Have you heard about the guy who was trying to lose weight, but came to the office one day with two dozen donuts?
His co-workers asked him why he got the donuts if he was trying to lose weight? He answered, “I came to the corner where the donut shop was, I told God that if He wanted me to buy some donuts, He’d have to provide a parking spot right in front of the donut shop. Well, God answered my prayer. On the eighth time around the block, there it was!”
The Bible tells us in the Lord’s Prayer “Lead me not into temptation” because the reality is; “I can find it myself”.
Take the "South Indian Monkey Trap"! It was developed by villagers to catch small monkeys and then to sell them. They would hollow-out a coconut, cut a small hole big enough for a monkey’s hand to slip into it, put some rice in it and chain it to a stake. Tempted by the rice, the monkey would reach its hand in, grab the rice and instantly be trapped. Why? Because the monkey stubbornly held on to the rice in its fist and was unable to pull its fist back out. Why? Because he values it.
The Bible tells us in the Lord’s Prayer “Lead me not into temptation” because the reality is “I can find it myself”.
When we ask God to “lead us not into temptation” we are asking Him to guide our steps along a moral pathway. Last week we learned about the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Now during that teaching, we focused on our past and present sins. This morning, we want to focus on future, potential sins that may very well happen to us.
When we pray this portion of the prayer, we’re not praying that the Lord not tempt us, because the Lord would never do that. James 1:13 says When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. What we are asking God for by praying “lead me not into temptation”, is for God to help us in the situations we will face. It is the cry of our heart that says, “Lord, you know my weaknesses. You know my tendencies and my predisposition. You know that I’ve done things that I am ashamed of and how easy it is for me to drift right back there again. You know my tendency to gossip. You know my predisposition to lose my temper, to get angry, to over spend, get down on myself, be a perfectionist and complain, to name just a few”.
Now why is this? The reason for it is that though we have been given a new nature in Christ. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor. 5:17 Each of us is like Dr. Jekyll and we all struggle with a Mr. Hyde on the inside; two opposing forces within us that pull for our allegiance. We have the self-willed and the self-centered part of us and we have the God-centered, spirit-driven side of us.
Eph. 4: 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Now let me tell you something, Satan will do his absolute best to trip us up. So when we pray, “Lead me not into temptation” we’re asking the Lord to help us to not fall into Satan’s snare.
Now the question is, where is Satan’s snare. Eph. 2:2 says that he is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (KJV)
We’ll look at this more in depth next week, but suffice it to say, He rules here on earth and he’s a no good, low down, snake in the grass. And if you’re not careful, he’ll jump up and bite you.
1 John 2:15 tells us; Do not love the world or anything in the world. (Why? Because it’s his dominion!) If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The (KJV) says For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Now the word for world here is Cosmos and it’s not referring to purple mountains majesty or waves of grain. It’s talking about the world’s system. A system of ideas, lifestyles and ways of living that are either in line with the Lord or contrary to Him. That’s why you will hear Pastor Nate and I say, “The Bible says”, its because the Bible is God’s inspired Word and as 2 Tim. 3: 16 says, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
That’s the positive path the Lord wants us to take, using His Word, the Bible as a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Ps 119:105
Now I want to show you something here about how Satan works in the world to pull us off the path God has for us. In that passage we saw a moment ago in 1 John 2:1 the Lord tells us to be very conscious of three primary areas of temptation. Remember what they were?
1. The lust of the flesh- those inner desires of the sinful nature. You know; the desire to acquire. Those yearnings to have and want and to get can be so strong, that they are often like an addiction, a drug. But like a drug, they pull you in, they suck you dry and then they spit you out. Think about advertising; they tell you what you think you need and then they sell you what they think you should have, by keying into that base instinct.
2. The lust of his eyes- how easy are we lured into things. Marketing strategies know this well. They get you to buy things you don’t need, can’t afford and aren’t even good for you, then they leave you empty, and financially in a hole. It looks so good, but has so little to offer.
3. the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
This is perhaps the most devastating because it has no need for God or His Word. It tells us to sit on the throne of our lives and that we are the champions of our own destiny. This is so utterly devastating and we have prime example of its damage.
In Genesis, Satan temped Eve with these three categories and plunged the world into separation from God. Gen. 3: 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ " 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Satan appealed to the cravings of Eve’s sinful nature:
v.6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
He keyed into the lust of her eyes and the pride of life
When we pray, “Lead me not into temptation” we’re praying, “Lord; help me not to fall into the world’s seductive trap”. TV commercials, credit card applications, peer pressure, the “mall” can all be seductive traps to suck us in and spit us out.
When we pray, “Lead me not into temptation”, where asking the Lord to help us not to give in to the garbage that is peddled as edible.
