Luke 11:1-4

Luke chapter 11 reading verses 1 through 4 for our text this morning. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father, which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. As in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily breath. And forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not in a temptation, but deliver us. from evil. May God blessed to us His holy and sacred word this morning. It was a woman on a strict diet. She cut out all desserts, all sweets from her diet. She went to bed one night, and guess what she dreamed about? Desert. She woke up in the middle of the night around midnight. And she thought about that piece of chocolate cake down in the kitchen. It was just too much for her. She went down there and ate the cake in the middle of the night and broke her diet. It was an irresistible urge for a sweet treat that she had. Christ in our text is talking about perhaps a different kind of temptation, but a similar situation, a temptation. A temptation. here with regard to sin. Temptation to sin can be very strong. Now it’s never to the point where it’s irresistible, but it is at times very difficult to overcome. We come now to the final petition and our Lord’s model prayer. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us. from evil. In our last study, we looked at the issue of forgiveness of sin and how we need to confess our sins before the Lord and seek forgiveness. Here, we have a prayer for preventive maintenance. In other words, the idea is prevent us from sinning, keep us from sinning in this situation here. So this petition instructs you to pray that God would help you to incur, not to incur new guilt and sin against the Lord. Now let me begin by saying this. God is the one who leads you into temptation. A lot of people would find this difficult. I hope that as those who have studied the Word of God, you begin to realize that God controls all things. And therefore, nothing is beyond him. Now, God is the one who lead you into temptation, but God does not tempt you to sin, though he may lead you into temptation. We read that in James 113 this morning in our scripture reading. Let no man say when he is tempted, I’m tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. That is what the scripture clearly teaches us. So let’s not misunderstand this petition. Scripture clearly tells you God does not entice people to sin. Carefully note, there’s a vast difference between leading you into a temptation and actually tempting you to sin. And so we need to be aware of those differences. Our text deals with the fact that God’s Providence places you in the setting of temptation. You remember Pilgrim’s Progress and he has to follow the narrow road? And where does that narrow road lead him sometimes? Well, places sometimes like vanity fair. He’s going to the celestial city, but the road takes him through vanity fair. That’s a place of temptation. Joseph was placed in Potipher’s house when he was sold as a slave in Egypt. And there he was placed by God in a situation of great temptation where Potiphar’s wife tried to engage him in sexual relations. It was God who put him there. It was, it was a place. was pot of her that bought him under God’s direction. And so he didn’t have anything to do with it. He was there as a slave, but he was tempted there. Now, holy God may do this without being associated in any way, or tainted in any way, with the evil that may result if you would give in to the temptation. So when you are making this request, lead a is not into temptation. You are acknowledging God’s universal providence over all things. In other words, that God controls all the events of your life. That all the creatures and things in this world are at his sovereign disposal. That God has absolute control over all evil. The book of Job clearly indicates to us. that Satan cannot tempt you without divine permission and God limits how far he can go. It actually encourages that we know that ahead of time. But there was a point in which Satan complained, you’ve got a hedge about Job and I can’t touch him. God can do that. He can prevent us from being in a situation of temptation. Or allow it according to his will and purpose. So God does not tempt you to sin, though he may lead you in a temptation. Now the question comes up, well, why would God do this? God leads you into temptation that you may be tested. Your Heavenly Father does not deem it wise to extract you from this earth once you have come to know the Lord. It would be nice, I guess, if once we came to the Lord, we just got raptured away and transported up to heaven as Enoch was. But he put us in an environment where we would not be free from temptation. Think about this. This is what Jesus said in his high-priecely prayer in John chapter 17, verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, that thou shouldest keep them from Him. evil. Yeah, this world’s a dangerous place. I still want them to be here. I have a purpose for them being here, but I pray you keep them from evil. So here it is. God brings us into situations in which we are going to be tested for our own good. James says, if we come through these