BIG THOUGHT: Only gospel-driven can break the downward spiral of sin.
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1. The spiral begins with .
Nature abhors a vacuum: Not doing the right thing opens you up to doing the wrong thing… and the spiral begins.
James 4:17 (ESV) – So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV) – Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
John 15:5 (ESV) – I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
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2. Spiral continues with lingering that produce .
The battlefield of the mind: thoughts and desires.
2 Samuel 23:34b (ESV) – … Eliam the son of Ahithophel of Gilo…
2 Samuel 15:31 (ESV) – And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
2 Samuel 23:39 (ESV) – Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
“In our members there is a slumbering inclination toward desire which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power, desire seizes mastery of the flesh. All at once, a secret smoldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns and is in flames. In this moment, God is quite unreal to us. And Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with a forgetfulness of God. The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and the will in deepest darkness. It is here that everything in me rises up against the Word of God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (ESV) – For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
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3. Desires devolve to actions.
James 1:14-15 (ESV) – But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
: The sinful thoughts and desires of our heart.
: The actual crossing of a boundary that God set in place. The action of sin.
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4. Actions produce other actions.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) – No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
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5. The spiral ends in .
Romans 6:23 (ESV) – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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