Good afternoon, everyone. If you could turn in the Word of God to Mark chapter 9 once again. Mark chapter 9. And as you're turning there, I just want to express again the privilege I feel to be here with you this year again. as often has been observed when you're asked to come to a place once, you feel privileged. And when you're asked again, well, you're very thankful that they didn't dislike you so much that they would never ask you back. So to be here again is perhaps a greater blessing this year than the last. There have been many changes in our lives as well since the last time we were here. a new pastorate. And in some ways, the invitation to be here last year actually played a role in the events that brought me to Greenville. It's amazing how God directs your footsteps, your path. When I was preparing to serve God and try to perceive my future, It was initially as an evangelist, as a local church helper. And when I began to think maybe it would go beyond that, I thought it would be to somewhere, hopefully where I don't have to learn the language, but to somewhere more needy, spiritually needy than Northern Ireland. And I thought perhaps Australia. Never once did I think I would be in North America. And certainly, I never thought I would be in a place like this, where it is as far away from spiritual need as you can imagine. Now, I know there are many spiritual needs here, I'm not denying that, but go to Australia, live there for a while, and you will see just how dark other places can be, how difficult it is to find a Bible-believing church. But God's ways are not our ways. Neither are his thoughts our thoughts. So keep that in mind as you plan for your future. And don't think that what initially is in your mind now is indeed the will of God. It may not be. Mark chapter nine. What encouragement it has been to be here. What an encouragement your president, and the staff have been to me already this week, and the Word of God that has been preached. And yesterday, Dr. Vaughan was in Mark chapter 9. I turn your attention there again, and he dealt specifically with prayer and gave very helpful guidance in the matter of prayer. I want us to focus on verse 29. I'm going to read just this one verse. Then we'll pray, and then we'll see what God has to say to us here this afternoon. Please give attention to the Word. And please be prayerful as it is preached. Put your phone on flight mode so you don't get buzzes every few minutes. Give attention to the Word. the immeasurable privilege of hearing from God. Mark 9 verse 29, and He said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Let us pray. Lord, give help now. We are always in need of help. But perhaps here, when we are preaching and hearing the Word, we become very conscious of how weak we are. Pour out Thy Spirit. Fill this preacher with the Holy Ghost. Come upon this gathering. And may all that is said and done magnify and glorify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and have a lasting impact on His kingdom for good, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I don't think that many in the church would deny that we live in very strange times in these days. I was here for some of the meetings that were held at the core conference by the seminary, and one particular address that was given, well, the information that I gleaned from it wasn't exactly encouraging. And I mean that in relation to the future of the West, the future of the United States of America in relation to her children. the upcoming generation. I was thinking very much about the things that have occurred over the last number of generations that have brought us to the place where we find ourselves today. And I considered this truth, that when a society turns from God's truth, supposedly under the guise of science and reason, it will be exposed when its course becomes evidently illogical and results in the self-destruction of humanity. As soon as we embraced, and I say we generally, as a society, that belief in God is something that is up for grabs and indeed must be denied because it cannot be proved empirically by science, It brings us, inevitably, to the illogical position we find ourselves today, where humanity is destroying itself. This is what we're seeing. And yet we're not alone. There was a man by the name of Elijah that lived in similar times. The challenges were different, but there were a lot of similarities. Israel was on a path of self-destruction due to idolatry. And one day Elijah, and this is how I see him, Elijah is reading his Bible, and he comes across Deuteronomy chapter 11, where he reads, Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, unless ye perish quickly from off the good land, which the Lord giveth you." I can see him reading Moses, And gleaning from Deuteronomy 11, God's promise that whenever His people turn their back on Him, He will shut up the heaven as an instrument to move them in repentance and turn again from their idols onto the true and living God. And so he sits in Israel in the midst of all the idolatry that's going on and the rebellion of its leadership, and he asks the question, Lord, why are you not keeping your word? And so when he reads this, he gets to prayer. We are told in James 5 verse 17, he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. Did