Hello everyone. Welcome here to our morning service at Calvary Baptist Church of Trehearne. And also welcome to those watching via live streaming. And also listening to our FM signal in this town. Please open your handouts to number 264. 264 in the garden. 264. I come to the garden alone. While the dew is still on the roses And the voice I hear calling on my ear The Son of God is closest And he walks with me and he talks with me And he tells me I am his all And a joy we share as we tare wither None other has ever known He speaks and the sound of His voice Is so sweet, the birds are still singing And the melody that He gave to me Within my heart is ringing And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And a joy we share, that with Him we dare, none other has ever known. I'd stay in the garden with him Though the night around me be falling But he beats me go through the voice of war His voice to me is calling And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his soul. And a joy we share, as we tear, we bear, none other has ever known. Pastor, I've got paper. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful that there is a garden that we can come to. It's not a physical garden that we can see the trees and so on, but there's a place that we can come where we can commune with Thee. We can become quiet before Thee. We can allow Thee to speak to our hearts. And we're thankful that we have this place, the local church, where we can come together, where we can set aside the distractions of the world We can forget about the concerns that we have, the busyness and the things that we have planned, and we can come to Thee and we can pray to Thee and we can fellowship with others if we're saved, and we can learn of Thee. And we thank Thee that Thou has provided the local church, the true local church as a place where people can come together to get away from the busyness of life and to fellowship with thee and with other believers. We pray for the lost that are joining us today, that they might see the importance of thy truth. We pray, Father, for thy will to be accomplished here. We ask that thou would help us to glorify thee. We pray for thy protection from evil and that thy name would be exalted here in everything that is said and done. And we ask again for our country of Canada. We pray for the salvation of many within our government, within our medical system, as well as within our police force, that there would be many that would be saved in these last days. We realize that as we look around us, we see evil advancing. We see wickedness abounding all around us. But we thank you that in the midst of all that wickedness, there's still a light today. And we thank you that we can be a light in this area. And we thank you that through the internet, we can be a light elsewhere. And so we pray that we would be that light, that we would be a help to others, that others might come to know thy peace and blessing in these days of grace. We ask that thy will be done in regard to our services in the Philippines as well. Give me help to them. and may thy name be exalted there. Guide us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. And over to 363. 363. There to be a Daniel. 363. Standing by a purpose true, Heeding God's command, All are named a faithful few, all here to Daniel stand Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known Many mighty men are lost, daring not to stand. Who for God had been a host by joining Daniel's band? Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. There to have a porpoise farm, there to make it known. Many giants, great and tall, stalking through the land. Headlong to the earthward fold it met by Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to make it known. Hold the gospel banner high, On to victory cry, Satan and his host defy and shout for Daniel's man. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose for earth. Dare to make it known. And over to 409. 409. Hold the part. 409. Whom I congratulate, see the signal weeping in the sky. Rain first once, mist now appearing, victory is nigh. Hold the fork, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still Weave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will See the mighty horse advancing, Satan leading on Mighty men around us falling, courage almost gone. Hold the fork, for I am coming, Jesus' signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will. See the glorious thunder waving, hear the trumpet blow. In our leader's name we triumph over every foe. Hold not forth, for I am coming, Jesus signals thee. With the answer back to heaven, By thy grace we will. First and long the battle rages, But our help is near. Onward comes our great commander, Cheered by concrete cheer. Hold the port, for I am coming, Jesus, sing now still. Weep the answer back to heaven, by thy grace be well. Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 58. We're gonna be reading from Isaiah chapter 58, verses three through seven. Isaiah 58 verses 3 through 7. We'll stand please for the reading of God's Word. And we read there in verse 3, it says, Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again for thy word, thankful again for reminding us this morning how that we need to know thee and follow what thou has given us in thy word if we want thy blessing. Help us to understand that we do not receive thy blessing by works. We follow thee once we know thee as our God and Savior. As thy son told us in John chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. We pray this morning as we spend this time together, we pray that if there's someone that's listening today that is not one of the sheep of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not born again, they're not saved, they might understand, they might be quite religious, they might understand the need to turn to thee in humility and know thy forgiveness in their heart. know thy peace in their heart, that they might begin to serve thee, having