You may be seated. Thank you. All right, open your Bibles now,
back to Matthew chapter 6, continue there, where we've been studying
for a number of weeks now. We've been going verse by verse
through our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and we have run into some difficult
verses. But whatever is written, Scripture
said, is written for our profit, for our learning, There's nothing
in this book that is non-essential, is it? Nothing. And if we had
eyes to see, we had an understanding, we could perceive the necessity and the seriousness
of everything that is said. Our Lord, every word that was
uttered out of his mouth. was all wise and had divine consequences,
and has divine consequences, eternal consequences upon our
lives. And we ought to heed carefully
every word. Now, I know I've said this before,
but I'm going to say it again and make every effort from here
on out. I'm going to try to make this short tonight. Do you believe
that? I am. I really am. I'm going to try.
And I'd like to do that from here on out on Wednesday nights.
I know you're tired after working and so forth. But there's a real
preaching and teaching dilemma when you approach verses of Scripture
like we're going to look at tonight. How much do you give? How deep
do you go? I've been listening to a man
recently on tape, exclusively a man who's just a brilliant,
brilliant man, theologian. There's nothing wrong with that
word. It means the study of God. Everyone in here is a theologian.
We study God and His Word. I've been listening recently
to a man who's just a brilliant, brilliant man, and he's somewhat
difficult to listen to, but nevertheless, if you stop, if you've listened
to him, and listen very carefully to what he's saying, There's
mountains of knowledge and help in that, isn't there? But how much do you give
to people? How deep do you go, Joe? How long do you spend? I've
heard of men spending years in one book. I don't believe in
that, obviously. We've gone through eight books
of the Bible in the three years that I've been here. I don't believe that and spending
long amounts of time on one book, but how long do you spend? How
deep do you go? How much do you study? What are
you going to miss? How quickly do you pass over
something? There's a dilemma in preaching. Every time you
stand up to preach, Terry, you have this opportunity of time. You have people out there who
are strong men. John talked about it, didn't
he? He talked about different levels of You talk about strong
men, young men, babes. You have those different people
in every congregation. Now, there's no doubt whatsoever
the simplicity of Christ in the gospel must be preached always. Everyone at all times. As Richard Baxter said, I'm a
dying man, and I'm to preach as a dying man to dying men.
So if we have that in mind, what should we preach? Well, they
ought to go out of there at least having heard the way of salvation.
Don't take it for granted that everyone knows it. Don't take
it for granted everyone is saved. And there are babes and there
are theologians. But listen to this verse in Hebrews chapter
five. You can turn if you want, but
in Hebrews chapter five, you remember when we studied that,
the Apostle Paul says, He says, in verse fourteen, strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age. Even those who by reason
of use, or that is, use of this strong meat, or doctrine if you
will, those who by reason of use have their senses or spiritual
sensibility exercised to discern both good and evil. And he says,
therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ He
doesn't mean we're going to put that off and not preach it. Not
at all. He says we're going to build
upon that. Let us go on to perfection or maturity. Do you understand
what he's saying there? Do you understand the dilemma,
though, in preaching? Strong meat belongs to them of
full age. But we have babes in here. Now,
here in Matthew chapter 6, we come to a portion of our Lord's
Sermon on the Mount, dealing with a difficult subject. Look
at Matthew six, verse sixteen. Our Lord just gave us the disciples'
prayer, mode of praying. And he says here, beginning in
a new thought, in verse sixteen, Moreover, when you fast, When you fast, be not as the
hypocrites of sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces,
that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you,
they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto
men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret, and thy father
which seeth in secret shall reward the openly. Fasting is the subject
tonight. Needless to say, I need your
prayers and you need your prayers. This is a difficult subject,
a difficult subject, but do we just skip over it? Do we just
say, I don't understand that, let's go on to something else,
do we? No, our Lord spent four verses there talking in depth
about it, didn't he? and other places. Our Lord dealt
with it, so we are going to. Now, look at verse sixteen again.
He says, When you fast. He didn't say if, did he, Henry?