you ever ask yourself why he prayed that prayer? It's because of Deuteronomy 11. He reads that God says, I will shut up heaven in the midst of the sin of my people, to move them toward me afresh. And as Elijah observes the problems of his day, he says, where is the fulfillment of your word? Shut up the heaven, he prayed earnestly, that it might not rain. Now, in praying that, it reveals something about Elijah, something remarkable. It reveals that Elijah was so concerned about the spiritual state of Israel that he prayed for the economic destruction of the land. That's what famine would bring. If God shuts up the heaven, there's no harvest. If there's no harvest, people starve. Businesses collapse. Men and women and boys and girls are in need of the essentials for life. And Elijah prays that God would shut up heaven and bring economic collapse. Because he was so desirous, so burdened, that God would be glorified and served by his people that he would rather see them economically destroyed and spiritually thrive than the opposite. I tell you, young people, it takes a lot of grace to get to that point. And I think the older you get, it becomes even more difficult to pray this way. As you get comfortable in life and you establish yourself in your career, and you have your plans and your pensions, And you set up your future to be able to ask God honestly and desirously that there would be economic downturn in order for people to wake up. I'm not sure I'm there. Such a man is clearly serious about God being glorified. All of Israel's problems were theological, and so it is for the United States of America. Don't listen to the lies. Don't get indoctrinated by the idea that we need better this, better that, better the other. Answers to the issues that are devoid of the theological underpinnings of the problems. What we face today, whether it's in relation to gender or other issues of the hour, are fundamentally theological. And if we don't get back to God and to His Word, our solutions will fail, and God will not be glorified. and the downturn within the church will continue. As I said, Dr. Vaughan helpfully dealt with Mark chapter 9 in terms of its instruction on prayer, and it is my desire to turn your attention to verse 29 today in order to elaborate on this other aspect of prayer, that of fasting. I have preached on this subject once in my life. I have studied it. I have practiced it on various occasions myself, but it's not something I deal with frequently. And in many ways, it's not what I wanted to preach. You want to come and preach a message that is perhaps a little more encouraging and doesn't make such demands of us as God's people that the flesh doesn't really want to get involved with, but here we are. And I think, in light of what I heard this week, that it is essential we get a grasp of what God's Word teaches on this subject. Our forefathers understood the importance of fasting with prayer. You can read in history, for example, times where it was much more commonplace. For example, in the late spring and early summer of 1625, a plague broke forth in London of a very serious nature. Such was the spreading panic throughout all there living at that time that on July 3rd, there was an official proclamation calling for a public general and solemn fast to be held throughout the land. On Wednesday, July 20th that year, And every Wednesday following, so long as the plague continued, a call to all the churches. And so godly men got up before their congregations and they preached on the subject of prayer and fasting and encouraged them to seek God in this fashion every Wednesday in the midst of the catastrophes they were seeing upon the land. The Presbyterian Church of Scotland, a denomination that greatly influenced the very shaping of this nation, in their Directory for Public Worship, written in 1645, they have a chapter, a whole chapter entitled, Concerning Public Solemn Fasting. And in that chapter, it begins this way, quote, when some great and notable judgments are either inflicted upon a people, or apparently imminent, or by some extraordinary provocations notoriously deserved, as also when some special blessing is to be sought and obtained, public solemn fasting, which is to continue the whole day, is a duty that God expecteth from that nation or people," end quote. The Christians that came from England and Scotland and Ireland to this country had a foundation of understanding that. And while I am not deeply au fait with all of the expressions of religious worship in the very early years of the colonies here, I'm quite certain you will find this following on in times of calamity, in times where it's perceived we're in the midst of judgment or some difficulty, we will set ourselves to fast and pray. And so I want to talk to you about this, because in many ways, it's a lost practice. And when I use the term fasting, I'm referring to abstaining from the normal habits of eating, drinking, sleep, and aspects of human relationships. I trust God will get a hold of your heart. You are going to face things that your parents and your grandparents never faced. You're going to face your own unique set of trials, and I don't know whether we are under judgment, facing God's judgment, or God in His