Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and turn to the Book of Matthew, chapter number six.
[00:00:06] Matthew, chapter six.
[00:00:16] We will read verses 16 through 18 this morning, give a little bit of context. We have, we've been going through Matthew, of course, and we're in chapter six. And this section of Matthew is primarily. Our Lord is using three.
[00:00:39] Three spiritual considerations, three spiritual activities, maybe is the best way to put it, as really examples of many other spiritual activities to show and basically to teach the truth. That among other things, of course, that our, as they used to say in time of old that our religion.
[00:01:07] Alright, some people don't like that word. It's a biblical word. Our religion is first and foremost private. Private. What do I mean by that? Sometimes people say, well, religion is a private matter. And by that they mean they don't want to talk about it. We certainly don't mean that.
[00:01:22] But what I mean is that our faith and our relationship to God is not first outward to others, but it is first both inward and upward to God. That's the priority. And all the outward part kind of overflows from what is happening in our heart in our private personal relationship to God. And the three examples given in this passage are giving of alms, helping the poor prayer, which is what we talked about last week and then what we want to talk about this morning, verse number 16. The Bible says this. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
[00:02:16] Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
[00:02:20] But thou, when thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Let's pray together.
[00:02:40] Father in heaven, thank youk for the chance to be here today among youg people, Lord. Thank you for the people of God and for the obvious work of the grace of God in their lives.
[00:02:51] Thank you for the chance to meet together, Lord. Help us to have a heart of love and grace and compassion with one another and an open heart toward your word, Lord. Help us to be wise and as we come together with the people of God and the house of God. That we would do so, Lord, with an ear that's ready to hear.
[00:03:11] We pray, Lord, like you said, to incline our hearts to your statutes as we look at them this morning. Lord, I don't know how I can help your people this morning. So Lord, I just trust you to do that as we look at the Scripture, as we try to explain it and make these truths known. Lord, please give grace. Help me to say what I should say and help your people to receive what you have for them. Lord, help us to profit and grow from your word this morning. In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:03:43] So the third spiritual exercise you might say is the. And I say spiritual using the broadest sense that I possibly can, especially in this context, is fasting. So before we get into the main thing, which is what verses 16 through 18 are referring to, what is obvious is that fasting at this point in history was a thing. And fasting is still. Is still a thing. It's still a Christian, a biblical Christian exercise. It is still. It's not just something for monks on some mountain in Tibet or something like that. No, it is something that comes right up until this day. Well, how do we know that? Because in verse number 16, inasmuch as prayer in this chapter and helping the poor, also in this chapter are things that the Lord says when thou prayest, when you give alms. So he says, when ye fast speaking to his disciples, which is to indicate that fasting is something that our Lord's disciples would be doing and indeed do. And I want to tell you something.
[00:04:55] If you want your family and friends to think that you're a complete lunatic, fast, right? I see smiles because some of you know what I'm talking about. That is crazy to this world now, not so much to the religious world, but to the world at large. It is crazy, but it is something that the Lord said. It's something the Lord himself did during the temptation. But I want to do a brief. Before we get into these verses, I want to do a brief overview, a quick overview of fasting in scripture. And it will be quick, I promise.
[00:05:32] What does the Bible say about fasting?
[00:05:36] Fasting.
[00:05:38] And some of these things might come as a little bit of a surprise to some. Some of us because of fasting has become kind of popular. You know how many of you have done omad? Raise your hand if you've done Omad. Omad. Omad's kind of cool. I mean, if you like that kind of thing. I like to eat. But. But omad is cool. That's alternate day fasting. Or that's one meal a day. I'm sorry. Then you have alternate day fasting as well.
[00:06:02] Getting my acronyms wrong. But so is the thing. It's usually a health thing these days, fasting from food for periods of time for the health. But this is A scriptural thing that goes way, way back in time. But in the Bible. The Bible connects fasting with two fast things. Really only two things. You know what those two things are? The first one is fasting in the scripture is connected with sorrow, repentance, and mourning.
