So, I'm continuing on with the series we started several weeks ago entitled, Analogies of
the Bible. We're in part five, and we're going to be looking at how the Bible is
likened unto meat. When I say meat, I don't mean just what we think of today. When we
say meat, we think of the animal meat. The Bible uses the word meat and food interchangeably,
so really the analogy of the Bible that we're going to look at this morning is the way in
which the Bible is likened unto food. It's interesting. God must have known us Baptists
were coming to keep us interested. He's like, well, I got to liken it unto bread.
I got to liken it unto milk and honey and so on and meat and so on and so forth.
You see that there in Hebrews 5 where the Bible is likened unto food, unto meat.
It says in verse 12, when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need
that one teacheth you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God.
So, the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk.
So, they need to be taught the first principles. They're like one that needs milk.
So, these first principles are being likened unto the milk and not of strong meat.
For anyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word. So, again, you see how milk and
word are being used of righteousness for he is a babe, but strong meat belongeth to them that
are full aged, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. So, in this one verse, we see that the word is being likened unto milk
and it's also being likened unto strong meat. If you want to go over to 1 Peter 2.
The first principles are the milk of the word, meaning these are the basic things.
These are the fundamental truths. These are things like salvation, baptism,
eternal security, just the basic truths of the God's word, the fundamentals of the faith.
Jesus is God. He was born of a virgin. The Bible is infallible. The Bible is the
preserved word. These are the basic truths that we need to understand and we need to grow up on
the milk of the word before we're ready to take on the strong meat of the word.
So many times in the Christian life, people start out and they just want to dive into the
deep end of the Bible. They want to just expound some deep passage in Ezekiel or something.
What they really need is just start in Matthew and work their way through and just take in the
milk before we start to dissect end times prophecy and Old Testament prophecies and so on
and so forth. There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes we get saved later in life. Maybe
we didn't grow up in church. There can be this tendency to shy away from being considered a
babe in Christ, but here's the thing. Everybody starts out as a babe in Christ.
The great thing about the Word of God and growing in Christ is it's not just based on
how much time has gone by. It's based on how well you feed yourself. It's based upon your
nutrition. In real life, we just grow up no matter what, physically at least. Everyone's
going to get bigger. I'm always telling my daughters, you need to stop growing.
Quit getting so big. I can't help it, Dad. It's just going to happen. Then I go and cry like a
baby. That's a matter of time. Year by year, people grow up. They get older. They mature.
In the Christian life, you could be a Christian a very long time and remain a babe. That's
kind of what he was saying there in Hebrews 5. He was saying, for the time he ought to
be teachers, he's saying, you should already know this. This should be something you've already
gotten figured out. You have need that one teacheth you again, to feed you again with the milk.
The great thing about the fact that the Bible is likened unto food is that
that nutrition is therefore available for us to grow spiritually at whatever rate we want to.
That's why some Christians grow quicker than others. Some Christians are spending more time
in the Word of God, more time under the preaching of the Word of God, more time studying,
more time memorizing, more time taking in the milk, weaning themselves, and then getting onto
that strong meat. Whereas some Christians will go decades, their whole Christian life,
having never read the Bible, not taking in sound doctrine, not applying these things to
their lives, and they just remain that spiritual babe. The Bible, like food, provides the
nourishment we need for spiritual growth. If you're there in 1 Peter 2, it says in verse 2,
as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
So again, there's nothing wrong with being a babe. He's saying, look,
that's just a fact of the matter. I mean, we don't give birth to our children and then say,
why aren't you driving yet? We don't expect them. Why aren't you paying bills?
We understand that there's a process. We understand they have to grow, get older,
they have to mature, take things on, so on and so forth. Same thing in the Christian life.
Peter is saying here, as newborn babes, you're a babe in Christ, that's fine. Just make sure
you desire the sincere milk of the word so that ye may grow thereby. That's the purpose behind
it. We shouldn't always remain a babe, but if we don't desire the sincere milk of the word,
you know what? We're not going to grow thereby, and we will remain a babe.
