Address—A. Nash
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Let's start by singing #246.
From every stormy wind that blows, from every swelling tide of woes, there is a calm, a sweet retreat that's found before the mercy seat.
Maybe somebody else could raise the two.
From every storm.
Just pray.
Our God and our Father, we would come before thy mercy. Seat now.
Lift up our prayer and ask for your special grace and help throughout this.
Next 45 minutes, just pray Father, that the message would be clear. It would be from myself. Just pray for help to present it and for help for everyone to listen and to have grace. We just pray and commit this time Father, into thy hands. We're thankful to be here. We're thankful that we can have this time. We just pray that it would be a blessing. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.
To Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
Starting with verse 7.
Genesis 2 verse seven and the Lord God for man of the dust of the ground.
And breathe into his nostrils the breath of life. A man became a living soul.
I just read that verse. It's not very much associated with what I have on my heart to talk about, but.
There is a heresy that is around. It's been around since shortly after the time of Christ.
Called Gnosticism and it is actually still alive and.
Fairly healthy, unfortunately, today, and one of the ideas that's behind, well, one of the results of that heresy.
Is that there is a belief that basically the body is one professor put it as icky body is kind of icky. And there's a quote that sometimes is said, it's attributed, I guess to CS Lewis, but apparently he never said it. It doesn't really matter, but the quote goes like this. You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
And it doesn't sound that bad when you first hear it, but that is gnostic.
And the idea behind that quote is that you somehow, you yourself are really a spiritual being and you simply inhabit a body for this time. In other words, the body is something sort of separated from yourself. You are not your body, you're something separate and you merely inhabit a body. We know that this body that we have is temporary, but it also is part of us. It's part of who we are. We're a Tri part being.
And I just felt this verse, this may be other verses are better verses. And I think we all know this. I'm not spending really any time on it, but just to remind us that the body is very much who we are as well as the spirit and the soul. So we have the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. What did he form? He formed a body. That's what he formed. He called it man, but he formed a body and then into that body to breathe.
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The breath of life, the spirit of life. Man became a living soul.
So I'm not really wanting.
To get into spirit, soul and body. I'm not very well equipped to do that, but just to make the point that we are a spirit, a soul and a body.
That composes us.
Turn to Luke.
Chapter 5.
And hopefully we'll see why that is important in the subject that we're going to talk about to Luke Chapter 5.
And we have this question addressed to the Lord in verse 33. This is the Pharisees described, the Pharisees speaking.
And they were looking to find fault with the Lord and with his disciples. And so they say this to him. They said unto him, Why did the disciples of John would be John the Baptist fast? Often they make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees. But thine eat and drink.
He said unto, and he said unto them, Can you make the children of the bride chamber fast? Will the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
We're living in the days in which the bridegroom has been taken away.
We know that in a way we are not separated from the Lord and we're with the Lord. You know what? But we see through a glass doing, and we're looking forward to the time when we will see face to face, and until that time, we are in this time.
In which the bridegroom has been taken away. And so we have instruction in this verse that we are during this time to fast.
Fasting, meaning the simple.
Restriction of food.
To ourselves, to meet our bodily needs, our desires.
And.
I just I want to make the point that we should be fasting.
And I realized that I remember the first time I came in contact with someone who was fasting. It was when I worked at McDonald's.
And there was a young lady in there, name was Thora, Thora Wilboy, and she didn't look well. She was a friend. She was a very bright believer, had a lot of respect to Laura and did a very great testimony on like I did at that time.
Anyway, she didn't look very well one day and.
I just asked her, you know, the normal, hey, you know, what's what's going on, what's wrong? And she said, oh, I've just, I've been fasting now for some number to sound. It's just an eternity to me at this time. I don't remember how long it was. I mean, three or four days or something. I've been fasting for the last three or four days. And it's just really, really hard for me to be here right now with all this food. I'm just kind of struggling.
And I remember going home and thinking about that.
And justice thinking what a terrible thing here this Christian is under ******* and and seeking to go on in something which is Jewish, not released from that. What a terrible, terrible thing they get. The thing was, is that I knew Laura because she was a deer and a bright believer. Now I don't know why she was fasting and whether it was indeed ******* or whether it was Christian fasting, I have no idea.
But just that gut feeling or that knee jerk reaction that I had. Fasting is wrong is Jewish. We shouldn't do it.
It runs contrary to this verse, but the idea is there and I'm guessing I'm not the only one who struggles with it. So I just want to turn to a few other verses. Let's go to Acts chapter 13.
I've chapter 13.
And verse one.
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius so Cyrene and Mana, which have been brought up with Herod the tutor Arkansas, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
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The Holy Ghost says, Separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work, where unto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Well, here is a very clear instruction of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, and in fact many in that assembly, maybe the whole assembly I'm I'm not sure, but a clear example of them fasting.
