Override Addictions - Tony Evans Sermon

many of God's children are spiritual POWs prisoners of war trapped in a sin that they have been unable to break trapped in a situation that is contrary to the will and word of God from which they have not been able to escape whether it is alcoholism or drugs or pornography or gluttony or profanity whether it is lashing out in anger and wrath and inability to control one's temper they find themselves caught and unable to get out there is a whole addiction industry today to help people get out of the vice grip that is holding them illegitimately hostage and what many are discovering is that going to church hadn't solved their problem praying hasn't released them from it I want to talk about the consequence of addiction that shreds minds ruin Souls kills relationships because you find yourself caught and even if that's not you there is somebody in your circle of influence who finds themselves addicted the biblical word for what the world calls addiction is stronghold because the biblical word stronghold is referring to the spiritual nature of the addiction a stronghold is a spiritually based addiction which means if you try to feel fix an addiction which is really a stronghold without the right spiritual connection you can't be released from it because you haven't dealt with the core issue that's behind it so you just deal with the thing itself in your kitchen whether you have a refrigerator or stove or an electric can-opener or a toaster or whatever appliance you have all of them are different but they all find their power from the same source electricity regardless of your addictions it would take us forever to talk about this addiction in that addiction in this addiction in that addiction in this other addiction because they are they come in by the dozens but I would like to submit to you that they all emanate from a common source so if we can get to the common source we can apply that source to the uniqueness of the particular spiritual addiction / stronghold that needs to be addressed we're living in a time when people find themselves stuck now my concern is not for the person who's stuck and wants to be because I can help you if you're in an addiction and you want to stay addicted all the facts and figures and truth and Bible can't change something you are pursuing but I am speaking to those who are or who know someone who is caught in a sin no they're caught doesn't want to be caught but doesn't know how to get out they are trapped in some scenario for which they cannot find release and so this issue of illegitimate bondage must have a spiritual understanding underpinning it for full release to occur so let's review again what we're referring to as we move forward we're referring to a spiritually based trap in some category of life that has been inculcated with negative patterns of thought that like a snake has wrapped itself around the mind making something seem impossible to break or to fix because you feel handcuffed to it or it feels handcuffed to you it is seeing something as unchangeable that is outside of the will and the word of God most people have run into something in their lives sometimes they're big sometimes they are small that is of less consequence but yet addictions have a way of growing they have built into them gateway potential the capacity to expand themselves in our lives and in our circumstances when you are in an addiction or better yet a spiritual addiction or stronghold you feel like you're in a tomb a prison and somebody has thrown away the key what many people seek to do with this stronghold that they're battling is to accepted as an inevitable reality and the best they hope to do with it is to decorate their cell since it's never going to change at least let me make my addiction as pleasant as possible other people settle for what we might call sin management since I'm never gonna get rid of it let me do like a trash masher let me just press it down and pretend it's not there which only creates room for more trash and so they just try to manage it the best way they can but today I want to try to give a biblical mechanism for deliverance predicated on an understanding that Christians can find themselves in strongholds like non-christians you don't have to be saved for long to know that when you got saved your flesh didn't disappear some of our flesh was so well trained when we weren't saved that when we got saved the flesh looked at that as a new opportunity to show house strong it really is even the most spiritual person in the New Testament the Apostle Paul struggled with something he couldn't shake in Romans chapter 7 verses 14 to 24 Paul says he was doing things he did not want to do he said he told himself you shouldn't do it he said the Willie was there I was really serious but the ability to pull it off what I kept promising God I'm not gonna do it again I kept promising God I struggled between my flesh and my salvation and the two were not getting along when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and gave him life the Bible says he came up from his tomb tied up in his hands and his feet just because he had life didn't mean he was free Jesus had to say y'all gotta lose him and let him go I gave him life but he means freedom so it is possible to have come to Christ have eternal life and still not yet be free from whatever the