Nothing wrong with starting out as one, but it becomes a problem when decades go by,
years go by, we're still a babe. We all begin as babes. The first principle is the
milk is the nourishment that we need to grow, and it's a process from going to being a babe
to somebody who is a full age, mature, right? Going from carnality to spirituality.
Go over to 1 Corinthians 3. Well, how can you gauge somebody's spiritual age?
Well, you can look at how they're conducting themselves. You can look at,
are they a carnal person or are they a spiritual person? Are they still living after
the manner of the world or are they trying to live for the things of Christ?
Because that's the growth there. Going from being a babe in Christ to being that of full age
or mature is going from carnality to being spiritual. If you're in 1 Corinthians 3,
verse 1, he said, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual.
He said, I wanted to speak unto you as spiritual, but I couldn't. Why? Because you
couldn't handle it. You weren't ready for an adult conversation. You weren't ready for
a mature, intellectual, spiritual conversation. Some conversations are just over children's heads.
The mom and dad start talking about things like taxes, and it's still over our heads,
let alone a child. They're trying to like, what? It's like, don't worry about it. I'll
tell you when you're older. Put it off as long as you can.
But that's what he's talking about here. Look, I wanted to speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but he couldn't. Why? And I, brethren, could not speak unto you unto spiritual,
but as unto what? Carnal. So what's the opposite of being spiritual? It's being carnal,
being in the flesh, being just concerned with the things of this world, the things of this
life, just appeasing the flesh, not worried about spiritual things, just walking in the flesh.
And he says there, I could not speak unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes. So being a babe in Christ is being carnal. That's how you can gauge somebody's
spiritual growth or where they are spiritually. And that, you know, and by the way, that's why
some people should be given a little slack. You know, sometimes people come into church
and they say, well, why aren't they doing this, this, and this? Like, because they're a
babe. You know, you wouldn't expect them to just take on all the things of Christ and be
a full age any more than you would, you know, why isn't my infant feeding themselves?
Because they haven't grown to that place. They haven't developed the motor skills,
the teeth, the ability, the understanding, right? Same thing in the Christian life. People
have to grow out of carnality. They have to grow from being a babe. He says in verse two,
I have fed you with milk and not with meat, right? He fed them with what was appropriate.
He said, look, they need the milk and not with the meat. Why? For hitherto,
you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. So there's nothing wrong with,
you know, not being able to bear it up to a point, right? This is kind of, he's kind of
speaking this to their shame, right? Kind of like what he was seeing in Hebrews is that, you
know, you should be at a time you have to be teaching. You ought to be feeding milk to other
people. He's saying, look, I wanted to speak a new spiritual and, you know, he should have
been able to, but because you're carnal and you couldn't bear it and you're not able to now,
for ye are yet carnal for whereas you walk, there is among you envying and strife and
divisions are you not carnal and walk as men. So the Bible is likened unto food. And the
reason it's that way is because that's where we get our spiritual nutrition to grow.
But Christian, which, you know, and from that we can come to the conclusion that Christian growth
is not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. It's, you know, we can become, you know, stunted in
our, in our Christian growth. If we're not getting the nutrients, we're not getting the
vitamins, we're not getting the proteins that we need, you know, we're not going to grow
spiritually. We're just going to stay stunted in our growth. Go over to Isaiah chapter 28,
Isaiah chapter 28. When you get to Isaiah, keep something there. Put a bookmark on Isaiah. We're
going to come back later. Isaiah chapter 28. Say, well, I want to grow, you know,
well, how do, how do I grow then? Well, you have to, you know, get in the word of God.
That's your spiritual food. That's your, that's your nourishment in the Christian life.
It says in verse nine, whom shall he teach knowledge? Because again, that's the measure,
right? To be carnal, to be a babe is to not have that understanding, to not be able to be the
teacher, to have to be taught again, the first things of the principles of Christ. That's what
it is to be a babe. But whom shall he teach knowledge? So, you know, that's the growth,
right? To take on the knowledge. Whom shall he make to understand doctrine, right? That's
part of that growth. They say, look, I've got the milk of the word down. I've, I've read it.
