Satan's Tackle Box

For the main message today, Mr. Ben Light.

Well, thank you, Mr. Richards, and good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Richards is right. We did have kind of an interesting drive over this morning. We had a chance to see both of Oregon's seasons, which is rain or snow in the situation that we had, or dry. I much prefer dry, but yeah, we had a chance to see some relatively interesting weather this morning. But it went well. We made it and didn't have any issues. The sanding trucks were already out on the pass first thing this morning, and it was pretty good going over, so no big deal there. Well, as many of you may know, I'm a fisherman.

I have a bit of a problem, though, when it comes to fishing. I've been known to stand in 38-degree water in a pair of waders, throwing cast after cast after cast in pursuit of winter steelhead. Snow falling around me, I haven't felt my toes in the past four hours, haven't had a bite.

Cast after cast after cast to go home with nothing. One weekend, I decided that my local river, the North Saniam, didn't have enough opportunities for steelhead, so I drove two to two and a half hours south to the Alcee to come home empty-handed. Four-hour car ride. I don't even want to think about the gas. It was in my 10-mile-per-gallon truck. Don't even want to think about that. But I've also had trips where I've lost close to $30 in gear on a single trip, coming home with, once again, nothing to show for it. So, you know, a wise man once said, if you can't do something well, at least learn to enjoy doing it poorly. And so it is with me and fishing. I love it. I'm just not particularly good at it. And, you know, with my previous results in mind, there have been mornings where I've woken up before dawn, opened the door to the howling wind, the rain coming in sideways, and the mercury on the thermometer a little closer to 30 than 40, and I've just had a moment of clarity. Just close the door, fire up the coffee pot, and dig out my tying vise and some books on how to fish for steelhead instead of spending the days not feeling my extremities. Now, I fish with jigs primarily, and for those of you that are unfamiliar, I went ahead and brought a couple of these so you can see what I'm talking about.

A steelhead jig consists of a weighted hook, or weighted head, rather, attached to a razor-sharp hook. Okay, they've got feather and fur used to kind of create a rather enticing presentation, some sparkle in there, some different colors. And you might notice that as you look at it, you know, the patterns and the colors really are only limited by your imagination.

You're not looking for realism. The goal here is not realism. In fact, it's not at all like fly fishing where you're trying to match the hatch or match the food. You're just trying to provoke a very specific response. You want this jig to appear as intrusive as possible, as much an intruder as you possibly can when you float that by that steelhead.

Steelhead are aggressive territorial fish, and your goal is to make it attack without thinking. Your goal is to make it snap at that lure without considering what it is, just snapping to get it out of its space.

Or you're trying to dress it up so much with so much flash and so much color and so much sparkle that it just can't resist what it sees. So I sat at my kitchen table one morning that was just too miserable to go out, and I was reading a book by a local author named Scott Haughgan, and he was discussing on certain ways to fish for these animals, and one of the statements he made in the book absolutely reached out and slapped me in the face.

It was so profound, but not because of the context of fishing. His quote said, you're not targeting every fish in a given hole. You're only looking for one fish, one fish that will rise to the bait, throw caution to the wind, and bite. Now, given our background and given what we know about our spiritual life, my wheels really started turning at this point, and I started looking at it from a little bit of a different standpoint than perhaps Mr. Haughgan intended, but let's start today by looking at Mark 1. If you turn over to Mark 1, we'll start in verse 14, and what we'll do is take a look at this analogy we're going to explore today, kind of starting to develop.

So Mark 1 verse 14, we'll take a look through verse 18, ultimately. Now Mark 1 verse 14 says, Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. And as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus, ever the one with the language and the wording and the plays on words, said, Follow me, and I will make you become, instead of fishermen, I will make you become fishers of men.

Okay, a little play on words there. But if the disciples were to become fishers of men, in other words, seeking out casting nets to capture individuals for Christ's service, is it unreasonable for us to think that on the opposite side of that coin, there's someone angling for followers as well? Throwing that sin out there on the end of the line, just patiently waiting, just patiently waiting for one of us to come along and bite.

The epiphany that I had as I read through what Mr. Hoggins had wrote, was I realized that Satan is just like a fisherman. Only instead of pursuing fish, he's actively pursuing God's people. You know, fishing is an interesting endeavor.

