Now I will say a little on fasting. Levi made a feast for the Lord, and the Scribes and Pharisees murmured. There are always murmurers when Christ is made much of. Even the disciples themselves murmured when Mary would lavish her all upon the blessed Lord. Well she had the luxury of being defended by Him. In the case before us the Pharisees asked, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?" The Lord replied to them, "Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while 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."
Those days have come, and in following Christ there must be fasting. Who fasted like the Man of Sorrows, and are we not called to follow Him? Well, rest assured of this that the more thoroughly we follow the Lord, the more glad and joyous we shall truly be. Who had deeper joys, joys of communion, than the Man of Sorrows? Who fasted like Him, and who feasted like Him? The Man of Sorrows, and the Man of Joy, no sorrow like His, no joy like His!
What is fasting? you may inquire. It is not abstaining from sin. Be clear as to that. There must be no quarter given to sin, be it the sin of murdering the precious hours God gives its in things that can only weaken and defile, or by sinning in any other way.
What is fasting? Physical fasting is the abstinence from food for a time. Now food is right. God gives us all things richly to enjoy. Food is necessary for the due sustenance of the body, but a man may abstain from food for a time with a benefit in view. But physical fasting is doubtless typical of moral fasting.
There are many things a Christian might do, which are not sin, but' which he abstains from. We must be separate from the world, which rejected and crucified our Lord, and in being separate fasting is involved. The worldling is fasting to-day, but alas! will fast throughout eternity. The Christian fasts to-day, but will feast throughout eternity. It seems scarcely fair or righteous that a Christian should feast in both worlds. In fact, God will not allow it.
Surely no true Christian but will respond to all that is involved in the Lord's call. The Bridegroom is not here, and it is advisable that we should fast. I know a Christian who spends some hundreds a year in the Lord's work. Someone asked him how he could spend so much. "Well," he said, "my friends have their horses and carriages, I can do very well without such things, and the Lord's interests can be helped thereby." Who could say there was any harm in his having a carriage and horses? He fasted in that way. Two lads were converted in Edinburgh a few weeks ago. Some time after their mother said to them, "What about the football now, boys?" "We have stopped that, mother," was the reply. There surely could be no harm in kicking a ball, but in this case it involved membership in. a club, and association with the ungodly, and fasting was their true attitude in the matter. In a thousand and one ways fasting meets the Christian, but oh! the compensation there is in following the Lord.
One important principle I should like you to get a good grasp of, and that is, that just in proportion as you fast externally, you will feast internally. Who is so truly happy as the out-and-out follower of the blessed. Lord? He does not ask us to wait for the feasting till we get to heaven, but He has given us the earnest of His Spirit, the earnest of what is to come even now, so that we can sing:-
"If even here the taste of heavenly springs,
So cheers the spirit that the pilgrim sings,
What will the sunshine of His glory prove?
What the unmingled fullness of His love?"
The water that the Lord gives is in the believer, "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Are you a bubbling-over Christian? Yes, if you fast, because you love the Bridegroom. Away with monastic fasting! Away with legal restrictions! Do you love the absent Lord? Then it will be your joy to fast, and as you truly fast you will correspondingly rejoice.
Let me give you some examples from Scripture of fasting and feasting. Take the contrast between Abraham and Lot. Abraham lived in communion with God, and in separation from the world on the plains of Mature. His tent and his altar proclaimed his character. Lot on the other hand chose his position by the sight of his eyes, and not by faith. He chose the well-watered plain of Jordan, "like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." He hankered after Egypt (type of the world), and it influenced his choice. Next he "pitched his tent towards Sodom," and finally he dwelt in Sodom itself, whilst his daughters contracted alliances with the sons of Sodom. No doubt the Sodomites applauded Lot's liberality and broad-mindedness, and contrasted it with Abraham's exclusiveness. Lot feasted whilst Abraham fasted. Lot also sat in the gate of Sodom. He occupied the seat of the magistrate. How often we hear people say, " We want Christian men to be our politicians and judges, to fill places of influence that they may Ne a power for good," and Christians are deceived by it. I warn you not to be taken in by the specious lie of the devil. " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," the Lord said to His disciples; and out-and-out separation for the Christian is the only path the Bible provides for. If a Christian accepts a place of influence in the world, he will find he cannot reform the world, but that he himself will be dragged down to its level. Be warned by Lot's history, Beware of the first step towards the world. If you
refuse the first step, you need never fear the second.
But time marched on, and the reaping followed the sowing, as surely as effect follows cause. Judgment fell on Sodom. The angels warned Lot as to the coming judgment. Roused at length, he passed on the warning to his sons-in-law. But alas! he was as one that mocked. His life did not give weight to his testimony. What he did robbed of its power what he said. He had taken root in Sodom, and now he urged his sons-in-law to flee. From the responsible and governmental side I believe Lot's world-bordering cost his married daughters their lives. How awfully solemn! Oh! young believer, world-bordering is a very fatal thing Refuse to marry an unbeliever at all costs, however amiable he or she may be, and however desirable it may be from certain standpoints. "Only in the Lord," is the advice of Scripture as to marriage.
You know the sad end of Lot's world-bordering. He fled from the city with his wife and unmarried daughters. His wife looked back to the city which her husband had taught her to love, and she became a pillar of salt. In a cave, drunk and deceived, Lot became the father by his own daughters of children, who in their turn were the progenitors of two of Israel's bitterest foes-the Moabites and Ammonites.
