In this installment of Ryle’s Thoughts for Young Men, he continues on with “Special Dangers to Young Men”. The danger in focus today is the love of pleasure.

Ryle says strongly that, “if you would cleave to earthly pleasures, - these are the things which murder souls.” He reminds us that we must war against the flesh by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that earthly pleasures are unsatisfying and echos Blaise Pascal by saying, when speaking of the heart, “There is an empty place there, which nothing but God can fill.”

Ryle speaks of the dangers of adultery saying, “The breach of the seventh commandment is the sin above all others, that, as Hosea says, ‘takes away the heart’ (Hos. 4:11)”. He goes on to cite some of the consequences of this sin and shows that it “leaves deeper scars upon the soul than any sin that a man can commit.” Ryle pleads with us to flee occasions of it; talking of it and thoughts of it. He closes with drawing on the importance of us guarding our thought life with, “Guard your thoughts, and there is little fear about your deeds.”

Our culture is bent on a never-ending quest for pleasure. Helping our kids to understand the danger of the idol of pleasure will certainly aid them in avoiding a great deal of heartache.

It is true that God has given us the ability to enjoy this life and to delight in the pleasures that it affords, however, we can easily fall into sin when, as Ryle says, we become servants of pleasure.

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Intro created and performed by Isaac Johnson