In his sermon, Peter Allison addresses the topic of besetting sins, particularly focusing on addictions, which he identifies as a type of sin that repeatedly ensnares individuals. Drawing from Proverbs 30:15-16, he likens addiction to a leech, emphasizing its selfish and insatiable nature. Allison explains that addiction is not merely a physical disease but a sin rooted in idolatry—a misplaced desire that elevates something above God. He uses metaphors such as Sheol, the barren womb, the parched earth, and fire to illustrate the endless craving and destructive nature of addictions. The sermon stresses the importance of recognizing this struggle as a spiritual battle and advocates for the use of spiritual armor, vigilance, and replacing sinful desires with godly obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate victory over addiction comes from aligning one's will with God's, confessing sins, and relying on the community of believers for support and accountability.

Our scripture reading is Proverbs 30, verses 15 and 16. The leech has two daughters. Give and give. There are three things that are never satisfied. Four never say enough.

The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire never says enough. May we never forget His precepts, for by them He has given us life. Oh, Heavenly Father, Your Word is the Word of life. May You speak to us words of life. May You give us ears to hear hearts that yearn for You.

May you give to us obedience of all that we have heard from you. And I pray that you would be glorified in the preaching of your word, and that you would preserve me from error and sanctify my lips for this task in Jesus' name. Amen. Do you have a besetting sin? A sin that you continually fall into, it seems like, time and time again.

It's what Hebrews calls a besetting sin. And one class of besetting sins is what we commonly call addictions. Addictions are a besetting sin that is falling into again and again. Most of us probably would acknowledge that there are weaknesses that we have, that we battle. Addictions are besetting sins that take over, that gain control of one's life.

And these two verses describe or give to us the characteristics, The characteristics, the two fundamental characteristics of the besetting sin of an addiction. The first one is in verse 15. The leech. Talks about a leech. I don't know, I don't believe I've ever had a leech attached to me.

But zoologists tell us that there are some 500 or 600 different types of leeches in the world, most of whom are in some way connected with the water, and most of whom live by sucking the blood out of other creatures. Typically, the leeches make an incision with their teeth or whatever the mechanism is. They make an incision, cut, and then they inject a little compound that prevents the blood from clotting so it doesn't stop up. And they suck away until they are so gorged they can do nothing else and then they fall off. This reference to a leech is actually the only reference in all of scripture to a leech.

It's the only word, but this leech that's described here is commonly understood to be a horse leech that attaches itself to the nostrils of a horse when a horse puts its head into the water to drink water. These leeches are there waiting for that and they latch on and suck blood until They are engorged and completely helpless and incapacitated, and then they fall off. These horse leeches, like many other leeches, actually have two sucking mechanisms. One at each end of their body. With one they latch hold and with the other, they suck the blood out of their host.

Now in bygone eras, They were commonly used by doctors to treat a variety of illnesses. Doctors used them to take blood out. Think about it, doctors still like to take a lot of blood out of people. But this text gives us, uses them, this characteristic of a leech, something that is always taking and lives off of other people, to describe the first characteristic of this besetting sin of an addiction. The leech has two daughters.

It's a metaphor. Give and give. Give and give. These two daughters are not giving to others, but they are expecting everybody else to give to them. And that's why the leech is used in metaphor or slang to refer to someone who lives off of other people's productivity.

It's described as a leech. You see, an addiction is fundamentally Selfish. The addict is only focused on their pleasure, on satisfying their desires, which the Bible calls lusts. Lusts. The word for covet.

It's a desire. And the addict is selfishly focused on everybody giving to them to satisfy their desire. See love gives to others, love sacrifices, Love gives of itself. Lust calls others to sacrifice for it and to give to it. It's the exact opposite.

The second characteristic of an addict is that they are never satisfied. Never satisfied. The more an addict gets, the more they want. And Agour gives four different aspects to this never satisfied characteristic of addiction. Characteristic of addiction.

