Sunday, May 30, 2021 AM

Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step in humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance.

Almighty Father, if it is Your holy will that we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Your goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey You.

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil.

Way.

Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with Your Spirit of wisdom those whom in Your name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Your law we may show forth Your praise among the nations of the earth.

In time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in You to fail. With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as You give us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for Him who shall have borne the battle, and for His widow, and for His orphans.

Continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations, and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name.

There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. God be with us as You were with our fathers. May You not leave us or forsake us, so that we may incline our hearts to You, to walk in all Your ways, that all peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God.

There is no other.

Amen.

A weekend that we've had so far. Glad that you're here to worship with us. If you're visiting with us, we're especially glad that you're here. We look forward to meeting you this morning. We're going to start with a few announcements.

This morning, we will have communion, Lord's Supper here in the service today. So there will be no children's church this morning. Kids will stay in here. And then looking ahead, later this week, we'll have flock groups this evening.

So if you're not sure where you need to meet this evening, you can find a list of elders and flock groups out on the bulletin board in the hallway. Or you can just talk to your elder this morning. And then Wednesday, we've got dinner for the whole church.

That's at 545 in the fellowship hall. And then Bible study for the adults at 630 and tag for the kids at 630 as well. And then coming up June 20th on Sunday is Father's Day. So kids, I'm looking at you right now, Father's Day.

Our final verse for this week comes from Isaiah chapter 40, verses 30 and 31. Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So good verses to memorize and commit to memory. Operation Christmas Child Needs are still going on.

Some things that they need this month, yo-yos, jump ropes, puzzles, some solid color t-shirts. And they're still doing some work with the sewing ministry there. Nurseries still need some volunteers for the month of July.

So you can see Marla Hovarter about that if you're willing to serve. And then still some tickets available for Saturday, July 24th. There's Faith Night at the ballpark down in Bricktown for the Dodgers game.

Those tickets are $5 a piece. The sign-up sheet is out in the hallway as well. And then just another quick reminder, the Bible reading challenge that several people have been involved with the last couple years.

That starts on Tuesday, June 1st. And there are some plans at the back, on the back table. You can pick one of those up and find somebody to do it with. It's been really good the past couple years to read together.

We have some baptisms this morning. Are there any other announcements before we get started with worship? Well, we're gonna have a time of prayer and preparation when we're done with that. Brian will come pray for us, and then we'll have some baptisms.

Prayer for the Church, Freedom, and Baptism

Father in heaven, what a privilege to be with this body in this place on this day. What a joy to have the faith of children exhibited before us this morning. What a joy to have the word broken, open, and taught.

What a joy to have new members come later today. What a joy to fellowship among the believers, the body of Christ, the local body of Christ. Lord, we are blessed. We are blessed to have brothers and sisters that are united in spirit, one mind, one heart, one body.

May you remind us of the sacrifice made by so many in the history of this nation, some very close to us, some unknown. But it is that freedom that we enjoy today, this morning, it was paid for in blood, and there is freedom in Christ that was paid for in blood.

May we honor it and praise your name. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen.

Recently, you came to your mother and I, and you told us that you realized that you're a sinner, and that you needed a savior. So you prayed, and you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and follow him in obedience, right?

Okay, so as your first act of public obedience, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You also recently came to us and told us that you realized you're a sinner, you needed to be saved, you needed a savior.

So you prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to become Lord of your life and to follow him in obedience, right? Okay, well, as your first public profession of your faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

I think it is pretty carefree, and not much gets to her. But when something does, it really does. I hear about a year and a half ago, she was having a lot of trouble with mishaps. Things would spill, things would break, and it was really troubling her.

Her mom and I worked with her on it. And finally one night, she and I sat down and talked, and she determined from that discussion that the Lord was calling her, using those situations, the Lord was calling her to ask him for help on that.

And she came to me not long after that, I believe the next evening, and said that she wanted to become a Christian. And she went back into her room and asked Jesus into her heart. So Megan, have you dedicated your life to Christ to follow him and to do what he says?

Yes.

Okay, well, because of your profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

What a blessing, people. There'll be more in this congregation, I believe, in the future. Because you parents are being faithful to raise your children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. And this is the result of your dedication to doing what the word of God teaches you.

So we encourage you to continue, because the fruit is eternal. Would you stand as we read our call to worship? And it is in Psalm 66, one through four, and I think it's very appropriate for this morning.

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God, how awesome are your works. Through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you.

