Am I Really Saved If I Struggle with Alcoholism?

Hey, Pastor Adriel here, and we want to hear from our podcast audience specifically. Give us a call at 1130 Pacific Time, 833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE, with your question about the Christian faith.

Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Here's our phone number.

It's 833, the CORE. You might want to jot that down, 833, the CORE, and our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so. You can also post your question on our Facebook or Instagram page, and you can watch us live on YouTube and send us a message that way. You can also email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Paul in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Paul, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hello? Hey, Paul. Hello? Hey, what's your question? Yes, my question is, what exactly do I pray so that I know He hears me and answers my prayer?

Hey, thanks for that question. Well, you know, you could go to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew chapter 6, the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. I mean, that's how Jesus taught us to pray, and we know that when we pray according to the will of God, and I think this gets to the heart of your question, that the Lord hears us and answers that prayer. It may not always be in the timing that we would like, but we know that God listens to our prayers and that He does indeed answer those prayers. This is what John said in 1 John chapter 5 verse 14. This is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him. So the big question is what I'm praying in God's will. Now, of course, there are some things that we just don't know whether or not this particular request is the will of the Lord. I don't know if it's the Lord's will to heal me in this situation or to give me this particular job, but there are other things that you can know for certain are God's will. Paul tells the Thessalonians, this is the will of God for you, your sanctification. In other words, when we pray to be sanctified, that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus, grow in holiness, that's a prayer that God will answer. It's according to His will. And so if you want to have confidence, sure confidence, that what you're praying is going to be answered, that the Lord hears you, pray according to what the scripture teaches.

Pray according to God's will. And by the way, this is just really a huge encouragement for us to know the word. I think a lot of times people don't know if they're praying in God's will because they just don't know the Bible. They don't read the Bible.

They don't study the scriptures. And so one of the benefits of knowing God's word, of studying the scriptures, is we're able to understand what God's will is for us as He's revealed in His word and we can pray accordingly. God bless. So it's not God's will for me to have a Maserati? I don't know. If you do get that, it's also His will for you to share with the rest of us like me.

Just check it, just check it. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, pick up your phone right now and call us at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a question from one of our listeners named Earl. I'm a recurrent alcoholic. I've been sober for 29 years, but I am a Christian.

So how can a Christian continue other addictions? I've had this problem ever since I was a teenager and I go to work early and I'm like, can I hear your program? I enjoy it and encourage it.

It's awesome. I just need some help. I'd like to break free from this problem. Thank you.

Earl, thank you for that question. It sounded like what you were saying there is you are an alcoholic, but you've been sober for a couple of decades now, but that you struggle with other addictions. You're a Christian, you believe in Jesus, you've received His grace, and yet you still struggle. How can you be saved? Can you be saved? Well, first let me just say God bless you.

Thank you for listening to the program. If the question boils down to can people who struggle be saved, the answer is yes. The fact of the matter is that's each and every one of us. Every day we're in the fight against sin, the flesh, the devil. It's a fight that I think is described in the New Testament in places like Galatians chapter 5, the battle between the flesh and the spirit, or also Romans chapter 7. Think about what the apostle Paul says there in Romans chapter 7. So now verse 17, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. Just going a little bit before there, he's talking about this battle that he's having with relationship to the law and how the law condemns him. He says, did that which is good then bring death to me?

By no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good, that is God's law, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin, for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good, so now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. I know, he says, that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Now it sounds to me like this is the very battle that you're talking about. Now, it's one thing to say I'm an alcoholic and I'm identifying in this way, and I just have no problem getting drunk and throwing away all my money to booze and that kind of a thing. Paul is very clear about that kind of person, that kind of lifestyle in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He says, don't be deceived, drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God, but for Christians who struggle with sin, there is hope, there is grace, and that's just the reality of the Christian life.

We're all going to struggle. I'm honestly so encouraged by the story of Samson in the Old Testament. I mean, talk about a guy who struggled, who made one foolish decision after another. I mean, you read the story of Samson in the book of Judges and you just think, how can this guy be so foolish?

Then you look at your own life and you realize, man, we're just like that so often. Yet, you turn to the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 11 and Samson is included in the hall of faith, even after experiencing a tragic end. So there is hope, brothers and sisters, for struggling. If you struggle with sin, don't let that be a sign to you or convince you that you must not have the grace of God, you must not really belong to Jesus. No, you do belong to Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you and that's why there is a struggle even there to begin with. And so what do we do when we struggle? We turn to the Lord.

As Paul goes on to say in that passage in Romans chapter 7 and beginning in chapter 8, he says, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you're in Jesus Christ, Earl, by faith, you have a new identity. You have a new identity by faith, through baptism. You are a child of the true and the living God. You've been justified by faith and now we're called to live in light of that reality. And may the Lord give you the grace to do that.

Thank you for giving us a call. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You know, we often receive questions about spiritual warfare on this program. And today we're offering a special resource that delves into that topic in a very creative way. It's a wonderful fictional book by acclaimed Christian author C.S. Lewis. Yeah, we're offering the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S.

