The Costly Pearl

Let's pray. Do you having me? Father? We are lost in a

hurry without Jesus. But when we fast write, we slow down. Let

me discover You help us to find the way today in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hilaire Bellich escaped the frank of Prussian War as a child, and he

moved from the Old World to England, and he picked up some English,

and he made his mark in American literature. He wrote the poem called the

Vulture. You ever read that the vulture eats between his meals, And that's

the reason why he's very, very rarely feels as well as you and I.

His eye is dull, his head is bald, his neck is growing

thinner. Oh, what a blessing for us all, to only eat at

dinner. That's the lesson from the vulture. Now. I saw a group

of vultures whacking away to deer before I started writing my sermon. Ugh,

I got away from that feasting. I thought it'd be good if those vultures

were fasting. It was an awful sight to behold. But we can learn

from the vulture. We can learn from the whole vulture to only eat at

dinner. It's interesting. I was recently asked by the Health Ministry's team to

preach a sermon this Sabbath on the subject of fasting, and from time to

time I'll let people do that. I don't always change my sermon preparation for

that, but I felt the Lord in it, and so this is my

first whack at fasting. Now I've never preached a sermon i fasting in all

my life. Ever have you ever heard of how many you've heard of sermonon

fasting. I know James Felder had a presentation prayer being on fasting. It

was very nicely done. So I had to think and pray about this thing,

to figure out what to do and how to talk about fasting to be

authentic. God gave me the opportunity too fast before this sermon. I got

sick right after my last sermon. I picked up some bug from somebody and

it put me down. Right after my last sermon, I was gearing up

to go to Tennessee to be with my granddaughter. Wasn't sure if I could

make it, And I remember distinctly, as I got the fever of the

chills, the whole nine thought yards with whatever it was, I didn't feel

like eating it. First, it's for two days. I didn't need a

thing. On the third day, Diana says, look, you know animals

in nature don't eat when they get seek sick. Honey, why don't you

just fast? I said, wow, I mean cause I'd like to eat.

She said, well, try it, And so my wife's admonitions got

kind of energetic, and I began to fast for three days. And I

noticed after the two days I felt pretty good. But the third day I

was hoping to break it all and eat something. She said, no,

go as long as you can, honey. It's a wonderful thing with the

word honey, we'll do for you, especially when you're fasting. You'd like

to get some honey, but your honey has more power over honey. So

sutly, before I got sick and started the fasting, my son had entered

the fray. It'd put some thought in my head that had soft booted my

brain to think that this is okay. Here's a copy of the text message.

It read, he said, Dad, A singular seven day water fast

decrease lifetime probability of getting cancer by seventy percent. Researches out of Boston University.

Did you hear that seven day fast cancer percentage goes down by seventy percent

if you do it once in your lifetime. That's what he was saying.

Now, my son is a trained medical professional. They put as much money

into him for field surgery and this kind of thing. Is a medical doctor

and he reads research and this kind of thing. So I have a bunch

of medical people in the family, but I am those Bible students, so

I have to have weigh everything for the Bible. Diana texted back in the

group. Chad, the family says, Wow, I've done a fire day

fast twice. Autophagi kicks in after three days. Autophagi's when your body starts

eating your own cancer cells. Looking forward to reading article, I have a

few minutes now. The articles start out as saying that obesity is connected to

fourteen to twenty percent of all cancer related deaths. See you when to lower

your chances of cancer, According to this article, lose weight. It's one

of the things you can do. It then listed some of the benefits of

fasting, like cell regeneration, stimulation of the immune system, autophagi, which

is the process of self consuming your own cancer cells. They also discover that

chemotherapy patients tend to heal and recover better if they are fasting in certain clinically

productive ways. I like the article's assertion that really the key point of the

article. They really grab me. Seven day fast, seventy percent chance of

your cancer numbers go down to seventy percent. So I had learned from previous

reading that your stem cells start regenerating to a degree after a three day fast,

and your entire immune system gets a reboot after a five day fast.

Did you know that? All right? Well you do now. So with

all these factors running through my head, my son's texting, my wife's admonition

with the word honey, I decided to take a serious whack at it and

tried to go for a full seven day fast with nothing but water to end

the fast. I attempted it. Now I must confess that fasting for me

was no fun at all. I'm not gonna lie to you. If I

go a long time without food, I get cranky, irritable, and frustrated.

Anybody like me around here? Okay, hallelujah, you're honest folk.

Now, it's nothing personal. It's just the fact that I get cranky.

But it feels good to show off a little bit in the family and let

my medically trained wife and astute medically trained two sons no, and also my

daughter in law who's trained in nursing, that I have I've done such a

righteous thing according to health principles, that I would fast for so long.

I really felt good about that. And then Jesus' words came to mind that

we don't fast for those reasons. Look at Matthew six sixteen to eighteen.

And when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they

disfigure their faces that they're fasting, maybe seen by men. In other words,

they're fasting. I'm rusting for God. You know that kind of thing.

