Introduction:
Seeing Addiction as God Sees It:
- Addiction Defined: Addiction is bondage to the domination of a substance (legal or illegal) which becomes the central focus of my life.
Disease defined: A disease is a diagnosable condition with a primary physical cause.
See Proverbs 23:20, 1Corinthians 6:10, Galatians 5:21
Sin (including addiction) is Enslaving .
- Absorbing Focus (it occupies my thoughts, dictates my schedule, claims my money).
- Increasing Tolerance (always need more)
- Growing Denial (I don't have a problem, I can quit when I want, it's no big deal)
- Damaging Consequences (money, job, marriage, friendships, health)
- Painful Withdrawal (quitting is physically painful, emotionally painful)
John 8:34 - Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."
Ephesians 5:18 - And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit...
Sin (including addiction) is Deceptive .
Five Signs of Addiction:
- Addiction Described:
- Addiction is Idolatry
Eph 5:5 – For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
1 Cor 1:18 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- Addiction is Adultery
- Addiction is Foolishness
No one tells me how to live.
Prov 28:26 - Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
I'm not really worried about the consequences.
Prov 9:17-18 - "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.I'll always get away with it.
Prov 15:3 - The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
No matter how bad things have gotten for me (relationships, money, health), I can't give this up.
Prov 27:22 - Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.
I know it's bad for me but I can't stop! I keep going back to it over and over.
Prov 26:11 - Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.
It's God's fault I am like this.
Prov 19:3 - When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.
- Addiction Destroyed :
1 Cor 6:9-11 - Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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01:10-01:17
Being involved in prison ministry, we would see that it would often go through seasons.
01:17-01:22
We'd have a season where we'd have a lot of people come, so many that we could barely stuff them in the room.
01:23-01:27
And Mark will tell you, right, we had seasons where we'd have one or two guys come.
01:28-01:31
I had one night that I went that nobody came.
01:32-01:36
The correctional officer called for, he said, "Hey, who wants to go to Bible study?" And nobody came.
01:36-01:37
I said, "This is awesome.
01:37-01:39
Like, you guys are doing a great job here.
01:39-01:41
Nobody here needs the Bible.
01:41-01:44
Like, they're in a much better position than I am.
01:45-01:52
But I remember there was a particular season where we would have usually one or two guys come.
01:54-01:56
And one of those guys was a young man named Klaus.
01:59-02:01
And he looked way too young to be in prison.
02:03-02:05
And I remember he would come every week.
02:05-02:07
He had a MacArthur Study Bible.
02:09-02:15
And Klaus would hang on every single word.
02:16-02:26
He would sit on the edge of his seat, look me in the eye, and was just hanging on every word so intent.
02:26-02:29
And he would come with questions.
02:30-02:38
He's like, "I was studying this week and I had some questions for you." And he would just listen, and he was so humble.
02:39-03:03
And I remember he said, "When I get out of here, the first thing I do is I'm going to come to the church, and I want to get involved, and I want to serve Christ, and I want to do what's right." And the following Friday, I went back in for Bible study, and the CO called for any of the guys on the pod that wanted to come to Bible study.
03:03-03:10
And one or two guys came and I said, "Hey, where's Klaus?
03:10-03:19
He hasn't missed a Bible study in months." And as soon as I said that, everybody stopped and almost looked like they saw a ghost.
03:20-03:40
They're like, "Oh, you didn't hear." And I said, "No, I didn't hear what?" And they said, "He got released last week." And I said, "Well, that little punk, he told me he was going to come and see me as soon as he got released." And they said, "No, he overdosed the day he got out and he died." And you know, I wish things would have been different for him.
03:41-03:46
I wish he would have come to see me before he went to see whoever got him hooked up.
03:47-03:48
I wish a lot of things.
03:48-03:53
I wish that this story wasn't repeated with my 27-year-old nephew almost two years ago.
03:54-03:58
I wish that this wasn't so common, but here we are.
03:58-04:07
And that's why we're taking a break from our series in John for a topical series on addiction, because I don't think I have to sell anybody here, right?
04:07-04:10
We are in an addicted culture.
04:10-04:15
And this place, geographically in particular, is an addicted area.
04:16-04:19
People can become addicted to many different things.
