Counseling the Addict Inside of You: Part 2

1:16So as we start, I want to remind you we're in a series dealing with overcoming addictions, how to counsel yourself and others who are struggling with life-dominating addictions. You won't be very successful in counseling somebody else if you're not able to counsel yourself. 2 Peter 1:3 for 3 and 4, we looked at that last time. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. So God has, by His divine power, has granted to us everything that we need for life and godliness. And we're going to take God up on this. We believe these words to be true. He has given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. And that comes through knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory. It comes through the knowledge of knowing Christ, and that in that knowledge there is power for life and godliness. And for by these, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. There is corruption, moral corruption, spiritual corruption, physical corruption. And He has given us His promises, His promises in Christ, that we may become and share in His divine nature. And whatever it is, Is born of God does overcome the world. So we're going to take God up on that. And as we continue to study, we have some basic questions that come out of the passage we just looked at. What are my addictions? We need to be able to think through what are my addictions. And I want this to be on a very practical level. I'm not looking for what my wife's addictions are.

3:32I'm looking for what my addictions are. I'm not looking for what my kids' addictions are. I'm looking for what my addiction is. That's a very personal. And if you can't get to there, if you can't identify this, your addictions in your own heart, you're going to be difficult or impaired. If you can't get the plank out of your own eye, you're going to have a hard time dealing with the speck in somebody else's. Another basic question, what is the ultimate cause of my addictions? And then, of course, what is the ultimate solution to my addictions?

4:12And then, what becomes my practical duties having overcome my addictions? There is a point of overcoming. And what are my practical duties in that? So those are some questions. We aren't going to be able to answer all of them tonight, but certainly we'll start working toward that. One of the first things you need to be able to do is to identify your addictions. I'm addicted to a pulpit that's at the right height, and somebody has played with my much better.

4:57So, what are my addictions? I'm sorry, it was just being a little distraction. Well, one of the very first questions we have to ask when we're looking about what are my addictions is, what source do we look to as authoritative? What is the source? I mean, you know what the answer is going to be. You're in church, you know what that's going to be. But we do really have to look to it and really ask: do we really believe the Scripture is authoritative on this subject? I mean, much of the world, you know, Alcoholics Anonymous, how many of you heard that, right? You're very familiar. That has pretty much shaped the landscape, if you will, on addictions and the related schools of thought that have come out of there. It really has won the day and really is what characterizes, or certainly defines the terms and And so, what many of us have is kind of an eclectic here in the church. We have an eclectic idea of some thoughts from Alcoholics Anonymous, perhaps some from the DSM-5 on substance use disorders. This is a copy of the DSM-5 put out by the American Psychiatric Association. I referred to it last time. It is a manual that's been compiled by studies through the years, 50 plus years, and longer than that, maybe. And we went through the history of it last time, but it is. It's overseen by a committee of people and Board of Trustees. And so, many would see this as authoritative. In fact, I would say largely our world, when it talks about any kind of disorders, including substance use, it is referring to this. And many Christians, I am surprised just at, well, maybe I'm not surprised, but so many will weigh this and this and put far more stock in what the American Psychiatric Association has to say over God's Word. It is a human document.

7:28And that's not to say that. Everything is useless or anything like that at all. On the contrary, we'll agree with it where it agrees with the Scripture and also where it's able to illumine some things, some very good things. But when the DSM-5 speaks about something in contradiction to Scripture or starts shaping one's views and thoughts about addictions and it takes a position over Scripture, we need to let the DSM-5 bow take its place and let Scripture define and help us understand addictions. Scripture does understand addictions on a far more profound level than all the studies that have come out from Americana in the last 70 years.

8:35The Bible. We do look to it as authoritative on this issue. The Bible understands addictions thoroughly. It really does. Addiction is an ancient condition. It's as old as man itself. And the Bible is very sharp. Its understanding of the condition of the human heart, its tendencies, and its addictions. Drunkenness is a good example of all addictions. If you want to take one prototype, one addiction that basically is a good example of all addictions, the dynamics, it's drunkenness. And the Bible always calls drunkenness sin, never calls it a sickness. Always a sin.

