In this sermon, the speaker addresses the issue of gluttony and overindulgence in the context of the story of the Israelites in Numbers 11. The speaker highlights how the Israelites longed for the food they had in Egypt and how their desire for flesh led them to sin. The sermon emphasizes the warning from God in Deuteronomy to beware of forgetting Him when they become full and prosperous. The speaker also references 1 Corinthians 10, which discusses the reasons why Israel fell in the wilderness, including their lust and dissatisfaction with what God provided.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. Let's go for it. Well, good morning and greetings in Jesus' name. I've been a little curious, sitting in the service this morning, if you'll allow me to be so bold as to ask a couple questions. This morning, I was wondering how many of us went home last Sunday morning and oh, maybe Sunday evening or Monday or Tuesday, we put some action to the message that we heard about the Word of God. How many of you have set something in concrete that you're going to do in the next year with the Word of God? Can I see your hands? Keep them up. Keep them up. Amen. God bless you. We responded to that message last week and I believe it was a message from the Lord. You know, you can miss a message from the Lord if you're not careful and let it just slide right by. But we took that message as a family. We took it as a message from the Lord and we set some real nice goals for the next year. I set some goals. I have to admit that someone gave me a big thick book of treasures by Oswald Chambers and I've been captivated by his writings. And God spoke to my heart last Sunday morning and said, you know, those are good writings and he's a good godly man, but he's not God. And we can easily start reading other things instead of reading God. And I repented of that and set my focus back on the Word of God. Not that I'm not reading the Bible, but just letting other things slowly creep in and take that which only the Word of God should take. You see, it's only this book that's quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, which strengthens us with might and gives us direction. And so I just want to let you know that I heard last week and I wanted to see how many of you heard because it seems like that's how things are flowing this morning. May we be doers of the Word and not hearers only. In 2009. Amen. All right, this morning I have a little different message for you. Hope you can handle it. I would like to preach this morning on the subject the sin of gluttony. That may seem like an odd subject this morning, but I assure you my motive is preventative. And I don't want to heap guilt on your holiday festivities. That is not my burden this morning. But my burden is preventative. We want to look at a subject which is very clearly in the Bible and it's not one that you hear very often. I don't know how many of you ever heard a sermon on gluttony. Just a few. Gluttony is a sin. It's clearly revealed in the Word of God. And I think it's one we need to look at. You know, oftentimes as I visit with people from other congregations, they often tell me, Oh, you're the church that doesn't have any standards. And I'm not sure how we got that name, but I guess that some people think that we're a church that doesn't have any standards. And I often tell them, Oh, we do. We have standards. We believe in the standards of the Word of God. In fact, we have more standards than you do. And this is one of them that I always give them. We believe it's wrong to be a glutton. And that stops just about everybody right there. We believe it's wrong to be a glutton. We believe in soul winning in our church. We believe it's a sin if you don't win souls. We believe in fasting. And I just go down a big long list of things to get their attention and help them to realize that we're not a church that believes that you can just go do what you want. Come to this church and you can do what you want. We're not that. So, gluttony is a subject that you hear very little about. And most of the time it's a bit of a silent subject among God's people. And I'm sure that we can imagine why it's a silent subject. Because it's one that God's people wrestle with pretty often. And of course, if you're wrestling with something, it's a little hard to get up and preach about it. It's a little bit like the sin of covetousness. You don't hear very many sermons on covetousness in Lancaster County either. I'll never forget. It's years ago now that David Alspaugh had a message on covetousness. I don't know how many of you were there to hear that message. Just a few. It was in a tent. We had a tent out here. And he was having the messages every evening and got up and made his announcement of what his message was going to be and started down through the verses one after another after another. Oh, it got very quiet in the tent that evening when Brother David Alspaugh was preaching about the sin of covetousness. Well, you know, that's a little hard to blast that one here in Lancaster County because there's a lot of it around here. Well, I think that gluttony is a bit the same way. Why this message? I'll give you four reasons just as an introduction before we look into the Scriptures. Number one reason for this message is we live in America. That is a good enough reason if we go no further than that. We live in America. And America is a land of gluttony. Can I hear the amens on that one? We live in a land of gluttony. We are famous in this land. All the other lands in the world acknowledge that America is the fattest nation on the earth. That means we live in a land of gluttony. So that's a good reason for us to take a good look at it. Second reason, the Bible gives equal warnings against gluttony as it does against drunkenness. They're about equal. If you track down through the Scriptures, you will find God warning and damning drunkenness. And you will also find God doing the same with gluttony. It's not a little issue. It's not something to laugh about, although many American Christians laugh about it all the time. Thanksgiving afternoon, you know, when they're sitting back in their chair and holding their tummy for all the eight. It's a thing that everybody laughs about. Seems a little bit like glorying in your shame to do such a thing. So because the Bible gives equal warnings to gluttony as it does also to drunkenness, I think it's good for us to take a look at it. Number three, gluttony will drain your spiritual life right out of you. Little by little, you will undo everything that you did by coming to church on Sunday morning, by getting up to read your Bible, by sitting your family down to have devotions together. Little by little through gluttony, you can undo the spiritual life right out of you. And lastly, the influence of gluttony is very subtle. You know, we are a people here, this congregation, we don't believe in drinking. We stay away from drinking. Nobody