April 19, 2026: Lead Us Not Into Temptation - Matthew 6:13

As we've been working our way week by week through the Lord's

Prayer, we are now finding ourselves in the second-half of

the prayer. We look carefully at the

invocation, remembering to whom we are praying.

Very important that we pray to a father, a loving father who has

chosen and adopted his children. There is intimacy and closeness

in this communication, but not only is he a loving Father, he

is also a Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and earth, whose

wisdom is beyond our comprehension, whose powerful

might is beyond reckoning. So He's not only willing as our

loving Father to hear and answer our prayers, but He is able as

the one who has created the heavens and the earth.

And it is to this God that we make our petitions.

And we see that the Lord's Prayer comes to us in six

petitions. The first 3 are about God, about

His name and his Kingdom and His will.

And this last three are about our needs.

And it's important to get that order right, that we know who

we're praying to and we pray about his will to be done before

we come down and to start praying about our needs.

And so we come remembering all of that into this part of the

prayer. Lead us not into into

temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And we'll be on this section for today and the next couple of

Sundays. So there's a lot, a lot here to

talk about. We'll just begin today, do some

groundwork, ask some questions of the text, look at some other

texts to build and understand a theology of spiritual warfare

and how great is our need for the Lord to intervene in order

for us to live godly lives. My friends, the spiritual life

is dangerous. We have 3 great enemies given to

us, our own evil desires. Even if you're a Christian,

you've been a Christian for a long time.

The Bible teaches that you have indwelling sin and you will have

it until you are glorified someday.

We have our own evil desires, but also there is sin

enculturated in the society around us.

This is what the Bible calls the world in the negative sense.

We have our own evil desires. We have the world, but we also

are dealing with a very real spiritual enemy, the devil

himself, along with his minions. The spiritual life is dangerous.

We need divine protection. Now.

We're used to thinking about needing protection.

We say safety first. Buckle your seat belt.

Don't climb too high. In fact, some have written that

we are, in the current day, kind of obsessed with safety.

We are so anxious and beholden to a type of safety ISM.

But I wonder how aware we are friends of our spiritual

dangers, the spiritual dangers that threaten our souls on a

daily basis. How vigilant are we about

knowing our own vulnerabilities and our resources?

None of us in this room is a stranger to temptation.

Many of us know deeply what it means to fail, to know the good

that we ought to do and desire to do it.

But for our flesh to fail once again, Once again asking for

forgiveness, wondering if we'll ever be out of this terrible

cycle. This morning we're going to talk

about protection from trials and temptations and consider

together our spiritual resources for the same.

First, we need as we get into the Lord's Prayer again, we need

to understand the nature of the problem.

What is the nature of the problem?

What are we really praying for and about and against?

When we say Father lead us not into temptation, what does that

mean? First, I want to just notice

that it's in a set of daily needs.

We prayed for our daily food, clothing, shelter, Our Daily

Bread given daily. We've also talked about the

ongoing need for forgiveness even after we've had our part.

And it's a daily prayer for forgiveness for ourselves and

for those that sin against us. This too, has a daily component

to it. We need daily protection from

spiritual danger. What is this word temptation?

No, it's interesting. When I when I went to seminary,

I was so sure that if I just learned Greek and Hebrew, I

would have the golden keys to clarity for the text.

Greek and Hebrew will solve all of the confusing problems in the

text. That is a lie.

That is not the case. I was probably led to believe

this because I had good expositors both in my church and

in my school who often delivered amazing insights and deep

clarity from the original languages.

But I learned, I came to learn that sometimes it's actually

harder in the original languages to know what's going on with

this word temptation. The Greek word is often the

exact same word over and over and over again for trials or

tests or temptations comes through over and over and over

again. And you actually have to do

contextual work to figure out what is going on with this word.

And your English Bibles try to help you by sometimes

translating it as trial or test and other times translating it

as temptation. But you look into the Greek and

most of the time it's ambiguous. Like you to turn your Bibles to

James chapter 1 if you have them with you, James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention James 1 · chapter mention

Look at a few examples briefly so you can see how this word is

operating. We may get more confused before

the clarity, but that's the normal process of learning James

first chapter beginning in verse 2, James writes count it all joy

my brothers, when you meet trials there it says trials, the

Greek word. It can be trials or temptations.