You know, I've, I've been there for the preaching. I've memorized. I've thought about
these things. I've, I've, I've understood the principles of the doctrines of Christ.
I've taken on those basics. I've digested the milk. And now I'm ready to be taught knowledge.
I'm ready to be made to understand doctrine. Whom shall he teach knowledge? Whom shall he
make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk. You know, you can't have both.
Eventually you have to move on, right? But you have to have had the milk and be weaned from
it and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. So the other thing that people
can fall into, you know, in their desire to grow is that they can just turn the Christian
life into some kind of smorgasbord. You know, then they just want to overeat. Then they just,
you know, they try to take on too much. Look, he's showing us here there's a process,
right? It's a weaning. You know, you don't just wean a child overnight. At least I don't
recall that. I could be wrong, right? But it's a process, right? And it's not a fun one. You know,
the baby throws a fit and they start to introduce the solids and things like that.
And there's a change there. It's a process. It's a going from the milk to the meat. And
that's the spiritual process that we go through. We go from the milk of the word to what?
Understanding doctrine, to understanding the strong meat, the deep things of God.
So you have to become accustomed to the strong meat of the word, right?
You know, when we've weaned our children, we didn't just go from, you know, mother's milk
straight to the T-bone steak. You know, we had to wait for the teeth to come in. But
in the meantime there, you know, there's the purees. There's the soft foods, right?
There's the bananas. There's all the foods that are easily digested by the babe, right?
But it's a process, right? We go from one to the next and we grow into that. Just in the same way
in the spiritual life, you have to become accustomed to the strong meat of the word.
You have to get the, isn't that what he says there? I mean, that's what I'm reading. It
says, precept must be upon precept. And then he reiterates, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line. You can't just jump ahead. You know, you have to grow into these
things. You know, and it's the basics, it's the fundamentals that we understand that are going
to help us. Once we get those down, those basics are going to help us to understand
the deeper things of Christ, okay? Once our digestive tracts, so to speak,
can handle the milk of the word and the teeth come in, now we can, we've been weaned,
now we can start to really chew and savor the strong meat of God's word. But you can't
just jump ahead. It's a process. If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter 16.
Proverbs chapter 16. He said to Timothy, if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things,
thou shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good
doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. You know, before Timothy could put the brethren
in remembrance of these things, before he could begin to teach doctrine and teach the strong
meat of the word, he himself had to be what? Nourished up in the words of faith and of
good doctrine. You know, he had to take those things in. He had to follow Paul and see his
manner of life and know the things that he taught, the things that he said among
many witnesses, right? He had to take that, and that was a process of growth from him.
You know, there was a weaning, so to speak, to be involved. Now, I don't know that he was a
full-on babe when Paul found him, but no doubt there was still a process of growth for
Timothy to the place where now he's nourished up with the words of faith and of good doctrine
and is able to put the brethren in remembrance of these things also.
It's a spiritual weaning. The newborns have to be able to digest solids. We have to grow
to that place of being able to take in food, but not only that, you know, you can't just,
you know, of course a babe cannot feed itself, right? It's dependent upon its mother.
Even after it begins to be, you know, weaned or drawn from the breast,
it then has to be fed. You know, you can't, you don't just put the spoon in its hand. You don't just
set it down in the kitchen and go, you know, there's a stool over there. The knives are over
here. The fridge is over here. It's all yours, kiddo, right? No, they're still uncoordinated.
