 Jeremiah chapter 35, we see the story of the Reckobites, that's a great story in the Bible. Keep your place there, we're going to look at that in just a few minutes. Keep your place in Jeremiah 35, put a ribbon or a bookmark there, we're going to be coming back to that story mid-sermon, but this morning we're talking about the subject of addiction. So we're going to talk about the subject of addiction this morning, first we'll talk about what the world, what science, what secular philosophies tell us about addiction today, is that true, does the Bible agree with those definitions, and then what can be done about this problem of addiction. It's obviously a real thing, if you think about what you think addiction is, you probably know somebody or have heard of somebody. It's become such a big deal today that you probably know most people, I would say know or personally have heard of somebody that's suffering from some sort of addiction. So let's look at it this morning. So first of all, let's define what it is. We're talking about addiction, what does secular science say is addiction? So let's just look at the real world non-biblical definition of addiction this morning. So I'm going to read you a quote here, it's the most succinct kind of definition that I could find. It says, addiction is a treatable chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment in individuals life experiences, and in individuals life experiences. People with an addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences. So what the, you're hearing a secular definition here at the end of sin basically, talking about things, behaviors that have harmful consequences. So first of all, it says addiction is a treatable chronic medical disease. Let's look at that statement right there for a minute. What it's saying is it's a chronic, by chronic it's saying that it's persistent, that it doesn't stop, it keeps coming back up. If you have a chronic disease, it's a disease that doesn't go away. It's a disease that maybe it waxes and wanes and just keeps coming back again and again. But then it says it's a medical disease. So it defines addiction as a disease, meaning it's an illness or a sickness. Those are synonyms with the word disease. And then I also am going to address the idea. This is where the Bible sort of departs from secular science here on this idea that it's a disease. But actually this definition of addiction that I just read to you is pretty close to what the Bible would actually call addiction, and we'll look at it this morning. So what are some common addictions out there today? I went and I looked up the 10 most common addictions in the United States. This will give you an idea of what we're talking about with addiction. So the vast majority of them are some sort of drug, and we'll get to that in a minute. But let me just list you from one to 10 the top addictions in the United States today. Number one is nicotine. So that's obviously a drug. It's a drug that's in cigarettes and some gums I guess to get you to stop smoking. Very addictive. It's designed for that. And we'll look at that in a few minutes as well. Number two is alcohol. Number three is marijuana. Number four is painkillers. Number five is cocaine. Number six is heroin. Number seven is, I had to look this one up, but it's benzodiaepazines, which is like, you know, basically it's like antidepressants and like prozacs and things like this. Number eight is what's called stimulants, sorry, you know, methamphetamines basically is what this one is. So basically number two, well basically all the ones I've listed so far are drugs, okay? They're drugs. And number two through, or basically three through nine are like what we would consider, you know, like the more hard drugs that are out there today, you know, that we see out on the streets today. Number nine is internet pornography, lust, you know, these types of addictions, okay? And then number ten, of course, is, you know, the Bible would describe that, would just qualify that as lust, okay? And then number ten is gambling, and the Bible would qualify that as greed, okay, or covetousness, all right? So look, I disagree with the disease portion, and the Bible is going to show you that today, but look, you know, it's really, when you think of like addiction, it's really the only disease that you could voluntarily give yourself, you know, when you think about it that way, because the reason that the Bible disagrees with this idea that addiction is a disease is because calling it a disease basically removes personal responsibility from the equation, okay? And that, I mean, that's kind of what we see today. We're trying to see shame removed from society. We're trying to see personal responsibility removed from every aspect of society. Everything's okay. Nothing's bad. Anything that anybody thinks is okay is okay. But that's not what the Bible teaches, and we'll look at it this morning. So look, it is something that is persistent. It is something that people struggle with. It is something that has harmful effects. Look, it's a sin. These are sins. Everything that I listed for you as these top ten addictions in the United States, the Bible would qualify this as a sin, okay? Look, you know, the Bible, however, places firm personal responsibility on the individual all over the Bible. But the point I need to get you to understand this morning on this secular definition is that I agree that you can get yourself to the point where these things become chronic or persistent. The Bible also teaches that, okay? You can literally, look, the Bible teaches this, and we'll get into that later. But the point is, you can train yourself to sin, and the Bible will explain that to you. You know, the most simple form of this, this idea that you can train yourself, is I can give you an example that happened to me. I'll give you an example. When I first moved to Fresno, I first moved to Fresno, I started a new job. Okay, I started a new job, and I was starting as the satellite leader in Fresno. This is going to seem like a silly example to you, but this is a real thing, and I'm sure you all have struggled with this to some degree, you know, you know, some degree or another, you've probably struggled with this same thing. But I started a new job, and at this job it was a very stressful job. I was also starting as a satellite leader of a church, and I mean, like, something I've never done before, I've never done this job before, it was a very high-pressure job, too. And so, I was a little stressed out at that time in my life. Well, every single day at work at 2 o'clock, I don't know why I started in the afternoon, but there was a secretary that had a desk, and she had like the massive jar of candy at this desk. This is going to seem silly, but it's ridiculous. It's real. And like, I would just go buy