04:19-04:28
People get addicted to drugs, to sex and pornography, to food, to alcohol, to work, to gambling.
04:30-04:36
We're going to be talking about addiction in this series, and there's going to be a heavy emphasis on substance addiction.
04:37-04:41
Things that have a way of hooking our bodily passions.
04:42-04:52
They give us physical pleasure, or they relieve stress, or they soothe some desire, but suddenly, we find ourselves trapped in this really vicious cycle.
04:53-04:57
Like, you know, I need to be done with this, but I'm just gonna have one more, just one more.
04:58-05:02
And then we have that one more, and we have that sense of contentment for a moment.
05:03-05:06
And then when that wears off, I'm just gonna have one more.
05:06-05:09
I am gonna be done with this, I'm just gonna have one more.
05:10-05:16
And the cost becomes worse and worse and worse and worse, right?
05:17-05:21
What was costing me a little bit of money is costing me a lot of money now.
05:22-05:25
And now it's costing me time in rehab.
05:26-05:27
It costs me my job.
05:27-05:29
It costs me relationships.
05:29-05:30
It costs me my marriage.
05:30-05:37
And like Klaus, like my nephew, like so many others, it can end up costing you your life.
05:37-05:40
So with all that's on the line, it's time to get serious.
05:41-05:46
It's time to let God and His word bring healing and maybe even save a life.
05:46-05:49
So today, done with addiction.
05:49-05:52
Addiction is a worship disorder.
05:53-05:56
And on your outline, I just simply want us to do this today.
05:57-06:01
There's a lot of stuff for you to fill in, but really it's just one point, right?
06:02-06:04
And here's the one point. We want to see addiction as God sees it.
06:05-06:07
We want to see addiction as God sees it.
06:07-06:10
So number one, addiction defined.
06:11-06:13
That's a great place to start this series.
06:13-06:17
Let's make sure that we're all speaking the same language. Addiction defined.
06:18-06:28
Addiction is bondage to the domination of a substance, legal or illegal, which becomes the central focus of my life.
06:29-06:33
You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, you can become addicted to work, and you can become addicted..." You know what?
06:33-06:35
We've talked about those things in the past.
06:35-06:37
Check the sermon archives.
06:37-06:39
We've talked about those things.
06:39-06:58
For this series, again, because of all that's on the line and because of the life and death danger of this. I want to focus most of our attention on substance stuff. Legal or illegal stuff, which becomes a central focus of my life. Here's the short version of the definition.
06:59-07:23
It's enslaving destructive dependency. Enslaving destructive dependency. And how you define addiction determines how you'll go after conquering it. If you've gotten to that point, that you're ready to do that. So for this series and for this message we really have to kick off discussing one thing in particular. Addiction, is it a disease or is it a sin?
07:24-07:47
There's a commercial that's airing right now maybe you've seen it where this doctor I don't think he's a real doctor I think he's like an actor playing a doctor but he gets on there and three times in the same commercial he's like addiction is a disease addiction is a disease don't be ashamed addiction is a disease. Do you see that commercial? For many people that's what it boils down to Addiction is a disease that sort of highlights the way that we feel.
07:47-07:51
But can we rightly call addiction a disease?
07:51-07:54
Because since we're defining things, let's define disease.
07:54-08:01
A disease is a diagnosable condition with a primary physical cause.
08:02-08:04
That's a disease, like diabetes.
08:04-08:09
There's an issue with the pancreas, so sugar is not processed properly.
08:09-08:39
disease or whether it's MS or ALS. It's a diagnosable condition that we see a primary physical cause. And if there's a cure for a disease by definition, a cure for a disease has to be something external, right? Meaning a diabetic can't heal him or herself. But addiction does not fit that definition because for addiction the cure has to come from within.
08:39-08:40
It has to.
08:41-08:46
And I'm not saying that there's not some benefit to some of the external things, okay?
08:46-08:47
I'm not saying that.
08:47-08:54
But I'm saying primarily the root of the cure has to come from within.
08:54-09:04
Because unlike a disease like MS or diabetes or whatever, unlike a disease like that, addicts make choices to pursue their addictions.
09:05-09:12
Therefore, choices must be made to reject, defeat, and forsake the addiction.
