Purpose: To alert us to our vulnerability to Satan's attacks.
Aim: I want the listener to see the importance of avoiding sin by relying on God's strength.
INTRODUCTION: The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing; (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NAU), but how is that possible? We have been learning how to do that here in this model prayer that Jesus gave us. The six requests that Jesus lists here should keep us busy praying.
In the first three requests we saw that we should be praying that God will be glorified by asking that God's name will be seen as holy, that God's Kingdom will come, and that we will do God's will.
The personal requests have to do with our daily physical needs: "give us this day our daily bread", our past failures to glorify God: "forgive us our debts" and our need to avoid future failures to glorify God: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil...." (NAU)
Before we look at this final request, let's begin by looking at:
► I. An Overview of this Prayer
► A. We must avoid fake prayers
► 1. Don't let your prayers be hypocritical
Matthew 6:5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (NAU)
The Pharisees looked at prayer as a way to exalt themselves. This can happen in private prayer as well as public prayer. If we feel satisfied about how good we are because we have prayed, then we haven't really prayed.
► 2. Don't let your prayers be repetitious
Matthew 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. (NAU)
God is not impressed with mindless repetition and mechanical praying.
Even the Lord's Prayer can be used in a mindless and mechanical way. Anything we have memorized can be easily repeated without focusing on the meaning of what we are saying.
► B. We must remember the purpose for prayer
► 1. Real prayer exalts God
Matthew 6:9--10 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (NAU)
Psalm 97:9 For You are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods. (NAU) Real prayer displays a high opinion about God.
► 2. Real prayer humbles us
The petitions of this prayer remind us that we are totally and constantly dependent on God for everything.
John R. Stott "When we come to God in prayer, we do not come hypocritically like play actors seeking the applause of men, nor mechanically like pagan babblers, whose mind is not in their mutterings, but thoughtfully, humbly and trustfully like little children to their Father". [1]
1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, (NAU)
► C. We must remember to pray God's way
► 1. Ask for what God has already promised
We are told to pray: "give us this day our daily bread" and we are promised: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19NAU)
We are told to pray: "forgive us our debts" and we are promised: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. 17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, (Psalm 103:11--14,17 NAU)
We are told to pray: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil" and we are promised: Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in You. (Psalm 33:20--22 NAU)
► 2. Ask believing God can answer
Matthew 7:8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (NAU)
There are restrictions on what we can ask for, but it is like a fish complaining that it has been restricted to the Atlantic ocean.
1 John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (NAU)
Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (NAU)
All of God's promises only apply to those who know Him as their Father and those who passionately want God's Kingdom, power, and glory to be exalted. In other words, God's will must be more important to us than our will.
Obviously, we can't pray that God's name would known as holy if we are purposely living unholy lives.
► II. The Request for Protection
This last request has two parts: guidance away from sin and the need to be guarded from sin.
► A. Ask God to guide you away from sin "do not lead us into temptation"
The word TEMPTATION has three basic meanings. In can mean a test or trial, an enticement to sin, adversity or opposition. Which meaning to use depends on the context.
In the context of this verse it is difficult to know which meaning we should assign to this word. One rule for reading the Bible is this: if the meaning is unclear it is unclear for a reason. So I believe that the answer to the question: Which of these three meanings did Jesus have in mind? Is "Yes." In other words, Jesus could well be using this word as a general reference to all three meanings.
We need God to deliver us from all three of these meanings of the word TEMPTATION.
► 1. We need God to lead us during persecution
Every Christian will experience difficulties just because they are a Christian. John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (NAU)
The world hates Christians because they hate Christ. John 15:18--21 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me,; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. (NAU)
We need to pray that the opposition from others will not lead us to be angry, bitter, mean, or discouraged. Otherwise persecution could become a sin.
With Martin Luther we say, "We cannot help being exposed to the assaults, but we pray that we may not fall and perish under them."
"This prayer was written by seven anonymous martyrs in 1528 just before their painful death. The youngest, a fourteen-year-old boy, refused to recant his faith despite being promised wealth for life.
O Lord, Thou art our Shield,
We turn to Thee.
For us it is a minor pain
When they take our lives.