It gives four different things that are characteristic of this never satisfied aspect of a selfish addiction. And the first, well, the four are the shiel, the barren womb, the parched earth, and fire. There's a shiel, the barren womb, parched earth, and fire. And there's some contrast in these. The first is shield.

Now your translation may say the grave, but it's really not the grave. Shiel is to be under the power of death. It's to be in the condition where the body is separated from the spirit. That is the definition of death. Separation.

Physical death is the separation of body and the physical body from the spirit. And we talk of spiritual death as separation from God. To be separated from Him. To be not distant from Him, but separated relationally under his wrath and curse and and not in his fellowship not reconciled and so sheol is used in is the Hebrew word in the Old Testament and Hades is the Greek word in the New Testament, but they both speak of being under the power of death. Now in the Old Testament, my understanding is that both believers and non-believers went to Sheol and that Sheol had paradise and hell in the sense of torment, the place of everlasting torment.

We're both in Sheol and the parable, or not the parable, but the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus describes this. Both are in Sheol and there's this great gulf fixed between them, and there was apparently some communication across that gulf. But in the New Covenant, one of the things that changed, we celebrate, remember the resurrection today, and one of the big changes in the New Covenant is that believers no longer go to Sheol or at their death, but are brought to heaven. But Sheol is a place of no escape, except through Christ. It's a place of no escape.

And it's a place that always has room for one more. It never fills up. But there's no escape. I think that's the aspect here. There is no escape from Sheol.

At the final judgment, Revelation 20, says that Hades, which should be Sheol in the Old Testament, is cast into the lake of fire. Jesus was raised, the Apostle said, because the grave, Sheol, Hades, could not hold Him because He was righteous. It had no legal claim to Him. It had no power over Him. He broke the power of death by His crucifixion and resurrection.

But for everybody else, for those outside, apart from Christ, Sheol is a place of no escape. It is a death grip on all that are in it. And at the final judgment, everybody in it is cast into the lake of fire that's been prepared for the devil and His angels. And so that's one aspect of an addiction, that that addict in their own strength is powerless to escape it. They can make all the promises they want, they can go through all the steps and programs that they want, but there is a continual relapse, a continual repeat.

As Peter talks about it, it is like the dog returning to its vomit. That's the characteristic of an addiction, of a sin, a besetting sin, that you might be able to stop it for a little while, but you relapse and fall right back into it. It's one of the characteristics of besetting sin. The second characteristic, the second thing that a Guru compares this to, something that's never satisfied, is the barren womb. And that refers to the intense desire for a baby that nothing else, nothing else can satisfy.

Hannah is an example of the intense desire for a child that a barren woman has. Hannah's husband, you remember, Alcana had two wives. That's the sin of polygamy. And he loved Hannah more than he loved his other wife. That's the sin of partiality.

And he gave Hannah, his barren wife, a double portion of gifts, a double portion of blessing. And her rival, Elkena's other wife, mocked her because she had no children. And so year after year, when they would go to Jerusalem, Alcana would give her a double portion, he would tell her, I love you. Isn't that enough? And year after year, she wept, The Bible says, in her misery, and she would not eat.

And Al-Ka'inah, her husband, would say to her, Hannah, why are you weeping? Don't you know that I love you? I love you more than everyone else. And I've given you a double portion. Am I not enough for you?" He said, Am I not better than ten sons?

The answer is no. No. A barren womb wants a baby. And nothing else will satisfy. Remember Hannah arose after they'd finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, and she went and in the bitterness of her soul, the Bible says, in the bitterness of her soul, this desire for a baby was a bitterness to her soul and she prayed to the Lord and she wept in anguish.

And she made a vow that if God would give her a baby, If God would give her a baby, if God would give her a son, a male child, then she promised that she would give that child to the Lord. And he would serve the Lord all the days of her life. So intense was her desire for just to have a baby that she promised the Lord if she got, if the Lord gave her one, she would dedicate that child to the Lord. You know the story that God did give her a son. And she did give that child up.

