"Deliver Us"

Well, good morning, church. We are returning once more to the Sermon on the Mount,

and specifically to the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

So why don't we pray as we come again to God's Word.

Father, as we come again to this prayer that Jesus taught us,

help us to not just learn what it means,

but help us to take it into our lives and make this prayer our own.

And in our prayerful communion with you,

we ask that your kingdom would come and your will would be done

in our lives, in our church, and in our world, on earth as in heaven.

Father, we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

All right, well, today we're wrapping up our series on the Lord's Prayer

by looking at the sixth and last petition that Jesus gives us in verse 13,

which says,

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Now, if you notice in the ESV foot… in the ESV anyway,

there's a footnote that says,

sometimes we include with this prayer,

because yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Amen. We're not going to talk about that, but I think maybe Matt and I,

we haven't talked about this, but I think we'll write a pastor letter

that'll go out in the newsletter kind of talking about that last part.

So we won't discuss that this morning.

We'll talk about the newsletter.

So there's your plug to sign up for the newsletter and read it this week.

But we're going to look at this last petition,

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Now, when you spend time meditating on the Lord's Prayer

and begin praying it for yourself,

you realize pretty quickly that the first half of the prayer is focused on God, right?

God's name and God's kingdom and God's will.

And then the second half you find is focused on our needs.

And the needs expressed in the Lord's Prayer

are really our most important and essential needs.

Two weeks ago, we looked at our need for provision.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And last week, we looked at our need for pardon.

Forgive us our debts.

And this week, we come to our need for spiritual protection and for power.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Now, I think this last petition is a little like smelling salts.

If we've grown sleepy or complacent in our spiritual life,

this last petition comes and it comes to wake us up.

It jolts us out of our spiritual stupor.

Why?

Because this last petition is about spiritual battle.

It's about the nitty-gritty of living life in the real world.

Now, what do we know about the world?

The world that we're in, it's a beautiful world, right?

It's a world that's loved by God and being redeemed by God.

Yes, but in this age, it is also a fallen world,

a world that's full of spiritual dangers.

J.I. Packer, the great British theologian commenting on this verse,

uses a powerful image.

He says, you know, if we fail to see this reality,

if we ignore or pretend that life is not a spiritual struggle,

then he says,

you're like a person walking blindfolded and with ears plugged

in the middle of a city street with traffic coming both ways.

So with this last petition here,

Jesus wants us to take the blindfold off

and be ready for the spiritual battle.

But it's not just, it's not just awareness that Jesus wants us to have.

He's also telling us the key for living in the midst of that battle.

And the key is prayer.

It's one thing to know you're in a struggle, right?

It's another thing to know how to navigate it.

You see, as living as part of God's kingdom,

living as part of God's kingdom with Jesus as your king,

that is the greatest adventure any life could ever have.

God's kingdom has dawned and is making all things new.

The church is an outpost of that kingdom.

It's an advanced foretaste of what's to come.

As we live in mercy, in truth, in forgiveness, in righteousness,

as we embrace Jesus as our king,

as we announce him with joy as who he truly is,

the world's rightful Lord,

this is the great adventure that we're in.

But like any great journey,

this one, above all, will have trials,

will have dangers,

will even have enemies.

So what do we do?

How do we proceed?

Well, there are two halves to this petition.

So in our time this morning,

we're just going to consider it in two simple points,

just looking at the first half and then the second half.

And in the first half,

we see that we need to pray for God

to lead us away from temptation.

So what is temptation?

Well, the Greek word can actually mean either a trial or a test,

or it can mean what we normally mean by it,

a temptation.

That is, that experience of an inner tug,

an inner pull,

to disobey God and God's word.

Listen to how the book of James describes

the dynamic of temptation in that second sense,

which I think is what Jesus means here.

James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 says this.

James 1:14

James says,

each person is tempted

when he's lured and enticed by his own desire.

Then desire, when it has conceived,

gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it's fully grown,

brings forth death.

So temptation, James says,

is when we're lured or enticed by our own desire.

Now we have to be clear,

desire, of course,

isn't in itself a bad thing.

God created us as humans to have hearts

that are passionate and are full of desire.

He wants us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

He made us to seek and desire his kingdom

and his glory.

And as those who know the new birth of the Holy Spirit,

we know what it's like to have those desires for God.