He said, When you fast. Now, listen to some words. I can't put it any better than
some of these great men of the past. and others, but listen
to the words of John Calvin concerning fasting. Are you with me? I'm
trying to keep your attention here. John Calvin said, many, for lack
of knowing the usefulness of fasting, they undervalue its
necessity, and some reject it altogether. While other people,
on the other hand, who don't understand it so well, but they
use it, it grows into superstition, about like prayer. You know,
people say prayer changes things, or prayer works, like hocus pocus
dominocus, or fastings, or some work, some little magical incantation
you do, or some magical thing you do, and it works. Try it,
it works. That's not the sense at all. Many, many turn fasting into
a religious superstition. Eastern religions do that. Roman
Catholicism and so forth. But Protestants ignore it altogether. We're Protestant. We protest
Roman Catholicism. We ignore it altogether. It's
not to be. It's not what the Lord laid down
here. Nowhere does our Lord discontinue or discourage fasting in the
Scripture. Turn over a few chapters with
me to Matthew 9. Nowhere does our Lord discourage
or tell us to discontinue this practice of fasting except right
here in Matthew 9 verse 14. You remember this? He said in
Matthew nine, uh, some came to him, the cycles of John saying,
why do we in the Pharisees fast often, but by disciples fast
not. And Jesus said unto them, can
the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom
was with them? Why fast? The Lord's with them. Feast, don't fast. Feast, break
fast, eat breakfast. The Lord's with you. As long
as the bridegroom is with you, the day will come, look at this,
the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and
then shall they fast. Now you know who that's speaking
of. It's talking about Christ himself. He said when he was
there on the earth, his disciples did not fast. They just merely
had to, he was right there with them. There was no mourning,
he was with them. When he left, they mourned. And
they fasted, and so do we, or should we? All right, here's
a few words on fasting, and I'll try to make this as brief as
possible. Here's some things on fasting, if you want to jot
this down. I dealt with this in a message
from Matthew 17, 21. Do you remember that passage
when it said that the disciples couldn't cast out those demons?
Do you remember that? And I said, Lord, why couldn't
we do that? And the Lord said, This kind goeth not out but by
fasting and prayer, right? All right, three things, basically,
three things on this thing of fasting. Number one, the occasions
for fasting. Number two, the manner of fasting. Number three, the purpose of
it. All right, the occasions for this thing of fasting. Now,
I got these from the celebrated Dr. John Owen. Considered by
many to be one of the greatest theologians ever. And I read
a sermon by him today, not on this subject, but another. And
he could get things down on my level. And I enjoyed reading
it very much. Very Christ-centered. But these
things are very good. Give me your attention. The occasions. There are two basic types of
fasting. Occasions for fasting. He said
they're ordinary and then they're extraordinary. Ordinary. Now listen. Ordinary times of
fasting required by all to avoid gluttony and making what Paul
said of these pagan people a god of their belly. In other words,
what they're taken up with at all times is the gratification
of this fleshly appetite. That's making a god of your belly. Temperance, the scriptures teach
temperance, sobriety, and moderation in all things at all times, doesn't
it? I'm sure it does. Listen to this practical advice
by this man. Fasting is not always total abstinence
or doing without food and so forth, but it's denying yourself
upon every meal, using sense and sensible diet for the preservation
of your body and your mind. Now let me paraphrase that. We
ought to just use good sense. We ought to just use good sense
in this thing of eating. Excessive eating and poor nutrition
is going to destroy your body and your mind. Right? Excessive eating will destroy
your body and your mind. And it's a shame, and I say this
to my shame, we all do this, that we make light of destroying
our bodies through gluttonous appetites. Isn't it? It really
is. We're all guilty of that. I'll
give you an example. A dear old brother who's gone
to be with the Lord now, Brother Charlie An elder, a sweet and
dear man, one of the most Christ-like men I've ever met, one of the
most edifying men I've ever been around. Just a dear, dear man and a fine
example to all. Brother Charlie had two triple
bypass surgeries, but people kept pouring the cake to him.
We wanted him to hang around, but he didn't take care of himself.
That's all in the Lord's hands, I know that. He takes us when
it's time. Nevertheless, nevertheless, he
died relatively young, didn't he, Jenny? Two triple bypass surgeries and
did not take care of himself. He was needed, but he's gone. He's with the Lord now. I want
you around here a while, Henry. I've said that before. This hard-headed
man, he won't go to the doctor for anything. Terry, Rick, different
men, Joe, Brother Charles, take care of yourself. That's just
good common sense, isn't it? Use moderation, temperance, and
so forth. All right? That's ordinary. Not
dealing necessarily with total abstinence, but just using moderation
and temperance. OK? There are extraordinary times
of fasting when you're dealing with a weighty problem. Trials
and afflictions and convictions like Nehemiah. We read there
in Nehemiah, didn't we? That man was burdened for his
people. He wasn't about to sit down and
have a big roast beef dinner and feast it up. He had too much
of a burden. He was going to seek the Lord's
face for his people and wasn't going to eat until he got an
answer. A weighty problem. Those are
times, extraordinary times. A need for a particular blessing.