And in fact, it says that they serve the Lord with fasting. And we read the same thing of Anna when the Lord was born, how she served the Lord with fasting. It's clearly something that pleased the Lord.
So what is this doing here? Is this just, you know, early *** transition or something like that?
Can see it again in chapter 14.
I.
Verse 23 when they had regained them elders in every church, every assembly and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Again, another example of it. And just lest anyone think that this is just somehow early acts and transitionary and we shouldn't be doing it today, just one more.
First Corinthians, Chapter 7.
First Corinthians Chapter 7 and verse.
Three to start with, verse 3.
Husband renders tongue to the wife do benevolence likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife has not power over her own body. This is talking about sex, so she doesn't control.
When she wants to or doesn't want to have sex and the husband likewise also the husband does not have power over his own body but the wife.
In other words, if life wants to have sex, you have sex, the husband wants to have sex, you have sex. It's the way it works. Verse 5 defraud ye not one the other. Don't say I'm too tired tonight or you know whatever it is, don't defraud each other except it gives US1 provision except it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer.
There is that exception, and that is clearly talking to us today and to Christians, that we should at times be giving ourselves to fasting and to prayer. Let's go back to Luke chapter 5.
Because there is a reason, and I think a very, very good reason why we should be very nervous anytime we hear of someone who's a Christian, who is fasting, a very good and solid biblical reason why that should concern us. And the Lord takes that up immediately after he talks about that.
In verse 36 he right following after he talks about them fasting, he gives this parable. He spoke a parable unto them. No man put it a piece of a new garment upon an old otherwise in both the new makethoran and the piece that was taken out of the new agree if not.
With the old and no man put his new wine into new bottles, whilst the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled and the bottles will perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved.
The point that he is making here is that especially with respect to fasting, but with respect to a whole bunch of other things as well, if you try to take that. So say you've got, I'll just put it in a Weezer way or more common language, I guess. If you've got two pairs of jeans and one of them you've worn 100 times and washed 100 times and one of them is brand new, and then the old one that you really like gets a hole in it. Do you go and take scissors and cut out of your nice new pair of jeans and go and you patch your old hair?
You can do that if you want it, but then as you keep wearing it and washing it, it's just it's going to shrink and then it will actually make the tear in the old bigger and then you've also ruined your new pair.
Same thing with the wine. They used to have wine, they don't. They didn't have bottles, so they had wine skin. They were just literally skins with wine in them. You put new wine in the skins and it would have a, it would stretch out the skins. Well, if you, you know, drank all the wine or whatever and then you put more new wine in the same old skins, it would continue to stretch, but the skins would have already stretched out as much as they could. They would break the wine would spell. You'd lose both the skins in the wine.
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That he's making is that, yes, I'm giving you an instruction to fast, but it's to be new and it's to be done in a new way, not in a Judaistic way. If you try to take fasting, if you will, as the wine and put it in the container of Judaism and practice it that way.
They're going to lose everything. You're not using Judaism, the law properly and you're also, you're going to not be fasting properly. So how did the Jews fast? We can just see this briefly if we go to Luke chapter 18.
And we have these two men, one the Pharisee, and one is a publican. And verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray, the one of Pharisees, the other Republican, the Pharisee stood and praised us with himself. God, I thank thee, but I am not. As other men are extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And we can also turn to another one would be Zachariah.
And.
Under there it is.
Zechariah Chapter 7.
And verse 5.
Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When he fasted and mourned in the 5th and 7th month, even though 70 years, did you get all fast unto me? Even to me? When he did eat and when he did drink, did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Should you not hear the word that the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, etcetera?
The point that is being made here is that under the law you were too fast, or under a legal system you were to fast. But the fasting, the purpose of the fasting, was merely to fulfill the requirements of that legal system, and it resulted in pride, as we saw with that Pharisee.
I'm so thankful that I'm not like all these other poor, you know, fellas out there and has this evidence because I fast twice in the week.
That is something that is obviously obvious to God and it's prideful. And so when we are when we fast, we are not to do it in that way. We are not to do it in a way which is legal or a way which is, you know, this day of the year comes around and I begin to fasten.
Three days later I ended or. However, it is where some rules are made-up and followed by some greater code.
But what is fasting and how are we supposed to do it?
There's another verse. I'm sorry I'm referring, it's just.
Many verses to remember them all. Psalm Chapter 35 of the 35th Psalm.
And verse 13.
But As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sacked. I humbled my soul with fasting.
I humbled my soul with fasting, the Lord said. When the bridegroom was taken away, they will fast in those days. In those days they will fast. Why would we fast in those days if not to draw near to the Lord who's been taken away from us?
We are too fast to draw near to the Lord, and this is the point where we being a tripartite being is so important.