providence is just stretching His people, using all that's going on presently in our day to make the rising generation even stronger than the generations preceding. I have no idea, I have no insight, I have no direct access into the secret councils of the Almighty, but certainly something's going on. And I tell you this, young people, what you're going to face in your own life and what you're going to face in your own families, if you do not learn how to wait on God in the fashion we will deal with today, You will be like many. You will feel powerless and that there's nothing you can do, and it's not true. Note with me, first of all, as we deal with prayer and fasting and the need for prayer and fasting, the practice of fasting. In Mark chapter 9, verse 29, our Lord makes it abundantly plain that some of the matters we face in life will not change through regular prayer, but instead require extended efforts of prayer combined with the abstention from normal things, such as eating and drinking and sometimes sleep and aspects of relationships as well. Now, you may be here, and you need to hear this personally, because you have sinned so grievously that you feel that the presence of God has left you for life. Or perhaps it's not that. It's not relating to yourself. It's relating to someone in your life, and you feel that they are beyond the hope of salvation. Or perhaps you're like many of us, and you're part of a church or denomination that needs to be brought back from the dead. According to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, some things will not change except by prayer and fasting. And He intends us to get a hold of this, so we are humbled, and we seek Him to a degree that is not our normal pattern of prayer or spiritual devotion. While the practice of prayer and fasting is a religious duty, it is founded upon the gospel. And I want to take a moment to establish this. I thought Maybe I could skip over this, but I thought, no, it's important to understand. When you hear about prayer and fasting, very often it's just bestowed upon you as duty. And then it can feel a little bit like legalistic or something that, well, Jesus Christ has died for me, paid for all of my sins. He doesn't require of me anything that may kind of be unpleasant to the flesh. And I understand the thinking, it's kind of feeling, if I give myself to prayer and fasting, it almost looks like I'm doing something to earn my salvation, but that's not the case. The only time where God commanded in the law of Moses fasting is found in the book of Deuteronomy, but really Leviticus as well. In chapter 16, it's all relating to the day of atonement. I'll read Leviticus 16 verses 29 and 30. tells us there, and this shall be a statute forever unto you, that in the seventh month, on the 10th day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country or a stranger that sojourneth among you. For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you to cleanse you, that ye may be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord. Now, the day of atonement was a critical day in the calendar of the Jews. Many of you are familiar with it, I am sure. Quick overview. On the Day of Atonement, there would be this unique experience of observing the high priest entering into the tabernacle or the temple on his own, going in there with blood that had been shed, and going beyond the holy place into the most holy place to sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat. It happened once a year, and only the high priest was permitted to go in. And it was a wonderful image of the work of salvation. On that day of the year, the Lord had a picture for Israel to show that their Messiah would come and do a work once for all. that he would enter into this world, he would offer himself as a sacrifice for sins, so we have him as a sacrifice. We also have him as the representative in the high priest going in before the presence of God on our behalf, bearing the names of the people of God upon his breast. Upon his might or holiness unto the Lord, this man would enter in representing us, showing Israel that the Messiah would come and do that very thing. On that day and only that day did God instruct, "'Ye shall afflict your souls.'" Now, of course, you will come back and say, well, afflicting your soul might not necessitate fasting, but it does. In fact, in Jeremiah 36, verse 6, We are told that the Day of Atonement is called by another term there, the fasting day, the fasting day. And so the scholars and commentators tell us that the fasting day was the Day of Atonement, the afflicting of soul, even by Jewish rabbinical writers. They understand that as including fasting, setting themselves apart, and think of the context. The context of that, no other day were the people so separated from the work that was going on in relation to worship. When they would bring the sin offering, when they would do the Passover, they were involved, and they would bring their own sacrifice. On the Day of Atonement, they're just standing watching. They're not doing anything. It's the high priest that's doing the work on their behalf. And it's on a day that depicted the fact that all of the work we need to be done or need to have done for us is done entirely for us by Jesus