You addicted…no hope…where is Jesus…listen…
Introduction:
1. Have you ever met up with an obstacle that you could not overcome? Ever faced climbing a mountain that seems to high to even try? Sometimes the hurdles in our life can cause us to lose hope and our sense of self worth.
2. Your life may be spiraling out of control and you have lost your sense of self and direction. You have wandered so far from the person you really are. You remember being happy and free and following God, but you just can not seem to find the way back. Sin in our lives can do this to us. It causes us to lose sight of what we are and what we want to be.
3. You know you are somebody and are worth a tremendous amount to your family, and even to God. Jesus thought you were so worthy that He died for you. He said, I love you and I think you are so precious to me that I will die for you. He did this so you can be forgiven and made whole.
I. 3 Things Addiction or Sin Cause us to do
A. Lose Our Identity
1. We become what we eat
a. If we sear our conscience enough times, then the sin or addiction does not bother us
b. We become so callused with our actions that the wrong thing we call the right thing.
c. The thing we hate becomes the thing we love, because it no longer sticks in our minds as sin or an addiction. So before long we are actually becoming the things we consume.
d. If I am imbibing pornography or imbibing alcohol or sex or anything else a person could be addicted to, then before long those things I will justify in my mind and call them good instead of evil.
e. 1Ti 4:1-2 KJV “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” Our conscience can become so defiled we do recognize sin any more.
2. We associate ourselves with what we do
a. When we work with a company like Saturn we associate ourselves with the profile of that company. We are carmakers one might say or a production facility, but in either case there is an association with the product and the workers.
b. If I design panels for Chromalox then people will associate me with an Engineer or designer, or if I lead singing or preach then I will be associated with a preacher or a song leader.
c. You ever heard the saying, “sleep with dogs and you will get fleas”? That is the idea. If you associate yourselves with people that use drugs or get drunk then you will be associated with those types of individuals.
d. When you use drugs long enough then you will see things through those eyes. It is like rose tinted glass, when you where a shaded pair of glasses then you see everything from the color of the lens. When you are an addict or junkie then you will see everyone else as an addict as well. These things allow you to justify it by saying everybody does it, therefore it is okay.
e. Everybody does not do it, if they did then it would not be done in secret. It would be held openly for everyone to see and there would be no shame in saying I use cocaine so much it cost me my house, my car, my wife, my dog or whatever else.
f. 1 Cor 15:33, “Do not be deceived bad company corrupts good morals”. When we are around the bad long enough then it is possible to be corrupted and eroded away.
g. 1Jo 3:7-8 ESV Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (8) Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
B. Lose Our Hope
1. We lose control
a. Once you give over to the desire and allow that drug or addiction to control you there is no control of yourself left. There are only two options when it comes down to it: (1) Allow the addiction to control you or (2) to take control of your addiction.
b. When you allow your desires to control your mind instead of you controlling your mind, then there appears to be nothing you can do.
c. Sometimes people will go to the extreme and say they want to do this, to that one might ask do you really want to be broke, jobless, and create problems instead of solving them. They say smoking a joint makes me do it better, or when I am drunk I catch more fish, I see more deer when I am high, etc… Their minds make up excuses for their addiction.
2. We see no way out
a. After a while our sin or addiction can cause us to see no way of bettering ourselves. Sometimes it causes us not to want anything better than being drunk or stoned.
b. Sin causes actions or us to say I am powerless over this thought. It causes us to see no way out it causes us to lose hope.
C. Lose Our Sense of Self Worth
1. Sense we can not control ourselves we lose our sense of worth
a. Since we lose control of our desires it is no longer our self in the driver’s seat. When that happens we lose our sense of self worth.
b. Our self worth is lost because we think we can not control the situation. We think that nothing can help us live above the addiction or sinful behavior. When our desire to do better is not strong enough to overcome the desire to sin then we think we are worthless.
2. When there is no light at the end of the tunnel we lose our sense of worth
a. When we can not picture our selves in victory over the thing we are fighting the battle is lost before it begins. When we can not see the light at the end of the tunnel then we see no end to the darkness and sin we have become addicted to.
b. Without hope life is miserable. Hope is an anchor for the soul and can cause us to achieve more than we thought we could. We a person can not see anything better than getting high or living in the gutter of their sin then they have lost hope.
c. Rom 8:20-25 KJVR For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, (21) Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (22) For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. (23) And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (24) For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? (25) But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
d. Hope – has two ingredients, an expectation and a desire. If we do not expect any better than a life of addiction or sinful behavior then we will never live above it. If we change our desire and expect help and a better way of living above sinful behavior then our hope will be restored.
II. 3 Things We Must Do To Overcome
A. Remove The Mental Addiction
1. There is a mental attachment to our sinful behavior or addiction
a. We get a happy feeling when our desires are met. Especially when our desires are good. We I am hungry and desire some food and then I eat my favorite dish, my mind is satisfied and I am made happy.
b. We all attach ourselves to things that make us happy or bring us joy or a sense of peace.