been forgiven and saved through the blood of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and now able to sit and listen and learn of thee. We thank thee for this day of grace. We look forward to the soon return of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe even while we're having this service. We would welcome that. We pray that we'd be faithful to thee in the meantime, glorifying thee, serving thee as we ought to, and exalting thy name. May thy will be accomplished here, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message this morning is God's Answer to Hypocritical Fasting. God's answer to hypocritical fasting. Not that long ago, we had quite a large trucker's convoy that came from the east and from the west, and it descended upon the capital city of this country. They went there with a message for those who waste our tax dollars. They went there to speak to those who claim to care about the citizens of this country, who say that they are interested in setting laws and policies that will help us to be able to live peacefully in this country. The majority of those who are sitting in Parliament, the majority of those who sit in our Legislative Assembly, the majority of those who sit in our councils and on the boards of different committees and so on, the majority of them are high-paid thieves. They accomplish next to nothing. If you listen to question period from Parliament, Those people in there, they act like little children. The opposition party may ask a legitimate question, but the governing party seldom gives an answer to the question. They just ramble on and say nothing with a bunch of words. And then there's a Speaker of the House who stands up every once in a while and scolds the people for scoffing at the ones that are lying to them and asking for people to be quiet and listen to the question and listen to the answer. And then that person sits down and then the people in Parliament continue to act the way they did before. And they accomplish nothing of value. Yes, there are bills being passed. And those bills that we are seeing passed today are designed to interfere with our lives. Some of us are old enough to remember back when we had more freedom than we have today. Some are being deceived by the left-wing media and they can't see how that our freedoms are being eroded. But they are. They are drastically being eroded at this present time. These truckers that came to Parliament, they had a plan. They wanted the government to listen to them, to not just them, but to many people in Canada and to change some of their policies. But the elitists in Ottawa had no interest in even meeting with the truckers. They weren't even going to talk to them. So eventually they enacted the Emergency Measures Act and they forced those people off of Parliament Hill with horses and with soldiers, with weapons that they beat up on the people. Now I don't support the protesters. It's obvious that they're not accomplishing what they want to accomplish because our leaders are not interested in listening to them. It's impossible to call up even the local MLA and sit down and have a decent discussion with that person. It's impossible to do that. We have no voice in our country today. You can talk to them and they'll give their rambling speeches, but you'll accomplish nothing because they're not listening. They're not interested. One of them, one of our local representative, I have written to her several times. And the last time I wrote her, she told me that I was very rude because I quoted the Bible to her. And she said she wasn't going to listen to me anymore. That's where we're at. You cannot speak the truth to these people because they have their mind made up that they are the truth. And if you don't follow what they want to do, they have no time for you. And so these massive protests that are being planned and being played out, they're not going to accomplish anything of value. All that they are doing is they are encouraging the government to lay down their wicked law more forcefully. That's what they're accomplishing. We are seeing laws being passed to stifle free speech, not to enhance it. That's what's happening in our country today. And what we as Christians need to understand is that the one that we need to have the ear of is God. We need to be careful that we are not shutting God out with our foolish actions. And here in our text, we see that the nation of Israel, and particularly Judah, They were shutting God out because they were coming to God with something that God had told them to do. Fasting was taught by God. And so they were coming to God and they were fasting, but their fasting was in a hypocritical way. It wasn't in a way that God could hear them. And God did not hear them. but rather he rebuked them and he reminded them of how they needed to fast before him. And we see in our text, our first point is frustration of acting in self-righteousness. Frustration of acting in self-righteousness. There's a lot of religion in our country today. Even if you listen to the news, they will report every once in a while, people will bring up God. You know, there's a biker's church in Ottawa was put in the news this week. It's been there, I believe they said, for 50 years, five zero years. It's in one of the busy areas of Ottawa. They don't have, it's an old church building, and as was common with old church buildings, I believe it's the same thing here with the old church building that's down by the restaurant there. I don't believe they have a lot of parking lot. They don't have a very big parking lot. And people park on the street. What the government of Ottawa has done is, I believe they said, for two blocks on either way from the church, they put up signs. No parking. Just recently they did that. Never used to be that way. Now this bikers church, it's not a true church. They don't know the Lord Jesus Christ there. They had a little clip of them on the news, so I looked at it because I wanted