At three years of age, Samuel went, which means asked of the Lord. Samuel went and lived in the temple. He was gone. He left home at three. Years of age.

See now this intense desire for a baby is not a bad thing at all. It's actually a good thing. God is the one who gives barren women families. Psalm 113 tells us that they might be barren because they have no husband, or they might be barren because their body is afflicted in some way. But in this case, it's this intense desire, this intense yearning, that nothing else can satisfy that is being used to describe an addiction.

You see, Hannah could give, or Cana could give Hannah a double portion of whatever gift he was giving at that time, but that didn't satisfy Hannah because it wasn't a baby. Rachel, Jacob's wife, is a less sanctified example of another barren woman. Rachel was also a polygamist wife, and she saw that she bore Jacob no children. She became envious of her sister. And she said to Jacob, give me children or else I die.

And Jacob was a little bit angry at her. He says, my God, that can give you children? But this is the cry of the addict. Give me, give me or else I die. This is why people that are addicted to drugs, that have to have a drug, will do anything to obtain that drug.

Even kill people or rob them in order to satisfy their addiction. Give me or else I die. The third metaphor that Agoura uses to describe the addict is the parched earth. A parched earth. The earth can't be filled up.

It's a bottomless reservoir for all intents and purposes. The flood being the one big exception, what God did in the flood. For example, if you're connected to the electric grid somewhere around your house probably near where the electricity comes into the house so there should be a copper rod half-inch copper rod pounded eight feet into the ground such that only an inch or two sticks up above it And the main ground wire for your house is attached to it. And if there's any stray electricity, it goes into that rod and into the earth and is completely dissipated. You can never charge up the earth.

No matter how much electricity, you can't charge up the earth. Because it's a bottomless reservoir. So it's used to ground and if there's any stray electricity in your house, if your house is properly wired, it will get shunted into the earth and safely shunted into the earth and dissipated. It won't hurt anybody. And it's the same way with water.

I have a spot in my yard that I can dump hundreds of gallons of water in it and it just disappears. It's gone. Almost as fast as you can pour it out. And the earth as a whole is that way. You can have a rain.

I've seen our yard covered with, in some places, water after a long rain of a couple days. And yet it's only a matter of hours. At the most a day. And the water is gone. It runs off.

You see, for all practical purposes, the earth is like an unlimited sink. It just absorbs whatever you pour into it. It can't be filled up. And that's true of the addict. They can't get enough.

If they're addicted to pornography, they can't get enough. And The more they get, the more they want. It's an insatiable appetite. Third characteristic is fire. Fire never says enough.

It's destructive. The fire will burn until there is no more fuel. It doesn't go out simply because it's been burning for a while and it's tired of burning. That's the way most people play sports. They'll play it for a while until they get tired and then they stop because they're tired.

Or eating. You eat until you're satisfied and then You're done. But to those that are addicted, who have a besetting sin, they never stop. They never stop. Fire doesn't go out simply because it's been burning a while.

It will burn until there is no more fuel. It will burn as long as it has a source of fuel. An addict will consume as long as the object of their desire is available, as long as they can get their hands on it. They will do it. And those that are addicted to eating, they will vomit up the food so that they can eat more.

As long as there is food to eat, They eat it. So those are the four characteristics, or the four metaphors that a guru uses to describe this aspect of the addict, this besetting sin that never has enough. It's never satisfied. It's selfish, it always takes, and it's never satisfied in these four different ways. Now what do we do with this besetting sin?

As someone once said, a guru of this chapter, this whole chapter, A Guru does not give us the details, but he rather gives us these metaphors and allows us to figure out the details. Well the scripture, thankfully, the context of these, The greater context of these sayings does give to us these answers And I would point out as Bruce Waukee has noted a couple parallels here before we move on there the Sheol is about death and the barren woman is about giving life. So one is about death and one is about life. Fire is destructive and water is what is, the parched earth is what brings life. So there's a couple different parallels.