What works one day doesn't always work the next. Some days it's green lures, some days it's red lures, some days it's eggs, some days it's spinners, and it's on and on. You start with one thing, and you work your way through until you figure out what's working, and then you hone in on using that all day.

Well, when Satan tempts us, he follows this exact same pattern. He starts with one lure, and when that lure doesn't work, he switches it up. He starts with the next, until he can find the one that we'll rise to. Let's take a look at this pattern of temptation. We actually have a great example we can see outlined in Scripture for this, so if you'd flip over to Matthew 4, not too far from where we are right now, we'll go over to Matthew 4. We'll take a look at Satan's attempt at tempting Christ. So Matthew 4, we'll start in verse 1.

So Matthew 4, verse 1, says, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights—probably the biggest understatement in the entire Bible—when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.

Big understatement! But when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

But he answered him, and he said, Is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And the devil then took him up unto the holy city, said him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Again the devil took him up onto an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

And he said to him, All these things I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me.

And Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

So we see a pattern of temptation here. The first lure didn't work, but what did he start with? He started with what he perceived was on his mind the most.

You haven't eaten for 40 days. You've got to be famished.

You know, I have an idea. Why don't you go ahead and just turn these rocks right here, turn them into bread, satisfy those physical desires, satisfy that hunger that is just absolutely digging at you. Okay, in this case, Christ in the account rebukes him. Devil's unturned. So in this case, you know, green didn't work for today. Let's switch over to red. His next one, say, so if, notice he says, if, if you're the Son of God.

Satan knew full well he was. Satan knew he was. That was an attempt to get him to try to prove something. Says, if you're the Son of God, prove it. Throw yourself off the top of the temple. Prove it not just to me, but prove it to the Pharisees. Prove it to everybody. Show them all.

Not enough. Christ didn't bite. He had the focus, despite not even eating for 40 days, to be able to rebuke him one more time instead of letting him get the better of him. So we got strike two for Satan. Now Satan pulls out his go-to lure.

All good fishermen have a go-to lure. I'm not a good fisherman. I don't have one. But all good fishermen have a go-to lure. And if we think of Satan as anything less than a good fisherman, I think we do ourselves a terrible disservice. We have to recognize what we're up against. And what happens with a go-to lure? That is the lure that works in nearly every circumstance that's there. If a fisherman spends the day fishing with nothing to show for it, they'll save that go-to lure for their last few casts, and about 90% of the time they'll pick up a fish. Those lures are so effective. Honestly, I have seen grown men nearly cry over losing one. I'm serious. I have seen grown men nearly come to tears over losing a go-to lure. So what was Satan's go-to lure here? Let's take a look at his third attempt at the temptation. So Satan's thinking to himself, you know, you're not hungry enough. That didn't work. Clearly you have no need to prove yourself. So how about I give you all of this? Shows him everything. It's yours to rule. Just fall down and worship me. This isn't an offer of power.

I'll say that again. It's not an offer of power. It may seem that way, but look closer. Satan knew Jesus was the Son of God. He knew God's plan. He knew that Christ would rule the world anyway. So what was Satan really offering him here? He was offering him the opportunity to not have to suffer and die and still get the same thing that he would get at the end result.

What he offered him was what we sometimes call the easy way out. That's one of the most effective effective lures in Satan's arsenal. Effective lure. Satan's telling him, I can give you the world. You don't have to suffer. You don't have to die. I can give it to you right now.

All you have to do is join me. All you have to do is worship me.

The beautiful part about this account and why it's such an excellent example is we see that on this day Satan got skunked. He went home with nothing to show for his efforts. Christ didn't bite, not once. God's way of life is hard. It requires us to make very difficult choices in order for us to live in a way that pleases God. How many biblical examples can you think of that have fallen for the easy way out? Start at the beginning of the book and just work your way forward. You'll find tons. You'll find plenty. Three just off the top of my head, Peter. Peter took the easy way out. You know, the hard thing to have done would have been to admit that he was with Christ. Instead, he took the easy way out. He denied him three times. Jonah was told, Hey, go minister over here to the Ninevites. He took the easy way out. He took off. He ran. Nope. I'm out of here. That's the easy way out. Solomon should have told his wives, No, I won't build your temples. But instead, he said, Okay, all right, I'll do it. He took the easy way out. You know, the list goes on. We have to be on the lookout for that lure, as it's caught quite a few people before before us. But that is one of those effective lures that Satan has in his arsenal. In addition to the easy way out, what are some of his other go-tos? In other words, what else should we be on the lookout for in our lives? And we'll spend the rest of our time today examining the specific lures that catch people up regularly. You know, when it comes down to it, Satan's tackle box is filled with lures that fit one of three primary categories. We've mentioned two of them already. It's the two attitudes that we're looking for in Steelhead here in Oregon when we fish, and it's anger, lust, and pride. Anger, lust, and pride. Those are the three categories of Satan's lures that will trip up people majority of the time.

