Sunday School on the subject that's on your sheet there, concerning fasting. Before we begin that, if you would join with me in prayer, let's ask God to bless our time. Our Father in Heaven, we are so pleased to be in your house once again today with brothers and sisters, and we thank you, Father, that you are here with us and that you are going to help us to participate in worship of you, to hear the scriptures and understand what they are better because of your Holy Spirit, to sing songs that are uplifting and directing towards who you are, who Christ is in our lives. And Father, we just pray that you would help us this morning and that you would be with us and help me, the speaker, to deliver a message that is meaningful and will be an honor to you and a blessing to us all as we hear this topic this morning. Won't you please bless our time together? In Christ's name, amen. I was gonna ask the musicians to help us sing As the Deer Panteth because it's a great, in our song book, but it's a great lead-in musically for the intent of what we would like to discuss this morning concerning the topic of fasting. And I want to first say that the topic of fasting is not a cause to be defensive, nor is it a subject to be putting a burden on you to do something. If at the end of the lesson, after hearing all the details and the facts, and you don't want to fast, then don't. I do not intend to give you any kind of checklist of things that you can check off your righteous checklist, because that's not the intent here. Rather, I want us to consider how the Holy Spirit can use it in our lives and our circumstances, as well as those of the church. Now I have to admit that I've been a member here since the beginning almost, and I've never heard a sermon or a topic on the subject of fasting. Have you ever heard, remember ever hearing one? Sort of, through the scripture, but a study. Yeah, while we went through the scriptures in Matthew perhaps. But it wasn't exhaustive. It was topical probably. If it was, I don't remember it. I looked back through my notes and couldn't find one. But I discovered that in listening to one sermon on the radio that I have to admit that I didn't really understand fasting as I ought to understand it. And that if I wanted to understand the topic of fasting, then I had to study fasting to understand it. And then if I had to study it, that means if I'm fasting, then I either wasn't doing it right or I didn't understand why I was doing it wrong or whatever. Or if I wasn't doing it properly. So off to my Bible. off to books on the internet to look for resources. What I want you to know is that most of the material that you'll hear this morning is mostly from other men who have exhaustively studied the subject and who have words and concepts expressed so much better than I can possibly put them together for this Sunday school hour. The men that I primarily used for my notes are Erwin Lutzer, who is a pastor at Moody Church. I used John Piper and John MacArthur as well. I picked these men because they have a solid biblical view of the scriptures. and also because of the volume of information available from them on the topic. So I can tell you this, that the subject of practice, the practice and subject of fasting has been on the increase in the United States and in the church and in our culture, but there's a lot of garbage out there and baggage associated with the topic of fasting that book writers and web bloggers put on their sites concerning the whos, the whys, and the hows of fasting. So it's good that we have a moment on a topical study of the subject of fasting to put our thoughts in order and to see just what is it that the Lord says concerning fasting. Well, first thing we need to do is consider what it is not. Fasting is not dieting to lose weight. It's not something that you use to tone your body up. It's not being a case of just being hungry because you have a lack of food. And fasting is not because you have an eating disorder or you're fasting with the wrong motives. That's what fasting is not. The Bible is full of scriptural references concerning fasting. Being hungry for food is not one of them, but more often it's mentioned in the Old Testament than the New Testament, as we'll see this morning, and less frequently in the New Testament. But the subject is in both sections of our Bibles, and we'll touch on both of those sections this morning as we go through the topic. Now Genesis 1.30, God gave us a whole variety of food to eat and to enjoy. With food, we enjoy that which we eat, otherwise we probably wouldn't eat it. And we most often have some sort of fellowship with others while we are eating. So eating food is a good time. It's a form of worship that we recognize when we offer up prayers of thanksgiving to our God from whom our food comes from. It's good to eat food. The Bible never hints about fasting for, like I said, for losing weight on a physical level or to fast in order to trim down the body that I mentioned a moment ago. We, you and I, certainly more so I, maybe you, I'm not one of those skinny models that can live on small sustenance and not eat too much. Some of them even have anorexia to keep themselves that way. Throwing up your food is not biblical fasting. So maybe we can just fast to reduce the gluttony, though, if we want to do that. Those are all reasons not to be fasting. So what is fasting? Usually, fasting is connected with food. Fasting is a personal, non-compulsory, spontaneous involuntary