[00:06:33] Now I want to read some verses. I'll give you the give you the references if you'd like to jot them down, look at them later. But I'll just read the verses just for time. I just want to show you this connection because it will be important in just a minute. Judges 20, verse 26 says this.
[00:06:48] Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto the house of God and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until even and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. So they wept, they were mourning, and they fasted. Second Samuel 1, verse 12 says this. And they mourned and wept and fasted until even for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
[00:07:23] 2nd Samuel 12:16 says this. David therefore besought God for the child. This is after the fallout from Bathsheba. Bathsheba was expecting a baby. The baby was born and then died.
[00:07:36] And then David reacts by beseeching God for the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth. 1 Kings 21, verse 27 says this. And it came to pass when Ahab heard these words of the prophet, that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly. So Ahab is mourning over his sin. And indeed Ahab is repenting. Psalm 35, verse 13 says this. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
[00:08:18] And lastly, Zechariah 7, verse 5 says this, Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those 70 years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
[00:08:33] Again, the connection between fasting and mourning. Now, a lot of this kind of fasting is related to culture. Some of you have probably had tragedies in your life that sucked the desire of food right out of your life. Some of you probably know what that's like. And when you're carrying a heavy burden, you don't want to eat. You just don't. And a lot of people that go into despondency and sometimes depression, stop eating. That's one of the signs of it. So this is not too unfamiliar to us. But we see in Scripture, fasting was associated with sorrow, repentance, and mourning. But the second one is this.
[00:09:09] Fasting in Scripture is almost always coupled with prayer. Prayer. 2 Chronicles 20, verses 3 and 4 say this. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord.
[00:09:35] Daniel 9, verse 3. Daniel says, and I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
[00:09:48] Jonah, chapter three, verse seven and eight says this, and he caused it to be proclaimed. This is the king of Nineveh. And published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. Joel 1, verse 14 says this. Sanctify ye a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord. And then of course, we come to the New Testament. Matthew 17:21. Jesus says, Howbeit, speaking of the devils, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Luke 2:37 Speaking of Anna the prophetess. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. You say, well, that's just the Gospel. Well, we'll go to the Book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 3.
[00:10:59] And when they the church had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
[00:11:07] So you can see that fasting and prayer are joined together. Are joined together.
[00:11:14] I want to give you a few other things about fasting from the Scripture to clarify what it is and what it isn't. Fasting in the Scripture, what you'll always find is that fasting is always from food.
[00:11:30] Interestingly enough, John Paul, something that he sent on Facebook, it was talking about plenary indulgences. And one of the indulgences listed was fasting at least one day a week, from futile distractions such as social media, television, video games, and certain not all certain phone apps. I don't know how they come up with that. But this is not biblical fasting. Not looking at your phone, not watching tv, not playing video games is not biblical fasting. Because biblical fasting is always from food as well as other pleasures.
[00:12:15] And so when you look at biblical fasting, there is no biblical fast that does not include also fasting from food.
[00:12:24] Now, I want you to take a peek at Isaiah 53. I want you to see the point of fasting, what the Lord says about it. Why would you, as a Christian, fast?
[00:12:38] Isaiah 58, verse 3.
[00:12:49] Let's look at verse 1 for context. Isaiah 58, verse 1 says this. Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Now Notice this verse 2, because this is directly related to Matthew 6.
[00:13:06] Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God.
[00:13:18] They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They delight, they take delight in approaching to God. So when you looked at these people, these Jews, right, they heard the word of God. And when the prophet would preach, they would sit and listen. And they would sit and listen attentively. It was just like in Matthew chapter 6. The people would give alms and they would stand on the corners of the streets and pray so others could hear them. And then they would fast in such a way that others knew that they were fasting. In other words, if you were walking by, you would say, man, these people are very dedicated and devoted to their faith.
[00:13:57] That's exactly what you see here.
[00:14:02] And one of the things. Look at verse three. One of the things that they were doing was fasting. Verse 3 says this. This is God speaking to them directly.
[00:14:14] Wherefore have we fasted, say they? And thou seest not. Wherefore have we afflicted our soul? And thou takest no knowledge.
