Along with the celebration of communion, we will finish today our study of the prayer “lead us not into temptation”. And as I mentioned last week, before we go to the 2nd Letter to the Thessalonians, we will do a study on Noah and the Flood in anticipation to the Hollywood movie of Noah released on March 28. We will likely spend 3 Sundays on Genesis 6 – 9.
Now, like He did with Noah, God desires a wonderful relationship with people. God is always waiting for us to come to Him! We should be as eager to pray as God is so eager to hear from us! Many of us fall into sin through temptations because first of all, we do not pray enough! And of course, we fall into sin because of not praying enough but also we do not pray properly, and we do not pray everyday “lead us not into temptation”! That is basically the lesson for this morning; pray properly everyday and pray “Lord, lead us not into temptation”! We will learn more about this later of course.
And so, do we really see the importance of prayer and why Jesus taught twice a pattern for prayer? How often did you and I pray yesterday or this morning? If we are not praying constantly, we still have much to learn about prayer!
Let’s look at those lessons again form our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and learn how to pray “lead us not into temptation”.
Turn with me to Matthew 6:7-15….
Now turn to Luke 11:1-4….
Last week we noted the pattern of how we are to pray based on these lessons from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Humble yourself before your Creator God!
Personally commit to evangelism and your own salvation and holiness!
If you have a need, ask; give thanks for what you have!
Confess sins and claim the Cross of Jesus Christ!
- forgive those who offended you
- pray for conviction of those who offend and that they would repent
And as we note from these prayer lessons, it is important to pray “Father God, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” What does this mean?
First of all, does it mean that we are asking God Himself not to lead us into temptation?
Look again at Luke 11:2 - What does hallowed be Your Name means??
God is holy. God is the opposite of sin! God hates sin!
And Would a loving God actually lead us into temptation? Take a look at Luke 11:11-13….
To further help us, if you look up the word temptation or tempt in a Bible Concordance you will find James 1:13 – 18….
a. God does not tempt anyone nor will lead anyone to temptation and sin!
And so again, what does it mean when we pray “Father, lead us not into temptation?” We can note from James 1 that
b. Temptation to sin comes to us by our own evil desires! (James 1:14)
And so, we cannot blame God for temptations; and because it is because of our own evil desires that lead us to temptation to sin, we actually cannot blame the devil either for leading us to temptation!
But this does not mean the devil does not play a role in our temptations! Again James 1:14 - but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Even way back to Adam and Eve, the devil will do his utmost for people to be dragged and enticed to sin.
c. The devil loves sin and will do whatever he can to have people sin, including Christians! But again it is a person’s own evil desire which leads to temptation and sin; a Christian cannot blame the devil for any sin committed!
d. God is holy and will do His utmost for Christians not to sin!
And so with all of these truths we can understand how to pray regarding temptations and evil. How do we pray “lead us not into temptation”?
1. We must acknowledge to God that we are susceptible (easily affected, inclined, prone) to sin. From the very beginning, Adam and Eve were given free will to choose and they chose to sin. Cain chose to sin. We all can easily choose to say yes to sin (this is called temptation). Temptation, a desire to choose sin, will be with us till we are completely perfected for heaven. And so,
2. Plead for help from God! – Lord, help me to choose the right way!
And the prayer “and deliver us from the evil” goes along with the prayer of “lead us not into temptation”!
You see, temptation itself is not a sin; Jesus Himself was tempted but never sinned. How did Jesus do it? Jesus did not sin while tempted by saying no to sin. And so, here are 2 more things to add to our prayer:
3. Ask God to protect you from the devil’s schemes!
4. Affirm trust in God’s Word so you can say no to sin!
One final note about this prayer we are to pray; it is not only appropriate to pray for one’s self but it is actually a corporate prayer! Lead US not into temptation and deliver US from the evil!
And so, pray the prayer not only to one’s self, but,
5. Pray the prayer for family and the church!
Let us be obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ and be victorious in our lives by praying daily the 5 things associated with temptations.
Before we celebrate with Communion, let us quietly pray these 5 things right now….
Acknowledge that you are susceptible to sin!
Plead for help from God to make the right decisions!
Ask God for protection from evil!
Trust God’s Word and say no to sin creeping in your life.
Pray for your family and church regarding temptation and sin.