All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. Say love. Our first two songs will be By Faith, which is in your HMA, your black hymnal, number 21, and we'll sing the first verse, the second verse in the chorus, and then the third verse in the chorus.

And then the second one is Faith is the Victory, and that's in your regular hymnal 486. So you sing out from the heart. We have much to sing for this morning.

Amos and the Lord Who Roars from Zion

Bible's with you this morning. I would encourage you to turn in the Old Testament to the prophet Amos. So you may not know where to find Amos. Well, Michael's been in Daniel, so if you can find Daniel and then go to the right a little bit, a couple of prophets, you'll come to Amos.

And we're gonna be reading Amos chapter one, verses one through 15, which is actually the whole first chapter, all right? So Amos chapter one, verse one. Let us give attention to the word of the Lord.

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, when he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

And he said, the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. The pastures of the shepherds mourn and the top of Carmel withers. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.

So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-Hadad. I will break the gate bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Avon. And him who holds the scepter from Beth Eden and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kerr, says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds.

I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyre and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Edom and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with a sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Basra. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of the Ammonites and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba, and it shall devour her strongholds with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind, and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord.

Let us pray. Lord, as we read these words from the prophet Amos, your word spoken through your servant, we are reminded that you are indeed a just and holy God, who is not blind to the events that go on in this world, who is not uncaring or uninterested in what takes place.

But you will, God, in your time and in your way, reveal your holiness, your power, your might, and your majesty in judgment on sin. On the nations, Lord, may you reveal your glory in all the earth. May you show your faithfulness and your steadfast love to your people by bringing them through judgment because of their faith in you, because of their trust in Christ.

Lord, as we live in this world, we know that in this world we will have trouble, but we look to Jesus by faith, the one who has overcome the world. So, Lord, may we walk circumspectly, may we walk in wisdom, may we walk as Jesus walked.

Lord, use us, not for our praise, but for your glory, that Christ would be exalted, for Jesus is Lord. And we bow before you this morning to give you praise and honor and thanksgiving, in Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

Our next song is appropriate to that scripture in Ken's prayer and seeing the kids baptized, if you turn to your HMA, well, it'll be Christ's sure and steady anchor. You may have the song sheets. If not, follow along.

But I think the men saying this are a couple of times back, so it'll be familiar to you.

Daniel, Wisdom, and the Fear of the Lord

God, we ask you to help us today. Much in need of your help as we ever have been. You are still our heavenly father. You are still our sufficient savior. You are still our ever-present Holy Spirit. Holy God, three in one, how we need your help.

We are your people, called by your name, saved by your grace, set aside for your glory. We are here today, not because we are proficient, but because we are deficient. Lord, we are nothing without you.

You have made us in your image, and so we only live by your life. And we ask here today as we read your word together and consider the truths of your word that are timeless and unfailingly reveal Christ, that we would rejoice in you.

That you would grant a joy that proves to be our strength. As we look forward to the rest of this day and this coming week, we ask that you would nourish us with the food of your word, and that you would satisfy our thirst by the water of life, which is the Holy Spirit.

And we pray for these mercies, looking to your son, Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased, amen. We'll invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Daniel. We're gonna be in chapter one, chapter one of Daniel.

Someone was remarking, surprised that we were into part four, and they were wondering how many parts it was going to be.

And I don't know.

I really don't know. But the word of God is sufficient, and it is rich and inexhaustible. So we are gathering around the Lord's table today, and we have come together to commune with him. And examining the life of Daniel, I think we see how important that is when we talk about wisdom.

In examining the life and times of Daniel, wisdom is the principal thing. Wisdom is the principal thing. We've talked about how the ancient scribes placed Daniel with the writings, with the Kethuvim, not with the Nevi 'im, the prophets, though he is a prophet.

The key in the book of Daniel is that of wisdom. Daniel needed wisdom, we see here in chapter one. Daniel needed wisdom to understand the sovereign shakeup in which he experienced suffering and loss. It was God's sovereign timing.

It was according to God's saving purpose that Daniel was taken from his home as a mere youth, exiled to Babylon and pressed into the service of a pagan king. Daniel also needed wisdom to resist the pagan power play.

Chaldean Global Incorporated sought to thoroughly immerse, subvert, and convert Daniel and his friends. Nebuchadnezzar has appointed Ashpenaz to re-educate and repurpose these Jewish vassals into pagan form and pagan motion.

