Americans are gluttons, and American Christians are really not very different. The two biggest sellers in bookstores, historically, year by year, are cookbooks and diet books. The cookbooks will tell you how to make delicious foods, and the diet books tell you how not to eat them. About a quarter of all Americans are seriously overweight. 60 million Americans will go on diets during this year, and to service them, there are over 10,000 commercial diet centers offering structured weight loss programs. 40% of cardiovascular disease in America is related directly to excessive weight. Gastric bypass surgery is now the most elected, the most chosen, selected, requested elective surgery in America. The United States spends more on diet products than the GNP of Wales and Ireland combined. Do I need to go on to prove to you that we live in a nation of gluttons? The last several weeks we've been examining as we put our exposition of Genesis on hold. We'll begin again next Sunday night. We've been examining the seven deadly sins. If you'll remember those sins as the church has examined those and grappled with them for almost 2000 years now are pride, anger, envy, lust, sloth, greed, and gluttony. Tonight we'll be examining the seventh and final of the seven of gluttony. A couple of weeks ago, I was driving down the road, heard an NPR commentator mocking the concept of the seven deadly sins. And she said this, what is so bad with a little gluttony anyway? It's harmless. Unlike murder, all that gluttony does is make you soft and huggable. It's the cute sin. So what's the problem? And what we'll see tonight, the problem in a nutshell, the problem with gluttony is it seeks to feed the soul with the body's food. That's the problem. Let's pray together as we seek the Lord's help. Oh Holy Spirit, we confess that we prefer the words and productions of men to your holy, perfect, lasting word. But now turn our thoughts and attentions away from trivialities and that which is temporal to that which is lasting and true. Oh Lord, the psalmist said that he hungered and thirsted for your word. creating us that same passion to hear you speak to us by your word. We pray in Jesus name, amen. We'll start talking about gluttony. I probably have to do some defining because I would wager that it's been a long time since you've used that term or heard that term used. As I said this morning, in 24 years of ministry, I've never preached a sermon on gluttony. Probably never will again after tonight. We don't talk a lot about this and so we have to spend some time laying some groundwork when we talk about the sin of gluttony. Gluttony comes from the Latin word gluteo which means to swallow. And so gluttony is used principally of the avid excessive devouring of food. That's the simple definition. The avid excessive devouring of food. But there are certainly much more as we'll see in a moment. In his 14th century classic, The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer in his section called the Pardoner's Tale, includes a sermon on gluttony in Canterbury Tales, one of the added benefits of reading classic literature. And he breaks gluttony down into the following components. This is from a 14th century work. Devouring food animal-like, eating great quantities of food known as overeating, or eating before the allotted time. We would call that snacking between meals. Now gluttony is all about excess. Gluttony knows nothing about self-control. And we'll talk about that tonight. Part of the answer for gluttony is the fruit of the spirit that is self-control. But the glutton, and I want us to begin to examine scripture, is someone who is under the power of food. Look at 1 Corinthians 6, and let's open God's word. And what you're going to be amazed at tonight is how much scripture speaks about food. and what it says to us about food and its place in our life. 1 Corinthians 6. And typically when we talk about 1 Corinthians 6 and we talk about what is lawful and what is not, we usually will talk about alcohol. We hardly ever talk about food, but Paul talks about food here. In 1 Corinthians 6, 12 and 13, notice what Paul is saying. He's talking about someone who is under the power of food. That's who the glutton is. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12, Paul says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. food for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them." And then he goes on to talk about sexual immorality and how it's unlawful. But notice in the context in verse 12 what Paul says. He talks about the power of certain things. In the context, he mentions two things that you can be under the power of. food and sexual immorality. And that's what the glutton is. He's someone who's under the power, under the sway of food. We would call it under the lordship of food. Or to put it more succinctly, as Pastor Dodds just read a moment ago in Philippians 3.19, this is the person who their God is their stomach. That's who the glutton is. They live by what their stomach demands. The same attention that the believer gives to the triune God, the glutton gives to his stomach. Did you hear that? The same attention that the believer gives to the triune God, the glutton gives to his stomach. That's how Paul can say in Philippians 3.19, their God, their theos is their stomach. Paul says as much again in Romans 16.18 when he writes, these do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own stomach. I don't know if you know the famous saga, it's not legendary, it's history. Reynald III was a 14th century Duke in Belgium. He was a legendary