When you meet temptations of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces

steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full

effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in

nothing. Well, OK, James seemed kind of

optimistic here. Maybe we should have some

measure of joy when we go through tests of some kind

because they develop faith and perseverance, good virtues.

They are sanctifying. Interesting.

But in the same chapter, down in verse 13 through 15, he's going

to talk about temptations again. Same Greek word down in verse

13. Let no one say when he is

tempted. Same Greek word trials.

I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with

evil as and he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his

own desire. Then desire when it has

conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown

brings forth death. Amazing powerful image from

James about sort of a kind of spiritual pregnancy, a

conception, a gestation, a delivery of evil and death and

warns the reader, hey, don't blame these things on God, they

come from you. God doesn't tempt people.

You have your own evil desires. Try stop trying to displace the

blame that belongs to yourself. OK, thank you James.

Another interesting data point is we're building our biblical

theology Matthew chapter 4. You don't have to turn there,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

but in Matthew chapter 4 says this then Jesus was led up by

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

the Spirit, the Holy Spirit God. He was led by God into the

wilderness. Why to be tempted by the devil.

Interesting. After and after fasting, 40 days

and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came and said to

him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become

loaves of bread, the Holy Spirit leading Jesus into temptation.

What does this mean? Also another interesting thing

to look at. We won't turn there either, but

in Genesis chapter 22, obviously, hopefully for you,

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

you're learning about your Bibles.

The Old Testament's written in Hebrew, but in the Greek

translation of the Hebrew Bible, they use the exact same word

regarding the testing of Abraham.

In Genesis 22 after these things, God tested Abraham, or

it could say tempted Abraham and said to him, Abraham and he

said, here I am. God said take your son, your

only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the the land of Moriah

and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains

of which I shall tell you. What?

Wait, what James, haven't you read your Bible?

Why James, are you saying God doesn't tempt anyone when the

Greek version of your Old Testament is he tested Abraham?

This is confusing. I don't understand.

And thankfully your English Bibles are translators.

Sometimes they're going to say test or trial, and other times

they're going to say temptation to kind of help you with the

nuance because there are two different types of temptation,

and it has to do with motive and ends.

You see our enemy, the devil, when he is tempting persons, he

is seeking to entrap and destroy, to murder, and yet our

Lord, when he allows or even does testing, it is for the

development and the proving of faith, as with Abraham, as with

Job, as with our Lord. So in summering up the problem

as we think briefly together, biblically, Satan tempts in

order to entrap and destroy. His motive is wicked and evil,

and so are his ends. But God tests in order to prove

and improve our faith, as He did with Abraham and Job and our

Lord Paul the Apostle. The apostle had a thorn in his

flesh, which he called a messenger from Satan.

Why? In order that He would not

become conceited. It says to keep me from becoming

conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the

revelations. And in the parallel passage,

when Jesus is predicting Peter's denials, He even says that

there's satanic temptation going on there too.

In Luke 22 verse 31 and 32 it says this, Simon, Simon, behold,

Luke 22:31

Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fall, may not

fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

The devil is a source of temptation.

The Lord Himself tests in order to prove our faith.

There are other sources of temptation, as James has taught

us our own evil desires, and that's what he's talking about

in James One. When he says God isn't tempt,

he's saying, look, don't blame God for your own evil desires.

He's not undoing an entire biblical theology of trials.

So we have our own evil desires to work with and through with

the Lord, but also the evil desires of the world and

culturated in society, putting constant pressure on us,

tempting us in the wrong directions.

So when we come to the Lord's Prayer, what is it that we're

praying for? What are what is it that we're

praying against? What kind of trial or temptation

is being prayed about here? Is it trials and tests from God?

Is it satanic temptations? Are these temptations arising

from our own evil desires or temptations arising from the

world? You savvy test takers, you know

the answer before I tell you it's answer choice E all of the

above. Spiritual life is dangerous and

there's a tax coming not only from within but from without.

And there's trials coming from God himself in order to prove

our faith. And so we pray with the Lord's

Prayer, just like our Lord is praying in Gethsemane.

He says, if it's possible for this cup to pass for me, so be

it. If not, Thy will be done.

And so we come to this prayer and we say lead us.

Not a temptation. If any of this God is avoidable,

please protect me. Medicine.