And an answer. Lord, I want an answer. I want
an answer. All right, secondly. All right,
that's the occasions for fasting. Ordinary and extraordinary occasion.
The manner of fasting, secondly. You're taking notes. Secondly,
manner. And here's a definition of fasting. I hope this is not
boring you. The Lord Christ. said this, didn't
it? He said, when ye fast, if you
know all there is to know about it, then I'll quit talking about
it. I didn't. I don't. And it's necessary. All right, the manner. Here's
a definition of fasting. Fasting is the denial of your
fleshly appetites for religious purposes. Don't let those words
throw you. Religious. Everybody in here
is religious. It doesn't have to be bad. If
you're devoted and devout and serious about what you believe,
that's being religious. I'm very religious. I'm devoted
and serious about what I believe. I am religious, but not in the
sense that the world talks about. But fasting is a denial of fleshly
appetites for religious purposes. Now, there are people who fast
out there in the world, or call it fasting, Prolonged abstinence
from food, yet it's not fasting in the scriptural sense. You've
seen them. Political activists, you know, go on these hunger
strikes. That is not fasting. That is not fasting. That's foolishness
is what it is. Dying for a worthless cause is
what that is. It's foolishness. My wife claims that I fast every
time we go on a trip. I'm not willing to stop. I want
to get where I'm going. Let's stop and eat. No, you don't
need to eat. That's not fasting. That's foolishness. Recreation. Some of you get so
busy and tied up in what you're doing. Work. Rick, sometimes
we work so hard, you know, you don't feel like stopping for
lunch. That's not fasting. You can't claim that as fasting,
can you? Sickness. Some of you have been through
sickness recently that food sure didn't sound good to you or look
good to you or smell good to you, especially turkey. Now,
here's true fasting. We'll forget it eventually, Nancy.
One more time. Eventually, we'll forget it.
Here is true fasting. True fasting reveals a heartfelt
sense of sin. seeking God and prevents us from
eating or anything that takes the time away from our goal of
prayer and worship. True fasting is a heartfelt sense
of sin and seeking God and prevents us from eating or anything for
that matter that takes the time away from our goal of worship
and prayer. True fasting. I mean, this is
important right here. True fasting is not a work. It's
not a duty. It's not a work. It's not something
we do and God sees it and He's pleased. No, no, no, no. He's
going to accept us because of that. No, not at all. True fasting
is a spontaneous, something you cannot help because you must
have an answer. You must, you're seeking the
Lord's faith. I'm not sure how many in here can enter into this,
but I think there's some. It's a spontaneous act of a needy
heart, and that almost makes this needless to even talk about. In other words, you can't teach
it. It's like prayer. You don't teach
this. You don't teach somebody to pray. The disciples asked
the Lord to teach us to pray, and he did. He said, The Spirit
of God must impress upon you to pray and must give you the
words to pray. And the Spirit of God must put this within your
heart, and it's not something you can wake up in the morning
and say, well, I'm just going to do this. Not it at all. It's a spontaneous
act of a needy heart. Do you remember the passage over
in Genesis 24, verse 33? Do you remember when Abraham
sent his eldest servant to look for a bride for his wife, for
his son, Isaac? Do you remember that story? A
bride for Isaac? Preached on it. It's one of my
favorite Old Testament stories. Do you remember that? The old
servant of Abraham went to look for a bride for Isaac, and do
you remember he found Rebecca? And back there, he said when
he went to look for that woman and Abraham gave him such a weighty
task. I mean, this man had a weighty
burden he wanted to find. He wanted to do as his master
told him he wanted to find a bride for his lovely master Isaac and
to bear seed to Isaac. And it was a weighty. thing,
and he had many responsibilities fulfilled, and he was burdened
about this thing, and he found this woman, and the prophecies
were fulfilled concerning her, and he went into her house, and
the family said to the man, and he told his heir, and the family
said to the man, let's sit down and have a big feast, and we'll
talk about this thing in the morning. Have a big old time,
eat, drink, and be merry. You know, we'll talk about this
thing of Abraham and Isaac and your religion and what this is
all about. We'll talk about that more. Let's
have a good time first." The man said, no way. He said this. He said, I'll not eat until I've
told my narrator. I'll not eat until I've told
you what I've got to say. I've got a message. It's urgent.