act. Let me repeat, fasting is a personal, non-compulsory, spontaneous, involuntary act. Why do I say usually? Well, because perhaps you're a diabetic and can't go through, you just can't live without food. You have to eat food on a regular basis. You would use something else that's dear to you to give up while you fast, like TV, surfing the internet, staying off Facebook, or something else that you really enjoy doing. But usually when one fasts, it is easy to give up food when you fast, because when you are very upset about something, you can easily lose your appetite. Doesn't happen to you when you really get upset, you don't want to eat. So you can lose that appetite, and it's more conducive for you, because of the way you're upset, for you to petition God for a subject matter. And when you're during this fast and you're upset about things, God's spiritual manna begins to fill your heart and mind so that you really don't miss food at all. And no matter how loud your stomach may scream at you, you're not really interested in the food because of the concerns that you have before the Lord. So the question is, why do we or would we begin fasting? Well, that requires us to understand the reasoning for fasting, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. I think that John Piper would define fasting as a meeting with God in an attitude of faith, fighting and finding. And we'll touch on those topics. A meeting with God in an attitude of faith, fighting and finding. there must be some form of spiritual contact in order for a fast to be biblical. There has to be a spiritual contact for a fast to be biblical. A fast is connected with a deep and mournful spirit, during which time we confess sin, and it may include prayer requests for direction in your life, for others, for understanding what God wants from you in your walk. Is that too heavy? Well, we'll get into the particulars, so don't stop listening now. It's not to scare you with the topic matter. So, the question is, why do we not fast? Why don't we fast as Christians or as people in the church? Well, we have to understand first the reasoning for fasting, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we have, for the translators, excuse me, I skipped over a note. So why do we not fast? We have an eating disorder, so we don't fast. We have a health issue, so we don't fast. Or we don't understand it, and we don't fast. We've been taught about it. We haven't been taught about it. We're afraid about it. We might argue that it's Old Testament and not specifically a Christian thing to do. Because after all, don't the Muslims fast? Didn't Gandhi fast? Who did it for political reasons? Buddhists and the such, don't they all fast too? But we'll see today that when a Christian has a fast, it is distinctive. Not for the same reasons that these other people are doing it. It's not about willpower at all. It's not about personal piety. And that personal piety is the pride that we get when we do something. When we do something. And we'll learn about the Pharisees and some scriptural references this morning. In the Old Testament, it's interesting that God only commanded one public fast. The Old Testament. Anybody know what it is? It's in Leviticus. It's the Day of Atonement. That's the only one he commanded. Even though we see all these references of fasting in the Old Testament. The Day of Atonement. And it was for the nation to confess sin and to show a deep desire for forgiveness. That's Leviticus 23. 26 through 27. It lasted, how long did it last? All day, from morning till evening. This is it. That is all there is in the Old Testament for commands on public fasting. That's a public fast. Everything else that relates to fasting relates to private fasting. Fasting that people do as a result of a condition. Private matters. We have many examples of the Jews who are fasting in times of extreme circumstances, of impending death or God's imminent judgment. We see in 2 Samuel 12 that David fasted and wept for his dying son because of his sin. We see in Esther 4, 3-16 that the Jews are going to be threatened by imminent death. at the hand of the ruler because of some subversive activities that were going on in the kingdom at that time. And the Jews fasted when they were threatened with that extermination of Haman. We see in Jonah that Nineveh fasted when Jonah pronounced God's judgment on them. We have examples of personal fasting. In both cases, they were in response to sin. and the sin of themselves or the sin of others. The fasts were done urgently, immediately, spontaneously, and they were in response to matters of the heart, things that were of shattered hearts as well. The people fasted personally, remembering that we have to remember that when you fast, we can't entice God to answer us by our fasting. We see that it was not a routine that they did, nor was it seen as a religious duty, but a response to a sincere and broken heart. It was a response to a sincere and broken heart. You see, to fast without this motivation would be making a mockery of the existence of a fast and the use of the fast. In these examples, sin caused the people in the nation to turn to God in a most sincere way. reflecting upon the sin, either theirs or another's, seeking forgiveness and restoration. We saw and we can see in Esther 9 that the Feast of Purim was commanded in a second letter to the Jews from Esther. And the purpose of that fasting that was from Esther was for a time of fasting and lamentation so that the