to see if I was right in what I believed about them, and I was. They were playing some kind of a rock song, I don't even know what it was, but the people were jigging in the pews, and they were dressed, come as you are type of a thing, and there was no fear of God in that place, none. But the government wouldn't know the difference between that group and us here, driving by, they wouldn't know the difference. If they came in, they would see a difference. But the thing of it is that the government zeroed in on what's called a church and decided to restrict parking on the street around that church. And they were going to ticket people that would park there. The problem is that there is such a facade, such a phoniness in most people's religion today. And then they get frustrated because God's not listening. In verse three of our text, it says, wherefore have we fasted? So this is God speaking of what the people are saying. Remember last time we said that in verse one, Isaiah was told to cry aloud. This was no time for a quiet discussion. This was a time to get the megaphone out and to cry aloud about what was going on. Isaiah was told to interrupt, to interfere with the thinking of the people to get their attention, to wake them up. And they were no longer able to hear just a normal voice. This needed to be a loud voice to startle them out of their hypocrisy, out of their sleep. And in verse two, we noted there how that the people had put on a facade and how that they had acted as if they were spiritual people. but they were not interested in the true God. And now in verse three, these same people, they are asking the question, wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Why isn't God paying attention? We're out here, we're fasting, look at us. Why isn't God paying attention? And then it says, wherefore have we afflicted our soul? And thou takest no knowledge. These people here in our text, they are really tormenting themselves. We've afflicted our soul. But God isn't paying attention. He's not even taking the time to recognize, oh yeah, there's some people over there fasting. He's not taking any knowledge of it. And then he goes on and he says there, behold, in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure and exact all your labors. So now God is answering them as to what they're doing during their fasting. One of the things that has become very popular in modern day Christianity is drama. I remember when we were in Bible school, I don't know if it was going on before we came, there probably was to some degree, but during the years that we were there, the school had a drama club and they had a drama team. And it was always interesting to me to hear about the many churches that were inviting this drama team to come to their church to minister to the people. Entertainment. Now it's possible with a drama, it's possible to act out a situation and to get people moving emotionally. To get people in the audience to cry and say, yeah, yeah, I can, that's exactly what I'm going through. I feel the same way as what those people are doing up there. But what people don't understand is those people that are in the drama, they're just acting. They're actors. They're putting on a show. But we like it that way. We like it. People like to be moved to tears sometimes. They like to have someone who can empathize with where they're at, even if it's not real. But we don't like true preaching of the Word of God. And that's what the Bible teaches we need is preaching. We don't need acting. We need preaching. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God. That's what we need to hear, the word of God. The nation of Israel in our text, they weren't interested in that. They were fasting here, but God says to them in the last part of verse 3, He says there, Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure. So while they're afflicting their souls as they claim, while they're saying that we're fasting and God's not listening, we're afflicting our souls and God's not taking any knowledge of them, God says to them, In the day of your fast, you find pleasure. You're still going around and partying. You're still finding a place to go and laugh with one another. And you exact all your labors. You just go about your day. You keep on working. You keep on making money. You're doing everything that you did before. There's nothing has changed. There's nothing genuine about your fast. Absolutely nothing. That's what God is telling them. They're going through the motions, they've got some things going on, but it's meaningless. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus referred to a condition that was very similar to what was going on here in Isaiah's day. Luke chapter 18, and in verse 11, Jesus was exposing the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day. They were just as hypocritical as the religious people of Isaiah's day. Chapter 18 and verse 11, it says there, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Notice that. He prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. So here's the Pharisee, high-minded individual. I am so spiritual, God. Can't you see that? I mean, I'm just one of the best people you will ever find on the earth. And look at what I do. I'm not like other men are. I'm not an extortioner. I don't try to take from people what doesn't belong to me. I don't try to force that out of them when that's exactly what the Pharisees were doing. They were not unjust, they claim, not adulterers. And they certainly weren't like this publican that was there in the presence of this Pharisee. In verse 12 it says, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And then in verse 13 it says, and the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner." There was a vast difference in that account between the publican and the Pharisee. The Pharisee wanted to be noticed. He wanted to remind God of how good he was. The publican didn't need to remind God of how good he was. He