Now, but now we know before,
faith will lead us in the door. ♪ Therefore be my favor sent ♪
♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪ ♪ God is love, my hope, my prayer ♪
♪ Take the stake and I'll be saved ♪ The other day, for a couple of
days, and we read this together. I told them that we looked at
it together, and we read it with them, and rehearsed some things
in this with them, and maybe look at it again. And as I said,
verse 9 deserves a message by itself. And I started looking at verse
eight, I thought, well, I didn't deal with that very well. And
I fully intended to deal with verse nine exclusively tonight,
but didn't even get to it. So, Lord willing, Sunday morning,
we're going to deal with verse nine by itself, because in that
verse, there's so much, it's so profound,
it talks about light and life, life and light. The secret of
life and light is found in that verse right there, whatever that
means. We're going to deal with that Sunday morning, the Lord
willing, if we don't preach from Daniel 3. One of the men read, Brother Mike
read from Daniel 3, the great blessing, 4 and the furnace. I'll take votes if you want to
I love dilemmas, and I love having too much to preach, not knowing
what to deal with. I love that. I began reading this again, and
something caught my eye. Verse 8, the fatness of God's
house. We just looked at that briefly,
and then it made me go over to Isaiah 55 that we just read that
talked about fatness. So what we're going to do is
look at this very briefly and then jump over to Isaiah fifty
five. That's why I didn't get the first line. All right I'm
not rambling. I'm telling you what went what
went into making this message. And I love it when things scriptures
keep you know suggesting themselves. All right there's a real feast
here and now the psalmist David wrote this and he said those
that have experienced God's mercy that we looked at Sunday morning
and God's loving kind said they put their trust in him sons of
man those children of his that have experienced God's mercy
sovereign mercy and They put their trust under the shadow
of his wings, it said. And then in verse 8, the Lord
says, They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of
thy house. They shall be abundantly satisfied
with the fatness of thy house. Now that just struck me, and
that's what we're going to look at for a little bit. God's house.
God's house is his church. You are the temple of God. That's what the scripture says,
where God abides, his temple, where God is and where God's
people gather and worship. And he says, they, that is, these
who trust Christ, shall be abundantly satisfied with all the fatness
that is in God's house, abundantly satisfied. Now, after a large
meal, from a bountiful table. We are not just satisfied. We're abundantly satisfied. Or
in our common language, we say, I'm full as a tick or something
like that. I am full. Was it Laura that said she wanted
to eat an M&M? She said she was full after,
oh, she was Three or four years old, Laura Williams ate all she
could hold of vegetables and all that awful stuff. And she said she's full. And
her mother said, OK. And then she wanted some M&M's.
She said, you can't have them, you're full. And Laura said,
but I found one little spot right here. We tell that all the time. Well,
God's people, after leaving this bountiful table, are abundantly
satisfied, abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God's house,
the fatness of God's house. Do you remember Solomon's table?
Do you remember looking at that when Sheba went to see Solomon? We saw that big spread of Solomon
one day. Remember that? His provisions
for one day? is greater than Solomon. And he has set a table
in his house that is full to overflowing, Scripture says,
with fat things and wine on the leaves. That means the best wine.
Fat things. A feast, Ecclesiastes said, is
made for laughter and wine to make merry. Isaiah 55. Now go
over there. Isaiah 55. What is he talking about? Fat
things, God's house, tables. Are we satisfied with, abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of God's house? What is this fatness
that God, what is on God's table? Right, you've got it right there
in your lap. You have your plate in your lap
there. God's Word. And our Lord says
here in Isaiah 55, And verse one. Everyone that first come
either have no money come by and eat. Come by wine and milk
he said. Come by wine and milk without
money. And without profit. As you know
scriptures are often referred to as wine. And that's what he's
talking about here not physical. wine, liquid, but the wine of
God's Word, which Christ's blood is that very color. And this
book is full of the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Come
by wine. Wine, David said, makes glad
the heart. The wine of God's Word, that
is, makes you forget all your troubles. The wine of God's Word,
fellows, get together and drink it in fellowship and laughter
and so forth. Joy around the gospel, joy and
rejoicing, the wine of God's Word, and milk, wine and milk. God's Word is called milk, isn't
it? Desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. Milk builds strong bones. Milk builds a strong frame or
foundation. and growth. It's amazing how medical science
keeps coming right back to the basic things and now they're
suggesting we drink milk, a lot of it. Well, and I suggest and
God commands us to desire his word the milk of his word for
growth and maturity and as well set or strong bones will not
break under stress or pressure. So it is those who have this
good foundation built upon God's word. And he says buy, come and
buy. Now we don't bring our works,
we don't try to buy it with our penance or whatever. But he says
come and buy them. It means you've got to spend
something to get it. You've got to spend something.