following generations would understand and would have a time to remember when the Jews had defeated their enemy. But that wasn't God commanding that fast, that was Esther. Let's turn to Isaiah 58 for a few moments and I'll ask Mike if you could stand and read the entire chapter of Isaiah 58, those 14 verses. Stand facing most of the people there, would you read that for us please? So here we have a very specific portion of scripture about fasting. And the Jews, in the first part of this passage of Scripture, thought that they were fasting for the right reasons. They thought it. They believed it. But they wondered why their fasting were not working with God. They had what's called religious formalism. They were trying to do things right, but the heart was in the wrong place. And we see God's response, starting in verse 6, where he sets them straight about what he was looking for. He's looking for, he wants a fast that's according to his desire, that has all these characteristics in it in order for the people to be filled with his answers and his spirit in regards to their petitions and the reasons why they were fasting. So God tells him what he's looking for from them in fasting. He's looking for a faster, not a fasterer, but a faster, to have a life that is being lived out in obedience to his divine truth. And verse 8 is that promise or what it takes to fast correctly for the desired outcome. And Pastor Lutzer says that the people were exhibiting pride or piety and were substituting fasting for repentance and that God is making that clear what he wanted from them in this passage of scripture. That being the primary, there's many, many, many other examples of fasting, and we'll touch on a few of them additionally, but that's the crux of fasting in the Old Testament. Yes, Rick? Yeah. We'll get into some of those in just a minute, but rightly stated, yes. That being the primary example of the Old Testament, I want us to go to the New Testament. And if we could turn there to Matthew chapter 6, this is the primary example that we'll use for the New Testament. We'll also look at some other passages in the New Testament. But if you look at Matthew 6, and the parallel is Luke 18, this is the Sermon on the Mount, and it continues on for a couple of pages in my Bible. We see here, Jesus starts off with warnings against hypocrisy. And he moves on to more subjects called bewares, and we see those in verse 2 and 5. And then in verse 16, the subject is fasting and true manna. true treasure of manna. And in those verses, Matthew 16 through 18, it reads, and whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. For they neglected their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly, I say to you, they have the reward in full. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." What had started out to be what God wanted in Isaiah 58 had become what the Pharisees were bragging about, that when they say that they were fasting two times a week, Now the Pharisees were fasting two times a week, the second and the fifth day of the week. And if you remember the scene of what they would do, they would put on sackcloth and they messed up their appearance to look like they were really suffering while they fasted. And Jesus points here, and the point of Jesus here is that men cannot praise you for your acts of righteousness if they don't see you performing them. Men can't praise you if they don't see you doing it. So only God sees. And the Pharisees had missed this point. And they were seeking and looking out for the praise of men. And one of the commentators said that we might notice that the second and fifth days of the week were also the market days in the city. So most of the people would be in town on the second and the fifth day of the week. And these Pharisees would go around in their sackcloth and ashes and looking really poor in spirit. And they would walk around among these people to put on this appearance of personal piety and fasting. So Jesus is saying, I'm correcting this pattern by telling you that while you fast, it's a private matter. It's not a public matter. But notice here a key word and a thought is that Jesus did not command fasting. He said here, he simply acknowledged that people fasted. He assumed that people were fasting. So it wasn't put to sleep there. So in verse 16, it says, and whenever you fast, he's assuming that everybody fasts. And whenever you fast, don't put on a gloomy face, like the hypocrites do. So there's some other examples that I'll get into in a second here regarding that subject matter. People don't normally fast during a happy time. It's a very difficult thing to do. It's next to impossible to be in that frame of mind when you're happy to fast. So, if people aren't supposed to know that you're fasting, Jesus says, put on a happy face. Don't look like you're fasting. Don't look like you're in the throes of a deep spiritual conviction or prayer matters before the Lord. Make yourself look good so that people won't see it. This is a perfect time to do those kind of things, is when you're appearing to look different than what's really going on in your heart. And Jesus says here that the father who sees in secret will repay you. So it's not supposed to be like the Pharisees were doing in the Old Testament. They had taken these fasts and made them a public appearance and had turned them into something of personal piety and a demonstration. And Christ is saying that's not the point of fasting. So since we don't