But I think we look at this besetting sin of addiction, the first thing we need to remember is that this is not primarily a physical disease. It may produce physical disease, but we have to remember that the root of that disease comes from these desires, this give and give, and this never enough. And those sinful desires, when they work their way out in our lives and in our bodies may result in physical disease. But fundamentally, an addiction is not a physical disease. It's a sin.

Paul said, told the Corinthians, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. And then he gives a list of sins, one of which is addiction. Listen for it. Do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners who all inherit the Kingdom of God." These are sins. People don't not inherit the Kingdom of God because of physical illnesses. They don't inherit the Kingdom of God because of besetting sins that are never conquered, that are never put to death. But see, he goes on, doesn't leave it there. He says, But such were some of you.

Such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified. Notice that word there.

And praise the Lord for it. It says, such were some of you. Past tense, meaning these people He's addressing no longer are these things. They no longer are drunkards, addicted to alcohol, or homosexuals, or catamites, addicted to fornication, or idolaters, or adulterers. They were those things, but they have been cleansed, they've been washed, they've been sanctified by the power of God.

There is victory in Christ over these desires. An addiction is secondly to sin and it's a specific sin. It's a sin of idolatry. In the scripture, idolatry extends far beyond just mere images of wood and stone that people make and bow down to. We didn't used to have those kind of idols.

I'm seeing them more and more now in our culture. But idolatry is anything on which we set our affections and indulge in an excessive and sinful way. But the idols that we can see like the alcohol bottle or the pornographic pictures, those are not the totality of the problem. Really underneath that is an idolatry of what we worship, of what we desire, A lust for pleasure, a lust for respect, a lust for love, a lust for power, a lust for control, or a lust for freedom from pain. You see, the problem isn't outside of the addict.

It's not in the thing that's outside that is alluring. The problem is a problem in the heart. It's a problem of a lust. The problem isn't the thing. Because most things that are the subjects of addictions have a legitimate and proper use.

It's the problem of the false worship in the heart. God says in Ezekiel, son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put them before them which causes them to stumble into iniquity. An idol in the heart that has been set up and that's what God says causes us to stumble into iniquity. It's not the thing outside. It's not the picture of someone else's wife.

It's not the bar or the bottle of alcohol that is the problem. It's us. It's our own heart. God says, should I let myself be inquired of them at all? Should I let myself be inquired of them at all?

By them at all? Should I let myself be inquired of at all by them? They have another love other than me. God says should I even let these people, should I even let myself be inquired of by them?" See, an addiction is a love that comes before anything else. One addict said it this way, My wife said to me that I was going to have to make a choice, either cocaine or her.

And before she finished the sentence, I knew what she was coming, so I told her to think carefully about what she was going to say. It was clear to me, he said that there wasn't a choice. I love my wife, but I'm not going to choose anything over cocaine. It's sick, but that's what things have come to. Nothing and nobody comes before my coke.

That's the addict. It's a love that comes before anything else. In this case, it came before his wife. It always is a love that comes before the Lord. And that's why it's an idol.

Now, idolaters worship their idols in order to get something from them. At least That's how it starts out. The leech has two daughters. Give and give. They want to get something.

Something that their lust, their desires are craving. And the idolater seeks to manipulate the idol for their own benefit. They want to give and give. They want to receive something. They want to get something that they think will satisfy their desire.

They don't want, They're not trying to be controlled by their idol. Idolaters don't start out wanting to be controlled by alcohol or by drugs or by fornication or gambling or food or video games or whatever else people crave for. No, they want these things to feel good. They want these things to have a better self-image. Or they want these things to have power.

They crave power over other people. They crave control. And they think that these activities and these substances will give them what they want. But In the end, they end up being mastered by them. The Bible says that those who worship idols become like them.

They become like them. What are idols? Idols are dumb. They can't talk. They can't move.