Christ. On the day that was most clearly depicted was a day that God says, you'll fast. In other words, by their fasting, by their withholding themselves from the natural things of life, they could more greatly observe and delight and glory in the gospel. Fasting, therefore, is on the foundation of the gospel. It's not something added to it in order to save us. And it's not to be observed as something that was for the past, and if I start to do this, I'll begin to get proud and so on and so forth, like the Pharisees did. We fast, we fast twice in the week, as the Pharisees said before God. It's not about that. It's founded on the gospel. The only time, I repeat it, the only time God says, afflict your souls fast, is on the day when he clearly depicts the gospel. We are gospel people, are we not? We sing of the cross, we rejoice in the blood, we give thanks to God for the provision made for us in Jesus Christ. But do I err in saying to you today that those that have the joy of having their sins forgiven have an obligation at certain times and seasons to fast and pray. God wants us to grasp—I think this is really it in a nutshell, especially in light of the Day of Atonement—that all the imagery showed clearly that man's acceptance before God is solely on the grounds of a sacrifice and perfect representative. And as God dealt, listen, as God dealt with the effects of sin, as God dealt with the effects of sin, He called His people to fast. And from that moment on, when people, listen, when people wanted God to deal with the effects of sin, They would fast. And there are at least seven different conditions in which we see people fasting through the Bible. Follow with me. You may want to make a note of these because they will help you in understanding when should I do this? When should I practice fasting? First, in times of declining spirituality. In times of declining spirituality. When you see there being a very evident decline in the spiritual climate in which you live, you will fast. Such was the dark day in which our Lord Jesus Christ was born. We read of Anna as one example, that she served God with fastings and prayers night and day. That was her response to a declining spiritual day. She served God with fastings and prayers night and day, not only in times of declining spirituality, but in times of deep grief. God's people will fast in times of deep grief. Consider the death of Saul and his sons. On that day of national grief, the people fasted. We read in 1 Chronicles 10, 12, they arose all the valiant men and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days. Thirdly, in times of domestic sin, God's people would fast. Consider how Jonathan fasted when we're told in 1 Samuel 20, verse 34, that he did eat no meat the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame. He fasted as he saw the sin of his father, domestic sin, and he fasts. Fourthly, in times of devastating plagues or famines, God's people would fast. This is the context of Joel's prophecy. Read it for yourself. Just a couple of verses. Joel 2, verse 12 and following, "'Therefore also now saith the Lord, "'Turn ye even to me with all your heart, "'and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, "'and rend your heart and not your garments, "'and turn unto the Lord your God, "'for he is gracious and merciful, "'slow to anger and of great kindness, "'and repenteth him of the evil.'" Fifthly, in times of distressing attacks, God's people would fast. You think of the occasion when Jehoshaphat is king and the great multitude come out against them in Judah, and we are told in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 3, and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Sixthly, in times of needed divine counsel, of needed divine counsel, God's people would fast. When the church at Antioch, in Acts chapter 13, are desirous to fulfill the great commission and wondering what they should do and how God is directing them, what do we read in Acts 13 verse 2? As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work we're on to, I have called them. They're looking for direction. They're looking for guidance. And in the midst of their prayers and fasting, God gives clarity. And then the seventh way in which you see fasting expressed, certain occasions of fasting, in times of desperate personal confession, God's people would fast. I think we see this with David. After his sin, he fasts certainly for the child, but I think the Psalms, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 show also that he had been fasting and waiting on God and pouring out his heart. On top of that, you have the conversion of the apostle Paul. He fasted and prayed for three days, coming to terms with the grievous nature of his sin. Three days. trying to process his rebellion against the Messiah he thought he was serving, and his participation in the murder and imprisonment of the saints. The Bible is replete with references to fasting, both Old Testament and New Testament, and it's something which continues to this day. Paul testified in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 27, in fastings often, in fastings often. So the practice of fasting is established. And if you look at your circumstances, listen, if you look at your circumstances