How to Do Life
Look For the Hook
James 1:13-16
* Fishing is a fun sport and I really like it. Dad has a catfish pond and almost every time we go home, I wet a hook. However, do you know what I’ve discovered about those fish? They’re fickled. The bait that they ‘tear up’ one day will not even be touched the next day. As you know, we have to take a hook and cover it with bait so that the fish will bite.
* Do you know that Satan does the same thing? He works had at knowing what bait we are taking today. One day it may be pride, the next day it may be lust, and the next day it may be money. Never forget Satan knows our weakness (what bait we’ll go after) and he knows when we are the weakest (when our hearts a susceptible to his wiles. Scripture is laced with people who took the bait and fell into sin. We can name David, Ananias & Sapphire, and even Nicolas (Acts 6). These folks and their stories are not told to shame them as much as give us instruction about Satan’s tactics & the danger of succumbing to temptation.
* Satan has all kinds of bait. When we get serious about our walk with Christ Satan will pull out the very lure that, he believes, will catch our eye. As a general rule, it will not be a frontal assault on our faith, rather it will be a side door or back door approach where he can sneak into our lives, give us a little immediate gratification and result in long term problem. He’ll simply ‘dangle the bait’ until we take it.
1) The Camouflage of Temptation – I use this ‘hunting’ word because it most of us understand it and because it fits so properly in this context. To wear this type of clothing means you’re attempting to blend in with your background. I remember hunting for dear before we had to wear orange. It was in my younger years, but some of those guys were so camouflaged that they almost got shot! This is how temptation comes. For the believer (James was writing to believers), obviously the thought had come that “God’ was sending the temptation to do evil. James speaks definitively saying, “Don’t blame God!” At this point, we need to make a distinction between trials and temptations. Temptations are birthed in the enemy and are intended to do us harm while trials are sent from the Father to help us mature.
* The Bible says, the God does not tempt and is not tempted. His nature is Holy and Righteous so the allure of temporal things on this earth can never touch Him like they touch us. I have heard people who are in the middle of an adulterous affair say, “God gave him/her to me.” The problem with this is that it doesn’t stand up to the scrutiny of scripture. God never sends anything our way which tempts us to be immoral. He never offers us the way to be dishonest. So we can never say, “God tempted me.” (Adam-illus)
2. The Cause of Temptation – While we recognize that temptation comes from the enemy, we need to take a closer look at what the Bible says.
a) Sinful Desires – (14) This verse gives us a true to life picture for the basis of our temptation. Here is how we are tempted; we are ‘drawn away.’ If you read different translations you get a sense of what they two words actually mean. It is interpreted as carried away, dragged away and lured away. Thus, we find the hook. Our own sinful and selfish desires possess a hook from the enemy which he uses to lure us, carry us, and even drag us. Think about fishing say for bass. The artificial bait is called a lure and has all kind of hooks attached to it. Fishermen use whatever bait will lure the fish and once the hook is set, the fish is literally dragged to the boat and carried inside the boat where the fish does not want to be. The reason he is not where he wanted to be is because he took the bait. The cause of our temptation is that our eyes and thoughts control us more than does our heart so we are dragged away by the hook of Satan. Speaking of Satan;
b) Satanic Deception - (16) At the end of verse 14 is the word ‘entice.” How does Satan entice us? He makes us believe his lure is something good for us. When I lived in Moss Point, MS, I would join other guys in ‘crabbing.’ The cage was set with some kind of ‘food in it.’ The crab is unable to resist any offer of easy food, so he could come into the cage and be TRAPPED! This would cost him HIS life. Satan dangles his lure in front of us and makes it all too appealing only to trap us. Verse 16 gives us a needed warning. Do not ere (I.E. be deceived, mislead), my brothers. Satan big gun is deception & he regularly pulls out his big guns.
c) Sorrowful Disobedience - (15) We need to never forget that disobedience is sin and that sin is disobedience. It happens something like this; God tells us to do ‘something’, it doesn’t matter what it is, it is what He wants. Now, the way this goes is that we get a sense in our prayer time that God wants us to take an action such as taking the lead in a ministry, resolve a hurt, restore a relationship, or any of a hundred things. Candidly, we don’t want to do it, so we face a dilemma. Will I be obedient or not? Sad to say, but anything less than OBEDIENCE (complete) is disobedience & disobedience is a sin. This temptation to do less than HE asks & leads to us to sin.
* A pastor or deacon stops finding time to spend with God each morning. He can rationalize and justify it, but as his heart stops beating hot for God, there is another one who will step with an offer.