They're still sitting them down, putting the bib on them, getting the spoon out,
making the stupid sounds. Here it comes, open wide, you know, and trying to get it in,
right? There's still that process, but that babe eventually should learn to feed themselves,
right? Eventually they start to pick up the spoon with the little plastic thing on it and poke
themselves in the eye and everywhere else and try to start getting it in there. You know,
it would be embarrassing if my older children, you know, every time they ate, I had to sit
them down and, you know, put the food in their mouth and then open and close their mouth. So
there you go. They'll swallow, you know. We should all grow to that place of where we're
going to feed ourselves. Look, there's a time when we need to come to church and just learn
the basics and learn the things of the Christian life, learn the things of God,
but you know what? We need to also get to the point where we open up the Word of God
and we start to feed ourselves on a daily basis to where the preaching is not our primary,
you know, source of food or nutrition. You know, the preaching really in the Christian
life should be like a supplement. It should be like that vitamin, right? It should be a good,
strong vitamin that you get, you know, in the week. You take that and it gives you that,
you know, helps boost your immune system, whatever, right? It's a supplement to your
regular diet, which your regular diet should be your personal Bible reading. That is the
steady, regular diet that is going to take you from the milk of the Word to the strong meat of
the Word. It's not just the preaching. The preaching will help that along, right? The
preaching will help you understand those doctrines. Maybe there's something we struggle
with that gets explained, like, oh, it makes sense. We get taught those basics, those first
principles, but then, you know, at some point we have to learn to feed ourselves, to open up
the Word of God, and to eat. You know, doing the reading, doing the studying,
that's the meal that you need to have. And by the way, you know, I don't know unless you're
fasting or something, I'm assuming everybody in the room is like me and probably eats once or
more a day, right? At least once a day we eat a meal to keep our physical bodies going,
but are we taking care of our spiritual body that way? Are we feeding the spiritual man like
that? I mean, is the spiritual man famished this morning? Does the spiritual man look like he got
out of a prison camp? I mean, the physical man looks, you know, plump and full, right?
And he looks healthy, you know? He's well fed, you know? He's having donuts,
right? We're feeding him. But if we could see him spiritually, what would he look like?
Just, you know, all emaciated, ribs sticking out, and just in poor health. Why is that? Well,
I come to church. Well, you can't just live on vitamins. Just go home and just the rest of
the week just have a vitamin once a day. Just have a multivitamin a few times a day
and see where that gets you. No, you need the calories. You need to be able to burn off
during the day, right? You need that spiritual strength that is in the Word of God to burn
off during the day. You know, when Satan comes against you, when some temptation in the flesh
comes, and you've been in your prayer, you've been in your Bible reading, you remember some
verse, you know, because you read it that day, you know, that's that you burning off that
those spiritual calories that you've ingested earlier through your Bible reading. And not
only that, not only is, you know, the Bible reading necessary to grow, but, you know,
I think when people get into it, they find that like food, the Bible is satisfying.
It's very satisfying. Did I have you go to Proverbs? Okay, Proverbs 16. Look at verse,
Proverbs 16, if you're there. Verse 24, he says, pleasant words are as in honeycomb.
Pleasant words are as in honeycomb. You know, and you could apply this different ways,
but isn't the Bible full of pleasant words? I mean, even the negative things we'll talk
about in a minute are pleasant. We should enjoy them as God's children. You know,
how many times I've read the Bible and just, man, that's so good. Come out and tell my wife
something I read, you know, and vice versa. Or just been in the Word of God and read it,
just like amazing. You know, I'm satisfied. My soul gets satisfied spiritually when I do what?
When I read it. You know, I never go to dinner and there's some delicious meal my wife has made
and just look at it and go, oh, I'm so satisfied. I don't even need to eat that.
Just having smelled it, just having looked at it, just knowing she's going to wrap it up and
put it in the fridge for later. No, I have to sit down, break out the knife and fork,
cut it, put it in my mouth and chew and swallow and ingest it. And then I'm satisfied,
right? Then I'm not hangry anymore, right? I'm not in that bad mood. Sometimes you just
need to eat. And sometimes that's the way we are spiritually. We get spiritually hangry.
You know, we're cantankerous. We're discontent. We're upset. You know, we're vexed.
Why is it? Because you haven't been spiritually eating. You haven't been sitting down and
opening up the word of God and ingesting and getting satisfaction like in honeycomb.