But notice that James says here,

temptation is when we're lured and enticed

by what he says our own desire.

That is a desire that's centered on self

and not on God.

A desire that's blind to God's glory

or to God's good law.

A desire that kind of wants to throw those things off

and rather than please God,

it just wants to satisfy ourselves.

And if you've been a Christian for any length of time,

you know exactly what James is describing.

Even though our sins have been forgiven

once and for all,

past, present, and future

through the atoning death of Christ,

even though we've been given new life

and new hearts and eternal hope

through his resurrection from the dead,

every Christian still battles with remaining sin

in their hearts.

The power of sin is still prevalent

and it will be throughout our earthly lives.

Okay, so what's the answer?

The stakes are high, right?

I mean, consider again this process

that James describes.

First, there's the temptation,

but then the temptation conceives

and gives birth to sin

and then sin becomes fully grown

and brings forth death.

At first, it's just a lingering thought

or a desire.

Then those thoughts or desires

give birth to concrete words and actions.

Then those actions become habits

and deeply ingrained patterns of life.

That's the process that James is describing, right?

I mean, no one ever wakes up one day

and just says out of the blue,

you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to defraud people

of millions of dollars today

through fraudulent business practices.

I just decided.

It's a process that gets you there.

No one just wakes up one day

and says I'm going to be unfaithful to my spouse

or I'm going to get trapped

in alcohol and drug addiction

or I'm going to be judgmental and unforgiving.

That's not where it starts.

It starts in the seemingly small place,

in that small flash of self-centered desire

that we call temptation.

So what do we do?

Well, Jesus tells us to pray,

lead us not into temptation.

Now notice that this first half of this prayer

that Jesus gives us,

it's preemptive.

It's a prayer that is prayed

when you're not necessarily feeling the tug

and pull of selfish desire in the moment.

It's preemptive.

It's a prayer that's prayed

when you aren't in the heat of battle.

This is the prayer of wisdom.

It prayed at the beginning of the day

when you realize with clear eyes

that your fallen nature,

what the Bible calls the flesh,

will at times want to turn towards temptation.

It will want to give space

to the pool or lure of pleasing ourselves.

This is the prayer that says,

Father, I'm not as strong as I think I am.

And my greatest desire is to please You

and live in the joy of following

Your ways and Your words.

Your words to me are life.

Your laws are paths of increasing gladness.

You have made me for Yourself.

You made me for infinite joy in You.

But I know that remaining sin in me

will want to turn away.

It will want to drink from broken cisterns

that can't hold water.

So, Father, today,

lead me not into temptation.

Guide my steps.

Guide my thoughts.

Guide my day.

Keep me far from the lure

of self-centeredness.

I've been told that one of the paths

that leads to the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine,

which is the end of the Appalachian Trail,

I've been told that one of the paths

that leads to the top of that mountain

has one stretch that gets extremely narrow

called the Knife Edge Trail.

And it can be as narrow as about four feet

in some places.

And some of the drop-offs in some places

are as far as like 2,000 feet down.

Now, if you were waking up

on the morning of that hike

and you were at base camp or wherever,

your site,

if you were waking up on the morning of that hike,

before you got started

and you thought to say a little prayer,

what do you think it would be?

Father, keep me on the path, right?

Don't let me stumble.

Let my steps be steady and sturdy

and let me reach the summit.

Brothers and sisters,

there is a path we are on

in the Christian life

that leads to the most glorious

peak of all.

But there will be stretches of the trail

where the drop-offs are steep

and the danger will be great.

And in order to get to where God wants to take us,

it will at times be a very narrow path.

So we must pray every day,

Father, lead me not into temptation today.

And friends, here's the good news.

God has not left us alone on this journey.

He has given us the Holy Spirit

to dwell within us,

to be our comfort,

our guide,

our counselor.

God's own presence,

the third person of the Trinity,

the promise of the Father,

sent from heaven

by the ascended Jesus himself,

the one who descended at Pentecost

in wind and in fire,

the Holy Spirit,

Almighty God,

he is with us.

This prayer that Jesus instructs us to pray,

lead us not into temptation,

is a prayer that we might

keep in step

with the Holy Spirit,

that we might be led by Him

and His Word,

that we might let Him reorder

and redirect our desires

to all that is pleasing to God.

John Stott made this same observation

about this part of the Lord's Prayer.