And in the same sense, we go to God. We've got a message,
we've got an answer, we've got a problem. And I'm not going to eat until
I get an answer. I'll give you my personal experience. I'm not telling you this, you
know me. I hope you know me by now. I'm
not telling you this, I'm just relating it to that story. When
I was down there in North Carolina that last year, not this year,
but last year, preaching that conference, and I heard all those
fellows butchering the gospel. Preacher after preacher not preaching
the gospel and the people such lovely, just such lovely people. I felt such a burden for those
people. Well, we were supposed to eat
dinner after about the third day of all that horrible. This is going to go out on tape.
Terry, don't send this one out. But the third day after such
horrible preaching, after that morning's two messages, I was
sick, literally sick at my stomach. And they were going to have lunch
that day at the church. And they said, asked me if I was going
to stay and eat. No way. No way. I had to get back to that motel
room and study. I had, I was going to preach
that night. And I thought of that very verse, I'm not going
to eat until I've told mine Aaron. These people haven't heard the
gospel, and they've got to hear it. And I need the Lord's leadership. I need his help. I need his hand
upon me. And it was not because of what
I did. And I probably miss the blessing
now that I've brought that up. But I'm doing it for your sake.
When the heart and soul is so burdened about a thing before
God, that person will not stop to indulge the flesh until comfort
or relief is found. Have you ever been in a situation
like that? Moses. Remember when Moses went
to the mountain? Forty days and forty nights before
the Lord, with all of those instructions concerning the tabernacle and
the law of God. Did he stop and eat a big, blown-up
sandwich? Oh, the burden and the weight
of what was going on. He couldn't eat. Man doesn't
live by bread alone anyway. We think we do, don't we? We
think we're going to die if we go without a meal. Moses didn't. Christ, forty days and forty
nights when he was wrestling with Satan for us in the desert,
being tempted in all points like as we are, even with hunger.
Satan tempted him with bread, didn't he? Make these stones
bread. You can do it. That's when he
said, Dad, man doesn't live by bread alone. I don't need bread. I'll tell you what bread I need.
And if you're dealing without that bread, you better do without
this bread to get that bread. Christ. Daniel. Daniel was one
of the most God-blessed men in all the scriptures. Read about
him. That's just the Old Testament.
What about the New Testament? Is it spoken of in the New Testament? Yes. women and of the prophetess,
and of the prophetess. Paul and Silas, remember when
they were in the jail, fasting and praying? What happened? That jail shook. All right, those are the occasions
and the manner. Now, here's the purpose of it.
The purpose is to bring your mind and body into subjection
to the will of God. The purpose is to bring your
mind and body into subjection to the will of God. Many of these
thoughts are from Arthur Pinck, too, whom I greatly admire. I
did this time what I told you I don't normally do, but this
is a subject I was altogether ignorant of. And there's not
much written on it, so I had to go with what I could. Now
to bring your body and mind in this objection will have gotten
all practical and and healthy benefits. Some of you have some
are a little bit health conscious and so for all of our give you
let me give you a health lesson is free of charge. Don't eat
much red meat. Do you know that every 50-year-old
American-born person, by the time they're 50 years old, had
five pounds of undigested red meat laying in their bowel? Five
pounds. That's free of charge right there,
that little nutritional. The Lord didn't ordain that. He didn't ordain the excessive
use of that. He gave meat, He gave herbs and
so forth for our meat. The body, the body, listen to
this, the body is made heavy and the senses are dulled and
the mind is rendered sluggish by much eating and drinking.
You know it's so, don't you? I quoted to you by Spurgeon before
when he said, They were about to have a church dinner, like
we have sometimes, before service. He said, Now let me warn you
folk. He said, Now roast beef and mashed potatoes weigh heavy
on the hearts of the hearers, so don't go back twice. John
Calvin said it in a little simpler terms. He said, Much food maketh
one stupid. And so, you know your own self.