it like 1.30, 2 o'clock every day, and I started just like, ah, I'm just like stressed out, and I just started grabbing a handful of candy and just eating like a few candy bars at work every day. Pretty soon at 1.30 every single day, I would just be like, I have to have a candy bar right now. It just became this massive craving for me. And like, look, they're saying, like, I even looked this up. Like sugar is addictive. There's some studies out there that says that sugar can be as addictive as cocaine, if you can believe that. But I mean, as soon as I recognized that like, this alarm was going off in my head at 2 o'clock every day, like I need to have a candy bar right now, I'm like, okay, whoa, there's a problem here, right? So, look, the point I'm trying to get at, and it seems like a silly thing, is you can train yourself. Your body will actually change and start to want things that are bad, okay? It can become a physical thing. It can become a mental thing. Look, turn to Proverbs chapter 23. The Bible talks about this. The Bible even talks about the specific example that I'm giving you today. The Bible talks, look, the Bible talks a lot about, the Bible talks about gluttony. You can train yourself to eat a lot. You can train yourself, you can train your body, you can train your mind to just want to eat more than you need to eat. The Bible would call this gluttony. It's just another sin in the Bible. Look at Proverbs 23 in verse number two, and look at how serious the Bible says it is. It says Proverbs 23 verse two, and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. Look, the Bible here is saying like, if you're a glutton, if you're somebody that's given to appetite, it's like, you need to stop this. How serious? To the point where like, you should put a knife to your throat and stop doing it. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, if you go down to verse number 21, it says, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with regs. So in Proverbs 23, too, talking about just this idea of gluttony, it's saying, do whatever you need to do to stop it, is what the Bible is saying here. In Proverbs 23, 21, what it's saying is, you know, it compares gluttony, and many times you'll see this, it compares gluttony to being a drunkard. But this speaks directly to this idea of addiction that we're talking about this morning. It says, if you're a glutton or a drunkard, it's like, you're going to come to poverty and you're going to have regs, you're going to have nothing. It's talking about somebody here in Proverbs 23, 21 who has no control, who has no control, who just has a desire, and just feeds that desire, is what it's talking about. You know, the same can be applied to basically every kind of addiction that I just listed off, or any kind of addiction that you can think about. The Bible here is talking about, you know, just the inability to control your desires. If you have a desire and you have the inability to control it, you know, you're going to end up a drunkard. You're going to end up a glutton, is what the Bible is saying. And how serious should you take that? Put a knife to your throat to stop it. Okay, we'll talk about in detail how to get around these things, but I'm just trying to show you, you know, the Bible talks about this idea of addiction. Turn to James chapter one. Turn to James chapter one. The Bible gives us a detailed view of how you can become addicted to things. Look, if it's a problem in the world, if it's a problem in your life, you can guarantee that the Bible talks about it. You can guarantee that not only does the Bible talk about it, but it gives you the solutions for it. Look at James chapter one, in verse number 14. So we saw in Proverbs 23, we saw the example of gluttony, or being a drunkard, somebody that just has the desires for these things, and, you know, just, it talks about how serious it is. You should put a knife to your throat. You should literally like, you know, you know, threaten yourself physically, it's saying to stop this, because it's a very dangerous thing. But look at James chapter one, in verse 14. James chapter one, in verse 14. So here in James chapter one, in verse 14, we see the path to addiction. Okay, in James chapter one, verse 14. So I'll give you the path, and if you don't mind writing in your Bible, I write notes in my Bible all the time. I'll give you the path right here in James chapter one, verse 14 and 15. And you put a bracket there, and just say, this is addiction in your Bible. But every man is tempted, there's step one right there. Right above that word tempted in my Bible, I have a note of a one in a circle. And then it says, when he is drawn away of his own, what's number two? Lust. Okay, so the first thing is, you're tempted. Now look, you know, who's tempting you? It's Satan tempting you. It's Satan using the things of this world, the cares of this world, the sins of this world to tempt you, to try to get you to, you know, want things or go into sin. So it says, now this guy, he was tempted first, number one, then he was drawn away of his own lust. Look, he was tempted, and then he wanted it. Lust means you want it, you desire it, and enticed. But when lust, now something else happens. In the next verse, look at verse 15, it says in verse 15, when the lost. So number one, he was tempted, then he wanted it. Look, I'll give you the answers for all these steps, but let's see how it happens first. Okay, so you are tempted. Satan put something in your way and tempted you, and then you are in a position in your life for whatever reason you saw that temptation and you wanted that thing. You lusted after it. Then lust what? What happens? Lust hath conceived. Lust hath conceived. We're using the example of a child. And I say child, we're using the example of a child in the womb here. We're using the example of a child. So then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. Then you wanted it, then you took it, or you partook in it. You drank it, you ate it, you went into whatever sin we're talking about, so that lust conceived and it bringeth forth sin. And sin, now, now what happens? And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So look, there's a step between death and conceive there. So what happens between conceived and death is that sin, it grows. Just like a child in the womb. It grows. This sin, when it conceives, it begins to grow. It begins to grow. And then it brings forth, eventually, if you don't put that knife to your throat, and you don't stop that sin or stop whatever it is, look, eventually that will bring forth death. That's the fifth step. So you have the temptation is number one. The lust is number two. The conception is number three. Number four is the growth. And number five is death. There's five steps to addiction in James chapter one in verse