goes to their refrigerator and gets out a bottle of beer or a bottle of whiskey or a bottle of wine and sits around and drinks it in the evening. We stay away from that. But eating is something that we do all the time. And therefore, it has its subtle way of creeping in and getting a hold of that. Us, and therefore, a bit of a preventative sermon this morning. I remember very well years ago when God began to deal with us, Jackie and I, on this subject of gluttony. We felt a bit alone. I was thinking about it this morning. It was about 28 years ago that God began to deal with us on this subject. And as we begin to open our hearts, Brother Tim, and hear what the Word of God says on this subject, we didn't find a whole lot of encouragement. There weren't a lot of other people around saying, Amen, when we brought the subject up for discussion. It was just kind of like, there's something wrong with you. You're a bit weird for even thinking that maybe we're not eating the way that we should. But I remember as we were meditating upon these things, and God began to deal with us, I remember so clearly, I don't know, maybe it was a week or two before Thanksgiving 28 years ago, we decided we are not going to do Thanksgiving like we've been doing Thanksgiving for many years. And I mean many years. We decided we're just not going to make as much. And we're just not going to make as many things. And we're just going to work a little bit at this thing so that Thanksgiving doesn't end up being that painful feeling that you have because you ate and you ate and you ate and there you sit and you're so full and you wish you hadn't ate so much. We just decided we're going to work against that. That was 28 years ago. Let me give you a definition of gluttony. It means to be lavish. To swallow greedily. These are pretty powerful words. Please forgive me if you feel uncomfortable this morning, but these are pretty powerful words for us Americans. I know, you know, there's more restaurants in America than there are any place else in the whole world. I mean, you name it, you can get it, you know. And I think it's good for us to look at a subject like this. Even though it may make us feel a little bit uncomfortable. To be lavish. To swallow greedily. Listen to this definition out of the Bible and we'll look at the verse later. Riotous eaters of flesh. That's what gluttony is. Riotous eaters of flesh. It means to eat and to drink excessively. And in simplicity, it simply means overeating. It's letting food become an addiction in my life. Something that controls me instead of me controlling it. That's gluttony. When food becomes an addiction in my life and food is controlling me instead of me controlling food. That's gluttony. It means eating more than you need. Us Americans are often guilty of that. In Titus chapter 1 and verse 12, Paul, writing to Titus, gives a little character description of the Cretans that are there on the island. And he says that they are called slow bellies. Remember that little phrase in the Scriptures? Slow bellies. That word slow bellies is also translated in other translations. They are idle gluttons. Idle gluttons. The Greek word for belly is gaster. I know that these are strong words. And we want to look at a few verses, but I want us to begin with Philippians. If we can turn there. Philippians chapter 3. This is not a hidden subject in the Bible. And it's good for us to look at it. Paul gives some very strong words on this subject in Philippians chapter 3. Now he doesn't use the word gluttony. But he clearly brings out the principle of gluttony and the sin of it. As he is describing those who are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Just to remind you that these words that we are going to read in verse 18 and 19. These follow Paul's beautiful words of commitment to Christ. And how that he has made the rule of his life Christ. And if anything would get in the way of that beautiful relationship, it goes. And Christ stays. And so Paul, flowing in that context, writes these words in verse 18. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. They are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Now that's a serious statement. To say that someone is an enemy of the cross of Christ. But he goes on to describe a little bit of the character of these who are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And he says these words. Whose end is destruction. Whoa! Whose end is destruction. What kind of people are these? Whose end is destruction who are enemies of the cross of Christ. He says, whose God is their belly. Whose God is their belly. That word is speaking about gluttony. He is simply saying they are being ruled by their belly. That their belly has control over them instead of God's. That their belly has taken the place of God in their life. That their belly and the desires of their belly is feeding them, is satisfying them, is consoling them, is comforting them. And they are getting many, many things that only God should be giving them. And they are getting them through their belly. Whose God is their belly. They are speaking about gluttony, brothers and sisters. And he goes on to say, whose glory is in their shame. You know, and as I read that word, I thought, you know, that is so typical. Such a beautiful description of America today. And multitudes of those who name the name of Christ would laugh and glory as they stuff themselves on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day or whenever else it is. They will sit around and laugh and make jokes about who ate the most and one more piece of pie and one more of this and one more of that. And they glory in their shame. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not so to be. Among God's people, their end is destruction. Whose God is their belly, who glory in their shame and put their mind on earthly things. This is not a little one, is it? We move on just a little bit, if we can, over to the book of Ecclesiastes. Such a precious word there. In the book of Ecclesiastes, if you can turn there with me. Chapter 10. This is one of those verses which God began to speak to my own heart about this subject many years ago. That started grabbing my attention. In Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 16 and 17 says these words. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning or indulge themselves in a banquet in the morning. Verse 17. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles and thy princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness. Now that's a very interesting use of words there. There's a few insights there. I want you to notice, first of all, that the word drunkenness is used in the framework of eating. You can get drunk on eating. Now it's not drunk in the same way that you can get drunk on alcohol. But there is a dulling, there is a silliness, there is a dulling effect that comes over the heart and the life of one who eats for pleasure instead of for strength. In other words, my motivation is to eat. Not for strength because I need strength to live and walk and serve God and all that. But I'm eating for pleasure. That eating for pleasure is called drunkenness. Right here in this verse. We can see from this verse that there is a proper place given for food. It's not that God doesn't want us to eat. It's not that God doesn't want us to enjoy eating. We should enjoy the things which God has freely given to us. But God puts food in its proper place. We are to eat to live, not live to eat. And there's a far gap between the two of those. The one we simply look at life and say we need to eat because we need to have the strength in order to be able to work and care for our families and do God's will and do God's work. We need to eat in order to live. But if you turn that thing around and all of a sudden your belly is becoming your God, then you will find yourself living to eat. And you'll be finishing your meal and wondering what's for the next meal. This is not good, brothers and sisters. To eat for strength is the will of God. To eat just for pleasure's sake is drunkenness according to what I see in the Scriptures. And it doesn't have a good effect upon us. Some years ago, I don't know, maybe three or four, I was in Shady Maple. In an afternoon, my wife and I went for a date. On a Tuesday afternoon, I believe it was, and we were sitting in Shady Maple. And you know what Shady Maple is. And you know there are people who go to Shady Maple for one thing and one thing only. And I would say that if you have those tendencies in your life, you do not belong in Shady Maple. But we were there, Jackie and I, having a little bite together, sitting and chatting after our meal. And a man came on the scene there in front of us. Must have been about a 400 pound man. Very, very big man. And he had three plates of food that he set out on his table. And then he quickly went over and drew himself three different kinds of drink, you know. One of this and one of this and one of this. And he brought his three glasses. And he set the three glasses on the table. And he had his three plates sitting there on the table. And he pulled himself up to the chair. And he got his napkin and stuck it in his shirt like this. And he grabbed his knife and he grabbed his fork and he went at it. Just like that. I literally lost my appetite as I watched that man sin and sin and sin and sin. And he ate. How did he say? He swallowed greedily. And ate plate after plate of food. Now I know, I do not think there is anybody in this room that would eat plate after plate after plate of food. And I thank God for that. As I said again, this is preventative. But the fact of the matter is that you can get addicted to food to such a place like that man there. He was a prisoner inside of his body. A total prisoner. Food was his God. I want to challenge your thinking this morning. I do not believe that you can live like that and go to heaven. Do you believe that? You cannot live like that and go to heaven. Turn with me to Proverbs. Chapter 23. Some very staggering verses here in chapter 23. God gives a warning to the man or the woman who is given to appetite. In other words, your appetite has a hold of you. You know, not given to much wine. Here we are talking about being given to appetite. In other words, I have no control over my appetite. My appetite has got me. And here is the warning that is given in chapter 23 and verse 1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Now the context there, I am not going to read the rest of the verses, but the context there is that of an influential man who is trying to deceive and trick somebody, and he uses food to get him. We call it today, whining and dining. He is whining and dining, this man, because he has an ulterior motive. And that is not our point this morning, but the point that God is saying here is, if you are a man given to appetite, it would be better for you to put a knife to your throat than to sit down at a table like that, where someone is going to lay before you and tantalize before you all of his dainties. You are going to give yourself over to it, and he will get you and deceive you and get what he wants out of you. Better to put a knife to your throat. Strong words. That is like plucking out your eye or cutting off your hand. It is better to put a knife to your throat if you are a man or a woman given to appetite than to be drawn in by the tricks and the deceitfulness of one who is whining and dining you. Proverbs 23, again, verse 19. Hear these words. And again, Timothy, God says here, in verse 19, Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Pretty graphic words, isn't it? Again, we can see that whether it is gluttony or whether it is drunkenness, it is going to bring you to drowsiness. It is going to bring dullness over you. It is going to bring laziness into you. And according to God's Word here, the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. It seems to me that what God is saying there is, if we allow our appetites to get out of control, those appetites begin to control us, and we begin to go down, we get dull, we get lazy, we don't feel like working, and on and on it can go. But I also want us to notice here, brothers and sisters, that the drunkard and the glutton are put in the same verse. God does that. That's not the only place in the Scriptures where you will find that. That God takes the two of those and puts them together. And the reason why that's important to us is because we already have a conscience about drunkenness. Our hearts would say, No! I don't even want to touch those things. I will not allow my body to be controlled with drink. But yet, here we are, living in America, in a gluttonous land. And I wonder if sometimes we aren't slowly being taken over by that same spirit of pleasure and desire, though we will not drink. It's coming through food. Danger. Danger. I think it's also good for us to note, looking at a verse like this, that we should be a little careful where we eat and when we eat. Did you get that? Where we eat and when we eat. You know, you can go to a restaurant at the wrong time of the day and you'll be sitting down right in the middle of all kinds of people that are drinking and carrying on and you'll be eating and they'll be over there and this table is full and they're over there having a good old time and there you sit having a meal. Be not among winebibbers and among riotous eaters of flesh, the Bible says. Maybe that's not a place for us as God's people. There are places where you can go and have a nice little meal where you don't have to sit down in the midst of all the drunkenness and all of the overeating and all those things. God warns us in verses like this. Turn with me now to Numbers 11. Very sad story over here in Numbers 11 which was written for our learning. For our learning upon whom the end of the world has come. In Numbers chapter 11, verse 4, we find these sad words. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting, or fell into lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? You've got to picture the scene here. Who's going to give us some flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely. And the cucumbers. And the melons. And the leeks. And the onions. And the garlic. Oh, we remember the nice tasty food that we had in Egypt. And all the flesh that we had freely there to eat. We remember that. Who's going to give us flesh? They said. But now our soul is dried away. Our soul is dried away. Are you sure? Our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bendalum. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. Now, God put that in there. See? Just to let us know that what they are now looking at and abhorring is not some bad tasting food. This is prime meat. In fact, the Bible calls it angel's food. They did eat angel's food. But they got to looking and remembering what it was like, and the flesh that they had in Egypt. And they began to complain to the Lord. And Moses heard the people weep. I'm sorry. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families. Every man in the door of his tent in the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased. Flip over now to verse 31. God is going to give them what they want. You know, God does that sometimes. He gives us what we want. God help us when God gives us what we want, when we want something that we don't need. May God help us. But, in verse 31, we see God giving them what they want. And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp as it were a day's journey on this side and as it were a day's journey on the other side. That's a lot of meat! A day's journey this way and that way. Meat everywhere! Round about the camp and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. Now that's a lot of meat! And the people stood up all that day and all that night and all the next day. Look what they're doing. And gathered the quail. He that gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, e'er it was chewed. Another place in the Scriptures it says they ate it raw. Their lust for flesh had gotten so bad that they ate it raw. They didn't even stop to cook it. While the flesh was yet between their teeth, e'er it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people. And the Lord smote the people with a great, very great plague. And He called the name of that place Kibrath Hatavah. Because there they buried the people that lusted. And Kibrath Hatavah means, let's see, where is it? The graves of lust. That's what they named the place. These are the graves. This is the cemetery where all the people who lusted died. This is a very sad picture of what lust can do. And I want you to note here that it was lust for food that they were after. And lust for meat. And I'm not against eating meat. Don't misunderstand me this morning. But I think it's good for us to acknowledge or at least to know that the rest of the world only gets meat once a week. We can have it two or three times a day if you want it. But do you need that much meat? I'm not sure. I'm not sure you do. Reading Tozer a little bit yesterday, he said these words about evangelical Christianity 60 years ago, which I wonder what he would say today. But he said these words about evangelical Christianity 60 years ago. He said, The church has followed the example of the children of Israel. The people began eating and drinking and they rose up to play. That's what Tozer said 60 years ago as he looked at the evangelical church and recognized that this whole matter of eating and gluttony and more eating and church socials and all those things were just getting a hold of the people of God. All through the book of Deuteronomy, God warns His people repeatedly. He says these words, When you come into that prosperous land called the land of Canaan, beware! Beware! When you get full, beware lest you forget God. And it seems to me as I look at the context of all of those warnings, it's like God is saying, If you are always full, you will have a tendency to forget God. Am I wrong in making those two connections? If you are always full, you will have a tendency to forget God. Ezekiel. Turn there. We are not covering all the verses, but I just want to go through a few and we can take a look at them and hear what God would say to our own hearts. In Ezekiel chapter 16, God is complaining to Israel because He has done so much for her. He has cared for her abundantly and she has taken that abundance and consumed it upon herself. And in doing that, she has forgotten God. God warns and admonishes in chapter 16 and verse 49 with these words, Behold! This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. Whoa! Thy sister Sodom? Yes. That's how far you have fallen. What was the iniquity? Pride. Fullness of bread. And abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. And they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore, I took them away as I saw good. And what God is saying here is He's just pulling back the history veil a little bit and helping us to see what brought Sodom to the place where He had to destroy it and what had also brought Israel to the place that He was having to say, I cannot have you anymore. I'm sending you away to Babylon. And fullness of bread was right there in the middle of it. Right in the middle of it. He uses the word iniquity. Interesting word. Iniquity is right and good, perverted and twisted by our flesh. You see, there's nothing wrong with eating. God has put within us, as human beings, a desire to eat. And He's put taste buds in our mouths that we might enjoy the food, which would also encourage us to come back and eat again. God wants us to eat. We need to eat in order to have strength, in order to work, in order to serve God. But, we can take that natural desire which God has put in there and twist that thing out of the desires of our flesh, and all of a sudden, that which is something beautiful, something good and right, something that God gave to us, turns into something that has gotten control of us. We are no longer controlling it, but it is controlling us. And this is a danger. In Luke chapter 21, we find these words of warning. In chapter 21, toward the end of the chapter there, I believe. And this is in the context of the second coming of Christ. This is in the context of what it's going to be like in the last of the last days before the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. This is the context. Verse 33 of chapter 21 of Luke. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Oh, that's beautiful! There's some glorious promises in there that we can escape those things, that we can be counted worthy, that we can have the blessed privilege of standing before the Son of Man, but it is given in the context of a warning to us. And the warning is a danger sign that your heart can be overcharged with eating and drinking, gluttony and drinking, to the point where that day comes upon you unaware. Unaware. In fact, in Matthew, Jesus said it this way in Matthew. He said, it'll be like in the days of Noah. And what does He describe the days of Noah as? They were eating and drinking. Now, there's nothing wrong with eating and there's nothing wrong with drinking. But if we are so caught up in our eating and our drinking that our heart is overcharged or burdened down, or drugged down, that we're not aware of what's going on around us, that we do not sense the signs of the times that we live in, and we're just eating and drinking and rising up to play and living it up and having a nice day. And all the while, destruction may not be very far away. The warnings are given to us. Eating and drinking can drain the spiritual life right out of you. How many would say amen? You know that by your own experiences. Yes, it can. And we don't want that. Romans 13 says it this way. Beautiful little portion of Scripture there in chapter 13. Verse 12. Listen to what God says. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but instead put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Now that's talking about more than eating, but it is talking about eating. Amen? Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in the last of the last days. The night is far spent. Be careful what you do and what you allow your flesh to do is what He's saying. 1 Peter 2, verse 11. Just a kind and a loving word from an old preacher named Peter. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, Peter says, as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Do you see the warnings that God gives? It's very clear to me as I look in the Scriptures that this should be an issue in my heart. That it's something that I should be alert about. And that it's something that I can easily be caught up into and led astray. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Chapter 4, verse 1. Same book. 1 Peter. Look at the flow of the context here. It's beautiful. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. You see the difference there? How are you going to live the last days of your life out? In the flesh? To the lusts of men? Or to the will of God? And he makes a distinction between the two. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. Hey, this is the way we used to be when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banqueting, and abominable idolatry. Look at that list. Whoa! That's what Peter is saying. This is the way you used to live. That's the way we used to live. Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you, because you have so changed your life that you don't live like that anymore. They can't get you to stuff yourself out on Thanksgiving Day. What's with him? Mr. Holy Man. They think it's strange that you won't stuff yourself out and join the rest of them on the couch. You know? Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? Whoa! Man, you see how God is putting the context of these things? It's like, yes, Lord, clear away the fog of the status quo of this land that we live in and help us to see this issue the way it really is. Because it's serious. For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. See the context? Isn't it beautiful? Oh, let's see here. I'm going to have to close. I'll skip that, but you write it down and look it up yourself. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1 to about 6. Again, it addresses Israel and why they fell in the wilderness, the reasons why God judged them and they fell in the wilderness. And it had a lot to do with the lust of their flesh and their unhappiness to be satisfied with what God provided. I'll leave that. In conclusion, a couple of questions for you. Do you think, in your own mind, do you think that the Lord Jesus Christ was overweight while He walked upon the earth? Do you think the Lord was a big man, thick and, you know, lots of extra weight on Him? Myself, I can't see Him that way. God doesn't let us see what He looked like. But I look at the way He lives and I cannot see Him that way. How about you? Do you think that the Apostle Paul was a big, heavy, thick man? How many of you think he was? I don't think so. Listen, if you study the history books, yes, occasionally you'll find one of those big, thick men that God uses. But I tell you what, for every big, thick man that God uses, there's a dozen of them that are thin and small and careful about what they eat. You study it yourself, you'll see it. Maybe there's a secret there. One man lightheartedly made this statement, Overeating is the quickest way to heaven. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, he laughed. I'm not so sure that's the quickest way to heaven, but it's a pretty foolish way to get there. What do you think? Am I saying this morning that if you're overweight, you're a glutton? No, absolutely not. It could be one of the thinnest guys in this room is a glutton. Amen? Amen? I mean, I hear the conversations. You should see how much that guy eats. How can he get away with that? And he eats and he eats and he eats. No, I'm not saying that if you're overweight in this room, that you're a glutton. Please, don't misunderstand me. Some have physical issues and I acknowledge that. There's some, you know, hormonal things and all this stuff gets out of whack. I understand. You have things to deal with when you get older. I have things to deal with. I'm getting older. Things that didn't work the same way when I was younger. Metabolisms change. I acknowledge all of that. All I'm saying is let us examine ourselves this morning. Are we eating for strength? Or are we eating for pleasure? Are we eating to live? Or are we living to eat? Are we eating because we need to eat in order to function properly? Or are we being consumed with a passion for more and more and this and some of that and some of this and some of that? That's all I'm saying. Listen, when you go to the doctor and you're way overweight and the doctor gives you that examination which millions of Americans have gotten and the doctor sits him down on the chair in his office and tells him, friend, you either lose 40 or 50 pounds or you're going to be a dead man in two years. You know anybody who was told those kind of words? Do you? I do. You know what happens? They lose those 40 or 50 pounds. See, the doctor knows that those two can go together pretty often. People change and lose their 40 or 50 pounds. I'm not sure if they repent but they do change. And there's a difference. You know, when all of a sudden you realize, okay, this could be my very life. I'm facing the reality I can live 15 more years or I can live one more year. I think I'll lose some weight. You can do that and never deal with why you got where you were. The human being can do that. Please don't misunderstand me. I enjoy eating. There's nothing wrong with eating. Eating is good. God made us to eat. I enjoy eating. I just don't enjoy eating as long as somebody else. God wants us to enjoy the food that He gives us. God put taste buds in our mouth, on our tongues, so that food would taste good. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying, let's just keep it in its place. That's all. It's not wrong. It's not wrong to sit down and have a lovely Thanksgiving meal. I'm not saying that's wrong. Let's just not have as big of a lovely Thanksgiving meal. Another word and I think I'm done. There's nothing wrong with an empty stomach. We need to change our mind on that. Somehow we think, empty stomach, eat. Empty stomach, eat. But empty stomach does not necessarily mean eat. Is that amen? But we're patterned that way, you know. Oh, I'm hungry. No, you're not. You just have an empty stomach. Got it? No, you're not hungry. No, you won't die if you don't get any food to eat. Oh, I'm about to die. No, you're not going to die. You're not hungry. Your stomach is just empty. This principle coupled with fasting and work, can I just say it that way, covers many, many problems in people's lives. You know, takes care of all the, I mean, I say it, all the dieting programs and you know, I mean, America's, imagine these two, I mean, Americans, they're tracking both of these. Gluttony and dieting. Gluttony, dieting, gluttony, dieting, dieting, gluttony. Billions and billions and billions of dollars have been made off of the American people with the newest diet. But nobody's repenting of gluttony. And they just go right back, and they just go right back to it, and they just go right back to it. And it is an endless, endless circle. That's not what God wants. God doesn't want us thinking about all that stuff. Just eat for strength, not for pleasure. Fast. There's many reasons to fast. The burdens are everywhere around us to seek the face of God with an empty stomach. And do your work. And you don't have to get on all the diet programs. Amen? The sin of gluttony. I know. A bit of a different message this morning. But I think that one that we from time to time need to hear. We who live in America. May God bless. Let's say Amen. And now for the application. How do I apply that message to my life? Amen. It was good for me to see how often it came out. Yes, I knew it was in 1 Corinthians 10. A few places. But it just kept on coming out again and again and again and again. It's true. I'm not going to say much, but I'll open up here for some testimonies or applications. How are you going to personally apply this to your life? Raise your hands. He that has ears to hear, let him hear. I was just very challenged with the message. Both messages today. There was a song that went through my mind this morning. It's on page 507. Who at my door is standing? And I just feel God was standing at my door. I was very, very blessed by the message today. Thank you, Brother Denny. This has been an area in my life. I see a very strong correlation between my spiritual walk and the way that I eat. Clearly, clearly, when I am obeying the Lord in my eating, I have more discernment. I'm not, as he said, drowsy. I'm easily deceived with the children. I have more discernment. I think of a verse in Proverbs 31 that says she does not eat the bread of idleness. And I thought that was interesting. It doesn't say the vegetables of idleness. Bread of idleness. Bread is very good. This has been an area that basically I was trained to be gluttonous all through my childhood. And as I saw it, when I was about 17, I had to stop and say, why? You know, I can just, okay, I'm just not going to eat so much or whatever. Why? And the Lord really showed me that it's a comfort You know, some people work too much. Some people clean too much. Some people get stressed and they go so, or whatever it is. But for me, I was trained to turn to food for comfort. And so anytime I get anxious or overcharged, that's where I was tempted to turn. And that really helped me to, for the steps to victory. As we talked about application. If I know why, I am desiring to, or have desired to turn to food. That is half the battle right there. Because Isaiah, I found a verse in Isaiah that says, the Lord says, I even, I am he that comforteth you. And if I am turning to anything else for comfort, that is an idol and I have to repent. And nothing satisfies. I mean, I'm the, I know I've tried it many times, the food that you eat and then you just feel so guilty afterwards. But to turn to the Lord for comfort, there's no guilt in that. So the Lord has given me great victory in this. I really have desired to discipline myself unto godliness in this area and overcome. And I've needed a lot of comfort over my life because I've had a hard life. And God has really met me there. And He's able. He's much better than any comfort. Practically, a couple things that the Lord has shown me, you know, often I'm sitting at the table and I have so many little ones and I have, you know, there's so much to manage at the table that I can eat too much without even thinking about it. Just as a habit. And a couple things the Lord has spoken personally to me as I've gone to Him and said, okay Lord, I desire you, but I just did it again accidentally or whatever. Sometimes, you know, there's times it wasn't that simple. But other times it was. It just was there. He's shown me, for me, I'm not saying this for anyone else, but as I prayed, He's shown me in America that two ways where I can discipline myself unto godliness or afflict myself is by eating right and by witnessing. Those are ways that I can choose to follow Him. And so, He's shown me that I should give Him my second plate of food out of love for Him. And so, that's just something, personally, that I just get a plate of food. And then I'm done. And if I didn't get enough, oh well, I'll make it to the next time. That makes me think before I put things on my plate. And that's a blessing. It helps me to eat slower because I just have one plate. And I could always eat a whole other plate, but the Lord, it's just an act of love to Him. And then not to snack in the day unless it's a normal snack time. That has really helped me practically to apply these things. Thank you for some guidelines there. Yes, I would like to thank the Lord for the message today. Denny's first question was if we made any goals or visions for 2009. And I just want to confess here that I was convicted here coming to, you know, towards the end of the year and everything about the message here or, you know, or reading and so forth. And I don't necessarily believe in New Year's resolutions, but there's always an encouragement when you think about having your life changed as the new year rolls in. And I had just spoke with my family and so forth and had said that I would like to make it a goal to lose 50 pounds in 2009. So I would really ask for prayer in that area for myself. And also, on the first message this morning, I was just so blessed with the message about hearing and about where our treasure is. My