and the circumstances for fasting I have given here this afternoon, it may be a helpful guide for you when you ought to consider prayer and fasting. declining spirituality, times of deep grief, times of domestic sin, times of devastating plagues or famines, times of distressing attacks, times of needed divine counsel, and times of desperate personal confession over your sin. So the practice of fasting, as I say, is established very clearly. But secondly, we want to consider the purpose of fasting, the purpose of fasting. Why would you fast in such times? Why? Nowadays, some people like to experiment with intermittent fasting. I'm sure there are some here. And of course, your goal, well, it may have various, you may have various reasons for that. My wife trained in human nutrition and dietetics, so, You hear about these things, and sometimes it's for mental clarity. Sometimes it's to lose weight. Other proposed benefits for intermittent fasting—trying to go 18 hours without eating, and then have all your calories packed into the other hours. Well, you may have reasons like that, but that is never why the believer fasts in the Word of God. They're not trying to lose weight and they're not seeking mental clarity. There are a number of things that fasting helps with. First, fasting helps to control earthly appetites, but that's not its purpose. Fasting helps to be thankful for God's material gifts. As you're abstaining from them, you become more thankful for them, but that's not its purpose. Fasting helps to further our sanctification. I mean, if you are repenting over some grievous sin, and you give yourself to a time of prayer and fasting to repent over that sin, which I believe David did, and Paul probably, when you do that, you will deepen the sanctifying work and the sense of penitence in your heart usually, and it will help you to avoid those sins in the future. That's not its purpose. Fasting helps put our weakness under the spotlight so we depend upon divine strength. But again, that's not its purpose. What is the purpose for fasting? Why does Jesus say this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting? What does He want us to see as the purpose? The purpose of fasting is to see God glorified in dealing with the grievous effects of sin. Builds upon the previous point. The purpose of fasting is to see God glorified in dealing with the grievous effects of sin. That's the context here. The father is burdened. The grievous effects of sin that had laid hold upon his child. and we want to see God glorified in dealing with the effects of sin. And you think of the various points I brought up earlier, the seven kind of aspects where we might fast. Sin that results in declining spirituality, we fast. Death, which brings grief, it's a result of sin. domestic sin, devastating plagues caused by sin, distressing attacks that are hinging on sin, the inability to know God's will because of our own sin, and the sense of forgiveness after great old disobedience. All those seven points that are in the context of why, or in terms of when we would fast, come back down to the reason why we would fast, then, is in order for God to be glorified in the midst of the devastating effects of sin. And Jesus says the victory here can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. He said it, not me. Now, in all And you go through your Bible, and I would encourage you, actually, to do your own study on this subject. Study the Word of God on the topic and subject of fasting. See it for yourself. In all the circumstances of fasting in the Bible, there is one common theme in them all. It was described, I think, yesterday as need. I have described it as burden. Burden. It's a burden for God to be glorified in the face of the effects of sin. It's a burden. And you will not desire God to be glorified in the effects of sin until it really comes upon you as a burden that moves you to pray and to fast. A believer fasts rightly. when their desire for God's glory exceeds all other desires." Now, some of you may have fasted before. You can search your own heart, ask the reason why, but I put it to you that the believer fasts rightly when their desire for God's glory exceeds all other desires. But that leaves another question. Why does it work Why does it work? Why here in Mark 9 does Jesus say, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting? Why does that work in these circumstances? What was the problem in Mark 9 in the disciples? Verse 19, He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?" All faithless generation. What was the problem? Unbelief. They're lack of faith. That was the problem, young people. No, that's the issue we have. Now, follow me here. Fasting helps to increase our faith as we focus more on God and His Word rather than the circumstances. When you don't fast and pray, the circumstances of impossible scenarios seem bigger than God. But when you get before God to fast and to pray, as you focus on Him and you have your heart girded by His Word, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word, as you have it girded up, the circumstances become smaller in light of the greatness of the God that you seek. And through a process of time, and it takes time, through a process of time, not because God is