Lest thou be filled

Proverbs 25:16 (KJV 1900)

16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, Lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

Proverbs 12:12 (KJV 1900)

12 The wicked desireth the net of evil men: But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.

Proverbs 23:6 (KJV 1900)

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainty meats:

Proverbs 23:3 (KJV 1900)

3 Be not desirous of his dainties: For they are deceitful meat.

Proverbs 21:5 (KJV 1900)

5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; But of every one that is hasty only to want.

Just a little more

a longtime friend of mine of ours (maybe shows up at dinner, or in the early morning of sleep)

We take in some delight that gives our senses a standing ovation, and they won’t sit back down again until they get an encore.

Look at the nature of desire/cravings

A little more might lead to less and not more. Proverbs 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, Lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

Although the fence line between enough and too much might not always be obvious, we often know when we’ve begun to wander outside the bounds.

“Since Eden, man has wanted the last ounce out of life, as though beyond God’s ‘enough’ lay ecstasy, not nausea” Kidner

Incremental loss can become deadly

The first request is always a small one, with no apparent danger in sight.

Proverbs 6:9–10 (KJV 1900)

9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep:

This desire will increase until he takes everything it can from you.

Proverbs 13:4 (KJV 1900)

4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

Causes numbness to the pleasures you once had.

Proverbs 19:24 (KJV 1900)

24 A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

Proverbs 26:15 (KJV 1900)

15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

Increasingly reluctant to tame his bodily impulses with hard work

Proverbs 21:25 (KJV 1900)

25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; For his hands refuse to labour.

When we habitually give in to “just a little more,” we feed the sluggard within:

We dull our senses.

We refine our selfishness.

We wring and squeeze God’s gifts until they break.

And we train our bodies to find self-denial offensive.

“Satan robs God’s children one indulgence at a time. - Hubbard”

No amount of reserve can sustain your through negligence. - Paul Taube

Yes, but not today or right now.

1 Corinthians 6:12–14 (KJV 1900)

12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

Let’s read this backwards.

The Body Is for the Lord

Your body has been given to you for one reason: to be an instrument for glorifying Christ. 1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Lord is for the body

God is not against you. 1 Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

This is contrast for what they said. “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats:”

Paul now says “The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body”

Our bodies were made for a purpose. It is to glorify God.

Do not believe your heart belongs to God but you can just do whatever you want with your body.

He is the God of all or not at all.

We work to make sure we are not brought under the power of anything or person other than Jesus. 1 Cor 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

How do answer the the request for just a little more?

As I studied this I got a text from Gregory. “$30 all you can drink beer at the brewery in halcyon🤢” Second text: This feels like some kind of old testament story. The results have been really bad so far.

God’s “Enough”

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV 1900)

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And how does the fear of the Lord fill us with self-control?

Trains us to listen to the Father. Proverbs 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

The fear of the Lord inclines us to hear our Father’s “just enough” as stronger, sounder, and altogether sweeter than “just a little more.”

We trust that God knows what is best for us.

Psalm 139:13–14 (KJV 1900)

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.

Acknowledge our bodies do not belong to us.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (KJV 1900)

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We have been bought by the blood of Christ.

We are indwelt by the Spirit

Our desire for holiness is greater than our desire for the pleasures of this world.

We remind ourselves God has not withheld any good thing from us.

Psalm 84:11 (KJV 1900)

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

“The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild” Chesterton

As a teenager I was told of the little dog who would run back and forth at the fence even though he had acres of land in which he could run.

The Spirit trains God’s people to walk in self-control and godliness — to enjoy God’s gifts instead of abuse them

Titus 2:11–12 (KJV 1900)

11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Plead with our simple ones.

Proverbs 1:22 (KJV 1900)

22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge?

You may be young, you might be old, but you are immature.

You are trading “just a little more” for so much that God has for you.

Great fear would be dying of dehydration while surrounded by the ocean. It appears to meet your need but never can.

Our God, who needs nothing, knows you are born with great needs

Acts 17:24–27 (KJV 1900)

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Our desires, however, so easily turn into obsessions, leading us into wild over-consumption

James 4:1–3 (KJV 1900)

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Our desire for more should cause us for the search to know Him more.

Psalm 16:11 (KJV 1900)

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

I pray the greatest years of ministry for this church will come when some of you hit your midlife crisis and decide you need more of Jesus and not a new wife, car, motocycle, or whatever comes with that craving.

You have the garden so why do you need that tree? Better yet you have God why must you have anything in the garden!

Adam and Even did not need to decide the tree was not good to look at.

They didn’t even need to try to compare the tree to other trees.

They needed treasure their walk in the cool of the day above anything they could every consume in this world.

False Kings only take

Toward the end of Samuel’s life the people knew his sons were not going to

Israel wanted to be structured like the other nations 1 Samuel 8:5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

They weren’t ready to reject God entirely. They just wanted him plus a safe, tangible plan B king like everyone else around them.

This displeased the Lord and Samuel warned them. 1 Samuel 8:10–17

a king appointed by people takes sons and sends them to war

takes children and turns them into slave labor

takes daughters into his service,

takes crops in order to feed his servants

World promises life but brings us death.

Conclusion

Do you have a need or craving that you think you will satisfy with just a little more?

You are headed in the way of death.

Do not try to meet your needs with anything of this world.

You need a new affection.

Thomas Chalmers / The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

Seldom do any of our habits or flaws disappear by a process of extinction through reasoning or “by the mere force of mental determination.” Reason and willpower are not enough. “But what cannot be destroyed may be dispossessed…The only way to dispossess [the heart] of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.” A young man, for example, may “cease to idolize pleasure, but it is only because the idol of wealth has become the stronger and gotten the ascendancy” and is enabling him to discipline himself for prosperous business. “Even the love of money ceases to have the mastery over the heart” if it’s drawn into another world of ideology and politics, “and he is now lorded over by the love of power.” But “there is not one of these [identity] transformations in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered, but… its desire for having some one object” of absolute love “is unconquerable.”

It is only when admitted “into the number of God’s children through the faith that is in Jesus Christ [that] the spirit of adoption is poured out upon us. It is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great and predominate affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, in the only way that deliverance is possible.”

So it isn’t enough to hold out a “mirror of its imperfections” to your soul. It’s not enough to lecture your conscience. Rather, you must “try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of Him who is greater than the world.

Jesus promises us more than a “little more” will ever offer.

John 15:11 (KJV 1900)

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.