December 14

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Good morning. We're going to go ahead and get started this morning. We are so glad to be gathering to worship together on this, the third Sunday of Advent. It is the Sunday where we will light the third candle, the shepherd's candle. We'll remember that announcement that is made to the shepherds by the angels. We bring you good news of great joy. And part of that good news is that the great joy was not simply for the shepherds, but it was for the for all the earth. And so this morning as we read Scripture, as we sing, as we come to the table, as we gather together to pray, as we open up God's word and spend time together, it is our prayer that our hearts will be restored with joy that is not simply a superficial happiness or sort of a superficial relief that circumstances that were troubling us may have waned or not be as difficult, but rather this picture of joy

a joy that goes deeper even when we walk in the wilderness, a joy that is a promise of God's presence even when we find ourselves in the wilderness. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to read from Isaiah chapter 12. We'll read from Isaiah chapter 12 a couple times this morning. It is this wonderful picture of God being our strength and our song. Father in heaven, as we come to worship together this morning, We come from different places, different circumstances. We come from different joys and different struggles. We come with different fears and different worries, but we come to you knowing that you are the God who is powerful, who provides, who protects, and who ultimately walks with us in the midst of our wilderness. So we ask this morning that like the shepherds, you would announce to us a joy,

not one that is superficial, but one that is deep and abiding, that sustains us in the wilderness as we seek that living water. So refresh our souls, strengthen us for your service in your kingdom. Be with us as we worship. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to be standing, and we're going to read from Isaiah chapter 12 a song written for strength and thankfulness in worship about joy. One of our themes this morning as we move through Exodus and into the Gospel of John is that God provides for us water in the wilderness. So let's go ahead and read verses 3 and 4 together.

Proclaim that His name is exalted. This is God's Word. We're going to start by singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," a song that points us to that announcement of good news. to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. like the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!" Christ by Christ, heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come, offspring of the world. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. Rocks, hills and plains. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sin and sorrow grow. Nor thorns infest the ground. He goes to make His blessings flow. Far as the curse is found. Far as the curse is found. Far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and the glory of His righteousness, and the wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love. You may be seated. We're going to read some more Scripture together in just a minute. Before we do that, I want us to think a little bit about the fact that we live in a world that frequently competes for our lives. For our joy, and our hope, and our peace, and our love. These four big themes that we see in Advent. And so as one of the purposes of this season for us is not just to rush directly toward the birth of Christ, but rather to seek to prepare our hearts to celebrate that, and to spend some time, as we consider our lives, asking ourselves these questions:

Where is my hope found? Where is my peace found? What am I finding joy in? What is it that I truly love? But also, what is it that in this world truly loves me? And so we come, in this season, in part, in repentance. In repentance for those areas where we have chased something other than the goodness of God, where we have sought our satisfaction, our refreshment, and our joy in other things. And so what I'd like to do is I'd like to pray for just a moment, and then I want us, in sort of confession and assurance, to read from the first two verses of Isaiah chapter 12. Father in heaven, we come repenting of those areas where we have sought our own desires and sought to make our own peace, to provide our own hope, and to rejoice in all of the things that we have been able

to do or accomplish. So we ask that you would turn our hearts to you, that you would help us to see the smallness and the weakness of all of those things upon which we have set our hearts, that we would, in contrast, see the bigness of your goodness, and of your grace. May you restore us, may you strengthen us, and may you forgive. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would, let's read together from Isaiah chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. "You will say in that day, 'I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and I will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song,

and He has become my salvation." This is God's Word. And as we come to our time of communion, and as we sing, "O come, all ye faithful," just a few verses of that this morning, we want to come and seek to come in faithfulness, fixing our eyes on God, who is our salvation.

O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to heaven. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you, Christ the Lord. Sing, words of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing, all ye citizens evermore. Glory to God in the highest. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you. O come, let us adore you, Christ the Lord. Out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord."