9:34And there's always moral culpability with drunkenness. It's not just a sickness. Biblical examples are many. You remember Noah, one of the first things after the ark, after all that stuff, I guess he wanted to get out and make a vineyard, and wow, he got drunk. And Lot. The examples are many. The Bible's very, very much familiar with it. The Bible understands the insanity of addictions, the foolishness of addictions, and it understands the solutions to them better than any other document produced in human history. In history. The Bible does understand.

10:37Very sharp. In fact, listen to Proverbs 23, beginning in verse 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Who is the person that has all these, the above? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. At last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things.

11:36And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. Not very smart. They struck me, but I did not become ill. They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink. It's a picture of an addiction. The foolishness, the insanity, the pain, the sorrow, all of this. And drunkenness is just an example of the many self-destructing, foolish lifestyles that we marry ourselves to and then control us.

12:29Addictions. The Bible's very, very much aware of what's going on. Good definition of addiction from Ed Welch in the book that we're using or recommended. Addiction is bondage to the rule of a substance, activity, or a state of mind. So think of it: addiction is bondage, chain, bound to the rule, to the sovereignty of a substance, or some kind of activity, or a state of mind. It's bondage to a rule, another task master, which then becomes the center of life.

13:25Bondage to a substance or activity. Becomes the center of life, defending itself from the truth so that even bad consequences don't bring repentance and leading to further estrangement from God. That's what addiction is. It's a habit, it's a pattern, it's a pattern of further estrangement from God. Bad consequences aren't enough to bring it back. It's bondage, it's rule, to the rule of a taskmaster. Some examples of addicted substances and desires, Welch gives on page 12. There's alcohol, anger, love, weightlifting, sleep, nicotine, pain, T V can get pretty lengthy.

14:28Exercise, gambling, nose drops, cocaine, work, sports, sugar, people, caffeine, sex, shoplifting, lying, chocolate, risk, success, winning, pornography. You go on down the list. Now you can tell Ed must have written this book a little while ago, or he's gotten pretty old, or he's not on social media, not into video gaming. But there's a lot of things we could add to this. And I would like to add. Human attention. I think one of the things that we can get very addicted to is attention. Not just attention, but affirmation, human affirmation. And when we don't get that human affirmation, or we don't get that human attention from certain individuals that we want, they can become very addictive. And when we don't get them, we can go into withdrawals of some sort. But you can fill in the list. This is just a beginning of many of the things that we let become our taskmasters. And in and of themselves, some of them may not be bad, but they can easily become the center of our life and become the rule over our lives.

15:54But Scripture makes it very clear: the body is for the Lord. The body. It's for Him. It was created for Him, created to bear His image. We are created to be in fellowship and union with Him and bear His image. And so the body is for the Lord. 1 Corinthians 6:9 says, Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Period.

16:32But then he goes on to say, Such were some of you. A repentant idolater is no longer an idolater. Such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. That's who we become in Christ. Paul goes on to say, All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Why? Because we have one master.

17:13The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. It's not for anything else. Primarily, it is for the Lord. It's his. It's not for immorality. We have this biblical promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond which you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it.

18:01There is, listen, the temptations that you and I face, and I know some old pastor, you don't know what I'm going, you don't know what I'm facing, maybe not, but I can assure you this: that no temptation has overtaken you, but such is common. We all deal with similar things. There may be different manifestations of substance abuse, or there may be different manifestations of different kinds of addictions. Common. You're not an outlier in what you face.

18:40And God has provided ways out always. So you can go on and identify, we'll come back to that a little bit more in identifying addictions. But talk for a moment about the cause of addictions. What is the ultimate cause of my addictions? After I've gone through and I've looked through, and one of the things about the list of addictions is that they do have an effect on the body. Take, for instance, caffeine. You can drink a cup of coffee in the morning and then you get in that routine, and your body does start expecting it. And it Does start depending on it. And so there is a physiological development in the body.