It's not money. It's not money. What do you spend? A little time. You've got to
spend a little of your time. He says seek and you shall find. Search and you'll find. Ask,
that's prayer. Not Now we'll be open. We spend our time we spend you
know when you buy something. It involves a little sacrifice
you have to give up something that you have in order to procure
something else. He says come and buy this but
not with money or pride. Nevertheless it involves some
sacrifice on our part. You've got to leave wherever
to come here. You've got to put everything
aside, don't you? Put everything down to come here. But it's well
worth it. Well worth it. We go to the store. Mindy doesn't always like me
going to the store with her because I head straight for the gourmet
section, you know. I see all the stores filled. This country is amazing. It's absolutely amazing how blessed
this country is. The average third world person
would walk into our average food store, food line or whatever.
They'd think they were in heaven. It's incredible, the amount of
food. Anything you want in the morning,
anything you want. And I head straight for the gourmet,
you know. Pickles from Peru, you know,
beans from Bolivia. You know, I love those. Don't
you? Don't you love those exotic foods? Beyond description. What all
is found in this, in this book. Beyond description. But anyway, what I was getting
at, was to me, money's no object. When we go to the store, you
know, Manny's got a budget, but I say, hey, let's get this, let's
get that. Come on, let's get this, let's get that. We don't
have enough money. Charge it. But what do you want? What do you need? Well, it's
going to take a little effort. And he says, come and buy. That
means that there is something involved, something you've got
to give up. Time, energy, effort, Maybe somebody
got to leave to get here. It's well worth it. It's well worth it. Because he
says, why do you spend money for that which is not bread?
Verse 2. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? The things of this world are
mere husks. That whole story of the prodigal
son that we briefly looked at. He went out into the world and
what he ended up eating was husks. That's all the things of this
world leave you. There's nothing filling, fulfilling about them. Our Lord said to the woman at
the well, who kept coming back to that well, she kept coming
back to the well, and he said to her, whoever drinks of this
water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water
that I give him shall never thirst. And she said, That sounds good
to me. Give me this writer that I might
not thirst to kill. And you say that? Huh? You did. You're here. You're here. All
right. I whine and miff. Don't spend money for that which
is not bread. Over in Psalm 106, you know,
children of Israel, we've been studying them. And it says they
lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. That means they wanted everything
they saw. They wanted everything, they
sought everything but God. And that pretty much describes
the average person. And so God said there in Psalm
106, it says, God gave them their requests. He gave them everything their
hearts could desire, but sent leanness into their souls. It's better to be physically
gaunt, have very little physical bread, and have this bread, the
knowledge of God, than to be fat and prosperous physically
and not know God. That's what the Scripture said
over and over again. Better is a little with the fear of the
Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. is a fear
of the Lord and a stalled ox. Well, they sent leanness into
their soul. Leanness of soul comes from no
food, no spiritual meat, no spiritual meat on the bone. That's leanness. And no fat. We're going to talk
about fat in a minute, how it's a good thing to be fat. And I
don't mean physically, but I mean spiritually. God makes people
fat. Well, fat is good in a sense. Your body burns, it doesn't.
Nurses will attest to that. There's a certain amount of warmth
to be had from fatness. Well, that's a good illustration
of this fatness. So he says here, look at verse
two. He says, Now hearken undiligently
unto me. That means listen carefully.
Listen carefully now. Read on. And eat ye that which
is good. And let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear. Harken, he
said, eat, delight, hear, and live. He said, hearken diligently. You parents, I know you told
your children over and over again, now listen now, listen. Listen
up. And over and over again, you
want their ears. And you think to yourself, that
they'll just listen to me. Right? If they'll just listen. I mean really listen. Well, this
is God talking here. And He says, hearken diligently
now. Listen up. Listen up. Give diligence. Diligence means
Get serious about earnest. Get serious. And he says, eat
that which is good. Our heavenly father talks to
us just like we talk to our children. Eat. Eat. I had a poor appetite when I
was a boy. It's kind of like my nephew Luke. I asked him when
he was a boy one time, I asked him what his favorite vegetable
was. And Anna, he said, meat. What's your favorite vegetable?
