GOD’S CHOSEN FAST
Isa. 58:5
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Modern People Know So Much
1. Did you hear the story about the lady who was talking to her friend and brought up the Bible. Her friend said, “Oh don’t start trying to tell to me about the Bible; my parents had me read it every day. I’m practically an expert on it!”
2. “Oh, well then why don’t you come to church with me?
3. Her friend just shook her head. "I haven’t gone in a long time," she said. "Besides, it’s too late for me. I’ve probably already broken all seven commandments."
B. VARIED RESPONSES TO “FASTING” CALL
1. Some think fasting is a form of dieting.
2. One Christian told me, "I will fast during the night, and you fast during the day!" ("Break-fast")
3. One preacher told me (and teachers) that we should be feasting and not fasting. He uses Christ's statement in Mark 2:18-22 to say that once the Bridegroom came back from the dead, the children of the bride chamber don't need to fast. So in his teaching, fasting passed away at the end of the four Gospels!
C. GOD HAS CHOSEN FASTING. Contrary to this, the Bible emphatically teaches and commands fasting as something we’re supposed to do. Examples:
1. Lev. 16:29; God commands fasting.
2. Isaiah 58:5; God has "chosen" fasting.
3. Almost without exception, all the great men and women of the Bible are recorded as having fasted at different points in their lives.
4. Our Lord Jesus commended the fasting of the Pharisees (Luke 18:12) and set us the example of fasting Himself (Mt. 4:2).
5. Jesus taught us we’re to fast; "When you fast…" Mt. 6:16. Christ also indicated that upon his departure that His disciples would fast, Mark 9:15.
6. Since it’s God's will for us to fast, how are we to fast and what are God's purposes for our fasting?
I. WRONG MOTIVATIONS FOR FASTING
A. DON’T FAST TO EARN GOD’S BLESSINGS
1. There is the settled danger of thinking, "If I pray enough, God will be forced to answer. If I fast enough, God will be forced to pay attention."
2. God's ear is always open to you. Salvation, blessing, and revive full can't be earned or forced. They are gifts of His grace!
B. DON’T FAST AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OBEDIENCE
1. In Isaiah 58:1, God states they were trying to use fasting as a bribe. God pointed them to obedience; "Stop quarreling, help the poor and needy, lift the burdens."
2. Sin will block your prayer until you make it right. God prefers obedience to sacrifice, but obedience plus sacrifice pleases Him even more.
C. DON’T FAST TO IMPRESS OTHERS
1. Read Matt. 6:16-18. We should fast strictly to the Lord.
2. How can we "sign up" to fast and not be letting others know about it? If you need to just put an X. We don't need to know who is signing up!
D. DON’T LET FASTING BECOME A FORM/ LEGALISM INSTEAD OF HEART-DRIVEN
1. Anything can lose its meaning or become a heartless ritual.
2. The answer lies, not in discontinuing the practice, but in loving the Lord so much that you want to use every means possible to draw closer to Him.
3. Self-discipline is not legalism. Legalism is defined as "strict, literal, or exclusive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code."
4. HUMOR: Intermittent Fasting:
a. An Irishman was very overweight, and so his doctor put him on a diet.
b. "I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for 2 weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least 5 pounds.
c. When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60 lbs! "Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said, "Did you follow my instructions?"
d. The Irishman nodded..."I'll tell you though, I thought I was going to drop dead on that 3rd day."
e. "From the hunger, you mean?" asked the doctor. "No, from all the confounded skipping!"
II. HOW ARE WE TO FAST?
In the American Christian scene, it’s kind of trendy to have nifty names for different ways of fasting. Some examples are:
A. FASTS NAMED AFTER BIBLICAL PEOPLE
1. DANIEL FAST. Found in Daniel 1:8-14 when Daniel and his closest friends turned down the king's diet of wine and rich foods and asked nothing but vegetables and water so as not to defile themselves. The idea is to separate yourself from the world as one set apart for God.
2. SAMUEL FAST. Samuel instructed the Israelites that the reason for their troubles (Philistine dominance) was that they had drifted away from God's will. He told them to fast and pray. This is really corporate fasting.
3. PAUL’S FAST. This named after Paul's conversion on the Damascus road, when blinded, he fasted and prayed as he sought God's will for his life. (Acts 9:1-22)
4. JOHN THE BAPTIST FAST. John the Baptist lived life in the wilderness and ate a limited diet of locusts and wild honey. While that isn't going to be the diet of choice for most people today, this fast represents separation from the world.