recognized that he was a wicked individual needing God's mercy. That's what was missing here in our text in Isaiah chapter 58. The people were going through the motions, but there was nothing there. There was nothing there that was praiseworthy. And they were frustrated. See, that's the problem when religious people can't get the attention of God. You know, that's why we have in our world today, that's why you can go to some of the religious groups today and they play what's called the 7-Eleven music. They repeat the same thing over and over and over and over and over. They're trying to get the people into a frenzy, and they're trying to get the attention of God. And so the music is loud. It's loud. And the actions of the people is wicked. It's very wicked. But they think that they're doing something wonderful. And eventually they get people crying, they get people waving their hands, and they get people falling down on the floor, and they think they've accomplished something great. There's an organization that's been around for a while now, I don't know how long, it's called Hillsong. It's a professing Christian organization, but it's not Christian. Their leaders have had to step down recently because they were caught in immorality. And the question is being asked right now, what happened to Hillsong? What happened? Well, what happened is that they were worshiping the devil. And when you worship the devil, you end up in all kinds of trouble. It's no different, what was going on with Hillsong was no different than going into a bar. There was a church years ago in Steinbeck that was also of the same mentality as Hillsong. And they would turn the lights down low, and they had the rock music and so on going on. And what happened in that church? Well, some of the people started to swap their wives with other men and other men using their other women. Immorality just became rampant there. It just became a real problem in that church because they were entertaining it. They were playing a game with God and God is not impressed with playing games. Truth is what's important to God, not a facade. And God doesn't bless playing games. And those who want to play the games, they get frustrated and say, why isn't it working? So then they figure out another scheme. They say, well, we've got to maybe do this, and maybe we've got to try that. Instead of going back to God and to his word, as he shows us in our text. And so the second thing that we see here is hypocrisy exposed. Hypocrisy exposed. So he already starts at, God starts at in verse three, we noted that in the last part. Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors. In verse four, behold, ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? I remember back when I was younger, you know, the Catholics, they have their Lenten season. And they have, in that Lenten season, they have what's called Ash Wednesday. And on Ash Wednesday, the faithful Catholics will go to their local false religious place, and they will get the priest to take some ashes, and they'll make a mark of a cross with those ashes on the person's forehead. And these are adults, grown-up people. And those people will go to their workplace, they'll go wherever they're going, and they've got this ash on their forehead. And they will try to be very careful not to smudge that ash. They're not going to wash their face because they don't want to wash off that ash. They're going to keep that ash on their face. And then if people talk to them, oh yes, I went and I got the priest to put ash on my face. Such foolishness. Such utter nonsense. But these are adults that are doing that. And they still do that to this day. they still think that there's something important about that. They try to put on this outward show which means absolutely nothing. The rot that comes out of their mouth, the rot that's in their hearts, the things that they believe, the things that they do, none of it resembles anything God honoring. And here God points out to these hypocritical Jews that ye fast for strife and debate. They were fighting, arguing, debating who was the more spiritual of them all. They were spiting with a fist of wickedness, a real mess going on. And then he says in verse five, Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush? You know, a bulrush, when a bulrush, when that head gets ripe and that, and the stalk dries out, the head kind of bends over. That's what God is talking about here. The head bends over. And so here are these people acting as if they're in mourning. They're acting that way. But notice again what it says in the end of verse three. In the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors. So you see the people are going through the actions and they're thinking that because they're going through the actions that it's satisfying to God. Just like we read Jesus exposing the Pharisees, how that they boasted about what they thought they were not doing. And they thought, I'm so spiritual. Can't you see that, God? And here, that was a problem here with the nation of Israel. They were putting on this show. It says here that they were afflicting their souls. But there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing there. You know, it's interesting, I believe that, yeah, I believe yesterday was the last day of Ramadan. I think it was for the whole month of April. And it was interesting, in the CBC recently there was an article about how that the rest of the world needs to show respect for the Muslims when they're having their Ramadan. Instead of going to work with your lunchbox and sitting down in front of a Muslim who can't eat during the daytime, you shouldn't be taking your lunch to work and eating it in front of them. That's very impolite. I've never heard them suggesting that when it comes to anybody that's a true Christian. Don't worry about offending. Don't swear in front of a true Christian, because that's an offense to them. You know that, yeah? Don't swear. I've never heard the