Meat. Well, that was me. And I didn't
like things that were good. Our Lord, that's what he's saying
to his children here. Eat that which is good. Eat that
which is good. Thank God as you grow older,
your appetite increases and you eat and love all things a lot
of all things and become fat. Well that's the way it is spiritually. That's the way it is spiritually.
Eat. Eat. What does it mean to eat? It
means well to really process food you've got to chew it. Are y'all listening to me, some
of you voracious eaters? I eat with some of you and I
think, are they chewing their food? I don't, you know, what difference
does it make if I give them a steak or whatever? It's cold. It's
gone. How could you get any flavor
out of that? It certainly doesn't get all the nutrients out of
it. To eat something means you've
got to chew on it. Chew on it. I forget how many
times they recommend, but several times they recommend that you
actually chew your food so that your body can digest it. To eat
something, you swallow it. You've got to swallow it. You don't just taste it and spit
it out. You've got to swallow it. Take it down and ingest it
into your body. So, our Lord says to us, this is wine, this is milk, this
is meat, this is bread. He said, now listen to me, eat it, chew on it, and then
believe it. Swallow it. Take it down in the
recesses of your being by God's grace. Ingest it. That which
is good. It's good. It's truly profitable.
It's true food. It's not husks. It's nourishment. It's wonderful. Fast food, of
which we're all guilty of eating at times. Fast food is not ever
good for you. I don't care. It's never good
for you. They don't call it fast food for nothing. It's not good
for you. It's positively harmful. You know, positively harmful.
I did a study not too many years ago about the average person
would eat at McDonald's two or a couple times a day all of their
life. They could live about 36 years. Fast food is not good, it's positively
harmful. Though it temporarily fills you
then. You think you're full, you're not. You're not. And I
thought of that as a, that's a type of modern religion then.
Modern religion. Easy believerism and so forth.
Get rich quick and so forth. And that's not food at all. But
for us, neither will a hurried meal of God's Word do us any
good. A hurried meal. Chew it. Chew
it. Swallow it. Ingest it. He says,
eat that slowly and deliberately. And he says, delight yourself
in fatness. Let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear. Listen to everything
he says here. Incline your ear. Hearken. Eat. Incline your ear. Hear. And your soul shall live life
more abundant. That's what he's talking about.
All right. Now, when we eat physical food,
we eat it with our mouth. It goes in here. That's how it
gets into our body. How does this get into our body? By hearing. We eat God's word by hearing. We take it in by hearing it. And the word, hopefully, goes
down into our very soul and heart. And we hear not just with these
ears. Everyone in here has two ears.
Everyone in here. Having ears to hear. And our Lord said this over and
over and over and over. Didn't He? Having ears to hear. They hear it all. They hear not. Do you remember
back in Psalm 36 where David said, The transgression of the
wicked saith within my heart. It's telling me something. Everything
does. The whole world is an illustration. The whole world bears witness
of God's Word, of the truth. The truth reveals the whole world. Everything you're faced with
has already been written. Every decision you'll ever have
to make, it's already been made. Everything you're faced with,
somebody else has been faced with. Every circumstance you'll
get in, somebody's already been in it. He says, here, that's a nightmare. Here, I was talking at length
with my father, and he said to me, most folks, now this is a
man who's been preaching for over 50 years. He gave me all
of his sermon notes to bring home and said, I don't need them
anymore. I've got them all. You know,
I thought of bringing those home in the back of my car. They were
in cardboard boxes. I thought some of the greatest
sermons the world has ever heard were back in cardboard boxes. And the world doesn't care. Most
folks don't care. A lot of people who seem to care
don't care. And he said to me, from years
of experience preaching to people who have ears to hear, he said,
most folks don't hear anything. They're not listening. They're not listening. And they say good sermon, they
say this, they say that, but they haven't heard a thing. because it manifests itself right
now. They don't hear. Not listening. Our Lord said, how can you diligently,
diligently, listen carefully to me? Careful listening to God's Word.
How many times have we broken. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Hearing the word of God. Faith,
what is faith? Faith is knowledge, that is knowing
God, knowing Christ, belief, believing with a heart, trust,
trusting God, trusting Christ. Faith is confidence in Reliance
upon, resting upon, casting yourself and your family and everything
you are upon God. That's what faith is. Faith coming
by hearing the Word. It doesn't come in no way. Trials
don't give faith. They reveal it. And trials make
you run to the Word, which confirms your faith. You hear me? Nothing gives faith but hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. I wish I had more faith. What's
wrong? Faith cometh by hearing. I think some of you are listening
right now. I really do. Cometh by hearing the word. Faith.
