WWUTT 1961 Fasting, Part 1 (Matthew 6:16-18)

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In Matthew 6, Jesus said don't fast like the hypocrites, so to be noticed by men.

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Instead, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen by your

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Father in secret, when we understand the text. Many of the

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Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Today we come to a subject that we don't talk about very often.

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The subject of fasting. As we continue our series in the Sermon on the

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Mount, I'm going to begin by reading in Matthew 6, verses 16 -18 out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now, whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance, so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting.

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Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your

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Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

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Once again, Jesus gives this instruction, implying that it is something that we should do.

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Just like we read previously about giving to the needy. Jesus said in verse 2, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, but give in secret, and your

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Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Again, Jesus said there, when you give to the poor.

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Not if you give, but when. We have that same sort of a preface here to fasting. When you fast, do not be as the hypocrites, but do it as unto your

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Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

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I preached on this very subject two years ago, almost two years to the day. It was on Sunday, July 4th, 2021, that I preached about fasting.

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So I want to go to that sermon. And we'll spend these two days, today and tomorrow, considering the subject of fasting as Jesus taught it in the

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Sermon on the Mount. Before getting to our exposition, let me begin with prayer.

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Heavenly Father, we come to this word today desiring to be taught by your Spirit. What a difficult subject.

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Something that we don't often think about. Fasting, depriving ourselves of food, even as we talk about this on a day such as this, when we're probably going to be enjoying some great food together in fellowship and in celebration later on today.

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But there will come times in life where we may seek the counsel and the will of God in such a way that we devote ourselves fully unto you, even depriving our bodies of those things that we enjoy here in this life, that we may know

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God. And we may seek your will and worship you more fully in this way. May we understand what fasting is, what kind of a spiritual discipline this is, that we may submit ourselves all the more unto your work that you are doing even here on this earth until the day of Christ.

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It's in his precious name that we pray and all God's people said, Amen. In Acts chapter 9, we read about a man named

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Saul, Saul of Tarsus, Saul a Pharisee, who was zealous for God and his law and hated what it was that the apostles and the

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Christians were preaching. They were preaching this message of grace, that God had forgiven you of your sins and your transgressions against the law.

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Well, what an abomination against the law of God. Why would people ever follow the law when they can be told all you have to do is follow this

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Jesus and you'll be forgiven your sins? And so zealous for the law, he gathered up some letters of approval from the higher ups among the rulers in the synagogues.

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And he decided to go to Damascus where he was going to round up some of these Christians, throw them in prison and even some would be put to death.

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So he's on his way to Damascus that he might gather up men or women, any of them, binding them and bringing them to Jerusalem.

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Now, as he went on his way, it says in Acts 9, 3, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him and he fell to the ground.

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He heard a voice from heaven saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

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And he said, who are you, Lord? And the voice from heaven replied,

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I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise, enter the city and you'll be told what to do.

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The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one.

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So they picked Saul up from the ground. They took him into Damascus and for three days he was without sight and he neither ate nor drank.

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Now, this story, you know, is talking about the man who will become an apostle of Jesus Christ, known to the

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Gentiles as Paul. His Hebrew name was Saul. Once a

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Pharisee, once a persecutor of Christians, he would be changed and transformed into an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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Jesus, after appearing to Saul on this road to Damascus, he next appeared to a man named

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Ananias. And he said to Ananias and said, rise and go to the street called

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Straight and at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. Behold, he is there praying.

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And we know more than just praying because of what was said in verse 9. He was without sight and he neither ate nor drank.

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He was fasting for those three days, fasting and praying.

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Jesus said that he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias who will come in and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight.

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But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

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And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.

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But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the

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Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

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So Ananias departed and he entered the house trusting in God.

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He ministered to Saul of Tarsus. He laid hands on him and said, Brother Saul.

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The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the

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Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.

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Then he rose and was baptized. Verse 19 and taking food.

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He was strengthened. We come today to the portion of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks to his disciples about fasting.

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And just like we've seen with the other two disciplines, giving to the needy and prayer. He begins by saying, when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.

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Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. We see this contrast again between those who do this falsely and how you as a servant of God submitting yourself fully unto the will of God.

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This is how you are to be. When you fast. Anoint your head.

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Wash your face. That your fasting may not be seen. It may not be known by others.

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It is seen by your father who is in heaven. And your father, who is in secret, who sees in secret.

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Will reward you. This discipline of fasting. What is this?

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We'll consider this in the contract in the in the context of the other two disciplines that we've considered here in chapter six.

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Jesus began this section in Matthew six one by saying, beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them.