stronghold or spiritual addiction happens to be and so this thing called stronghold spiritual addictions is spiritual slavery in some category of life which is why he calls it in verse 14 a slave to sin if you a slave that means you could have a master he calls the master sin he doesn't call it a bad habit he doesn't call it a mistake he doesn't call it something that you know you need to just get over he calls it something that is in antithesis to the will and word of god so let's call the addiction whatever category it is what it is no you don't just have a struggle you got a sin master no you didn't just make a mistake over and over and over again you had a master called sin because if you don't know who your master is then you won't address it for what it is he calls it slavery being under the whip of an entity that he calls sin how does this stronghold or spiritual addiction whatever category it is occur because understanding the cause will lead us to the cure when you're sick and you go to the doctor he's going to try to find the cause so he can give you the right cure many of us are trying to cure the wrong cause so we're medicating something that's not the problem and wonder why we're not getting healthier spiritually to understand this stay with me here I want you to follow me to second Corinthians chapter 10 and we all need this either for ourselves or for someone else and so it is critical that you understand their second corinthians chapter 10 verse 2 says i asked that when i am present i need not to be bold with the confidence with which i propose to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ the problem of addiction a sin that has mastered you or us or me the problem of addiction has to do with a lofty thing okay you see that phrase he says this lofty thing in verse five has been raised up against the knowledge of God so let me define the lofty thing the Greek word lofty a synonym for it is partition you go to a room we have classrooms that have a partition down the middle you can open it or you can close it if we want to have two classrooms in the same space we closed the petition this petition is lofty it goes from the floor to the ceiling and we close it to divide the room so that we can have two separate classes as opposed to having one bigger class so we divide it through a lofty thing now the reason we divide the room is so the information in this half of the room doesn't cross over to the meeting if that happened we want the content to be separated so that one room is not interfering with another room what Paul is saying is the reason why we stay defeated is because of our partition in the mind there is a blockage in the mind he says speculations and thoughts raised up petitioned out against the knowledge of God so what the enemy does is he sets up a partition in the mind so that the truth of God can't get through and because he partials off your thinking your speculation and your thoughts no matter how many sermons you hear it can't cross over to the other room because the other room is filled with contradictory information that the enemy doesn't want the knowledge of God to cross over into he calls this other information in the other half of the room your personal mind because that information knowledge and speculation against the knowledge of God so the lofty thing is contradicting what God says what God's thinks so that it doesn't go all the way through so what happens is that the enemy is able to keep the truth of God from fully infiltrating your thought patterns so that you have victory one moment and defeat another moment this blocking through a lofty thing keeps what he calls in verse four the fortress prison or tomb operating so the moment you think you getting out you find out you still in because it didn't cross over it did the partition made sure it didn't cross over now the biblical word for this lofty thing is double mindedness double mindedness double - mind thought thinking in two different directions at the same time partition it is the job of Satan to keep you thinking in two ways at the same time he doesn't mind you getting God's thoughts on Sunday as long as in the other room you have his thoughts on Monday because if he can get you to have God's thoughts on Sunday but get his thoughts on Monday he can keep God's thoughts from penetrating the hole of you therefore God's thoughts don't last long because they're in competition it's like if you if you go to Sweet Georgia Brown because you want some soul food you go to Sweet Georgia Brown you come to the end of the line and order a diet coke hoping that somehow that will cancel out all the sugar and grease at Sweet Georgia Brown you just feel better because you ordered a diet coke after greens and fried chicken and fried ribs and mac and cheese and potato salad then sweet potato pie but give me a diet coke what a lot of folks think is having diet church on Sunday after having incorporated the other world view all week long somehow that diet worship will override and give you victory he says no you're operating with a partition and that partition cancels out the knowledge of God making it in capable of your mind being able to take every thought captive to the obedience to Christ so the prison the fortress doesn't get dismantled and after a while we get too tired of trying to dismantle it we get too tired of trying to