It is a startling message, especially in a time and a place where there are no electric lights and there's no gas lanterns, there's no blindingly bright car headlights, but in the dark of the night, maybe with a campfire, a few shepherds and their sheep encounter an angel who has this message, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people." And that joy was not first announced to those with great power or those who were very comfortable, those who were very secure. It came to shepherds. Men who in the day were considered kind of shady, they were continually ceremonially unclean because of their work with livestock, which meant they didn't get to attend some of the services in the temple. They were often viewed as sort of outsiders and outcasts, and here they are keeping watch in the dark, doing ordinary work in a difficult place. And not only did the angel come to shepherds, but it came with a message that didn't point them ultimately to a throne or a palace, didn't point them to the capital city of Jerusalem that pointed them to Bethlehem and to a child and to a manger.

And the joy that is being announced enters the world quietly and humbly and within reach of ordinary shepherds. And what I love about this is the shepherds didn't just hear about the joy, but they went to it. And Luke will tell us later on that they went with haste, and when they saw the child and when they ultimately left, they were glorifying and praising God. And I think that's important for us as we come to the table this morning. Because communion, the Lord's Supper, is not simply an observance. It's not just something we see or look at, but it is something that we come to. And just as the shepherds come to Bethlehem, we come to Christ. Not because life is always easy or simple, but because God has come near to us. And because He comes to us with a joy that goes deeper than our circumstances.

And here at our table, we remember that same child the shepherds witnessed, who grew, who walked among us, who suffered, who gave His body and His blood for us. But the joy announced in Bethlehem ultimately is secured at the cross and is promised in the resurrection. So I want us to come to the table this morning like the shepherds, where we're honest, we're empty-handed, we're eager, trusting that God comes to meet us where we are, and it is our goal that as we see the sacrifice of our Savior, the good news of the gospel, the power of grace and forgiveness that we too go rejoicing and proclaiming. I want to remind you this morning that joy is not something that you and I can create or manufacture, but it is someone who has come near to us.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us to see your joy. Life sometimes feels like a dry and thirsty place. Remind us that you are the one who gives us water in the desert and that the true living water has come to us through your Son. So be with us as we partake of this bread and of this cup. May you nourish our souls. May you energize our lives. May you give us the courage to stand boldly for the kingdom. May you give us peace where we are worried and anxious and frustrated. May you give us, most of all, joy and hope of the good news of the gospel. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. So as we come to Christ with glad hearts, we were reminded that Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed,

took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you." And in the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. Let's remember the new covenant inaugurated by the blood of Jesus. And like the shepherds, we don't just come and see, but we leave proclaiming. In fact, Paul will record in his gospel that as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we proclaim Jesus until he comes again. And so our lives as Christians, in part, is to reflect the joy that God has given us through the salvation that is found in his Son. At this point, we're going to dismiss the children to the children's church, and then we will move into our time of prayer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We're going to go in just a moment to the book of Exodus. We're going to be in Exodus, the 15th chapter. We're going to be in Exodus, chapter 17, and then eventually we will move over into John, the 7th chapter, and then back to John, the 4th chapter. So before we do that, let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your word, which both teaches us, instructs us, and corrects us, but it also holds us safe and steady in the midst of the storms of life. So move us to joy this morning, and may we not only be filled with joy, but may we proclaim the good news of Jesus to a world in desperate need of this joy. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So a few years ago, and I've shared this with some of you, and some of you probably may remember when this happened. We came home after about a week away to discover, and it was the middle of the winter, to discover that we had left the heat off in our house for the entire week. And it was a pretty understandable mistake because when we left, it was like Virginia winter, which was somewhere between like 50 and 60 degrees. And with sunshine, the inside of our house was a perfect temperature, and so we hadn't even turned on any of the heat in the upstairs of our house. And so when we got ready to leave for the week, we packed everybody in the car, everybody's in short sleeves, right? Everybody's nice and warm. And so we didn't even think about turning on a little bit of heat when we left.

