WHEN You Fast...

K. Doug Allen
Christian Disciplines • Sermon • Submitted
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Give context to the “when you” statements of Jesus
16 “When you fast, don’t look like those who pretend to be spiritual. They want everyone to know they’re fasting, so they appear in public looking miserable, gloomy, and disheveled. Believe me, they’ve already received their reward in full.
14 The disciples of John the Baptizer approached Jesus with this question: “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast regularly, but not your disciples?”
15 Jesus replied, “How can the sons of the bridal chamber grieve when the Bridegroom is next to them? But the days of fasting will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them.
FASTING CRUCIFIES YOUR CARNAL NATURE
FASTING CRUCIFIES YOUR CARNAL NATURE
6 For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mindset controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace.
Jesus was Spiritual, that is, He walked after the mind of the Spirit and not the mind of the flesh. Yet He lived in a carnal body. How did He overcome the carnal mind of the flesh?
7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
7 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.
But, before we enter upon a discussion of the doctrine of the text, observe how strongly the Apostle expresses it. "The carnal mind," he says, "is ENMITY against God." He uses a noun, and not an adjective. He does not say it is opposed to God merely, but it is positive enmity. It is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion; it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself. The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence; it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity.
27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].
FASTING BRINGS FAITH FOR DELIVERANCE
FASTING BRINGS FAITH FOR DELIVERANCE
Situational
16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”
Spiritual
17 A man spoke up out of the crowd. “Teacher,” he said, “I have a son possessed by a demon that makes him mute. I brought him here to you, Jesus.
18 Whenever the demon takes control of him, it knocks him down, and he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth, and his body becomes stiff as a board. I brought him to your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they were not strong enough.”
19 Jesus said to the crowd, “Why are you such a faithless people? How much longer must I remain with you and put up with your unbelief? Now, bring the boy to me.”
22 “It tries over and over to kill him by throwing him into fire or water. But please, if you’re able to do something, anything—have compassion on us and help us!”
23 Jesus said to him, “What do you mean ‘if’? If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer.”
24 When he heard this, the boy’s father cried out with tears, saying, “I do believe, Lord; help my little faith!”
25 Now when Jesus saw that the crowd was quickly growing larger, he commanded the demon, saying, “Deaf and mute spirit, I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!”
26 The demon shrieked and threw the boy into terrible seizures and finally came out of him! As the boy lay there, looking like a corpse, everyone thought he was dead.
27 But Jesus stooped down, gently took his hand, and raised him up to his feet, and he stood there completely set free!
28 Afterwards, when Jesus arrived at the house, his disciples asked him in private, “Why couldn’t we cast out the demon?”
29 He answered them, “This type of powerful spirit can only be cast out by fasting and prayer.”
FASTING PRODUCES HUMILITY
FASTING PRODUCES HUMILITY
Humility brings honor
1 On October 31 the people assembled again, and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors.
3 They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God.
4 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the stairway of the Levites and cried out to the Lord their God with loud voices.
21 And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled.
22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.”
23 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.
FASTING OVERCOMES TEMPTATION
FASTING OVERCOMES TEMPTATION
1 Afterward, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the lonely wilderness in order to reveal his strength against the accuser by going through the ordeal of testing.
2 And after fasting for forty days, Jesus was extremely weak and famished.
FASTING REVEALS THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD
FASTING REVEALS THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD
God has perfect as well as permissive will.
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate now for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
16 As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.
17 For your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit.
We know from Galatians Chapter 5 that we have two natures as believers; our carnal, fleshly, self-centered, self-focused nature, ruled by appetites and sinful desires, and our Spiritual nature following the desires of, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
No decision if ever completely free from your carnal nature.
FASTING BRINGS FAVOR
FASTING BRINGS FAVOR
1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.
2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
5 Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,
6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!
7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
8 “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.
9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
10 “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants.
11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.
FASTING BRINGS BREAKTHROUGH
FASTING BRINGS BREAKTHROUGH
1 It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians.
2 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
5 But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.