If, if somebody, if you were sitting there and someone is sinned against you and they come walking in and they just open up their heart and say I have sinned, I am so sorry. And they just weep and they mourn and they just everything in front of you. And then they walk out and you go and you look at 5 minutes later, they're laughing and joking with their friends.
You would just like there's something that's not right here.
That's not accurate. It is the same thing. You can't go before the Lord and pretend to be mourning and weeping and just broken about something that's going on and then go sit down to a steak dinner.
There's something that's wrong because you're a tripartite being and half of you or 1/3 of you can't be mourning, or the other 2/3 doesn't warm if we mourn.
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We all **** right? You can't mourn in the spirit, not in the body. And there are times, and I think we can all think of times, when some terrible situation comes up and you just can't eat.
Why? Why can't you eat?
Why he needs food? Why can't you eat? The reason you can't eat is because you're mourning. And it's true, real mourning. And so you fast, not because you decided to fast.
Because you're mourning now the fasts that we see in Scripture are not a fast where it just kind of happens to you. It comes along and grabs you and like I was just describing where some situation comes up and you just can't eat about it. There are fast where they are the fast that that please the Lord. They they are fast which are decided upon and there's a purpose of heart that goes into those times, but it is not again, it is not to be in a legal.
A legal requirement or a legal sort of a way?
Sorry, my sugar is coming down hell.
So that was the first point or the main point I guess that I wanted to make was just to allow us to be able to to, to fast and be able to do it in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. And to recognize that if we do go before the Lord and we do claim to be broken and, and contrite it and whatever it is. And there isn't anything that's in our physical body that.
That reflects that. That's nothing short of hypocrisy. It's just you going and acting before the Lord. There's nothing else to say about it.
So we can see examples and I had thought of just going through and presenting examples of different people fasting. I think of Daniel. We can maybe look at this one really quick just to make an important point. I think Daniel chapter 10.
Daniel 10 We have Daniel fasting.
And again, of course, it's associated with morning.
Fasting is always we never just fast just, you know, to see what it feels like or something like that. There's a reason that we fast. So in verse two, in those days, I Daniel was morning 3 full weeks. And then this is a description.
Of how he mourned says 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, Daniel at this point, it's in the third year of Cyrus. We don't know when Daniel died, but it must have been very shortly after this. He would have been a very old man. As you read through Daniel 10, you get something, you know, just you see some of his, his bodily weakness that he has at this stage in his life.
There's no way, but I shouldn't say that there's no way. But it seems very unlikely that Daniel could have just come without any food at all for three weeks. And it's very rare that that you find any sort of example like that in Scripture at all.
But what he does do is he ate no pleasant bread.
He didn't eat fresh or drink wine and he didn't anoint himself. So you think of a man who's not eating dessert and who isn't eating steak and isn't drinking showed up. I'm just trying to apply this maybe how we would see it today and not taking showers.
Is kind of.
It's not something that any of us would really look forward to or any of us would would say, yes, sign me up. That sounds, that sounds good.
And the reason is, is because it's more and Daniel was in mourning. I don't know exactly why Daniel was in mourning. I suspect it was because not very many people had responded to Cyruses call in the first year to go back to Jerusalem, but I don't know that.
But every time that that we see.
This this fasting which is pleasing. I think of David when he fast for his sons life.
Every time there's something, there's a reason. And so if we are going to fast, there needs to be a reason, a real reason that we're going to be before the Lord fasting. And, and I think that is so hard for us to separate in our minds. Like I think I was telling Sally, it's sort of like when I first thought of fasting, it's sort of like, you know how you're at the restaurant, you know, Texas Longhorn or something and, and the smells are walking around you and you're so hungry.
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And like the moments before they bring out the food and you're just like, come on, you know, where's that food? I'm so hungry. And I think of that just extending out for three days, if you fast for three days. But that's not really the way. That's not really the way it is. And when you fast, you have opportunity to devote that time and attention which would normally be given to your, your, your body and your natural sustenance, to devote that time and attention to the Lord and to be really before the Lord.
On a nearly continuous basis of justice, pouring out your heart to the Lord and being real, and your soul being humbled within you as a result of that fast. Fasting is a very humbling experience if done correctly.
So I hope that that makes the point as far as fasting that we should fast. There's a lot more and there's a lot of depth that I don't know and couldn't go into. But at least hopefully that breaks the ice for, for some people here. And, and you'd be able to consider doing that if there's a burden that's on your heart and if that's something that the Lord lays before you. Now I want to go to.
Ezekiel, Chapter 9.
And make an application.
Ezekiel, Chapter 9.
And verse 4.
And the Lord said unto him.
Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, instead of mark upon the foreheads of the men that cried, oh sorry, that side and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst of their lives.
And to the others he said in mind hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite, but not your eyes spare, neither have you pity. So I utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and began at my sanctuary.
And they began at the ancient man, which were before the house.