Lewis. Perfect time of the year to be offering this, especially as we've been getting questions, Bill, about the supernatural, demonic activity, ghosts, even spiritual warfare, really. And so that's why we made this resource available to you.

It's a classic work. It's, I believe, the best work written on spiritual warfare. If you want to understand some of the ways that the devil comes against us in our faith, get a hold of this resource. It's yours for a donation of any amount over at corechristianity.com. You can find that by going to our website corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. And you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources. Here's the phone number.

It's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Jux calling in from New York City. Jux, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hello there. This question, I mean, it's kind of good timing, by the way. It's kind of along the same lines as a spiritual warfare. I think somewhere in the Old Testament, maybe Exodus, Moses, when he had confronted Pharaoh and Pharaoh's magicians, he had done miracles. And like a couple of these miracles included turning the waters into blood. And I remember watching like, hold on a minute. I remember watching like a cheesy TV replication, a cheesy TV commercial with that, like a TV show and Pharaoh's magicians.

He had just put like put sand in water, then it kind of turned brown. But, you know, it sort of describes these things as actually like being real. So I was just wondering whether you thought that these were actual spiritual powers going on or if these were like, you know, false replications.

Hey, great question. And I think the passage of scripture that you're referring to is Exodus chapter 7. Exodus chapter 7, verse 11 says, Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. In other words, they're replicating some of these miracles that are being done at the hand of Moses.

How? By their secret arts. So the question is, are they just faking it? You know, are they putting on a magic show or is there some sort of sinister demonic power at work behind these magicians, these sorcerers? My view is that it's it's the latter, that there is this sort of demonic power that's that's at work here deceiving. And we know that those who worship false gods, ultimately, I mean, it's the worship of demons. Paul talks about this in First Corinthians. I think also of something that we read in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 16 and 17.

Listen to what it says there. They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations. They provoked him to anger.

That is the true and the living God. They're provoking him. They sacrificed to demons that were not gods, to gods they had never known. In other words, with some of these idolatrous systems, you think of what was going on there in Egypt with Pharaoh. You know, it's not just that there was nothing behind these demonic deities. They were demonic deities.

There's this supernatural power at work there that we have to be have to be cautious of. You see this also in the New Testament. There's a passage of scripture that I often go to in the book of Acts where you have a young woman who we're told was possessed by a spirit of divination. And she would bring her masters much profit by fortune telling.

And then after some time, you know, she's rebuked. And what it basically results in is, you know, people are upset because she no longer has her power of foresight or power of fortune telling. And it just goes to show that there was some demonic power at work in this young woman.

I'm going to just read the text there. It's Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days, Paul having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, in other words, again, this is something supernatural going on here, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

And it came out that very hour. And so what we're seeing in, I think, Exodus chapter seven and these other places of the Bible is that there is this very real demonic power at work in the world today. It's not equal to the power of God.

It has to submit to the sovereign will of God. We know that Christ is all powerful. But nevertheless, when you get people involved in the occult, in some of these demonic practices, yeah, there's something there that we need to be cautious of and realize that there's a strong deception there, Euchs.

And so that's how I understand what's taking place there with with Pharaoh's magicians. And hopefully that shed some light on on what the Bible says about this. God bless.

Thanks so much for your call, Euchs. Appreciate that and love the fact that you are delving into God's word on a regular basis. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. A quick thank you to all of the folks that are part of our inner core. That is a group of people that support this program on a monthly basis. They make it possible for us to be on the air doing what we do every day.

We couldn't do it without them. And if you'd like to learn more about joining the inner core and some of the special resources you'll receive as one of those members, just go to our Web site. CoreChristianity.com forward slash inner core.

That's CoreChristianity.com forward slash inner core. Let's go to Vivian in Oklahoma. She's has a question for us. Vivian, what's your question? Yes, sir. Can you hear me? We can hear you, Vivian. Great.

Thank you. My question is in regards to my daughter. Her husband is very much an alcoholic. They have been married for five years and it has been horrific from start to finish.

Her father in law is the leader of a large Christian ministry in Texas. And he has codependency and enabling his son to continue his activity almost cost him his life. She had to take him to her husband to the E.R. and then to detox. And then after that, to rehab.

He is due to get out of rehab in another week. And she is quite nervous about how all that's going to turn out because she does not believe from past experience for the last five years that she has. His parents support helping her, helping the children, helping him to stay clean and sober. I do not know how else to advise her. I have given her scripture. I've given her advice as a mother.

I've given her advice in every way that I know how. I don't know what else to say to her to give her hope. Well, I think one of the things that we can do, Vivian, is pray for your daughter in this situation. It sounds like a very, very difficult situation anytime you have addiction, alcoholism, and especially when you have just being enabled. It sounds like there's a situation where there's some enabling going on here with the father. One thing I would say is your daughter is responsible to love her husband.

She's not responsible for his decisions. And so often we can try to carry that burden on ourselves. And she just needs to be freed from that burden. He has to, as a man, take responsibility for his actions, for his addiction. Part of that is getting help. And it sounds to me like even though he's in rehab, there's maybe been a pattern of this where things don't get better. And so that's, just in terms of wisdom, something that they're going to have to determine. What does it actually look like for us to take the steps that are necessary?