19:43And all of these have some sort of a that's not saying caffeine in limited amounts is sin. But certainly, when it becomes a rule, we can get addicted to a lot of things. But the cause of addictions, what is the ultimate cause? Look at that. Where is this? Is it in the body? Is it in the soul? Where is the ultimate cause? And this is where we have to be very careful that we use biblical terminology. This is where it becomes important that we use biblical terminology. There is a difference between the way the Bible and non-biblical sources describe a person who is overcome by alcohol, for instance.

20:41The Bible speaks of a person who's overcome by alcohol as a what? A drunk. Drunkenness. A drunkard. More popular today is probably the word alcoholic. Or maybe someone who has a substance use disorder. But it's very important that we distinguish and use biblical terminology. In fact, I'm going to take a break here for a moment and let Kevin come up. I've asked him to speak a few minutes on this issue and the importance. As I gotten to know Kevin over the years, come on up. He has I've noticed he's been very blunt in speaking about the sin in his life in biblical terms. And that plays a big role, and I really appreciated that about Kevin. And I'll just let him, in his own words, express the thoughts.

21:51Maon. Good evening. There was one word on that list that I thought of, money. Yeah, that's a big one. I appreciate the opportunity to speak again. So on biblical terminology, there's been a couple of, first of all, words are powerful. And we should know that, especially going over Genesis. You know, God created everything that we see with a spoken word. And that should tell us right there in the very beginning that words are powerful. As far as terminology, There are two particular word combinations, pairs of words that have stuck out to me over the years.

22:37Each pair of words are used consistently to describe the same reality. However, each word out of these pairs that I'm going to talk about in a second means profoundly opposite, has a profoundly opposite effect on me over the years. The first two words that were just on the screen are alcoholic versus drunkard. I looked up the definition of alcoholic, and one of the sources I found says it is someone who suffers from alcoholism. So I looked up alcoholism.

23:16And one of the sources I found, and I'm not quoting the source because there's a lot of different sources out there, is a chronic disease characterized by an uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol. Well, I'm not a doctor, but a disease seems like something I can't control. The definition of drunkard that I looked up is a person who is habitually drunk. Now, I can say during my 16 years prior to two years ago, that was a pretty good description of me.

23:55Habitually drunk. So I kind of drew some. Comparisons between those two terms. The word alcoholic to me and many others implies that I can't control it, or they can't control it. It also implies that it's not my fault, which removes me of responsibility. It also gives me an excuse to continue doing what I'm doing. And the last thing it does is it leaves me with no hope. By the way, that term alcoholic was coined in 1849.

24:37Then we move on to the word drunkard. Like Thomas mentioned, it appears even in the Old Testament. The first instance of the word drunk being used I found was in Genesis 9. And then I just did a search this afternoon, and the term drunkard, the exact word, came up 12 times in the Old Testament that I was able to find. It may be different than that. But what that word meant to me before I wrapped my, by the time I finally wrapped my brain around it, was that my actions were my choice. They were a choice.

25:16Not only were they a choice, they were my choice. What it also described and explained to me is that it was that being drunk was a temptation. And therefore, God has equipped me to stand against it. And Thomas mentioned that in his slides, 1 Corinthians 10:13. But that's the first pair of words that I wanted to talk about and how our society uses them to explain the exact same thing. But they completely change the way an individual perceives what they're doing and what they're going through.

26:02One of them leads to life, the other one leads to confusion. The second pair of words are the two words are struggle and sin. Struggle, there are many different definitions out there, but one of them I came across was to make a great effort to do something or overcome someone or something. To make a great effort. And then the definition of sin I found is an act of offense towards God. So, breaking those two things down, a struggle to me and many others, part of a struggle is that my efforts matter. That somehow, some way, when the word struggle is communicated to describe something that I'm going through, It means that my efforts matter and they make a difference.

27:06Therefore, in my mind, if I only just try harder, maybe I'll get through this struggle or make a difference. And it kind of boils down to my preference to change, whether I prefer to change or not. Then on the other side of the coin, we look at sin. And to me, the first thing that pops in my mind is, I failed. When someone says that I am in sin or I realize that I am in sin, to me that means I've failed. Only God can save me now.