You load down and you're stupid and dull and listless and listless. Much food makes men unfit for
prayer and hearing of God's word. Fasting attempts to avoid this
sluggishness and this hindrance to worship. Does that make good
sense to you? Listen to this. Fasting spurs
up devotions and hearing and prayer. It's nearly always, now
this is important. It's nearly always connected
with prayer in the scriptures. Every time you'll find fasting,
you'll find prayer. It's always because they're connected. Why are you doing without food?
Possibly because you've been doing without God, and now you
find out, hey, I've been without God, and I've been indulging
in self. I want God now, and I'm going to do it without self.
Stir up devotions and prayer. Paul said this, he commanded
this, 1 Corinthians 7 verse 5, he said, men and women, husbands,
wives, defraud ye not one another, talking about the sexual appetites
there, he said, defraud ye not one another except it be by consent
to give yourselves to what? Fasting and prayer. Didn't it? So it's not discontinued. Matthew 17, 21, I quoted that
a while ago, the Lord said certain kinds of demons and so forth,
He said they don't go out but by fasting and prayer. I've said
this before to you people, I said, I believe I came down with cancer.
We know who cancer comes from. But you know, you break God's
natural law, it's like these sexual diseases and so forth
that go on in the world. You break God's natural laws
and you'll see. And we abuse our bodies, we'll
suffer. We can count on it. But cancer, you know, is a mysterious
thing. But I believe that if I came down with cancer or any
kind of terrible disease or whatever, I believe I'd head for the hills. I'd head for the hills. I'd get
me a Bible and I'd head for the hills before I'd head for human
means. You know, we make gods out of
doctors, don't we? There are all, knowing all, healing
gods. God's the great physician. He's
the healer of bodies as well as soul. I believe I'd head for
the hills. Get me a Bible and find out,
Lord, what are you going to do with me? What's the reason? Chasing it, right? Chasing it.
Sickness is chasing it. Lord, I will not let you go unless
you bless me. There we go. There's a perfect
scriptural example. Jacob said that, Lord, I'll not
let you go until you bless me. I'm not going to even eat until
you bless me. All right? Is any of that profitable
to you? I hope so. Our Lord dealt with
it. All right, look at verse 16 again. Now, in the context,
verse 16, you remember our Lord's been dealing with us, with his
disciples. And he's been dealing with hypocrisy
all through this, uh, his sermon on the mound. He, he warns of
hypocrisy in religion, right? Matthew five, Matthew six, he's
talking about hypocrisy. Don't be like the Pharisee. Don't
be like the hypocrites and so forth. And in context, our Lord
is talking about a hypocritical outward show and form of religion. All right? The Pharisees, they
bragged about this thing of fasting, didn't they? You remember the
Pharisee and the publican in the temple? What did the Pharisees
say? I thank thee, Lord, and I'm not like other men. Why? I've never missed Sunday school.
Liquors never touch my lips, you know, and so forth. And our
Lord is warning of this sort of open display of your religion. Alms, and he dealt with it, alms,
prayer, giving, fasting, all religious observances should
be performed very carefully. He said, take heed. You better
watch out, he said. You better beware that what you're
doing is not to be seen of men. that what you're doing is to
be seen of God. Take heed. Watch out, he said.
Take care. Our religion is unto God. It's not unto men. It's unto God. Our prayers, our
giving, our devotions, our restraints, fasting, if you will, is unto
God. It's not to you. It's unto God. Well, you say,
what about the Scripture that says, Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your works, good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven? I have a problem with that. You
have a problem with that? It says, let your light shine. It
doesn't say, let your horn toot. Does it? Let your light shine. In other
words, we're to live as believers, not try to prove it. Right? And I've dealt with this thing
of prayer and restraints. I want to deal with it again,
because this thing is so clear to me from here. Does that prove
Christianity? Here you see a nice couple, family,
you know, real conservative, straight laced. They come in,
they sit down and all that. They got the food and they all
hold hands and whatever and bow their head. Are they Christian?
Well, sure they are. They're praying, aren't they?
Not on your life. That doesn't prove anything.
These Pharisees prayed more than anybody. And everybody knew it. That doesn't prove you're a Christian
any more than going to church does, does it? And neither does
fasting. I'll tell you what proves it,
a zeal for God's glory, a zeal for the truth, a love for the
gospel, a love for the brethren, fruit of the Spirit, love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. That proves Christianity, not
saying so. Right? Are you a Christian? You better believe it. I'm born
again, spirit-filled, tongue-talking, tongue-tied Christian. You better
believe it. That doesn't mean a thing. That
doesn't prove anything. Didn't James say, you show me
your faith without your word, I'll show you mine by my word.