If you turn over with me to Numbers 20, we'll take a look at how anger can provide a danger to us. Turn over to Numbers 20.

It will be in verse 8.

Numbers 20, verse 8. We'll take a look at a situation that happened with Moses and the entire host of Israel not too long after they made their move out of Egypt.

So Numbers 20, verse 8 says, take the... or I'm sorry, let me give you a little bit of background going into this. I don't want to spend the time on the context scripturally, but we'll go through. You know, if there's one thing Israel was good at, it was complaining.

If there's one thing that Israel was good at in the Old Testament, it was complaining.

Prior to this scripture, you know, we had this situation where the entire host of Israel came to Moses starting in with, we don't have any water. Then it went to, you know, it's too hot. And we don't have any figs. We don't have any fruit. What have you done? Drug us out here to die?

It would have been better to have stayed in Egypt, they told Moses.

Moses and Aaron needed help. They went to God in his tabernacle and they asked for help. We'll pick that story up again in verse 8. So, number 20, verse 8. God tells them specifically, take the rod. You and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water. Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and to their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock?

Now, one more time, take a look at that. Hear now, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock?

Then Moses lifted his hand and he struck the rock twice with the rod. Water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. And verse 12, Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

Moses in this example was extremely irritated, and to a certain extent rightly so. He had spent years trekking through the wilderness, listening to all of the whining and the complaining of the Israelite host. Now they're whining again about not having enough water. Moses had enough. He was irritated, and he was not thinking straight. In fact, he was so irritated in verse 10, the word rebels that is translated there is from the Hebrew word mara, which means unpleasant, bitter, and rebellious. So he actually was referring to them pretty rudely. I mean, it's not quite an insult to our our brains today, but you know, back then that was not a nice thing to say. You know, he and Aaron both knew that the instruction from God that we see in verse 8 was to speak to the rock. They both knew it. They both heard him. But instead of doing it right, Moses got angry, struck the rock. Not once, but twice, and in the process disobeyed God's instructions. And in doing so, implied that it was him and Aaron that was responsible for bringing the water. They were the ones that provided the miracle, not God, and that mistake cost them the promised land. His own anger cut him off from God's promise to his people. You know, in fishing, it's all about the presentation. It's about making it look as natural as possible, just letting that lure drift right on through the current like it's supposed to be there.

In both of these cases, Satan floated a perfect little presentation right past Moses. Right past Moses and Aaron, perfect little presentation. They were irritated. They weren't thinking straight. And then here comes the bait. Moses took it. He snapped. He took the bait. And it cost him.

You know, Moses wasn't new at getting angry to the point of losing his control. You know, he's one of the meekest that's in there, but he wasn't new to this process. Let's take a look at Exodus 2 real quick. We'll see a previous situation. He had a bit of history in this department. So Exodus 2.

We'll start in verse 11.

Exodus 2, verse 11, says, And now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian, and he hid him in the sand. And then when he went out of the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking? You are a companion. The man said back to Moses, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? So for Moses, the gig was up. Somebody knew. Okay, somebody found out. Somebody had seen it. Moses knew what he did was wrong. It says right there, he looked both ways. Anybody looking? Nope. Snuck out there and killed the guy. People don't kill when they're cool, calm, and collected. That kind of a personality in the middle of a murder is what we refer to as a sociopath. That's someone that is distanced from the situation. Murder is often a crime of passion. It involves emotion. You know, Moses had just seen one of his own, you know, being messed up by an Egyptian, and he took matters into his own hands.