get I'm too tired of fighting this thing so the best I can do is put pictures on the wall of myself I'm in this I'm gonna die like this it's go always be like this so I'm just gonna I do the best I can or manage it the best I can so in order for the penetration of God's truth to bring victory in the area of the stronghold due to the vise grip of sin that has been amplified by Satan and demons in order for that to be overcome that wall must be taken down in order that the fortress the prison might be destroyed not remodeled and the tricky part of this the tricky part is that the other part of the room the part that's not from God feels right a lot of the time it reminds me of Matthew 16 beginning in verse 21 Jesus Jesus is telling the disciples look he says look I got to go dive rise from the dead Peter says come in come in Jesus you and I got to have a conversation Peter takes Jesus to the side and says God forbid it Lord what you just said Jesus you are wrong you off and you're off watch this in the name of God he says I'm gonna use God on you Jesus you really got to be good to use God on Jesus I'm gonna use God on you god forbid what you just said what you just said it's not gonna happen and just to keep it spiritual Lord what you just said it's not gonna happen Lord Jesus said get me behind me Satan wait a minute how can you just call Peter Satan when he used God's name so just cuz you use God's name says God bless you say hallelujah praise the Lord does not make it legit does not make it legit he says get me behind me devil now what was devilish about his statement he met well he was trying to keep Jesus from the cross he was trying to keep Jesus from being killed he met well he even used God's name in it he called Jesus Lord he meant well but Jesus says no your mind is on man's view not on God's view cuz you didn't like the view see the reason why Satan can keep us trapped is when we don't like what God wants and come to some logical conclusion about it that we can toss a little Jesus name on top of it we think then it must be okay when it's the devil controlling the other side of the room of our minds when we understand this and grasp this it becomes a transforming truth that wait a minute I have a divided mind and that's why it doesn't stick it stays there for a day or a week but it doesn't stick and even when it comes back I don't have victory over it it has victory over me so if that's the problem how do we do this how do we how do we do this how do we begin now to remove the petition so there is no longer a division in the mind so that now God's knowledge flows through and the fortress is destroyed and all the speculation that's holding me hostage back to our original passage Johnny he says in John chapter 8 verse 31 and 32 if you continue in my word then you will know that you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free you only are going to be freed by the truth okay nobody will disagree with that so let me say it another way you will only be freed by the truth not what you believe to be true we got folk running around here Tom I I know my truth yeah and where has your truth gotten you no no no it's not what you believe to be true he's not talking about our truth some truth your truth he's talking about that truth that truth refers to an absolute standard by which reality is measured it is an absolute standard by which reality is measured and the truth always sits outside of you the one on one is to one on one has always been - and one in one will always be - because it is a mathematical truth now you can feel 3ish all you want you can be in the one in one being three all day long but because it is a fact that sits outside of you you have to adjust yourself to one in one being - no matter how many people tell you is three no matter how deeply you feel it's three no matter how much you wanted to be three you must conform to that truth not turn it into your truth and one of the reasons people stay in strongholds is because they're living on a truth or their truth or some TV programs truth or some cultural truth and not the truth the absolute standard by which reality is revealed here is one of the biggest falsehoods that keep us in custody and locked up spiritually and a stronghold a spiritual addiction and that is trying to get the flesh to fix the flesh Paul said in the scripture we just read in second radians 10 we do not war according to the flesh the flesh can't fix the flesh you can try to manage it you can try to force it down you can try to make a new year's resolution you can promise you're never gonna do it again you can talk to yourself you can go to the counselor you can take medication but if it's a spiritual sin issue what we do is go to the thing that's the problem to fix the problem he says no what you must do first and foremost is continuing my truth look look you remember you remember your grandmother great-grandmother when she was washing clothes used to washing boy you know she pushed a washing boy and she putting out a lot of energy to clean them clothes I mean arms get tired have to take a break for a while come back and do it again and then you got a lot of clothes you know it takes days to do it a lot of hard work to clean those clothes with the washing but lo and behold technology of washing machine a washing machine what would you say if you purchased a washing machine