The Lie We Must Choose God's Pleasures Or Our Own – 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Long-term gain can be short-circuited when investors go for short-term fast profits. The same is true in life. Going for immediate pleasures can ruin the potential to enjoy the overwhelming pleasures of God, pleasures that last a lifetime.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. We're in a series on 10 lies about God. Pastor Lutzer, line number nine is that we must choose between God's will and our happiness. Some would ask, how do we know what God's will is? First of all, before I answer that, Dave, I want to commend you for the way in which you laid out this intro and emphasize the difference between long-term pleasures and short-term pleasures. And of course, I could speak about that in some detail, but I must hurry to your immediate question.

It's another question that I wish I had 10 or 15 minutes to answer. But very quickly, we must realize that if we live up to the will of God as it is revealed in Scripture, He will guide us in those matters that are unrevealed. All that people have to do is to look up the word, the will of God, and they will discover many verses that talk about this is the will of God, your sanctification. It is the will of God that you give thanks in everything. So that is the will of God. And the question is, are we obeying what He has revealed? I've written a book entitled 10 Lies About God, and I wrote it in order that all of us might better understand who the Almighty is dealing with some of the contemporary lies about God. And this is one of the last days we're making this book available for you.

That's why at the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be giving you some contact info so that you'll have this resource to be able to refer to. And I trust it will be a tremendous blessing. It's been said accurately that sin takes you farther than you intended to go, keeps you longer than you intended to stay, and costs you more than you intended to pay. Those pleasures of sin.

What is addiction? Why is it that God allows some people to be addicted? It is God's way of reminding people that sin is a bad idea.

It's a bad idea that the pleasures of sin for a season are deceptive and very much lead to bondage. So the pleasures of sinner overrated. In fact, there's a text in the scripture that says that he who rejoices in pleasure and it's talking about now the pleasures of this world is dead while he rejoices and is pleasurable. Remember that story of a man who walked into a funeral parlor and saw this marvelous, beautiful casket with of course the person who had died in the casket and saw all of these flowers and saw this elaborate setup and said to himself, now that's living. That's living.

He that is in pleasure is dead while he lives in that pleasure. And that's our temptation. If I could get this message across to every teenager today because see the problem with teenagers and we've all been there and by the way it's not just teenagers it's folks like us who were teenagers a long time ago.

The problem is it's easy to look at the world and think we have been gypped. To say to ourselves if only we could cast off these restraints and do our own thing. There is a story about a kite. A legend that said that the kite thought to itself you know if I could just get rid of that string this string is holding me down. I'd be able to fly higher. I'd be able to fly as high as the stars but that string is restraining me. Well one day the string snapped and the kite was so happy because now it could go to the stars and kiss those stars.

But it discovered a law of aerodynamics that the string that holds a kite down is the string that holds it up. And I want to say to you as I say to myself that if we want to fly high if we want to be the ones who are going to rise to the stars let us remember it is best it is inevitably best that God be in control. God must be in control.

Well notice how far we've come. God has many pleasures. We are created to seek pleasure. Our temptation is to seek the lesser pleasures the pleasures of sin. Spiritual maturity now we're on number four. Spiritual maturity is to substitute the greater pleasures for the lesser ones.

The greater pleasures for the lesser. Now take your Bibles and turn to the 16th Psalm. Psalm 16 where David talks to us about pleasure. Psalm 16 and there are dozens of passages to which we could turn but I have chosen Psalm 16.

You'll notice how David is talking about two different kinds of gods, two different kinds of pleasures, two different kinds of lifestyles. This is such a beautiful Psalm that I shall begin at verse one. Keep me safe old God for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord you are my Lord apart from you I have no good thing. And that be said about us apart from God we have nothing that is good.

As for the saints who are in the land they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. Now notice the sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. The sorrows of those who choose pleasure and when you think of that don't think of just idols that you dance around. No no no it says in Ezekiel these people have created idols within their own hearts. You see we are idolaters within because we have this hidden pleasure because we say to ourselves I'm doing my own thing and self is on the throne of my life.

That is idolatry and those who follow those kinds of gods their sorrow shall be multiplied. Have you ever wondered why some people are so miserable? God is just trying to get through to them that's all. It's his way. Misery is a gift of God.

It is his way of saying why don't you give up the fight? Why don't you turn to me? Why is it that you continue to go ahead long in the pursuits of pleasures that have that aftertaste that that darkness that sense of emptiness?

Why is it that you will not turn to me? The sorrows of those who go after other gods are multiplied. You know what happens during times of revival when God really begins to minister? The desire to be right with God.

