Proverbs 21:17
“He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich.”
Q: What is harmful pleasure?
Sexual immorality, pornography, gossip, cursing, fighting, drinking, etc. – anything that is drawing you away from Christ.
Psalms 101:3
“I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.”
Q: What is David saying about pleasure in order to avoid great harm to your life and your most important relationships?
By purposefully hating sin and keeping his eyes on what has worth, David (and all of us) keeps his relationships pure.
Psalms 119:48 & 119:103
“And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love; and I will meditate on Your statutes.”
“How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Q: What would your life be like if you had a heart for God’s pleasure as David did?
I would have a life full of worth and sweetness, continually dwelling on and obeying God’s Word.
Psalm 119:37
“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways.”
Q: What prayer do you need to pray today to begin to find your pleasure in God?
Example: “I need to pray that God would help me stop seeking pleasure in worldly things but find pure joy in Him.”
Exodus 20:7 – “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
Q: What does it mean to “take God’s name in vain?”
Taking God’s name in vain is more than speaking profanely about Him. If we profess to be Christians, but act, think, and speak in a worldly manner, we take His name in vain.
Psalm 139:19 & 20 – “O that You would slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, and Your enemies take Your name in vain.”
Q: What do these passages tell you about listening to music and watching movies & television that include profanities?
Taking pleasure in anything that contains profanity is hurtful to God and ourselves.
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Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Q: Drug, porn, tobacco and alcohol users always need “just a little bit more” to be satisfied in their pursuit of pleasure. What is it about God that makes Him totally sufficient in your pursuit of pleasure?
He satisfies our every need and desire if we allow Him to. Example – You indulge in tobacco, but when that isn’t enough, you move to alcohol and then to drugs; no amount of substance can ever fulfill the “high” you’re seeking. God IS enough. You’ll never need anything more than Him to have everlasting pleasure.
Paul
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
Q: Contrast “harmful” pleasure and “helpful” pleasure as pointed out in this passage. What makes sexual sin stand out among all other sins?
It immediately grieves the Holy Spirit who lives in your temple (your body), which makes it very hard to feel or hear God.
2 Timothy 3:1-4
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure than lovers of God.
Q: When does entertainment pleasure become an abominable idol?
When it turns our gaze away from God and back on ourselves. We tell God, “I do not want You” in this pleasure.
APPLICATION: How do these passages relate to me today? What changes do they bring to my life?
LOCKER ROOM: Is there anything this week that you have been enslaved to, and how we can help you?