for your grandmother and she was using a washing board you would say mama grandma you don't get it you don't need when you have this all you're doing is the best you can breaking your neck getting tired when there has been another provision that's much better than you at getting stuff clean what many people want to do is get out of their addiction by their own scrubbing effort and for a while it looks like it's clean but when they look it up it ain't that clean and and they try again they try again when God says no no no what you must do what's this verse 31 he says I want you to continue in my truth and you will know the truth the word continue means to hang out abide stay there to loiter that's what to continue or abide is you must abide in the truth stay this day with me we don't abide in the truth we visited we've come we're listening to the Word of God most of us won't know next Sunday what we heard this Sunday okay because we don't abide in it we visited no he says no no no no to have victory over the master of sin you must abide in the truth so if you are battling something in your life and you're a Christian if you're not a Christian that's a whole nother ballgame because you don't have the spirit to help you but if you are a Christian you have the spirit but the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth so you've got to abide in the truth so here's what I want you to do this week every day I want you to read Romans six seven and eight those three chapters Romans six seven and eight why cuz Romans six seven and eight is going to tell you the truth about the master called sin whatever that sin is in chapter 6 Paul is going to tell you about your new identity in Christ he's going to tell you you've been baptized with Christ and you are not who you used to be because you were buried with him in Baptism raised with him into a new life so that sin is lying to you when you go to a 12-step program guess what they gonna tell you they gonna tell you to stand up and give you a name hello my name is Bill and I am my alcoholic that's what they gonna tell you the same the Bible is gonna disagree with that Paul's gonna say in Romans 6 that's not who you are that may be what you're doing but that's not who you are you are a blood-bought completely converted son or daughter of the Living God that has a problem with alcohol Paul's gonna tell you to ship your identification in your newness and Christ and therefore verse 11 of chapter 6 consider your old person dead that's not who you are my name is Bob and I am gay no that's how you feel he's gonna tell you you must now identify yourself as Jesus Christ identifies you because the more you tell yourself your that you're telling the flesh to be at home with the sin then he's gonna come to chapter 7 and his compose gonna tell you I struggled like you struggle I had some things in my life he doesn't tell us what it is which is good cuz then you can put your stuff in that chapter he says that I struggled in the things I didn't want to do the things I did I didn't want it and it kept coming back and and I resisted it but it showed up again until I got to chapter eight and understood the power of the Holy Spirit and that the law of the Spirit is greater than the law of sin and death so that in verse 13 he says therefore I have no longer any obligation to the flesh when I understood that I got this supernatural piece when it's tied to the truth and you will know the truth now I know what some of you are saying you're saying well I may know it but but a lot of that Bible stuff I'm reading it but I understand this I understand it okay do you take medicine you don't understand you go to the doctor you say I'm hurting he writes a prescription you don't know what he wrote in fact if you can read what he wrote he ain't a real doctor they got scribble stuff going on what that says you go to the pharmacist you get the medicine you you don't know all the stuff that's in that medicine but what you do is you ingest it you take it you swallow it and it does its work even when you don't understand it now sure we are to seek to understand the Word of God but while you are taking the time to seek it if you just keep taking it in and continue it it has the ability to do its work if you continue in it so if you are struggling with something if you are believer every day for this week reach out the six seven and eight of the book of Romans over and over again and let the medicine seep down and abide in you because when you can continue in my word you will then know the truth and the truth will set you free it becomes part of your soul that's it's been ingested and we don't do that we listen to a sermon on Sunday that's diet church today we live in a world of information but little truth we appeal to our feelings which are changing all the time our reason which is uncertain and our moral instincts which are different from person to person but there's something else there's something else that if you miss it you miss the real deal he just said if you will continue in my word if you hang out there if you bring you're the master of sin that's you're dealing with and you lay it before the word and you lay it before the world Lord this is what I'm dealing with but I'm reading your word I'm taking this word I'm taking this word I'm taking that 15 minutes that 30 minutes every day and I'm gonna