Dear young Christian, whether would you be an Abraham or a Lot? You have your choice. Certainly Abraham was the more honored and the happier man. Show me a worldly Christian and I will show you a miserable man. Such have enough of Christ to spoil them for the world, and enough of the world to keep them from enjoying Christ.
Some years ago I was asked to vote. I told the canvasser that I had voted, and had given all my vote to One, and that One the world had voted against, so that there was a distinct issue between me and the world. Understanding me, the canvasser urged, "What would happen if everybody were like you? How would things go on in the world?" I replied, "The very best thing for this poor world would happen. What would hinder that One, if all had voted for Him, coming to reign in righteousness,
'To bid the whole creation smile,
And hush its groan?'"
Again, Moses fasted. People might have thought him a great fool to have left the court of the Pharaohs, where God's providence had placed him, and put himself alongside his afflicted brethren. One might naturally have reasoned that by remaining at the court he would have been able to ameliorate their condition. But no, he reasoned rightly, and followed the wisest course. We read, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward" (Heb. 11:24-2624By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. (Hebrews 11:24‑26)). Where will you find a more honored servant of God? He is mentioned all through Scripture. He it was who led the children of Israel through the wilderness. He it was who appeared on the mount of transfiguration with the Lord; and in Revelation we have his name linked up with the Lamb-" The Song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb."
If he had stayed on in the court of the Pharaohs, what about his name in scripture 7 I venture to say that not a line would have been devoted to his history. You might have seen at most his mummy in the British Museum, but that would have been little honor compared. to his burial by God Himself. He fasted indeed, and God honored him.
Take Samson now. Instead of fasting he feasted. He loved a Philistine, an enemy of God, and she wormed the secret of his strength from him, and betrayed it to his enemies. His long hair was a symbol of his separation, and that was the secret of his strength. Believe me, there must be a secret walk before God in your soul, or else you will soon be bereft of your power.
Having learned his secret Delilah made him sleep upon her knees, and in that fatal slumber his locks were shorn off. When he awoke Samson thought to shake himself as usual. How lamentable is the comment of Scripture, " He wist not that the Lord was departed from him."
And mark how retributive are the ways of God's government. Samson used his eyes to lust after a woman of the Philistines. The Philistines put out his eyes. Bound with fetters of brass he ground corn in the prison house. What a lamentable end did Samson's feasting have! True, in his death he slew more of his enemies than in his life, but he died with them. His sunset was like that of a sun setting behind dark and lurid clouds.
Take again the case of Daniel and his three companions. They refused the king's meat and wine, they asked for pulse and water rather than defile themselves. For ten days the experiment was made, and in the end of that time "their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat."
I have always found that out-and-out Christians are the happiest. Their faces wear the brightest smile, and their hearts are always bubbling over with joy.
Lastly, let us take two New Testament cases. We instinctively think of that magnificent example of fasting-the apostle Paul. He denied himself natural joys. He never had after his conversion, so far as we know, an earthly home. We never think of him as having private interests at all. How he fasted! He could compare himself with others. "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft ... In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches " (2 Cor. 11:23-2823Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23‑28)). What a record of self-denying toil! Yet at the end of his remarkable career, broken down till he could describe himself as Paul the aged, forsaken by the saints, all of Asia turned away from him, in prison, with no prospect but the executioner's ax, he could write to the Philippian saints, "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice." Not one note of weariness, despondency or disappointment, but rather forgetting the things that were behind, he could say, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus " (Phil. 3:1414I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)). Blessed example of inward feasting and outward fasting.
What a contrast is poor Demas. The path was too narrow for him. Carnality narrowed it for him. for in reality, the divine path is that of truest enlargement. Paul had to write of him, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Tim. 4:1010For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. (2 Timothy 4:10)) Mark you, Paul did not say, "This present evil world," as in Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4); but this present world. We do not accuse him of anything flagrant. We do not suppose he even ceased to break bread, but alas! he was out of true fellowship with the Spirit of God. He settled down quietly in the course of things down here, and gave up to a great extent the good fight of faith, and after this we hear no more of him. Demas went to Thessalonica, and then the veil of silence falls. We doubt not but that he went to heaven, but what about earth? Now is our only chance of witnessing for Christ.
Dear young Christian, would you be an Abraham, a Moses, a Daniel, a Paul? You may, if not in gift or prominence, at any rate in faithfulness and fasting. Would you shun being a Lot, a Samson, a Demas? You may by being zealous of the first step of departure. "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Ah! it is the little foxes we have to be careful about, the innocent (?) pipe, the religious novel, the oratorio, the amiable but unconverted companion.
Lastly, in Luke 5 we are warned against outward patching and inward mixing. God does no patching or mixing. "No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old ... And no man putteth new wine into old bottles," the Lord said. With God it is new creation, not reformation. We are past mending as sinners, and now believers are looked at as having put on the new man. We are to be clothed in altogether new character. It is not an improved or a mended self that will do for God, but it has to be Christ now, and nothing but Christ. Nor can new wine be put into old bottles. The old vessel is incompetent to receive the joy of the Holy Ghost. For that there must be a new vessel, new creation.
Thank God, the old unsatisfactory self is set aside by God, and we are entitled' to set it aside in the power of the new, in the power of the Spirit.
May the two words-"FOLLOW ME"-sound in your ears and heart with more commanding power, with deeper permanence, with enduring results for His praise and glory, and your joy and reward, for His name's sake.
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