Romans 7:18-25 (KJV)
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine this last week that got my mind turning and, before those thoughts flew into oblivion, I thought I should set aside a message on my current series on the Heart After God, and give to you what God has been giving me this week.
My friend does a great deal of counseling people who struggle with addictions – he called them compulsions.
His question to me was this, “Are our compulsions driven by our insecurities?”
In other words, can addictive behavior be directly related to a held insecurity?
I began to think about this and would like to propose to you that every one of us has insecurities and that those insecurities to in fact inform how we interpret the circumstances of our lives.
All of us are insecure.
· The introvert hides himself because of his insecurities
· The extrovert puffs himself up because of his insecurities
· The egomaniac must take charge of his circumstances because of his insecurities
· The drug and alcohol abuser attempts to drown away his insecurities
· The bully is really fighting his insecurities
· The workaholic wants to buy off his insecurities
Even the Apostle Paul struggled with issues of insecurity.
You would not have seen it before he got saved. But when he met Jesus, on the Damascus Road, the Lord’s words to him were, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”[1]
The man Paul describes in Romans chapter seven is obviously fighting insecurities.
· In me dwelleth no good thing
· For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
· Sin that dwelleth in me.
· O wretched man that I am!
I want to try to address today
· The source of our insecurities
· The consequences of them and finally
· Paul’s answer for them
I. THE SOURCE OF OUR INSECURITIES
Traces back to the sin of Adam and Eve.
By one man, Adam, the Bible says, sin entered into the world. With that sin comes, our insecurities.
Consider with me firstly
A. Adam’s Original State
Number one
He is in the likeness of God
Genesis 1:26-27 (KJV)
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Number two
He is in a state of innocence.
Genesis 1:28-31 (KJV)
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
· He knew no sin
· He knew not what sin is like
· He knew only peace with himself, with God and with his world
Number three
He had fellowship with God
Genesis 3:8 (KJV)
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: …
Can you imagine what the conversations they must have had with God, as they walked in garden in the cool of the day, would have been like?
· We know that God gave them responsibilities and
· We know that God gave them a restriction but
· We also know that God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone and
· We know that God brought all the animals to Adam for him to name
There must have been unbelievable fellowship in their conversations – such as we are not able to imagine because our sin nature clouds our understanding.
They were created:
· In the image of God
· For God and
· For fellowship with God
B. But then they sinned
Notice their condition after the sin
1. They were ashamed
Genesis 3:7 (KJV)
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
In their innocence they would have never given a thought about that.
But now their minds have the capacity for corrupt thoughts and it immediately caused shame.
2. They were afraid
Genesis 3:8-10 (KJV)
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Fear and insecurity are close cousins.
It may be difficult to see which one influences us the most.
3. They became accusers
Genesis 3:12 (KJV)
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Satan is called “the accuser of the brethren.”
But we do enough accusing all on our own.
If I have a problem, it must be someone else’s fault.
What happened?
God drove them from the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve lost their fellowship with God.
Now there is an emptiness inside them. I call it a “God-sized” hole.
C. Men have attempted to fill that hole (and have failed) ever since.
Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame with fig leaves – that wasn’t good enough.
People do all sorts of things to fill their God-sized hole:
· Religion – “I’ll do good – and make God happy.”
· Marriage – I’ll marry a spouse – then I will feel complete.”
· Sex – “I do need commitment – I just need love.”
· Drugs – “I just want to forget the hole is there.”
· Adrenalin – “The rush satisfies me.”
· Success – “I don’t need God to make me whole.”
· Children – “I can live forever through my children.” “I can become what I wish I was, by helping my children become that.”
One and on we go with our ideas of what will make us fill happy and whole – complete.
So notice with me secondly
II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF INSECURITY
Jesus gave this illustration, Matthew 12:43-45 (KJV)
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
When we try to solve a God-sized problem with a man-sized answer, we only succeed in making things worse.
So
· Religion turns into idolatry, which is abhorrent to God
· Marriage turns into divorce. Something like 60% of all marriages in the U.S. end in divorce now.
· Sex become deviance with Homosexuality, Transgenderism Abortion, Living together outside of marriage
· Drugs and alcohol lead to despair as the demon of the drug takes possession of the mind and body
· The adrenalin rush turns to discouragement, as it requires more and more to get the same rush
· Success leads to disillusionment as those so driven can never find contentment
· Children become a disappointment because they grow up to live their own lives – not their parents’
By the way, we have a huge problem with suicide in our country today – and you will find that much of it focuses on
· Sexual deviance
· Drugs and alcohol
· Riotous living and the
· Disillusionment of success
Well, that’s enough of the gloom and doom.
I want to move into
III. THE BIBLICAL STEPS OF CORRECTION
God didn’t leave Adam and Eve in failure.
He personally made coats of skins for them.
Neither will God leave us to struggle in our own insecurities. He has given us the tools for life and godliness.[2]
Since I began with Apostle Paul, I want to find our answers in his example.
Paul goes from insecure Saul of Tarsus, fighting God while believing himself to be doing God’s service, to Apostle Paul, the man who could finally say, 1 Timothy 1:11-14 (KJV)
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
I have six steps which are, besides the first and last, in no particular order of importance.
A. Trust
Acts 9:3-5 (KJV)
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
I’m speaking here about being saved but I choose to do so in a manner perhaps unfamiliar to some.
Paul came to know Jesus.
Salvation – the forgiveness of sins and peace with God eternally – is Jesus Christ.
· Salvation is not saying a prayer
· Salvation is not getting baptized
· Salvation is not turning over a new leaf
· Salvation is not finding religion
Salvation is knowing and trusting Jesus Christ.
· He is God
· He is creator of the heavens and the earth and
· He left heaven to become a man and die for your sins and mine
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
If you have Christ, you have eternal life.
If you do not have Christ you are eternally condemned to hell and the lake of fire.[3]
B. Surrender
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Apostle Paul said of himself, “I die daily.”[4]
The only way to successfully live is to die. You surrender yourself to the plan and the will of God. You stop
· protecting yourself,
· covering up for yourself,
· justifying yourself and
you give yourself into the hands of God.
C. Contentment
Philippians 4:10-13 (KJV)
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Contentment is simply settling with
· Who
· When and
· Where
God made you.
And contentment is the only way to find happiness in life.
D. Thanksgiving
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Paul expresses thanks to God and to others.
One of the most victorious and liberating things anyone can do is to identify the most terrible thing that happened in their life and:
· Forgive those involved in it
· Thank God for it and then
· Forget about it
E. Obedience
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (KJV)
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Stop making excuses why you don’t obey God.
You don’t obey God because you don’t want to make yourself obey God.
Paul disciplined himself to do the right thing.
Paul’s final step to overcoming his insecurities is
F. Hope
2 Timothy 4:7-8 (KJV)
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
In Titus 2:13 (KJV) Paul said,
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Conclusion
Every insecurity any of us faces traces back to a “God-sized hole” that happened when Adam and Eve sinned.
Only Jesus Christ fills that hole.
· Through His Word today and
· Through His promise for tomorrow
Colossians 1:27 (KJV)
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
[1]Acts 9:5 (KJV)
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
[2]2 Peter 1:3 (KJV)
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
[3]1 John 5:12 (KJV)
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
[4]1 Corinthians 15:31 (KJV)
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