reluctant, not because He is cruel, but because we need our hearts worked upon by the Spirit, and we need to be filled more with His Word and more focused on Him and who He is. As we give ourselves to prayer and fasting, God becomes bigger, in our view, of course, and the circumstances become smaller. As we wait on God, we will find ourselves moved from knowing that God can to knowing that He will. That's what happens when you pray and fast. You're moved from knowing God can, which we all can say, God can save that soul. God can turn the circumstances. God can change this. But when you pray and you fast, when you set your heart to seek God, you in your heart are moved from a position of unbelief that simply says, God can, to a position of faith that says, God will. Your president said it yesterday, if my mind is not failing me, that sometimes when you get down to pray, you hardly believe it all. You just have enough faith to bow your knees and bow your head before God. But in the midst of waiting on God, there's a work done in your heart. When I was first converted at 19 years of age, my mother had been converted about eight months prior to me. And she, in many ways, was the instrument God used. She read, in Acts chapter 16, that time where you have the conversion of the Philippian jailer, "'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.'" And she would come every day before God. She didn't know the first thing about prayer and fasting in terms of the technicalities, but she waited on God. She prayed before God. She wept before God every day. But God would save her Christ-denying, unbelieving son. And she had a far greater influence on my life than anyone who tried to debate with me. Are you fed up debating with that loved one who won't listen? Hours and hours and hours spent on Facebook Messenger or through email trying to help them to see this and sending them links to that. Then they come back with responses as to why it doesn't make sense or why it shouldn't be believed. Hours wasted! Achieving essentially nothing. Except getting more and more frustrated. Wait on God. I did the same thing. I followed the pattern of my mother when God saved me. My burden was my girlfriend at the time. Ten years raised in the Kingdom Hall as a Jehovah's Witness. mother baptized into it, did not miss a meeting. If you know anything about them, you have a timetable of all the hours of ministry you must do as a Jehovah's Witness. Her mother never failed to submit that in full, having met everything asked of her every single week. Have you ever dialogued with a Jehovah's Witness? So, what did I do? I prayed. I prayed night and day. I prayed night and day for two weeks. You look back on it, and it doesn't seem very long. At that time, it seemed as if the answer was so far away. But when I called her that Lord's Day and asked her, will you come to church tonight? And she said yes. I had been moved from believing that God could to knowing that He would. And I said to her, Melanie, I believe you're going to get saved tonight. Her response was, Armin, I don't believe what you believe. I said, I know. But I believe you're going to get saved tonight." I come off the telephone and said the same to my mother. I think probably on her headstone we're going to put three words. Pray about it. Because you had talked to Mom. ask her questions, try to get her insight on something, and that was her response almost every time. Really annoying when you're wanting something a little bit more tangible. Pray about it. Pray about it. But I said to her, Melanie's going to get saved tonight. And she said, I believe she'll get saved too, but it might not be tonight. I said, no mom, it will be tonight. And she came to church that night, ministered as a regular Sunday evening service, nothing out of the ordinary, as normal as Sunday evening services could be, except God took his word, applied it to Melanie's heart, and before he was ever near the end of that sermon, making any form of an appeal, she was sobbing over her sin. longing to be saved. I just turned to her at the end of the service, and I said, do you want to be saved? And she just nodded, the tears streaming down her face. I could account other instances of similar circumstances, including her mother, her own mother, in the kingdom hall, baptized, indoctrinated like you would not believe. And having a prayer meeting for her on one particular Christmas night, it was the evening of Christmas Day, 2003, and praying for her that night. And when we came away from that prayer time saying, your mom's going to get saved, Melanie. Your mom is going to get saved. And she went home that night to her mom. Got up the next day, and in the middle of the afternoon, her mom said to her, maybe you'll call the minister. I'd like to talk with him. And she called him straight away, and he came out, talked with her for a couple of hours, and pointed her to Christ the very next day. Being moved from God can to knowing that He will, And prayer and fasting, young people, this is an instrument God has given to us, and Jesus Christ instructs us in saying, there are certain things won't change until there's a change in you. where you're rid of your sinful unbelief and you pour your heart out before God, getting your mind and heart