I mean, some things are easier to eat than others, aren't they? I mean, I'm not a fan of
everything. It's probably hard for you to believe that, right? But believe it or not,
there's a few things I'm trying to think nothing's coming to mind, right? Black olives,
right? I still choke them down in the salads because I'm trying to teach myself to like
them. But I'm sure there's a food out there I don't like. I just haven't found it yet,
right? But I'll tell you one thing I like is honey. I mean, who doesn't like honey?
Don't raise your hand if you don't like honey, right? I don't want to know. Just keep that to
yourself, right? But I mean, that's what he's saying. Your pleasant words are as in honeycomb.
I mean, I love putting, you know, the honey on the spoon and just put it in the tea or
whatever. Just, man, it's sweet. It tastes good. It's satisfying. You know, or getting a
honeycomb and, you know, chewing on that and sucking all the honey out and then getting the
wax. Man, that's a pleasant experience. It's satisfying. Well, that's what pleasant words
are. You know, reading the Bible, this isn't me just choking down some, you know,
cold cauliflower or something. This isn't me just like trying to eat, you know, lima beans
or, you know, I like Brussels sprouts, but probably a lot of people don't like Brussels
sprouts, right? You know, this is honey. Yeah, it's meat. Yes, it's milk. Yes,
it's bread. Yes, you know, and there's some bitter vegetables in here too. That's right.
But you know what? There's a lot of things in here. It's like honey. It's like, it's like,
it's satisfying to the soul. That's what it says. There's, there's, the pleasant words are
as in honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. Go to Proverbs chapter 24.
Proverbs chapter 24. He said in Psalm 119, how sweet are thy words unto my taste,
yea sweeter than honey to my mouth. I mean, you take a big thing of honey and go,
that's good. You know, the Bible's better. These words are better than that because, you know,
you'll eat that honey and then you'll forget what it tastes like. You'll have to have more.
You eat these words, you know, spiritually, these will, will stick with you and you'll,
and you'll be able to call that up, you know, throughout the day and it'll always be there.
It's, it's better than honey. It's more to be desired than honey and find gold also.
Proverbs chapter 24. Look at verse 13. My son, eat thou honey because it is good.
I mean, I would love to get told that. Hey, go eat some honey. Hey, after church,
everyone's having a donut. All right. Rule. You want to come to church here,
you have to have a donut. You can't come in. I'm going to stand here and watch you eat
that donut. Like, Ooh. Right? Because it's good, right? That, you know, I mean,
of course I'm not going to do that, but that's what he's saying here. Look, you need to eat
it. Why? Because it's good. Right? Oh, okay. I guess if I have to, I'll take the chocolate one,
you know, with, with extra chocolate. Eat thou honey. Why? Because it is good.
And the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste. Now you say, well, you're kind of
reaching here. How do you, what do you mean the Bible's liking unto food here? Well,
so shall knowledge be, knowledge of wisdom to be unto thy soul. He's comparing the knowledge
of wisdom that was found in the word of God unto what? Unto honey. Unto a honeycomb.
He's saying it's good. It's sweet. It's health to you. We should be eating it.
We should be consuming it. Not just because it's going to help us grow spiritually and
mature to a full age, but also because, you know, it's going to satisfy you.
It's going to satisfy you. And look, if you do not satisfy this need in your life,
you will go looking for it somewhere else. You know, if, if I don't eat, you know,
if I just say, well, you know, I'm just, I'm just not going to eat anything my wife cooks.
Do you think I'm just not going to eat? I'm going to be in the drive-through. You know,
I'm going to be getting the artificial this and the ready-made that, and I'm going to be
putting something in my system just to burn calories. And it's going to be things that
are not going to be good for me with all the, you know, nitrates and preservatives and
artificial this and the, you know, hydrated that and everything else that they're just
pouring into all the cheap foods today that we have in abundance. You know, it's great
that we have so much food. It's just too bad that so much of that food is actually
not good for you. Right? But you're going to eat something. You're not just going
to go through this life not eating. You know, and if you don't read the Word of
God, if you don't enjoy the pure honeycomb of God's Word, you're going to find
something else to try and satisfy you spiritually. Or you're going to find something else
to try to, you know, ease the vexation of just, you know, life. Just life is hard in itself.