And Daniel needs wisdom to both craft and run a godly battle plan, the right God-fearing response to his situation. He couldn't simply capitulate. Here he is without apparent power, without apparent resources, but Daniel has purposed in his heart that he will not defile himself.

And then, starting there, he went about actively pursuing that course of resistance. Remember that he spoke with Ashpenaz and said, look, I don't want to defile myself with the king's supply that will compromise me and defile me.

I don't want to do that. And Ashpenaz, even though he liked Daniel, a mercy of God, he said, sorry, I can't do it. He flashes pagan credentials. He was afraid of man, Nebuchadnezzar, afraid of death. He'll have my head.

Although initially rebuffed, Daniel continued God-fearing appeals to even a lesser magistrate under Ashpenaz, and he gained permission to engage in a test. We're going to talk about the results of that test moving forward.

Daniel and his friends, you see, became God-fearing agents, working righteousness and speaking truth and glorifying God amid the rising paganism of his day. May God grant us grace to do the same. I invite you to stand with me as I read Daniel chapter 1.

I'll begin reading in verse 8 and read to the end of the chapter. These are the words of the Lord by his spirit through his prophet. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank.

Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now, God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king who has appointed your food and drink, for why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age?

Then you would endanger my head before the king. So Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had sent over, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance be examined before you and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies, and as you see fit, so deal with your servants. So he consented with them in this matter and tested them 10 days.

And at the end of 10 days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. Thus, the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.

Thus, Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. You may be seated. We live in a time of pagan rising, paganism as we have talked about. Paganism is simply oneness, oneness that is manifested in the state being the whole and everything else just parts of the whole, family, business, church, education, health.

All of it is just parts to the one whole, everything designed to serve the whole. Such has been the case in ancient times, such is the case today. Paganism is simply oneness, where everything is materially connected the same.

This is why we live in a world where everything is fungible. Men and women are interchangeable. You can take one out, put one in, and there's no difference at all. In fact, you can take a man and turn him into a woman through witchcraft, just speak the proper pronouns.

We live in a time of pagan rising, just like Daniel and his friends. And as they needed wisdom, so we need wisdom. And wisdom originates in the fear of the Lord and culminates in Jesus Christ. What apparent folly, what apparent folly before pagan eyes, that we would look for salvation in Jesus of Nazareth, truth in the Bible, and wisdom springing up from the fear of the Lord.

Isn't the universe far too complex? Don't we live in a time where knowledge is almost impossible? Don't we live in a time where knowledge is intractably and intransigently stored with isolated experts?

And only experts in certain fields can speak on certain parts of knowledge, and nobody else can speak? Here are all these complex riddles of violence, and injustice, and poverty, and corruption. And isn't the solution to society entirely dependent on dismantling Christian culture, and churches, families, and values?

And here we are gathering to eat the Lord's Supper in the face of all these great riddles and complex problems. Is it because we are selfish escapists? Is it because we are superstitious cultists? Is it because we're simply ignorant and uncaring?

Union with Christ, submission to Christ, communion with the only Savior and Sovereign is the answer to every riddle of the curse, to every rift in creation. In the midst of our pagan rising moment, we need wisdom.

We need wisdom. Wisdom is in Christ, whom God has ordained to have the preeminence in all things. This is a time for faith. This is not a time for unbelief. This is a time for submission to Christ, not skepticism concerning His word.

Christians, please do not listen to those who pay lip service to Jesus, and then seek for treasures of knowledge and wisdom outside of and in contradiction to Him. Here is what is most necessary, abiding and communing with Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God, our Savior and our Sovereign.

Let's consider this godly battle plan that Daniel and his friends implement. And I want us to see how well-situated, how entirely founded upon wisdom, this approach is. It is actually far more deeply rooted in wisdom than I think is immediately apparent.

Daniel and his friends, against their will, have been taken away to Babylon, pagan empire. They are to be immersed in a three-year education course where they're going to learn the Chaldean language.

They're going to learn Aramaic. They're going to learn Akkadian. They're going to learn all the Babylonian literature. They're going to learn all the Babylonian fields of knowledge, whether that be astrology and so on.

The king is trying to subvert them from his own table. You, hey, eat my food, talked about the wisdom of Proverbs. You sit down at the king's table, do not desire his delicacies. If you're a man of appetite, put a knife to your throat, for they are deceptive foods.

And so they refuse to defile themselves with the king's food. They will not be converted, even though they're given different names, names of pagan gods. They name us by their gods. Daniel and his friends refuse to take on those identities.