The desire to seek his pleasures is so overwhelming that people are finally willing to give up the lesser desires which they have held to their bosoms for years and years and years with self-justification and rationalization. Now notice David said as far as the false gods are concerned he said they are behind me they have no part in me. So he looks back and he says those gods are behind me around me I have nothing but blessings. Verse 5 Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup you have made my lot secure the boundary lines have fallen to me in pleasant places surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who counsels me even at night my heart instructs me I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken. You know when he talks about the boundary lines he's talking about the actual land that was divided up you remember when the tribes came but of course we can apply it the boundaries have fallen onto me in pleasant places God has just blessed us. Could you take out a moment and think about how God has blessed you the very fact that you are here today that you're listening to a message that you've had the opportunity to sing and to give praise to God. The fact that you have Christian friends and a Christian family and have been adopted by God and we have the scriptures his love letter to us surely the lines the boundaries have fallen onto us in pleasant places we are surrounded by God's blessings and by the way even though we are surrounded some people still being unable to be grateful surely surely that is a disgrace but he says the the gods the false gods are behind me he says the the Lord is before me I have set him continually at my right hand God is always there no wonder he can say also therefore verse nine my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices now there's some joy to go for you want to pursue pleasure pursue those that have that sense of purity that sense of fulfillment that sense of saying this is the purpose for which I was created let me give you the invitation of scripture all taste and see that the Lord is good I rejoice he says now notice that this is what happens in this life and what happens after we die you will verse 10 not abandon me to the grave nor will you let your holy one see decay and this was applied also to Jesus in the case of David David was saying I expect to live after the grave in the case of Christ it was I am resurrected after the grave and so it was applied to Christ in the New Testament you have made known to me the path of life you will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand do you notice this in the text David is saying while I'm living the Lord is at my right hand after I die I am at his right hand where there are eternal joys and eternal pleasures what a marvelous statement of the joy and the happiness in God now we finally come to number five God himself has many pleasures were created for pleasure our temptation is to seek the lesser pleasures spiritual maturity is to choose the more abundant the greater pleasures of God and number five God's pleasures his will if you please and our pleasures converge and become one and the same you've heard me say it before but even if you when you want to do what is best for you and you should do what is best for you you want to do that which gives you most pleasure that which gives you most fulfillment what do you do you pursue God with all your heart and your mind and your soul because the scripture says that he generously rewards those who diligently seek him out there are pleasures at his right hand forevermore and the enjoyment of God the enjoyment of God becomes the pursuit that we now undertake and it is there that we discover our happiness now you say well does that mean we're always happy happy happy no no no no not even Jesus was always happy happy happy look at Gethsemane but here's what I want to tell you is that when we pursue God we discover that there is no contradiction or let me put it more clearly sorrow and joy can co-exist they do not cancel one another I've seen this at funerals where people on the one hand had sorrow and we sorrow but not as those who have no hope there is also joy in the midst of sorrow there is a bringing together of the delight of God and the harsh realities of life and they co-exist in the lives of those who pursue the pleasures of God some of you perhaps have read the biography of George Mueller if not I commend it to you Mueller always prayed he prayed day and night and he said that he received more than 8,000 answers to prayer in fact I ought to tell you this that Mueller ran a number of orphanages in England and never asked for money now this doesn't mean that he did it that everybody is supposed to do that because we have examples in the New Testament of people asking for money but he decided that he would do it this way for this reason he said because there were people who no longer believed that God was faithful and he had to give them a demonstration of God's faithfulness so he always prayed the money in but Mueller said this he said what is the first task of the Christian now what if this were not a message today what if I were sitting in your living room and you and I were talking and I were to look into your eye and ask you that question what is the first task of the Christian our first responsibility let me give you Mueller's answer Mueller's answer was that the first responsibility of a Christian is to make his soul or to find his soul happy in God to be content with God see because once you're content with God you don't have to sin to find contentment remember that sin is what we do when God is not meeting our needs if God were to meet our needs if God were to be making us content we'd be able to put up with an awful lot that's why Mueller would get up early he would read the Bible before breakfast with the intention of having his soul satisfied with God before he would begin the day and then the rest of the day flowed from there my soul hope thou only in God for my expectation is from him as the deer pants after the water brook so my soul pants after the old God when shall I come before the Lord may I delight in him you think of all of the verses of scripture that encourage us to find delight in God but the moment we begin to do that you begin to see all these thieves show up in our devotional time they all come they're saying you're not going to be happy in God you're not going to be happy in God you're not going to be happy in God what are they let me list those people sometimes say you know nobody can preach unless he knows his people there's some truth in that but I want you to know that all that a pastor has to do is to look into his own heart and he's really looking into the heart of his congregation we all struggle with the same things let me give you some some thieves that will rob us of finding our all in God first of all guilt guilt sin causes the cup of joy to spring a leak and therefore the joy that is in our hearts is drained out because of sin that we've not taken