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For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. And then Jesus gives three examples.

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And all three of these things are things that we do in secret, which

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God alone knows the genuineness of the heart of the person who practices them.

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Nobody else can say of another person whether this practice is genuine. Only God knows.

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And it begins with giving to the needy. When you give to the needy, don't sound a trumpet before you. That's what the hypocrites do.

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That they may be praised by others. But when you give, don't even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

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So that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Those who give to be seen by men, they've already got their reward.

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They were seen by men. They receive the praise of men. And that in the long term scheme of things accounts for nothing.

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But when we have the approval of God, it is unto everlasting life. Jesus then talks about prayer.

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That's what we considered last week and a couple of weeks before. When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

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For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. That they may be seen by men. I tell you, they've received their reward.

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You go pray in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you.

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Don't be like the pagans who eat up empty phrases. They think that they will be heard for their many words.

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Don't be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask of him. And then

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Jesus gives what we considered last week. A clear prayer. Your prayers should look something like this.

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Exalting our father who is in heaven. Regarding his name as holy.

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Praying that his kingdom would come. And his will would be done on earth as it is perfectly seen and understood in heaven.

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Give us today our daily bread. Providing for our physical needs as well as for our spiritual needs.

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And forgive us our debts. Humbly coming before God and asking that he would forgive us our sins.

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As we also forgive those who have sinned against us. We forgive our debtors.

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Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from the schemes of the evil one.

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And then Jesus concludes with saying. For if you forgive others their trespasses. Your heavenly father will also forgive you.

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But if you do not forgive others their trespasses. Neither will your father forgive your trespasses.

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Even in an attitude of prayers. We come before God. We're not holding grudges against other people.

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But we come with purity and sincerity of heart. Knowing that we are wretched sinners.

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Desperately in need of forgiveness from God. Which only he can give.

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And as we know that we need forgiveness. If God has truly given us that grace. We may show it to others.

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And that attitude would exist even in our prayers. That we would come humbly before God in this way.

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Not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Not thinking of ourselves as better than anyone else.

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But in our genuineness of heart. In our desire for God. We seek him and his will.

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And the next spiritual discipline goes right along with that. And that is with regards to fasting.

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Even this discipline is done that we may seek the will of God. When you fast,

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Jesus says. Do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. Now with regards to giving.

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Jesus said to give. With regards to prayer. He said to pray. Verse 9.

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Pray then like this. The interesting thing about fasting is. There's not a direct command or mandate to fast.

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And in fact we see this even in the Old Testament. There is not a law commanding the people of God to fast.

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Except for on one day. And one day only. And that was on Yom Kippur. The day of atonement.

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That was the only day that was mandated for the nation of Israel. To offer a fast unto the

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Lord. Now we see other occasions for fasting. There might be fasting before an army goes into battle.

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As they seek God's will. Or there might be fasting to commemorate a day of mourning. Or something to that degree.

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But there was no law that was written down. That said you must fast. And you must fast on this particular day.

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So even with regards to this in the New Testament. Fasting is something that is done voluntarily.

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It is done as something that we do unto God. Giving ourselves to him. That we may humble ourselves before the

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Lord. And seek his face and his will. So Jesus says when you fast.

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Do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. But when you fast. Anoint your head and wash your face.

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The instructions that Jesus gives to do this in a humble way. As an offering unto the

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Lord. In purity and in righteousness. Now let me ask you this.

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As we continue further this spiritual discipline of fasting. What is it?

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What is fasting? I didn't ask that question when we talked about prayer last week.

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Instead we were answering the question. How do you pray? And that's the offering that Jesus gives to us.

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The wonderful gift of this example of the Lord's prayer that we have. So I didn't say what is prayer.

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Because I just kind of take it as a given we understand what prayer is. Prayer is very simply talking to God.

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We need to know less about what prayer is. And more that we do it in a right way. As God has instructed us in this offering.

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That we are to give unto him. When we communicate. When we share our hearts with God. So we know what prayer is.

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But what is fasting? We seem to be a little more confused about that. There's a lot of people that think that fasting is giving up.

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Whatever I feel like giving up. Right? Let's talk first about what fasting is in a biblical context.

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Fasting is very simply giving up food and drink. That's the only way fasting is described in the

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Bible. There is no other way that fasting is applied to. Except for abstaining from food and drink.

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Consider the Young's Bible dictionary definition of fasting. It is, quote, abstinence from eating and drinking to humble oneself.

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Unquote. Very simple definition of fasting. And then there's a verse reference that went right along with that.