And it was about four days into our trip, and we were getting ready to come back in about two more days, when, what was it, sort of the polar vortex? And the temperature goes from the, you know, the 40s and the 50s and 60s here to where we were, it was down like 15 below zero. And then down here in Winchester, it was like in the low single digits for a couple of days. And we still hadn't thought about the heat, and so we drove home, and it was so cold that our little car, which normally produced lots of heat, right, was keeping the car like a balmy 62 degrees while we were driving, with the heat on full blast. And we finally got home, I opened the front door, I walked inside, and the house was cold. And I don't just mean like it was nice and cool, but it was like that bone-chilling cold.

And at the time we had two children, one of them was a baby, and here we have a house that is in the 30s upstairs. I mean, by the grace of God, we had left a heater on in the basement and kept the pipes from freezing. But the upstairs of the house was in the 30s, and so what I did is I ran into the bathroom, we had one of those wall heaters with a blower on it, and I cranked it as high as it would go, and we stuck the kids in the bathroom, closed the door, grabbed some space heaters, went to their room, turned on two space heaters plus the heat, trying to get the heat to come back as quickly as possible. Eventually their room was warm enough, and we put them to bed. It's probably the most blankets that I

have ever taken to bed, right? Normally it's like one or two, and this was like every blanket in the house stacked into at that point. I think it was like 41 degrees in our bedroom. And what was remarkable to me, and I guess I should have known this, but it's something we don't think about, is that it took almost 24 hours for the house to finally warm back up, right? Even after we turned all the heat back on, right, all your walls have to warm up, all your furniture has to warm up, your kitchen table has to warm up, everything. You're not just warming up the air in the house, you have to warm up the house itself. And what we find, and maybe you've experienced this, is that warmth doesn't always happen instantly, right? We turn on the heat, and it takes a while for it to grow and for it to spread.

And I think for us in this Advent season, this is a helpful picture when it comes to how we know and how we grow in Christ. You see, we are here this morning, and we're the third Sunday of Advent. We are celebrating some of these wonderful, earth-shattering, massive, good news-filled truths that in Christ there is hope, that in Christ there is peace, in Christ there is joy. And they're all real and all presented in the promise of our Savior. And we hear them, and we believe them, and we desire them especially with our weary hearts. But even knowing, desiring, and holding on to these truths, it doesn't mean that all of a sudden every area of my life is now filled with hope or filled with peace or joy, because growth takes time. And one of the reasons we come back to this season

every year is because that event teaches us to slow down. It teaches us that we can't be rushed through life. And it reminds us year after year that these great things, that the peace that passes understanding, the hope that is solid in the midst of the storm, the joy that is there even in the midst of the wilderness, the love that surpasses any love that we've ever known, no matter how hard we try, we can't manufacture them. No matter how hard we work or how hard we think, we can't shortcut our way to them. Not only that, we live in a world that tempts us to trust and hope in other things. And so as Christians, we're called not just to know these things, but to put on the whole armor of God, to rest in His strength, to walk with Him day by day. And so as we come to these things,

one of the things that we must be reminded of is that these things take growth. We see it throughout Scripture. I always think of Jesus' disciples when I think about growth. We think about John, who in the early days of his ministry with Jesus, he and his brother James, known for their tempers, become so angry at a Samaritan village, they seek to call down fire upon it. And then if you fast forward 60 or so years, where John is now in his 90s, his message to the church, not just in his letters, but from the accounts we have of church history, as he's carried into the church, unable to walk. And his message is, "Little children love one another." The guy that goes from one moment saying, "Hey, they don't like Jesus, let's burn their city to the ground," is now grown in the love of Christ to the point where it's

