The Steps to Destruction

Introduction

The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

A lovely poem if you are going on a stroll and don’t care about where you end up, but if you are meaning to get someone specific or to avoid somewhere harmful and dangerous, whither then? is pretty important.

A road is a way that shows you and makes it easy for you to get to a destination. When you encounter a road, you can either chance to follow it to whereever it might lead, or look into its destination on a map to see whether it truly ends where you mean to go. If there were a road to deeath, you would surely want to know where every road led.

Today we are going to talk about the path into sin. Micah addresses spacifically some of the rich and powerful in Judah who were using their influence to oppress. We can see a progression in their sins and how it, like a road, brought them from a place of blessing and prosperity to a place or ruin and darkness.

The Path into Sin

It Starts in the Head

“Woe” a cry used in mourning the dead. To say, “woe” to someone is to say that they are as good as dead and should be pittied for the state that they bring upon themselves.

This “woe” is pronounced on those who devise wickedness. This isn’t those who have a wicked thought pass temporarily through their mind, but who welcome those thoughts if it feels good. They are not careful to chase away lust, anger and bitterness, dishonouring thoughts, or selfish plans from their minds. They let into their head whatever suits them, whatever makes them feel good, and whatever gives them a taste of the fulfilment they would have to live out those desires.

Those who know that their thoughts are wrong may give a half-hearted attempt to push the thoughts out of their mind, however it is far from the the eye-plucking and hand-removal that Jesus speaks about as the righteous response to sin in our lives. When this half-hearted attempt inevitably fails, they have numbed their conscience with the lie that they “did their best”, and so the thoughts are allowed to stay and fester.

In Continues on their Beds

Thoughts that are tolerated and slowly welcomed until they are encouraged. They start to work through their evil plans in their head, calculating how they may bring them to pass without much personal loss.

When we lie on our bed going to sleep, the distractions and tasks of the day are finished and it is just us and our thoughts. Our minds go to default in a way, and it is a time when we can easily relax our guard and let thoughts into our mind. It’s also a time when we finally have time to go over the day that has passed and the things we have to look forward to tomorrow.

These people use this time to think about how they can carry out their sinful desires, and this shows much more than a simple lack of self-control. It shows intentionality, not just in thoughts but in eventual 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.

James gives us insight into how sin comes about. It begins with desire, which lures our mind until we begin to make decisions based on those desires. The desires are entertained and when the mind and desire come together the soul become pregnant with an evil action. Not committed yet, it grows through nights of thinking and dwelling more and more, excuses invented, motives disguised, victimhood embraced, lies believed, truths covered and erased. Eventually, it gives birth to sin and puts one on a road to death. The more mature this “wicked pregnancy” gets, the more difficult and painful it is to abort. And the older the sin gets once it has actually become an action it gets even harder to kill until it finally kills you.

These “desires” are not specifically evil, they are quick broad actually. The problem is not that the desires are there, the problem is the persons willingness to be ruled by desires rather than truth. Because if you are led by desires, and since we are born with a sinful nature, we are bound to sin under that rule.

The people in our text are ruled, not by God’s Word, but by their own desires. These desires are often referred to by the NT authors as the flesh and it is opposed the the Spirit, so that one can either submit to the Spirit of God, or their flesh, they cannot do both.

Just as sin gives birth to death, the wicked thoughts that these devisors work out in their minds on their beds give birth to the sin when they awake. The reason they perform the sin is because they have the power in their hand to do it. However, it is not power that is the problem, it is their desire empowered by power. Their desires have eaten away at their conscious and belief in God’s word, and now power has given them the oppertunity. There are two great tests of faith in this life, one is suffering but even greater is the test of power.

In verse 2 we see the specific sin identified: theft. That sin doesn’t come out of nowhere, it begins with coveting and leads to theft, seizing fields and houses, and oppressing the rightful owners. James may have had this text in mind when he wrote,

James 4:2–3 ESV

You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

God’s people are being judged to being slaves to their desires and not to God, and this has lead to all kinds of sinful behaviour.

God’s Coming Disastor

Pride is the cornerstone of self-reliance, and self-reliance predicates willful and sinful behaviour. So it is pride that is the first and primary target of God’s anger. The disaster that God is preparing is like a yoke that they will not be able to free their necks of.

Conclusion