fourteen through fifteen, giving us this perfect example of a child growing in the womb. So we know the temptation is going to come. That's a guarantee in your life. So you must stop it, and look, the closer you stop it to number one, the better off you're going to be. But we'll talk about that eventually this morning as well. So eventually it kills us though. So that sin conceives, grows and grows. This is what we see with addiction. You can train your body to need sin. You can train yourself to want sin. Let's talk about this idea that the Bible is talking about here, this idea of training yourself. Okay, look, you can train yourself for anything. As a matter of fact, you can make the argument that no matter what you're doing in your life, you are training yourself. One way or another, you are training yourself. Think about it. You can train your body and your mind. Let's think about some harmless examples, maybe some good examples. We have a basketball hoop out here. Nobody's any good at basketball in this church. But guess what? If we hired, you know, Brother George, and we just gave him a mission, like Brother George, you're just going to be the best basketball player in this church. And we just like told him to just like stop working and every day you're just going to come here and you're going to play basketball. We're going to get you a coach, we're going to, he's going to show you the exact form, and you're just going to play basketball for eight hours a day. Look, he would get good at basketball. Soon he would be the best basketball player in this church. Maybe after ten minutes of training. But that's the point beside itself. But the point is, is you can train your body and your mind. Soon, his body, he would start getting, you know, muscle memory. It's the same with any sport, basketball, golf, baseball, whatever, you name a sport. I remember I was, I've been hunting with the same shotgun for maybe close to twenty years. I've had the same shotgun. And I literally go hunting and I don't even, I don't remember hitting the switches and all the levers and all these things. And it's a pump action shotgun and I can shoot it as fast as anybody that has a semi-automatic. Just because I've been using this shotgun for so long, I don't even think about putting the safety on using the catches and the releases for the pump, ejecting the shells. I don't even think about those things. It's just, it's just, it's just been training. You just do it so much that it changes your mind, it changes your body. It's the same thing with skills or traits in your life. You can train yourself. Look, you start talking about learning a skilled trade. You start talking about learning a job. You know what that will do? That will change your body. That will change your body. I had somebody tell me a couple of years ago, I can't work a, I can't work with my hands. I've just never, I've never been, my hands are just not strong enough and I've never been good with my hands. It's because you've never trained yourself. If you went and you got a job or you were doing certain things, you know, with your hands or whatever, you know, your forearms would change, your strengths would change, your body would adapt. But guess what? As you get trained, your mind starts to change too. As you learn these skilled things, your mind starts to change. Maybe you start becoming really good at problem solving. Maybe you start seeing solutions with your skilled trade or your profession or whatever that is, it will literally change your mind. It'll change the way you think. So your mind and your body are trainable is what I'm trying to get you to understand. In the same way, you can train your body to need and desire sin. You can train your mind. You can train your body to want sin. Now with things like drugs, look, guess what? They're designed for this. They're literally designed to get your mind to create responses in your brain where your mind, like just it changes the way your mind works. It changes the way chemicals are secreted in your body to the point where you literally want them and eventually you need them. They're designed to do this. Some drugs are worse than others. The point is, some drugs they say after just a couple of times, these chemical reactions in your body start taking place where you need them. I'm talking about things like opioids and heroin and cocaine, meth. They're very addictive to where after you've done them just a few times, it changes your body. Your body desires that chemically. It's true. It's true. What it starts with, though, is lust, just like James chapter one starts out with. Look, I went and I looked up a website that actually interviewed some heroin addicts and it talked about these heroin addicts. They gave these testimonials on why they, I mean these heroin addicts at this point they were just strung out and like they've gotten themselves to the point with heroin and some of these drugs. You can get yourself so dependent that if you stop doing them, it could kill you. If you just stop cold, I mean not that you shouldn't stop, but if you stop cold it could kill you. That's an extreme case. But they interviewed these people like how did you get to this point? Okay? And it matches James 1, 14, 15 perfectly. Because it started with temptation and desire or lust, as the Bible would say. Let me read you one example from one heroin addict's explanation of why he got to the point that he had gotten to. He says this. He says, you're chasing the siren. He says, you're chasing the siren of the first high by taking more. But even a thousand more doses will never bring back the experience of that first time. Isn't that sadistic? It's crazy. So basically you do it the first time and you have such a euphoric response in your mind that you're always, look, you're lusting after that first feeling. It's not chemical dependency at this point. It's nothing, look, your body is starting to change, but your body doesn't chemically need it. You just lust for it. You desire it. Then he continues. The brain balances its own endorphins like a thermostat. Now we're explaining this guy's comment. When an external source keeps flooding the brain, it throws that system off. Like other drugs, opioids produce a surge of dopamine. Dopamine is this feel-good feeling that you have. It's a natural thing. You get done running like a long race. You just feel really good. That's what that is. Like other drugs, opioids produce a surge of dopamine and a chemical messenger tells the brain that taking this drug is good, repeat it. The brain's response to opioids and surges in the dopamine that they cause can rewire circuits in the brain. The brain's response to these chemical changes make life difficult without the drug. Stress and irritability creep in, so you take more opioids to cope. Soon nothing else in life