become his primary message. We think of Peter, who turns his back denying Christ, but who ultimately gives his life for the gospel. We think of Paul, who is the persecutor, and he meets Jesus and he grows. He's ultimately brought into ministry by Barnabas, and ultimately he proclaims the gospel until he too gives his life for it. I think one of the reasons Israel in the wilderness is so helpful for us in this Advent season is that we're reminded that growth doesn't always happen overnight, that it doesn't happen without some struggle, and sometimes we need correction, and sometimes we need to be led, but always reminded of God's goodness and his greatness. And so as we come to Israel in the wilderness this morning, we find them in a place where they have been rescued, they've been delivered,

they've seen God's power, but the joy, the joy that should be flooding their hearts is still very new to them. Just like heat takes time to spread through the house, so joy, especially when we're brought out of those struggles and trials and difficulties, it can take time for us to see and to develop. It can take time for us to grow in our joy. And it's not just that it takes time for joy to grow. I think we're really good at mistaking other things for growth or for joy. And so one of the things that has to happen, and we're going to look at sort of two categories this morning, in one sense we have to see that joy goes deeper. And what I mean by that is we have to leave behind some of the shallow things.

Not that those shallow things are necessarily bad. Some cases they're very good, but the problem with them is when we substitute them for joy they crumble. And so in some cases there are some things we have to get rid of, and then there are some things we have to hold on to in the truth of who God is. The other day I was sitting in our house, and I was sitting at our computer in the living room, and I was doing some work, and I had the front door kind of open, so I could watch the kids as they're running around outside riding scooters. And I'm like, "Man, it is so cold in here." So I did two things. First of all, the storm door, I had the screen on it open, and the cold wind was blowing in the house, so the

first thing I did was I shut that so the cold stops coming in. And then I cranked the heat really high because Rachel wasn't home to tell me that it was too warm inside. And what I want us to do for our hearts in this passage in Exodus leading into John is, first of all, we need to sort of shut the window of the draft of those things that we have substituted for joy that ultimately don't cause that joy to grow in our heart. And we also need to turn up the heat by pointing ourselves to the truth of who God is. And so I want to begin by going to Exodus chapter 15 to see that joy goes deeper than we think. Now, Exodus chapter 15 is a pretty remarkable chapter because this is the moment when God's

people, they have just seen the definitive defeat of Egypt, and God has brought them safely through the Red Sea. So they have been delivered from slavery, they've been protected from danger, and they have walked across the Red Sea on dry land. And what that leads to in Exodus 15 is worship. The first 21 verses of Exodus 15 are a song that proclaims God's goodness and His love. Let me give you just an excerpt from this song that they sing. "Who is like you, O Lord among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them." Speaking about the Egyptians. "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode." And so they

have just gotten done singing. It's a congregational song for most of it. Moses and the Israelites, they sing Miriam, grabs the tambourine, and the women, they sing. And they have just finished this song. And the song ends in 21, and then in verse 22 we find this, "Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea. And they went into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days into the wilderness, and found no water." The very next verse, "When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah, because it was bitter. Therefore it was named Marah." The word Marah just simply means "bitter." What is their response to this? Keep in mind, they are three days removed from Egypt being destroyed, their army being destroyed in the Red Sea. They have had a massive congregational worship that proclaims God's goodness. They have seen

God in the plagues and in His deliverance. They've seen their protection, they've seen their provision of God, and He has made their way through an insurmountable obstacle. And here's their response: "And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'" The question here is, "What happened to the Song of Joy?" Right? It takes three days to go from the Song of Joy to a song of grumbling. It literally takes three days from this joy that they had manifested in their worship with God to end up in grumbling and anger. Now what we'll see, the rest of this story, is that God will take that bitter water and He will make it sweet. And I think there's a lesson there about the bitterness of life and the power of God to make the bitter and turn it into something good. And that's a sermon for a different

day, but I want to focus on how short their joy had seemed to last. And the situation is going to happen again two chapters later. Exodus chapter 17. "The congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the way of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord. And they camped at Repidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people there thirsted for water. And the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" And so Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are ready to stone me." We have a pretty good chronological