09:13-09:17
You see, that's a course of action that's insufficient to a disease, right?
09:18-09:19
A diabetic can't say, "You know what?
09:19-09:25
Today, I'm going to reject, defeat, and forsake diabetes." It just doesn't work that way.
09:25-09:26
But that's exactly how it works with addiction.
09:28-09:34
Now listen, we call it a disease sometimes because, honestly, it has some similarities with a disease, doesn't it?
09:34-09:41
Because it affects your whole being, it's painful, it often leads to death and it's always tragic.
09:41-09:44
Please hear me, I want to say this as compassionately as I can.
09:45-09:57
I think there's a real practical danger in just restricting the definition of addiction to being merely a disease because it gives an easy excuse to not try to conquer it.
09:58-10:06
We say, "Look, you know, your drinking is destroying you." "Phew, I can't help it, I have a disease." And like, what do you say about that, right?
10:06-10:08
What do you, like, how can you even reply to that?
10:09-10:14
Like, you know, you say, you know, hey, you need to take care of your diabetes.
10:14-10:15
Well, I have a disease.
10:15-10:20
Yeah, yeah, okay, you do, but can we treat addiction that way?
10:20-10:23
To say, well, nothing you can really do about it.
10:24-10:26
No choices you can make to better yourself.
10:28-10:36
And I would say it's a huge mistake and just approaching addiction only thinking in terms of the physical, because addiction is rooted in a spiritual need.
10:38-10:43
Biblically, we're defining addiction, we're seeing addiction as God sees it.
10:44-10:46
Biblically, addiction is a sin.
10:46-10:59
That's why the title of this message is "Addiction is a Worship Disorder." In the Bible, drunkenness, which is the timeless and most common form of addiction, And you could say drunkenness is the poster child for addiction.
11:00-11:02
Drunkenness in the Bible is always called a sin.
11:03-11:09
Proverbs 23:20, 1 Corinthians 6:10, Galatians 5:21, it's always called a sin.
11:10-11:17
And because addiction is sin, we need to pay close attention to how the Bible describes sin if we're going to look at it from God's perspective.
11:18-11:26
And here's two things the Bible says about sin, including addiction, that if you know somebody that's an addict, or if you've been an addict, these things are easy sells.
11:27-11:54
First one is this, sin, including addiction, is enslaving. It's enslaving. And nothing demonstrates that more graphically than addiction. You know, Jesus said this in John chapter 8. We're going to get there, Lord willing, this year. "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." So look, that's true of all sin. It's enslaving. As Paul said nothing more graphically shows that than addiction.
11:55-11:57
You don't need to sell an addict on that, right?
11:58-12:08
I mean, the addiction appears to give this predictable dose of relief, or power, or comfort.
12:09-12:12
But at the end of the day, the addict feels trapped.
12:12-12:14
The addict feels like something's out of control.
12:15-12:18
Because something other than the Holy Spirit is controlling them.
12:20-12:31
Like Paul says in Ephesians 5.18, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery." When somebody is drunk, that means the chemical alcohol is controlling them.
12:32-12:33
It controls the way they think.
12:33-12:35
It controls the way they walk.
12:35-12:36
It controls the way they talk.
12:36-12:38
It's controlling everything about them.
12:39-12:40
He says don't be controlled like that.
12:40-12:43
He said God's Holy Spirit should be controlling you.
12:43-12:47
God's Holy Spirit controls how you think, how you talk, how you walk.
12:48-12:51
But that's the problem with addiction God's not controlling me.
12:51-12:53
Something else is.
12:53-12:55
And that is so out of whack.
12:56-12:58
So sin, including addiction, is enslaving.
12:59-13:01
Sin, including addiction, is deceptive.
13:02-13:03
We've had a whole sermon series on this.
13:04-13:05
Sin is deceptive.
13:06-13:07
Sin is such a liar.
13:08-13:10
Boy, that's obvious with addiction, isn't it?
13:10-13:15
Whether it's alcohol, food, porn, gambling, they all tell lies, right?
13:15-13:16
They all tell lies.
13:17-13:18
Like what kind of lies?
13:18-13:29
Lies like, "I'll make you feel better." "I'll make you feel better." Or, "You need me." "I'm a part of your life." The biggest lie.