Christ didn't go around even saying he was Christ, did he? The Scripture says he'll not
cry or lift up his voice in the street, doesn't it? He didn't
go around saying, I'm the Christ, I'm the Christ. He proved it.
He said, My works, they prove it. He said, Are you the Christ?
Ask them that heard me. Right? Oh, how folks love to be seen
of men, and all they do. And Christ said, look in verse
sixteen, he said, they have their reward. That's exactly why they're
doing it. And don't you dare be guilty
of it. We have done. We are, aren't we? In order to be praised of men,
they have their reward. Don't let that happen. Or as
Paul said in Ephesians 5 one time, he said, don't let it be
what's name has become We're not here to show forth our Christianity,
we're here to show forth our Christ. Is there a difference? You bet your bottom dollar. There
is a difference. It's not this, I'm a Christian
and I'm proud of it. Bumper stickers all over my car,
you know, God's greater than any problems I have and so forth.
Jesus Christ, the commander in I'm a Christian and proud of
it. That's not it. This is it. Jesus Christ is Lord,
Master, King, Sovereign, Ruler, Sovereign, High Priest, Savior,
Mediator, Intercessor of my surety, my only hope, my salvation, my
all in all. Jesus Christ, I'm proud of him.
I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed for people to think
that I'm a Christian because I'm not a very good one. Right? I hope they do see Christ in
me. I hope I do have some good works
and glorify the Father which is in heaven, some fruit and
so forth. But I fall so short that I'm a very poor representative
of my Lord. Very poor. Now, I'll go around
saying, now, there's a Christian, won't you? I mean, you'll say
it about somebody else. Now, there's Terry Kinsley. Now,
that man's a Christian. Is he a Christian? Yes, he sure
is. There's no doubt. what he believes, who he trusts. Right there's where you draw
the line in, who you trust, what you believe. The way he lives,
you can tell it. Are you a Christian? Well, I
trust Christ, but I'm a mighty poor example. Not yet. You'd better believe it, buddy.
Right? Do you understand where I'm coming
from? I'm proud of Christ, I'm ashamed of myself. Besides that, I'm getting off
the subject here, but that putting plastering his name everywhere
on bumper stickers and bathroom walls, would you put your mother's
name, you know they put Jesus Christ's name on bathroom walls?
Would you put your mother's name there? Why would you put your Lord and
King's name there? Why would you put your Lord and
King's name down on the bumper of your car for carbon monoxide
to cover it black? His name, the Scripture says,
mentions His name as exalted. High and lifted up, that's taking
His name in vain. All right, verses 17 and 18.
He says, Look thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and
wash thy face. Comb your hair, if you've got
any, and wash your face. Comb your hair, wash your face,
avoid disappearance of evil. What are you laughing at, Nancy? You ought to feel sorry. Avoid disappearance of evil.
Comb your hair, avoid disappearance of fasting and so forth. And
that's like our troubles, our troubles and trials and afflictions
we go through. Need to go moping around and
show up and looking for self-pity? Rejoice in the Lord. Paul said,
I will rejoice. I'll take pleasure in my infirmities,
because when I'm weak, I'm strong. Christ is strong. I'm strong
in here. I'm made strong and he's made
strong in my weakness. Don't walk around moping and
complaining and murmuring and looking for self-pity. And so
comb your hair, wash your face, avoid disappearance of evil.
hypocritical shows what that is that thou appears not to pass. Do you are we get in the sense
of what our Lord is saying about everything concerning religious
observance of avoid. Every year. Take care make sure that you
not doing it to be seen. To be seen avoid any show of
religion, but he says that you appear not unto men to fast,
verse eighteen, but unto thy father which is in secret, unto
thy father which is in secret, and he will reward thee openly.
And I've said before, it's not that he's going to give you a
crown and a yo-yo and this and that and the other. He'll reward
you with a sense of his presence, with a blessing from his word,
from his gospel, from his preached word, from attending the services
if you've given yourself, and seek his face. He said, I'll
reward you openly. You'll experience an open, actual
blessing. He knows we're in the flesh,
and he's spirit, and it's hard for the two to get together,
and he'll give you a blessing. Why are we here? And I'll quit.