[00:14:23] Behold, in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure, pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? What is the God saying? God is saying, I don't Accept your fast. Why not?
[00:15:02] Because they were misusing it.
[00:15:05] Now, what is fasting all about? It's very simple.
[00:15:09] You can see it in these verses here.
[00:15:12] Look at verse four, the end of verse four. Ye shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high.
[00:15:26] Fasting is. That's why fasting is coupled with prayer in scripture, you know, you can pray about something, but when a burden gets so heavy, when a burden gets so heavy that you are. You get to the point of desperation in that thing that you are desiring of God. That is the time when fasting comes, often comes into play, is when that burden is so heavy and you feel like you need to go the extra mile. And here it is to make your voice to be heard on high. You know, here's the problem with our prayers is sometimes we pray, but we are not really all that concerned if God answers the request that we pray. Pray, take it or leave it.
[00:16:16] Have you ever dealt with something in your life that you were to the point of desperation where if God did not do the thing that you were asking him, you didn't know how, that you would cope with that to the point of total and absolute desperation? Listen, that's fasting territory. You might have a loved one that doesn't know God, and the idea, the knowledge that that person might perish in hellfire without Christ would drive you to the point that you might be willing to set food aside for a period so that you could cry out to God so that you could afflict like this says, afflict your soul, and so that you could make your voice to be heard on high. In other words, it's a way to step up your prayer. That's what fasting is all about. But it's not just about food. As you see here. It says afflicting one's soul. So it's the setting aside of all pleasure.
[00:17:12] It's basically saying, lord, I am desperate. I am serious.
[00:17:18] I am desperate for you to answer me. I fear, though, that much of our prayer life, much of my prayer life is such that if the Lord never answered it, it wouldn't make all that, all that big of a difference to me.
[00:17:36] That shouldn't be the way it is. You see, these spiritual truths, especially when you're talking about the eternal destiny of a person, whether they go to heaven or whether they go to hell is an important matter. And the reason why we don't care, the reason why we're not bothered to the point that we're willing to set aside Food is often.
[00:17:57] Because spiritual matters don't carry that much weight with us.
[00:18:03] Now we get when people get sick and listen, it is biblical when someone gets sick and they have a disease and they have a bad diagnosis, to take that thing to the Lord in prayer and fast for that thing. If you have to, like the Bible says, make your voice to be heard on high. That's what it's all about. God, I'm afflicting my soul. Look at me. Hear me.
[00:18:28] But all the more for spiritual things.
[00:18:33] All the more for spiritual things.
[00:18:36] This is what fasting is. This is why it is done. It is abstaining not only from food, verse 3, but also from pleasure.
[00:18:47] To give oneself totally to prayer, to pray more, to pray more intently to get the Lord's attention.
[00:18:57] Now, a few more interesting facts about fasting before we move on is this.
[00:19:04] Fasting is never directly commanded in Scripture.
[00:19:09] The closest thing to that is found in Leviticus 16 and Leviticus 23. And during the day of atonement, the Jews were to afflict their souls. Now, fasting is not specifically mentioned, but they were to afflict their souls, and they took that to mean to fast.
[00:19:26] But there's outside of that, there is no direct command to fast in Scripture that tells us that fasting is voluntary. It is a matter between you and the Lord, and that's why Jesus says it in Matthew, chapter six. It is a matter between you and God. It is a private matter between you and the Lord. And that's the way it should be kept. But it's also something that I can't command you. God hasn't commanded you. Why would I? Now, there are a few times in Scripture where a king commands his people to fast. That would be very unpleasant. But those times do exist.
[00:20:00] Furthermore, no prescribed length of time is given for fasting in Scripture.
[00:20:06] So you're not going to find any holiday where you're supposed to fast in the Bible. You're not going to find any these days. In the next few months, we're going to go into Lent, right? I say we. I'm not. But Lent exists and people fast for 40 days. They often don't fast Biblically. What they do is they, you know, they don't get on their cell phone a little bit or whatever. That's not that. First of all, that's not biblical fasting number two, that is nowhere to be found in Scripture. I actually preached a whole message on that, I think, last year. But you do not find it. It's just totally not there.