You're going to find some other filler in your life that's going to take the place of
the Word of God. But you know what it's not going to do? It's not going to come anywhere
near the satisfaction that the Bible can provide. I mean, the Bible, you can read that,
you can be content. Like Paul said, I have learned to be content in whatsoever state I am,
therewith. I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Did he, how did he do that? Because he knew the Word of God. Because he knew the truths
of the Word of God. He was able to be content. Go over to Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27.
He said in Psalms, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice,
and Israel would none of me. And say, look, if they had just sat down and opened their
mouth wide, I would have put some food in. I would have filled their mouth. I would have given them
what they needed. But they would not hearken, he says. He should have fed them also with the
finest of the wheat, and with the honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
So it's available. It's there. God's Word is available. The honey is there. The fine wheat
is there. The honey out of the rock, right? This rock is Christ. There's honey in that
rock. It's there. It's available. God wants to feed us, but you'll never have any of it.
You'll never notice satisfaction if what? If you don't have a hunger for it.
You have to have a hunger for the Word of God. The Bible says in Psalms 42,
as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O my God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
That's a real spiritual hunger. We should develop that in our lives,
and here's the thing. We read the Bible, and we get our spiritual satisfaction,
but then it leaves us wanting more. That's what I found. The more I read the Bible,
the more I just think about when do I get to read my Bible again? When's morning coming?
How much longer? This day's over, so I can get everything done, and I can get up in
the morning, and I can read my Bible again. Can I spend an hour this morning? Is this one
of those days I get to spend two hours? I've got a vacation coming. I'm going to have some days off.
I wonder if there's going to be some time where I can just sit down and read entire books
because I have that kind of a hunger for the Word of God. Look, that's not just because
I'm a preacher. That should be for all of God's children. We should develop that kind
of a hunger for the Word of God, and if we read it, we will develop that hunger
because we'll start to learn how good God is. We'll start to learn how much His Word
really does satisfy, and then we will find ourselves what? Panting after the brooks. We'll
find our soul panting after God, thirsting after God, and the best part about it is
when we're panting and we're hungering and thirsting after God, He's there to be found.
When we have that need, when we have that desire to be satisfied, He's there to satisfy us
with what? With honey, with fine wheat. You have to have a hunger for it though,
so don't ruin your appetite. Don't ruin your appetite. Have you ever been told,
hey, this is what's for dinner tonight? You get told at like one or two, five or six,
this is what we're eating, but you're hungry now, right? It's kind of like Thanksgiving.
You know there's going to be that big, plump, juicy turkey with all the fixings,
but man, it's 10 a.m. I know there's a big meal coming, but I'm hungry now,
and what can possibly happen is you go through the fridge and you make yourself a sandwich.
You're making the PB&J, you're pouring a bowl of cereal, and the next thing you know that
dinner rolls around and you're not as hungry as you once were. Why? Because you ruined your
appetite, and now you're sitting there going, man, I wish I would have held out. I would have
skipped the leftover spaghetti. I wish I would have skipped that and just had another turkey
leg instead. Then I could have had more stuffing. Now, I know some of us will just go ahead
and have it anyway, right? We do what I call eating for fun, which is the thing.
But you know what? If you want to have a hunger for the Word of God, you can't ruin
your appetite. If you know there's this big, wonderful, nutritious meal, fill up on that.
Don't fill up on the empty calories of this world, the empty calories of just vain
things of this world that are just wasting time. We should be sitting down
and having a meal in the Word of God, but we're busy wasting our time on just whatever.
Whatever it is. Whatever's taking the place of God. Jesus said,
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Who's going to be filled? Those that hunger. Are you in Proverbs 27?
I love this verse because this verse can just be preached so many different ways.