own testimony back when I still had my own business, one of my ultimate goals in the business was to make enough money that I can live off the interest until I'm 50 years old. You know, speaking of the cares of life, and then God showed up and He really turned me around. It's just amazing. And, you know, I think so many times we put God in a box. And, you know, we think that, well, especially in how I grew up, you know, oh well, you know, I go to this church. Or, yes, I was baptized when I was 17. You know, we put God in a box. It's just so amazing there in Matthew how He teaches us about where our treasure is, there is our heart also. So, I was so blessed. I believe if our heart posture is right, I believe we will not just hear those words, but we will be doers. And that is my heart's desire. Thank you. I would just like to confess the sin of gluttony. It has been a problem in my life. And I'm encouraged with the verse that says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And also, I would ask that you pray for me. I really thank Brother Denny for bringing this message. And I really appreciate Brother Emmanuel, your question when you came up there, to us, how are we going to apply this message to our lives? And I think that's the thing that I need to study. You know, as I read the Scripture and as I hear good messages, how am I going to apply this? You know, write my answers out. Study it. How am I going to put to practice what I'm learning? I want to say amen to the message. As it was being preached, I was trying to kind of keep before the Lord, how can I hear this? Because it's not really an area that I struggle with. At least I don't think I do. Anyway, I thought I could maybe, this is a subject that can kind of really throw us into a bit of a turmoil if we let it. And I don't think that was Denny's heart. So I just want to point out, maybe emphasize a few things that he said. 30 years ago, I determined that I would eat for strength. And I think that has a lot to do with why I've had a constant weight for 20 years. And in that, I want to encourage you. Another thing that stood out, it talks about dainties. That is a very good place to start when you want to consider these things. When I was eating for strength, what I found myself doing was looking at the ingredients, seeing what was in it, is this what I'm going to eat going to help strengthen me? And you know what? Chocolate cake doesn't have very many things in it that will do that. I'm not saying I never eat chocolate cake, but when as a daily part of your life you want to eat for strength, you don't eat chocolate cake. And you don't have an appetite for chocolate cake. So I just want to say these things as an encouragement to you. I don't think anyone here wants to walk out of here feeling like we're a failure when it comes to the way we eat. But simple things like that, you will see your appetites change. You will see your metabolism change. You will see your strength, your ability. So I just want to throw that out as an encouragement. Thank you, brother. One of the sisters said. Yes, I also want to thank you for those messages and just maybe as a point of encouragement for some people. This is an area I have struggled in and I can relate to Michelle. I feel like I was trained in that way, but I will not blame my family for that. I am responsible for my own self. But over a year ago, I decided to become accountable to somebody in that very area and it has been a tremendous help to me. It has not been it has definitely been with ups and downs, but it has definitely been good for me to be accountable to a sister with that. And there's many times where I was tempted to go into gluttony and realize, no, I'm going to have to account to her this next week. I'm going to have to account to her for that. And it has just been a help to me. Definitely I just wanted to give that encouragement that find a way that will help you in that. Thank you for sharing, Sister. Encouraging us. Just a brief testimony on that as well. I have struggled with it many times in my life and just I know one particular time when all of a sudden I realized, you know what, I slipped into this again. I'm eating for the enjoyment of it, not for strength. Lord, why is this happening again? Why do I feel myself constantly falling into that? And I realized exactly as Michelle had mentioned, it was because I was not finding my comfort in Him. And that has helped me the most. And I guess another verse is due to a recent incident at a Thanksgiving meal that all of a sudden I realized, you know what, I ate more than I thought I did. And I realized that that verse in Proverbs there, Hark and diligently consider what's set before you. I think that's a very, very good verse for that particular time. Anytime, really. Consider it carefully. Yes, I would like to confess the sin of gluttony in my life and I want to repent of it. I'm always blessed at the way the Lord does put together themes so faithfully, Sunday after Sunday. Once again, I began eagerly taking down notes of the theme I perceived developing before us. With Timothy's opening, speaking about the parable of the soils and how we hear. It's interesting, Luke's gospel says be careful of how you hear, whereas Mark's gospel says be careful of what you hear. For time's sake, I won't share the notes on that, but thank you, Timothy, for studying and hearing the Spirit, joining in what he had for us today. That's half the time of studying right there. Lord, what would you have me share? I appreciate your sensitivity to being led by your Father as you got into the pulpit as a young man. Then, I want to thank Seth, another young man, for being sensitive to the Spirit. He gave a very visual illustration of faith and the Scripture tells us that faith cometh by hearing. Then, our elder steps into the pulpit and in my mind it's like the brakes went on. We're hearing about hearing and then we're going to hear a message about gluttony. Lord, I need to pray for Danny. Maybe he's missed what the Spirit's saying. I couldn't keep up with the notes of what I was hearing the Spirit say through this very practical message on gluttony. Similar to my brother, Joe, it's not an area where I've struggled growing up, but I have another kind of gluttony that I struggled with that I needed to hear from this morning and here's where the practical application comes in. So many times I can come in unaware of my weakness and I really thank you, my other elder, for being sensitive to a vision that God gave you and your faithfulness to share that. Lord, this message on gluttony doesn't apply to me and I thought, no, Emmanuel was used to wake me up to listen here. I need to do some repenting. What is it, Lord? Jeff, you're a glutton on thinking rather than communion. I, too, had a hard life growing up, but I learned to get through it by thinking and by self-discipline. That's gluttony, but it's a different kind of gluttony. It's what the Pharisees