3. The Course of Temptation – To read verses 14 & 15 is to clearly understand that temptation is never satisfied, there is always something else. It has a mind of its own, takes nothing but prisoners, and leaves its victims in a decimated state. No matter where you begin, it always leads to one end and that is not good. Look at its course, the journey, or the trek.
a) It is Progressive – (Re-read verses 14-15) Can you see the trek or course of temptation? When we allow our desires to control us, we have impregnated our hearts and minds with a self-serving thought which ultimately gives birth to sin. Sin is an affront to God. It doesn’t matter what type of sin because there are no levels of sin in God’s eyes. Sin always leads to something. Several years ago, Charles Stanley taught me about this in a message. He used his five fingers which illustrate; ‘thought, consideration, attitude, action, and habit.’ To understand this concept shows the progressive nature of sin.
* Do you remember the old “Lays Potato Chip” ad? It said, “no one can eat just one.” That is the progressive nature of sin. It will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and make you pay more than you want to pay. It doesn’t stop there.
b) It is Regressive - Once Satan has his hooks in you, he’ll drag you back (like a fish) to places you don’t want to go. You’ll be fighting battles that you thought were already won. The habits that once held you captive will resurface in your life and you’ll find yourself developing the attitude that ‘just one more time’ won’t hurt. But it does and it will. Temptation will lure you to where you do not want to go. This is why Proverbs tells us to “Guard our hearts.” A recovering alcoholic cannot frequent bars or hang out with his drinking buddies because he’ll be pulled back into the fray. Sin is addictive and we are all addicted! Satan knows this & uses it against us.
c) It Is Oppressive – Watch the oppression for the believer. God has saved us through His Son, Jesus, and has promised us abundant life here & eternal life over there. Our lust (desires) gives birth to sin and sin (when it is fully grown) gives birth to death. Death is the opposite of life. Let me offer you a warning about the oppressiveness of sin. I offer 2 Biblical examples. First, in Acts 5 we read the story of Ananias and his wife. They lied to the Spirit of God by lying to the church leaders and they were oppressed to death. Sometimes sin is so severe that God will end a life abruptly. The next illustration comes from Genesis. Adam and Eve sinned and no longer enjoyed the fellowship, the company, and the communion with God. Dear friends, this is Satan’s plan for us. He wants to tempt us to live in sin and absent of fellowship with our Savior. His hook will pull us away.
4. The Consequences of Temptation - When we adhere or succumb to temptation and sin, we open ourselves us for consequences which we don’t want to think about. It was almost 20 years ago that I heard Foster Christy tell the story about the young lady who saved her money to go to Florida for spring break. Down there she met “the man.” She was so sure, so quickly, that she decided to move in His hotel room with him (to save money). He left one morning before she awakened and left her a little present.
* It was a small box with a note that said, “Welcome to the World of Aids.” Sixty days later, she tested positive for HIV. I ask this question: Perhaps it is not a moral sin (maybe it is), maybe it’s the sin of dishonesty, gossip, or anger, but whatever it is, ‘Have we taken the bait Satan is offering us?’ Have we swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, to the point that we are being led around by the enemy?
* TO BELIEVERS – I ask, “Has something stolen your joy? When you pray, do you sense something between you and God? Could it be that you have yielded to temptation?
* To Non-believers- Satan has you right where he wants you. He has his hook so deeply rooted in you that you have little defense against his workings.
5. The Cure of Temptation – Admittedly, these verses do not offer us a cure for temptation, but I would be remiss without offering some Biblical solution.
a) A Persistent Courage – 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 concludes by telling us to take every thought captive. For the person who believes that the life of a believer is a rose garden, be reminded that the rose bush is full of thorns. It takes courage to stand with the Lord because most of the time standing with the Lord begins by kneeling before the Lord.
b) A Personal Cleansing – What do we do when we kneel before Him? 1 John 1:9 tells us to come clean and confess. It is only when we take responsibility for our failure (sins) and confesses them that we will be forgiven and cleansed. God is as good as His word and tells us to confess our sin and we will be cleansed. This is not a one-time action; this is in the present perfect tense as it is ongoing.
c) A Practical Course of Action – May I suggest that we use the same weaponry as did Jesus. His 3 recorded temptations demonstrate His knowledge of God’s word. What we know today as Bible drills used to be called “Sword drills” because we actually saw the Bible as our defensive and offensive weapon. Sadly as we have so many other things, we have dropped the Biblical concept of the word of God as being our sword. Hebrews 4:12 tells us it is better and sharper than any sword. This is why we must linger over the word, meditate on it, and even memorize it. Psalms 119 tells us that the way to not sin is to hide God’s word in our heart.
* Hew Haw became a National Treasure. On one show Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, “Well then, stay out of them places.”
* May we keep our eyes on the prize and stay out of ‘them places.’