Anger isn't necessarily the issue. Okay, and they say that again. Anger isn't necessarily the issue. You know, we know that Christ became angry. We saw him flip over the tables in the temple. He was upset. Yet we know that Christ also never sinned. So it is possible to be angry without sinning. Let's take a look at Ephesians 26. So we'll flip over into the New Testament. Now go to Ephesians 26.

I'm sorry, Ephesians 4, verse 26. So at least there's a 26 in there.

So Ephesians 4, verse 26, says, Be you angry and sin not, and don't let the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. And some other translations where it says give place is actually translated as specifically provide a foothold.

So not just give place, but to provide a foothold. So the danger isn't always anger itself.

It's what you do with it. Anger doesn't allow you to think. It doesn't allow you to process. It doesn't allow you to analyze a situation from a logical standpoint. You get caught up in the emotion of it. You get caught up in the situation and you act without thinking. It makes it a lot easier for us to slip up. It makes it a lot easier for us to slip up. And you know that's the reaction that is an angler I'm looking for when I'm floating a jig past a steel head. I don't want it to think. I want it to look at that thing and see it once and go, I don't like that, and snap. Okay, that's the same exact thing Satan's looking for. He's looking for us not to think, not to process the situation, but to just react. Proverbs 14. Let's flip over there real quick. We'll see an excellent proverb that goes along with this. Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14, and we'll start in verse 29. Proverbs 14 verse 29 says, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly. Okay, so those who are slow to wrath have a great understanding, have great wisdom, but those who are impulsive exalt folly. And if you jump up just a little bit, there's another scripture just ahead of that in verse 14 also. Verse 17, this is a quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a man of wicked intentions is hated. God tells us specifically here it's foolishness to act in anger. We have to process the information. We have to examine it. We have to look at our triggers and our response to the triggers. That takes patience. That's something that I have really got to work on. I don't know about you guys, but patience is not one of my strong points. It's probably the reason I'm not such a good fisherman. But it's foolish to think without acting, or to act without thinking. There we go. It's foolish to act without thinking. We have to examine the situation. We have to make sure that what we think we're seeing is really what we're seeing. Otherwise, we stand a good chance of ending up on the end of that line, if we're not careful. You know, another of the effective lures in Satan's arsenal is lust. And that is one of those things that is all over the Bible. It tells us to beware of. We'll start by taking a look at 1 John 2. Let's go ahead and flip over to 1 John 2, and we'll start in verse 15. This particular chapter discusses the things of the world. So 1 John 2, verse 15, warns us of the things of the world, those things to avoid.

1 John 2, verse 15 says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, so the sum total of everything that is in the world, is broken down into three categories. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It's not of the Father, but it's of the world. And the world is passing away in the lust of it, but for he who does the will of God abides forever. Two out of the three categories of the sum total of the things that are in the world belong to the category of lusts.

So it's broken down here into two specific categories. The word lust itself is actually translated from the Greek word epithelia. Epithhelia means to basically to long for, is what we're talking about when we talk about this. Just a longing for something.

You know, in the categories of lust here that we look at, we see mentioned the lust of the flesh, and we see mentioned the lust of the eyes. Well, lust of the flesh are physical desires. They're carnal desires in nature. Galatians 5, 19, we won't turn over there, but you can jot that down in your notes, has a list of the types of actions and attitudes that pertain to this.

So the lust of the flesh can be broken down into works of the flesh, and that's what you'll see in Galatians 5, 19. The lust of the eyes, though, is a little bit different. It can actually be a few different things. It can be a desire for material things. It can be a desire for riches, for power.

And to a certain extent, the lust of the eyes can become lust of the flesh. And so they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. We're just strongly warned to stay away from both carnal desires and desires for material increase. You know, there are numerous examples in Scripture that deal with the dangers of lust, and we're going to start today with probably the most well-known example, that of King David. So let's go over to 2 Samuel 11. It's one of those stories we could probably recite in our sleep. But 2 Samuel verse 11. I want to take a look at a couple of specifics.

As soon as I can find 2 Samuel.

