Proverbs #25 – “Falling back into bad habits and obtaining the wisdom to
break the negative cycle”
Proverbs 26:11 says:
11 As a dog returns to its
vomit,
so a fool repeats his folly.
QUESTION: Why do Christians sometimes
return to previous destruction behaviors?
WHY CHRISTIANS FALL BACK INTO WORLDLY
BEHAVIOR:
1. All behavior is the
_________________(result) of a person’s ________________________(thinking) – if
you want to change a behavior, you have to first think new thoughts to do it
and that takes a great deal of ________________________(discipline).
2. Will power alone will not break bad
habits because what you _________________(resist) in
life will _____________________(persist) – you get more of what you ________________(think)
about whether you want it or not.
3. When ___________________(tired) or ______________________(stressed), it is easy to
go back to ______________________ ______________________(comfortable patterns)
even if they are harmful to yourself or others.
4. If we are not proactively growing in
Christ, then we are spiritually ________________________(regressing)
– if you are not growing, you are ______________________(dying).
Ephesians 4:22-24 says:
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of
life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness.
The Biblical three step process to
change: Ephesians 4:22-24:
1. Break out of your
________________________ _______________________(comfort
Zone) and _____________(stop) the ________________(current) behavior. V. 22
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of
life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires;.
2._______________(Change)
your _______________(attitude).
23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; V. 23
A. Do not fixate on your ___________________(current) behavior - focus on your
________________________(righteous) ________________________(position) in
Christ.
Romans 6:1-18 (pg. 799) says:
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so
that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin;
how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know
that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4We were therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5If we have
been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united
with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old
self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we
died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For
we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death
no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he
died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the
same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that
you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of
your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to
God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of
your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For
sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law
but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when
you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the
one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to
obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be
to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the
form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have
been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I put this
in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to
offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing
wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control
of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that
time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is
eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
B. Do not focus on the behavior you
______________(don’t) _________________(want) because
you will receive ___________________(more) of it by ______________________(dwelling)
on that sin.
Romans 7:7-8:2 (pg. 799) says:
7What
shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have
known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what
coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."[b] 8But sin, seizing
the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of
covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9Once
I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life
and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was
intended to bring life actually brought death.
11For sin,
seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through
the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is
holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13Did
that which is good, then, become death to me? By no
means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in
me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become
utterly sinful.
14We know
that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do
not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do
not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it
is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful
nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the
good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who
do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find
this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of
sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I
am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks
be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to
God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus,[d] 2because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and
death.
NOTE: Instead of dwelling on your sins of
the past, _____________________(confess) them to God,
__________________(claim) the _________________(blood) of Jesus over it and
_________________ ______________(move on) with your life.
1 John 1:8-9 says:
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.
Philippians 3:10-16 (pg. 832)
10I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
15All of us
who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you
think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only
let us live up to what we have already attained.
C. Quit dwelling on the past and instead
always focus on the __________________ __________________ ___________________(desired end result).
Colossians 3:1-3 (pg. 834) says:
1Since,
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your
minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear
with him in glory.
Philippians 4:6-8 (pg. 832) says:
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present
your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.
8Finally,
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—think about such things.
Matthew 7:7-11 (pg. 685) says:
7"Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who
seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9"Which
of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or
if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you,
then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
3._________________(Replace) the ___________(old) behavior with a ______________(new)
and _________________(Godly) one – This is only possible after you
____________________(think) new and Godly thoughts.
24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness.
QUESTIONS: What new thoughts do you need
to think in order to change old hurtful behaviors into new healthy, productive
ones?
2 Corinthians 10:5 says:
5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets
itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.