And here they are, and they're going to be God-fearing agents within the pagan empire, bringing glory to God. And of course, by the end of it, we're going to find the likes of Nebuchadnezzar and even Cyrus giving glory to the one true God.

But we have to begin here. We have to begin here, where Daniel and his friends are using a kind of wisdom that is not of the world. Pagan wisdom is not really wisdom, but pagan wisdom labors in the fumes of the fear of man and in the famine of the fear of death.

It is under the whip of mortality that those in harness of pagan wisdom pull a yoke of non-confrontation and appeasement. Life is too short to make waves. Why get upset? Why make a fuss? Unless, of course, it is what they want us to do, lest our quality of life suffer.

In contrast, not fearing man, not fearing death, leaves Daniel and his friends fearing the Lord, resting on him, depending upon him. And look what God does. Look at what God gives them. He gives them, in the King James, pulse.

Pulse. Anybody have pulse for breakfast? What is Daniel doing? Why are he and his friends taking this course of action? Apparently, it looks very foolish. They're going to a lot of effort to eat pulse.

Remember that Daniel and his friends had to appeal after Ashpenaz rejected their request. They have to go to even a lesser magistrate, and they work a deal with him. Look, let's do it for 10 days. We don't want to eat the king's food.

You don't want us to starve, do you? Then you're going to be failing your job. Why don't we do this? Let us eat something other than what the king has to offer for 10 days, and then you just do a side-by-side comparison.

And then what you think would be the good idea, you just go ahead and do it. He agrees. Notice that when they talk to the lesser magistrate, when they're making their appeals, their obedience to God is not on the table.

Their continued cooperation, no, that's on the table. We may or may not continue to cooperate with you. Their freedom is on the table. We may or may not remain free to walk about. Their lives are on the table.

We may or may not continue to live. But what's not on the table is obedience. That's not negotiable. And that is wisdom.

Why?

Because that's the fear of the Lord. God is more important than man. So what happened? Verses 15 and 16, and at the end of 10 days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's.

Delicacies.

Thus, the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables. Again, in the King James, pulse. The original concern of Ashpenaz was that Nebuchadnezzar would look upon the faces of Daniel and his friends and the faces of the others, and because Daniel and his friends had engaged in a different diet, that their faces would not be as fat as the faces of the other ones.

And this would be, in Nebuchadnezzar's eyes, a failure upon Ashpenaz's part, and Ashpenaz would die for his failure. But when Daniel and his friends proposed this, just a 10-day, just 10 days, a 10-day test to the steward underneath Ashpenaz, at the end of 10 days, after eating nothing but pulse and water, Daniel and his friends, they're the ones with the fat faces.

And the steward says, ah, we'll go with your plan. So that's what happened. That's what happened. Now, how in the world did that happen? In 10 days? Now, at some point, those who are very much a champion of vegetarianism will be taking up this passage as proof positive of God's approved diet, at which, across the room, a champion of the keto diet will arise and quote the hunter's motto, rise, kill, and eat.

Jesus said to Peter, he said it three times. We're not looking at what is considered to be the holy diet versus another holy diet. That is not the point of the story. We must be very careful that we're not reading the story as to say, well, the wisdom of Daniel was that he was just cleverer than the rest of them.

He had a higher IQ, he had a wider field of experience, he was a better dietician than anybody that they had in Babylon, and that's why he was able to engineer this result in just 10 days. That is not the point of the story.

The point of the story is that Daniel and his friends are fearing the Lord while entrepreneurs and others are fearing man and fearing death. And look what God does in just 10 days. Now, the King James says, Paul, New King James says, vegetables.

It is a word that simply means that which is sown. So it would include grains as well. But in fact, in all of Hebrew and Akkadian, the word does not ever refer to something of human consumption, except in this one case.

This is the one passage. Everywhere else, the word refers to that which is used for animal feed, that which is used for fodder, that which is planted in the ground after the plowing or before the plowing over.

But it is not used to describe human food, except in this case. So we're not looking at the virtues of a well-balanced, variable vegetarian diet that is full of wonderful things to eat that God has made.

We're looking at Daniel and his friends eating pulse, something of a lower grade than oatmeal. They're eating something akin to animal fodder, and they're washing it down with some water from the Euphrates.

And then at the end of 10 days, they're in better health than everybody else in the program. So what happened? What happened? Was Daniel being clever?

No.

