The Bait of Satan
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THE DECEPTION IN FISHING
Growing up in the foothills of North Carolina, my grandpa and I used every excuse conceivable to steal away, out to the water, so that we could drop a line and go fishing. It didn't matter if we were trolling quietly up the Yadkin river, sitting on the bank under the shade of a weeping willow tree, in flip-flops on the sandy shore of Holden Beach, or miles from land in my papa's boat, rocking rhythmically to the waves and cooled by the misty wind. So long as we had a rod in our hand, a fish on the line, and the sun to our backs, we were in hog-heaven.
In case you have never been fishing before, one of the core principles of that enterprise is deception. A great fisherman will not only have the proper gear for his location, but he will invest the effort toward understanding the desires and inclinations of the fish he is after. Then he will liberally give them precisely what they want, yet with one metallic twist.
The idea behind fishing is to take something that is good – something that the fish cannot resist – and then hide a barbed dagger inside it to hook them as soon as they indulge. Their ignorant lust for the lure leads them to their tragic demise. In this sense, the bait is what drags from safety and security to the grill and the plate. The whole process is pretty gruesome when you set about describing it.
SATANIC SIMILARITIES
In the garden, Satan adopted a very similar posture towards man. He cleverly disguised that first golden hook of sin in the beautiful flesh of a forbidden fruit and tossed the perfect cast before her lustful eyes. He said:
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."– Genesis 3:5
Her eyes dazzled with a peculiar glimmer never known before. Instantly, she wanted this thing more than anything else she owned. And then, after sharing it with her husband, that barbed hook of guilt, shame, and death dragged the unsuspecting couple into the boat of Satan and away from the tranquil pleasures of knowing God.
The same is true for us today; Satan lures us away from God by using our unholy affections against us. Like a good fisherman, he has studied us well and chooses the exact baits we cannot resist. And while the bait may differ from person to person, depending on their peculiarities and personality, the hook will always be the same.
Every temptation we sink our teeth into, regardless of what attracts us, will lead to the same destination. Once that Satanic hook is set in the lip, we find ourselves dragged violently away from God. For this reason, our greatest defense must not be spent trying to get off the hook once we clamp down but fighting our desires so that we do not fall for the bait in the first place.
To that end, let me give you three things to think about as you seek to avoid sin and gain victory over your temptations.
1. SCRIPTURE DEFINES SIN AS CORRUPTION
Every Christian knows we should avoid sin and temptation. I hardly need to describe this fact since it nears the realms of truism. From our earliest moments in the Kingdom, we have been taught that sin and temptations are utterly dangerous and damaging to the soul of man. They are not shiny treats for us to nibble on or be nourished by on occasion. Instead, they are piercing daggers dragging us from intimacy with God.
Paul (along with the rest of Holy Scripture) speaks about sin as a poison we dare not ingest, arrows to be armored against, and rotten flesh that ought never be gratified. Instead of caving to our carnality, we are told to beat it thoroughly into submission. We are admonished to make consistent and diligent war upon it. Why? Because sin is more deadly than the most aggressive forms of terminal cancer, it must be fled from if we have even a modicum of desire for spiritual vibrancy or nearness with the living God! (Rm. 8:13; 12:9;1 Thess. 5:22; Heb. 3:13).
We would do well to share the opinion of the Puritans, who made some of the most vivid claims about the nature of sin after studying the Scriptures most diligently. For instance, Thomas Watson once said:
"What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath." - Thomas Watson
Thomas Brooks, who wrote the definitive guide for avoiding temptations, described it this way:
"Sin is a plague, yes, the worst and most infectious plague in the world, and yet, ah! How few are there who tremble at it--who keep at a distance from it!" - Thomas Brooks
When we let Scripture, and faithful divines from Church history, aid us in understanding what sin really is, then the only logical action resulting would be to direct all of our energies and efforts in consistently avoiding it.
2. SIN OFFERS FLEETING PLEASURES
We should also avoid sin because the temporary pleasures it affords will quickly fade into soul-eroding sorrows, untold miseries, and shame that binds itself to the soul like wet superglue on the fingers. Like a cup of antifreeze, it may go down sweet to the taste, but it will soon wreak havoc upon the bowels. Sin cannot deliver upon its promises. For whatever droplet of pleasure may be gained, a wave of pain torrent be forming to afflict you.
For those in Christ, the good news is that sin will not permanently separate us from our God. But like the North Carolina tides, it will drag you down the coastline away from the one your soul loves, bringing distance and division between us and Him.
We may praise Jesus with all our hearts that He has paid the damnation our sin has earned. We may be rightly over the moon that we can no longer, finally and forever, be separated from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. We can say yes and amen to that! But, O, how foolish it would be to know that love of God and go on ignoring sin's paralyzing effects. For, while it will not condemn us, it will vandalize us. Though it cannot damn us, it most certainly will distract us and distance us from the pleasure of knowing Him.
Knowing this, our most reasonable effort would be to avoid sin at all costs, lest we get hooked on something we do not really want and dragged away from the God we truly love. Sin cannot satisfy us. Our hearts were made for more.
3. SIN LEADS TO ACCUSATIONS
Thirdly, we should avoid sin because indulging in it gives Satan free reign to accuse us. Just like forgetting to close the hen house door mocks the fox to dare come in, sin lays out the red carpet for the dragon to come in and torment us. This is his modus operandi.
In fact, his name, "Satan," means "the accuser," which is more than an appropriate title for him. When we sin, in addition to the guilt and shame we inherit, Satan waits eagerly to pounce upon us, ready to hurl accusations at us the moment we give in. He lies to us with a silver tongue when wooing us and then pierces us with his scaly lips once we have fallen. Like a concentration camp for captured soldiers, sin gets us caught behind enemy lines waiting to be tortured by our captor. And with one lie after another, he buries us in the bonds of shame, regret, and self-loathing.
OUR BEST DEFENCE AND REMEDY
Again, our best defense against these schemes is to avoid them altogether. If we are diligent in fleeing the bait, by the power of the Holy Spirit, then we ever remain safe from the perils of that awful hook. Paul teaches us this principle in Romans 12:9, saying:
"Detest what is evil; cling to what is good." – Romans 12:9
This is the remedy and the cure for our temptation. Abhor what is evil. Run from it. Flee it. Do not indulge it. And then, with all your heart, cling to what is good. Both of these actions are necessary if we want to live in victory.
Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging through concepts that I have learned in “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices” by Thomas Brooks. If you would like the very best treatment on the subject of avoiding sin, I suggest picking up that book. It is masterful!