news say that. But when a Muslim wants to worship their false god, the rest of the world needs to stop and pay attention. And what the Muslims want is for everybody to become a Muslim. That's the goal. And because the Muslim is not afraid to kick your head off if you don't do what they tell you to, therefore, they can scare people into bowing to them. Whereas the true Christian who doesn't like people swearing, he's not going to take your head off if you swear in front of him. He might rebuke you, and if he's honest, if he's true, he will rebuke you, but he's not going to take your head off. He'll pray for you. He'll witness to you, but that's not allowed either. But yet the Muslims, they can do that. False religion wants to be center stage. That's what we have in our text here. We have false religion, not the true God. The true God deserves to be in charge. He deserves to be worshiped by all people. But he desires worship from the heart. He's not interested in outward appearances. God is interested in a humble heart. a humble and a contrite heart. If you go in your Bibles to Psalm 51, David understood that as the king of Israel. He understood that. He was a man who was a God-fearing man, but he had sinned. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then he went and had her husband murdered. And in Psalm 51, David is directed by God to write about his response to God's rebuke of him through Nathan the prophet. And in Psalm 51, David says there in verse four, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. And wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. In verse 17 it says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. So David here, he was afflicted in his soul, but it wasn't a self-affliction. He wasn't afflicting himself, God was afflicting him. He was broken because God was piercing his heart. God was showing him the wickedness that was in his heart, and David wanted to be forgiven. What we have in our text in the book of Isaiah is we have a people who are afflicting themselves with their own self-righteousness, but not God that's afflicting them. They're not listening to God. They're not interested in what God has to say. They don't want to stop their idolatry. They don't want to stop their paganism. They just want God to look at how they're playing the game and they want him to be impressed with that. And they're not understanding that God is not impressed when we play games with him. He doesn't care about our games. They don't mean anything to him. They're a waste of time. They're a waste of our time and they're a waste of God's time. He doesn't even bother with them. That's what it says here. It tells us that in verse three. God isn't seeing what they're doing. He's not taking knowledge of what they're doing. God's got more important things to do than to coddle hypocrites. He's not going to waste his time. Those in our world today who go to school and they learn how to be psychiatrists, they are wasting their time. They're fools. They spend all that time studying and then they get into the workplace and they invite people to come to them that have problems, and they do have problems. But the psychiatrist hasn't got a clue how to fix the problem. He wallows in the mud with the patient that comes to him. They prescribe some pills to them, but they have no help for them. But many people are dependent upon these foolish people, and they hang on their every word rather than believing what the Bible says. David, in our text, He was confronted by Nathan. He had developed in his own mind. He had developed a theory and a system. He had tried to hide his sin with Bathsheba. He married her quickly. First of all, he went out and he had Uriah murdered quickly. He brought him home and tried to get him to sleep with his wife. It didn't work. Then he had him sent back with a note and he had him murdered. Then he quickly married Bathsheba, and he thought the people wouldn't see because, well, Uriah's dead. I can marry her legally, even though he already had several wives by that time, and it was wrong what he was doing. But he had already shown the nation of Israel that in that area, he was above God. He didn't need to follow God's law, one man, one woman for life. So David has corrupted the law of God. And it wasn't working for him. And Nathan came to him and confronted him with his sin. And when Nathan confronted him with his sin, he broke down. You see, and that's the problem today. People want to live in sin, and that's why they go and see the shrinks. They want to continue. They want to be protected in their sin. They don't want somebody to tell them the truth. But the truth is what's going to set them free. And in our text here, we have a people here who don't want the truth. God had sent them prophets. Isaiah is the one in our text here. Isaiah is the prophet. And Isaiah was speaking the truth to them, but the people weren't interested in that. They had their own system. But you see, we can be thankful that God is merciful. And God did not allow the nation of Israel to continue on their wicked path without being confronted. Now today, Over 2,000 years after Isaiah wrote these words, Israel is still steeped in paganism, still to this day, over 2,000 years. They've had other prophets. Jesus Christ came in the flesh and dwelt among them, preached the truth for three and a half years, After Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, rose again, ascended back up to heaven, the apostles, they continued to preach the truth, mostly to the Jews. And since the time of the apostles, there have been witnesses that have preached the truth to the Jews. And yet the Jews as a nation to this day are still pagan. Now they're not alone. The Gentile world as well today for the most part is pagan. Even though God's truth has been around for all these years, and yet the majority of mankind is still pagan. Still wants their own lies told to them. They don't call them lies. They believe they've got