So 2 Samuel 11. And we'll pick up the story of King David in the Beshivi... I'll try to get that Shiva. Samuel 11 starting in verse 1. So Samuel 11 verse 1 says, It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening... So this is the actual situation. It happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliyam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity, and was returned to her house. And the woman conceived, so she sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

We see a major example of a pretty solid error here. In fact, the first portion of this, verse 2, is actually fairly innocent if you look at the beginning. He comes out on this roof, happens to see a woman bathing. At that point, no harm, no foul. Go back inside.

Back inside. But he didn't. He noticed she was beautiful, and that's where it began.

He noticed she was beautiful. He inquired who she was, was informed she was married, sent for her anyway, knowingly committed adultery, and then plotted a way to have her husband killed.

In David's case, not only did he bite, but the lust took hold.

In terms of our analogy, the hook stuck. You know, when you're fishing, you'll get bites, you'll get nibbles, and you've got to set the hook. You've got to drive that point in, so that that barb holds. In David's case, the point where that hook was set was right after he saw her on the roof. He noticed she was beautiful, and it was all downhill from there. That hook stuck.

Once that hook is in, it's very difficult to get off of that hook. Fish can figure out how. They wheel around, and they rip around, and every now and again it'll come loose. More often than not, when that barbs in, that fish is coming to the bank. As with all sin, sin begins with temptation. Temptation isn't sin in and of itself. We see that in the example of Christ's temptation we visited earlier. Christ was tempted, yet did not sin. So it's possible to be tempted and not sin.

The trick is you have to move away from the sin, not towards it. And in this case with David, he moved towards instead of away. He bit, and he was hooked. Thankfully, we see at the end of this an excellent example, though, not only of, you know, a major error here, but we also see a very good example of someone who was very humble and repented sincerely when this was done. He was granted repentance, but not before God exacted a terrible punishment from David. You know, cost him his son. You know, cost him, cost him essentially some other things as well. But, you know, lust of the flesh are difficult for our human nature, but the lust of the eyes can be equally difficult to resist. The lust of riches and power are just much too much for many.

You've been watching the news lately. You've seen the Muslim world start rising up and demanding the ouster of the leaders of some of their countries. It happened in Tunisia. It happened in Egypt. It's attempting to happen in Libya currently. Did all of them just go, okay, I'll step down? Of course not. They fought as much as they could up until the bitter end to not leave that office. And why? Because once you have power, it's so hard to let that power go. You know, you've seen, oh, I can have that. I can have that. I have my own fighter planes. I have tanks. I have all these incredible things. Why would I give this up?

I'm the king. It's very difficult. You know, there's a quote that says, you know, power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. You know, we're seeing that in the case of Muammar Gaddafi. You know, the man's a tyrant, but he just will not let go. Absolutely will not let go. Power is like a drug, and when it comes to being in charge, people love having those riches, those cars, those jets. It becomes really hard to let go of. Let's take a look in the book of Joshua, and we'll see an example of what happens when the lust of the eyes is acted on. Start in chapter 6, and we'll set the story here.

So Joshua 6, to begin with.

Joshua 6 contains the account of the fall of Jericho.

And so in Joshua 6, we're going to start a little bit later in the story. So just for context, you know that Jericho has fallen, the walls have come down, and God is giving explicit directions to Israel about how to go about this. It says in verse 18, as we'll start, 6 verse 18 says, You know, and you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble. Then verse 19, he says, But all of the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord, and they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.

He gave very specific instructions about how things were to proceed once they were inside of Jericho. There were certain things they were not to touch, the other things they were to bring and put into the treasury. End of chapter 6, we take a look at there. Things are looking pretty good for Joshua and company. Things are looking well. Jericho's fallen. Things look good, but then we take a look at the beginning of verse 7. Things have gone south. And for Joshua, especially, he's not even sure why. It surprised him. We're going to read chapter 7 through the account just to get an idea of what's going on here. But in chapter 7, we'll start in verse 1, it says, The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zorah, and the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now, this isn't something that Joshua knew right away. Joshua didn't know this. You know, God didn't whisper into his ear right away that this is what had happened. So Joshua sent men from Jericho, so they just had a major victory at Jericho. So he sent some to Ai, which is near Beth-ev-en, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and they spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said, Don't let all the people go up. We don't need everybody. This isn't going to take everybody. Send up about two or three thousand. We'll go take this place. I mean, after what God did at Jericho, it's going to be real quick. Not a problem. Two or three thousand can cover it. Don't worry about everybody. Don't wear them out. Verse 4 says, About three thousand of them went up from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai.

