Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27.7. The scripture declares that a
full soul loatheth an honeycomb. But to the hungry soul, every
bitter thing is sweet. Now, you know, humanly speaking,
it's a blessing to be able to have adequate food. To be able to eat, eat sufficiently. But eating is only truly profitable
if the food is healthy. Overindulgence, that which isn't good for me,
is eventually going to take its toll. It's going to cause me
to end up loathing hating that which in itself is good. You
can fill up on junk and I mean, you're full. But when it comes to then needing
to eat something that's healthy, I don't want it. Why? Well, because
I'm full with that which really is not gonna do me any good.
But what about a soul? An eternal soul that's filled with
something that's not healthy. It may be full, but it's full
to the abhorrence of that which really is needful. And if that's the case, if your
soul is full of that which is not good spiritually, eternally,
then we've got a problem. Now Solomon was moved by the
Spirit of God to pen these words. The full soul, that is the satiated
man. He's satisfied to the limit. You ever just go and sit down,
humanly speaking, and you just eat and eat and eat? And I like
stuff. I like food. But sometimes you
just get to a point where you say, you know what? I'm done. I'm done. But a soul that's satiated
is so full that it loatheth that which is set forth as a honeycomb despises the sweetness and purity
of that which is made of God. A honeycomb that a man would
rather tread on. That's why when it says loathe
it, I'd rather walk on it. There's something wrong. Now
let's look at this for just a minute and look at this spiritually. A full soul that would tread
upon, that which is set forth as a honeycomb, that which would
walk on it because it's full, is a soul that's full of itself. Now you've got to look at this
thing spiritually. It's full of self-sufficiency. It's like those that were found
in the church at Laodicea. And this is what they saw themselves
as being. Revelation 3.17, rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. We got all we need. I'm full. I don't need anything. The soul that's full to the loathing
of that which is good and sweet and profitable is a soul that's
full of man, man's will, full of his own self-righteous works,
A soul that rests in its own wisdom, power. It's so full of
itself that it believes that it can stand before God in the
day of judgment and be accepted on his own merit. Now that's
a soul that is spiritually full and loathes that which is truly
and naturally sweet. You don't have to add anything
to it. Honey, a honeycomb? How are you going to improve
on a honeycomb? Well, there's something that's
truly sweet, made of God, and has no need of man's effort,
no need of man's work. a man that's full of himself. Like that Pharisee, there was
Pharisees that was listening to the Lord who trusted in themselves,
that they were righteous and despised others. The Lord gave
a parable and he said, a Pharisee and a publican went into the
temple to pray. And the Pharisee said, God, I
thank thee that I am not as other men Extortioners, unjust, adulterers. I'm certainly not like this publican
right here. In his mind, his soul was full
of himself. Full of his evil works and he
needed nothing else before God. I thank you and I'm not like
everybody else. He did not need the sweetness
of God's mercy and compassion and love for an unworthy sinner
because in himself, he wasn't unworthy. I thank you. I thank you. I'm not like other
men. I thank you that I'm so holy. I'm so pure. You'd never catch me doing what
they do. Oh, but the honeycomb that's
spoken of. That which is not produced by
man. Now what truly does the scripture
say is set forth spiritually as a honeycomb? Well, here's
what it is. It's the word of God. Now listen
to this, Proverbs 16, 24. Pleasant words. Pleasant words. But now in our passage right
here, it means words of splendor. Words of delight, gracious words. Now truly, who is the only one
that's ever spoken words of splendor and graciousness? Well, it's
the Lord. The scripture says, pleasant
words are as a honeycomb sweet to the soul and health to the
bones, pleasant words of comfort, soothing rest to the new man. The scripture says the thoughts
of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of
the pure are pleasant words. God's words are a delight to
his people. They're truly to a believer. Who do you want to hear? Tell me the sweet words of the
Lord. Tell me what God has to say.
But that man that's dead spiritually, satiated, filled to the limit
with deceit, he loathes the beauty and sweetness of the Word of
God, the glory of God, the sovereignty of God. You know that, naturally
speaking. Spiritually, naturally, carnally
speaking, a man that is filled with himself, does he really
want to hear what God has to say about him? Sure. I told you about my uncle that
time, told me. You know what? I've said this
before. Those words have come back to me so many times. sitting under the sound of the
gospel, Kevin. And he told me one day, he said,
I will never go back to that place again. He didn't either.
He didn't. He said, that preacher, faithful
preacher of the gospel told me I was a sinner. He opened up
his Bible. He showed me, said, look it right
there. See it right there? Had his name right there, had
on a deacon. See what I'm saying? Yeah. He said, I am not a sinner. And
I thought, you've just been admitted that you just want to eliminate
yourself from any hope. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief.