Jesus said, forget that, truly, I say to you, they

have received the reward. Why they're narcissistic. They want narcissistic supply. They

want to look good and religious, and that's why they're fastings that. That's

not why we do it Verse seventeen. But when you fast, anoint your

head and wash your face, that you're fasting may not be seen by men.

Don't let people know if you can avoid it, but by your father

who is in secret, and your father who's in season's secret will reward you,

So that was it. I couldn't do it to show off. God's

word doesn't allow it. I let my wife drive the car down to Tennessee

because I was still fasting. I got better enough to where we could go

down. We did all the checks and stuff and figured it was safe to

go. It was before Christmas. She was driving. I was feeling awful.

I was fasting, had not recovered. I had recovered from the bug,

but was weak. So I sat on the passenger side, dreaming of

the day when I could break this fast and get some food down my sitting

to my system. Hi, I just want this fast to be over.

On day five and one half of my fast, it was Christmas Eve.

Uh oh. My wife was so proud of me that I was going to

skip eating and for Christmas, even Christmas, so I could get that full

seven day fast in. She is a consistent winner in these things. I

didn't quite make it that ideal seven days to decrease my chances of getting cancer

by seventy percent because I was struggling with things that day. The choice was

clear. There was my little granddaughter, so happy to see us, all

except grumpy Grandpa, because I didn't look good. It was cancer a Christmas.

I chose Christmas. So Sunday morning, on Christmas Eve, I looked

into the bright little eyes of my little granddaughter Clara and all the other family

members gearing up for some Christmas dainties with food, fellowship, and fun,

and I finally cracked under the pressure and checked out. Honey, I broke

the fast. Bah humbug. Scrooge said it best. I'm going to quit

this seven day fast and enjoy a little Christmas food and fellowship with my family.

After all, Solomon the Wise men said this. I had a scripture.

He's asked, He's five eighteen. Behold, what I've seen to be

good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment and all

the toil with which one toils on the sun days of his life, with

which God has given him, for this is his lot. So I took

my lot on Christmas, and I broke my seventh day fast attempt. I

had achieved a five and a half day fast attempt. Now I'm proud of

that five and a half day fast attempt. It's called cognitive dissonance. With

a little encouragement from heaven and my very hungry stomach. Also, I ended

my fast on Christmas Eve, the fifth day, so it wasn't the seventh

day. What's the seventh day famous for in the Bible? You know,

come on the Sabbath. God rests on the Sabbath day represents the rest in

Christ's salvation. So when I rest on the when he hit the fifth day,

I had to think differently. What's five the five books of Moses,

the Word of God? Right? How many loaves? The five loaves and

two fishes? So I found biblical significance in my five day fast. Now

this is this happened just before Christmas. I'm not making this up. And

during my fab I noticed that it felt like a center quite a bit.

Have you ever fasted and felt like your center? It because you're not eating?

You know what eat? You feel like a center? Now that may

be a good thing, because you may go through life thinking, well,

I'm no center, I'm a great person. You fast, You're gonna feel

like a center a little bit. And it goes with not eating food.

The more I felt like a sinner because I was hungry, the more I

prayed about feeling feeling like a center, and eating, so I wouldn't feel

like a sinner. To make myself feel better, I used my Biblegateway dot

com app to listen to the Bible during my fasting. I also read my

Bible a lot to keep my mind off my sickness instead of my hunger and

fasting. So I found myself in the Bible. I noticed I had a

clarity over Christmas in because of my fasting. I read the Book of Joshua,

Judges and Ruth all the way through in Hebrew, not English. That

part of the fasting journey felt good. Now I'm in first Samuel, notice

that I gained a new appreciation for food. You go without food for five

and a half days, and guess how food tastes. Man, your taste

returns. How many have you got whacked with COVID and lost your taste buds

a little bit? I did. My taste went down for a while.

In fact, I didn't really fully return. But once I fasted for five

days, I went to Sam's Club and Huntsville Outlabama, and you have these

taste testing things that are set aside, and I you know, of course,

it was the perfect timing to linger there. Diana was at home.

I was there only my guardian angels observing, and I came to one of

those places and they had yogurt, Greek yogurt a little sweet in it,

and I took one of those. I put in my mouth. Holy lou

Yah, Halley, lou y'ah. I mean, it was the sweetest,

most marvelous yogurt I've ever had in my life. I couldn't believe it,

and I told her that. She felt wonderful. I told her, I've

been in a five and a half day fast, and this tastes delightful.

I can't believe I've never had such taste or uh go through me. She

said, well, take all you like, and I did. I took

one after the other, and I just did. I've also noticed that my

prayers moved from feeling like I was a sinner to feeling grateful because I could

eat and feel better. Something about that journey of taking food out for a

while and then bringing it back teaches you to rely on God and to humble

yourself. And after feeling better, I felt grateful to God. But you

know, it took me a while to recover. My wife said I lost

some weight and that made her happy, and so the proof is here.