Men of Ai struck down thirty-six, and they chased them from before the gate as far as Shabbarim, and struck them down on the descent. Therefore, the hearts of the people melted and became like water. So now they're doubting. They just came off of a major victory, and now they're wondering what happened. Why wasn't God with us now? You know, we should have been able to rout these guys. But what happened? Joshua tore his clothes, fell to the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord until evening, and he and the elders of Israel put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over to Jordan at all to deliver us to the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and just dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies?

The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And then what will you do for your great name? Now we get into what happened. The Lord responds and says, Get up. Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel sinned, and they've also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them. For they have taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived, and they have also put it among their own stuff.

So God tells them, Hey, you guys didn't listen to my instructions. Joshua had no idea, but all it took was one fish, one fish, to rise up and take the bait, and the whole host suffered for it. We find out what Achan really did. Says, um, I lost my place, I'm sorry.

Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed thing from you. So this is pretty serious. You know, Josh is realizing if they don't get this figured out, you know, they may have some very, very big problems in the near future, especially the position they were in now at Jericho, fully into the area where, you know, all of their neighbors were not particularly friendly. He says, Get up and sanctify the people, and say, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel. There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel, and you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to the families, and all families which the Lord takes shall come by households, households which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be, and this is the punishment, then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he transgress the covenant of the Lord, because he's done a disgraceful thing in Israel. So Joshua did his toll. He rose early in the morning, brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. So now we're narrowing it down. It wasn't everybody, it was just someone out of the tribe of Judah. Brought the clan of Judah and took the family of the Zarheits. Brought the family of the Zarheits, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And then he brought his household, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zara, of the tribe of Judah was taken. And now Joshua said to Achan, my son, I beg you, give glory, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to him, and tell me now what you have done, do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord of God of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them when I took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the very midst of my tent with the silver underneath it. So Joshua sent messengers, they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver under it. And we see a little bit later on, as we look at this, that Israel did follow through with exactly what God had told for Achan and his family. It says in 24, Joshua and all the Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zorah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and brought them to the valley of Aachor. And Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned them with stones, burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. One fish took the bait. One. And potentially cost the entire host of Israel if they hadn't discovered what was going on.

We have to be so careful for those shiny things out there. We have to be so careful for those things. It just looks so pretty that you just cannot resist. Achan couldn't handle it. He had to have it. You know, it's interesting, the rest of the soldiers in the group that went through did exactly as they were told. They did what they were supposed to do. Achan was the one that did not. And it cost him big. Cost him big. We have to be very, very careful for the less of the world. We have to avoid him at all costs. The last thing that Satan wings at us that we have to be very careful that we don't partake in is pride. And if you've even been paying a little bit of attention to the news in recent weeks, chances are you've managed to catch a snippet or two on the current meltdown slash train wreck that is Charlie Sheen. Now, I don't want to give this guy any more air time than necessary, as he's had a lot of air time in the last three weeks. But his situation is a sad one. I mean, really, it is pretty sad. Here's a guy who has a very serious, serious drug addiction that doesn't think he has a problem and he isn't getting the help that he needs. But he's undergoing what many psychologists refer to as delusions of grandeur. He's to the point now where he's undergoing delusions of grandeur. And it's so clear, if you listen to even a small amount of his absolutely megalomaniacal discussions, that his ego, which was already very inflated, is now running to completely unchecked. You know, the couple of headlines that I've seen lately, in recent days, his children have been taken from him. They've come in and taken his kids. I read something the other day. They were searching the home for weapons, which they didn't say why. It seems to indicate that maybe he's to the point now where the depression is starting to set in. But he has finally, you've noticed in the last couple of days, started issuing apologies left and right. I think he's finally come to terms with what has happened to his career and has seen it go down in flames around him. He's rapidly heading towards bottom if he's not already there. He's almost there. You know, it turns out that pride truly does come before the fall. There are plenty of examples of Bibles in the end, examples within the Bible, rather, of individuals who allowed their pride to get the better of them. And one of the most notorious is Satan himself. Let's go over to Ezekiel 28. Let's take a look at Ezekiel 28. We'll start in verse 12.