What does it look like for you to take the steps that are necessary to get the help that you need and not just go through this cycle of self-destruction? And there can be honest conversations, I think, with the father-in-law. And his family sounds to me like there's a very serious issue here as well. But again, she's not responsible for their shortcomings or their enabling. I think she can speak to them and say, hey, this is wrong. What we're doing here, what you're doing here is wrong. You need to love your son better by helping him to take responsibility.

But again, she can't force them to change. And so why don't we first right now pray and just ask for a miracle from the Lord and for grace for your daughter, Vivian. Heavenly Father, our hearts break when we hear about situations like this.

And we're just aware of the pain that alcoholism causes, addiction causes, Lord, abusive relationships even, Lord. And we look to you as the God of all comfort, as the God of all wisdom, as the God who loves us and is with his people. I pray that you would be with Vivian and her daughter and I ask that you would give them wisdom, Lord, in this situation. Do pray for Vivian's son-in-law as well. Would you, in the same way, Lord, that you turn the lights on for Saul of Tarsus, would you turn the lights on for him?

Would you cause him to see the pain that this addiction is causing and the damage that it's doing to his family? His need, Lord, for your grace and repentance and would you give him the help that he needs and the grace, Lord, just to take responsibility. And for Vivian's daughter, Lord, I pray as she continues to seek your face to draw near to you that you would give her wisdom about what would be the wisest thing to do in this situation.

Lord, we don't know, just with the limited amount of information that we have right now, but we do pray that you would give her, Lord God, wisdom, that you would comfort her, that you would uphold her with this heavy burden that she carries and that, Lord, the burdens that she doesn't need to carry, that you would just lift those off of her shoulders. And so would you be with this family? Would you extend your grace? And would you work a miracle in this situation?

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, Bill, I wanted to just maybe ask you, when you're working with a family and there's a situation of addiction, is there sort of this pattern?

And we see this, right? Or maybe, you know, an individual goes to rehab but comes out and it's just the same thing over and over and over again. What do you think are some wise steps to take in this situation? Well, you know, you talked about setting appropriate boundaries and that's one of the very most important things that Vivian's daughter, one of the most important steps she can take. The Bible says to let your yes be yes and your no be no. And in a case like this, now, we don't want to presume that this rehab was not effective. Let's pray that it was and that this young man comes out and he turns his life around and that there's true repentance and true change.

And if that's the case, that's something for all of us to celebrate. On the other hand, as you said, if this is a pattern that's continuing, I think it's so important for Vivian's daughter to get support. And that can be from her own church. But I'd also suggest that she join a chapter of Al-Anon. And Al-Anon is a group that's for the family members or loved ones of someone who struggles with alcoholism or other forms of addiction. And in an Al-Anon group, you are taught how to set effective boundaries with that individual. And sometimes that involves a family intervention. Sometimes that involves taking real steps to cut yourself off from that person until they really turn their life around.

You want to be loving, but at the same time, you want to be firm. So I think all of those things are important. It does trouble me that if what Vivian is saying that this young man's father or parents are enabling him to continue with these destructive patterns. And he's a ministry leader. That's very troubling and something that you hope and pray that will be addressed at some point in the future.

But it's kind of out of Vivian's hands, I think. Yeah, you do see examples of this in the scriptures, I think, of 1 Samuel 2. You have Eli's sons, and Eli was this great priest of the Lord, but not so great. He had these sons that were rebellious, and they continued engaging in this terrible behavior. And part of it was, I think some of it was the responsibility of Eli there to rebuke them, which seems like there was a pattern of not doing that, not addressing the issue, and things just got worse and worse. And so part of it is we have to be willing to have these hard conversations as spouses, as parents, just as friends in the Christian community. It's so important if we're going to get healthy that we have people around us who are honest with us. So well said. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez.

Quick email question to answer before we end today. Joe asks this. He says, Jesus often uses the phrase outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Is he referring to hell in each of these cases? Yeah, my view when you have this kind of language is that, yes, Jesus is referring to the place of perdition. We might refer to that as hell.

The Greek word in the New Testament is gehenna. It was this place of suffering. Actually, it's taken from this place in the Old Testament, the Valley of Hinnom, where the Israelites practiced idolatry.

They sacrificed their children. It was this trash heap, if you will. It was this horrible, horrible, horrible place associated with darkness and smoke. Jesus uses that as a sort of illustration for what the place of judgment, the place of perdition looks like. You think of a barren wasteland where just sin and everything dark dwelt.

That's what it was. So you do have these warnings. Sometimes people today want to do away with the doctrine of hell and think, oh, God is mean or that kind of thing. But we're talking about, brothers and sisters, a holy God, a perfect and pure being. And when we sin against this holy God, there is a judgment that we incur.

And so we need God's grace. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-The-Core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Core Christianity. Adriel and I love our podcast audience, and we'd love to take your questions. Give us a call Monday through Friday at 11 30 a.m. Pacific time at 833-843-2673. That's 833-The-Core.