On Wednesday, we looked at our greatest joy.

What could make you happy forever?

The surest and most stable answer to this question is found in the Bible in four representative

texts.

Those were Psalm 40, verse 16, Psalm 70, verse 4, Romans 5, 11, and 1 Peter 3, 18.

We looked at those passages last time, and they get mentioned a lot on this podcast to make

one precious point.

God Himself is the prize of the gospel.

But even as God is the prize of the gospel, He daily lavishes on us, all sorts of other

created gifts that are good and lawful and should be embraced with Thanksgiving.

But handling such gifts is not without challenges for all of us, and particularly for Jameson,

a podcast listener with today's question.

Pastor John, hello, here's my question for you.

Today I have Christian friends who believe that alcohol and drugs, particularly pot, are

morally good things to be received in the spirit of what Paul says in 1 Timothy 4.4.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received

with thanksgiving.

But I know Paul also says that all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful, but not all things build up.

That's 1 Corinthians 10, 23.

I'm trying to figure out what we can thank God for, and what we cannot thank Him for.

Number one, can we thank God for a substance that is illegal for us, say, underage drinking

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