I don't like using the word original sin just because there's so much context. It goes along with it and so much baggage. But you want to talk about what the first sin really was? You're going to look at it right here. Okay, this was the beginning. This was the very beginning.

Okay, Ezekiel 28. We're going to look at verse 12.

It says, The beginning of this section can be a little bit deceptive because it's addressed to the king of Tyre. You know, we look at verse the transition from 12 to 13, and we really see who he's talking about here because it's not possible for the king of Tyre to have been in the Garden of Eden. So we see this as a type.

Okay, let's look at another example. Isaiah tells the rest of the story. Go to Isaiah 14.

And we'll see the rest of the story starting in verse 12. So Isaiah 14. It says, Talk about pride. Talk about ego.

Satan's pride swelled so much that he really thought he could be equal to God. He really believed he could be equal to God. So much so that he led a rebellion in order to take his rightful place. His pride was truly his undoing. You know, human nature likes to exalt itself above others. You know, when you see we were having a big anti-bullying campaign in our school right now, because bullying is one of those issues that never goes away. But that's just the big thing right now. We're trying to get that taken care of. But that's what kids do. They exalt themselves up here over these other kids to make themselves feel better. And that's pride. That's pride at work. Pride and vanity, even, were to be humble and meek. And that's a very different trait. It's a very different trait than pride. You know, anglers use the lures they're comfortable and familiar with. And when it comes to pride, Satan is very familiar with how to use pride, because that was his undoing. He knows how to use pride. You know, there are examples in the Bible of people who took the bait. And you can almost consider these two that we're going to look at today to be trophy catches. These are big fish in that pond. These are big fish. Okay, we'll take a look at the first one, King Uzziah. So let's head over to 2 Chronicles 28. You know, King Uzziah began his reign pretty humbly doing right in the eyes of God as his father did. The book of 2 Chronicles records that account of Uzziah's life from his taking the throne at 16 years old. Can't even imagine that. Being responsible for an entire kingdom at age 16. I was worrying about getting my mom's car to go drive. I couldn't possibly think about running a kingdom at 16. But if you turn over there, we're going to take a look at chapter 26. And we'll pick up the story as Uzziah's star was on the rise, so to speak.

He had many fighting men. He had a substantial army. His kingdom was growing, and his name was spread far and wide. People knew him. It was nothing that Uzziah did, though. And that's where the trick comes. It wasn't Uzziah that caused all of this to happen. The blessings were given by God.

2 Chronicles 28, 16 records his critical error. And we'll, um, I'm sorry, did I say 28? I meant 26. So if you're in 28, head over to 26. It says, When he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Jehovah his God. For he went into the temple of God to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And when as Uriah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of God, the rebellion men, they withstood him. So we've got the high priest and 80 other priests standing against the king here, saying, you can't do this. This isn't allowed. Says, The priest, the son of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed, neither shall it be for your honor from God. The new Ziah was wroth, he was angry, and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah beside the altar of incense. And as Uriah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was lepers in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from them, and they also hasted to go out because God had smitten him. And his eye of the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of God, and Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land. You know, Uriah knew better. He knew that there were only specific people. You know, Levites were the only ones allowed to enter the temple. Okay? He got into the point where he believed that as king he could supersede that, that the rules didn't apply to him. His pride and his ego led him to believe that. I mean, he was Uriah the king. I can do what I want! But the high priest and the other priest stood against him, and he became extremely enraged. And in that rage, he was planning on moving ahead with his plan. He was just going to go right through him and do it anyway. And God struck him at that point. He said, no, no, you're not. Made him a leper. You know, it was an interesting little aside on this. It was in one of the commentaries.

Josephus's histories actually seem to indicate that at the moment he was struck with leprosy occurred the earthquake that's recorded in Amos 1. So not only was it leper, was he a leper at that point, you've got the earth shaking at the same time that he was struck. Josephus's history seemed to record that that was the case. Kind of interesting. You know, God showed him unequivocally, you are not exempt from my rules. I don't care if you're king. My rules are absolute. You know, he was struck with leprosy and was a leper until the day he died. Satan caught himself a whopper that day. He caught himself the king of Israel. That's big. That's a big fish. You know, another king this time, though not of Israel, was shown the error of his ways as well. Let's take a look at Daniel 4. Show someone else whose pride was his undoing. Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.