B. SEVEN TYPES OF FASTS
1. NORMAL - abstaining from food. Example: Jesus “ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them was hungry” (Luke 4:2).
2. TOTAL - abstaining from food and water; normally no more than 3 days. Examples: For three days Paul was blind, and did not eat or drink anything” (Acts 9:9), Moses (Deut. 9:9), Israel (Ezra 10:6), Israel (Esther 4:16).
3. PARTIAL - restricting diet of certain foods or a meal a day. Examples: Daniel “so the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead” (Daniel 1:16), (Daniel 10:3).
4. REGULAR CALLED FASTS - fast days that commemorate an event or weekly fasts on a regular day. Examples: Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27; Ps. 35:13; Is. 58:5), a fast day (Jer. 36:6); four separate festivals (Zech 8:19); twice a week (Luke 18:11-12).
5. PUBLIC - fasts called to times of special need and emergency. Almost all regular fasts were public fasts, but all public fasts are not necessarily regular ones. Examples: King Jehoshaphat when Judah was invaded (2 Chron. 20:1-4), Ezra returning the exiles (Ezra 8:21-23) Ninevah, as a result of Jonah’s preaching (Jonah 3:5,10).
6. INVOLUNTARY -no desire for food because of anxiety, sorrow, or mental distress (Dan. 6:18), and where a person finds themselves in a situation where no food is available (Matt. 15:32; 2 Cor. 6:5, 11:27)
7. NON-FOOD FASTS –where it’s not food that’s being fasted, but something else that the individual craves, whether an activity, an interest, a person (1 Cor. 7:5), etc.
III. 7 PURPOSES OF FASTING
A. AN ACT OF MOURNING, IN RESPONSE TO GRIEF
1. FOR KING SAUL, the valiant men of Jabesh Gilead (1 Sam. 31:13) and David (2 Sam. 1:12).
2. OVER JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION, Jer. 52:6-7; Zech. 8:19.
3. OVER TEMPLE’S DESTRUCTION, 2 Kgs. 25:8; Zech. 7:3; 8:19.
B. AN ACT OF HUMBLING ONESELF, OFTEN IN THE HOPE OF AVERTING JUDGMENT
1. David for his son.2 Sam. 12:16.
2. Ahab………………..1 Kg. 21:27-29.
3. Nationally…………Jonah 3:7-10.
C. AN ACT OF PETITIONING
1. Jehoshaphat, when invaded, fasted as part of his petitioning God for help, 2 Chron. 20:3.
2. Ezra, when traveling with the priceless Temple implements, fasted while petitioning God for protection, Ezra 8:23.
D. AID TO DIVINE INSIGHT. Daniel regularly fasted to gain divine insight, Dan. 9:3; 10:3.
E. AN ACT OF WORSHIP
Anna the prophetess is described as “serv(ing) God with fastings and prayers night and day,” Lk. 2:37. The word “served” (KJV) is ‘latreuo;’ it’s the regular word for ‘worship.’ So fasting is a form of worship. See also Acts 13:2.
F. TO SUBDUE THE CARNAL NATURE
1. Matthew 17:14-21 tells how the 9 disciples couldn't cast the demon out of the boy. They had been commissioned and had cast out demons before. When they asked why they couldn't do it, Jesus answered that "this kind comes not out but by prayer and fasting"(vs. 21). The Lord went on to tell them that their faith was not strong enough.
2. In Galatians 5:16-17, Paul says, “So I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do what you want.”
3. Fasting puts down the carnal appetites and causes the spiritual man to gain greater dominance. Clearly, if combined with prayer, fasting has the potential of increasing spiritual power.
G. TO MAKE OUR VOICE HEARD ON HIGH. “You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high” Isa. 58:4.
IV. CORRECT MOTIVATIONS TO FAST
A. FAST TO PLEASE THE LORD
1. Fast because you want to draw nearer to the Lord. Fast because He is so precious, that your moved to offer any costly gift and holy devotion. Fast because He suffered so much, you wish to enter into the spirit of His cross.
2. Remember Zech. 7:5, "Was it really for Me that you fasted?"
B. FAST IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S CALL
1. In the O.T. & N.T., fasting is definitely directed by God and is a normal part of His servant’s lives. Joel 1:14; 2:15 tell us, "Declare a holy fast."
