Rest for the Weary
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We all want SATISFACTION, don’t we?
At some level, we all desire to be satisfied, filled, quenched, and completed.
The search for satisfaction is really the quest of the entire human race.
People seek out habits and hobbies, vices and victories, anything that will bring satisfaction to their aching souls.
And this hunger and thirst for satisfaction is why many of us struggle with addictions - our minds and bodies tell us that we will be finally satisfied with just a little bit more:
I. Addiction
I. Addiction
What is an “addiction”?
Biblical Counseling Keys on Habits & Addictions A. What Are Habits and Addictions?
Addictions are a compulsive, enslaving dependence on something, resulting in detrimental patterns of thinking and behaving. There are “substance addictions” (for example, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, inhalants) and “process addictions” (for example, gambling, eating, shopping, sex).
While the word “addiction” is not found in the Bible, the principle of addiction is.
The Bible uses the words slavery and idolatry.
John 8:34 (NKJV)
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Addiction is really a type of slavery.
2 Peter 2:19 (NKJV)
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
Addiction is also a type of idolatry:
Colossians 3:5 (NKJV)
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Philippians 3:18–19 (NKJV)
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
The good news is that we can be set free from the slavery and the idolatry that we are bound to:
Romans 6:17–18 (NKJV)
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Now let’s move to the issue of SATISFACTION:
II. Satisfaction
II. Satisfaction
All humans are looking for SATISFACTION.
One more cigarette...
One more drink...
One more high...
One more pornographic escapade...
One more bite...
One more bet...
One more ________________…and I will be satisfied.
But God offers something different:
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
We can find our FINAL satisfaction in Jesus Christ!
The search can finally be over!
III. The Prophet Isaiah
III. The Prophet Isaiah
Let’s look at what the prophet Isaiah wrote about 2,700 years ago:
Isaiah 55:1–2 (NKJV)
1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Let’s break these verses down and see that TRUE satisfaction comes ONLY from God Himself!
Water for thirst in a dry land. John 4:13-14, 7:37-39
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Water for thirst in a dry land. John 4:13-14, 7:37-39.
Milk for nutrition in a starving world. I Peter 2:1-3.
2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Water for thirst in a dry land. John 4:13-14, 7:37-39.
Milk for nutrition in a starving world. I Peter 2:1-3.
Wine for joy in a boring, day-to-day life. Psalm 104:15, 103:5.
15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
*Not drunkenness!…but symbolic of true joy that only Jesus Christ can offer us!*
Water for thirst in a dry land. John 4:13-14, 7:37-39.
Milk for nutrition in a starving world. I Peter 2:1-3.
Wine for joy in a boring, day-to-day life. Psalm 104:15, 103:5.
Bread for sustaining and energizing life. John 6:47-58.
47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life.
Not only does Jesus offer Himself as the source of eternal life for the future, He is the source of eternal life for the PRESENT!
The moment we place our faith in Jesus, our eternal life begins!
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Are you willing to enjoy true satisfaction?
BELIEVE in Jesus today?