glutton, horribly overweight. He was called by his friends that endearing Latin nickname crassus, which means fat. And after a violent quarrel, Reynald's younger brother, Edward, led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Reynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Reynald in the Newkirk Castle Prison and promised that he could have his title and kingdom back as soon as he was able to leave the room. This wouldn't have been difficult for most people to do because the room had several windows and a door of near normal size. And none of them were locked or barred. They stayed open 24 hours a day. The problem was Reynald's size. To gain his freedom, he needed to lose about 50 pounds. But Edward knew his older brother far too well. So each day he sent to him a variety of delicious foods. And instead of dieting his way out of the prison, Raynald grew more portly. When Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer. My brother is not a prisoner, he said. He may leave any time he wills. Edward stayed in the, or Reynolds stayed in the room for about 10 years and wasn't released until his brother died in battle. But by then his health was so ruined that he died within a few months, a prisoner of his own appetites. Let me expand our understanding of who the gluttony is because this is far too simple. This is low hanging fruit to say, well, the glutton is obviously the person who is excessive in his overeating. But let me go and look at how the church historically has understood this. that the glutton is not simply the person who eats to excess. That's the obvious one. But this becomes very evident in our day. that the glutton is more than just the excessive eater. The glutton is the one who builds his day around food and is overly concerned about it. This would include the person who carefully weighs every ounce of carbs in her diet, who relentlessly scans the fat content of her portion, who drives across town to buy exclusively organic, who looks as much like the glutton as the overeater. And so the anorexic or the bulimic who obsesses about food actually falls into the exact same sin pattern. The point with all of them is their God is their stomach. They worship that which is reserved for the triune God alone. Now the principle point that the scripture makes, look back at 1 Corinthians 6 and notice what we are taught there. In 1 Corinthians 6.13 we are told this, this powerful theological principle, this moving principle in our sanctification, the body is meant for the Lord. Now that's a powerful perspective, the body is meant for the Lord and by that we are to understand according to verse 20 in the same text, that we are to glorify God in our bodies. Now we're going to talk about more about that principle in a moment, but we as American evangelicals have lost this principle. We don't realize that our body is for the Lord and we are to glorify God with it and in it. We'll talk about gluttony as we've seen with each of the other six. We're talking about a root sin. When we began our examination of the seven deadly sins a couple of months ago, I told you one of the reasons why the church has historically called them deadly sins is each of them has a foundational quality, a generative quality, meaning their seriousness is not just in themselves, but in their ability to generate serious offspring that follows after them. That's why One of the early Christian thinkers, Gregory the Great, called them leaders of wicked armies. Now, especially in the Scriptures, I want you to notice those things that seem to always follow where gluttony is present, because it too, like greed and like lust and like anger, never seems to be alone, but it brings with it several nefarious friends. Notice what those are. Look, for example, at Proverbs 23, the passage that Pastor Dodds read a moment ago, the Old Testament reading. Proverbs 23, what seems to go along with gluttony, and let me point out just five accompanying sins, what seems to go along with gluttony is drunkenness. The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 23, 21, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty. And what we see is, this should make sense to us, it's logical, it's simple, is the person who has a propensity to abuse and excess in one realm probably will have a tendency to abuse and excess in the other. Now we see these two paired together all through the Scriptures, but look at an example of this, a pairing that's very familiar to you, in Deuteronomy chapter 21. Deuteronomy 21, Moses pairs these two together, and by the way, you'll find this in several texts in Scripture. Deuteronomy 21, and the text is a judicial text. It's dealing with, under the Old Covenant, what to do with a child, an adult child, who is rebellious and disobedient. Notice what the text tells us. Deuteronomy 21, verse 18, If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, and his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city, to the gate of the city. And they shall say to the elders of the city, the son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He'll not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Now, this is common. This is a common pairing. Again, it should not surprise you that one of the sins that is generated by gluttony that accompanies it, that walks hand in hand with it, is drunkenness. It is a tendency to excess. Overeating and overdrinking come from the same root in the heart. A second accompanying sin that goes with gluttony, and this too will be obvious, logical, and sensible, is worry. You see, the glutton is always worried about