Episode Transcript
Proverbs 13 verse 25, the title of the message tonight is The Believer's Bread.
The Believer's Bread.
My wife usually sends me a text each afternoon and lets me know what we're having for supper.
And eating is such a wonderful gift from the Lord because food not only sustains our lives, but at least for me, it gives me much joy.
I enjoy eating.
Healthy people enjoy eating.
And our Bible verse tonight tells us that there are two types of people that eat.
The first type of people who eat is, if you look in your text, the righteous.
That's the first type of people.
The righteous are those who base their lives on the word of God, which most people refuse to do.
And fascinatingly, The righteous and the wicked aren't being compared tonight by how they behave.
They're being compared by how they eat and what they eat.
The Holy Spirit is not talking about where these two groups will spend eternity.
When we think about The righteous and the wicked.
A lot of times we reduce salvation, we reduce Christianity down to where we will spend eternity.
Well, are you going to go up or go down?
You know, are we going to go to heaven or are we going to go to hell?
And we make a mistake.
When we reduce the Christian faith down to where a person spends eternity, where we spend eternity is no doubt of utmost importance.
But how we live in the here and now is very important too.
How we live Is far more important than where we live.
Would you agree with that?
How we live is far more important.
Than where we live.
I'd rather be in the lake of fire with Jesus than in heaven without him.
What about you?
I would.
Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
They were in a burning fiery furnace with Jesus.
And you know why?
I assure you, they were in no hurry to get out.
And I just bet after Nebuchadnezzar called them out of that burning fiery furnace and they went home, I bet they daydreamed afterward about the wonderful experience they had in that fire.
When they were with the Son of God.
Listen to what Jesus' disciples said about their brief time that they spent with him after his resurrection in Luke 24:32.
It says, And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
They were saying, man, what a time we had with Jesus, wasn't it?
Our hearts were like a burning and shining light as he explained the word of God to us.
Do you know what those men were doing when Jesus was teaching them on the road to Emmaus?
They were eating.
That's what they were doing.
They were feeding on the precious word of God.
Solomon says, the righteous man, look back in your text, eateth.
A righteous person eats.
Righteous people, and mark this down: righteous people have food to eat that the world doesn't have.
Righteous people have food to eat that the world doesn't know about.
When Jesus went to the woman at the well, It had been a long time since Jesus had anything to eat.
His disciples were hungry.
They knew he had to be hungry, so his disciples tried to get him to eat.
But when they encouraged him to eat, the Bible says in John chapter 4, verse 32, that he said unto them, I have meat or food to eat that you know not of.
They couldn't understand that.
They assumed Jesus must have had some beef jerky in his pocket or something.
He must have had some food hidden somewhere that they didn't know about.
That's what the scripture says.
They thought, was he got some food somewhere we don't know about?
But Jesus was teaching them that there were greater things to eat for a believer than just bread.
There are greater things to live on and to feed on than just bread.
In John chapter 4, verse 34.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat, that is my food, is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
That's a powerful statement.
And it goes hand in hand with our proverb tonight: My meat, my food, is to do the will of him that sent me.
And to finish his work.
The food I have to eat is doing the will of him that sent me and finishing his work.
At that time, Jesus was feeding on the work.
Of God the Father.
He was feeding on the work that God had him.
To do.
I've told my family many times.
I believe I've told my church a time or two.
That because of my work in the service of Christ, I feel that I have lived several full and happy lives.
And I am not exaggerating that.
I've told my parents, I've told my wife, if I died today, I'm only 57.
There's places I've never been.
There's things I've never done.
But I'm telling you, my life's so full, I feel if I died today that I hadn't missed out on anything.
Do you know what happened when Jesus ate the food of God's service?
That food filled and satisfied him.
They were worried about him eating.
He said, Man, I've got food to eat you don't know anything about.
The work of God fills and satisfies me, too.
The work of God will fill and satisfy you.
The wicked will never eat the bread that God's servants eat.
They can't.
We have meat to eat they know not of.
Until you're born again through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you accept the work that God has given you to do.
You say, I'm going to be in God's service, I'm going to serve the Lord Jesus.
That's when you really find fulfillment in life because we were created to be God's servants Bible says in Romans chapter 6, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, to his servants ye are, to whom ye obey.
And so we're going to obey someone, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness, it goes on to say in Romans chapter 6.
You serve sin unto death, and you're going to have an empty life.
You may have a busy life, you may have an exciting life, but you're going to have an empty life.
You serve the God that put you here to serve Him, you're going to have a full life.
No doubt about it.
Why?
Because God's work for you to do Will fill you.
It is food, and it will fill and satisfy your soul.
The world will never taste the sweetness.
They will never know the fullness of feeding on the work of God.
Not only do we feed on God's work for us to do, But we feed on God's work for us to believe.
Both works feed us.
The incredible doctrine here is this.
The work of God is the food of man.
Are you getting this?
Jesus said, I have food to eat you don't know about, and it is the will of my Father in finishing his work.
The work of God for Jesus to do was nourishment to him, it was food to him, and it filled his soul.
We don't just eat to fill our bellies.
We eat to fill our souls.
That's why Jesus told the pastors, feed my sheep.
But we don't just have God's work for us to do.
We feed on God's work for us to believe.
