The Enticement of Sin and Unjust Gain

If sinners entice you, do not consent.

Entice - To attract by arousing hope or desire; lure. Consent - Ready to accept or acquiesce; willing.

This is a father talking to a son, so the advice is full of wisdom not only because it is sound, but also because of the close personal relationship and the genuine love that flows from the fatherly wisdom to his son.

If sinners attempt to arouse hope or desire in you or lure you to do that which you know to be sin, do not accept it, do not be willing. Do not accept or be willing to listen to their enticement.

If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse--

Let us cause pain and misery to the innocent, because if we do, we can then steal their possessions and split the difference evenly. We will become rich. This same type of proposition happens in business and get-rich-quick schemes more often than not; where companies charge way more money for a product or service than it is worth due to its uselessness or because so little effort was put into making the product or service for the customer. It is far more subtle, but it holds the same principle: innocent individuals seeking good, honest service ending up getting financially ambushed with little or no benefit to them in the end. Do not even entertain doing the same - do not consent to this enticement of little effort for dishonest gain.

Keep your foot from their path... why? For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. Now of course, we don't kill each other in the way "shed blood" seems to be illustrating necessarily in the physical sense... but financially - that is another story. And what about emotionally, spiritually, intellectually? Is this not true as well?

For Instance:

Every Christian has the potential of being the next Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or John Wesley. Most feel ambushed spiritually by those who have their piece of paper saying "Doctorate of Theology" up on their wall - and the world listens to them, but because they don't have their piece of paper, the world could care less that they have a message from the Holy God Himself, and they then slowly begin to feel inadequate and spiritually die. Pastors are not to be maligned or blamed for this - it is Satan that is at work in bringing about a spirit of fear and timidity. However, there is something staggering and increasingly common happening in this age; that is, pastors and leaders all over the world are proclaiming a false gospel that year after year has no real power in changing people - because God is not in it. What gospel is this? In essence, it is a gospel of God being a slave to man and his happiness, rather than man being a slave to God and His Righteousness and the liberation that comes from being set free because of it.

But let us hope that those who are experiencing this as of now all across the United States and other parts of the world will trust in God and put their hope in Him. He does not disappoint and will provide a way to fulfill what seems impossible. The message God has laid upon the heart of every Christian can be proclaimed if one's confidence is in the Lord, if their mind is continually saturated in the Scriptures and in fellowship with other believers, and if they realize that God will provide His Grace moment by moment, so that we may be humble and bold in proclaiming the Truth of God to all who have yet to believe.

The previous illustration was to illuminate to your mind that there are many forms of ambush; it is not limited to physical means. The father then makes a logical statement that is plainly common sense:

In vain, the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

If you put a net that is an ambush to capture a bird in the bird's plain sight, the bird will by no means be lured and captured. This is essential to understand the nature of the enticement to sin. The ambush to the common person is hidden - all they see is the immediate gratification and seem to be devoid of the future consequences. It takes wisdom to see into future circumstances that will arise if, when one is enticed, they consent. And that is why the father then says:

But these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

Those who are involved in ambushing the innocent without cause do not understand that the very ambush they used will be inflicted upon them as a result of the future consequences of their actions.

Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

The same is true of those who are greedy for money and will use any means necessary to obtain it; they desire it so much, they look for ways to obtain it by cheating people and throwing away their integrity and worth. That is why when the father says that it takes away the life of its possessors, he means not only literally in the physical sense, but also from an emotional and spiritual sense. Those who obtain riches in large amounts have to spend so much more effort holding onto the thing they love most - money. It takes away close relationships with others; it takes away their joy; it takes away meaningful fulfillment, which can only come from God through a renewed heart and mind by faith from the revelation of Jesus Christ, His death, atonement for sin, and resurrection.

How much better it is to love Christ and treasure Him above all things! That is where life truly comes from - and the enticement to sin is the enticement to draw away from God - away from the giver of life, and joy, and contentment.

Created over 2 years ago