Below are the notes I took from a sermon by Brother Denny @ Charity Ministries. You can listen to The Sin of Gluttony, the original sermon, if you like. I feel that its necessary to confess here and now that I have been guilty of this sin for far too long! Yes, I have PCOS. Yes, it causes insulin resistance and weight gain. However, I gave up a long time ago on my responsibility of eating in moderation. I lost my vision, my hope that it would ever get better. That’s not an excuse, but a reason.
I confess this sin here because I am renouncing this sin! I surrender this area of my life to my Lord as I promised I would surrender ALL of me when I was baptized into death and newness of life with Christ. The Lord has put on my heart for a very long time that I need to follow the Raw Diet. Not the lifestyle, with all its new age associations, but the diet.
While the raw and natural, whole foods diet are proven to be better on the body, it doesn’t give us the right to to say then that we are our own god. It doesn’t prove that that mankind has always been capable of divinity through self-awareness and healing, but rather, that we’re built this way. God created us as perfect beings. He gave us mankind a glorious garden to live in and expand upon. We (Adam and Eve, our parents) chose to disobey His command not to eat from one tree. They weren’t limited in food. They could have chosen differently, but they didn’t. We are no longer in that perfect state, but no matter what we change, our diet, our lifestyle, whatever… our abilities will never restore us to perfection. No pratice, no matter how good we are at it, will restore us to God. Only through Jesus Christ, His perfect Son, can we ever hope to reach perfection and that not until He returns. Rather, we will be perfected in Him as we live in His spirit. Praise God Most High!
Having said this… the Lord has made it completely clear that I have made food an idol in my life and I must crush it. I must repent and turn aside from it. To some who read this, it may sound silly. However, to you, food may not be an addiction. Food is an addiction for me. The only addiction I want in my life is more of Jesus! I believe He has been telling me to let go of my eating habits, let go of the addicting foods in my life and live for Him. And I am doing just that. As of … today, when I wake up… I am starting the Lemon Cleanse (aka the Master Cleanse). I’m going to do this for at least 10 days. Then, I will move to the Juice Feast, which is a 92 day program. After that, I feel that God will lead me where He wants me next.
Did you know that Daniel (of the Bible, the Daniel of the Lion’s Den) followed a raw diet? He did!
Daniel 1:10-17 says, “And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
Pulse means the edible seeds of certain leguminous plants, as peas, beans, or lentils and/or a plant producing such seeds. They ate veggies and water. And the Bible says “their countenances (appearances, demeanors) appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.” They were healthier!
So… on to the notes:
America is a land of plenty. So we can often get caught up in excess if we aren’t careful. The Bible has many (as much as for intoxicating drink) scriptures about gluttony. We need to be reminded of, because it can sneak up on us very subtly.
Gluttony is eating more than we need. And here in America, we think we need a whole lot more than our bodies actually need. Just a reminder, we don’t have to be fat to be a glutton. There are people who are skinny and can put away far more food than they need.
Food is not wrong. And God meant for man to enjoy food. But we must look at in perspective. We should eat for strength. Not for drunkenness. God’s will is that we eat for strength. Eat to live, not live to eat.
Proverbs 23:1-3 says, “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.” Notice God says to consider diligently the food set before you. Put a knife to your throat rather than take in the fancy meal, if you’re given to appetite!
Proverbs 23:19-21 says, “Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” An overeater is always drowsy, because the body is working overtime. (And in my case, always HOT. I walk around feeling like my internal furnace is above 110!)
Deuteronomy 21:20, 21 says, “And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” Wow! Stoned to death was a serious penalty for sin! Right up there with adultery!
In America, the two words (drunkenness and overeating) aren’t often put together. Drink is taboo in many Christian circles, but not overeating.
Numbers 11:1-9 says, “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. 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. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.”
Note vs. 4 - they fell a lusting. Whining. Complaining. They weren’t satisfied with the manna.
Numbers 11:31-34 says, “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, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: 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, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.”
God gave them quail. But the people were so lustful, they ate the meat with abandon. They ate without a thought to God. They were LUSTFUL (lecherous, carnal, as if given over to unrestrained or excessive indulgence of sexual desire.) Yuck! That sounds just horrid! No wonder Jehovah was so disgusted!
Its not wrong to eat meat, but perhaps we should consume far less than we do. In other countries, the amount of meat consumed is much, much less than in America. Just a thought.
Ezekiel 16:49 says, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” The failures of Sodom and Gomorrah had a beginning point that eventually caused them to be destroyed. Notice “fullness of bread”.
God warned the nation of Israel, before entering the Promised Land, beware lest when you get full in your bellies, you forget God. Look at the food choices we have in America. Land of restaurants. Overeating is iniquity, perverted natural desire, SIN.
Luke 21:34-36 says, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and 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.”
Serfiting is overeating. Your heart can be overcharged, made dull, by overeating and drunkenness. Your spiritual life will be rendered ineffective. You may not see the sign of Christ’s return. Take heed!
1 Peter 4:1-7 says, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath 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. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 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.”
No longer live in the lusts of men, but walk in the Spirit of God. The early Christians didn’t do the “banquetings” and the world thought them strange.
1 Peter 2:11 says, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Fleshly, those things of the body. The lust of eating.
1 Corinthians 10:6-11 says, “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Don’t lust after evil things, like the children of Israel. Don’t lust after food, don’t be idolaters, fornicators and provoke God’s wrath. These were given us as an example. Let’s use it! Don’t give your heart over to the lust of food.
Philipians 3:17-19 says, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (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: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” Spirit-filled believers – be careful! The of their bellies… they walk after the flesh.
What would Jesus do? When you think of Jesus do you picture Him a man given over to His appetite? Heavy set? What of Paul?
Paul said at 1 Corinthians 6: 12, 13: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” If you are sure you’re not under the power of something, try giving it up and find out for sure!
Paul also said at 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I tell my body what to do!
Eat to live! Not live to eat!
I add: Our bodies are the temple of God. Why would the Holy Spirit want to reside in a temple we desecrate? God was specific about the Levites and the cleansing rituals before they could enter the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 10:1-3). Why should we think we can be different, just because we live under grace and not the Law? Its a heart issue, really…
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