I guess right, okay. My prayers became more optimistic, warmer, and

grateful after I recovered. I didn't just pick up immediately. I had a

good excuse, and I have to do a lot of things. I'd go

to the gym with Grandpa because I felt weakened after my fast. No,

I can't go, so I stayed. I looked skinnier. Now, this

is all anecdotal evidence here. That doesn't matter in a laboratory. But my

wife said, honey, I think your hair is turning dark again. She

said that to me after my fast. Of course, that would encourage me

to fast more, right, I said, oh wow, I thought,

oh joyous moment. My wife thinks I'm getting younger because I fasted. Well,

whether I'm getting younger or not, maybe there's good in that. I

couldn't see the difference, but I think the fast impressed her enough to see

me a little differently, and that's a good thing. After my fast,

I noticed that I was quite a bit weaker, so I had a good

excuse to bow out of some things. I noticed that my stomach seemed calmer

after my fast. I also noticed that I just wanted to be alone to

sleep it off and recover. So I found myself having a transition time,

and there were goods. It affects a fasting also. When it was all

over, I asked myself if it was worth it, What I ever want

to do a thing like this again? I said both yes and no inside

myself. Yes I would fast again. In fact, I do. I

do intermitute fasting. How many of you do intermitt it fasting where you kind

of fast maybe within a window, you eat your meals six hours a day,

or you skip a day. The fact, when you do that,

it's a very health promoting kind of reality. I eat within a six hour

window most of the time, or eat one meal a day, or sometimes

I just skip a whole day. Sometimes not often, but sometimes I used

to have bad hypogassmia. I used to have to eat bananas every time I

got in the pulpit. And I was pre diabetic, no doubt about it.

But by doing this intermitute fasting, I turned the tide and rolled that

back, and I don't have that problem anymore. So, having said that

I must con fast, I do have those times in my life when I

feast and eat heartily how many you are like eating hardly of an anycoonre ready?

I like to eat. I like to eat. But you know what

makes these feasting moments in our lives specials when we don't feast all the time,

and so I eat heartily. But I've learned a fast too, and

I love being with friends and family. So God came in Israel to have

a monthly new moon feast like our botlock, but with a sacrifice every month

on every new moon until the cross. So there was a time to feast,

there was a time not to feast. We moved through the rhythm,

but we don't keep the feasting all the time. That's the cycle of life.

That's godly. Now, who picked January ten for this fast for the

church? The General Conference picked the prayer time, but who picked the fast

time? Did you Jeamerie or did the whole health ministry team? Did you

know that's my birthday? There's no I get no birthday cake for January ten?

Did you consort with my wife? I'm just having fun with you.

I'm gonna fast January ten, So could I have a birthcake day cake after

January ten? See, I'm priming the pump here for a good pot like

birth cake. Now I've asked myself the question why is fasting a good thing

in the Bible and so highly praised by God. Fasti is mentioned the first

time in the Bible. And Moses fasted forty days and forty nine, that's

the very first time. And just before Moses went up into the mountain to

spend the first forty days with God, God had a feast for Moses and

the leaders of Israel in the mountain. And we don't have proof that he

fasted during that time in the mountain, even though it may be implied in

Exus twenty four nine to eleven. Open your bibles quickly turned there. Excuse

me. When Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abayu and sent me the Elder Israel,

went up, they saw the God of Israel that was under his feet,

as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone a rahia sapir in Hebrew,

a skylike flat pavement. That it's it's supernatural sapphire. And Ezekiel won

twenty six this is the throne of God. So God's throne shows up in

the pillar firing cloud in the mountain, and as it were, and it

says like the very heaven for clearness ta horror in Hebrew, pure clear.

God's throne is here. And we know in the context number twelve that God

called Moses up in the mountain and he gave him from that stone. The

Hebrew says tables of sapphire on which he wrote the Ten Commandments, the constitution

of the universe. And Paul will tell us that that rock, that stone,

was not a dead stone, inanimate stone. It was the living Christ

who took the form of the Rock of Ages. He was the rock that

followed in the wilderness, the rock that they drank from, which was this

throne of God's stone throne. And Christ was in the center of the throne

as he is in the revelation. So don't think there's an impersonal interaction with

truth. Here. God is personally interacting in supernatural ways with people. And

it says he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people

of Israel. God didn't kill him. They came close to God and they

had a good time with God. Look what it says for that beheld God

and they ate and drank from beneath God's sapphire throne. The leaders of yourbitser

could see God veiled by the blue sapphire. The veil in the Hebrew Tabernacle

was purple because blue represents the law, red represents the blood. Blue and

red meat in Jesus Christ is the law. Lot going on here. Fact

in Zachariath three, when the angel the Lord appears for Joshua the priest at

the door of the tabernacle, he appears as a stone before Joshua with seven

wells. So Christ took the form not just of a man like he did

to Manoah in the Book of Judges. He also took the form of this

supernatural, cosmic rock with seven eyes and wells. That's why the lamb has

seven eyes, and the book Revelations a lot going on here. The Bible

says, they beheld God, and they ate and drank. They saw him

enter through the veil of the sapphire, but they saw Now. When we

have the right kind of feast in God's presence, which they're having here,

we like them, draw closer to God as we go up in life.