record of how time goes between Exodus chapter 15 and Exodus chapter 17. It includes calendar dates. It includes travel time. By the time you get to this place in Exodus chapter 17, it has been 40 days that they have been in the wilderness. Now this might be understandable, their reaction, if this had been 40 days of silence or emptiness, but that's not what has happened. In fact, a big part of this space is that after the bitter waters of Marah, God leads them to an oasis filled with springs and all the water they could want. And in their hunger, God then provides for them first quail and then manna. And so six days a week, they wake up and there's manna to gather, and they gather just enough for one day until day six. They gather enough for the sixth day and for the seventh, the Sabbath day. And so God

has fed them, and not just fed them, but he has continued this pattern of provision that assures them of his love for them. So if you're keeping track on a list of the blessings of God, he has saved them by slavery, protected them, and provided for them as they leave with the wealth of Egypt. He's brought them through the sea. He has given them water and food, and not just one meal, but ongoing food, and now back to water. And the people are so angry. Moses is afraid for his life. What shall I do with these people? They are ready to stone me. You might say, "Well, what's the point of all of this?" What begins with a song of worship quickly turns to grumbles of complaint three days later, and threats of violence 40 days later. What it tells us this is that the song of joy

the people sing in Exodus 15, it's good, and it's wonderful, and it's a beautiful song, and it's filled with truth, and it's filled with worship and thankfulness. Yet for these people of God, the truth that they are singing with their mouth has not yet taken root deep into their heart. And what happens is that it's so easy for us to mistake other things for joy. And I don't know if you've ever felt the relief of burdens lifted. Maybe you walked around all day in like really, really heavy boots, and you finally came home, you take off your boots, and you put on a pair of sneakers or a pair of slippers, and all of a sudden it feels like your legs are lighter. Or maybe you've encountered a situation where it seems like it's burdening you and weighing you down, and that situation is resolved,

and the weight is lifted, and you feel like you're lighter and more joyful for Israel coming out of Egypt. Their burdens all of a sudden have been lifted, and they are joyful in relief. But that relief, while it is good and wonderful, it's not truly what brings them joy. The other thing that happens with us is often we seek sort of temporary happiness. What do I want right now? What do I desire? And if this desire is met, at least for a short time, I will find myself happy. And happiness is not bad. God gives us good blessings and good things to enjoy and celebrate and find happiness in. But happiness is not joy. And I think a little bit of what is happening here in Exodus 15 and Exodus 17 is God's people have felt the relief from Egypt, the happiness at being away from being slaves.

And they have mistaken that for joy. So when all of a sudden the burden of being thirsty and having to walk through the wilderness without water comes. Relief and happiness disappear. And because they don't really have a joy that goes deep down into who they are and how they know God, right? It crumbles. Relief and happiness are good things, but they're not the same thing as joy. And what happens in the wilderness? And one of the blessings of the wilderness, and maybe it's a blessing that we don't necessarily like or want, but in the wilderness, God shows us those things that we have hoped for in joy that will not satisfy the longing of our heart. You see, joy goes deeper, and its roots have to go down deep both into God's goodness and God's greatness. And so here, 40 days away from deliverance,

just prior to that three days before, you have to remember Israel's relationship with God is very new. They had not grown deeply into who he is personally and through experience. You see, our happiness and our relief oftentimes can feel big in the moment. Maybe we've been praying for that. "Relieve the burdens! Bring me happiness!" The problem with that is the wilderness will evaporate that at the first sign of trouble. You see, joy goes deeper than a temporary feeling. You see, our happiness so often depends on what is around us, while joy depends on who is with us. We often seek sort of immediate happiness, but joy, it takes intentional cultivation. We often sort of see joy as something loud and boisterous, and sometimes it is, but joy truly is not up and down, but it is steady through all the seasons of life, and joy, unlike so many things in life, can

survive those difficult disappointments. You see, they were happy at first, but their happiness in many ways was like dew on the ground. It vanished the moment the sun came up, and in His goodness, what does God do? He doesn't try to make them happy, but He leads them deeper into the wilderness, and He does so so their joy can grow, so that what they really depend upon can be exposed, and what we see as God exposes their hearts in the wilderness is that their hearts are still enslaved to fear. And the wilderness doesn't destroy our joy, but it shows us what true joy really looks like. The wilderness for God's people, for us, is a classroom where God teaches a deeper and more durable joy, not built upon what we have or our ease or our comfort, but built upon God's greatness.