his next meal. He's always worried, will there be enough? Will there be enough to have too much? Remember how Jesus addressed this in Luke 12, 29, when he said, do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. And Jesus says, here's what goes along with the glutton. He's always worried, always fearful about having enough, having enough to eat too much. A third sin that comes out of the same root, and really this is the core issue, is idolatry that comes along with gluttony. As we've already seen in Philippians 3.19, when Paul writes of the people who their God is their stomach, and he's inferring very clearly that the glutton's problem is idolatry. He's made something other than the triune God, the focus of his thoughts and his fantasizing and his worship and his concern and his conversation. The law of God in Exodus 20, we are commanded to have no other gods, but the glutton, when they're anxious and fearful, they eat instead of praying and waiting on the Lord. A fourth accompanying sin that goes with gluttony. is that of worldliness. You see, the glutton wants to prove Jesus wrong when Jesus says, man shall not live by bread alone. The glutton says, oh, no, he does. That's all that we live by. That's all I live for. I live for the things and the taste and the sensations of this present world. Man does live by bread alone. That is the substance of my life. And oddly enough, Accompanying gluttony and other companion sin is that of self-righteousness. For the person, usually the young woman, who obsesses over every calorie, every ounce, the accompanying sin is often self-righteousness. This is the person who's convinced that they must maintain outward appearances at all cost. Even if they eat a meal and stick their finger down their throat, force themselves to vomit, they can't gain an ounce. They have to have a certain body image. They don't look to Christ's finished work for their status and rest in Him. They don't hear the words of Paul in Philippians 3 that they want to be found in Christ, not having their own righteousness, but that which is through faith in Christ. They desperately have to present an appearance before people. Now, all of this makes us stop for a moment and think about what the scripture teaches about food. Because if gluttony is an issue of food idolatry, what does the scripture teach us about food? I started doing the calculating this afternoon and realized that in my life I've had over 55,000 meals. That's a lot of meals. Some of them have been all-you-can-eat buffets in Las Vegas. So those probably count for two or three. So there's probably more like 60,000 meals. But most believers never have sat down and said, what is food for? What is the purpose of it? What does scripture teach about it? They simply are idolatrous consumers. Give me more, give me what I like. And I'm not thinking biblically. And so if we're going to think rightly about gluttony, we almost have to create a systematic theology of food and say, what does the scripture teach? And so let me sum it up under 10 or 12 rapid fire propositions. Because if we're going to think rightly and well and deeply about this, we've got to understand what the scripture says. First proposition is, food is created by God and is good. Look at Genesis chapter 2. Notice what we see taught there. We see that at the close of Genesis 1, God has given Adam everything in the garden for food, especially every green herb. And then in Genesis 2, 9, we read these words, out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The garden contained good food. God out of his great love for us created food to satisfy us and gladness. Eating was meant to be pleasurable. God meant it that way. First premise that has to be stated. Food is good. I'm not an ascetic and I'm certainly not counseling that. The second principle is food is given as a gift. And that's how we should view every meal, every bite, everything is a gift. Look at Genesis 9-3 and notice right after Noah and his family emerged from the ark, what does God say to them? In Genesis 9-3, God says, every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you, and there's that word of grace. It's a gift. I've given you all things even as the green herbs. A third premise. Food is not singularly essential for spiritual life. Food is not singularly essential for spiritual life. Isn't this what Jesus says to the evil one in the temptation when he says, and when the evil one tempts him with food, when he says, man shall not live by bread alone. Thus the word food is not singularly essential for spiritual life. The fourth principle, food can be resisted to demonstrate obedience and integrity. Isn't that what we see the Lord Jesus doing in Matthew chapter four in the temptation of Satan, when Satan tries to tempt him with food and Jesus to show his obedience to the Father's will, says no, to demonstrate obedience and integrity. A fifth principle about food. is food is used by Satan to tempt to sin. Isn't it interesting that the instrument of temptation in both the garden and then in the revisitation of the garden, in the temptation of our Lord in Matthew chapter four, is food. That's the agent of temptation. In Genesis three, it's take this fruit, even though it's forbidden. In Matthew four, it's turn these stones into bread. A sixth principle about food. His food, God says, is withheld as a judgment for disobedience. Look at Deuteronomy 28 very quickly. Deuteronomy 28. This is in that section of Deuteronomy when God is promising blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience upon the covenant people. And notice