Point that I wanted to make with this verse of these verses is that the Lord specifically.
Tells this this man, it says man clothed with linen. I'm not sure it was a man or an Angel. Anyway, he tells him to go through and look for those who mourn or or who sighed and cried and to make a mark on them. And then basically everybody else was going to die.
And the Lord.
Is looking for that. I just think, you know, we've had before us in Palmyra last week, I think it was last Sunday, a little bit about the devil and how this whole pandemic and everything going on with with Covad. I think the statement was made. The devil is having his way with us.
And it's just amazing to me. I feel sometimes like you got to play pot and you drop it and it just smatters and smashes into 1000 pieces. And pieces go everywhere. And sometimes it takes you months to find them. And it just seems like different assemblies that we are in fellowship with all across this nation and I suppose across the world.
Are handling this COVID pandemic in a different way. Some are breaking bread over Zoom. Some are having Zoom meetings, calling them assembly meetings. Some are having Zoom meetings but calling them non assembly meetings. Some are not restricted from meeting, but they're not meeting because I don't want to say why, but you know, they're just not meeting due to the pandemic. Some are submitting to the government, some are not submitting to the government. And I could go on. It seems like it's hardly a month goes by that I don't hear of some.
Different iteration of what different a different assembly is doing with respect to this covet and and the government restrictions on how we should handle it.
And.
It just reminds me of the time in Judges. It's not like there's two camps, right? It's not like Gray Obama and Jeroboam where you've got, well, half of doing it this way and say they're right, and half of doing it this way and say they're right.
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There are some assemblies who are handling it the same way, which we can be thankful for, but it's like judges where every man or every assembly is just doing that which is right in our own eyes.
And if that isn't a situation to be burdened about, I don't know what is.
And I just feel like we have been, I have been to conference after conference and we have talked and talked and talked about how, you know, strong we are doctrinally, especially with respect to the assembly and especially with respect to gathering and here comes along this pandemic.
And just we all scattered and everyone's doing something different.
It's not like everybody's right.
People are doing exactly the opposite thing and saying that they're right and the other things wrong. Everybody can't be right.
It can be different faith, I suppose, in different situations and you want to recognize that. But the point that I'm making is that the situation that we are in right now.
Is terrifying and it's a situation that we should be on our knees about and that we should be mourning about.
And you know, I, I just, I'll confess this. I have sat at the dinner table.
And talking with Sally and just I have just what do you want to admit? But you know, I have just said, well, I wonder when the division will happen.
I've said that over and over. I wonder what the division will happen. I wonder who will go where.
And I've just been so confident, I guess you could say that there will be a division. And even if we muddle through this and who knows, the vaccine comes out and restrictions come off and we just kind of all say, OK, well, let's just get back together and pretend nothing happened. The seeds of division that are being sown now are just going to spring up some 5-10 years later.
There's going to be a division.
At some point.
That's how I see it.
But what happened in the times of the judges? What happened over and over and over again when the people of God ended up in trouble?
They cried out to the Lord, and the Lord saved them.
Lord save us from this pandemic. Can the Lord save us from the divisiveness and just separation that we see?
I think we know that the Lord is capable. I think we know that.
But it requires humility, and it requires that we fall to our knees and cry out for salvation.
Requires that you know I have said those words from one when the division will happen.
And I smell my knees crying out to the Lord. I was just sitting there wondering when it would happen, not doing anything about it.
How embarrassing.
How embarrassing for God's people to be so divided. And I am sure that there are great many who are very exercised and are fasting and praying about this, but I just had this on my heart to present that.
We should be burdened about it too.
And we should be before before the Lord about it too. And so should I.
And I'm not saying that we all should go home fast.
Just leave that with the Lord.
But there should be exercises and there should be a crying out to the Lord because if the situation at the juncture that we're in.
I mean, it's always true, but it's very obviously true now. The Lord is the only one.
Or is it going to be some great meeting by across or something you know where everything is clear now I wish that that were so.
But I think we're beyond that.
So my point is just that.
The Lord is looking, He is watching, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, and he looks to show himself strong.
So may we cry out to the Lord and be on our knees and seek His blessing and His health throughout this time and.
The wait for his coming and perhaps he will save us.
This time.
Maybe we just, we have a little bit of time, maybe we can just sing again #246I.
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Sing the same song again, but.
It's just such a beautiful song with beautiful thoughts. Maybe though.
Mean a little bit more to us, hopefully now #246 and then we can.
Our God and our Father.
We do pray for Thy strength and we do pray for Thy health. We ask that.
Thy word would prevail and not if anything has been said that it's not according to Thy will that would be allowed to fall by the wayside would be judged. We just pray Father for the blessing on this company of the people and we just pray for a blessing and thy assemblies here upon the earth. Just look for Thy saving hand and saving grace and we just commit our the rest of our day to thine hands in Jesus name.
Amen.