The just shall live by faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Faith gives rest. That is, from anxiety and stress. Faith gives peace. Peace within. Inner peace. Christ said, My
peace I give unto you. How? Where? Not on experience. Not upon the hip. By hearing. Faith is joy. Real faith gives joy. Joy. Happiness. Happiness. Everybody seeks happiness. Faith,
true faith, will make a person happy. Faith cometh by hearing. Faith makes you calm. Calms you down. Comforts you. In whatever difficulty, faith
comes by hearing. Hearing. Hearing the Word. The
Word. Faith gives discernment. Faith
gives discernment. What does that mean? Look at
this. Look at that. Look at this. And make proper
judgments based on knowledge. Have a real understanding. Psalm
1, thy light, in thy light we see light. What's his light?
The entrance of thy word giveth light. Thy word is a lamp unto
my feet, a light unto my path. Discernment, real judgment, so
as to see something, see someone, see whatever, and give them true
biblical judgment, discernment. Faith cometh by faith. You're into work. Faith. Faith is, our Lord said, you'll
know the truth. Faith is knowing the truth. He
said, you'll know the truth. You know, set you free. Freedom. Faith is freedom. Freedom from ignorance. Most
people are ignorant about most things. Ignorant. Freedom from
superstition. Freedom from snares. There's
a lot of them out there. Pitfalls. Lots of them out there.
Nets that people fall into. Traps. Set you free. Faith is freedom. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing the Word. Free from wolves. There's lots
of them out there. They won't get you. Satan is
a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and his ministers
are ministers of righteousness. True faith won't allow a person
to fall captive to one of those. No, sir. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing the Word. And just before that, you know
where that's found? I keep quoting that. Faith comes
by hearing. Where's that thing? Romans where? Good, Romans 10. Well, just before
that, why is he talking about faith? Well, he started saying,
how shall they believe in him that they have not heard? So
forth. How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear without a
preacher? Now, a true preacher sent by God is a man who's immersed
in this. My dad and I were talking about
Tom Hardy. You've heard me talk about that
dear man, and you've heard him preach, and he's just saturated
with scripture. If you listen, you'll hear it. here. Immersed in and knowledgeable,
true preachers immersed in God's Word, knowledgeable of it and
preaches all of it. All of it, the whole counsel
of God. Paul said, I have not shunned
and declare on you the whole And you know, would to God that
there were more people like that Ethiopian eunuch who didn't despise
prophesying, but said, how can I? I'd love to understand that.
And how can I? He asked a question. How can
I? Except some man tell me, you're like that. But very few people are. Faith
comes back. Most people don't listen. They
just don't listen. They have already. Well, and you know that the Lord's
Day and faith come with my hearing hearing by the Word of God before
that he said how shall they hear without a preacher. And you know that on the Lord's
Day. You receive a double portion just it's no coincidence that
this way it is just like it was in the old that Sabbath day before,
people would go out and gather a double portion. Well, we come
here, and if we come hungry, and if we listen diligently,
oh, you feast on fat things. The Lord's Day and Wednesday
night, my favorite, actually my favorite meal, for the table
to spread, and David said, God has prepared us a table in the
midst of our the midst of our enemy. A whole
lot of people like to see this place close up. It won't if some folks really
listen. So he says, hearken diligently
unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Now let me say a little bit more
about this, and then I'm going to close. We talked about faith
coming by hearing. If God keeps saying that, hearken,
cline your ear, hear, and your soul shall live. And I think
this is vital what I'm saying right now, I really do. I don't think it is, I know it
is. This little place doesn't have
to stand, but we sure need it to, don't
we? We stand by faith, we go on by faith, and faith comes
back to us. I talked about discernment and
understanding. Face whatever scriptures give
the scripture word of God gives precedent for everything and
everyone. We will fight everyone we will
fight every person is a clear parallel. Every thing clear example for
us to see. Now, we have been looking very
plainly at some passages, especially at Exodus, and now we're going
through 1 Samuel, and it is shockingly relevant to me. It just amazes
me. Are you following me? It amazes
me as we go through and see these thing how relevant it is. I think
this is this this is that this is this this is exactly what's
happening. Don't they don't we see it don't
we see anything? Clearly same. Nothing new we
saw that in Ecclesiastes didn't we? There's nothing new on the
sun nothing. And it says it's written for
our learning. written for our learning, so
we don't have to repeat the same mistake, sin, that the children
of Israel did. So that we might, Peter said,
God has given us exceeding precious promises that we might be partakers
of the divine nature and might escape the corruption that's
in the world through love. Might escape. We have this word. That's what he's talking about,
the word. And Peter said also that Peter got what he got from
Isaiah who got what he got from David who got what he got from
Moses who got what he got from God. They're all saying the same
thing. Peter said if you give diligence,
give diligence, add to your faith, give diligence. That sound familiar?