We go up in life, not down, and growing in God's grace.

We approach God. We become like God when we get food right in our

life. In Nexus twenty four eighteen to nineteen, Moses was up in the

mountain with God for forty days and forty nights. Right after this he goes

up, and so he sought how to build the sanctuary gets all this instruction.

The Hebrew text does not say Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights

the first time. It was very likely that the energy of that meal with

God carried Moses forty days and forty nights, just like you remember the angel

who made the food for Elijah when he was fleeing from Jezebel. It took

Elijah forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai. Very likely that's the case

here. While Moses was in the mountain with God receiving the law, the

people were down at the bottom of the mountain, eating and drinking, decking

themselves up with jewelry, dancing a religious religious rock concert, and building an

idol of a golden calf they named eloheen God. That's the contrast. Moses

goes up, they go down. You know, it's possibly in the church,

when people are growing in God, they're growing in Christ, and they're

going up, it's possible that there are people who are going down because they've

adopted ideas and philosophies which are downers. Now, how many of you want

to go up and be with God? Be in the going up business.

That's where I'm at. Not much different than a lot of modern worship that

blows smoke in the air and darkens the room so people can sway like they

did at SINAI, laugh and play, but not recognize that Almighty God is

in the church. He's in the mountain. Exous thirty two, verse one.

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain,

the people gather themselves together to Aaron and said to him, here's what they're

asking up. Make us gods who shall go before us, ask for this

Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt.

That did Moses bring them up? Or did God bring them out of Egypt?

See, they had lost sight that God was in their midst. We

do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them,

take off the rings of gold, which you are where what does it say

in the text and the years? And your wives and your sons and your

daughters, and bring them to me, so they take the jewelry. They

were decked out with jewelry when they left Egypt. The Egyptians threw all their

wealth at them. They put it on them, and these poor people never

had anything pretty on them, so they put it on them and all the

people. It says here they took off the rings of gold which were in

their ears. They brought them to Rain. Verse four. He received the

gold at their hand, and what did he do with it? Look at

it says he fashioned it with a graving tool and made a molten calf.

And they said, these are your gods, oh Israel, who brought you

up out of the land of Egypt. Literally in the Hebrew, these are

your elohems, oh Israel, who brought you out of Egypt. And notice

what the people did with their jewelry at the command of airon that day Verse

five and six. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.

That's the golden cal altar. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow

shall be a What does it say in the Bible there you're looking at it

feast? Now the Hebrew word is hog, and we get the word hodge.

You know what a hodge is you go to Mecca and you have a

hodge. Right, it's a religious Sabbath kind of feast. So this is

a holy day, feast day, festival, Sabbath day in honor of a

beast. Now, where are we going to see that in the future In

the book Revelation where you have a sign, a false Sabbath sign connected to

the beast in his resurrection from the sea. So you said nothing's new.

What's happening at Sinai is the same kind of thing that happens in the end

time Christianity. At the time of the end, there's a compromise with our

relationship with God that leads us into a mode that we invent what's right religion

rather in letting God tell us what's right religion or life. It's also human.

So they declare this a Sabbath feast festival verse six. And they rose

up early on tomorrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the

people set down to eat and drink and rose to play, and noticed what

they did here. I'm gonna put points on the screen. Number one,

Aaron announced a Sabbath hodge or hog feast. State of the Lord, kind

of like a mark of the Beast Sabbath festival in the book Revelation. Number

two, the day was a day to worship the Lord. So they weren't

like choosing a new God. They were inventing how they would worship the Lord.

Yeahweh by offering burnt offerings and peace offering sacrifices. No, why do

he do this? Aaron's focus here was not on drawing closer to God.

His focus was on placating God. So peace offerings. Number three, the

people set down to eat and drink. The people mimic God's feast at the

top of the mountain on their own religious terms at the bottom of the mountain.

But guess what the difference was. God was not in the feast,

so they made their own God. Number four the people rose up to play

like out of controlled children. Now the Hebrew word for laughter zaak, is

used here, suggesting a frivolous kind of play that represents the majesty that disrespects

the majesty in awe of the divine presence, a scoffing kind of play full

of laughter, making lights. Oh yeah, God, you know doing that

in church, And that's what they were doing at the bottle of the mountain.

Look, God had showed up in fire at Sinai. He said,

see how I brought you out on eagles wings and brought you to myself.

He had given himself in covenant connection to those people, and it didn't take

long for unconverted hearts to reinvent religion on their terms instead of God ms God's

terms. That was happening at the botto of the mountain, and the Hebrew

text indicates that shortly after their play, they descended into immorality kind of play.

The Greek subtuage in translation of the Hebrew text says they rose up to

amuse themselves like children after God judged them, and Moses intervened with serious prayer

to save them from God's presence, which is a consuming fire. Moses went

up to the mountain again to receive the law, and this time the text

says Moses did not eat food or water for forty days and forty nights.