And the fruit of the Spirit is joy, and that comes from walking with God and seeing Him provide again and again. You see, joy doesn't form in the moment of deliverance. It forms in the long obedience in the wilderness. And so the second part, the first thing is to realize that so many of the things we seek for joy will not support the weight of our heart, and to close that window to keep out the cold. But secondly, we need to understand that God leads His people into joy. It's a picture of tearing down and of rebelling. The tearing down removes our false view of joy. The wilderness removes that joy, but it directs us to the one who does bring us joy. And here's what they see in the wilderness and what we should see as well. Three things in the wilderness.

First, it's in the wilderness that they see God's power. When they came to Mara, they could not drink the water of Mara because it was bitter and therefore named Mara. Right? They really want to get us to the fact that the water is bitter, right? It's named bitter. They can't drink the bitter water because it's bitter, and that's why it's named bitter. It's undrinkable. Maybe like seawater, salt or minerals that make it unable to be drunk. Remember in this time, there's no water filters, no reverse osmosis, water filtration to use to get you the best possible water. No, 7-Eleven with giant bottles of water right down the street. And so Moses cries to the Lord, and he shows him a log, and he threw it in the water, and the water became sweet. You gotta think about that for a minute.

You're out in the wilderness, you drink some water, and it's the most brackish, bitter water that you've ever tasted, and you spit it out, and then you cut down a tree, throw the log in, and all of a sudden the water is sweet and refreshing and delicious. Right? He said, "That doesn't make any sense." And it doesn't make any sense because it's beyond our power, and one of the points of God's people in the wilderness was to see that God does things that for us are impossible. We can't fix the water without a lot of specialized equipment or tools or technology. And God says, "Get this old log, throw it in there." And he fixes it. And so part of the of the wilderness and part of what we need to do in order to truly have joy is to see that God is

bigger and stronger, and he does things that we cannot do. We see it again in chapter 17. "Behold, I will stand with you," as people are three days in the wilderness without water. "There at the rock at Horeb, you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Israel has faced bad water and now no water, and God impossibly brings them water from the rock. It reminds us a little bit of Luke chapter 1, where a young girl has an announcement about a baby that she's going to have, and she says, "How can this be, for I am a virgin?" And as part of the answer, the angel says to her, "For nothing will be impossible with God." Right? One of the first truths that leads us into

those deeper roots of joy is to know that God is bigger and stronger, and He does the impossible. And it's in the wilderness. Not only do we see God's strength, but we see His provision. It's not just that God can provide water and can provide water that is beyond our reach and our ability. It's that He also is providing. It's not just that He can, it's that He does. And what's interesting is they're in none of these places by accident. When Moses in Exodus 15 leads them out into the wilderness, they don't end up at the bitter springs by accident. God has directed their path to them, and He provides for them at that bitter spring. And when they go out in Exodus chapter 17 into the wilderness, it says they were advancing as commanded by the Lord. They don't end up in the middle of the wilderness with no water by

accident. God intends to provide for them, and He does. You see, God is the one who brings them to the place with bad water. He takes them to the place with no water. And in both situations, He provides water, but He's providing more than just physical water. He's providing this truth that He is their shepherd, and that while He is leading them, He's going to take them to where they need to go, even if maybe they don't understand, or they don't see how it's possible, because He is their understanding, and He is their strength. You see, God is teaching, and He is growing them, and He's providing for them and for us a track record of His faithfulness. And it's also this, and I think maybe for us this is perhaps the most important, it's in the wilderness that we learn that God's faithfulness is not fragile.