care of you come before God and say I want to delight in you today I want to receive the joy today that I have and immediately a sin issue will come up with which you have to deal but God is capable of getting us beyond that hump he is the one you know who who gets us there a second thief that shows up is anxiety anxiety says you're not going to enjoy God you're not going to enjoy God anxiety what foolishness this past week I woke up at four o'clock one morning and never went back to sleep because I was thinking about one small thing that I couldn't get out of my mind what a waste of time I woke up in the morning you know all tired and everything because of something that I couldn't do anything about anyway lying in bed foolishness so God said to me how do you expect to find your delight in me when you're when you're focused on one little thing that you can't do anything about isn't that the ultimate foolishness so we have to deal with that we have to give those matters over to God so that these stray thoughts of anxiety don't come into our minds and then there's such things as bitterness let me tell you the truth about Jonathan Edwards of course I always tell you the truth so I wouldn't have had to preface that with those remarks but just in case for those of you are wondering let me tell you a true story here's America's premier evangelist you've all heard of him and the great awakening marvelous preacher who sometimes read his messages at least at the beginning he's the one you know who preached sinners in the hands of an angry God and people actually held on to the pew and trembled because they thought that the earth was going to open up right then and that the final harvest would take place while he spoke we read Edwards was voted out of this church on a technical issue that I won't go into an issue by the way that he was completely right about but a short-tailed relative stirred up all kinds of controversy regarding him and consequently all this dissatisfaction spread within the church they had a vote and I think that he was ousted something like 230 opposed to 32 for so he left the church well that's a difficult pill to swallow some of you have gone through like that in your business you've gone through all kinds of injustices I know it because injustice permeates the globe but this is what his biographer said and this would have been worthwhile you coming to hear this sermon if you'd have only heard this are you ready for it because you can't miss this his happiness in God was beyond the reach of his enemies his happiness in God was beyond the reach of his enemies you know there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God that place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God oh Jesus blessed Redeemer sent from the heart of God yes there is that place where your happiness in God is beyond the reach of your enemies they can't get to it because God continually delights your soul now to complete the story Edwards actually left the church and went to live with the Indians and providentially it was an excellent idea because it is there that he had more time and he wrote all those good books that some of us still continue to read today which probably would not have been written if he had remained a pastor he could see therefore within even injustice the providence of God because his soul delighted in the Lord so you take care of all those things and then what you discover is that there is joy in God there really is there really is Fanny Crosby you know was not born blind as I mentioned in another message she had perfectly good eyesight but a little bit of rash when she was born around her eyes and a doctor had some salve in those days that he thought was going to cure her and it made her blind burned out her little newborn eyes she was not bitter over it because she accepted that too as God's providence but one day in a song that we are going to sing in a moment she included this stanza oh the pure delight of a single hour that before thy throne I spend when I kneel in prayer and with thee my God commune as friend with friend of course you were born to desire pleasure with no other way that we can operate but I encourage you today go for the great pleasures go for God go for the delights go for that which is best for you go for your relationship with the almighty this happy God who commands us delight to thyself in the Lord and say I will not rest until I've come to know him and I will have that quiet time before I leave for work in the morning and I will pursue him and I will deal with the issues that keep me from knowing him because remember he rewards those who diligently seek him out what do you mean this business of saying you know we live a very boring life because we don't do worldly pleasures no no no no you live with the pleasures at God's right hand forever more join me as we pray father forgive us for drinking from such polluted fountains trying to quench thirst that only you can quench forgive us father for all the deceptions all the sin that we allow in our lives thinking that we can eke out some pleasure just before we die we ask today father that you will help us to understand that it is in God that we delight and to remember the words of Augustine oh Lord thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their all in thee help us to be done with the pleasures of the world and remember that he who does thy will abides forever for those who have never trusted Christ as Savior even today we pray that they may look to him as their Savior that they might begin the lifelong pursuit of knowing the living and the true God create that within us because we are needy we ask in Jesus name amen amen my friend today this is pastor luther imagine going to bed at night with an entirely clear conscience knowing that you have done all that you possibly can to please God and you'll discover that there are indeed pleasures at the right hand of God well this is one of the last days we're making a book available for you entitled ten lies about God let me read some of the chapter titles one of the lies is that many paths lead into God's presence how do you like this lie God is more tolerant than he used to be how do we navigate the difference between the Old Testament and the new what about the lie that God is obligated to save followers of other religions how do you answer those questions well very quickly for a gift of any amount this resource can be yours go to RTW offer.com RTW offer.com of course RTW offers all one word RTW offer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337 and if you just picked up your pencil now let me give you that phone number again 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life a lot of people think the Bible says God helps those who help themselves it doesn't when it comes to salvation here's what God really says we cannot help ourselves only he can save next time on running to win don't miss the final lie about God that God helps those who help themselves thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.