As he kind of meditates

on this section of the prayer,

he notes that there's perhaps

a deep Trinitarian pattern

or logic

to these last three petitions

of the Lord's Prayer.

He writes

in his commentary

on the Sermon on the Mount,

he says,

it's through the Father's creation

and providence

that we receive our daily bread.

It is through the Son's atoning death

that we may be forgiven.

And it's through the Spirit's

indwelling power

that we're rescued from the evil one,

that we're led not into temptation.

So this prayer,

Lead Us,

is a prayer for God the Holy Spirit

to do His work in us

and to give us great confidence

and great courage

that we're not traversing

the knife's edge alone.

We have a guide who is sure

and He can be trusted

and He's given us His Word

to guide us every step of the way.

So friends,

this is a prayer

that we must pray every day.

Lead us not into temptation.

Holy Spirit,

cause my heart

to turn to You,

to heed Your leading,

to delight in what pleases You.

Keep me far from grieving You,

Holy Spirit.

Keep me far from temptation today.

And let me take up

those means of grace

whereby Your work increases

in my life.

Let me meditate on Your words.

Let me confess my sins.

Let me share my life

with fellow brothers and sisters

in Christ.

Let me receive their help.

Many of you can testify

that it's been through,

brothers and sisters,

that you've found

increasing freedom over sin.

Let me rejoice

in Your goodness today,

Spirit.

Let me use my gifts

to serve You and my neighbor.

forever.

So we pray this prayer

every day.

We know we aren't strong enough

to go through the battle alone.

And God gives us ample help

through His Holy Spirit.

But you know,

there will be days,

even days when it seems like

we've prayed this prayer,

even days when we feel like

we've felt the Holy Spirit's

deep assurance,

days when we're delighting

in God's goodness.

There will be days,

even like that,

when suddenly temptation comes.

We'll find ourselves

in the midst of trial.

And it doesn't mean

that God is unfaithful

because God is able

to use those moments

as times of strengthening,

times of growth.

But for these moments

in the battle,

we need the second half

of this petition

of the Lord's Prayer.

J.I. Packer again wrote,

you know,

when you're not conscious

of temptation,

pray,

lead us not into temptation.

When you are conscious of it,

pray,

deliver us from evil.

So this is the second point

that we'll consider.

In the midst

of temptation and trial,

we pray,

God,

deliver us from evil.

Notice how Jesus

doesn't mince words here.

He's very clear

that there is such a thing

as evil.

In fact,

the word evil

could be translated

the evil one,

meaning Satan.

Either way,

no matter how we render

the verse,

Jesus is quite unapologetic

that evil is real,

that it exists in us

as sinners,

in a world that's fallen,

and in the spiritual realm.

As Christians,

we will encounter that evil.

And it won't just be

kind of out there.

It will also be in here.

You know,

you can't escape

the fallenness

of the world,

right?

You can go to the most

remote location,

surround yourself

with only people

who think and act

exactly the same as you,

try to build a community

utterly away

from the evil

in the world,

and you will find

that it doesn't work

because evil is at work

in us

just as strongly.

So the answer

isn't to try

to just run away.

Now, of course,

we should certainly

flee temptation, right?

But if we're walking

the path of Jesus' kingdom,

if we're living

into our vocation

as His followers

to be salt and light

in the midst of the world,

if we're bearing witness

to Christ

in all of creation,

then we will encounter evil.

We will come face to face

with not just the brokenness

and corruption

outside of us,

but also inside of us.

So what do we do?

Well, we pray,

Father,

deliver us from evil.

Come to our rescue.

Now, you might be thinking,

wait, like, that's it?

Right?

In the face of evil,

we just sort of pray,

deliver us from evil, right?

I mean, it kind of sounds

a bit like underpowered,

doesn't it?

I mean, talk about, like,

bringing a squirt gun

into a forest fire, right?

Like, we're just going to

stand in the face of evil

in us, outside of us,

and just shoot up

a little prayer.

What good is a little prayer

going to do in the face

of the deep brokenness

of the world?

And yes, you know,

on the one hand,

praying this prayer

isn't a kind of magic mantra

that instantly makes things better.

That's not what real prayer is.

Real prayer isn't about

just sort of saying

the right thing

at the right time

so you can produce

a desired outcome.

It's not magic.

So what is prayer?

Prayer is communication

with God.

The triune God

has revealed Himself

as a speaking God.