God was being sovereign. God was glorifying himself in those who would fear his name. God was demonstrating that he had power no matter where his people were, for he is Lord over all the earth. And in fact, what we have here is a fulfillment of God's covenant faithfulness.

And it would be a continual fulfillment of God's covenant faithfulness, because notice that the steward takes away the delicacies and the wine that were just piling up. No, we can't eat that. He took it away.

He says, okay, you get pulse and water for the rest of your education. And at the end, as we have read, oh, they looked great. They looked a lot better than the rest of the students at the end of the three years.

What is going on here? It is a fulfillment of a very famous passage. I know that you've heard of it. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Remember that this passage is quoted by Jesus in his temptation, as he was being tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights, in which he had no food or water.

And he quotes this passage, which reaches back to a context where Israel had been led into the wilderness, and God said to Israel, I let you be hungry. I let you be thirsty to humble you. Now, how in the world did Israel survive without bread and water for a little bit of time?

How did Jesus, fully human, the divinity is not leaking into the humanity, two persons, not one nature, two natures. Fully God, fully man in one person, the incarnation. As human as human can be, and as divine as divine can be.

But the divinity is not leaking into the humanity, changing it. So how did Jesus survive? Jesus tells the devil how he has survived for 40 days without food or water. He says, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And Jesus is not saying, I am physically nourishing myself by memorizing scripture. Well, that's a good thing. It fortifies the person to memorize the word of God and to live accordingly. But we should not thoroughly spiritualize this or somehow entirely ecclesiasticize this passage.

God sustained Christ in the wilderness. God sustained Israel in the wilderness. Wisdom recognizes that as those made in God's image, we are made for God's word, yes. But notice, if our sustenance is indeed to sustain, it has to be authorized, empowered, and blessed to do so by the very word of our active and sovereign God.

He must commend it so, or it will not be so. This is the fear of the Lord. He must command the food to sustain us, or it will not. He must command the nourishment to nourish, or it will not. Give us this day our daily bread does not mean supply the stuff and we'll nourish ourselves.

We pray traditionally, and I would say wisely, biblically, bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. Because if God doesn't do it, it doesn't happen. That's the fear of the Lord. Paganism is what tells us it happens all on its own.

God's not involved in that. Paganism says that's superstition. That's the fear of the Lord. God sustained Christ in the wilderness on nothing. How did he fear the Lord? God super abundantly nourished Daniel and his friends on meager meals.

And it was during these times of testing that fearing the Lord was paramount. Here's the contrast. Back in Jerusalem, evil King Jehoiakim had just raised the taxes. And he's bringing in extra money so he can still live in luxury.

Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar's food is presumably nutritionally dense and flavorful. They did have the Babylonian gardens. They had the best of the best of the best. None of that mattered. None of that mattered if those who ate such luxuries are covenant-breaking fools who did not fear the Lord.

How do we know that? The way that the prophets preached to the rebellious people of Israel. Hosea 4, verse 10. For they shall eat, but not have enough. They shall commit harlotry, but not increase.

Why?

Because they have ceased obeying the Lord. Covenant-breakers eat the food and are not sustained. Micah 6, 13 -14. Therefore, I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins.

You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but it shall not save them. And what you do rescue, I will give over to the sword. Absolute negation and futility because they are covenant-breakers.

Haggai 1, 5 -7. Now therefore, says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.

And he who earns wages, earns wages to put in a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. That's how it worked in the old covenant. You're covenant-breaker, and you eat, you don't get satisfied.

You drink, your thirst is not satiated. Whatever you do is just confronted by the futility of God's righteous curse upon you because you're a covenant-breaker. And then God's son is called up out of Egypt.

God's servant suffers. And Christ fulfills all of the stipulations of the old covenant. He does it all. Christ is the end of the law, the tale of the law, the fulfillment of the law. To righteousness for all who believe.

Christ fulfills all of the stipulations of the old covenant, and thus he claims all of the blessings having borne our curse. So, as the administrator of the new covenant, what does he say? He offers himself as what?

Bread. And if we eat of his bread, we shall never hunger. And he offers us the water of life. And if we drink of his water that he offers, we will never thirst.

Why?

Because all the blessings of God are his, and he has borne the curse. So, yeah, communion with Christ, being filled with his Holy Spirit, is of the utmost importance. As we've been saying, our analytical tool for resisting paganism is the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God in Christ. I want us to think a little bit about this despised food choice that the young men have happened upon. They did not want to eat that or drink that which was defiled because it was of the king's supply.