2. We have got to want to quit
a. The people caught in sin have to want to quit and do what is right. You can not make a person do anything. God gave us free will and we can use it in a good way or in a bad way.
b. We have got to get our want to fixed up in order to accomplish anything. Goals are a way of getting our want to fixed up, we visualize achieving certain things and then set out on doing it. If those in addiction can visualize overcoming the behavior or addiction then they can restore their hope that they can achieve a better way.
3. Making people not want to continue is the hard part
a. This is a hard part for people who love ones of those that are immersed into an addictive behavior.
b. In order to make people want to quit they have to see the bad they are doing which means you are going to have to hurt their feelings.
c. Sometimes we can call them a drunk, junkie, fornicator, adulator, or anything else in order to make them see what they have become. We have to make them become disgusted with their behavior in order to get them to want to change.
d. People will not want to change unless they see some reason to change.
B. Remove The Physical Addiction
1. Most addictions gratify the flesh in some way
a. The drunk gets a good feeling from drinking, the sex maniac gets a high from sex, the cocaine addict gets a high, the murderer or stalker gets a sense of power from watching without being noticed.
b. In order to overcome the addiction of the flesh, the desire, action, thoughts all have to be removed for a time period. For things like cocaine then they must stay off of it for three to five days, and for nicotine it is 2-4 days.
2. Our bodies crave things it gets use to
a. A Cigarette is craved by the body because it has nicotine, a beer is craved by the body because it has alcohol, whatever the drug or addiction is the body at times will crave it, assuming it is physically addictive.
b. We have to cut off all opportunities to gratify our flesh. That our physical addiction maybe removed from ourselves. I have heard of people being locked in a room so they could not get to the object they were addicted to.
c. For those that smoke or chew it means to not go by the cigarette aisle or not even to the store send someone else to the store.
C. Remove The Social Addiction
1. When we associate ourselves with the drug and the people it is easier to fall back into the ditch by being around them
a. We have to crawl out of our shell and find new friends and make new…the addictive lifestyle that we hate and are trying to overcome.
2. We must avoid all contacts of people that remind us of what we did or have become.
a. Hanging out with the old crowd we left will cause us to fall back into our old ways
b. Most addicts stay in recovery until the old friend knocks at the door and invites them to sin, a couple of weeks ago we talked about temptation, today though it is addictive behavior.
3. Must avoid people that will try to pull us back into the ditch
a. There are some of our so-called friends that do not want to see us crawl out of the ditch and will try to cause you to fall back into it. I guess the reason they do so is because they do not want to be alone in the ditch by themselves.
4. Must avoid situations that the addiction can take place
a. If going to the super market causes temptation to smoke or to drink, then we best not go to the super market. Same is true for anything, if going to a certain place causes you to ponder the thoughts of old sin you are trying to overcome then do not go there.
III. Application To Us
A. We Are not Worthless
1. You are valuable
a. You remember when you could walk into a restaurant and look people in the eye because there was no shame. You still can when you get your life back. Hate the drug enough to love yourself and do what is good for you in the long term.
b. You have a value that is worth more than gold or silver. You can consider yourself rich because you are somebody. You can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. You are special and can overcome the behavior that has worn you down.
2. Jesus thought you were so valuable he died for you
a. Jesus did not think you were hopeless. He knows you can overcome the sinful behavior or addiction. That is why he died for you so you could be forgiven of that sin.
b. Jesus thought your life was so valuable he gave his for yours. That means your life is priceless and extremely valuable.
c. (John 6:51 KJVR) “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
B. We have hope of a better life
1. Jesus promises an abundant life
a. When we reach to Jesus for help he will give us an abundant life.
b. That is one filled with love, joy, peace, hope, and eternal life; not sin and the troubles associated with the sinful behavior.
c. John 10:9-11 ASV “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. (10) The thief comes not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. (11) I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
2. We can have live above the sinful behavior with the help of God
a. When you become a child of God you can live above the sin you have become addicted to.
b. There is a promise to the Christian that “we will not be tempted above that which we are able but with the way of temptation God will provide a way of escape” 1 Cor 10:13
c. God made the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh, He is able to help you with your addictive behavior. It takes prayer and lots of it.
d. Pray when you think about the habit, pray when you get up about it, pray every second you can to have God be on your side while you are trying to kick the habit. Pray when you see someone you knew, or doing what you use to do, prayer is the shield of faith that will save us from the arrows of temptation.
Conclusion:
1. You can beat this behavior. You are stronger than the sinful behavior, do not let it whip you but you whip it.
2. You can overcome anything that God helps you with, when your problems become God’s problems they get solved. God can do anything but make you want to and He can help you want a better life. He can help you change your desires and become the person you once were.
3. Prayer is the avenue to success. With prayer comes power to move the hand that moves the universe. Pray about your problems with sin God wants to save you from sin and not squash you like a bug. Ask Him for His help and He will.
Father…please free us from anything that hinders us from obeying the Truth in Jesus of Nazareth’s name amen.
Try…A…Daily Pause for Prayer and Devotional a Wellsaid Christian Devotional about the teachings of Jesus… https://www.anopenbiblestudy.com/blog-by-ben-the-friend
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