A few questions here. Why do we do what we do? Why do, why am I preaching? Why
are we singing? Why do we sing these songs? Because
we have to, it's time, it's the thing to do. Why do we pray? Duty? Constraint? A show? Better not do it then. Better
not do it. Guilt? Oh, that's no reason. Guilt? Don't feel guilty. I better
do this. Better read the Scripture. You'll not get a thing out of
it. Not get a thing out of it. No, here's the words. In the
words of David, listen to this. One thing have I desired of thee.
One thing have I desired and that will I seek after. That's
why I'm here. One thing. You know there's one
thing needful, Terry Kinsman? That's why we're here. One thing. Have I desired, and that's what
I'll seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life." The house of the Lord is his people, his
church, his family, family of God, dressed in the righteousness
of Christ, robed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, forgiven,
represented by him, my surety, my redeemer, my substitute, to
behold the beauty of the Lord. Why am I here? In the words of
David, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his
temple. Paul said it over in Philippians 3, didn't he? Oh,
I want to know him. I want to win Christ and be found
in him. I want to win Christ and be found in him. I want to
read that to you. I want to win Christ and be found
in him. He said that I may know him and
the power of his resurrection. A crucified life. The old man crucified, wouldn't
you like to know something about that, Rick? The old man dead to sin. He said in Romans 6, 11, he said,
sin shall not have dominion over you. Boy, I want to know something
about that. Well, it all has to do with the death and the
person and work of Christ. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, or be a child of God, he
said I hadn't already attained, neither were I already perfect,
but I follow after. Follow after what? The means
of grace. And this right here, what we're talking about tonight,
is not some unnecessary doctrine, not some doctrinal dissertation.
It's a means of grace the Lord has given us to seek his face
with. Not a thing to be used to prove
our religiosity or a thing to be used to be saved by. It won't
save you. Prayer won't change a thing.
Prayer won't change the immutable God who never changed. It won't
change his purposes. His purposes, he planned for
the foundation of the world. They're ordered in all things
and sure. Covenant, mercies and graces. It won't change God.
It may change me, though. Change me, change my mind. And
we don't do these things to be saved or accepted by God. Christ
is all our salvation. He's all our salvation, he's
my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, he's all, Jesus Christ,
all the religion we need. You know that? He's all the religion we need.
And in the words of John Calvin again, he said, in the teachings
of Jesus Christ are found all the practical instructions you
need for this life. And in order to grow in grace
and the knowledge of him, of Christ, he gives us these means
to use. for seeking him, mortification
of our members, and so forth. And if I could sum this whole
thing up, what fasting is all about, it would be in that one
statement by Jacob, when he wrestled with that man. Got that wrong,
didn't it? When the angel of the Lord, when
Christ wrestled with him. Because you'll not be led to
do this or anything or seek the Lord's face at all unless he
seeks you. This is not by might or power, mind. It's not by my zeal and enthusiasm
in prayer and fasting and so forth, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord. And only when he impresses upon
you by his spirit the need to seek his face and some self-renunciation
and do him without will you experience his blessing. But Jacob said,
Lord, I will not let thee go until you bless me. Have you
ever, is there, how many times have you felt like you've been Like you've been, the heavens were
brass, like David said. The heavens were brass. You couldn't
pray. You didn't feel like you could worship. The messages never
meant anything to you. The singing of songs didn't touch
your heart. You couldn't pray. You couldn't read. The Bible
was a closed book. That's a good time to really
seek His face in it. Lord, I'm just not, I'm not going
to indulge myself. in anything until you bless me."
Now, that's the sense of true spiritual fasting that I learn.
I hope it's profitable to you. I hope it was. It's not a how-to. I'm not going to write a book
on how-to. If anybody ever says that, forget
it. Forget it. The Holy Spirit must
teach us. He's a teacher and impresses. All right, stand with
me, and I'll dismiss this in prayer. Dear Lord, we feel so ignorant. We're such babes. We don't know anything, Lord. But Thou hast the words of life,
and You dealt with this most serious and difficult subject. You dealt with it. Lord, now
teach us by Your Spirit. Don't let these words fall on
deaf ears especially. Let them penetrate and go down
into our hearts and fly into our very lives. May Christ be
so precious, so needful to us that we'll deny ourselves, take
up his cross and follow him. In his blessed name we pray and
let together. Amen.