fast during a happy time, it's next to impossible to be in that frame of mind when you're happy to fast. If you look like you're happy, then people don't know that you have a spiritual warfare. You're fasting for a reason. So if you look at Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 9, we see in verses 14 and 15 that the disciples of John came to him. Now, it was pointed out that in Luke 5, 33, that says the Pharisees came. So John's disciples and the Pharisees were together at this time, all right? So we see here in this 914, then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast? But your disciples do not fast. And Jesus said to them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. So once again, he's saying here that fasting is acceptable and assumed. Jesus didn't put away fasting. He didn't say you had to fast. He just showed that it was acceptable and assumed. But once again, it's not commanded. And I have a note here that the translator doesn't have, but Zechariah 8, if you're dispensational and you're thinking, they were looking in Zechariah 8, they were looking to that time that the The fasting will be turned to feasting. They were looking at that at the time that the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, comes back and there's a great feast going on. And we can look at this and we can say Jesus did come and there wasn't fasting, there was feasting because he was accused of all kinds of things, drinking and partying it up in the whole nine yards. This is what Zachariah 8 is really pointing to, the time that Jesus was here. Now, when Jesus comes back, there won't be needed to collect his church, there won't be any need for fasting. It's a happy time. We won't need that. So that'll be a time that we actually don't have to do fasting. In Piper's book, I Hunger for God, which is essentially about fasting, he comments on the continuing verses of Matthew 9, 16, and 17 that reads, but no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Now, Piper believes that this is talking about the old wineskins is about Judaism. And Jesus is saying that the new wine that I'm pouring into it, into Judaism, is something so unique and so real that it can't be held by the old ways. What he was bringing in the fulfillment of the law was just too much for it to be understood or be comprehended or be absorbed by the old ways. And he also, Piper goes on to say, he believes that this includes a form of Christian fasting, a feasting on God during this time. Nowhere in the scriptures has Jesus emphasized fasting, nor did he say what food is or is not permissible during a fast, if you drink water or juices or not, and so on. He did not say how often we are to fast or how long we are to fast, the number of days that we're to fast or the number of hours. While all this may seem to say that Jesus was de-emphasizing fasting, He did not do away with it. Matthew 9.15 shows that. about the bridegroom being here within the future. And we can look into scripture in 1 Timothy 6 and James 5 and see that there are times of distress where there are serious situations that require deep and sincere prayer. Fasting goes with us at these times when there are sincere, serious desires. And it seems natural that if you're in that mind state where you're really upset and you are just so sick about things that you can't eat anyway. Think about it. So that's the time that fasting is really a good time to be done if you're going to do fasting. So the question is, what is Christian fasting? What are the principles that we seek and we see in fasting? Well, first of all, let me confirm that despite what you may see on the internet or in books or blogs, is that fasting is a total abstinence, in this case, from food. Total. That's a primary thing. First, in your notes there, it is a personal, non-compulsory feasting upon God. It's a feast or a fast of faith. We have during this time an inward sense, such an inward sense of well-being that we don't mind putting up with the irritability of an empty stomach. We don't need to eat because we're filled with the satisfaction that God gives us when we fast and pray. Daniel had a partial fast and it wasn't a total abstinence of food. Daniel had a partial fast. If you remember, he didn't want to eat the foods of the king, but he ate the foods that he was accustomed to. And he grew and he grew strong as well. That was what we call a partial fast. It's during times of deep and sorrowful reasons, like in Joel 1.14, about the plague. In Nehemiah 1.14, the walls were broken down. David in Psalm 35, when his enemies died. David again, when his friend died. And in 2 Samuel 12, because of David's sins, his sons died. His son dies. And so these were times of fasting. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9 that he disciplines his body. Is that fascinating? Yeah. Bringing it under subjection. So, we can look at that. We can look at Matthew 17. Here in Matthew 17, the disciples could not cast out a demon, as we see here on the demoniac, from a little possessed boy. They couldn't throw him out. And Jesus cast him out of the disciples, cast him out of the little boy, and then the disciples asked, why couldn't we do it? Why couldn't we throw out the demon? And in verse 20, Jesus says, because of the littleness of your faith, For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, move from here to there and it shall move and nothing shall be impossible to you. And then later manuscripts add this verse. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. So the list of your faith, prayer and fasting. Fasting has an effect, and we want to see what that effect is in the next minute or two. Secondly, it is a fast of fighting. A fast of fighting. Now Paul writes in that verse we referred to in 1 Corinthians 9 that he disciplines his body, which is fasting, or bringing it under subjection. Why? So that his preaching to others will be effective. Jesus fasted for 40 days in Matthew 4 before his public ministry began. He was tempted by Satan to turn the rock to bread. He could do it. He turned water to wine, didn't he? So it's no big deal to turn rocks into bread. But during this time of fasting that he was being tempted, he was preparing himself for his ministry. He was preparing himself. He wanted his spirit to be under subjection to God, the Father, for the work that he was about to begin. This was at the very beginning of his ministry. So folks, our battle is about spiritual evils in this present life, in this present world, that we need to be fighting against. Our own, the others, matters of the church. It's a spiritual battle. You've heard that many times. And fasting is an aid to prepare ourselves for that battle. So God protects us when we are so afraid for our security due to the danger that the only solution we have, we can't protect ourselves, we don't know how to defend ourselves, the only solution we have is to cry out to God and to seek Him. We can't sleep, we can't eat, we can't do our normal activities. So we cry out to God. Esther and Ezra was leading the people out of captivity, if you remember, The king offered them an escort to get safely through the territories that were known for all the evils that went on, the thievery and the murders and such. And he said, no, we don't need your help. But they were afraid. They were afraid. So in Ezra 821, they prayed and fasted for deliverance. They were counting on God to help them because no one else could. They didn't want to rely upon this king's help. They were dependent upon God. Thirdly, we fast and pray because we are humbled by our sin. We are humbled by our sin. Leviticus 23, we have been so distressed by our sins that we can't sleep, eat, or think about anything else, so we humble ourselves. And we confess our sins and look for spiritual healing from God. David did it, the people of Nineveh did it, Daniel did it, Paul did it, Acts 9.9. When Jesus first appeared to him, if you remember, he was blind and for three days he fasted and prayed. Joel 2.12, yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart and with fasting, weeping and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments, Even in the Old Testament, you're saying, I don't like that. But yet, here in the New Testament, Jesus had to give them that admonishment. The ripping of the garments, as we remember in our scriptures, showed everyone that you were remorseful and you were in mourning and fasting. So God's not looking for torn garments. He's looking for a broken heart. God works in our hearts when we fast because fasting helps us realize just how great a sinner we are. And fasting helps us to repent from those sins. Fourthly, we fast for revelation. Okay, what does that mean? In Daniel 9, if you'll recall, Daniel fasted to better understand what God was doing and the situation around him. And in doing so, God revealed to him those matters that would take place during the 70 weeks of prophetic revelation. Daniel fasted at other times to receive God's message for him. Paul was fasting when he received a vision from God to go to the house of Cornelius, where he learned of God's will concerning the Gentiles. Paul fasted before he began his ministry and preaching, as we see in many portions of Scripture. So we fast for revelation. God will show us what's important to us. Fifthly, we fast because of condemnation. The fear of divine judgment, not only for ourselves, but for others. Jonah delivered God's message to Nineveh and the people fasted. We pray and fast for loved ones who we don't want to be condemned to eternal judgment for not believing in Christ. Don't we pray for them? Sixthly, we fast before there's selection. What does that mean? Okay, Acts 13, the church. When the early church was calling special people to be in a special position of leadership, they didn't take the situation lightly, and they took it deeply in regard, with a deep regard for God's blessing, and they fasted. Seventhly, we fast for direction. When a person sought God's direction with a deep anxiety, they fasted, as we've seen. They waited for God to reveal His will, because who has all the answers? God has all the answers. So we want to find out what they are. We fast to seek His mind for our lives and in our lives. And fasting proves that the giver is more satisfying than the gift. the satisfaction we get from fasting. That's what makes Christianity uniquely different. No other religion on this earth fasts for that reason. That the giver is more satisfying than the gift. They're all asking for something else. They all ask for something in return for their fasting. The Christian doesn't have to look for that because the giver is more satisfying. We have meat to eat that the world does not know about. We have spiritual manna. And his gifts are more satisfying than our physical needs. So our reward for all this fasting is found in Matthew 6, 18, where Jesus says, and your reward is that your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So