did. Discipline's my God and thinking's my God and following the rules is my God. And so, Lord, the Lord says in 2009, I might just come back. How can I prepare for that? And when Brother Denny started speaking in that passage there in Luke about preparing for his return and how on the days of Noah, there was gluttony, there was eating and drinking. I often wonder, Lord, every year, how soon are we to return? Maybe again it's because of being raised in a hard life. I long for His return. I long to get out of here. The Lord very clearly spoke to me. I don't want you to be caught unaware, Jeff. I don't want you to be overcharged. If I were to measure the percentage of my time thinking versus communing, it'd be way out of balance. And God took me to this verse in John. This is a verse where many disciples fell away from Jesus. Jesus says, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And I just thanked the Lord. It all came together for me in that passage. That's a personal application. That word eat and that word drink is a present, continuous, active verb. And eating there means to eat continuously, to munch loudly, to have my ears filled with the sound of feeding on the Word of God. That's a goal. That's a worthy goal. The family sharing, talking about goals so that we're not just wandering around aimlessly in this wilderness but taking the promised land. My temptation is to set a goal on something big, but I want to be faithful with a little thing of commuting more with the Lord. So praise His name for orchestrating again just a beautiful symphony of themes. And for those servants who are faithful to hear those themes, even before they got together and worked together, before they co-labored. Praise God. Hallelujah. I too, like Jeff, can say that's what I heard from the message as well. It may be very easy for some of us to write this off in saying that the sin of gluttony doesn't apply to us, but I believe what we heard this morning was the sin of counterfeit affections or false anchors. I believe we all have those in our lives. The one that I thought about in my life as well is I can also, if I'm not careful, get into my own world just doing a lot of thinking my way through and am not present to the moment where I spent all day at home with my family physically, but I can be emotionally absent. So I just confess that and I want to go on. The other thing I thought about in a practical sense in this area of overeating or appetite is we hear time and time again that a high percentage of hunger pangs are not for food, but it's the body's many cries for water. Most of the American population today are dehydrated and that's one thing that's very interesting is when people are just a bit more sensitive and aware of that, not to go for food, but to make sure that their body is getting enough of water. The other thing that I thought about is that I heard a common theme coming through in the testimonies was kind of being taught to start overeating as a child, and I believe that sounds like this. Make sure you eat everything that's on your plate. And I believe that's one area that we can start with our children. Usually it's not the children that put the food on their plate, it's us that put the food on their plate. And being careful to teach our children that it's better for it to go to to waste, W-A-S-T-E rather than W-A-I-S-T. that I thought about as well as in our area. Here it's with Sharp Shopper and Glenwood Foods and all these places where you can buy this cheap stuff. Some of that cheap stuff is the stuff that's the worst for us and we think, oh, it doesn't cost too much or it's ripe, it's got to be eaten now. And I believe that in itself are low grocery costs can sometimes be an enemy in that way. So, God bless the message. I was blessed with it. And I'm sure each one of us can apply it to our lives as it best fits for us. Yes, I was really blessed with all the messages. The message, Timothy, on hearing. I need to hear. The Lord is teaching me to hear. But I still feel like I have a long way to go in that. And I thank God for giving me a heart that desires Him, that wants to hear even though sometimes I don't. One thing the Lord spoke to me about this morning during Timothy's message was about loving others, about putting, about not judging or pointing fingers at other people, but loving them as I love myself. And being obedient to the Spirit of God and not to my own thoughts. And that lesson on faith was so needful, so important that we believe and trust in the Lord and yes, in our parents and our authorities otherwise. And I know it may seem strange, but though I'm thin, the Lord did speak to me about gluttony. He's been working in my heart on that for the last several months, I guess. And I thank Him for what He's done in that area, but I want to come to the place where I don't give any space for that sin at all. To where it is not, it's been another comforter for me instead of the Lord. And I acknowledge that and I want to give the Lord full right and full place to be my comfort and not any food, not anything else. And may the Lord bless each one and help us to hear and to obey. Thank you. Thank you for your input. There are many things on my mind that I could say, but I think I'll just leave it rest there. Take the application home. Our own home. And maybe we can talk about it there. go from there. I did think about this. In the book of Acts, there was the freedom given to Peter to eat of all kinds of meat. And Paul writes in the epistles that we're not to be concerned about what is set in front of us, but to with thanksgiving and prayer, eat what is set before us. All things are we can eat of whatever it is. It doesn't have to be a specific kind of kosher food or so. But I did think about this. As I think about the way that God directed the children of Israel in the book of Leviticus to where He talked about eating plain food. And what they could eat and what they couldn't eat. I believe that that must have put a great carefulness into their hearts as to what they would eat. And there was a constant awareness when they would go to eat of what they were eating. There was instilled within them as children eat that which is good for you. Don't eat that which is not good for you. And I think we have missed that point. We, even though we are free to eat of all meats, yet we have failed in this area of being careful that we eat that which is good for us and not just eat that which is made to taste good. Most of the food, I should say, let me say this here, a lot of the American food that is so high, what's the word, highly processed is processed in a way that it's to be tasteful because that's what sells it. And so I think we should be wise and consider what we're eating with God's grace. Alright. Thank you for your careful attention this morning. And may the Lord give you grace to apply what you've heard to be good hearers of the word and to become doers, not just to be hearers.