27:45And this is a tough one for people to finally realize it was for me, but then when I did realize that it was free, I'm going to die. That's the thing about sin, and the Bible tells us over and over. So at that point, I have a choice of life or death. What sin helps communicate, or what it helped communicate for me, was the severity of what was going on. What struggle communicated was, well, it's your preference.

28:18You know, you can struggle well or not struggle well. And believe it or not, I had pastors that knew my whole Story, not from this church, that knew my whole story that described what I was going through as a struggle. Thomas wasn't afraid to call it sin, or Russell or Matthew or anybody else that I talked to. And it was the best thing that could happen to me to be communicated to with biblical terminology. Because in the end, it helped me to understand the severity of what I was doing. The severity of what I was doing to myself, to my family, and the severity of what I was doing to God.

29:15Some of these words also, I'm sorry, my notes are a little discombogated. These words also affected my identity, and I know they do others as well. The alcoholic is a label that defines a person. I'm sure at least some of us, if not quite a few of us, have come across someone that classifies themselves as a recovering alcoholic. I know I have. And the ones that I've come across, their goal is sobriety. But remember, by definition, of an alcoholic, they would still then have a disease that. Is not treated, that is only treated, not cured. And that goes back to my previous point about having no hope.

30:10A drunkard is something that I once was, but now that part of me is dead, and I can prove it. And so I've got my Bible open here to 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. I'm crying out of joy, just so you all know. There's my proof. You know, like I said, a drunkard is what I was, but not anymore. I'm not a recovering alcoholic. I was a drunkard, and now I'm not.

31:06And of course, Christ got me there. On the second set of words, the goal of someone that is struggling or in struggles is to win or make one's circumstances manageable. It implies a fight, but no guaranteed victory. I came across an article. On struggles. And this is a quote from the article. I've discovered a simpler way to make changes to get the results you want, and it doesn't require a 180-degree change in who you are. Well, that's kind of the exact opposite of what God's Word says to us.

31:54And that 180-degree turn immediately made me think about repentance. Because that's exactly what repentance is. It stems from a Greek word meaning a military term to mean about face, to turn from sin to the Lord. A 180-degree turn. So it was just interesting to me to come across something so contrary to God's word. Moving on to the term sin. Sin is an act of offense against God. I cannot hide from God, and sin leads to death.

32:45Therefore, in my mind, I have no other choice. My choice is either die or listen to this, God's Word is truth, and step out in obedience. And of course, it tells me that sin leads to death in Romans 6:23. These biblical terms that I've just described are what God used to speak his truth into my life and to my circumstances. The world's terminology held me captive in sin for a long time. And it wasn't until that I heard biblical truth and biblical terminology that it made any difference whatsoever.

33:38All these things are not diseases or mere struggles, this list that Thomas put up on the board. If they become an addiction, it is sin, and it will lead to death. And some of them are easier to fall into than others. Some of them are more obvious than others. You know, from I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought. For me, I didn't get there until truth was revealed to me using this biblical terminology. I'd love to talk to anybody more about it. I'm out of time right now. If any of Y'all have questions for me afterwards, please feel free to ask. Thank you very much.

34:43Thank you. Yeah, so the importance of biblical terminology, you just heard in Kevin's testimony. Biblical terminology distinguishes between the symptom and the cause. There is a when you're talking about sin as a cause versus a disease as a cause, two very different things. There's relative agreement that addictions are a problem across the board, whether you're looking at the DSM-5 or whatever sources. In the DSM-5, it calls it the essential feature of a substance use disorder is a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms indicating that the individual continues using the substance despite significant substance-related problems.

35:41I think everybody would agree, yeah, we can see the addiction, we can see what it's doing, but the issue, we can see the symptoms of somebody who's a drunk, and we can agree with the symptoms, but the root cause is the problem. As we read a minute ago, addiction is bondage to the rule of a substance, an activity or a state of mind which then becomes a center of life, defending itself from the truth. It suppresses truth, it doesn't want to hear the truth, and it defends itself from it so that even bad consequences don't bring repentance and leading to further estrangement from God.