there's a reward for fasting. In fasting, we obtain a higher level of spiritual sensitivity. a higher level of spiritual sensitivity. We're engaged in spiritual warfare when we fast. We're seeking God's direction. And if we're in spiritual warfare, then that fasting will help us to win those spiritual victories that we're looking for, those answers, those directions, like we saw in Matthew 17 from the Lord. MacArthur says that the seven categories I just gave you that are on your sheet show the idea that in time of deep struggle, where the situation is so strong that you're pulled into the presence of God regarding yourself and others and even your enemies, Fasting is not an end to itself, but demonstrates a spiritual struggle, an earnest desire to attach ourselves to God's will. Desperation drives you to your spiritual knees in prayer because we know God hears us when we pray. We know that. So, begs the question, why do we need to fast if God always hears us? Why do we need to fast if God always hears us? This is true. Our fasting cannot add anything to the completed work that Christ has already done. I believe that it is pleasing to him. because we wait upon His will to be revealed to us so that we can fulfill, if you've ever read the Catechism, what's the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So we fast in this case that we can enjoy Him and glorify Him forever. Now the question that begs an answer is, okay, CK, you said that fasting is not commanded for Christians and everything you pointed to did not command that we were supposed to fast. Why should I fast? And if I do, how should I fast? Isn't this a part of our Christian liberty that we don't need to do these things? Doesn't God always hear us when we pray? That's a logical question. Well, you might fast when you're in one of these dispositions that I mentioned earlier, but you don't have to fast. It's not commanded. Fasting is a spiritual matter. The truth is that God always hears us and has kept many... The truth that God always hears us has kept many a Christian from fasting because they believe that God will hear them regardless. And God will hear us. But we see that fasting was an integral part of the Old Testament in matters concerning of the saints and the nation of Israel. And we see it demonstrated here in the New Testament that we just went through, where Jesus assumed that it was being done, that people were doing it. And he said that his disciples would do it after he was taken away. So there's an assumption here that fasting is part of our walk. Paul did it before preaching, the church did it before selecting leaders. The point here is that God always does hear us when we pray. We're His children. He hears us in Jesus Christ. Christ is sitting at His side, interceding for us in everything that we ask and desire of the Lord. I believe that the real benefit that we receive when we fast is that we're drawn closer to God. That's the benefit. We're drawn closer to God, unlike during other times of prayer. Because it's different when we're fasting, isn't it? And that when we do this, we see and hear God in a different way. When our stomach is empty and growling and protesting, and we're seeking His will, divine direction, or looking for one of these seven points that I went through already, He answers us. But we receive it in a special way that we don't get when we have our times of routine prayer. During the time of fasting, we're more sensitive to His will. We saw that with Daniel and his fasting, where the 70 weeks was revealed to him. And when we're fasting and we want to be filled with Him, whether or not it's the way we want it to be answered, we thought it should be answered, we're satisfied with his answer when we fast. Because we've been filled with his spirit, his spiritual manna, his food, so that we understand things differently. So that's why I'd say we need to fast, perhaps, as Christians. I'm not saying you must fast. So if you decide to do this, how often, where, when, and why? And I'll start off saying at the beginning of the Sunday School lesson is that there are books and internet gurus that would tell you in the most articulate ways every aspect that you should know to have a perfectly divine fast. They'll set you up with a program for fasting that'll clean your socks, I tell you. They'll tell you how often, how long, what to eat or not to eat during a fast, and then depending upon what you're trying to accomplish. They'll even mislead you into thinking that in order to lose weight, you must fast. They'll use fasting to lose weight. And using God as the reason for that weight loss. Folks, you don't need to go to the internet or these blogs that are not biblical in these regards. These guys are binding consciences and thwart the scriptures, the way that scriptures teach these subjects here of fasting. And the simple message is stay away from them. You got this. It explains it all. You got that? Stay away from them. 1 Corinthians 4, 6, Paul writes, Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one another, against one another. That's pretty plain. Your Bible has everything you need to know concerning fasting, and you should decide the points that you need to consider in your Christian walk. So if you decide to fast, how long should I fast? Different strokes for different folks. That's a simple way to put it. The length depends upon the person and the spiritual need. The fast commanded in Leviticus was from morning to evening. The