He said, God, if you can't save this people, blot my name

out of the book. I know you love, but look, if it

takes a sacrifice, put me on an altar to save the nation. Now,

that was prefiguring Jesus Christ. Look, sin is serious. Moses' interaction

with God was serious, and out of the mix came grace and salvation,

freedom from sin, and God went with his people to the Promised Land.

So we need to learn from this story. After God judged them, Moses

intervened with serious prayer to save them from God's wrath. He went up to

the mountain to fast and not eat food or water, to pray for forty

days and nights. Who else prayed for forty days and forty nights and fasted

before he went out to save the world? Who did? Jesus did exactly.

Moses probably earned a world record for fasting when he did it this time

at the top of the mountain. No one had ever pulled anything off like

that. Moses fast after there is no food or water. See I had

water in my fave day fast nothing. Moses fast after their feast at the

foot of the mountain is recorded as the first fast in the Bible in Exous

thirty four twenty eight twenty nine. Let's turn there. From the context,

this fast is introduced as necessary to bring the people back into right relationship with

God. So why do we have fasting here. It's to reboot the nation,

it's to reboot a relationship with God. It's to get serious in knowing

God. That's why this is happening. Look at verse twenty eight. And

he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate

bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the

Covenant, the ten Commandment. And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai

with the two tables of the testimony his hand as he came down from the

mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he

had been talking with God. So what was he doing in the mountain?

Look, he was engaging. He was interfacing the God of the universe.

After God had been insulted in a religious way at the foot of the mountain

by his dear friends, his loved ones. He was doing something no one

ever done in the history of the world. When Moses fast, the first

recorded fast in the Bible, he reveals the godly benefits of a godly man

or a woman who would fast, who would seek God in their life and

would seek God for the good of others. That's why he's fasting. So

here are the benefits. I've looked at these verses. I've tried to outline

them. Benefit number one, moses godly fast brought him and God together for

focused time to forge a better relationship between the two. So why is the

fast and occurring there? And says he went up to beat with God and

then he fasted. Benefit number two Moses processed the word and the law of

God for himself in the midst of his godly fast by writing the ten commandments

with his own hand. Well, wait a second, that God had written

it with his finger before. But then he threw those tables down. God

had told him to take two pieces of stone like the first at the tent

of meeting at the bottom of the mountain. The pillar of firing cloud was

there. The rabbis believed that Moses's staff was sapphire, and I happened to

agree with him. I have reasons for that in the Hebrew text that God

had actually given him his staff at Sinai. The text of the Hebrew and

Exodus three and four would highly suggest that, because it takes something as hard

as sapphire to work with sapphire. So he cut these two sapphire tablets out

again at the bottom of the mountain. He went up to the top of

the mountain. He wanted to see God's face and his glory. And God

passed before him and said, the Lord, the Lord of God, gracious

and saw it. But you see this time Moses wrote on those tablets.

Why because it's one thing to have God write the law. It's another thing

to make it your own in your life. And so in this fast he's

internalizing the law and the word of God as something for him, all right.

Benefit number three. When Moses finished his fast, the law of God

was firmly fixed in his hand, and he was thus prepared for action to

obey the law and to do God's will. The text says that Moses came

down from the mountain with the ten commandments. What does it say in his

hand? It wasn't just something he'd written down, It was now in his

hand. Is God's word in your hand? I mean you have a Bible,

all right? Put in your hand. We live by the Word of

God in our heart and hand. Benefit number four. In a godly fast,

your life shines out with godly glory and not your own virtue. Signaling

efforts to shine and look good. Doesn't it feel good as a religious person?

Say, you know, I do the so much good work for the

church. You ever done that? I really am so needed around here.

If I weren't in this church, the whole thing would fall apart. I'm

mister or missus or miss indispensable. Have you ever met someone like that?

Have you ever been someone like that? You know? God could care less

for that. I mean, he doesn't need you to shine so you can

look good and make yourself look good. See, Moses didn't know that he

was looking good, not because he wanted to look good, because he'd been

interact with God. So in a godly fast, your life shines out number

four with godly glory and not your own virtue, signaling efforts to shine and

look good, God is shining number five. Talking with God in a good

and godly fast changes your life perspective for a long time. The text says

that Moses's face shone because he'd been talking with God. It took a great

deal of time for that glory to fade away. There was a lingering effect

of his interaction with God in his godly fast. Now, after the sin

of the Golden calf. The people took their jewelry off and they never put

it back on again. That's why the early Abonists took it off. Did

you know that they took it off because they believed that were the Israel of

God in prophecy, and that we're going to the Promised Land. And if

Israel couldn't get to the Promised Land with that stuff on them, why can

we? And they removed it, and they were soundly interacting with biblical principles,

and a holy, godly culture emerged in the early Avenist Church. They

recognized that God couldn't take them to the Promised Land if they dressed arrogantly,

if they did not humble themselves to respect God's presence in their lives. They

didn't take the hall word of God seriously. Jacob and his family did the

same thing. Remember how after the great murder of the Shechemites they met at

the Oak of Shechem and they had a religious revival where the family got right

with God and they took it all off and they buried it under the Oak

of Shechem. Now next to thirty one one to six, Notice what happens

here thirty three one to six. The Lord said to Moses, depart,

go up him, you and the people. And you have brought up out

of the land of Egypt, the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it verse two,

and I will send an angel before you. I will drive out the Canaanites,

the Emirites, the Hittites, the Parisites, the Hitites, and the

jb Sites. Now, doctor Shaeffer brilliantly, by God's grace illustrated from the

text that this would not have been the pre existent Christ. It'd been another

angel because they had refused to have God's presence in their life. Who knows.