Give diligence. How's that? Add to your faith virtue, knowledge,
temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.
And he said, if you do it, you'll abound. You won't be barren,
unfruitful. You'll abound. We're talking
about abundant fatness. Your soul will be fat. Abundant life. And he went on
to say, if you do these things, you'll be full. Interesting,
now, aren't you? I want to follow. Do you? Lots
of people do. And will. OK. What does all that mean? How do you add to your faith?
Well, where's faith come from? Well, how do you add to your
faith? Where's virtue come from? Where's knowledge come from?
Where's temperance come from? where patients come from. We've
got in this company but we can't. Talk about. What you say what you say and
you know you know. Talk about eating. When God told
Noah to put the animals on the park he said put Seven clean
animals and two unclean. Male and female, unclean. But
seven clean animals. What were the characteristics
of clean animals? What distinguished clean animals
from unclean animals? Two things. Two things. Part of the hoof, like an old
cow, you know. Matthew Henry, I'll never forget
when I saw this years ago, a young man, I'll never forget it. He
said, God's people. God's got seven. It's amazing. You listen? Why are there seven? Why are there four men in the
barn? The sixth, the seventh is to
be sacrificed. Who's seventh number of perfection? Seven. That's crap. That kept forth many. But anyway,
part the hooves and chew the cud. An old cow, cows get plum
fat on them. Where do they feed on them? Clean animals, every one of them,
feed on grass, every one of them. Green pasture. If you leave an
old cow out there in good enough pasture, he'll just get, she'll
just get fat and fat and fatter and fatter. But she just doesn't
swallow it down and go for another one. So, she's got three stomachs.
Isn't that it? Three stomachs. Two stomachs. Three. Four. Five. That runnet bag is that stomach
that they bring that back up from. Where that name came from
down there. That runnet bag. That grass goes
down in there. And then later on, they bring
it back up. They chew it some more so they
can get everything out of it the first time. And when he says
eat, that's what he means. A clean animal. Chew it. Swallow
it. Bring it back up. Chew it some
more. You didn't get everything out
of it the first time. There's more nutrients to be had. There's
more taste in it to be had. Chew that cud. And part of the
hook, where you waiting for me? Part with the world. part with
sin. That's good, isn't it? God's
people chew on the word and part with the will. Part with their
sin. Ye that fear the Lord hate evil.
Hate evil. Come ye out from among them and
part the hoof. The hoof is your wall. Right. Well, so he says eat. Bring it
back up. Chew on it. Let your soul delight
itself in fatness, fatness. Now, that was just preparation for, because verse 9 in Psalm
36 talks about life and light, and it's a whole lot there, a
whole lot there. The reason I didn't go on into
it is because there's too much there to just give a little time
to. And that is. Preparatory message
for that Sunday morning Lord willing we'll look at that because
there's a secret right there in that verse the secret of life.
And life and I'll give you a little clue that the high priest had
two things on his breastplate. Two mysterious things. Which
is represented. Two mysterious things. And the key there is a real secret. The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. All right, stand
with me. Our Lord, we thank you for your
word. Thank you so much. We don't realize what we have. We ask your forgiveness for taking
it for granted. So we're so thankful, Lord. You
know our frame. You know that we're flesh. You
know that much studying is the weariness of the flesh and we're
not able to retain it, understand it. You've told your disciples
that very thing and you're not able to bear it now. Lord, we
ask that you increase our capacity for it. More than anything, give
us a hunger and thirst and cause us to hear, Lord, that our souls
may live And then our, and eat and actually believe and feed
upon the word of God and let our soul delight in fatness,
Lord. Lord, make this people a discerning
people, people of good judgment, good understanding, free from
whomever and whatever that would harm or ensnare us. Lord,
keep us by your power, the Word of your power, we pray. It's
in Christ's name, who is the Word incarnate. Amen. Thank you.