Pharisee fasted twice a week, and we saw in the New Testament. I suggest that since it's defined as a total abstinence of food, and if you're using food as your fast media, your fasting abstinence, that you start off with a shorter period of time, because you aren't used to doing those kind of things, but long enough to feel satisfied that God has filled you with his spiritual manna, that you've gotten closer to him. If you're a diabetic or have an eating disorder, then fasting is not for you because of the medical results that come from fasting and not eating food. But there may be something else that you really, really enjoy that you could give up as a fast. Are you a Facebook addict? Are you an internet surfer? What are some other things that you could give up? Driving your car real fast? There are other things that you could give up that you really enjoy doing so that the Lord would know in your secret self that you're giving those things up for Him to receive from Him His blessings and His spiritual manna. There's an idea here that 1 Corinthians 7 regarding the marriage that the Bible says on occasions you may want to abstain from sex with your spouse. That's a form of fasting. So if this is your first time or you don't know how to get started and you desire to get started, on your first time, I suggest that you could ask this. This is not a requirement or a criteria. That you ask God to give you a heart of compassion that makes you care so much about sorrowful things in your life and the lives of others, about your sin. about the sins of others and the need for divine deliverance of your unbelieving loved ones, about your attitudes in your marriage, your home, the workplace, and even at your church. Begin your first fast with that if you decide to fast and see how God will answer you, because He will answer you. So if you fast, focus your mind on God and direct your thoughts to divine realities. Meditate on the reality of God's sovereign control in your situation. Focus your attention on the greatness of your salvation. You can't lose it. Remember that Christ has come, died, and risen so that all your sins will be forgiven. Remember that Christ has ascended to the heavens and is continually interceding for us there with the Father. Remember that you will one day see Him face to face. And finally, remember that nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And in conclusion, I just want to say that I remember that recently the church did have a fast here. Do you recall that? Recall that? Recall the fast that we had here at the church? It's the only time I can remember having a fast here. It was a single morning, and we met here at the church, and we were having several items that we were praying for, for church matters, for leaders, for concerns. And we were praying for a little boy that was the son of a family that was attending here at the church, members of the church. And he had a seriously threatening medical condition. And this is one of the things that we pray for during this time of fasting. Wasn't it the same day? Was it the same day that we found out that the doctors said it disappeared? It was right there. The medical condition that he had disappeared and they didn't know what happened. But we knew what happened. We knew what happened. We had prayed asking God to heal this little boy. God, from us, God received our praise and our thanksgivings, and that's, God enjoys receiving those because we show our dependence upon him. We couldn't do anything about it, but he could. And so we fasted and prayed. So, finally, fasting affirms a life of focused obedience, personal and corporate. We do it privately, and we can do it in the church as well. So the question begs, as the last statement is, If you decide to fast, the question is, how hungry are you, how hungry are we for God's divine will in our lives? Are we desperate or are we okay? Desperate people pray. And some desperate people fast when they pray. So if you decide to do that, maybe this outline will help you. If you decide to do that, it's not commanded, it's not intended to force you into anything. It's to present some information that will allow you to utilize the Christian liberty that you have to draw nearer to God in your life. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the liberty you have given to us in Christ Jesus. We thank you for your word that doesn't bind us one way or the other, but shows us your divine will concerning the subject of fasting. Father, if it's in your will that any of us should start that or desire to do it, that you would help us in that walk, because we know you won't condemn us if we don't do it. because you haven't commanded us to do it. We aren't sitting against you. Father, we ask you for a light on this divine revelation from your scriptures and from the lesson this morning, from the other men that have studied this subject, and that you might bless us as we desire to be more like Christ, to draw nearer to you, and to reflect everything that Christ has done, that Christ is in our lives. Until that time, He takes us home to be with Him. Bless us, we ask. And thank you for this morning. We pray for Edwin as he brings the message this morning, Father, that once again you might give him the spirit of power in delivering the word, but that your spirit also would work in us in a mighty way, individually and collectively, to glorify Christ and to feed us and to sustain us this next week. We thank you for this in Christ's name. Amen.