It may have been a demon angel like in Daniel ten, the demon

prince of German, of Greece or Persia. We don't know. But in

verse three is go up to the land fluent with milk and honey. But

I will not go up among you. You're not going to have me in

this journey, lest I consume you the way, for you are a stiff

necked people. Now, certain things have never changed. Are we still a

stiff necked people? Come on, are we a stiff necked people? It's

hard to say. It. You know what, because you're a stiff necked

people. We are all a stiff necked people. It's hard for us to

mit people. Now, look at the God's just talking plain talk to people

because he wants them to be saved. God's not trying to put anybody down.

Look at verse four. When the people heard these evil tidies God speaking,

they marred, no man put on his ornaments. See it wasn't just

women here. For the Lord had said to Moses, say to the people

of Israel, you are a stiff necked people. If for a single moment

I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now put

off your ornaments. Now the Lord's speaking here from you that I may know

what to do with you. And this is the amazing verse. I notice

in verse six. Therefore the people of Israels stripped themselves of their ornaments from

Mount Horrub. Now I'm reading from their vice standard version, which says,

no, I'm fine, yeah, from Mount Horrub onward. You see the

word onward. Do you see the word onward in your Bible. That's a

mean of separation in the Hebrew language. It means they never put it back

on. That was a distinctive characteristic of God's people on their way to the

Promised Land. Now do you know that in the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh

Dventist Church that we hold this to be a valuable principle. It's in the

twenty eight Fundamental Beliefs of our Church that we are to be simple in dress

as God is outlined in Scripture, no matter what our culture says or not,

the Word of God proclaims it. This principle was reaffirmed by Peter and

Paul, and it was part of apostolic teaching. In fact, the Daughters

of Sarah are defined by this kind of godly lifestyle. The repentant people who

let God lead them to the Promised Land took off their jewelry for the last

time that day, and they never put it back on ever again. That's

what the Bible indicates, This commitment for them and for God, a sake

sign of holy culture that communicated to God that they were serious about following God

to the Promised Land, and that there were God's people for the rest of

their lives, no matter what, with all their life for Him and for

His glory. This became the sign of the Covenant. People and how they

looked, and Peter will say, these are the daughters of Sarah. That's

why we have Paul and Peter repeat the importance of this principle of humility exercise

at the oak of Sachem and right here at Sinai. Why because we are

following God to the promised Land for the last time as the Israel of God.

In prophecy, does anybody know what the great feast was in the Hebrew

feasts cycle? What day was that? You know what it is? Yom

Kipper, the day of covering the day of Atonement. One day a year

they fasted, and the purpose was to remove sin from the life. The

antatypical day of Atonement Bible prophecy starts in the year eighteen forty four. From

eighteen forty four to the Second Company of Christ is the anotypical day of Atonement.

We are living in the last days, and the last days are to

be fast days. We're not to be living like they did at the bottom

of the mountain. We're to be living for God, for the good of

others, holy people consecrated for saving men and women. The last days in

human history are fast days. In principle, Symbolically speaking, we are to

deny ourselves for the cause of God, because we are to use our days

wisely to draw near to God like Moses did on the top of the mountain,

and to help others. We are to be mountain top kind of Christians,

not a hardy partyers of the body of the mountain without God. Now,

now I think of the primary principles surrender and godly fasting introduced in Scripture,

one parable of Jesus has singled out in my mind of primary importance.

It is the parable of the pearl of great price, the costly pearl that

costs us everything to find the pearl. There are frequent times in jesus teaching

and the apostles teaching, when they taught clearly as should that the gospel that

salvation is a free gift. But in this parable, Jesus is saying,

even though it's free, don't be self deceived with a false gospel. It

costs you everything to get it. You cannot receive the free gift and hold

out with God. You cannot, on your terms, define what's godly religion.

You know, dear heart, if you have a religion where you can

get by with whatever you want to do and not obey the Lord in love.