temptations and the fiery trials of them, it is a blessing to us. It is a means of God’s blessing to us to bring us through this. In other words, we’re saying this whole idea of testing and facing temptation is God’s means, and it’s been wisely arranged by Him for our spiritual edification, for our growth in grace. God doesn’t want you to remain a spiritual baby all your life, and so he put you through the fire of temptation that you may mature as a believer. You remember when God made Adam and Eve in the garden? What did he place in that garden? He placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. And he didn’t put an iron gate around it with a lot of keep-out signs. He warned them not to eat off the fruit of this tree, but they could reach the tree if they so desired. Like manner, God doesn’t shield his people from every kind of test and trial and temptation. He may lead you into very difficult circumstances. Life then becomes literally a testing ground for the Christian. And you learn to deal with temptations. You have to learn to flee to Jesus’ Christ. Christ for strength. You have to learn to mortify lust. Through all these temptation experiences you encounter, God has strengthened your faith. That’s what’s encouraging. So God leads you into temptation that you may be tested, but there’s something else that God does. God leads you into temptation that He may be glorified. Think about that. You must understand that all temptations are not evil, either in their nature, their design, or their outcome. Satan, of course, has evil intentions. He wants you to say it. He wants to trip you up. But God has good intentions in leading you into a situation like this, because it involves the testing of your faith and ultimately an opportunity to bring honor and glory. to his glorious name. You remember how when Satan said, you won’t let me get at Job, and he says, okay, I’ll let you get at him, but you can’t touch him, just for the first part. Well, if you let me get out of him, he’ll curse you to your face. He said, okay, we’ll see. Go ahead. And what happened? Job did not curse God to his faith. God was glorified by Job handling the loss of his family and his wealth and possessions and so forth, all in one day. Naked came out of my mother’s woman, naked shall I return, blessed be the name of the Lord. And so God can be glorified in these circumstances in which we find ourselves. Remember how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted of the devil most severely in the wilderness. wilderness. But he was deliberately led there by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. That’s what Matthew 4 verse 1 says. God set up the circumstances. God led Christ into them, and yet it was Satan who did the tempting. But what was the outcome of that temptation? It was God was glorified. And Satan was defeated. God’s providence, therefore, places you in circumstances, perhaps a persecution, a sickness of discouragement, of abuse, of hunger, for the ultimate purpose of you glorifying him. When lust and evil thoughts and hard circumstances are overshundering him, come by you, God is glorified. So God is the one who leads you into temptation. We can’t deny that. His providence controls all things. He does it to strengthen your faith, to test you, and he does it to bring honor and glory to himself. Satan has a different purpose. God has this purpose in mind. Now, secondly, you should pray that you not be overcome by temptation. The second part of our verse says, lead us on into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now you are personally responsible if you yield the temptation. That’s what we read in James in the scripture reading. you’re carried away by your own lust. It’s your own fault. and you’re the one to blame. that’s not make any mistake about this, James says. God doesn’t entice you to see it. Satan is, the enticer. He is the one who’s called the tempter in Scripture. And thus he tells us, the Bible, the scripture tell us to be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary of the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devire. First Peter 5, 7. Satan has great power in this area of temptation. He is very skilled. at what he does. He’s a lot of practice, by the way, over the years. Can you imagine how many temptations he has brought people into? He knows how to do it effectively. You remember, Judas was easily captured lusting after 30 pieces of silver to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, that was it easy. And then, of course, you recall that, of course, you recall that took a little bit more, took a wedge of gold, a nice Babylonian garment, 200 pieces of shekel. Shekles are silver. But he succumbed. And took all the forbidden things from the city of Jericho. With David, it was just a beautiful Bashiba taking a bath. And him being up on the roof at the wrong time. Ultimately, however, we have to take responsibility when we sin. Can I put it this way? Satan plants the seed, we cultivate it. Satan lays the egg. We sit on it and hatch it. Satan tempts you, but your own lustful desires that would carry you away and lead you into sin. Your own lust, stirred up by the