You see, if God only cared for the good, the joyful, the obedient, the spiritually mature people, how long would Israel have lasted? We get the answer in Exodus chapter 15: three days. Like, if God only takes care of the good people and the non-complainers, they make it three days. And I mean, if you want to go back before the Red Sea, like, they don't even get out of Egypt. God is not faithful. And what does He do? He leads the complainers to water. He leads the grumblers to His grace. And He walks with His people in the worst moments to show them the glory of who He is. He could have abandoned them in their immaturity and selfishness, but He doesn't do that. He grows them through it. You see, joy is present when God is present, when He's providing, and when He is patient with us.

In John, the seventh chapter, Jesus is at the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Tents. And Israel's journeys, they're filled not just with these moments that we've looked at of God's protection, provision, and patience, but throughout their entire wilderness journey. And so God provides for them what's called the Festival of Booths or the Festival of Tabernacles to remind them of God's provision and God's faithfulness in the wilderness. And essentially what you do is you build a booth and you live in it for a week to remind yourself of what it was like in the wilderness. Maybe a simpler way of saying this is like you build a booth, live in it, and think about how good you really have it, right? It's like when you go camping, and we love camping, but I also love toilets that flush,

like that. I love sleeping outside, but I also like the fact that my bed at home doesn't have rocks underneath of it, right? And so partly one of the great things, at least for our family, is that camping reminds us of the joy of running water. Things that we take for granted. Things that we often overlook. And Israel is the same thing. The reason God calls them to live in these booths, these tabernacles, is to remind them you're not in the wilderness anymore. You get to go home to a place with a roof and a door. And a kitchen and a bed. And so this festival would be celebrated in Jerusalem. And at the time of Jesus, during the festival happenings, part of the celebration and the ceremony, is the priest would take a big golden pitcher. And they'd walk from the temple down to the pool of Siloam. And they dipped

the pitcher in the water, and they would walk back up into the temple, and they would dump it out on the ground. It's a sort of symbolic picture of both remembrance and anticipation. Remembering that God has provided them this water, but anticipation of those promises in the Old Testament, where God will pour out His Spirit. And what is remarkable about this? Here is this feast and festival that God has instituted back when His people were in the wilderness. So this isn't like a new thing at the time of Jesus. And they are remembering, and they are looking forward in hope. And it's in this feast, I have to imagine maybe likely in this moment as they're pouring out the water, that Jesus will say, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and He cried out like this, "If anyone thirsts,

let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Now He said this of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given. Jesus was not yet glorified. So in the middle of this object lesson, instituted in the Law of Moses, Jesus is saying, "I'm the water in your wilderness. I'm the hope, the peace, the joy, not just simply externally, but the one that fills up the fountain that flows out of your life, the presence of God both with you and in you." And John chapter 7 is this public declaration, and John chapter 4 is where we see it directly happen in somebody's life. And in John chapter 4, Jesus is at a well with a Samaritan woman, someone who is very much living in her own wilderness, and

Jesus will ask her for water. She says, "I don't have any way. Why would you ask me, a Jewish man, ask a Samaritan woman to give you water?" Jesus says this, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become to him a spring of water welling up into eternal life." This Samaritan woman in her own wilderness, her relationships are a mess. She's socially isolated. She's in a shame-driven life. She's there in the middle of the day, not because she wants to come in the hottest part of the day to get water, but because she wants to isolate herself from everybody who's going to gossip about her, and she's spiritually confused. And he tells her, "If you knew who I was, you'd ask me for

a drink because I'm the one who brings to you the living water." Right? She's not necessarily in a physical desert, but her heart and her life is dry. Her heart is bitter. Her trust is exhausted. Her joy is non-existent. And what does Jesus do? He meets her in the middle of the day, in the hottest part of the day, in her confusion. He directly names her thirst. The things that you've been seeking to satisfy your thirst will not satisfy. He gives to her water that she is unable to produce, leads her into trust, and what's remarkable is he turns her story of brokenness into a testimony of his goodness. John 4 is Exodus 15 and Exodus 17 played out in one specific life. And Jesus, notice this, Jesus doesn't promise easy circumstances or a smooth path or a life without dryness. He promises himself. His