You have a false religion, this experience. Now, how many of

us have had a false religious experience in our lives? We all have,

so I'm not talking down. But God calls us up and the fasting and

Moses in the mountain was the archetype of what it means to get right with

God. The parable the costly pearl illustrates that is a costly the youth that

cost us every gift they depreciate to receive a Diedrich Boenhoeffer, the martyr of

the martyr whose life was taken by Nazism, who tried to save Jews and

others who resisted that off Hitler, He says, listen, God's grace is

costly grace. When God bids a man or woman come, he bids that

man or woman come and die. See if you think that God's calling you

to an easy religion, one defined by what you want and what you think

you're not gonna make it. But dear heart, if you put it at

the altar, if you come to the Lord Jesus, you say, Jesus

is worth everything to me, and you start living for others and saving others

and not investing yourself. Your life becomes a filled with the Holy Spirit after

the pattern of Christ, because that's what Christ did. So the parable of

the costly Pearl is preceded by the parable of the field of treasure. Turned

to Matthew thirteen forty four to forty six. The Kingdom of Heaven is like

treasure hidden in the field. And how many of you like treasure? He

may go treasure hunting. He mean thrift stores. Here he thrifters. Now

I've been very successful as a thrift story person. I found a thirty five

dollars long giants watch electro mechanical from the seventies worth two thousand dollars. My

son's getting it for Christmas. I love treasure, Honey. You ever get

those metal detectors and you go out and you look for treasure. I have

a metal detector. I plan to go looking for treasure at the beach where

everybody else swims. Look. The keen of Heaven is like treasure. But

know it's what says hidden in the field, not easy to get to,

which a man found and covered up in his joy as he goes and sells

all that he has, and he buys that field. Now, how much

does he give up to gain the field of treasure? How much gives up

everything that he might gain the treasure? Now look at verse forty five and

again the keen of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,

who I'm finding one pearl of great value? Went and sold all that he

had, and he bought it. So how much does he sell to buy

the pearl of great value? What does the parable say? This is not

cheap grace. Jesus is teaking. This is cost grace, but it's good

to get. He sold all that he had to gain the pearl. And

the Bible of pearl represents wisdom. Jesus is called the wisdom of God in

Proverbs eight twenty two to thirty, the Amen, the wisdom that created the

universe in all time and eternal, being defined in Proverbs eight and one Corinthians

one twenty four. Paulper claimed that Jesus is the wisdom and the power of

God for our salvation. So do we need the pearl in our life?

Yes? Or no? How many of you are foolish by nature. We

do the stuff at the bottom of the mountain. If we didn't have the

wisdom of God in our lives, all of us, how many of us?

How are we to obey? Yeah, I raise my hand. So

the wisdom and power of God is Christ. But you don't get Christ on

your terms. You get Christ on his terms. So fake religion always comes

to God on our terms, not God's terms. You don't get Jesus in

your life unless you give up the world to get Him and all its treasures.

That would sell your soul to the world. You lose to gain the

costly pearl that is Jesus. We call that conversion. When a person is

truly converted. This week I read manuscript forty four, written in eighteen ninety

eight by Ellen White. It's an amazing document. I wanted to be able

to print up one hundred and fifty copies and have them here today. But

I want you to take note of that manuscript forty four, written in eighteen

ninety eight. It's called the Pearl of Great Price. It was an amazing

analysis of sister White, of this parable that has left my life altered for

the good. I want to read to you a few experts. It's not

my practice to do this, but I want to read to you a few

of the things she writes in this marvelous document. She says, among the

Jews, the pearl is estimated as our most valuable or precious stones. Our

Savior compared the blessing redeeming love to a pearl of great price. He illustrated

this truth by the parable of a merchantman seeking godly pearls, who, when

he found the pearl of great price, when and sold all that he had

and bought it. Christ is the pearl of great prist. He is the

way, the truth, and the life, his gospels to be preached as

a witness to all nations. Christ does not say that all nations will receive

the Gospel except the pearl of great price. Many will not appreciate it because

things of minor importance take their attention. Yet the Gospels to be preached as

a witness to all the light is to shine and the moral darkness. Truth

is to be placed in contrast with error. When this pearl is held up

to our view, we should be personally intensely interested, lest we lose the

opportunity offered us. The value of salvation is being tested, and I underline

this on your slide. The precious jewels of truth are being opened before us,

But many listen with weariness to the presentation of the most precious important truths.

Their countenances do not glow with animation. They are listless and uninterested.

Who would believe that they were themselves deciding their return the destiny by their life

practice. They should be wide awake, earnestly seeking for the King of God

is righteousness. But do they look like people to whom precious pearls are being

presented? To all who believe on Christ, he is precious. I took

excerpts from this article. I didn't read the whole thing. To all who

believe in Christ, he is precious. But how many chews the spurious in

the place of the genuine. Many a woman adorns herself with rings and bracelets

and ornaments of gold, and thinks that she will be esteemed because of these

ornaments. But she does not seek for the pearl of great price. It

is not esteemed by her as of much value as the ornaments with which she

adorns her poor mortal body. The one jewel of great price has no value

in her eyes. It is not wondrously strange that the perversity of the human

heart makes poor souls ignorant of what is worth seeking for they think themselves possessed

of superior wisdom. They set more value upon gold and silver and diamonds that

have the crown of glory, that faith not away. Can a maid forget

her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me

days without number. Yet in me is found the pearl of great price.