[00:20:42] But also fasting Is not only. Some people say, well, fasting's for the Old Testament, but we live in the New Testament. We already saw that Matthew 6, verse 16 contradicts that and corrects that Jesus assumed that his disciples would fast.
[00:20:58] Now look at Luke chapter 18, if you would. This is where we get to Matthew, chapter six and the point that our Lord makes about fasting.
[00:21:11] Luke chapter 18.
[00:21:16] Now, we touched on this when we were talking about prayer last week.
[00:21:25] I'm going to make a statement about fasting that I want us to get, and then we'll see it.
[00:21:32] Fasting in Scripture is not done for its own sake.
[00:21:41] Fasting in Scripture is not done for its own sake.
[00:21:45] It is not done. You will not see it in Scripture done as a spiritual exercise, but it is always done with a specific purpose.
[00:21:57] Usually that purpose is part of a petition to God, except this one exception. Luke 18, verse number nine.
[00:22:09] And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Verse 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. That's what we saw last week. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. So he's praying with himself. His prayer is not about God. His prayer is about him and others that hear him.
[00:22:39] Notice what he says, though. In verse number 12, he says as he's recounting, as he's listing and describing his accolades to God. Supposedly he says, I fast twice in the week.
[00:23:02] I give tithes of all that I possess. So in verse number 11, we see he's not praying to God. He's praying with himself. And in verse number 12, he's fasting. So the question I have for this Pharisee is this. Why are you fasting? This is why it's important for us to understand this. Why are you fasting, Mr. Pharisee? Are you crying out to God for some burden or some great need that you have twice a week, every week? What do you think?
[00:23:27] No. If he's not fasting for a particular purpose, then why is he fasting? I think you know the answer as well as I do. He's fasting as a spiritual exercise, as a ritual.
[00:23:42] It was his religious practice to fast for its own sake.
[00:23:48] It proved to himself that he was materially better than other people. How do you know that? Because he says, I'm not like them. I do this, unlike those people, I do this. So as he's recounting them, the fasting he was doing actually for himself as a spiritual discipline. I say spiritual again loosely, is actually a carnal discipline, which I'll talk about more in a minute. And this is why he recited fasting as part of his accolades.
[00:24:19] You will not see anywhere in the Bible, with the exception of here, where God commends fasting for its own sake. You fast just to fast.
[00:24:34] Now some of you say, well, I mean, I fasted, I done one meal a day, or I've done alternate day fasting, or I fasted for health reasons or whatever. Well that's fine, but you're not going to find God telling you to do that in the Bible.
[00:24:50] Some people view fasting as a spiritual purging or a spiritual discipline. And you see, if you follow any religious culture at all, you will see people that describe the need to do this.
[00:25:03] But we don't need to look any further than the Lord Jesus himself for an example. Because Jesus, In Mark chapter 2, Jesus was known as a man who ate and drank. And they came to him. In Mark 2, verse 18, they came to him and they said, they actually came to his disciples. And they said, so the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast. But why is it that your master doesn't fast? Fast? Your master, the text says, eats and drinks. Why is it that he doesn't fast? So Jesus was known as someone who wasn't known for fasting, although he did fast at the temptation for 40 days and 40 nights. Of course you remember that, so we don't have to look any further. Listen, here's the point.
[00:25:53] As our Lord is the example, fasting doesn't make you any more spiritual.
[00:25:59] For he himself was not known as someone who fasted.
[00:26:03] Fasting certainly doesn't make us give us a 1 up compared to other people. It doesn't set us apart. It doesn't make us cream of the crop. In fact, if that very thought enters our mind about fasting or any other spiritual discipline, we're already in violation of everything. Our Lord's teaching in Matthew chapter six, you see, why are we doing it? Are we doing it in order to one up or be considered the cream of the crop? Or is our eye only upon God? We've already talked about this.
[00:26:39] But I want to say this, you know, because I, you know, I've been, I've been a believer for 25 years and I've known people who felt guilty, well meaning Christians who felt guilty because they didn't fast because of their health problems. Maybe they were expecting a baby and so they couldn't fast even though they had a great burden. Maybe they had health problems that prevented them from fasting.