When the disciples ate the Passover, if you'll remember in Mark chapter 14, verse 22, the Bible says that As they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it and gave to them and said, Take, eat, this is my body.
Do you ever stop sometimes during the day and begin to think about what Jesus did for you on the cross and how he loved you, how he bore your sin and took your place?
Do you ever stop and think about that and think how blessed and eternally safe you are because of what Jesus did for you?
I do all the time.
Lord, thank you for dying for me.
Praise God.
I have salvation through what Jesus did for me.
When you're meditating on that wonderful truth, you know what you're doing?
You're eating Jesus' broken body.
You're feeding on the wonderful truth of the gospel.
You are feeding on the work that He's done for you, not the work you're doing for Him.
Both Our food.
God's work for us to do and God's work for us to believe are both sustaining, life-sustaining food, no matter what happens in this world.
No matter what we lose, no matter what bad thing we experience, we know that because we have Jesus, we have everything.
My bank account may run dry.
My family may disown me.
My friends may forsake me.
My health may fail me, but because of Jesus, I will inherit the world.
I'll inherit the earth.
And I will overcome sin and death through his cross and resurrection, and I will live happily ever after.
Joyfully and eternally live.
That's what I'll do.
And that is food that satisfies the soul.
The Bible says the righteous eats, look back in your text, to the satisfying of his soul.
Man, I'm satisfied.
I'm not just satisfied, my cup runs over.
And the world will never know the satisfaction of the believer's bread.
Did you know that if you just read this verse, and I thank God God shall supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory.
I thank God that.
He puts food on our table and if need be, he'd send ravens to us, you know, like the prophet.
You know, if all we did was read this and we were just thinking about physical food, we'd never understand this verse.
We'd never get it.
Do you know why?
It's because the wicked.
Often have more food to eat than the righteous do, as far as just table food, as far as steak and potatoes and And things like that.
A lot of times, historically, biblically, scripturally, the wicked have more food to eat than the righteous.
Now remember, Jesus never told us the story about the poor man in Lazarus.
Remember the poor man in Lazarus?
The poor man was out begging.
And Lazarus was this rich believer that ate a big buffet every day.
That's not in the Bible, is it?
Jesus told us about the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and who had the food.
The rich man did.
The Bible says he fared sumptuously every day.
But low Lazarus man, he'd be happy just to get the little handouts.
The scraps that fell from his table.
The rich man had plenty of food, but the poor, righteous believer didn't.
So, Brother Richard, well, then how can this proverb possibly be true?
Well, in the end, and that's where it counts, in the end.
The poor man is full, and that rich man that ate a buffet every day was begging for one drop of water on his tongue.
Now you tell me who's empty.
You tell me who's empty and you tell me who's full.
The righteous eat to the satisfying of their souls.
Look back in your text.
But the belly of the wicked shall want.
It's going to do without.
When speaking to the wicked in Isaiah chapter 65, verses 11 through 17, listen to how.
God worded this.
God said, But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain. that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Therefore will I number you to the sword.
And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter.
Because when I called, ye did not answer.
When I spake, ye did not hear. but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
Therefore thus saith the LORD thy God Behold, my servants shall eat But ye shall be hungry.
Now, isn't that what he's saying in Proverbs 13, 28 tonight?
That's essentially what he's saying.
So, watch what he's telling you.
Watch how he's describing this to the wicked.
He says, My servant shall eat.
But ye shall be hungry behold, my servant shall drink but ye shall be thirsty Behold, my servant shall rejoice, that's fullness, right?
But ye shall be ashamed.
That's emptiness.
Behold, my servant shall sing for joy of heart.
That's fullness.
But ye shall cry for sorrow of heart.
That's emptiness.
And shall howl for vexation of spirit.
More emptiness.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the LORD thy God shall slay thee.
And call his servants by another name, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth.
And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten.
And because they are hid from mine eyes, watch how he sums this up.
For in other words, here's why all this stuff I told you is going to come to pass.
Here is why the righteous, my servants, are going to be full and rejoice.
Here's why you're going to howl and be miserable and be empty.
For behold, I create new heavens.
And a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Why was the rich man in Why Is the Rich Man in Jesus' story still thirsty?
Because he did not choose the way of God.
Why is Lazarus still full?
Because he did.
The satisfaction of food and drink for the righteous in this text was directly tied to the new heavens and the new earth.
Bread fills the belly, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is what fills the soul.
And without it, The world's life, though they may have plenty of food on the table, is absolute emptiness.
There is a psalm that I did not put in my notes, but the psalm says this.
It says, the little bit, and I'm paraphrasing it, the little bit that the righteous have is better than the great riches that the wicked have.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word tonight.
We're so grateful, Lord, that you let the righteous eat.
That you supply us the bread that we should eat and the bread that truly fills our soul.
Lord, Jesus said, What goes into the belly goes back out into the sewer the next day.
That doesn't fill our longings.
It doesn't fill our soul.
But Lord Jesus taught us that there is bread.
In the work you have us to do.
And there is bread in Jesus' work that you have us believe.
And Lord, in that bread we feed upon, we trust.
And Father, we are filled.
And we're so grateful for it.
Giving us, Lord, not a life of emptiness But a life of wholeness, not a life of want, but a life of satisfaction.
Thank you in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