get this thing till you get it down in me and my soul begins to grab hold of it and wraps itself around it he says the truth will make you free but look at another verse because when you look at verse 36 so if the son makes you free you will be free indeed okay wait a minute wait a minute we got a little issue here cuz verse 32 says and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free right that's what's it but in verse 36 it says so if the son makes you free you will be free indeed in the first one the truth will make me free but in the second one the son sets me free in the first one I'm free but in the second one I'm free indeed so what's the difference between being made free and being set free and what's the difference between being free and free indeed what's the difference here if somebody comes and you're in jail and comes up to you and says someone has just posted bail for you you're going to show you're going to applaud somebody has paid what you need to get out you go to separate yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm free but you're still in jail you're free because bail has been posted but you're not out but you are free because once you post bail that has been accepted you're free but then they got to do paperwork they got to do the paperwork so so there is often a gap between legally being free and being out the Word of God post bail but the son has the key to the lock the bail makes you free the Sun sets you free in other words it is not merely the knowledge of the Bible it is the relationship with the author that produces the experience of the freedom that you have when you spend time in the work Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword it says it's alive the book is alive it's a book but it's alive okay now let me tell you what the book does according Hebrews 4:12 he says Hebrews 4:12 the Word of God when taken in will divide soul and spirit the reason why we stay trapped in certain things is cuz the soul and spirit are not divided they all mixed up they all they all intertwine because things have not been separated so that which is God is God that which is not it's not so we didn't got it all mixed together but he says when the Word of God does its cutting it separates the soul in the spirit so that they become two distinct realities and you know what's what see Paul was struggling with how can I not want to do this and do it I'm confused I I can't make sense of that he says the Word of God sure cuts between the two so the two are segmented but then after he says that he comes to verse 13 and he says and all things are laid bare before his eyes so in verse 12 he talking about the Word of God but in verse 13 he talked about his eyes so he takes the word written and God the person and when the Living Word connects with the written word in your heart soul and mind not only is bail posted but Jesus comes with a key and when the Sun sets you free you are free indeed guess what indeed is Luke 24 34 says when Jesus rose from the dead they said he has risen indeed why did they have to say indeed because Jesus Christ never stopped living after he died on the cross after Jesus died on the cross he was very much as alive on Saturday as he was on Friday in fact the scripture says that on Saturday he went to Sheol to preach victory to the souls that had died so Jesus Christ was as a live on sanity as he was on Friday but his body on Saturday was still laying in the tomb he was spiritually alive but he was not physically alive yet but as the preacher would say early on Sunday morning just a little while before day Jesus got up so that what was already true became visible what was already real you could see it's one thing to be in jail and here's somebody's posted them it's a whole bunch of other stuff when folks see you walk out of the jailhouse and see that you are free Jesus made his freedom visible on Sunday morning in 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation but folk in Texas and Louisiana and Arkansas didn't find out about it till June 19 1865 so there was a gap between the legal freedom and there was a gap between the experience of freedom not because the proclamation hadn't been signed it was cause folk didn't know about it so one reason you can stay a slave is because nobody told you how to be free oh but there's another way you can stay a slave somebody can tell you that you are free but you've gotten so used to living on the plantation that you don't exercise the freedom that you had so a lot of folks stayed in slavery who had been set free because they had gotten so used to being there they didn't want to take the risk of freedom on the cross Jesus signed your emancipation proclamation and everybody who trusts Christ is redeemed but Satan doesn't want you to know that he wants a petition up in your mind so that you don't believe you can walk in freedom but I'm here to tell you today that he who the Sun sets free is free indeed but only if you continue in his word you continue in his word you call on the Sun and then you can declare like a great man a few years ago in 1963 in Washington DC free at last free last I thank God Almighty with my stronghold I'm free at last

Channel: Tony Evans

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Id: x7wB9Azs-hk

Length: 44min 43sec (2683 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 03 2019