[00:27:02] In some cases, fasting would actually harm your health.
[00:27:08] But they carried the burden of somehow being substandard in their commitment to God. That is not what the Lord is trying to convey to us.
[00:27:22] I knew a man one time who you think of this man, he fasts twice in the week. And I asked the question, why do you fast? You have a great burden you're taking to God twice a week.
[00:27:35] I heard of a man one time who. He seemed to have a great love for God. He really did. But he had a wayward child.
[00:27:44] He had a wayward child. You know what he did?
[00:27:48] He committed to fast one day a week, forever, until that child came back.
[00:27:58] You see what I'm saying? See, even though that on its face looks similar to what we read here, fasting twice in the week, it is totally different because he did it with a burden, with a reason, not for its own sake. It's not like he enjoyed that. But the burden of his wayward child was so heavy that he was willing to do whatever as long as God would hear his prayer.
[00:28:21] I thought that was a good example.
[00:28:25] A couple more things to tie this up, and then I want to go back to Matthew, chapter six.
[00:28:32] Some people fast for health reasons. That's not a bad thing, but it's not something the scripture commands. So be careful of that. You know, some people use it as, like a diet. Just be careful of that. It's not really a biblical question sometimes. Listen, how many of you have heard of Ezekiel bread? Heard of Ezekiel bread? You know, how many of you like Ezekiel bread? Not as many hands.
[00:28:58] How many of you have heard of the Daniel fast? Anybody heard of the Daniel fast? You know what that is? See, here's the problem in churches, in Christianity, what we do is we take things that are fast and we think, well, because God mentions fasting, there's some sort of, like, magical blessing upon it, that if we do it for our health, it'll magically rid us of every disease and it'll magically transform our health. Or we'll do the Daniel diet. Pulse and what was it? Pulse and clean water or something. I think it was.
[00:29:33] And we think, well, it's in the Bible, so it must have some magical power. That's not the right way to use the Bible.
[00:29:39] It's not like some magical sanction. But listen, I just addressed this Because I'm already on the subject and I know these kind of things float, you know. For instance, another good example is Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve only ate the fruit of the garden, right? They didn't eat meat. Therefore we should all be vegetarians, because that's the way it was originally. Listen, that is not a scriptural truth. That's kind of a little bit superstitious. That's not the way the scriptures to be taken. Here's the thing.
[00:30:06] Fasting is like that. If you have a burden, and that burden is heavy, make your voice heard before God.
[00:30:17] How desperate are you for that person that's not saved? How desperate are you for that burden that you have? That's what it's all about.
[00:30:28] Now go Back to Matthew 6.
[00:30:31] It's like the briefest overview of fasting in Scripture ever given.
[00:30:35] Matthew 6, verse 16.
[00:30:39] I have three things I want to show you and we'll be done.
[00:30:52] Verse 16 says, Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites. We've seen this in the other two of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces. I wrote down as the title of this, the absurdity of the flesh.
[00:31:15] There is no limit to how crazy and absurd the human carnal ego can be.
[00:31:24] You know, you look at the prayer, you know, in the example in verses 5 through 1415, you see his prayer. He's standing at the corner of the street and he's praying an eloquent prayer. And everybody hears him. And you know, he seems to be intelligent and he seems to be eloquent. He seems to be in touch with God or you see the alms, and he's so generous and all this. But this is something totally the opposite.
[00:31:49] He is hurting himself. He is putting himself in pain and he is disfiguring his face.
[00:31:58] He's wincing and he's showing. He's not washing his face. He looks disheveled and he looks like someone who's in pain.
[00:32:09] All just to brag and boast.
[00:32:14] It's one thing if you're doing something like praying to brag and boast, but this is the absurdity.
[00:32:22] This is the absurdity of disfiguring your face to get a man's attention.
[00:32:30] What are human beings willing to do to get man's attention and praise? No matter how silly, they're willing to do almost anything.
