Steps That Lead To Destruction

1. Steps That Lead To Destruction Steps That Lead To Destruction

2. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Glorified by complying with restrictions in speech • Christ, The Holy Spirit, angels and the apostles were restricted - Jn. 7:16; 12:49; 16:13-14; Gal. 1:8 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. Jn 16:13-14 Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. Jn. 7:16 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. Jn 12:49 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:8

3. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Glorified by complying with restrictions in speech • By speaking as His oracles alone - 1 Pet. 4:10-11 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Pet 4:10-11

4. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Glorified by complying with restrictions in speech • Condemnation pronounced for teaching and speaking different oracles - Matt. 15:8-9; Matt. 7:21-23 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Matt 15:8-9

5. Steps That Lead To Destruction Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!‘ Matt 7:21-23

6. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Also glorified by our works - 1 Pet. 4:7-11

7. But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 8And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." 9Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 10As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Pet 4:7-11 Steps That Lead To Destruction

8. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Also glorified by our works - 1 Pet. 4:7-11 • Jesus glorified God by His works - Jn. 17:4 • Man will be judged on the things that he has done in this life - see Matt. 24:42-46 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. Jn 17:4

9. Steps That Lead To Destruction Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Matt 24:42-46

10. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Also glorified by our works - 1 Pet. 4:7-11 • Often gives excuses for not glorifying God in his works - Lk. 14:16-20; Matt. 22:5

11. Steps That Lead To Destruction Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' 18But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' 19And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' 20Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.‘ Lk 14:16-20

12. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Also glorified by our works - 1 Pet. 4:7-11 • Often gives excuses for not glorifying God in his works - Lk. 14:16-20; Matt. 22:5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. Matt 22:5

13. First Step: Did Not Glorify Him As God -Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Instead of excuses, should be preparing to be suitable for the Master's service - 2 Tim. 2:21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Tim 2:21

14. Second Step: Ceased To Be Thankful - Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Easy to forget to give God the praise and thanksgiving for the things that we have • Must come to realization it is God who gives all - 1 Tim. 4:1-5; Matt. 6:25-34 see also Deut. 8:17-18

15. Steps That Lead To Destruction Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Tim 4:1-5

16. "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“ Matt 6:25-34 Steps That Lead To Destruction

17. Second Step: Ceased To Be Thankful - Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Easy to forget to give God the praise and thanksgiving for the things that we have • Must come to realization it is God who gives all - 1 Tim. 4:1-5; Matt. 6:25-34 see also Deut. 8:17-18 • Need to be thankful we are not among the millions starving around the world - Phil. 4:6 then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' 18And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deut 8:17-18 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Phil 4:6

18. Second Step: Ceased To Be Thankful - Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Christians have much more to be thankful for - Eph.1:3; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8-9; Jn. 15:13-14 • Look at Paul's thankfulness - 1 Tim. 1:12-13; 2 Cor. 11:22-28; Rom. 8:31-39 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Rom 5:8-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Eph 1:3 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. Jn 3:16 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. Jn 15:13-14

19. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:31-39 Steps That Lead To Destruction And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 1 Tim 1:12-13 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ? --I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- 28besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 2 Cor 11:22-28

20. Second Step: Ceased To Be Thankful - Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Christians have much more to be thankful for - Eph.1:3; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8-9; Jn. 15:13-14 • Look at Paul's thankfulness - 1 Tim. 1:12-13; 2 Cor. 11:22-28; Rom. 8:31-39 • Christians need to be thankful to God for spiritual growth, for our brethren and especially for the great sacrifice that was made on our behalf

21. Second Step: Ceased To Be Thankful - Rom. 1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • If we fail to give God the thanks that is due Him we will be cast aside - Rev. 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Rev 21:8

22. Third Step: Became Vain In Their Reasoning - Rom.1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Men become fools when they begin to reason out in their own minds the answers to life's most perplexing questions • When man launches out on his own in the spiritual realm, he is in trouble - Jer. 10:23 • He devises a system that seems right and good to him - Prov. 16:25; 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Prov 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Prov 14:12 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. Jer 10:23

23. Third Step: Became Vain In Their Reasoning - Rom.1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Such type of reasoning gave rise to idolatry amongst the Gentiles, and the theory of evolution in modern man • Such reasoning in the First Century found man bothered by the teachings of Jesus Christ - Acts 17:32; Acts 26:8-11; 1 Cor. 1:21; Eph 5:6; Col. 2:9

24. Steps That Lead To Destruction And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter.“ Acts 17:32 Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? 9 "Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 "This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 "And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. Acts 26:8-11 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 1 Cor 1:21 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; Col 2:9

25. Third Step: Became Vain In Their Reasoning - Rom.1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Our schools of higher learning, in & of themselves, provide nothing so far • When they fail to recognize the proper place of the eternal God, they become foolish • Consider the Athenians - Acts 17:18-21 • We are warned - Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:20-21 • End result - Isa. 47:10

26. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20"For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." 21For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Acts 17:18-21 Steps That Lead To Destruction

27. Third Step: Became Vain In Their Reasoning - Rom.1:21 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Our schools of higher learning, in & of themselves, provide nothing so far • When they fail to recognize the proper place of the eternal God, they become foolish • Consider the Athenians - Acts 17:18-21 • We are warned - Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:20-21 • End result - Isa. 47:10 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Col 2:8 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge--21by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. 1 Tim 6:20-21 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Eph 5:6 For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, 'No one sees me'; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.‘ Isa 47:10

28. Forth Step: Turned To Idolatry - Rom. 1:25 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Man's idols today - Sex, Science, and Silver - under Science (the psychology and philosophy of the world)

29. Forth Step: Turned To Idolatry - Rom. 1:25 Steps That Lead To Destruction • Higher learning today • Led man to humanism-really the basis of communism • Defined: "1. theol. The tenet denying the divinity of Christ. 2.Ethics. a. the doctrine that man's obligations are to, and dependent alone on, man, and human relations. b. The doctrine that man's nature is perfectible through his own efforts without divine grace." (Webster's New Collegiate Dict.)

30. Forth Step: Turned To Idolatry - Rom. 1:25 Steps That Lead To Destruction • As to Sex and Silver - Eph. 5:5; Phil. 3:19; 2 Tim. 3:4 • Just because one doesn't bow down before an idol, doesn't mean one is not an idolater • If self-interest & pleasures put first • Then an idolater, just like those ancient people were For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Eph 5:5 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their mind on earthly things. Phil 3:19 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 1 Tim 3:4

31. Fifth Step: Ungodliness Steps That Lead To Destruction • Next step follows just as night follows day • Interesting quote • This clearly seen in God's word - Rom 1:26-32; 2 Pet. 2:12-17

32. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. Rom 1:26-32 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 2 Pet 2:12-17 Steps That Lead To Destruction

33. Fifth Step: Ungodliness Steps That Lead To Destruction • Modern man has forgotten • God always has the last say - Rom. 1:32 • Sin always pays its wages in full - Rom 6:23; Eph 5:6; Gal. 6:7-8; Jas 1:15 • Some laugh and mock and say that sin does pay • God will have the last laugh - Ps. 2:4-5. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: Psa 2:4-5 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. Rom 1:32 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:23 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Gal 6:7-8 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Jas 1:15 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Eph 5:6