A full soul loatheth the honeycomb. The honeycomb and the sweetness
of God's Word. Hope. I'll stop that. Numbers chapter
21. Oh, the mercy of God to provide
for His people. Numbers 21. They were out in
the desert. The nation of Israel was out
in the wilderness. Numbers 21, 4 and 6. And listen,
here's the Lord. He's provided for them. He's
rained manna from heaven. They get up in the morning and
they go out there and here it is. It was a wafer. It was just a little white wafer. Manna. They didn't know what
it was. They called it manna. What is it? It's manna. It was
bread from heaven. God's provision. Sweet! They
journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass
the land of Edom and the soul of the people was much discouraged
because of the way people spake against God. and against Moses. Notice how the scripture sets
forth who they were against. Number one, they were against
God. They were looking at Moses, but against God. And against
Moses, wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in
the wilderness, for there's no bread, neither is there any water,
and our soul loatheth this light bread. Someone said, I'm just sick of
hearing the same thing. Marvin, do you have anything
else to say? Is there any other subject? I
mean, my soul loathes the same message you're preaching over
and over and over again. That's what they're saying. Our
soul loatheth what God has provided. And what happened? And the Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and bit the people, and
much of the people of Israel died. Truly, the full soul, spiritually
full of self and pride and enmity against God, loatheth the honeycomb. The sweetness of His Word. Oh,
but to the hungry. Oh, to that hungry soul. Every bitter thing is sweet. Why? Why? Why? To the hungry soul. That soul
made hungry. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. To the hungry soul, I'm telling
you, a man born in Adam, his soul is full. He's full of self. He's full. He ain't hungry. Not for God. But to the hungry
soul, what a blessing that God would make a soul hungry. Blessed is that hunger. Blessed are they that hunger. If they're hungry, so every bitter
thing is sweet. Why? Because everything that
comes the way of a believer has been ordained of God's scent
for the good of his people. It's amazing how a man's palate
changes when he's hungry. You ain't never gonna find me
eating snails, never. Really? You're just not hungry. You ain't hungry. Buddy, let
me tell you something. You'll eat tree bark when you
get hungry. It's amazing. Things you never
thought you'd eat, never relished before, become sweet when you're
hungry. There was a prodigal son left
his daddy's house, give me what's coming to me. I'm gone. I'm out of here. Wasted all of
his money, all of his rich, all of his, you know, everything
he had, his inheritance, on riotous living. And he got hungry. He got hungry. Went and got himself a job with
a man there in the country, feeding swine to the point to where the husk
that he was feeding the swine started looking good to him.
They're eating it. I think I can eat pig food. I'll
eat that. And the scripture says he came
to himself. Oh, that blessed picture and type. When God gives
a man some light, he comes to himself. He said, I'm back at my dad's house. The servants
eat better than I do, and I'm starving to death. I'm going home. I'm going home. I'm going to go home. I'm going
to go back to my dad, and I'm going to tell him I'm sorry.
He's got his story all rehearsed. You know this. Here he comes. His dad sees him. He's ready.
He's going to start. This kid's starving. His dad
sees him. Doesn't even listen to what he's
saying. He starts rehearsing his story. I want you to bring
some shoes. Put them on this boy's feet.
You put a robe on his back. Put a ring on his finger. Kill
the fatty calf. This is my son right here. This
is what happens. God calls one of his own. We're born in this world. Every
object, every vessel of God's mercy. We're born in this world. We're just so full of self. So full of pride and arrogance. Oh, but by the grace of God,
God makes some men that He's always loved, everlasting, He
makes them hungry. Hungry for what we're doing right
here. Don't tell me, don't tell me about, you know, reforming
this world. It ain't going to happen. Don't
tell me about eternal peace that's going to be found in this world
if we all pray together. It ain't going to happen. Tell
me about God that has mercy on sinners like me. Tell me about
God Almighty that does as He willed in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of earth and saves a people of His
choosing. Tell me about Christ that put
away my guilt. Tell me one more time how there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus.
Tell me that one more time. Tell me about God that saves
sinners. That's a feast to me. What a
blessing. Oh, God that would deliver me
and make every bitter thing sweet. They come to see that That which
is bitter to this world and to my flesh is what's good for me. God's weaning His people from
this world. David said, it's good that I've
been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Oh, how sweet
are those things, sin of God, that glorifies Him. and declares
and shows his people, you're kept by the power of God through
faith. That sinner knows being taught
of God's spirit, he rescued me. He plucked me as a brand out
of the fire. He didn't have to. Well, I don't
know. No, that's a wrong statement.
If he's chosen to save me, he has to. But he did it according
to his will, and his glory, and his honor. He's going to do that
which he said, my counsel is going to stand. The Lord said
concerning his people, if there was a woman going to meet, he
said, I must needs go through Samaria. He must needs go through
Samaria. He didn't have to go because
of anything he saw in the woman. He did it because it pleased
him to do it. Every bitter thing sweet. The one made hungry for the glory
of God. I pray that the Lord teach us
what a blessing it is to be hungry, spiritually hungry for God's
word, for his glory and our good. Amen.