They can't do anything. The only thing they can say are what other people tell them to say. The only place they go is where somebody can carry them. And that's what people who worship idols become like dumb. Ignorant.

Stupid. Remember the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? They wanted something from Baal, and they did everything in their power to manipulate Baal, or so they thought, in order to get what they wanted. They wanted to use Baal to their own advantage. They ended up being mastered by Baal to their own destruction because they were cutting themselves until the blood flowed.

Idol worship though is ultimately demon worship. Sacrifices that are made to idols are sacrifices made to demons, to Satan. Paul put it this way to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 10, he said that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. He says, I don't want you to have any fellowship with demons. The people that are making these sacrifices to their idols are sacrificing to Satan.

They're having fellowship with demons. The people who are addicted to drugs are having fellowship with demons. The people who are addicted to drugs are having fellowship with demons. The people who are addicted to pornography are having fellowship with demons. They're offering to Satan.

And that's the source of power in these addictions. Behind each of these idols is Satan. And he's a deceiver. They think they're starting out, they get something. And they end up giving everything.

They end up in Sheol, in the grip of a master that they cannot escape. But it's a voluntary slavery. It's entirely voluntary. So what does the Bible tell us about how to be free of these addictions. Remember, Christ did come to break the power of Sheol, to break the power of death.

And Paul described to the Corinthians all those that were those things, but no longer. How do we get there? Well, first we need to recognize that this is a war. We're in a war. And it's a violent war.

We need to declare war and to be prepared for violence. Jesus said in Matthew, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. These lusts are warring against your soul and my soul." It's a war, and if we don't approach this as a war, we will be defeated. Satan is a mighty foe. And he knows our weaknesses, and he easily exploits those weaknesses if we are not on guard against them.

Peter said in 1st Peter 2, beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, that's desires, abstain from fleshly desires which war against the soul." A war. So if this is a war, we need to put on the full armor of God, as Paul describes in Ephesians, the helmet of salvation. Christ's salvation. We can't save ourselves. The breastplate of righteousness, Christ's righteousness, our own is filthy rags.

We need the girdle of truth. God's Word is truth. The words of men are not. We need The gospel of peace. We need the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

We need the shield of faith. We need the armor of God. We need to put that armor on, and having put it on, to stand. We need to prepare our minds for action. Peter said, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind.

Remember, this is a war of our lusts, that war against our souls. So we need to gird up the loins of our mind and to be sober, and to rest our hope fully upon the grace that is brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter goes on to say a little later in that letter, we need to be self-controlled and alert, to be sober, to be vigilant. It means to be watchful, right? When you're in a war, you don't just go to bed and sleep, you post a sentry to keep watch all through the night.

That's the kind of vigilance that we need in this war. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion. And we can't be half-hearted about it. We need to make every effort to give all diligence. We need to be careful, careful how we live.

Paul told the Ephesians, see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise. When you're in a war, you walk carefully. Always alert. You don't just run through the minefield, you walk very carefully through a minefield. So first, the scriptures tell us that we have to declare war and be prepared for violence.

But secondly, to show no mercy to the enemy, to the idols of the heart. Show no mercy to the idols of the heart, those sinful desires that war against our soul. Do you not know, Paul told the Corinthians, that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. But we do it for an imperishable crown. So he's going to move now from an earthly race to this spiritual one. He says, therefore I run this way, not with uncertainty. I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection.

Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. I discipline my body, Paul said. He doesn't show mercy to the idol. Some temptations are external and some are internal. But that desire that is the heart of every addiction is an evil desire that comes from within our own heart.

And we can quickly identify these temptations by asking ourselves which desires prefer to stay in the dark. Which desires do we have that we don't want other people to know about? Pornography is a desire that no pornographer wants other people to know about. Illegal drugs, those are the desires that people don't want others to know about. More pain medication.