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In Young's Bible dictionary it was to Psalm 35, 13. I afflicted or humbled myself with fasting.

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So we fast. We abstain from food and drink. To humble ourselves before God.

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And we almost always throughout the scriptures see fasting accompanied or partnered with prayer.

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So we are seeking God. We are praying unto God. And we are depriving ourselves of certain things that we may hunger in our spirits for God.

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Now there are many other ways that this world, even a certain religious culture, has tried to define what fasting is.

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Some of you are most certainly familiar with what is called the Lenten season. The 40 days of fasting that goes from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday right before Easter.

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And it's during Lent, which is a doctrine that has kind of changed throughout the centuries.

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There are different eras of the church in which Lent was practiced in different ways or did something different. There's nothing in scripture that says you must practice a fast for 40 days.

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But it's changed so much that it's transformed to something entirely different today than it was even 100 years ago.

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Today, when a person goes through Lent, they might fast from anything. I've heard friends of mine say, well, it's

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Lent, so I'm fasting from chocolate. Or it's Lent now, so I'm fasting from TV.

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I heard one high school girl tell me one time in the ministry that I did to high school students when

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I was in Kansas. There was a girl who came to a lunch that we did and she had an ashen cross on her head.

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And so I said, oh, so you're practicing Lent? And she said yes. And I said, so what are you giving up for Lent? And she said,

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I kid you not, my boyfriend. I'm giving up my boyfriend for 40 days.

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I was thinking to myself, that probably needs to be a permanent thing if you want to give him up for 40 days. There are all kinds of things that people say that they are fasting from, but that's not fasting.

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According to scripture, fasting is very specifically giving up food and drink. A friend of mine who is a devout

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Methodist, he's a Methodist more in a historical sense, not what the Methodist church has become in the present.

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He mourns overseeing what the Methodist denomination is turning into. I've tried to talk him out of it, tried to welcome him to come to my

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Baptist church, but no, he was fully devoted to Methodism. But he called me up one day, and it was on an Ash Wednesday.

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So the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday, and it's practiced by a number of different denominations. There are even some

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Baptists I know that will practice Ash Wednesday. The pastor will be there at church on a Wednesday, and if somebody wants to come and confess anything and wants to commit themselves to 40 days of fasting, they'll do the

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Ashen Cross on the head and things like that, even among Baptists and Presbyterians, though this is a tradition that started in Roman Catholicism.

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But this friend of mine didn't care for Ash Wednesday, didn't care for the 40 days of fasting thing, though he himself was a

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Methodist. He calls me up one day on an Ash Wednesday, and he says, so I've got lots of friends of mine that are even coming back to work, and they have the

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Ashen Crosses on their head. He said, is there some text in the Bible that you can point me to where I can point to them that this really isn't something that is mandated by Scripture?

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And I said, I can do you one better than that. I can point you to a text that would tell them that they actually need to wash that cross off their faces.

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And he goes, oh, that would be even better. What passage is that? So I pointed him to Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus says in verse 17, when you fast, anoint your head.

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And I said, and wash your face. And he immediately cut me off because that's perfect. Thanks so much.

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And he hangs up the phone, hangs up the phone. And I don't know what the result of that was, but I can tell you probably had fewer friends that day after sharing that passage with them.

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So this is what fasting truly is, depriving oneself of food and drink.

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And there's nothing in Scripture that says that you must fast for 40 days, although you can go back in church history as far back as Augustine.

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And even Augustine was writing about how to not participate in Lent was to do something sinful.

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That's just legalism. That's adding something to God's Word that is not there. There's nothing in Scripture that tells us that we need to participate in a 40 day fast, though the tradition of Lent would be to identify with the

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Lord Jesus Christ who fasted for 40 days in the desert. Originally, Lent was something that just the priests did, and they did it before Easter for 40 days before Easter.

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Somehow that ended up trickling into the rest of the congregation. And then so it becomes a thing that is practiced even today, but not with the same regularity that it was practiced even a few generations ago.

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It's something that is constantly changing. Jesus gives us clear instructions on how to fast here.

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Don't do it as something to be seen by other people. And it's that statement that we will pick up with tomorrow as we get to part two of this particular sermon on fasting.

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Let's finish with a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for all the good things that you have given to us.

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And what a discipline to consider here. Fasting. That we might deprive ourselves of food and drink.

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Feeling the ache and pain in our body. That it might draw our spirit, our mind, all the more to you.

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Shape us in these things according to your Word. As the instruction we have here from Jesus is not if you fast, but when you fast.

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That this might be a spiritual discipline we do not to receive praise from men, but unto the

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Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .tt

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.com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our