temptation of Satan, gives birth to a sinful sinful thought or action. So while God controls the circumstances and Satan provides the bait, we have to take the responsibility when we fall into sin, ultimately. So you’re personally responsible if you yield the temptation. Now, the scripture tells us that you are to pray that God would deliver you from temptation. And here, you should have a holy fear of falling into sin. In other words, you should be afraid that you will fall into sin. You should be recognizing your own weakness and tendency to fall into sin. And so you are praying to be spared from the evil associated with this temptation. You’re requesting that you may not be led into certain temptations knowing your own weakness. You’re praying, God, spare me from this temptation altogether because I’m afraid I will. sin. I will falter in this circumstance. However, if God, for wise own wise ends, lead you into such a temptation, you are praying to be delivered. Keep me from sinning. If you’re not going to keep me from the actual temptation, keep me from sinning in that temptation. Now, the King James version here has the phrase deliver us from evil. Some of your translations have evil one. I haven’t to agree with the King James version because I think evil is a broader term. It would include all the other things. Certainly it would keep us from the evil one himself, but includes all the other things that may be so all the other evils that may be associated with a temptation. So while God brings many good benefits out of temptations you face, they’re dangerous. Let’s not kid ourselves. Temptations are dangerous things. Martin Luther said this. Temptation is the best school into which the Christian can enter. Yet in itself, apart from the grace of God, it is so doubly hazardous that this prayer should be offered every day. Lead us not into temptation. Or if we must enter into it, Lord, deliver us from evil. Every day. So we’re praying the Lord would help us. If you know your own deceitful heart, if you know your own tendency to sin, then you’re going to pray this prayer. And you’re going to realize this is a necessary prayer for me. So you should have a holy fear of falling in the sin. Now, why you should ultimately request to be kept from evil? Well, from the great and wonderful reason is when you sinned, your fellowship with God is broken. And you don’t want that to happen. Your supreme desire should be to have uninterrupted communion with the Lord God. Your supreme desire should be to have a close fellowship with the Lord. And thus we should pray because we want no division between us and God. The Bible says, your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hit his face from you. Isaiah 59, verse 2. We don’t want that. So we should pray not to be overcome by temptation. We’re personally responsible, but we should be prayed to be delivered from evil. Now thirdly, this morning, lastly, how does God deliver you from evil? How is this accomplished? Well, the first thing is this. You must learn to submit to God and resist the devil. James 4-7 says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. How do you submit to God? Well, simply put, it means that God’s will has to come first in your life. It means that now that you have the new birth, of course, you have the ability to be submissive to God. Before you have the new birth, here live in constant rebellion against God. You can, you couldn’t keep be submissive to him. But if Jesus Christ is your Lord and you are one of his, you’re his servant. And therefore, that requires submission. You can’t possibly stubbornly live in opposition to God’s revealed will and expect to overcome a temptation. It’s certainly no accident that Jesus has put this petition, he put the prayer for thy will be done. We’re to pray God’s will be done. And then, of course, lead us not in the temptation. So you’ve already been asking to be brought in line with God’s revealed will, and therefore if you are, that is a check against the temptation that we have, because temptation is a violation of God’s law. When Peter failed to follow the command of Christ to watch and pray, he entered into the temptation and fell and denied his Lord. How do you resist Satan? Without hesitation, I’d say this. By knowing the revealed will of God, by the means of Scripture, you can successfully resist the temptation of Satan. This implies that we know Scripture, that the Scripture is brought to mind to us by the Holy Spirit, so that when we are tempted, that scripture comes before us and we can put it out there to resist Satan. Apostle Paul talks about putting on the whole armor of God that we may be able to resist Satan and these fiery darts. And one of the things he gives the only offensive weapon you have is the sword of the Spirit. It is the Word of God. That’s how we resiste. We can drive him off with that. You remember a Paulian got driven off by Mr. Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress. And he quoted Scripture to him. But the best example, of course, is the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Look at Luke. chapter four with me. Here we read in verse one, then was Jesus led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward a hunger. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, it is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. Seth unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest any time thou dashed thy foot against the stone. Jesus said, unto it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Seth on him, all these things will I give you. Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence Satan. Where it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveeth him. Behold, the angels came and ministered unto him. How did he successfully resist the devil by the scriptures each time? And this is what we should learn. This is the key factor. It is written. It is written. It is written. And the devil left him. So you must admit to God and resist the devil through the means. of the word of God. Now, God will not lead you into temptations that are beyond your ability to resist. It’s an interesting passage in 1 Corinthians 1013. God is faithful. It will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. God is not an unmerciful God. knowing who we are and how weak we are. He also limits the kind of temptation we have. He won’t allow us to be tempted above what we’re able to bear. There is a sense in which the temptations we have then are tailor-made. In other words, God says, you can go this far Satan, and you can’t go any further. God controls the actions of Satan. And God puts a rain on Satan. and so therefore with the strength of Christ with the resources of the Holy Spirit within you by the use of scripture you’re able to face any test you encounter because God says I’ll make a way of escape for you by the way I often pray when I’m praying Lord I haven’t found that way of escape you know get find me that way of escape you promised me and we can lift that up before the Lord. So how does the Lord deliver you from evil? Making you submissive to the revealed will of God, enabling you to resist Satan here. And this is what the scripture teaches. Now, I’m going to close here. Time has run out here on us. But let me close with a couple brief thoughts. If God leads you into temptation, he’ll be with you. He’ll be with you. into temptation. The Lord Jesus Christ was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted the devil. That didn’t mean the Holy Spirit dropped him off like a taxi cab. The Spirit was still with Christ through this temptation. If we’re seeking to do God’s will and he does lead us into temptation, we can be certain of his presence, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. It’s the Holy Spirit that brings those passages to mind that we need. God the Son is making mighty intercession for us. Remember when Peter was told that Satan desire to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not. And that’s what Christ does for His people. And so we have these promises to encourage us. Let me say this. You can never pray this prayer and be boastful about your own spiritual strength. Hopefully you know that, but let me make it obvious to you. You could never say, I will never fall into that sin. I can never fall into adultery or drunkenness or drug abuse or theft or murder. I would never do that. You don’t know what you would do. If it were not for God sustaining grace in your life, if God didn’t limit the ten times. that you’d have. David probably would have said I would never commit murder, but when it came down to the situation where he was trying to hide his sin, he didn’t have too much trouble getting rid of Uriah. We should never indulge the thought for one second that we have in our own power the strength to overcome any sin at all or any temptation at all. It takes God’s grace. In his sustaining grace, you remember how Peter said, though I should die with you, I will not deny. I will not deny you. All men may forsake you, Lord, I won’t do it. Who’s the guy that denied the Lord? Peter, that very not. And so we see here that lead us on to the temptation is a prayer that acknowledges our own weakness. In other words, be humble enough. to pray to prayer because you need it and I need it. Satan touches you in the right spot with the right temptation. You don’t know what you’re capable of them. Lastly, consider the terrible misery involved if you fall into temptation and sin. All you have to do this morning is read Psalm 51. See at David’s mournfulness in that song. My sin is ever before me. Make the bones thou hast broken to rejoice. hide thy face from my sins. Cast me not away from thy presence. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I mean, this is a broken man because he’s fallen into sin. It ought to frighten us when we think about how sin separates us from God. So when you’re facing temptation, think ahead. Because if you fall into this sin, there’s a lot of misery that can be associated with it. And so we should keep that in mind. Well, may God help us as we go through this Christian life and remember this prayer, because we certainly need every one of these petitions. And this is an important one for us to be praying about, I think, preventive maintenance. If you would. Let’s close with prayer this morning.