Praying, “lead me not into temptation”, is like going on a long road trip and depending on the person in the passenger’s seat to read the map and tell you which direction to head and turns to make. So the important thing to remember is that we need God’s help in the paths we choose because all of us are capable of making very wrong decisions. The Lord wants us to establish a watchful attitude over our spiritual lives. Remember when the disciples fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said to them in Mt. 26:41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
We want to make you strong in spirit. Now the word “temptation here and in the “Lord’s Prayer” is the same word for “trial”. So when we pray this, we’re asking the Lord to deliver us from both a crisis and a process. Let’s say a person likes to go out to eat. They eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 6 days a week. The problem is that they can’t afford it on their budget. So they end up charging their meals which puts them behind on their car payment and their rent and the downward spiral continues until their up to their eyeballs in debt. The water and electricity is going to be shut off and creditors are going to bang on the door.
Now the Holy Spirit grabs their attention and so they pray on Monday, “Lead me not into temptation”. It’s a great day, they eat breakfast a home, they brown bag it for lunch, they eat at home that evening, and they avoid the crisis of overspending on Monday and the savings that day are significant. But what about Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the weekend? They may have had an answer to prayer for their crisis, but what about the process of temptation. In order to get out of sin’s snare, not just 1 day, but everyday, they will need to pray “Lead me not into temptation not only on Monday, but Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and probably everyday until they break the cycle that sin has on them. Pray in the crisis, but pray in, during and through the process.
When we pray “Lead me not into temptation”, we are asking the Lord to lead us to a place, where we can overcome sin, where sin has no more dominion over us and where the temptation becomes a thing of the past.
When we pray, “Lead me not into temptation” we’re exercising self-distrust. We’re saying, “Lord, I’m just one day, one hour, one minute away from crossing over that line and giving into that temptation”. It’s saying with the successful AA member who testifies that he’s an alcoholic that hasn’t had a drop in 15 years, but is only one step from falling off the wagon.
When we pray “Lead me not into temptation”, we’re asking the Lord to give us the strength, the courage, the resolve and the desire to say no to the things that bind and bring us into bondage and yes to the things that bring honor and glory to Him, to others and to ourselves.
When we pray “Lead me not into temptation”, we are not only submitting ourselves to the Lord for His help, we are also coming to Him for His power, power to become an overcomer. In order to move through the crisis of temptation and past the process of temptation, we’re going to need the Spirit’s supernatural power.
In 1 Cor. 10:13, the Lord tells us this: 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Over the years, I have talked too many who have experienced the supernatural power of this principle from God and I have experienced this as well.
Let’s look at it:
1. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. In other words, nothing that we are facing or will face is new. It may not be common to us, but it happens to others. There is nothing new under the sun.
2. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. If we are willing to submit to the Lord, He will give us the strength to resist temptation and stand up under it; if we are willing to come under His reign. Have any of you ever noticed that there is somewhere around a 3-10 second lag time between when the temptation hits and when you act on it. It happens to frequent to count. I get tempted by something and no sooner than it happens, I can hear the Holy Spirit (if I’m listening) say, “George, you don’t have to do that, you don’t have to give it, I’m right here to help!) I then have a choice, I can either give into the temptation or I can submit to the Lord and turn to Him.
Now is turning away from the temptation easy, NO! That’s why they call it temptation. However, if you don’t try to fight it yourself, but submit it to the Lord right away; you will begin to gain victory over the crisis and the process of your temptation.
3. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. As we turn to the Lord, and the more we practice it the easier it gets and the Lord will give us the strength, the power and the wisdom to do it with increasing effectiveness.
But there is also a tremendous outcome to saying no to the temptation and yes to the Lord. The benefit is what was once a temptation can actually turn into a great strength and be used by the Lord to not only bless you, but others. What does Rom. 8:28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
This principle in Scripture works so well with resisting temptation that it’s like a hand in a glove. Ex alcoholics can greatly help those who still struggle. Ex gamblers, cheaters, and gossipers, to name a small few can be of great benefit. 2 Cor 1: 3 says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
Folks, temptations and trials can either take us down or they can build us up. They can either hurt us or help us. And it all depends on how we respond to them. Because the harsh reality is that we will all face them.
One more thing! By praying this, we’re asking the Lord to give us new desires, His desires. New goals, His goals. New ideals, His ideals. New attitudes, his attitudes. That’s why in a couple of weeks we’re going to preach a series and give you weekly devotions for you and your family so that you can move beyond the popular statement “What would Jesus do” (implying, what would Jesus do in my circumstance) to “What did Jesus do” in His situation. If you want to learn how to golf, watch Tiger Woods. If you want to learn how to race a car, study Jeff Gordon. If you want to learn how to paint, study the best in that field”. If you want to learn how to live this life and live it well, watch Jesus. If you’re going to copy someone, copy Jesus. So we’re going to study Him and see what He did, how He did it and why or why not did he do or not do what He did. We are going to learn from the best of the best on how to live this life and avoid its pitfalls.