into His Word, and realize that thing that seems impossible is nothing before God. Then you begin to believe, not only that He can, but that He will. Thirdly, very quickly, the parameters for fasting. I want to give you some helpful tips in relation to the parameters for fasting. And on this, I use Thomas Boston. He was a 17th century preacher who wrote a helpful treatise on fasting called A Memorial Concerning Personal and Family Fasting and Humiliation. And I've adapted his advice for you here today. There are some practical considerations that he gives. First of all, when are you going to fast? When are you going to fast? You have to fix a time where it begins and it ends. Now, it may be that it's open-ended because of the nature of what it is, but you have to fix a time when to begin. Secondly, where are you going to fast? It's best to fix a place. Where am I going to do this? Now, there's an element in which you can go about certain duties and be fasting, but I'll tell you, if you never... If you never give yourself to the real seeking of God, actually getting before God and pouring over His Word and filling your heart with His promises, if you don't get to that, it will usually be in vain. So where are you going to do it? place of quietness where you may exercise yourself before God without being distracted. To what degree will you fast is the third question. Boston says this, quote, the rule for abstinence from meat and drink cannot be the same as to all, for fasting not being part of worship but a means to dispose and fit us for extraordinary worshiping is to be used only as helping thereto. But it is certain that what measure of it would be helpful to some for that end would be a great hindrance to others. You have someone here who's able to abstain from food for several days, another person who's type 1 diabetic, they're not going to want to do that. So there are various things to be considered in all of this. So he says, wherefore, weekly persons, whom total abstinence would disfit and indispose for duty, are not called to fast at that rate. He goes on and says, yet ought they not in that case to indulge themselves, the use of meat and drink, with the same freedom as at other times? Hold back on what would be your normal practice of enjoying the material things of life. So, he says, use a partial abstinence, altering the quantity or quality of them, or both, so as they may thereby be afflicted. And you see this in the life of Daniel. With an extended fast, he didn't stop eating, but he modified it so that his food and drink was of the most basic kind. In Daniel chapter 10, we read, "'In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. "'I ate no pleasant bread. "'Neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. "'Neither did I anoint myself at all "'till three whole weeks were fulfilled.'" Nothing elaborate, water, basic food for three weeks. Those are some practical considerations. Some spiritual considerations he gives. First, serious meditation and consideration of our ways. Such times, Boston says, are to be set apart from conversing with the world that we may the more solemnly commune with our own hearts as to the state of matters between us and God. Secondly, deep humiliation of soul before the Lord. The consideration of our ways is to be pursued till our soul be humbled within us. Our heart rent not with remorse for sin only, but with regret and kindly sorrow for it as an offense to a gracious and merciful God, our face filled with shame and blushing before him." Now, I just want to stop there because that's something that is lost today. People sin. Maybe there's someone here that has sinned in a grievous matter to a grievous degree, and it involves someone else, maybe a young woman. And you think by simply saying, I confessed my sin to God, and I asked them to forgive me, that that's enough. There are times, young people and older people, of deeply grieving over an extended period of time and not sensing that you're forgiven until you really know it. Thinking that fornicating or any other vile aspects of sin indulged in freely in our generation is just a light matter that you can say, I'm sorry and I'm sorry to God and carry on. That is not Christian repentance. Now, I'm not asking for penance. I'll tell you, there's something happens when you pour over Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 until you really understand the grief and sorrow David felt. Thirdly, free and open confession of sin before God without reserve. Fourthly, the exercise of repentance and turning from sin unto God, both in heart and life. Boston says this, in vain will we fast and pretend to be humbled for our sins and make confession of them if our love of sin be not turned into hatred, our liking of it into loathing, and our cleaving to it into a longing to be rid of it, with full purpose to resist the motions of it in our heart and the outbreakings thereof in our life. If you have something in your mind that is the Spirit of God has put His finger upon, and you ask for help, and you're not feeling that help, it's a time for prayer and fasting, where you ask and you seek from God for the spiritual strength, not just to say, I'm not going to do it again, but actually to have the grace never to go near it