, be vigilant. Why? Satan walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and what is he whispering in our ear. He's still saying the same thing he told Eve in the garden, You shall not surely die. God doesn't really mean seven days, does he? How does Satan deceive the very elect? He makes us think the specifics do not matter to God. You will not surely die if you miss one day. God is merciful. He's kind, he's gentle, he's patient, he's long-suffering with us, and a million other things that we probably can't even name. But Mr. Armstrong used to say, God will not budge one inch with his law. The commands to keep the feasts of God are a part of that law, and brethren. A plumb line doesn't bend or it's not a plumb line. It always hangs true. It doesn't compromise or it's not a plumb line. In case you're wondering, the truth of God, the law of God is our plumb line. It's the standard by which we are measured, and you can find that in Amos 7 if you care to read it. And we are here to keep the Feast of Tabernacles as a prelude, if you will, to the coming millennium, the 1000 year reign of Christ here on Earth. And God has already warned what will happen if the nation decides not to come up to the feast of the Lord. Let's just pick up this one scripture way back in Zechariah. Zechariah 14 verse, well, it's actually two scriptures, 17 and 18. Beginning Zechariah 14. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain. They shall have received the plague which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to the feast. Of tabernacles. There will be people, actually, Zachariah says families. Who will not come up to the feast, and if so, there will be no rain on them. In the Carolinas, and it seems that around here as well, we've had a pretty severe drought for the last year. And as far as I can remember, it's, it's the worst one since Allie and I moved there in 2007. You know what happens when every when the rain stops, everything withers and dies. Can we apply this to how we keep God's feast now? Do we dare take a chance of God withholding his reign from us? His Holy Spirit? Now, I did not plan it this way, but when I first began preparing this, and I began to reference these things, Deuteronomy 11 came up and you can go ahead and be turning back there. In the center reference in my Bible. And you know what I found? What I found there was 6 more references in one chapter. Regarding the law of God. Let's go back there to Deuteronomy 11. And I'm going to skip through these two. Verse 18, 1322, 27, and 32. Deuteronomy 11, beginning in verse 1, there you shall love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. Verse 8, therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess. Verse 13, and it shall be that if you diligently obey the commandments which I command you today to love the Lord your God with serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Verse 22, for if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to hold fast to Him. Verse 27. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, verse 32. And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgment which I set before you today. I think I'm starting to understand why God commanded that this book be read at the Feast of Tabernacles every 7 years. It's something that we should probably be studying and remembering and keeping it close. In these six verses we find repeated over and over, Keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, diligently obey my commandments. Carefully keep all these commandments and hold fast to Him. Now I purposely skipped over probably the most important command we find in Deuteronomy 11. Do you know which one that was? Let's go back and read these 3. Just in case. In Deuteronomy 11:1, what does it say here? Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all And keep his charge and his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always. Verse 13. And it shall be that if you diligently obey my commandments, which I command you today to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. The last one, verse 22, if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him. Did you see which one we missed? We are commanded to love the Lord God with all our heart and soul. Three times it's repeated here in chapter 11. Love the Lord your God. Now as we begin to close Let's go to the New Testament. I wanna tie this to what Jesus is saying over here in John 14. John 14:15, just one short verse, if you love me, Keep my commandments. From there, let's flip back over. To I John 5:1 through 3. First John chapter 5 verse 1 through 3. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. Don is desperately trying to instill in these people here and us. That the law of God is not burdensome, but it's how we show God that we love Him. It's how we show him that we love Jesus Christ and certainly last but not least, it's how we show him that we love our brother in keeping his commandments. Did you ever wonder why God asked Cain, where is your brother? Let's read that in Genesis. As we begin to wind down here, Genesis 4. Verse 6 through 9. Genesis 4:6. So the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And it's desire for you. is desirous for you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel and killed his brother. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? Right after they had made the offerings to God, the story reads Abel's offering had been accepted, and Cain's was not. And the Lord said, Why are you angry? If you do well, will you not be accepted? Now what does the Lord mean here if you do well? What he's saying to Cain is, if you keep the commandments of God, you will be accepted and you will not become an abomination to your brother. Brethren, we are our brother's keeper when we keep the law of God. And if we do not, sin lies at the door. If we love the Father and keep His commandments, when we love the Father, we love Christ and in obeying the law of God, we love our brother as well. This is the true circle of life. Which begins with the Father. Now why does he give us his law? One last scripture in Deuteronomy 10. Deuteronomy 10:12-13. And now Israel, what does the Lord require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today. Why? For your good. Can we include our brother's good as well, brethren? The Feast of Tabernacles is a seven-day festival, a foretaste of the coming 1,000-year reign of Christ here on earth. Will we show up late. Will we get tired and wanna leave? Why would we ever want to leave where God is? Now yesterday, David brought this full circle for me at least when he said the priests were required to stay in the tabernacle for 7 days if they left early, brethren, they would have been an abomination to God. Why would we leave the tabernacle? Remember, if we love God, we will keep His commandments, all of them.
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