Don't want other people to know about that. You see, we can't blame these kinds of temptations on other people or other things. The reason we are attracted to things outside of ourself is because of the desire that's within us, the evil desire that's within us. James says, when you're tempted, don't say that you're tempted by God because God cannot be tempted by evil and He doesn't tempt anyone, but we're tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed. And desire, when it is conceived, then it gives birth to sin.

See, the desire is the root of the sin. And sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. And it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can have the victory over these desires. It's not enough to simply, and this is the last point, It's not enough to simply put off these desires. We can't simply say I'm going to stop eating too much.

I'm going to stop looking at pornography. I'm going to stop taking drugs. That's not enough. The Bible says if that's all we do, we'll be defeated again and again. That's why people come back again and again to these same addictions.

You see, a thief that's no longer stealing at the moment, that's still a thief. He's just a thief on vacation. The drug addict that is not taking drugs at the moment is no longer not a drug addict. He's just a drug addict on a vacation. The Bible says that we have to not only put one thing off, but we have to replace it with something else.

We have to put on by the Holy Spirit a new life. In Ephesians 5, Paul said, Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation. So put that off. That's an addiction. An alcoholic we call it.

But it doesn't end there. But be filled with the Spirit. That's what we have to put on. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody to your heart in the Lord.

Giving thanks always for all things to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, putting off the sin, putting on the new life, the new obedience. Sometimes that can be, that can take many different forms. There was someone I was aware of who had a problem with stealing things, taking things, little things, bigger things, Always secretively. So you have to stop that. But you can't overcome that sin without putting on the new obedience by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So in His case, what He needed to do was every time He took something, whatever it was, it didn't matter how small it was, he needed to go and give. So he went, in his case, his counselor said, you go and you mow ten lawns for free. You mow ten people's lawns for free. And while you're doing it, you can think about the Word of God and begin to speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. That's the example.

You have to put off the sin and put on the new obedience. And in the case of stealing, new obedience is to work with your hands to be able to give to those who are in need. So we can only overcome these addictions by the power of the Holy Spirit, but as we put off the sin and put on the new obedience. So don't excuse it. Don't excuse the desire, even if it's a little one, even if it's not full blown.

But confess it as a sin to God and look to Jesus Christ who shows mercy and grace to idolaters. Delight in obedience. And Search out the Scriptures to find ways to obey. What is the new obedience that needs to be put on when we put off the old way? Don't rely on yourself.

The Lord has given to us brothers and sisters. And there's a promise that in James, when we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, that we are healed. Find wise and accountable people or people that you can be accountable to. And realize that these sins don't just impose themselves on us unless there has been in us a willingness to entertain them, to entertain the seed of the sin in our imaginations. And so therefore, this is where the battle needs to be fought at the desire.

By the time, if it's a battle between your conscience and your sinful desire, your conscience will always lose eventually. The battle must be between the will. It must be a battle that's fought at the will with our sinful desire. And Jesus has promised that by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God, these sins can be overcome. And true and lasting change can happen such that where Paul could say you were fornicators, you were drunkards, but you are no longer by the power of Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit.

May God give us a victory over all the sins that so easily beset us and enable to run with patience the race and endurance the race that he has set before us looking to Jesus Who is both the author and the finisher of our faith? Let's pray heavenly father We we thank You for the victory that we have in Christ. We thank You that You have called us and enabled us and allowed us to participate in Your death. When You were crucified, we died. But when you rose, we also rose.

And when you ascended, we also ascended. And you have seated us in the heavenlies with you to reign with you. Father, may we participate in all of the victory of your ascension, and all of the victory of your resurrection, to overcome the sins that so easily beset us, and to run with patient endurance the race you have called us to. Oh Lord, may You open our eyes to the glorious inheritance that You have given to us in Christ and to the resources that You have provided in Christ that are sufficient for every temptation. Lord, we pray that You would give to us Your armor.

We put on Your armor today and purpose to walk in newness of life through Jesus Christ. Amen.