again. That you hate it, truly hate it. He talks also about solemn covenanting with God, entering into a renewing covenant with Him and express words. I'll not mention much more. Our time is gone. But you can look it up for yourself. Look, young people, as we close here this afternoon, I want to tell you, I love a bit of fun like anyone else. and enjoy being around lighthearted people who are filled with joy and aren't always down in the mouth and miserable. But do not mistake the seriousness of the subject and the manner in which it's delivered today. Interpret that in some form where you think, well, he just has no joy of the Lord. I'm telling you that is not the case. Indeed, if fasting seems miserable to you, you've missed the point. What prayer and fasting does is it brings you into extended seasons of being before God. Is that not a glorious thing? Indeed, we must ask the question, if extended seasons of prayer and fasting before God are so repulsive to me, or I can find 101 excuses why I should not engage in such things, we need to ask ourselves, do I have any joy in the Lord? It is those who have joy in the Lord who want to spend time in His presence and cut themselves off from all other distractions to have a period and time where they're refreshed and reinvigorated with the truths of what they have in Christ and have fresh burdens put upon their hearts in terms of the things God has called them to do in His kingdom. As I say, I don't know with what we're facing today whether it's judgment from God or God just calling out for this rising generation to be far stronger than many generations preceding it. I don't know. But I know this, when the judgment of God came upon Jerusalem, God gave Ezekiel a vision of what it looked like in Ezekiel chapter 8 and 9. And in Ezekiel chapter 9, with destruction falling upon everyone in the vision that was given to Ezekiel, there was one command that was given. It's very important in the heart of that devastating imagery of the fall of Jerusalem. There's one command given in verse 4. The preservation of the remnant is ordered in these words, set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Set a mark on those that are sighing and crying in Jerusalem. those that see the sin, those that feel the abominations, and those that are fasting and praying and crying and sighing and longing and lamenting, that God would have mercy. He said, set a mark on them. Set a mark on them. When judgment was looming, It was not the preachers and the priests that were marked out by means of their office. It was those that sigh and cry, a praying and fasting people. When others were at ease and set themselves to carry on in the normal course of life, these people set themselves to pray. And I wonder what it's going to take to raise up the caliber of men that we need in this day, that manifested themselves in those days. Men like Daniel, men like Nehemiah, men like Ezra. Is there any such here today? I tell you, you're needed. Are you facing an impossible decision? Fast and pray. Is there a prodigal in your family? Fast and pray. Is there some other matter of urgency in your life? Fast and pray. Listen, it is hard, but when did anything good come easily? How easy was it to purchase your salvation? I'm glad that the Lord Jesus hasn't asked us to do that. Find your own way back to God, sinner. Thank God Jesus Christ came and did the impossible thing, reconciling men to God again. And then he simply says, as you exercise yourself in being ambassadors for me, living for me, give yourself to seasons of fasting and prayer, because there are certain times where This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. And so, like Paul, we will say in fastings often, I will finish not with my own words, but with the words of C. H. Spurgeon, that great Baptist preacher. He talked about prayer all the time, and I leave his thoughts with you now. Listen, this is true, whatever your ambitions are for life. We never do anything in this world until we set our faces thoroughly to it. The warriors who win battles are those who are resolved to conquer or die. The heroes who emancipate nations are those who count no hazards and reckon no odds, but are resolved that the yoke shall be broken from the neck of their country. The merchants who prosper in this world are those who do their business with all their hearts and watch for wealth with eagerness. The half-hearted man is nowhere in the race of life. Nowhere. Let us bow together in prayer. As our heads are bowed, I know some of you perhaps are in a place spiritually where you have zero interest in anything I just said. Well, maybe like in Ezekiel 9, there's a little cluster of people that already are sighing and crying, waiting on God, desiring His blessing. looking for direction for their lives and wanting nothing in life more than to be a channel of blessing. To you I speak, take courage, Christian. Keep going on. If no one else goes with you, go it alone. The Lord will be your reward. Lord, bless Thy Word. Use it in the lives of these dear young people, the faculty, the staff. The times are pressing upon us. The urgency is palpable. Let it not be said, of us in this generation, that they were at ease in Zion. Spirit of God, do Thy work. In Jesus' name, amen.