Eternity Thou has prepared for us,
So when we suffer shame and stress here
It is not for nothing, We will be amply repaid." [2]
► 2. We need God to lead us away from the appeal of sin
God will never entice us to sin. Enticement to sin comes either from our sinful nature, or as we will see later, from Satan. James 1:13--14 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. (NAU)
"Who would have thought to have found adultery in David, and drunkenness in Noah, and cursing in Job? If God leaves a man to himself, how suddenly and scandalously may sin break forth in the holiest man on the earth! 'I say unto all, Watch.' A wandering heart needs a watchful eye." Thomas Watson [3]
James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. (NAU)
This is why Jesus warned us: Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (NAU)
► 3. We need God to lead us during trials
TRIALS are difficulties that test our love for God.
The problem is that a TRIAL can become a sin. For example, losing your job is a trial or test. If you get angry or discouraged then it has become a sin. If you have financial problems that would be a test. If you then doubt God's goodness it becomes a sin. If a loved one passes away that is a test. If you fall into despair then it becomes a sin.
When God allows a trial, Satan wants to turn it into a sin. If we respond to a trail with faith in God, then we can rejoice in the trial. James 1:2--3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (NAU)
Satan wanted Job to sin in his trial, but Job (for the most part) refused to let his trial become a sin. Job 1:21--22 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. (NAU)
Suffering can be endured when we accept it as an opportunity to display God's goodness because God uses difficult circumstances or trials to prove to us and to others that we really belong to Christ. 1 Peter 1:6--7 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (NAU)
Trials can also bring joy because they give us opportunities to enrich our eternal reward. James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (NAU)
►Why Does God Allow Temptation?
► Temptations reveal our weaknesses
When Judah was greatly outnumbered by an invading army King Jehoshaphat prayed and said, 2 Chronicles 20:12 "O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You." (NAU)
God told the Jews why they spent 40 years in the wilderness before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 8:2 "You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (NAU)
John MacArthur: " When we honestly look at the power of sin and at our own weakness and sinful propensities, we shudder at the danger of temptation or even trial. This petition is another plea for God to provide what we in ourselves do not have. It is an appeal to God to place a watch over our eyes, our ears, our mouth, our feet, and our hands-that in whatever we see, hear, or say, and in any place we go and in anything we do, He will protect us from sin..."
► Temptations restrain our pride
"Abraham Lincoln once asserted, 'I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of those around me seemed insufficient for the day.'" [4]
Even Paul struggled with pride. 2 Corinthians 12:7,10 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (NAU)
CONCLUSION: Hardships are trials, but sometimes blessings can be trials too. If we aren't careful when God blesses us we can fail the test by taking credit for it. We can get a big head and think that we have something to do with how well we are doing. We also fail when we are not content with God's blessings.
We need to be delivered from the evil of thinking that we know more than we do. We need to be delivered from the evil of thinking that our way is best. We need to ask God to deliver us from the evil of forgetting His promises. We need God to deliver us from the evil of forgetting that it's all about God's glory and not about our comfort
Listen to Hortatio Palmer's gospel song Yield Not to Temptation:
Yield not to temptations for yielding is sin;
each vict'ry will help you some other to win;
fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue;
look ever to Jesus--He'll carry you through.
Shun evil companions, bad language disdain;
God's name hold in rev'rence, nor take it in vain;
be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true;
look ever to Jesus--He'll carry you through.
To him that o'er-cometh God giveth a crown;
thru faith we will conquer tho often cast down;
He who is our Savior our strength will renew;
look ever to Jesus--He'll carry you through.
Chorus: Ask the Savior to help you,
comfort, strengthen and keep you;
He is willing to aid you--
He will carry you through. [5]
Every temptation is an opportunity for us to draw nearer to God.
George Sweeting [6]
[1](Christian Counter-Culture: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1979], 151–52) John F. MacArthur, Jr., Alone With God, 46 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995).
[2]www.persecution.org Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed., 764-65 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000).
[3]Thomas Watson, Gleanings From Thomas Watson (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1995), 85.Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed., 725 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000).
[4]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's annual preacher's sourcebook.; 2007 Edition, 274 (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers).
[5]Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, 84 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990).
[6]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed., 725 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000).