Verse 7. The full soul loateth in honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
So you could look at it and say, hey, the full soul loateth in honeycomb. I get so satisfied
on the Word of God, I don't need anything else the world has to offer. Or you could look
at it, the full soul loateth in honeycomb. Some people get so filled up on the world,
they look at God's Word and say, well, that's not very entertaining. Where's the screen?
There's no buttons in this book. Do you swipe? I'm not used to this. Where's the remote?
This doesn't work that way. No, it's black and white. There's no pictures,
and this is how you do it, but it's what's therein. When we read it, we understand it,
and God begins to speak to us. That's the satisfaction. But the people that get
filled up on the things of the world, they don't desire this. They have a full soul.
They loathe the honeycomb. Oh, I know it's sweet, but I've had plenty of whatever.
But to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. You know there's some bitter things in
the Word of God. I mean, yeah, it's honey, but there's some things where it's just like,
ouch. I mean, you read something out of the Word of God, and it's just like, ugh.
Sometimes it convicts us, or sometimes it just gives us a perspective on humanity.
I mean, I just keep thinking about, it's amazing to me that God even gives us a second look.
When you start to realize how holy and pure and high God is, and then just how wretched man is,
it's amazing that God ever looked our way at all. That's a bitter truth in the Word of God,
isn't it? It's bitter to read about hell. It's bitter to read about judgment and death
and all these things, but you know what? To the hungry soul, even that is sweet.
Why? Because it's God's Word, and even that satisfies the hungry soul. So don't, you know,
if you want to get the nutrition, if you want to be satisfied by the Word of God,
don't ruin your appetite. You know, be there for supper time. Be there for breakfast
when the meal is being served. The Bible, like food, has to be consumed daily.
Go over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8,
and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know. So he's talking about Old Testament Israel coming out of Egypt.
He said, I suffered you to hunger, and then I fed you with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee to know. What was the purpose behind all that?
Why did God take him through a wilderness where there was nothing there to eat,
and often it was even hard to find something to drink? Why did he do that?
That he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live.
Not just the nice things, not just the sweet things, but the bitter things too.
We've got to take the good with the bad when it comes to the Word of God. Why? Because we live by
all of it. We live by all of it. In order to benefit from the satisfying nourishment that's
in God's Word, you've got to eat it. In order to be satisfied, it's pretty simple,
isn't it? You've got to eat it. If you want the nourishment, if you want to benefit from
what the Word of God has to offer, you have to consume it. Just like any meal. How are you
going to do that? By reading it. By reading it. Well, John said in John 1,
in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. So the Word was God. That's talking about Jesus,
right? That's Jesus. Because in John 1 14 he says, and we beheld his glory as the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst
us, and we beheld his glory as the only begotten, full of grace and truth.
So the Word was God, the Word was with God in the beginning, and the Word became flesh.
That's talking about Jesus. So Jesus is the Word of God, right? But Jesus also said,
what? In verse 35 of John 6. As Jesus saith unto them, I am the bread of life.
So Jesus is saying, look, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And of course he was speaking in
dark sayings to the Jews to confuse them, you know, and trying to confuse them about
how to be saved, and he's saying you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood, right?
But what it's showing us here is that, you know, if we want the satisfaction
that comes from God's Word, we have to eat the Word. That's what has to be consumed.
Jesus is that Word. You know, he's the Bible. He's the food. He's the meat of life.
Look at verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth. And this is what the Catholics miss.
This is, it is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing.
You know, you just want to grab them. The flesh profiteth nothing.
You know, the wafer that you eat, the, you know, transubstantiation that you eat,
the holy Eucharist that they consume, and they say, oh, this is what gets, I mean,
we consume this, and it saves us. Because why? Because it literally turns into the flesh
of Christ in our stomachs. That's what they believe. That is the doctrine
of transubstantiationism. Just saying it is an accomplishment.
Right? That's what they believe. But what did Jesus say? The flesh profiteth nothing.
It doesn't profit you anything. He said, the words I speak unto you, they are spirit.