13:29-13:38
"I'm not a big deal." "Okay, so you entertain me on the side and people don't really know." "And I'm not that big of a deal." They're lies.
13:39-13:50
You see, God uses His Word and God uses His people to help addicts see it, to say hard things, You have to be willing to hear hard things.
13:50-13:55
That's why you have to be willing to confront the beliefs that motivate addiction, and instead you need to pursue Jesus Christ.
13:56-13:58
Somebody asked you, are you addicted to something?
13:59-14:00
Do you have an addiction?
14:01-14:03
Like, well, I don't know, Pastor Jeff.
14:03-14:06
I mean, I have a beer like twice a year.
14:06-14:07
Does that mean I'm an addict?
14:07-14:14
Or, you know, occasionally I smoke a cigar, or I'll play the lottery a few times a year.
14:15-14:17
But do I have an addiction?
14:17-14:18
Am I an addict?
14:19-14:22
Hey, I want nothing to do with legalism, okay?
14:22-14:24
This is something that you have to wrestle through with the Lord.
14:25-14:36
But I do want to give you, here's five signs of addiction that we're going to give you, and you can seek the Lord on these for whatever it is that you're wrestling with, and chances are if it's something you're wrestling with, then you really need to pay close attention to it.
14:37-14:39
Consider this, here's five signs of addiction.
14:40-14:42
Letter A, absorbing focus.
14:43-14:44
It occupies my thoughts.
14:45-14:46
It dictates my schedule.
14:46-14:47
It claims my money.
14:48-14:51
This thing has become the central thing in my life.
14:52-14:54
And I can't imagine my life without this thing.
14:54-14:58
It just, it consumes everything about me.
14:58-14:59
Absorbing focus.
15:00-15:00
Letter B.
15:01-15:03
Something true of addiction, increasing tolerance.
15:03-15:04
You always need more.
15:05-15:09
Whether it is chemical, whether it's pornography, whether it's gambling, whatever.
15:10-15:13
What started with a little bit has to get more and more and more.
15:13-15:17
I used to take one pill, but that doesn't quite give me the buzz that I used to get.
15:17-15:20
So now I've got to take two, and that's not really doing...
15:20-15:26
You're building up a tolerance, and you build up a tolerance spiritually, and always need more, always need worse.
15:27-15:29
It grows and grows and grows and grows.
15:30-15:33
Letter C, a third sign of addiction is growing denial.
15:34-15:34
Growing denial.
15:35-15:37
"Look, I don't have a problem.
15:37-15:39
I can quit this whenever I want.
15:40-15:42
It's no big deal." Denial.
15:43-15:46
Fourth sign of addiction, letter D, damaging consequences.
15:46-15:48
We already mentioned this briefly.
15:48-15:51
Money, job, marriage, friendships, health, life.
15:52-15:54
Addiction doesn't do anything good for you.
15:55-16:00
It doesn't move the ball down the field of your life in a good way in any concept whatsoever.
16:01-16:04
It's just consequence, consequence, consequence.
16:05-16:09
And then a final sign of addiction, letter E, painful withdrawal.
16:09-16:11
quitting is physically painful.
16:12-16:16
Even the thought of quitting is emotionally painful.
16:17-16:21
You go through withdrawal symptoms physically, emotionally.
16:22-16:25
So are you willing to truly consider what the Bible says?
16:26-16:27
That addiction is a sin?
16:28-16:29
Here's the good news for me.
16:30-16:54
I realize a message like this and a series like this is going to offend some people, and it's going to take a shot across the bowels spiritually, Jesus said this in John 10.27, Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." And if you belong to Christ, and if what I'm sharing with you is truly the Word of God, then you're going to hear what Jesus has to say.
16:55-17:00
But if you are not yet one of Jesus' sheep, then you have a much bigger problem than addiction.
17:01-17:08
The problem is you have the wrath of God abiding on you, and the best thing you have to look forward to eternity separated from God.
17:09-17:15
The good news is that Jesus Christ came to die for your sin and to raise from the dead to give you new life.
17:15-17:16
Are you ready for new life?
17:18-17:21
Because if you're not one of Jesus' sheep, addiction is the least of your issues.