And this God

has given to us humans

the gift of language.

Not just that we humans

might communicate

and commune with each other,

but also that we might

communicate and commune

with God Himself.

God has given us

this medium

whereby we can,

in our creaturely way,

commune intelligently,

actually, wholly

with our Creator.

So this prayer

in the face of evil,

deliver us,

is not just some sort of

vague intention

pushed out

into a cold universe,

right?

Hoping that the universe

will maybe right itself.

No.

We are praying

to the only one

who fully understands

the battle

that we are in.

You see,

friends,

evil is so much greater

than you or I

could understand

or experience.

Like,

we see our own

little trials

and temptations,

or perhaps we see

the brokenness

and suffering

of one part

of creation,

and at times

it's very great.

But the total impact

of sin and evil,

not just its personal dimension

or its communal dimension,

but also its cosmic dimension,

there's only one

who sees and understands

the full scope

of what sin and evil

really are

and really mean

and really cost.

You see,

the one who teaches us

this prayer

is the one

who actually entered

into the battle

with sin and evil

in that total scale.

He can tell us

to pray to His heavenly Father,

deliver us

from the evil one,

because His mission

was to come

and to win

this decisive battle.

Jesus Christ

was the only one

who went forth

into battle

with sin and evil

in its total cosmic scale.

And the cross

and the empty grave

are the battlefields

of that greater warfare.

You see,

at the cross,

sin and evil

did its worst.

It unleashed

its full assault

on God

in the person

of His Son.

And in what seemed

to be utter defeat

at the cross,

the greatest victory

was won,

because sin

was exhausted there,

and evil

was decisively

broken there.

And the grave

was emptied.

Christ rose victorious

over evil

and sin

and death.

And when we pray,

deliver us

from evil,

we aren't praying

a wish

or a hope,

but a certain reality.

Because Jesus Christ

took on flesh,

God came

in human flesh,

and conquered sin

and Satan

and the grave

for us

and for our freedom

so that the tyranny

of the evil one

could be broken.

Friends,

evil is ultimately

a defeated foe.

Satan is a conquered rebel.

Now,

we look at the world

and we look at our own hearts

and we see that

the enemies still rage.

The battle skirmishes

still go on,

but their time is short.

They still raise their fist

against the crucified

and risen King,

but His victory is sure.

deliver us

from evil.

Now,

we might pray this prayer

in the face

of a personal struggle

with sin or temptation.

We might pray this prayer

in the face

of broader patterns

of unrighteousness

and injustice

in the world.

We might pray this prayer

in the face

of spiritual conflict

with Satan's work

of lies and deception.

Whatever it might be,

we pray with confidence

that Jesus Christ

has triumphed.

From the moment we cry,

deliver us,

God's rescue operation

begins to apply itself

and carry on its good work.

help will be on the way

to cope and respond

with whatever form

of evil threatens us.

And His promise is sure.

One day,

death will be no more.

One day,

Jesus will return in glory

and every enemy

will be put under His feet.

The tyranny of evil

will be vanquished

once and for all

from God's good creation.

And God will be all in all.

So when we pray,

deliver us from the evil one,

we're praying that prayer

in the midst of deep

gospel hope

that the cause is not lost

but it is a certain victory.

And one day,

the earth will be full

of God's glory

like the waters cover the sea.

Let's pray together.

Jesus,

Jesus,

Lord,

King,

Redeemer,

we look to You

and we admit

that apart from You

we would be helpless

in the fight.

We are weak.

We are prone to wander.

We love ourselves

and our own pleasures

more than You.

We turn a blind eye

to evil,

even delighting in it.

We are sinners

and we deserve

nothing from You

but condemnation.

But You have conquered.

On our behalf,

You died

and You rose again.

And now for all

who experience

Your gifts of repentance

and faith,

You freely forgive our sins

and give us new hearts.

thank You for this indescribable grace

that flows from Your mercy

and Your love for us.

And so,

would we take up each day

this prayer

and pray,

lead us not into temptation.

Help us to live lives

that are wholly pleasing to You.

Give us a taste for holiness

that is unshakable.

Help us to love

more and more

the joy of obedience.

And would we also pray,

deliver us from evil,

trusting that Your victory

is complete

and that Your kingdom

is advancing

and the gates of hell

cannot stand against us.

Deliver us, Lord.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.