Borrowed Breath Series

The lie the enemy sells us is-

God doesn’t want you to have any fun, no pleasure, and to spend your life miserable until you get to heaven.

I can’t tell you how many times this has been told to me by people resisting God’s call in their lives.

Can I take a moment to destroy this argument?

What were God’s first commands in Genesis to Adam and Eve?

You may eat freely of every tree in the garden and

be fruitful and multiply.

That’s the bible text, I don’t want to offend anyone, but can I say this even more plainly?

God commanded them- not just allowed them to do this,

but commanded them to Eat all you want, and have lots of sex so you can have lots and lots of children.

Does that sound like a God that is holding back pleasure from us?

Now, God does give us boundaries for pleasure because HE is a loving father.

Pleasure is like water flowing in a river—God’s laws are its banks, giving it structure and channeling it to protect us and others.

When pleasure goes beyond God’s design for it, those banks meant to protect us begin go erode.

It then overflows and water that was once lifegiving becomes destructive.

You see the proof in Daniel chapter 5-

Belshazzar’s party proves it: the wine, the concubines, all of these pleasurable excesses were not enough.

He adds blasphemy, using temple vessels to mock God.

His riverbank collapsed and it destroyed everyone there.

This erosion is not an instant thing, it’s like a slow growing cancer.

When I was a chaplain at the jail in Kenosha, I talked with a man who was arrested with his wife for the creation, possession, and distribution of child pornography.

Let me ask you something-

Do you think he and his wife woke up one morning and said, “Let’s do the most horrific thing you can do to a child, film it, and then sell those films so other people can get pulled into this horrific sin”

No, it started with both of their fathers having a Playboy subscription. That’s what began the process of eroding their moral riverbank.

I plead with you- Don’t gamble with sin—Satan has rigged the game so you always lose.

Before we move on, I want to make one final point about sinful pleasure-

Whether it’s addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex, money or whatever-

It is all the devil’s counterfeits of being filled with the Holy Spirit x2

Psalm 16:11 CSB You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

God has everything you need, so don’t let the devil sell you on the counterfeit.

I strongly urge you this morning-if you are trying to hide your sin.

Right now, God is writing on the wall of your heart and spirit this morning.

Turn from that sin, repent, and be saved.

You may be in a period of grace this morning- God’s giving you time to work this out and surrender this sin to him. However, that period of grace has a time limit attached to it.

Sooner or later, just like Belshazzar, your sins will find you out, and they will become public for everyone to see.

Save yourself that shame.

How do we take today’s scripture and apply it to our lives?