Fish Bait

The New King James Version Chapter 1

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (v. 12)

James starts by saying that anyone who endures temptation is blessed.

This is pointing to the Beatitudes where Jesus lists people that are Blessed

We are blessed because through enduring the temptation or (having stood the test), we are approved by God

Withstanding the test gives us approval to receive the Crown of Life

We will receive the Crown of Life because God has promised to give it to us and God keeps His promises

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

We are the source of our temptation

James commands that we do not think that God is the source of our temptation.

God’s desire is for good not evil (Gen. 1)

The New King James Version Chapter 3

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam and Eve tried to shift the blame onto others (but really onto God Himself)

The desire comes from ourselves when we are “Drawn away by our own desires and enticed (or lured)”

The Greek word for “being enticed” means being lured. The noun is bait, it is a fishing term. So James is giving us a picture of how temptation works.

We are fish, in Matt 4:19 and Mark 1:17, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to become “Fishers of Men”

So, on one hand, Jesus is fishing for us, trying to get us to follow Him

But this world is full of desires that are dragging us away from Him and luring us

Like different type of fish, we all have different bait that lures us more than others

We all have a CHOICE of which bait we eat!!!

I urge you today DON’T TAKE THE BAIT THIS WORLD OFFERS!!!

James tells us what it leads to

The New King James Version Chapter 1

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

We need to fight temptation at the beginning

James uses conception and birth as a metaphor of the process of sin

When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, ultimately gives birth to death.

The sin grows (It is like Larryboy in Veggie tales) He tells a little fib, and overtime it grows until it is destroying the city.

When do you have to stop the sin?

You have to stop the desire before the conception, otherwise it’s too late!

Otherwise we our sin will grow and it will lead to our death.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If we sin, we will die, but Jesus died for us so that when we have been approved, we will receive the Crown of Life.

We all have a CHOICE of which bait we eat!!

God provides a better way

The New King James Version Chapter 1

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

James is begging us, “Don’t be deceived”

And we need not be deceived

God is not the source of temptation or evil, instead, He is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (v. 17)

God has given us many gifts: His Word that we may overcome our desires.

God gave us the Word of Truth, Jesus, that we may not be dead in sin, but rather “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”. Christ is the firstfruit 1 Cor. 15:20, 23, and we are supposed to grow to become a kind of Him.

Sin “brings forth death” but God “brought us forth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures”

Appeal

I can sense that there are people here today who are lured by the things this world has to offer. I know that we are all tempted and lured by something. Something that tempts you again and again. It may be different for you than it is for me, but I can sense that someone has something heavy on their heart that they know is dragging them away.

Whatever this is, and you know what it is, I want to invite you to give it to God right now. I invite you to receive the forgiveness that we can receive because of the gift of Jesus Christ, who came to this very Earth, and was tempted just as we were, yet without sin. He conquered sin, and then He conquered the death that sin brings forth so that you don’t have to sin, and you don’t have to die the death that you deserve. Friends, I want to invite you to lay aside the bait that this world offers you, for we know that that bait brings forth death, and instead, choose the bait that God offers us, because the man who endures temptation and has been approved will receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.