17:22-17:27
But if you are one of Jesus' sheep, and this is a besetting sin, this is something you're still struggling with.
17:27-17:30
The same power that saved you is the same power that's going to heal you.
17:31-17:33
So number two, let's look at addiction described.
17:35-17:41
He defined it, but how does the Bible describe enslaving sin or addiction?
17:42-17:44
And there's a lot of ways, but today I'm just going to give you three.
17:45-17:52
Three ways the Bible describes enslaving sin, which addiction is certainly under that category.
17:53-17:55
Letter A, addiction is idolatry.
17:57-18:01
All sin is called idolatry, including addiction.
18:02-18:17
Ephesians 5 says, "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." As soon as we talk about idolatry, people start tuning out.
18:18-18:21
That's like Indiana Jones type stuff, right?
18:21-18:25
That's like when you go to Thailand, they actually have idols.
18:26-18:30
There's spirit altars, and you see the Buddha everywhere.
18:30-18:34
And that's idolatry, but we don't have idolatry in our country, do we?
18:35-18:37
Worse than anywhere we do.
18:38-18:39
But it's just subtle here.
18:40-18:46
You see, idolatry is when you desire something in creation more than you desire the Creator.
18:47-18:49
Idolatry is a lordship problem.
18:50-18:53
And if you're nursing an addiction, it's not about loving God.
18:54-18:55
It's about loving yourself.
18:56-18:56
And that's idolatry.
18:58-19:01
The hard thing about idolatry is it's always backed by demons.
19:01-19:05
This is another whole sermon series, but do a little study yourself.
19:06-19:15
Idolatry is so much more than "I worship a rock" or "I worship myself." It's backed by Satan. He's the silent partner of idolatry.
19:15-19:21
And because there's a spiritual stronghold, it requires something powerful to break it.
19:22-19:31
That's why if you have an addict in your family or in your workplace, somebody you care about that you've been trying to help, your tears aren't going to help them.
19:31-19:34
Your pleas to them aren't going to help them.
19:34-19:41
You can't threaten them, you can't bribe them, you can't argue with them, you can't reason them into deliverance from addiction.
19:42-19:43
Those things won't do it.
19:44-19:47
What the addict needs is the power of God.
19:48-19:50
Nothing short of that is going to help them.
19:50-19:52
Truly, truly help them.
19:53-19:55
Like, well, how do I get the power of God?
19:55-19:58
The chances are right now it's sitting on your lap.
19:58-20:07
1 Corinthians 1.18 says, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the..." See that last phrase?
20:07-20:08
The power of God.
20:09-20:11
The gospel is the power of God.
20:12-20:21
Paul said the same thing in Romans 1.16, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God." What the addict needs is the gospel.
20:22-20:28
You're like, "Well, I know that this person is saved." Well, they need the power of the gospel activated in their lives.
20:28-20:32
They need to repent because addiction is idolatry.
20:33-20:36
Secondly, letter B, how does the Bible describe addiction?
20:36-20:37
Addiction is adultery.
20:38-20:39
It's adultery.
20:39-20:48
This is another metaphor the Bible uses, and it emphasizes the more, shall we say, intimate details of idolatry, the emotional affection.
20:49-20:51
Like, where does the Bible talk about that?
20:51-20:53
There's a whole book in your Bible about this.
20:53-20:54
It's the book of Hosea.
20:55-20:56
CliffsNotes version.
20:56-21:02
God tells Hosea the prophet to marry this woman who eventually becomes a prostitute.
21:02-21:03
Like, didn't God know that?
21:03-21:04
Yeah, God knew that.
21:05-21:06
He told him to marry her.
21:06-21:07
Like, why would he do that?
21:08-21:10
Because God says, this is a graphic illustration.
21:10-21:11
Like, this is how I feel.
21:12-21:27
When my people who I love, who are my wife, so to speak, are out worshiping other gods, God says, "You're prostituting yourself." And I feel about that the way a husband would feel finding out his wife is a prostitute.
21:27-21:33
It's spiritual idolatry, spiritual adultery.
21:34-21:38
Your heart that belongs to God has been given to another.
21:39-21:41
You know, Proverbs chapter seven, you can read the story.