spirit is transforming joy. Joy isn't that everything goes well and perfectly, but there is one who satisfies the thirst in a way that nothing else will, and will not just satisfy you temporarily, but for all of eternity. The joy of Advent is not just sort of sentimental cheerfulness, but it's the arrival of living water in a thirsty world. What I love is Jesus doesn't come as this distant well. You think about it, there's wells that we have sought to find, right? Let's go find this fountain of youth. How many movies have we made? How many stories and legends of people seeking this miraculous water, trying to find it? And here we are where the living water is not somewhere to be found, but who has come to be with us. His name is Emmanuel, which means God with us. Right? You see, the joy is that God has

walked into our wilderness with water. He's the water in our wilderness. He comes not as a distant well we must find, but as the God who comes to us, who stands in the temple and cries out, and who sits beside sinners at the well. He says, "This is joy that in your wilderness I have arrived with the faithfulness and the power and the provision that your heart desperately, desperately needs." Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus, and I thank you for grace. I thank you so much for how you have provided for us in so many ways and in so many places and in so many times. Help us not to mistake simple relief or happiness. You would let the roots of joy go down deep, and that you would warm our life

with your grace, that you would remove our thirst with the living water of your goodness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing a song we haven't sung for a while, a song called Every Step.

Jesus, my Savior, my joy is complete. Allward to glory, yet here I will wait. I will trust in Christ every step I take. I am sure of your promise to guide me each day. Though some may oppose me, I won't be ashamed. Whatever I face, Lord, it won't be in vain. I will trust in Christ every step I take. For all of my days, I will live for your glory. Running with courage and faith. The prize of my journey, the joy of salvation. To be my King face to face. I'm looking to Jesus, perfecter of faith. My heart's set on heaven where treasure awaits. I'll run with endurance to finish the race. I will trust in Christ every step I take. For all of my days I will live for your glory. Running with courage and faith.

The times of my journey, the joy of salvation. Straight to me, my king faces. I will, I will rejoice. Whatever comes my way. God, you're faithful to save. I will, I will rejoice. I know that God is with me always. I will, I will rejoice. Whatever comes my way. God, you're faithful to save. I will, I will rejoice. I know that God is with me always. I will, I will rejoice. Whatever comes my way. God, you're faithful to save. I will, I will rejoice. I know that God is with me always. For all of my days, I will live for your glory. Running with courage and faith. The prize of my journey. The joy of salvation to me. My King face to face. To me, my King face to face. To me, my King face to face.

We are so thankful that you are here with us this morning. Our plan is to be back here Wednesday evening for our midweek Bible study next Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, as we look to the love of God, one of the things we want to do. We're going to have, after our service next Sunday, a congregational meal, so we'd like to invite you to come stay for that. We'll take care of the main dish and the plates of all those things, so if you'd like to bring a side dish, you can keep it simple, keep it easy. We like to come and have maybe an early Christmas dinner together next Sunday directly after our service. Also, our Christmas Eve service is going to be a week from Wednesday, 5 p.m. here at the church.

I'm going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, read from Isaiah 22, and then we'll sing the chorus of Go Tell It on the Mountain. Father in heaven, I thank you for your goodness and for your grace, and may we truly live for your glory, trusting that you are the only joy that satisfies our souls. It's in your Son's name we pray. Amen. As we read together early, "Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and I will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." So church, as we leave, we want to go in the confidence of this church, or in this truth, that God is our salvation. We do not need to fear, because the Lord is our strength and our song. And so may you trust Him, rejoice in Him, and walk in the joy that He has given you. Amen. Let's pray. Now we pretend that Jesus Christ is born. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.