36:28Biblical terminology distinguishes between a mere victim and a responsible party. Very important, the difference between alcoholic and drunk carries two very different concepts. There is a moral difference between cancer and drunkenness. There's a huge difference. One is involuntary, and the other involves sinful choices for which one is accountable before a holy God. The Bible does not allow a person to get away with blaming sin on others, on the environment, one's DNA, or God. Now, how could a drunk get mad at God? How can a person who's really involved in some addiction have any case to be angry? Angry at God.

37:32How could that happen? What's that? Yeah. Well, if you believe you have a disease, God made you this way, guess who you're going to be mad at? God. Right? God. God, you made me this way. I'm just acting out according to the way you made me. I'm not responsible. You are, God. You can blame sin on others. Well, biblical terminology doesn't let you get away with that. And yet, at the same time, the Bible recognizes the enslaving power of sin.

38:25It is spoken of as sickness, a moral sickness. It's deceitfulness and its out-of-control influence upon people. The Bible very much recognizes the power of sin, how it deceives, like the wine that sparkles before it bites like a viper, and how one is out of control and the influence it has. But Scripture is very. Clear that sin is our deepest problem. Autonomy was Adam and Eve's desire in the garden. You remember, the devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery.

39:18He tempted them to live independent of God. That was the temptation. And independence from God is at the root of all other sins. And what are the consequences of sin? Well, as Kevin laid out, it leads to death, right? Guilt. There's a guilt, a shame. You saw this very early: a shame to come before the presence of God. There's blame, blame on the woman, blame on the serpent, blame on God for giving me the woman. But that's the consequences of sin, and that's what death looks like. It's corruption.

40:00The soul is corrupted. The body is corrupted. It's moving in a way that it shouldn't go. It's craving things it shouldn't crave. And what that happens when we crave things we shouldn't crave and we go after them, we start isolating ourselves from people, from God, from relationships. When we're the one that has to be pleased and it's our cravings that have to be satisfied, we end up. In isolation, we decay, we decay, our relationships decay, death, separation. It's all a very logical and straightforward path.

40:47Sin, the Bible makes clear, is a blinding power. Sin is more than self-conscious rebellion against God. It is also a blinding power that wants to control and enslave us. You remember, Cain. You must. Sin is crouching at your door, Cain, and its desire is to have you, control you. And we are fundamentally addicted to our own ways. That's us. Fundamentally addicted to our own ways, blind in our obedience to ourselves. We live in the consequential aftermath of our sinful choices. That's us, fallen us. But in Christ, we're made new, and we become fundamentally addicted to doing God's will. We're no longer at peace.

41:49That's the new nature. And though, in an infant, as an infant has to grow, so we must learn in sanctification to, we still have. The old man that kind of like a dead corpse tied to us, it still has its influence, but we have a new nature. And so we learn to put off our old ways. But fundamentally, sin is a worship disorder. It's a worship disorder. It's a failure to give God the place that He is due. So when you look at basic elements of addictions, it's a worship disorder, suppression of truth. There's a denial. Let me, I'll tell you what, I'm going to just stop there and maybe come back there from next time. Is there, you've got maybe time for a question or two, and then we'll break up. Does anybody want to share a thought?

43:03But fundamentally, when we're dealing with addictions, we're dealing with a worship disorder. There's something else we crave other than worshiping God, fundamentally. And so when worship is set right, a whole host of things in our life is set right. Well, let's go home. I know you guys are just, some of you campers are pretty exhausted. Lord, thank you for the evening. Thank you for family in Christ gather around. Thank you, Father, that our identity is not tied in who we were, what we did, what enslaved us, what we bowed to. None of that defines us. We're new creatures in Christ. We're disciples whom Jesus loved and loves. And so, Father, we thank you for making us new. We are children of God. And it's in that knowledge, washed, clean, brand new, Father, that we continue to discipline our minds and hearts and learn to walk in your ways and to put further distance from the sin in our life and the avenues that lead to the sin in our life. Father, we want to live circumspectly. We no longer serve sin. We serve you. And we no longer serve self, even though we often give in far more than we want to. Father, but we truly do desire to follow you in all ways. And so, Father, we want to worship you as you ought to be worshipped, and we look to you for power and strength.

45:00For that, go with us this week. In Jesus' name, amen.