21:41-21:49
Proverbs chapter seven talks about a man who one day was walking down the street and he ends up losing his life because he gets involved with an adulterous woman.
21:50-21:51
You're like, "Well, how did that happen?
21:51-22:00
"How do you go from I'm walking down the street "to my life is over because I got connected "with the wrong woman?
22:00-22:09
"How did that happen?" Well, if you read Proverbs 7 closely, it seems to me that this guy sort of sabotaged himself.
22:09-22:10
Think, what do you mean?
22:10-22:22
He was walking the streets at twilight, and he just so happened to be in the neighborhood of this woman, it was almost like he was setting himself up to be destroyed.
22:23-22:25
You're like, well, what in the world does that have to do with addiction?
22:26-22:28
The man was purposeful in his pursuit.
22:28-22:29
That's how it is with addiction.
22:30-22:34
I know what I need to do to get what I want, and that's what I'm gonna do.
22:35-22:36
Purposeful in pursuit.
22:37-22:40
Another way it's like addiction is pleasure for a moment.
22:41-22:42
Pleasure for a moment.
22:42-22:44
That's true with sexual immorality.
22:44-22:45
That's true with addiction.
22:46-22:50
You're willing to go to any expense to get what you want for what?
22:51-22:53
A very tiny window of pleasure.
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I'm willing to kill myself, literally.
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I'm willing to lose every relationship I have so I feel good for a few seconds.
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And again, just like addiction, it cost this man his life.
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You can read that, Proverbs 7.
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This man lost his life.
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That's how it is with addicts.
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I'll get what I want at any cost.
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I'll enjoy the pleasure.
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I'll come down from my high and I can't wait to do it again.
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And unless you seek the Lord to end it, death is going to end it.
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So addiction is adultery.
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And then how else does the Bible describe addiction?
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It's foolishness.
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Addiction is foolishness.
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Now please hear me.
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I am not saying that you're stupid if you have an addiction.
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I don't want anybody thinking, well, Pastor Jeff says I'm really dumb because I have an addiction.
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I didn't know.
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Understand, when the Bible talks about foolishness, foolishness biblically is defined this way.
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It's pursuing a course that is briefly pleasurable, but ultimately painful.
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That's addiction.
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That's biblical foolishness.
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If you're still not sold on that, I just wanna take you through a really quick tour of the book of Proverbs.
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Proverbs is a book that contrasts wisdom and foolishness, and I want you to tell me if Proverbs seems to address the deceptive thinking of an addict.
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You tell me.
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For example, addicts say something like this.
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"No one tells me how to live.
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"Look, nobody tells me how to live.
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"What does Proverbs say?" Proverbs 28, 26 says, "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool." The addict says, "Well, I'm not really worried about the consequences." Proverbs 9, verses 17 and 18, "Stolen water is sweet, "and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, But he does not know that the dead are there, and her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
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That's the grave.
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That's death.
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Not worried about the consequences.
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Yeah, that's the foolish deceptiveness of sin.
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Not worried about the consequences.
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You're like, I don't understand, Jeff.
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I don't understand.
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Why would somebody do that to themselves?
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Why would somebody be willing to put a chemical in their body knowing that it might kill them?
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I mean, that's just not rational.
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Sin is not rational.
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Sin, any sin, never stops to consider the consequences.
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It's just about feeling good in the moment and doing what I want now.
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An addict says, or more accurately thinks, you know, I'll always get away with it.
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They might not say that, but they think that.
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I'm always gonna get away with that.
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Well, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
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It seems the Proverbs is addressing the addict again.
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Another thing addicts say, "No matter how bad things have gotten for me, "I've lost relationships, I've lost all my money, "I've lost my health, I just can't seem to give this up." If you know an addict, you know the lengths they will go to to get what they want.
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You know Proverbs says, Proverbs 27, 22, look at this, "Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle "along with crushed grain, "yet his folly will not depart from him." In other words, somebody that's committed to their sin, you can destroy them into dust and they're still going to go after their sin.
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Does that sound like an addict?
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Addicts say, "I know it's bad for me, but I can't stop.
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I just keep going back to it over and over, and I don't want to, but I keep going back to it." You know, Proverbs addresses that too, right?