[00:32:38] The best place to see this principle is on social media.
[00:32:44] The things people are willing to do to get likes, to get clicks, to get views, crazy. This is no different.
[00:32:56] So this is the. The first thing is the absurdity of the flesh.
[00:33:00] The second one is this, the power of the flesh. I keep saying flesh. You think, well, this is fasting. How can that be flesh?
[00:33:09] Notice he says this. They disfigure verse 16. They have a sad countenance. They disfigure their faces. In Luke 18, we read about the Pharisee who fasted twice in the week. If any of you have ever fasted, you know that it's kind of unpleasant, right? It's painful. Sometimes it makes you feel kind of sick. It is not fun. It's supposed to be not fun. It's affliction. That's the whole design of it. But it doesn't matter how unpleasant it is.
[00:33:41] It doesn't matter how extreme it might be.
[00:33:47] The flesh can be a powerful force in religion.
[00:33:53] These hypocrites that are fasting and disfiguring their faces and putting themselves through this rigor, why are they doing it? They're not doing it for God. They're doing it for what? They're doing it for the praise of man. They're doing it for their religion.
[00:34:08] The hypocrite's love of praise of man drove them even to abstain from food and to punish themselves in this way.
[00:34:20] So it should not be a surprise to us when the flesh, because that's all it is. Listen, when you or I. When we want praise from the men, that's not spiritual.
[00:34:31] When we want men to see us and recognize us and we want their attention, there is nothing spiritual about that. That's what Matthew chapter six is trying to say. It is carnal.
[00:34:42] It is fleshly. It is not spiritual.
[00:34:47] That motivation makes it carnal.
[00:34:50] So this hypocrite here is carnal.
[00:34:55] But that carnality, not spirituality, is actually driving him to fast.
[00:35:04] What other things does that same carnal drive cause people to do in the practice of their religion?
[00:35:14] It has almost no end.
[00:35:17] You think about the Jews and their laws. They had hundreds of laws, picky laws about everything. And the Pharisees held themselves to those rules. They weren't in the Bible, in tradition. I actually have an example of this I want to read to you.
[00:35:36] How many of you have heard of John and Charles? Wesley wrote the famous and Can It Be one of the greatest songs, I think, ever written.
[00:35:53] In 1729, John and Charles Wesley formed what is called the Holy Club at Oxford, where they were attending college.
[00:36:06] And in the Holy Club, it was them and some others. And they did regular Bible study, they did prayer, they did fasting. And they did charitable works. That was in 1729. They visited prisoners in the prison. They assisted the poor. And get this, the Holy Club actually took a missionary trip to America. This is in England. They took a missionary trip to America to evangelize the Native Americans to serve as a pastor with the British colonists. This was in 1735-1737.
[00:36:47] They had a very rigorous daily schedule, far more rigorous than yours or mine, I promise you.
[00:36:57] Get this. Here's their schedule in this Holy Club. At four in the morning, they would rise from bed and engage in private prayer and meditation. At 5, they would attend the early morning service at St. Mary's Church.
[00:37:11] At 6, they would return to their rooms for private study of the Bible and other religious texts.
[00:37:18] At 8 o'clock they would have breakfast, which was a simple meal from 9 to 12. This was academic studies, teaching, personal work.
[00:37:28] Also, they would go to additional prayer and small group meetings with the Holy Club. At noon they had noon prayer and then sometimes would attend a service. At 1pm they had lunch, which was also modest. At 2 to 5, they were visiting the sick, the imprisoned, the poor. They would go out to perform acts of charity. They would teach reading. They would provide spiritual guidance to people. And then at 5:00, they would have evening prayer in a church with the Holy Club. They read scripture, did prayers, sang hymns. At 6 o'clock, they had dinner.
[00:38:04] From 7 to 9, they had another time for study, writing, personal reflection.
[00:38:11] At 9 o'clock they had final prayers before retiring for the night, including examination of the conscience, planning for the next day's spiritual disciplines. And finally at 10 o'clock, they would go to bed.