what our Lord says in Deuteronomy 28. verse 38 and following. Here's one of his curses upon covenantal disobedience. Deuteronomy 28 verse 38 and following. You shall carry much seed out to the field, but gather a little in, for the locusts shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives shall drop off. The point is that God takes away food from the disobedient. But then the inverse of that, another principle in our systematic theology of food, is food is promised to God's faithful covenant people. Look at Matthew chapter 6 and notice what Jesus promises to His children. In Matthew 6, verse 31, Jesus says, Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear for all these things the Gentiles seek? Your heavenly father knows you need all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, food, clothing, drink, shall be added to you. In other words, God is promising to his kingdom seeking people. He promises to give them food. Another principle about food. is it is always to be received with thanksgiving. Look at first Timothy four and notice what Paul writes to Timothy and says about food. He speaks against those in first Timothy four, verse three and four, those who command abstain from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving. By those who believe and know the truth, every creation of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it's received with thanksgiving. The principle here that should always accompany our food is gratitude. Always, every bite you eat is a gift to be received with thanksgiving. Another principle about food. God gives laws on allowable types of food. You see this in the Old Covenant, food and dietary laws, Leviticus 11, for example, all of those things which have now been fulfilled and done away with in Christ in the New Covenant. Another principle about food. Food is offered to God as a sacrifice. We see this in Leviticus 6. The Levitical offerings included cattle, sheep, fowl, grain, and fruit. And in an agricultural society, the people offered to God that which would sustain their lives. Do you get it? That's what they were offering to God as an offering, that which would sustain their lives. So they would bring their grain, their cow, their sheep. Now, most of all, when we talk about sort of a systematic theology of food, we have to ask what Jesus did with food. But we have to point out several things. Look with me very carefully at the Gospels. Look at John 21. John 21, we find, first of all, that Jesus prepared food. John 21, this is in one of the post-resurrection appearances. In John 21, Jesus is standing on the side of the sea. And we read there that Jesus has been the chef, has fixed breakfast. We read in John 21 verse 9, then as soon as they'd come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you've just caught. And he invites them in verse 12, come and eat breakfast. We see it again in Luke 24, where Jesus eats with his disciples. We see him performing miracles with food. For example, in Luke 9, where he feeds the 5,000. When we get down to the crunch of what the Bible teaches about food, here's the bottom line premise. We are to ask for it. That is one of the That is one of the principles in the Lord's prayer. That is one of the requests that is to mark our daily praying. Daily, we are to pray for food. We're to ask God day in and day out to give us our daily bread. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say this in talking about food. The Bible closes with a banquet. We see it in Revelation 19, nine, that the Bible closes with God's people dining on no doubt the most delightful of all food. Let's come back to gluttony because that's in talking about that, what the scripture teaches on food. Let's refocus on gluttony because what we really need to talk about are your motives. What is your motive for every bite that you eat or don't eat? Let me suggest at least three or four godly motives, because we're talking about isn't so much an external sin, but a heart issue. As each of the seven deadly sins are, they're heart issues, they're root sins. And so first of all, a first motive that ought to drive, and I dare say, and I am the chief of sinners, I certainly struggle to think this way, but I dare say that most believers do not think this way about their food. The first motive should be, how can I eat for the glory of God? Isn't that what we're to do everything for? Isn't this what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 31? By the way, this ought to be the foundational text. For those of you who struggle with gluttony, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Our motive for every meal, for every snack, for every bite is to eat, to eat to the glory of God. That's what Paul commands in 1 Corinthians 10 31. This means that we must strive to bring our food, our eating in line with his commands. And this must be done for God's glory, not our delight. So be careful not to exchange the sin of gluttony for vanity or self-righteousness. The real focus in our eating, the motive is always the glory of God. The second motive. that should drive us as we think about these things is the recognition that my body is the Holy Spirit's temple. Look back to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6, a text that we looked at just a moment ago. That's the point, the chief point that Paul is making here in 1 Corinthians 6, is your body is the residence, the temple of the Holy Spirit. As Paul argues for a holy disciplined life, notice the elements in his reasoning. Look at verse 19 and 20. Paul here primarily is talking about sexual