the truth. They've convinced themselves that the world's way is the truth. And that those who would dare to stand upon the word of God, get out of my way, they say. Don't interfere with what I'm doing. You're making me feel guilty and I don't want to feel guilty. They don't understand that When I feel guilty like David did, and when I turn to God with that guilt and ask God to forgive me and cleanse me, then, then I can be at peace with God. Most people don't understand that. They don't want to hear that. So the third point we have in our text is God's purpose for the fast. God is the one who initiated fasting in the first place. It's his plan. What is the purpose of God's fast? Well, it tells us in verse six, is not this the fast that I have chosen? Let me remind you of what a true fast is, God says here. To loose the bands of wickedness. not to go to the shrink, not to go to AA, not to go to all these other self-help programs that are out there that just continue to keep you bound in your sin. God's design is to set the captive free. So God wants to loose the bands of the wicked and of wickedness. You see, fasting doesn't save, but biblical fasting is designed to help the person to get themselves into a position where they can hear God, where they can respond to God. You know, we live such busy work lives. We have so many things going on in our lives. When I listen to people talk, and I can be guilty of it myself, and we've got all kinds of plans, and I've got this to do, and that to do, and that, and I just, I'm so busy. And oftentimes, we get so busy, we can't even hear God. We think we hear Him. We're just like the nation of Israel here. We think we hear Him, but we don't. Because you see, the difference is that when we hear God and when we respond to Him, we get the same results that David got. We get the same results that other people in the Bible received. There's a change that God makes. We don't continue to be bound in wickedness. We don't continue to walk around as a cripple. I spent, I can't remember now how many months I spent walking around with crutches because I had a broken leg that wouldn't heal. That was a confining time. Both of my hands were occupied with crutches whenever I wanted to go somewhere. I couldn't carry anything in my hands. My wife had to carry things for me because my hands were occupied with crutches. And I tried at different times, I tried to walk without the crutch and I learned the hard way it didn't work. And then finally, finally the doctors worked on my leg and they got the bone to grow and then I could go with a cane. And that was good at first because now I had one free hand. But after a while, I got tired of that cane as well, and I tried to walk without that cane. And again, I learned the hard way that didn't work. I needed that cane. But I was limited. I could only use one hand, and the other hand was occupied by that cane. And when the day came that I could finally put away that, I still have that cane, but when I could put it away, What a blessing that was to have two free hands. There are so many professing Christians today who are bound by crutches. Some of them have graduated to a cane, but they never get to the place of being free like God says we can be when we know him as our God and Savior. And they grow so accustomed to being bound by crutches or a cane that they don't realize it could be any different. You see, I knew in my mind there had been a time when I had walked without crutches. I knew there had been a time when I walked without a cane. I knew that. And in my mind, I wasn't going to accept the fact that I'm stuck now with crutches and a cane. I wasn't going to accept that for the rest of my life. And I prayed to God and I asked God, God, heal my leg. I don't want to go through life the rest of my life this way. It wasn't that I was miserable. If it would have had to have been that way, it would have had to have been that way. But I wasn't ready to accept that. I wanted to be set free again. And God graciously allowed me to be able to walk without the aid of crutches or a cane. And God wants every crippled child of God today to be set free. He doesn't want you in crutches and a cane. He wants you to know his forgiveness and his blessing. And the fast that he intended for man to follow is the fast here as we see to loose the bands of wickedness. And then he goes on and he says to undo the heavy burdens. You don't need to walk around with that heavy weight on your shoulders that's wearing you down. You don't need to have that. The nation of Israel didn't need to have that heavy burden on them that they were facing in the days of Isaiah. They don't need that heavy weight that they're facing right now. If the nation of Israel had the fear of God in their hearts today, they wouldn't need an iron dome. They wouldn't need it. They will have no Iron Dome in the Millennium. What's going to be the difference? The Bible tells us what the difference is. The nation of Israel is going to recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah. He's going to be their King. And there will be no enemy that will attack Israel in the Millennium. That's the difference. Notice also it says to let the oppressed go free. There are so many people. They keep talking in the news about how that there are not nearly enough shrinks around, not nearly enough psychiatrists, not nearly enough mental professionals to help all the mentally ill people in our society. So many people are oppressed. Why? Well, they're oppressed because they don't know the Lord. And there are professing Christians who are just as oppressed as the ungodly. Why? Why? It doesn't need to be that way. And to break every yoke, not some of the yokes, every yoke. That's what God can do. God can do that. Verse seven, is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? So you see, once that God has ministered to our own need, now we can begin to help others. Now we can minister our bread to the hungry. Now we can reach out to others. If you go in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. It says there in verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, Paul is writing to Christians there. Though we walk in the flesh, every one of us here, we have a body. I can see you, you can see me. I can pinch myself and I'll say ouch. You can pinch me and I'll probably say ouch louder because you'll probably be harder on me than I am on myself. I can pinch you and you'll say ouch. We walk in the flesh, but it says here, we do not war after the flesh. The battle that we face for those of us that are Christians is not a fleshly battle. Some professing Christians think it is. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. You see, there's a difference when God is in charge. When the world is in charge, Oh, you need this pill. And after a while, that pill doesn't work. Well, we'll increase your medication. We'll give you a stronger pill because your body is getting accustomed to that one, so we have to increase the pill. And maybe they'll tell you, well, you need to get involved in this program and do this thing over here. And the world is always having to change up their so-called remedies. But God says that the weapons that Christians have are there to pull down the strongholds, to get rid of them, to overpower them. How do we do that? Verse 5, casting down imaginations. Casting down imaginations. I was talking with a man the other day. And he was talking about, I don't know who he's listening to, but he's listening to some preacher that is telling him that in the Old Testament, the people lived by law keeping. In the New Testament, we live by grace. Do you know that that's heresy? That's a lie? From the time of Cain and Abel, every person that's been born into this world is saved by grace. Adam and Eve didn't lose their salvation. They were never lost and had to be saved. They were born without sin and they became sinners. But all of us since Adam and Eve are born in sin and need to be saved. But we don't get saved by works. Abel was not saved because he gave the right sacrifice. He was saved, and because he was saved, he gave the right sacrifice. Don't confuse that. Too many people, they look at the Old Testament, and they say, yeah, they had to keep the law, and it's by the law that they were saved, and by the law, no, it's a lie. They were not saved by the law. The New Testament tells us that nobody is saved by law keeping and those that live by the law must understand that as soon as they break one law, they've broken them all and therefore they're doomed. Law keeping never saved. God's grace is what saved. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So when we look back at 2 Corinthians 10, 5, casting down, imagine, get rid of those lies that you believed. Get rid of them. And every high sin exalted itself against the knowledge of God. If you want God to help you, you gotta believe in God. And if you're gonna believe in God, you can't believe in the lies. I don't care how long you were taught them. I don't care how many of your friends and family believe the lies, get rid of them. Believe what God says. If you want help, believe what God says. And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, every thought that I have. I was raised as a Mennonite. I was taught a lot of things that are not true. And then once I was saved, I was taught in New Evangelicalism. And there were a lot of things that I learned there that were not true. But God didn't leave me alone and he helped me to see the need to cast down, to throw them out, get rid of them. In the physical world, my wife is much quicker to get rid of things that she thinks we don't need than I am. I guess I would be classified a little bit like a hoarder. But you know, sometimes some of those things that she wants us to get rid of, I find a use for them. But in the spiritual realm, there's no room for clutter. There's no room for it. Absolutely none. And then notice in verse six, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. You want to be a help to someone else? You need to get your own life in order first. To me, it's a joke if it wasn't for the fact that it's so sad when I hear of a secular individual that's going to school to become a counselor. There's a man right now living in BC. He spent time in jail. I can't remember what he was in there for, but he's out now. And he wants to become, he's a boxer from the past, but he spent time in jail. Now he wants to become a counselor and teach the native people how to box. And he thinks he's going to be able to help them with his boxing skills. The man hasn't got a clue, he couldn't box himself out of a wet paper bag, spiritually speaking. He has nothing to offer to anyone because he's a lost man. And yet our world is full of these educated counselors who don't know a thing because they don't know God. And yet they are the ones that our world is pushing and promoting and saying, here, go see this person, go see that person. They'll help you. No, they won't. They'll mess you up worse than you already are. But when, when we get right with God, now, verse six, now I can help other people. And in our text, in Isaiah chapter 58, is it not in verse seven, is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, that thou bring the poor that are cast out of thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. You see, the nation of Israel was designed by God to be a nation that would shine as a light to the Gentile nations around them. The nation of Israel was designed by God to show the nations around them the blessing that they could have in knowing the true God. What did Israel do? They chose to adopt the paganism of the nations around them. So they were no help. No help to them whatsoever. What is the purpose of the true Christian today? Go in your Bible to Matthew chapter 5. What did God, if you're saved here today, why did God save you? So that you could be just as crippled as the lost person next to you? Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14, it says, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify." Who? Your psychologist? The shrink that you go and see? The doctor that you? Who are you supposed to glorify? God. God, that's who we're supposed to glorify. As people look at me, there should be evidence in my life that I have been changed by God, and that should be seen to other people, and you as well if you're saved. People should recognize, whoa, that person's been with God. That's what Acts chapter four tells us about Peter and John, that people, that the religious leaders didn't want them to speak in Jesus' name. And it says, when they saw that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Can people see that? If you claim to be a Christian today, can people see that in your life? You've been with Jesus? Can they see it in my life? They better be able to. If I'm a true Christian, they better be able to. If not, I've got a problem. I need to get before God and fix that problem. I need to get before God and fast like God says a fast needs to take place, not like the world says. There was a need in the days of the nation of Israel. There was a need for them to know God's peace and blessing, and there was a need for the nations around them to see the true God. You know, when the Babylonians came and conquered Judah, Judah was not in an evangelistic mindset. Judah was steeped in paganism. And God removed a few Christian men, a few godly men, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He removed them from that paganism and brought them into a pagan country, Babylon. But those men chose to identify themselves with the true God, not with the paganism of Israel and not with the paganism of Babylon. they chose to follow the true God. And the result of that was that they were able to influence Nebuchadnezzar, the king, a wicked king of Babylon. They were able to influence him to the place where he recognized his need to turn to the true God. There were many others that were taken captive as well. You never read anything about them in the Bible. They were no help to the Babylonians. They were no help to themselves. But those four men, and as we're looking in our devotionals in the last several days that we've been going through Ezekiel 37 and 38, Ezekiel was at that same time, he was also a captive. But he was a help, not a hindrance. He was one who knew the true God, and he was seeking to help others to know the true God, even amongst his own people. There's a great need in our country today. We have wicked government, I said that before already, from the top down, they're wicked. Most of our police force are wicked individuals. Most of our medical people are wicked individuals. And in the midst of all that, God has placed a few Christians, a few, very few, but there are a few. But God expects those of us that are Christians to speak the truth, not to buy into the lies of those around us. We're told to speak the truth. Yes, if you pay attention to the news, you know that even lost doctors, lost nurses who will not bow to the agenda of the government, they've lost their jobs. Some of them are being ridiculed. They still are in working, but they're being heavily ridiculed. And then the natural response of people is, well, I don't want that, so I better bow. Go ahead and bow if you want to, but you'll have no voice. Zero. You'll have no voice. Our world needs truth. Truth comes from God. And I challenge anybody to show me just one place in the Bible where God ever compromised with liars to accomplish his purposes. Jesus never endorsed the Pharisees. The apostles in the book of Acts were persecuted because they would not bow to the Judaizers. And yet today, we have allowed the devil to convince us that if we would compromise, we would reach far more people. Yeah, we sure would, for the devil. But not for God. Truth is what is needed. It's the truth that set me free, that gave me the opportunity to know what true salvation is. And it's the truth that God has been impressing upon me, that is bringing me along and helping me to be set apart to serve him more faithfully. It's the truth that sets us free, not lies. So what is it that you want? Do you want to be free or do you want to be in bondage? We all have to make that choice. We can be free. We can know God's peace and blessing and we can serve him faithfully. If you like your bondage, have at it. If you want to be set free, God will set you free if you'll turn to him. We're here to help you. We can't force it upon you, but we're here to help you. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee for the truthfulness of Thy word. We thank Thee for this very important lesson that we have in the book of Isaiah. How that we see that the people there were so steeped in their idolatry, so steeped in their paganism, that they were going through the motions of fasting, but it was useless. They couldn't get thy attention, was meaningless, and they were frustrated as they couldn't get a hold of thee. We're thankful that we have a merciful God, we're thankful that thou didst raise up Isaiah, and that Isaiah told these hard-hearted people something that they should have known because it was not a secret, but something that they didn't know. They rejected it. We need to know the truth today as well. It's not a secret. It's in thy word. But we need to be reminded that there's a difference between thy truth and the paganism that's all around us. We can live by thy truth. We can be blessed by thy truth. But we can also be crippled and bound if we choose to follow the paganism that's so common around us. I pray that thou would help each one of us to allow thee to show us where we're at today, that we might desire thy truth, not the paganism that's all around us. We might be set free from bondage so that we can help others to know thy peace as well. May thy will be accomplished, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.