[00:38:24] They would go to bed. All right, so they Woke up at 4, went to bed at 10, you say, well, that's not too bad. Some of you I know wake up at four earlier than that.
[00:38:34] Let's look at the discipline.
[00:38:37] They're in prayer like five or six times corporately during the day. Studying the Bible multiple times during the day. That's a serious level of discipline, is it not? How many of you, how many of us have that level of discipline in our spirit? I mean, almost none of us have this kind of schedule.
[00:39:04] When they went on their mission to America, they came back and on the ship there was a group of Moravians who are of German descent.
[00:39:16] And while they were on that ship coming back with the Moravians, there was a storm and the storm threatened the ship.
[00:39:28] Here's what Charles Wesley, John Wesley rather said about that. This is from his diary. January 25, 1736 in the midst of the Psalm wherewith their service began, speaking of the Moravians, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship and poured in between the decks as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, was you not afraid? He answered, I thank God, no. I asked, but were not your women and children afraid? He replied mildly, no, our women and children are not afraid to die.
[00:40:09] He says also of them. He says, at seven I went to the Germans.
[00:40:13] I had long before observed the great seriousness of their behavior, of their great humility. They had given continual proof before performing those servile offices for the other passengers, which none of the English would undertake, for which they desired and would receive no pay, saying it was good for their proud hearts and their loving Savior had done more for them.
[00:40:38] So he had this voyage and this terrible storm happened. And here's what he says, and this is where it gets interesting.
[00:40:46] Let me find my page here.
[00:40:54] Here's what he said on January 24, 1738, in John Wesley's diary, which is on the ship. Here's what he said.
[00:41:04] I went to America to convert the Indians.
[00:41:08] But, oh, who shall convert me?
[00:41:15] What does that tell us?
[00:41:17] They got back to England, and he says this in the evening I went very willingly to a society in Aldersgate street where.
[00:41:28] Where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans about a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. He says, I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation.
[00:41:45] And assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. This is after the journey to America. Why am I saying all that?
[00:41:59] That rigorous schedule, all those prayers, all those fastings, all the Bible study, all the visiting, all the prison ministry.
[00:42:12] They were known. From them came the Methodists, right? They were known as being extremely strict of it.
[00:42:21] Without conversion, no God.
[00:42:27] Why then did they do it?
[00:42:33] It was the flesh.
[00:42:36] It was the power of the flesh. Is the same reason in Matthew 6, the hypocrite saying, I fast twice in the week. I do this, I do that. The power of the flesh, when it knows it's seeking human praise and attention, is willing to do almost anything. And religion is full of that. And God is not within a thousand miles.
[00:43:02] John Wesley is an example, because later he got saved.
[00:43:12] The last thing I want you to see. Is this the uselessness of the flesh at the end of verse 16? The Bible says this.
[00:43:25] They disfigure their faces. They have sad countenances. They put their bodies to pain and suffering and affliction.
[00:43:33] And in the end of it all, the Bible says, verily I say unto you, Jesus says, they have their reward, no reward for them. This is the sad. Please hear me. This is the sad reality of depriving oneself of all comforts, even of food.
[00:43:53] All for nothing.
[00:43:56] For nothing.
[00:44:01] Some people might think. Well, the more intense and radical in my religious devotion, the more God will be impressed. But mind you, it doesn't matter if you crawl up some temple steps, you know, strewn with glass. It doesn't matter if you fast for 40 days and 40 nights. It doesn't matter if you bring yourself and people have done it to the point, to the point of very death with the wrong motive.
[00:44:28] All of it is for nothing.
[00:44:33] For nothing. Did you know that people do that in order to save their souls from sin?
[00:44:42] People in religion are willing to do almost anything to get peace, to get the knowledge or the belief that they have peace with God. And it's all for nothing. Because if you do not get it from Christ who offers living water, it's nothing. It's zero in the end.
[00:45:03] The fasting we see in verse 16 is just one more method of an outward religious form that tricks us into thinking that we're spiritual, we are right with God, all the while the Lord is looking at our heart and our motives, and that will be the judge, the criteria by which he judges and by which he rewards. Let's pray.