And she continues a couple more paragraphs that I pull out. We are to

seek for the pearl of great price, but not in worldly marts or in

worldly ways. The price we require to pay is not gold or silver,

for this belongs to God. It is not spiritual advantages. Abandon the idea

that these things are your own. God calls for your willing obedience. I

bolded that you are to seek to save the souls that are perishing out of

Christ. What she's getting out here is, Look, if your primary aim

in life is to help people be saved, you're right with God. If

that's where you're living for you're okay. She says, to deny ourselves daily

as our work. We are not saved in sin, but from sin we

cannot buy salvation. But we must seek it as interestedly and perseveringly, as

though we would abandon everything in the world for it, and sell all that

we have to obtain the pearl and great price. By accepting Christ, making

him all and in all, we shall obtain an invaluable experience. What she's

saying is, when we don't have this reserve in our lives, we say

no, I want to keep doing this. But when we say, Lord,

take it all, she says, we will have an invaluable experience.

For good works will surely follow all who received Christ Amazing Section, Manuscript forty

four, eighteen ninety eight. I highly recommend it. What is the godly

fast that the Lord requires of each one of us to be a Christian?

The fast that the Lord requires is for us to give our lives to Jesus

and to really mean it. Did you hear me? To really mean it

with no reservations, and to admit there we're sinners, but then to admit

that we need to stop being sinners by choice, that we need the wisdom

and power of God in our lives. Not our thinking are messed up,

value appropriations, our weaknesses because we're intrinsically compulsive people, but let the Cross

of Christ work for us. We come to the cross, we lay it

down so we might truly gain the costly pearl that is Jesus himself. Friends,

don't sell the Son of God short in your life. Make Jesus Christ

your portfolio for eternal life and leave nothing out of the game of life to

gain the treasure that is the costly pearl. Friend, in the judgment day,

the costly pearl who is Jesus, is all that matters to God for

your future. Because when God puts your life on the scales, Jesus plus

your nothing will equally everything to God. It means eternal life. Lose the

world and gain the prize. Seize the cross, make Jesus the costly treasure

of your life. Surrender up and obey through the power of the Holy Spirit

and in God's grace, in God's glory, let your relationship with God transform

your life. This is the fast that the Lord requires, Isaiah says,

to loose the bonds, to set the captives free, to seize the prize

that is the cost of pearl. This is the fast the Lord requires of

you and me until Jesus comes. Get it done, and get it right

now. Look, I'm gonna end by saying this. I went over it

toda, but I needed to Seventh day Adventism at the time of the end,

that has one foot in the world and one foot in the church is

going to be lost. Did you hear me? That's a fact. You

can even bank on it. Now. There's lots of feel good religion out

there, but nothing matters. But Jesus, you know how you can test

what you need to do or not to do. It's quite simple. Can

Jesus be in the same room with you when you're doing it? Is that

a good test? Would Jesus be rooting for what you're doing or watching?

Would he be a part of that? Would Christ invest his energy and what

you're investing your energy in? Would Christ read this, watch that, do

this, or would he not see? It's not a test of what the

preacher thinks. It's really a test to what God will think in the judgment

day. The standard is the law of God. But guess who's the law.

It's Jesus. He's the living law of God. Friends, when our

eyes are on Jesus, we won't be talking about how good or bad we

are. We'll be living lives that shine for his glory. Now, I,

for one, am not a perfect person. How many hears in that

group? Anybody here not a perfect person? But I want to be?

How many you want to be like Jesus. He's the par great price.

I'm not asking for some call here. It's complicated, but you know I'm

gonna raise my hand and say, Lord, help this ciner obey not for

the sake of looking good, but this is for the sake of Jesus,

who put his hands out on the cross for me. Jesus put his hands

out. If you want to reach out to him in that way, you

raise your hands and stay. Take me today. Let's pray, Dear Father,

give us Jesus, Give us Jesus. We are plagued inside by what

it's natural to be an unconverted person, to go through the rounds of religions

significance, to seek narcissistic supply by doing the right things and even doing wrong

things. In your name, Lord, may the raw Bible with Christ in

it, educate us, lead us, inform us so that we live godly

lives and we were not found a spot or wrinkle. And Lord, may

we not shun the true gospel for fate versions of it out there, but

have surrendered lives. Not for us, Yeah, for us in the sense

we want to be saved, but for Jesus who deserves it in his name.

Amen, dear Father, keep us out of the trap of cheap religion.

Lord, it's so easy to dance around the calf. It's so easy

to forget your an amazing God of love that you're consuming, God of fire.

But that fire is the love of yahweh Help us to live in the

fire, Lord, to love it, to be found, ready for it

at the second coming of Christ. To be busy about saving souls and not

nonsense foolish things in our Christian experience, which is in Christian. Lord,

help us not to be judgmental of others, because we're the one that you

need to work on. Our lives are the ones that need to change.

So change us all and Lord, as we are focused on living and loving

others. Father, may they find in Jesus the pearl of great Christ.

Thank you that you do forgive sin, that you do pardon that you forgave

everybody at the foot of Sinai and they moved on, But they moved on

changed people with God at least for a time. Father, May we move

on and never lose you for every day for the rest of our lives,

in Jesus name, Amen.