Sugar in its various forms ...

1. The “Grace of God”
Sugar in its various forms: the drug
of choice among Christians

2. The “Grace of God”
 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
received from God?

3. The “Grace of God”
 You are not your own; 20 you were
bought at a price.
 Therefore honor God with your
body.
 We teach against sexual
immorality, smoking & drinking…
 but not about poor eating habits
which ruin our health.

4. The “Grace of God”
 For example…
 Some consequences of diabetes:
 Heart attack
 Stroke
 Blindness
 Amputations
 Kidney failure
 Early death

5. The “Grace of God”
 1 Corinthians 6:12a “‘everything is
permissible for me’
 Mark 7:19 For it doesn't go into their
heart but into their stomach, and then
out of the body." (In saying this,
Jesus declared all foods clean.)

6. The “Grace of God”
 1 Corinthians 6:12a “‘everything is
permissible for me’
 —but not everything is beneficial.

7. The “Grace of God”
 12b ‘Everything is permissible for
me’—
 but I will not be mastered by
anything.
 13 ‘Food for the stomach and the
stomach for food’—but God will
destroy them both.”

8. The “Grace of God”
 Therefore we must not be
mastered by food.
 We must not be addicted to
unhealthy foods, especially to
sugar in its various forms.
 They destroy God’s property.
 Illustration…

9. Many Christians lack self-control
 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make
every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness,
knowledge;

10. Many Christians lack self-control
 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and
to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness…

11. Many Christians lack self-control
 8 For if you possess these qualities in
increasing measure, they will keep you
from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

12. The true grace of God
There are of course worse sins
than poor eating habits.
But Paul taught us to…
“Aim for perfection…” (2 Corinthians
13:11)

13. Many Christians lack self-control
 It is fine to enjoy God’s
provision, but not to be
mastered by or addicted to
that which does harm to God’s
temple.

14. A license for immorality
 Jude 4a For certain men whose
condemnation was written about long
ago have secretly slipped in among
you.

15. A license for immorality
 Jude 4b They are godless men,
who change the grace of our God
into a license for immorality
 and deny Jesus Christ our only
Sovereign and Lord.

16. A license for self-deception
 According to one expert, the
intake of sugar into the body
puts its defenses to "sleep" and
thus can allow disease to enter
unchallenged.

17. A license for self-deception
 Eating foods produced from
sugar gives us a pleasant feeling
of well-being---a deceptive,
sugar-induced nirvana.

18. A license for self-deception
 In a similar way, the "grace" of
God as popularly taught has put
the Church to sleep and allowed
the enemy to come into our
midst practically unchallenged.

19. A license for self-deception
 The sugar-coated, feel-good,
God-bless-me gospel we are fed
today is turning us into the
lukewarm, self-deceived Church
of Laodicea.

20. A license for self-deception
 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired
wealth and do not need a thing.' But
you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and
naked. (Revelation 3:17)

21. The true grace of God
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all
men.

22. The true grace of God
12 It teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions,
and to live self-controlled, upright
and godly lives in this present age,
13 while we wait for the blessed hope--
the appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

23. The true grace of God
 Romans 8:13 For if you live according
to the sinful nature, you will die;
 but if by the Spirit you put to death
the misdeeds of the body, you will
live…
 Therefore by the Spirit let us put
to death our flesh, and exercise
self-control in our diet.

24. The true grace of God
 Let us not allow our lives to be
cut short by disease…
 so that we fail to produce all the
good fruit which God prepared in
advance for us to bear…
 and thus fall short in the eternal
reward which the Lord has
prepared for us.

25. A wonderful promise
 Psalm 92:12 The righteous will
flourish like a palm tree, they will grow
like a cedar of Lebanon;
 13 planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our
God.

26. A wonderful promise
14 They will still bear fruit in
old age,
they will stay fresh and green…