And that particular dream, Daniel was brought in to interpret it for him.

And we'll pick it up in verse 24 of Daniel 4 to see what Daniel had said regarding his dream.

Daniel 4.24 says, This is the interpretation, O king, and it is the Cree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord, the king. You shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you will be made to eat grass as oxen. You shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times, seven years, in other words, shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he wills. And whereas they commanded to leave the stumps of the root of the tree, thy kingdom will be sure unto you, after that you shall know that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if there may be a lengthening of your tranquility. God sent Nebuchadnezzar a warning in this dream. His self-righteousness was out of control. He had grown haughty and prideful, and it was God, not men, who were responsible for those that ruled the nations. You see, in verse 28, God's warning to Nebuchadnezzar was ignored, and God was required to take action.

Daniel 4, 28, skipped down just a little bit. Actually, just one down. I'm sorry. All of this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, so 12 months later, he's walking around in the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke and said, Is this not great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?

While the words were in the king's mouth, while he was saying these things, then came a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from you.

You shall be driven from men. Thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You will be made to eat grass as oxen, and seven years it will pass, until you know the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hair was grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws. Nebuchadnezzar spent seven years like this, his kingdom taken from his hands, his body changed no contact with other men eating grass because of his pride. Pride can be a man's undoing, woman's undoing too. It is hooked many before us, and it'll hook many after us. We have to be careful to avoid that lure. We can't let our heads get big. We can't let our egos grow.

You know, we've received blessings from God, and they're incredible blessings. We need to make sure who gets the glory and the praise for those blessings. You know, we don't do these things in and of ourselves. You know, God blesses us in many ways. Keeping humble about that will help us resist that lure's effectiveness. You know, as we get closer to the Passover season, and as we start to examine our lives in depth, looking for all those little crumbs in those hidden places, we really need to look deep and pray earnestly that God will allow us to see our weaknesses.

To see those places in our lives where we're susceptible to these lures.

Where we've got little things, these little triggers that allow for us to be susceptible. You know, Satan has a lot of variation in his tackle box. A lot of variation in his tackle box. A lot of different ways to tempt us. But like a good fisherman, he also has several go-to lures that are proven because they've caught hundreds of thousands of people over the past thousands of years. They work. They're proven. Why use something else? They work all the time. Brethren, just because we recognize Satan's out there fishing for us on a daily basis from first light to last light, it doesn't make us immune to the temptation. But there is a strategy that we can adopt. First, we have to recognize the lures for what they are. We have to recognize those lures for what they are. You know, big fish don't get big by accident. They're smart. If something looks fishy, if something looks too good to be true, they ignore it. They don't bite. It's the young, unwise, impetuous ones that run in there and grab that. You can watch that at a trout pond. Throw it out there, you got that big old monstrous fish, and you're going, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, bite, bite, bite. Sniff, sniff, snip, nope. Off he goes. Instantly, in comes this little four-inch trout, and he's on. It's the young and the unwise ones that strike. The wise ones get big. The wise ones become strong. Okay, and as we grow in the faith, we need to have the wisdom to identify those lures for what they are and the self-control to not react. Secondly, during the day when the fishing pressure is highest, fish take shelter. They don't stand out there in the middle of nowhere, because you know it's not just fishermen looking for them. There's hawks, there's bears, and they take shelter. We have a boulder that we can use for shelter, too. Let's take a look at Psalm 18, too. It's our final scripture today. We'll take a look at Psalm 18, verse 2, because we have an incredible boulder and an incredible rock that we are able to take refuge in.

Psalm 18, verse 2, says, God is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. If we start our day out by staying close to that rock, and as the day progresses, keep ourselves in the shadow and the protection of that rock. We'll avoid a large number of these lures. In addition, then, when we're tempted to strike, we need to make sure we have the wisdom to recognize that lure for what it is and to not strike out and to react. You know, if we can do that, we can avoid ending our day on Satan's stringer. The next time you see something dangled out there in front of you that looks just so good, or you're in danger of losing your cool, just remember there's someone on the other end of that line. And all he wants is one fish. One fish to bite.