immorality, but he's brought up food in verse 13. Paul says, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you're not your own for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body. and in your spirit, which are God's." Now notice the elements in his reasoning. First of all, in contrast to the pagan temples of his day of prostitution and idolatry, your body is inhabited by, we believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, your body is inhabited by the third person of the Trinity. Your temple is to be used for holiness, not self-indulgent sin. He also is making this point, that the believer's body is owned by the Lord. He says as much, you are not your own, in verse 19. You're no longer free to do what you want with your body. By the way, this is the root problem with feminism, which has been hanging around our neck for the last 45 years. You will see it on the signs in the streets. Our bodies are our own. Keep your hands off my body. I'll do what I want. The believer can never say that, because the believer knows his body is not his own. He knows that he is owned by another by purchase and redemption. That's why Paul says you're bought with a price. Another principle that Paul is making here in the recognition that my body is the Holy Spirit's home, he says, God has purchased your body with the precious blood of the Lamb. That's how he's demonstrated his great love for you. He's for you, not against you. And then notice 1 Corinthians 6.20, God has called you to glorify him with your body. This means that you're to be driven with this knowledge of His abiding presence and to be asking, how do I glorify God in my body today? Another motive which should drive us is Jesus has redeemed you from slavery. Look at Romans 6 and notice what Paul says about the slavery that you've been under, which you're now delivered from. In Romans 6, Paul says this in Romans 6, verse 12 and 13. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." What Paul is saying here is you must be careful to not let any sin, any urge, any lust to master you or overcome you. You've been delivered from bondage. Walk in freedom. And whether it's sexual addiction or gluttony, it's all a new slavery. Paul is saying walk in freedom. Where do we conclude? You know the put off, put on dynamic. This is the driving heart of sanctification all through the New Testament. Paul talks about this in Colossians 3, to put off those sins that marked our unbelieving life and to put on aspects of sanctification, to mortify those things that marked us as unbelievers and to vivify those traits, those commanded practices. of the Christian life. And so, let's talk first of all about putting off. And let me ask you, have you ever repented of gluttony? Confessed a sin, your absorption with food and drink, either to excess or overly fussy? Have you ever confessed it as sin? If not, why not? And said, Lord, my God is my stomach. I think constantly about these things, whether, where's my next meal coming from? How can I eat too much? Or, does that have more than two fat grams in it? Have you ever confessed it as sin and mortified it? But not only are we to put off gluttony, we should put on something. Let me point out three somethings we should put on. First of all, feeding on Christ. See, that's the root problem with the glutton. He wants to feed on something less than Christ. Jesus said in John 6, I'm the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger. Look at John 6 with me and show me what I mean by putting on feeding on Christ. In John 6, Jesus shows how easily we can desire physical food when we should be feeding on Him. Let me say that again. Jesus shows how easily we can desire physical food instead of feeding on him. John 6, you have the famous miracle of feeding in John 6, 5 through 14. And then look at John 6, 26, Jesus rebukes the crowds for wrong motives, seeking him for a free meal. Look what he says in verse 26. Most assuredly, I say to you that you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. In other words, these were gluttons. These were people who they weren't interested in feeding on Christ and hanging on His every word and gaining the righteousness that comes from Him alone. They just wanted dinner. And notice what Jesus commands them to do in verse 27. He commands them to seek the food that endures. He tells them in verse 32 and 33 that He is the bread of heaven who is meant to satisfy your deepest longings and urges. And so the first thing to put on is put on an appetite for Christ, to feed on Him. The second thing to put on is self-control. Paul tells us in Galatians 5.22 that the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The Holy Spirit will produce this trait, will produce it when He comes in and indwells a man or a woman at conversion. He will produce the evidence, the godly character trait of self-control. He will teach you to deny the flesh. He will produce the self-discipline that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 9, 27, when Paul says, I discipline my body and I bring it under subjection. That's what the Holy Spirit will do. He will bring with him, along with those other eight traits listed in Galatians 5, he will bring with him self-control. Self-control is the Holy Spirit produced ability to avoid excess, and be content with adequacy. Did you hear that? Self-control is the Holy Spirit produced ability to avoid excess and be content with adequacy. By the way, self-control is a protection. The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 25, like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. In