provides any satisfaction. So what you're doing is you're replacing regular good feelings, feelings of joy that the Christian life should produce. You're replacing it with these, here's a good analogy that I like to use. If you eat a lot of candy, you won't like fruit. You ever had that happen in your life? However, if you don't eat candy, you'll really enjoy fruit. What's good and what's bad? Candy's bad, fruit is good. That's a simple, not super sinful explanation of what's happening here, but you're getting this fake high, this fake euphoria, this fake joy, so to speak, and what's worse about it is it makes real joy not joyful, is basically what this scientist is saying. It says pleasure and reward cycles flip. You get less pleasure from the drug and you want it all the more. The more you seek and take the drug, the more the brain adapts to the drug and demands more. Look, folks, it's not just heroin. It's not just heroin. You can never really get back to that first one with these drugs, but it's not just heroin. Life itself works this way. Life itself, you can literally wire yourself, think about this for a minute. You can literally wire yourself and live a life to where you need excitement and sin in many different forms. You could raise your children that way. Think about people today, like young people today, it's all about parties and night life and all these types of things, this constant fun that they're chasing all the time. If you would offer that person, we see this soul winning all the time, if you would offer that person a godly life, they'd be like, I don't want that because they're into all this fake euphoria, this fake euphoria that ends in death, by the way, that ends in death, by the way. Look, you talk to that person about church and godly friends and they would just be like, it would seem crazy or boring to that person. They wouldn't enjoy those things because they need constant stimulus from unnatural sources, by the way. Look, think about it just on a simple level with kids. Think about this, think about today, TV shows, think about constant screens, constant cartoons. I mean, you ever sit, I mean, we were talking Friday night with my family just talking about certain things that are just unavoidable, like I'm sitting in a doctor's office or a dentist's office on Friday, it's like you just can't get away from music in your life. Things that you're just going to have to deal with to a certain extent, or TV screens places. But you'll see these cartoons now and it's just like, oh, it's like crazy, it stresses me out just looking at the cartoon. It's like, what in the world is going on here? But look, the point is, you can stimulate yourself and get yourself stimulated to the point with TV shows, with screens, with these crazy cartoons to the point where you would never want to read a book. You would never want to read, I mean, your kids would never want to read, you know, give me a screen. See this all the time, kids walking into restaurants, they've got a screen, and they just don't even know where they are. They even know what building they're in, what planet they're on, they just got a screen in front of their face all the time, hey kid, read a book, nah, what, what? They would never want to. Because you can do this with your kids by spoiling them, by constantly just like telling them, by never saying no to them, by just always satisfying whatever need that they want. Look, all these people that spoil their kids, and if you spoil your kids, look, what you're doing is, is you're telling them that when you have a desire, when there's something put in front of you, that you should desire that thing and take that thing and partake of that thing. Look, you're going to raise drug addicts. That's the extreme end of that. You raise drug addicts by never saying no to your kids. You know, you can, the point is this, temptation, this is what James chapter 1 and 14 and 15 is talking about, it's like, temptations, and guess what? Temptations are guaranteed in your life. It's a guarantee in your kid's life, but temptation leads to lust, and when that lust is partaken of, it conceives, and then it grows, and it grows, and it grows unto death. This is addiction, right here. So what does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? How are we supposed to deal with this? What does the Bible say? You know, it's funny. It's funny because just as you can learn to sin and just as you can train your body to sin, you can also train your body and your mind and your spirit to hate sin. And guess what? If you're saved today, you already have the Holy Spirit within you that is pulling with you, because as you train your body to sin, guess what you're doing the Bible says? You're grieving that Holy Spirit. So God gives you an advantage right off the bat if you're saved. You can learn to revile sin. Turn to Romans chapter 7. You can literally learn to just have sin just disgust you and have sin just like just be reviled by it. This is the contrary. This is what the Bible says. Look at Romans chapter 7. In Romans chapter 7, Paul is talking about the law. He's talking about the law. He's saying, look, we're not saved by the law. He's like, we're not saved by the law. If we were, if we had to be saved by the law, we're all in trouble. We're all going to hell. We're saved by the law. So he's like, we're not saved by the law. What's the point of the law? Like, we're not saved by doing good works and following God's commandments. So what's the point of these commandments? Look at Romans 7.13. He says, was then that which is good? He's talking about the law. Made death unto me. Are all these rules just to kill me? Are all these rules just to make me just like feel horrible? He says, God forbid. He says, but sin, that here's the point of the law right here. Here's the point of the law in your life. But sin, that it might appear sin. So when you get to that step one of James 1, 14, and 15, when temptation comes, and you know it's coming, when temptation comes, you say, oh, sin, right away. You recognize it right away. There's no, I was fooled or I was tricked. It's like, you're in the law. You know the law. So sin appears sin. And much more than that, he says, working death in me by that which is good. That sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. He says, you will not only recognize it as sin, but you would just be like, whoa, it will just stick out to you. It'll stick out to you. You can train yourself for that. You can train yourself to where sin pops out at you, to where sin is very obvious to you, to the point where you look at other people that are in sin, and you're like, what in the world? That's when you know that sin is exceedingly sinful. So the Bible teaches that we can live the law to where sin is just repulsive to us. It doesn't even, look, this is church. This is Bible reading. This is Bible preaching. This is fellowship with other believers. This is what this is for. Addiction is the worldly definition of this biblical phenomenon. And that's all that to say this. So turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. What are we to do about it? It's OK. I see that the Bible says that I can train myself to be good, or I can train myself to go into sin and death. I see that. What am I supposed to do about it? What if I've gotten to that point, or I know somebody that is in that point where sin has conceived in their lives, and things are going badly? OK, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. The good news is this. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at verse 13. There had no temptation taken you but such as common to man. But God is faithful. Notice how he starts with that word temptation. So the Bible here is telling you that you should stop it at that first step. You should stop it at first temptation. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you again. He says what? The first step, he says, to be tempted above that you're able but with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So see, here's the thing. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, there is no excuse for you. Oh, I have a disease, not you. If you're saved, you have this promise in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, you can't get this disease of addiction because you're responsible. Because God here is saying, no matter what temps you, I will make a way out. He's like, no matter what temps you, you will be able to bear it. Whether you do it or not is up to you. This is the problem, right? So what is the answer to addiction? You say, I messed up. I didn't go away from temptation. Turn to Philippians chapter 4 or just look at the front of your bulletin. Here's the Bible solution. You say, I'm into this addiction now. I'm into this sin. The sin has conceived. It's like, I'm done. I messed up 1 Corinthians 10, 13. I'm done, right? I'm just, I'm finished. I'm over. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians, or I'm sorry, Philippians 4 verse 13. It says, I can do all things through Christ with strength in me. No, you're not done. You're not done because you can get out of anything, the Bible says. Through what? Through Christ. But it says I can, it doesn't say I will. It's possible for you to get out of any situation that you're in. So look, the Bible here is saying in 1 Corinthians 4, it's not telling you how to do it. It's not giving you the details of how to do it. It says, number one, in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, it says, if you're tempted, step one, in James chapter 1 verse 14, if that temptation comes, there is a way out for you. You're like, oh, I messed up that part. Look, God's all about plan B, C, D, and E in your life because you're gonna need it. A lot of people need it. Okay, so look. God says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 13, he's like, even if you get into it, he's like, you can get out. He's like, you can get out of that temptation. But then if you actually sin and you conceive that sin and it turns into what the world would call addiction in your life, in Philippians 4, 13, it says, you can still get out. You can still get out. There is a way, and you should get out. So look, I didn't Google this, okay? I'm gonna give you the Bible steps to getting out of this. I didn't Google this. I didn't look up, Alcoholics Anonymous. I didn't go to some addiction website. Me and the Bible and the Holy Spirit put a plan together to get out of addiction. And I guarantee you that if there's some secular program out there that works, it's got some of these parts in it. And it only works because it's got some of these gears put into its plan. Turn to Exodus chapter eight. I'll give you the Bible way out of this right here. Okay, so you're like, I messed up. I messed up. I didn't take that way out of temptation. I'm in it. I'm in it. It's conceived. It's grown. I'm deep in it. You know, everyone's telling me I'm addicted and I have a disease. It's like, no, you don't have a disease. You're in sin, it's conceived, and it's growing in you. So what's the first thing you need to do? Turn to Exodus chapter eight. The first thing you need to do is stop. You see, that's pretty simple. The first thing you need to do is stop. Look, you have to have, you have to wanna stop. Okay, you have to wanna stop and you have to actually stop. Look at Exodus chapter eight and verse number eight. We're talking about the 10 plagues of Pharaoh here. We're looking at the second plague, which is the plague of the frogs. Here's what people do, though. Here's what people do. You say, that's pretty simple. Stop. Well, that's step one right there is you have to stop. But here's what people do and here's why people don't stop. Look at verse number eight. Then Pharaoh called for Moses. We got all these frogs. We got this plague of frogs. He called for Moses and Aaron and said, and treat the Lord. Ask the Lord, he says. Then he might take away the frogs from me and from my people and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me, when shall I entreat for thee? And for thy servants and for thy people to destroy the frogs from thee and from thy house that you may remain that they may remain in the river only. Moses asked them, he's like, when do you want me to ask God to make it stop? He's like, when do you want me to call on the Lord to get the frogs out of here and look what Pharaoh says. And he says, tomorrow. Pharaoh says, one more day with the frogs. Look, frogs can picture sin here. Frogs can picture sin. Isn't that what people do? They're into sin. They're into some addiction in their life. Sin has conceived in their life. And they're like, you know what, tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll stop. Tomorrow I'll stop. And you know what, tomorrow is 15 years go by. 20 years go by. Pretty soon their kids are 30. And everyone hates them. And they're like, oh, tomorrow. No, it must be now. It must be now. No more days with the frogs. Because that's exactly what happens. You think about, just think about a silly diet plan that you've had. Next week I'm starting that diet. I'm always in a perpetual state of I need to lose 10 pounds. What is wrong with me? Today. Today. Look, no more days with the frogs. You get into this sin and it conceives in your life it needs to be now. Because the Bible's serious when it talks about your water being, your life being water spilled on the ground and a vapor. Because you blink your eyes and it's gone. You blink your eyes and your kids are 20. How did that happen? You blink your eyes and you've ruined your whole life. This is what happens to these people. All these people that are addicted to this sin and it's conceived in their life, they're just like one more day with the frogs. And then 20 years becomes, one day becomes 20 years of their life. And you know what, there's no taking that back. There's no taking that back. When your sin is conceived in your life and your kids are watching this sin in your life, there's no taking that back. There's no undoing that. No more days with the frogs. Step one is stop now. That's step one. Step two is what? Look, it takes humility to stop. It takes humility to stop and to realize that if I spend one more day with the frogs, you know, I'm gonna destroy my family. I need to get this right. I've been wrong. I've been doing these things wrong. It needs to end yesterday. No more days with the frogs. That's step one. You have to have that desire to stop. Step two, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter six. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter six. You say, seems pretty simple. Well, then why do so many people have a hard time doing this? Because just one more day, one more day, one more day. Step two, look at 2 Corinthians chapter six. Look at verse 17. Wherefore, so you've stopped. You've stopped. You successfully got through past, you know, like I'm done with the frogs, I'm stopping today. 2 Corinthians chapter six says, look at verse 17. Wherefore come out from among them? Come out from among who? Come out from among the people that are into all this stuff. And be separate. Be separate, Saint the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I'll receive you. So look, it's saying don't touch that stuff anymore. That's easy to understand. But it's saying come out from among them. Come out from among the people that are into that unclean stuff. You know what this means? New friends, all of them, every single one of them. You have friends that are into that unclean thing. You have friends that like playing with frogs. New friends is what the Bible is saying here. New places. Look, 1 Thessalonians 5.22 says, abstain from all appearance of evil. Look, if you got a problem with drinking, look, you don't go to a restaurant that serves alcohol if that's an issue. You don't go to a place that sells alcohol. You don't even go there. Just abstain from even the appearance of it. Just stay far away from it. New friends, new places, new habits. And then you put protections in place. You know, like you think about the internet. You should have protections in place there anyway. Even if you don't have a problem, you need to have protections in place so you don't end up with a problem in your home. We're talking about accountability here. This is where step three comes in. This is where the church comes in. This is where the church comes in. You know, so we have to separate from those friends, those places, that lifestyle, really. Look, think about it this way. People that get into sin, they end up getting into a culture of sin. And what people do, especially with drugs and alcohol, is they find social groups, social circles that validate themselves. That validate the sin. Because look, it's easy for me to sin and go against my conscience if I'm hanging out with a bunch of people that are doing the same thing. Then it doesn't bother me so much. But the third thing is this, you know, get sold out. You know, the word addicted, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. The word addicted, addiction, any type of that form of that word is only used one time in the entire Bible. It's only used one time in the whole Bible, Old Testament, New Testament. Think about this. So here's the thing. You stopped. You got the frogs out of your life. You got everybody that likes frogs, everybody that plays with frogs, everybody used to hang out and train frogs with. You're all done with all that. You don't go to places that sell frogs. You don't go to places where frogs hang out. You don't do any of this stuff. You're completely separated. Now what? Now your life is just empty. Then many people make this mistake in the Christian life. They'll get this far. They'll get this far. They'll stop. They'll separate. You don't even have to be addicted to anything to make this mistake. They'll stop. They'll separate. And then they'll just leave a void. And they're like, now what? Look, you gotta fill that void. You gotta fill that void. And you know what? The Bible talks about what you should be addicted to. Look at 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 15. Only one time in the Bible. It says, I must beseech you, brethren. You know the house of Stephanus that is the first fruits of Akhaya, and they that have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. These people have trained themselves in the spiritual things to the degree where they desire these things. They're addicted to the ministry. Get sold out. That will fill the void in your life. Get in church. Get sold out. Look, you gotta fill this void. And this is what you can fill it with. This is, look, turn to Jeremiah chapter three. This is the power of the church right here. This is the power of the church. You turn to Jeremiah chapter three and verse 15. I'll read for you Ephesians four and verse number 11. Ephesians four, 11 says, and he gave some. Look, the church is a toolbox. The church is a toolbox for you. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. For what? To beat you down and to make your life miserable? No, for the perfecting of the saints. It's like, no, to make you better. To make you complete as a Christian. For the work of the ministry. So you can be addicted to the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. So you can what? So you can help your friends. So you can help your brothers and sisters. You can fill that void for somebody. Look at Jeremiah chapter three and verse 15. He says, look, this is God saying this. This is God saying, he's like God's telling you like the tools he's gonna give you. And I'll give you pastors according to my heart. Which shall what? Beat you down, follow you home, make you do stuff. No, they'll feed you with knowledge and understanding. You know what they're gonna do? They're gonna give you the word of God. They're just gonna give you the word of God. Just, they're just gonna give you the word of God. Look, here's the thing. You wanna fill that void? Get a pastor. I don't care who it is. Doesn't have to be me. Get a pastor that will feed you. Get a pastor. And then guess what? Ask him, listen to him, but go to Matthew chapter seven. So, the pastor is supposed to just feed you. That's what I'm doing. I'm just dumping the word of God on you every single Sunday and every single Wednesday. I'm just dumping on you. You're just like, you know, you're just like, this is crazy, you know? But look, that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm just supposed to pour it on you. But guess what? Look at Matthew chapter seven. And then it doesn't say. And then he's supposed to follow you home. And he's supposed to yell at you if you don't do it. But Jesus tells you what to do here. Look at Matthew seven, 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built this house upon a rock. We're talking about the guy who built this house on the rock. And the rain descended and the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house. And it fell not because it was founded upon the rock. Because he did what? He heard the sings. He got all that stuff dumped on him and he did them. And he did them. So I'm here to feed you. I'm not here to force you. But you have to do with them. That's the whole point. You just baffle with my mind. It's like people that just like, hey, you know what? Memorize the whole Bible. Memorize the whole Bible every single word and then do none of it and call me in the morning. You'll be at death. It doesn't matter how much you know. As a matter of fact, it's gonna be worse for you then. As the Bible says. Because you know and you're willingly sinning. You know, that's why when you know the Bible and you just do it not. It's even worse for you. The chastisement's worse. But the point is, no one can make you do it. So fill that void. Have a pastor. Use that wrench of a pastor. Look, many people are just like, you know what, I don't want that tool. They need the tool. They need the tool. I've met some people, they need to get a pastor and they need to listen. All they need to do in their life is really simple. Just listen to every single thing the pastor says, period. And they'll be fine. But they're like, I don't want that tool. I don't want that tool. So they go off and they don't use the tool that God gave them. But the point is this. As you sit here and you have that tool and you get the word of God just poured upon you. And you have to do it though. You have to do it. And then you've got the foundation of Iraq. It's not just hear it. It's not just be able to stand it. It's doing it. Turn to Proverbs 27, 17. We're talking about the power of the church here. We're talking about the power of the church to fill this void in your life. You've stopped. You've gotten rid of the frogs. You've separated from everything frog like. And now you're filling this void. You're filling this void. You're training yourself to want the spiritual things. Look at Proverbs 27, 17. The Bible says this, iron sharpeneth iron. So man sharpeneth the countenance of his friends. That's your brothers and sisters in Christ in the church. Right there. I mean, you should be able to tell a brother that's just like enticing you to sin or sinning himself like, hey brother, that's not a good idea. Look, that's sharpening your friend. Just falling into sin with them. You're dulling, you're both dulling each other. You're just, you're dulling both of your blades, but you're supposed to be able to sharpen each other. This is more power of the church. Get in your Bible. Be three to thrive. You ever heard that three to thrive? It's not three to please the pastor. It's three to thrive for yourself. It's three. So you thrive. It's three so you get better. You fill that void. You train yourself to do these things. It will keep sin exceedingly sinful in your life. You will look at the world. You will start to do this. And look, it'd be weird at first probably. You get into it and you're like, okay, you come from this and now you're gonna just pour yourself into this. But guess what? After a while, you'll get to the point where you look at the world and you look at those things and you're just like, ah! Like you can't even believe that that's happening out there. If I sat down with my kids and tried to speak to them about like, hey kids, don't do drugs. They'd laugh in my face. They'd laugh at me. Because it's already exceedingly stupid to them. It's exceedingly sinful. And at first it might be weird because it's just, you just gotta grind it out as you make that transition. You just have to do it. Look, this is the superpower. We talked about the power. Here's the superpower of the church. Now a lot of people, you think about like hard preaching. You think about the preaching from the Bible and like some sermons I'm sure are hard to hear. I'm sure when you sit and you hear some sermons, especially for adults, you sit there and you're just like, man, that hurts. Like that's hard to hear. But guess what? Guess what? You know what we're trying to do? Now turn to Jeremiah chapter 35. Let's go back to the story. Let's go back to the story. Look, you know what we're trying to do? You sit there and you hear sermons on sins that maybe you struggled with, maybe it really hurts you in your life and you're like, man, that hurts. Maybe you're even into now. Who knows? But it's, you know, you're gonna get hit with things as the Bible has preached to you. But as you sit there and you're just like, here's what you have to do. Like get over yourself, man. Like get over yourself. Because you know what we're trying to do? We're trying to stop the sin from starting in the first place. We're trying to create some recubites here. Look at Jeremiah chapter 35. Jonah dabb. Second Kings chapter 10. Jonah dabb was the one that Jehu pulled up into the chariot. He said, come with me. And he helped Jehu destroy the house of Ahab. And Jonah dabb, he created this heritage for his family. Look at the, we're reading about the heritage. He created, he created such a good heritage. Think about this for a second. He created, you know, Psalm 16. Yeah, you have a goodly heritage. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, David says. David says, I was just given this great heritage. You think he's talking about money? No, Jonah dabb gave a great heritage to his family. He gave this great heritage. Look at Jeremiah chapter 35. He gave such a great heritage that God literally uses it as an example for the children of Israel. Look at verse number two. He tells Jeremiah, go into the house of the Reckobites and speak unto them and bring them into the house of the Lord. Into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink. He's like, put a bunch of alcohol in front of them. Then I took Jazzaniah, the son of Jeremiah, son of Habanaziah and his brethren and all his sons and the whole house of the Reckobites. And I brought them into the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hainan, the son of Igliah, a man of God who was the chamber of the princes and above the door of Messiah, the son of Shalom, the keeper of the door. And I set before the sons of the house of Reckobites pots full of wine and cups. And I said unto them, drink ye wine. But they said, we won't drink no wine. For Jonah, Jonah dabb, the son of Reckob, our father commanded us saying hundreds of years earlier, by the way, hundreds of years earlier, he creates this culture in his family. This is the genetics right here. You wanna talk about what the Bible says about genetics? It's right here. The heritage that you leave to your children. And yes, it can be chemical as well. There's been babies that have been born, their mothers do drugs and the babies are born addicted to those drugs. You know what? That's a heritage. That's a heritage. Neither shall ye build house nor seed nor plant nor vineyard or have any, but ye shall dwell in tents. You may live many days in the land where ye are strangers. Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonah dabb, the son of Reckob, our father and all that he hath charged us. To drink no wine in our days. We, our wives, our sons nor our daughters. And this has lasted for hundreds of years. This goodly heritage has lasted for hundreds of years. That's the goodly heritage that you can pass on. Or you can pass on this wicked heritage of you could make your kids chemically dependent when they're born as babies. You could bear them into a culture that is full of alcohol and full of drugs. Like that's what happens. That's what you're building when your kids are just little kids seeing their dad drink. It's the opposite of Jonah dabb. You know what, God gives a great blessing to these Reckobites at the end of this chapter because they are so faithful. God uses them as an example. He says, look at these people. How faithful they are to Jonah dabb, hundreds of years earlier. And then look at my people. That's the comparison that God is using here. A goodly heritage versus a wicked heritage. I mean, these people, they set this wine and they set this alcohol in front of them. There was nothing to untrain. It was easy. It was easy. You could walk a Reckobite through the liquor aisle of any store and it'd just be like, look, that's what I'm trying to get at with the hard preaching here. When you sit there and you're like, man, that hit me. Look, we're trying to raise Reckobites here. So we're trying to raise these kids where they don't have to untrain any of this stuff. Where they just exceedingly sinful right away. You bring up a conversation about drugs and your kids laugh. Look, that's crazy. Why wouldn't anyone make that decision? All they have to do is see the people around them. They're already Reckobites. Look, that's the goal for our kids and that's the goodly heritage that we're gonna put forth. And that's the superpower of the church that feeds you constantly, that feeds you with what you need to hear. So these are the actions that you need to take. It's very simple, it's very biblical. But you have to do. You have to do or your house is sand. Your house is built on sand. You want that foundation on the rock, you have to do, not just here. You have to stop, get rid of the frogs. Separate from the frogs. Just get far away from anything frog-like. But, and maybe there's protections in place that you need to look at your weaknesses. You need to kind of evaluate yourself and say, okay, I get tempted when I go here. I get tempted when I go here. And look, somebody like that may have much different standards than somebody else. You know, I'm never gonna go to a restaurant that serves alcohol or whatever. I'm never gonna go anywhere. I'll never go into a city that has gambling or whatever. Whereas with somebody else, it's not even a big deal because they're Reckobites. They've never gone down those roads. And then just sell out. You gotta fill the void. That's the trick and that's the one where most people come up short. They gotta fill that void with spiritual things. And that's how you can do all things through Christ with strength in it to you. You get rid of those frogs and then you fill that void with spiritual things and you literally train yourself, as the Bible says, to get addicted to those spiritual things. And then you will soon, you will soon, and look, with things like alcohol and drugs and you know, I don't really know, but I mean, I've heard that it could be years where you still have that desire. It could be years that go by where you still have that desire to maybe do drugs or whatever. So this is the importance of getting the frogs out, separating from anything frog-like and getting in the right place. Filling that void and staying there and selling out for that. And that's how Philippians 4-13 says that all things are possible through Christ, through the organization that Christ has put for you on this church, or on this earth, which is the church. You know, that's where your tools are. That's where your friends are. That's where your pastor is. These are the tools. And then you must do these things. Look, life is a sum of decisions. Life is a sum of decisions. And you are either training yourself to sin or you are training yourself to be repulsed by sin with every decision that you make, really, when you think about it. So that is the biblical answer. You know, the only real problem I have, you know, with addiction and the word, just to sum things up this morning, with the word addiction, every single part of that definition can be explained through the Bible. And really the only part that I disagree with is the part that removes personal responsibility. And by the way, the path I led is for the saved. The first thing, you know, you need to get saved. The first thing, if you're not saved, and then, you know, follow the path that I just gave you. And then, you know, you will move towards getting addicted to the spiritual things. And look, the Holy Spirit is there to guide you. You already have an advantage, because you got this Holy Spirit, he's pulling you like this, over this way. You know, you have to resist him to go the other way once you're saved. So that's a beautiful advantage that God gives us. God gives us all these tools, all these advantages. And that's how he tells us that we can do all things through him, because we can, it's possible. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for just these great explanations in the Bible, or these great examples in the Bible. And I just pray that if we know anybody that's struggling with addiction, or that we could share this, your word with them, or to get them saved and then head them down this path, where I pray that if anyone here is struggling with sin or any kind of, you know, sin that's pulling or conceiving with them, that you would just help us to follow this path and just get any frogs out of our life that we've been letting hang around for too long, Lord. We just thank you for all the answers. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to be here, study the Bible, be in church, and have such great friends that are here to sharpen us. Lord, we thank you for everything, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.