2. Fasting is specifically called a form of worship in Luke 2:37 and in Acts 13:2 the apostles and prophets "ministered to the Lord and fasted." Out of that prayer meeting came the Holy Spirit's first call to send missionaries.
C. FAST TO HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD. Fasting is often associated with repentance (1 Kings 21:27, Psalm 35:13, etc.).
D. FAST TO SEEK GOD’S FACE MORE FULLY
1. The greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength" Mark 16:30, 33.
2. Hunger to see God and His mighty work can be so great that one loses the desire for food. Fasting can also be used to intensify desire for God.
E. FAST AS A HOLY DISCIPLINE OF YOUR SOUL
1. John Wesley believed and taught that we may seek God's face through prayer and fasting. He required all Methodist ministers to fast twice a week as a holy discipline for their souls.
2. A disciple of Jesus is a disciplined follower. Regular habits of prayer and fasting are a natural part of the spiritual life of those who follow Him.
ISAIAH 58 ON FASTING
I. THINGS THEY DID WRONG
A. ACCUSED GOD WRONGLY (3)
B. DID AS THEY PLEASED during fasting (3, 13)
C. EXPLOITING WORKERS (3)
D. QUARRELING, STRIFE, VIOLENCE (4)
E. OPPRESSING PEOPLE (9)
F. POINTING ACCUSING FINGER (9)
G. MALICIOUS TALK (9)
II. WHAT REAL FASTING IS
A. SPIRITUAL LIBERTY FOR THE LOST (Vs. 6)
1. “Loose the chains.” Chains are things which keep people bound. There are things you’d like to lay down, but haven’t been able to. Examples? Porn, alcohol, cussing, thought life, etc.
2. “Undo the heavy burdens” (KJV). By prayer, the Word, and counsel, we can help them undo their heavy burdens.
3. “Set the oppressed free.” Probably means witnessing while fasting!
4. “Break every yoke.” Help them cast their cares on the Lord.
B. PHY. ASSISTANCE TO THE POOR
1. Share your food with the hungry (7,10)
2. Give shelter to the homeless (7)
3. Clothe the naked (7)
4. Take care of your own poor family (7)
C. CORRECT ATTITUDES
1. Sincerity (2)
2. True humility (3)
3. Count it a joy (14)
D. KEEP THE LORD’S DAY HOLY (13)
III. REWARDS FOR CORRECT FASTING
A. LIGHT (8)
B. HEALING (8), physical & spiritual
C. RIGHTEOUSNESS (8) God will credit you with righteousness
D. GOD’S PRESENCE/PROTECTION (8)
E. DIVINE GUIDANCE (11)
F. PROVIDE YOUR NEEDS (11)
G. RESTORE THINGS LONG BROKEN (12); could be relationships, reputations, emotional healing, etc.
H. BLESSING & ABUNDANCE (14)
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: ANSWERED PRAYER
1. "In the summer of 1876, grasshoppers nearly destroyed the crops in Minnesota. So in the spring of 1877, farmers were worried. They believed that the dreadful plague would once again visit them and again destroy the rich wheat crop, bringing ruin to thousands of people.
2. The situation was so serious that Governor John S. Pillsbury proclaimed April 26 as a day of prayer and fasting. He urged every man, woman and child to ask God to prevent the terrible scourge.
3. On that April day all schools, shops, stores and offices were closed. The next day temperatures soared to a very high temp. for April.
4. Minnesotans were devastated as they discovered billions of grasshopper larvae wiggling to life. For 3 days the unusual heat persisted, and the larvae hatched. It appeared that the wheat crop would be wiped out.
5. On the fourth day, however the temperature suddenly dropped, and that night frost covered the entire state. Result? It killed every one of the pests as surely as if poison or fire had been used.
6. It went down in the history of Minnesota as the day “God answered the prayers of the people." [SOURCE: John Maxwell, Partners in Prayer.]
B. THE CALL
1. Prayer & fasting still work! If we would employ them more often, we would get many more victories.
2. We've seen how the discipline of fasting was practiced throughout the Old Testament, by the Lord Jesus and the disciples, and throughout the book of Acts & the Epistles.
3. It shouldn’t be thought strange that a N.T. believer should fast; rather, it should be thought unusual if they didn't! Let's ask God how He wants us to incorporate fasting into our lives.
4. I want you to get committed to fasting during our 21 days of fasting in January.
5. How many of us need a break-through tonight? Stand with me and let’s pray.