other words, just as a city's walls were its principal means of protection and safety, so self-control are the walls that are your safety. Without self-control, we simply succumb every time to temptation. The second thing to put on is self-control. So let me ask, in the closet, do you plead with the Spirit and say, Lord, I need self-control desperately? I need you to so work in me that practice that Titus, Paul writing to Titus speaks about that the grace of God teaches us to say no. Have you pled with God the Spirit for self-control? The third thing that we should put on, not just feeding on Christ, not just self-control. And I say this with a lot of trepidation. Sandy and I were relatively new believers, and we were worshiping at Havenview Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We'd been living there for a few months, and we were undergrads in Bible college, and the pastor was one of my dear friends and mentors. And he stood up one Sunday morning, and he said, we as a family are going to fast today for the following reason. And we happened to be sitting right next to the pastor's son, who was a 10-year-old boy. It's the first time I'd ever heard anybody talk about fasting in a Protestant church. and Sandy nudged me and I looked over at Jeffrey, at the pastor's son, and at the moment the pastor said, my family and I are going to be fasting today, and he told why. I looked at the 10-year-old boy's face and it was sheer horror. He had a look on his face that looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie. He had this look on his face like, we are? And he looked at his brother and said, we are? And his brother looked at him and they just looked like this. And I remember that was my first exposure to a discussion of fasting and it wasn't very pretty. Fasting is discussed more in the Bible than baptism is. Isn't that fascinating? And is a means of practicing the truth that we cannot feed the soul with the body's food. Now what I want to do tonight, because I don't have the time to go in depth to this, but I'd love to put in your hands two recommendations. The first is a Samuel Miller pamphlet. Samuel Miller was one of the old profs at Princeton Seminary. Samuel Miller has a glorious pamphlet entitled Fasting. And he demonstrates that this is not some leftover rubric from the Old Testament or Roman Catholicism, but this is a biblical New Testament, and yes, a Protestant spiritual discipline. But even better than his is Don Whitney's book entitled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. And it contains an excellent chapter on fasting. Even our book of church order has a chapter, chapter 62, on fast days. Fasting is a gospel duty. As Samuel Miller points out, he spends six pages demonstrating this, showing that the Christian is called by Christ's example and Christ's command to fast at times. Whitney does as well in his book in a section entitled, Fasting is Expected and It Accomplishes Spiritual Things. Whitney lists 10 purposes for fasting and wisely counsels the reader not to fast without one of these scriptural rationales. He lists some of these as fasting to strengthen prayer, fasting to seek God's guidance, fasting to express grief or seek deliverance or protection, fasting to express repentance and return to God, fasting to humble oneself before God, fasting to express concern for the work of God, fasting to minister to the needs of others, to overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God, to express love and worship to God and others. And then he documents this from scripture with models for each of these. Fasting is a natural expression of repentance over sin and mourning for it. It's an effective way to take control over fleshly appetites. By giving up food for a brief time, we learn to be content with what God has given us to eat, even if it's simple. Fasting increases our appetite for spiritual food and makes us keenly aware of our dependence on God. Our outward hunger, when we fast shows us our fleshly weakness and teaches us the truth that Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. If we always are taking our fill of food and drink, we easily grow confident in our own abilities, acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. But fasting tears that down. Fasting clears and focuses the mind for study and prayer. Fasting makes you alive to know what Jesus meant when he said, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me. Fasting is nothing less than what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Gluttony is simply misplaced hunger. It's hungering for a cheap substitute. But fasting is an expression of hungering and thirsting for something lasting. Jesus gives clear commands about how to do this in Matthew 6, 18. He even assumes that you will fast. May God the Holy Spirit enable us to mortify this sin and enable us to eat and not eat for his glory. Let's pray together. Our Father, we confess that we have not even given a moment's notice to this vital subject that your scripture addresses. And we confess that far too often we have looked like the world and it has appeared as though our God is our stomach. that we hunger and thirst for nothing more than the next meal. But our Lord, we pray that you would change our appetites, that you would teach us self-control, and we would hunger and thirst more for Christ and his righteousness, and we would not be enamored by what the world presents, that you would enable us to put off excess and put on adequacy. We ask all of these things in the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.