Excuse me. They are life. Where are we going to get life? Where are we going to get the
spiritual nourishment that we need out of the words that Jesus spoke, out of the Word of God,
out of the Word? You're going to prolong your spiritual strength. You're going to
prolong your spiritual life by consuming and reading the Word of God. You know, people,
you can only run on fumes spiritually for so long, and then you're going to peter out and
fall away. You know, you're not going to finish strong. If you want to go the distance,
you know, if you want to make it through the race that is the Christian life, you have to
make sure that you're getting the spiritual nourishment that you need. And that's only found
in the Word of God itself. So if we fail to eat, go to Isaiah 55, and we'll close here.
Isaiah 55. If you fail to eat, you say, well, you know what? I know it's sweet.
I know it'll help me grow, but no thanks. I'm full. I've got other things to eat. I've
got other things to do with my time besides sit around and read the Bible.
Okay, but just remember, you're going to be malnourished. Spiritually speaking,
you're going to be malnourished. And the sad thing about that is, is you're going to be
malnourished needlessly. There's no point. You don't have to be that way. You know, it's like
some people can't help that they're physically starving. They're in some country that's being
oppressed, that doesn't have the agriculture, that doesn't have the infrastructure,
you know, whatever aid is sent their way is taken by some warlord or something like that.
You know, there's people that are starving literally in this world, and they can't help it.
You know, it's their climate. It's where they, you know, they're born into it.
You know, we feel bad for them, but do we really feel bad for the guy who's here in
America starving? Who could go out and get the job, get the food stamps, get the EBT card or
whatever. They could go down to any number of food banks that he wants. I mean, it's like,
there's no reason to be starving in this country. And I don't even know if it really even exists.
But that's the same way with us spiritually. You know, we have the church, we have the Bible,
we have the Holy Spirit, we have everything. There's a full meal just spread for us.
Don't turn your nose up at it. Don't go through life spiritually malnourished, needlessly.
Eat what's set before you. Are you in Isaiah 55? Look at verse one.
Hoe everyone that thirsteth, come. You know, are you thirsty? Come, have a drink.
Come ye to the waters, and ye that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat. Yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money and without price. It's not even gonna cost you anything.
You can just sit down and eat. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?
And people, you know, spiritually are just spending their money, their spiritual money,
on things that do not satisfy. Spending their spiritual time on things that do not satisfy.
They're not going to bring the nutrition they need. It's not going to help them grow.
It's not going to help them come to a full age and be able to handle the meat of the
Word of God. It's going to leave them spiritually malnourished. They're spending
their money on that which is not bread. It's not the Word of God. And you labor for that
which satisfieth not. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good. Again,
the Bible is, that's the Bible. It's good. Eat thou honey. Why? Because it's good.
And let your soul delight itself in fatness. Let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Look, I like eating to a flaw, right? I delight in it, you know. But we should let our soul
delight in fatness. You know, you can't be spiritually overweight. I guess you could,
there's an analogy for that. But you know what? No one's going to ever say,
you need to read less Bible. You know, you should probably, you know, go on a
calorie restricted diet, spiritually. Because you're just, you're reading too much.
No, go ahead and read. Eat. Delight yourself in the fatness of God's Word. So how do
you do that? Okay, how? Verse three. And this is why people don't want to do it. This is why
people live spiritually malnourished lives. Incline your ear and come. You have to be there.
You have to show up. You have to come to where the meal is. You have to show up. You
have to incline your ear. And hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. So the meal's there, and the meal satisfies,
the meal nourishes. It's there. God prepares a heart, nutritious, delicious meal every single
day for his children. And he says, come and eat. And he's just ringing the dinner bell,
you know, every morning. Come and eat. It's right here. Everything you need. And it's good.
You know, it's honey. But you have to pull up a seat, don't you? You're the one who has
to pull up the seat. You're the one who has to pick up the knife and fork. And you have
to chew what is being served. You know, we have to show up for suppertime. And if we fail to do
that, just understand you're going to live a spiritually malnourished life. You're never
going to grow from being a babe in Christ to being one that is a full age if you don't
sit down and eat the Word of God, which is likened unto food. Let's go ahead and pray.