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2611 like a dog that returns to his vomit there's a fool who repeats his folly where's my dog people at dog people okay so I don't have to illustrate this you know what you know what happens here you guys know this okay I'll move on it's disgusting it is disgusting if you have a dog and you've seen it you know what I'm talking about it is just look I'm a dog person we got three of them, "I love dogs, but this is disgusting." And that's what an addict does.
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Like, why do you come back to that?
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And when things get destructive enough and an addict really brings a lot of pain onto himself, I've seen this so many times, people say, "You know, it's God's fault I'm like this.
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"It's God's fault that I'm like this." And Proverbs 19.3 says, "When a man's folly brings "his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord." You know what that means?
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That means we have a way of screwing up our lives and then it's God's fault for all the choices that we made.
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What's the point?
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Point, saying these things is foolishness.
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These verses are describing a biblical fool and addicts say such things.
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So addiction is foolishness according to the Bible.
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It's idolatry, it's adultery, and it's foolishness if we're looking at it through the lens of God's word.
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Finally, we've defined addiction, addiction described, and here's why we're doing this series.
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Number three, addiction destroyed.
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Addiction destroyed.
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If you ever read the Old Testament, you see Israel over and over setting up these idols, and then God responds.
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Do you remember any passage in the Old Testament where God says, "Israel, would you please try "to wean yourself off of the idol worship?" Or Israel, I see you're worshiping false gods, but maybe just sort of, would you pump the brakes a little bit on that?
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What does God tell them to do?
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He says, "You tear those things down "and you destroy them," right?
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And if addiction is idolatry, we don't coddle them, we don't flirt with them, we don't entertain with them, we destroy them.
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The addict says, "You know, I've tried to stop, "but I can't." Well, it's not about changing your behavior.
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It's about changing your heart.
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And I've got some good news for you, because that is like Jesus Christ's specialty, is changing the heart.
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And if you are stuck in an addiction, or you love someone that is stuck in an addiction, I'm gonna share with you the greatest passage in the Bible.
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We're gonna close with this because we're gonna pick it up next time.
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1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 11.
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Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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He says, "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy." Look at this one.
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"Nor drunkards." Post your child for addiction.
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"Nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." He's like, if you are on that list, if this is who you are apart from Jesus Christ, you're You're not gone to heaven.
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Here's the game changer here.
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He says, "And such were some of you." Past tense.
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He says, "That's who you were." Well, who am I now?
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He says, "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." He says, "That's who you were." Please hear me.
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I know AA and NA, I know those things have done a lot to help people that have been stuck in addiction, but something I struggle with, with that model, with that mindset, at an AA meeting, what's the first thing you say when you stand up?
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"Hello, my name is Jeff and I am an alcoholic." You're saying, "This is my identity.
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"This is who I am." And then you turn to the Bible and he says, "No, no, no, that's not who you are.
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"That's who you were.
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But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.
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Your identity is not a drunkard, your identity is not "I'm a drug user." Your identity is a forgiven and transformed child of God.
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So if you want to be done with addiction, the good news for you is the God of the universe is on your side.
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He's going to supply the power, and He's going to surround you with the right people.
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And that's what we're going to pick up with next week.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, I pray that you would give us a mind of wisdom.
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Father, we need to see things as you see them.
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You made it very clear in your word that when we are committed to sin, we are committed to idolatry and adultery and foolishness.
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But Father, you are committed to life change.
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You are committed to transformation.
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You are committed to forgiveness and cleansing.
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So Father, I pray that as you've called us to renew our minds, I pray Father you would renew our minds to the realities of your word, that we wouldn't make excuses that we have a disease or that's just my identity, that's just who I am.
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I pray that we would truly embrace the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And that after these next few weeks, Father, I pray that there are some people that are also talking about their addiction in the past tense.
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Father, glorify your name we pray in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read any of the passages from this week’s message
What was your big “take-away” from this message?
Define addiction in your own words. How do you know when something is an addiction?
Is addiction a disease? Why or why not? What are the differences between addiction and a disease (like diabetes)?
How is addiction idolatry? How is it adultery? How is it foolishness?
Breakout
Pray for this sermon series to save lives in bondage to addiction.