We have a saying that's become a cliche.

It's absolutely true. An ounce of prevention is worth

what? A pound of cure?

Lord, keep me from evil. Keep me from temptation.

It's also an explicit recognition that we are weak and

frail. We can't handle it.

In the passage that Ed read so well this morning, the disciples

are overconfident. We're with you, Lord.

Even if we have to die, we're with you.

They'll even argue with them about it says no spirit is

willing, but the flesh is weak. And you guys, you don't even

know what you're up against. And you're going to go through a

horrible ordeal. You will run away, you'll be in

despair, and you're going to go through this arc of suffering

until you understand the victory of the resurrection.

And then you will emerge humbled, chastened, and with a

boldness you can't imagine that will lead nearly all of them to

a martyr's death, embraced with courage the courage they thought

they had when they didn't. And so we pray this,

acknowledging that we are very weak indeed, asking for

spiritual protection. And we go out into the day with

our armor on. Bible talks about the armor of

God. Ready made, bold, equipped to

withstand these types of trials and temptations, and hopefully

in such a way that we stand firm and our faith grows.

In the passage that we read this morning, the prescription for

the problem is given from our Lord's mouth Himself.

Did you catch it? What He told them to do.

Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation again.

You should hear the echoes of the prayer they were taught to

pray first. Watch in the image that I want

you to have is a watchman on the wall, a great fortress, and it's

your job for your shift to pay attention.

You're not supposed to fall asleep.

You're not supposed to joke around with your buddies.

You're supposed to pay attention.

There is a vigilance, A watchfulness.

Now, this watchfulness should be happening in two particular

ways. One is 1 is to watch ourselves,

to know something about the anatomy and the Physiology of

our spiritual vulnerabilities. Do you know your weaknesses?

Have you had frank conversations with brothers and sisters in

Christ so that you know your weaknesses?

Have you learned from your sin patterns where you shouldn't go

or what you shouldn't watch? Things you shouldn't do?

People you shouldn't be with? What is the anatomy and

Physiology of your own spiritual dynamics when it comes to your

sin? And if you've never taken some

time to study the categories of sin, I would highly recommend

it. People say pastor, and that

sounds so depressing. Ironically, it does.

But I promise you it will yield good fruit.

I'm sure in a room this size, I'm not going to make you raise

your hands, but I'm sure in a room this size, this size, many

of you don't like to go to the dentist.

No thanks. Hate it.

There's a few of you that like the dentist.

Somehow you find it relaxing. My wife is in this category.

I don't understand her. But all of us should be glad for

the dentist. Whether you like going or not

going, you are thankful that there are people that can

understand your problems. They can offer you cures.

You come out thankful. And this studying sin is a type

of downward gaze in order to look up to the magnitude and the

immensity of what has been provided us in Christ Jesus.

And the greater you understand the magnitude and the enormity

and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the more you can understand

the glory of the cross, the cross and the resurrection, and

the indwelling Spirit who produces spiritual fruit in US.

You got to go down in order to go up.

And if you've never done this, I would commend to you, of course,

CS Lewis. You can start with his fiction,

start with the screw tape letters.

Let him do some surgery on your soul.

The Great Divorce is also in this category.

But my most favorites, The Chronicles of Narnia, for by his

fiction, he sort of sneaks around a sleeping dragon that

you have in your heart that is defensive fire breathing,

telling me it's not my fault. I didn't do anything wrong.

You guys sneak around that that guy, don't wake him up so that

you can have a mirror put up to your own heart that shows you

what your pathology is. And maybe it sounds like Lucy or

Edmund or Eustace Scrub. We can resonate with the

characters and see where we can be humble, where we can pray for

protection and pray for undragoning so that we may be

holy like our Lord. So that's the look within, but

we also have to take a look without.

We have to be understanding about the spiritual currents of

our age that are pulling us away from our Lord and away from His

church. Our constant diet of of media,

whether it's politics or music or arts has a certain current to

it. And in every age there's a lot

that's pushing on you that is not pushing you towards our Lord

or to towards his church. So we have to live in this

world. The Lord does not take us out of

this world. We live in this world, but as

salty, light filled Christians who are savvy about what's going

on culturally, who help one another to say no to ungodliness

and worldly passions. John writes love not the world,

neither the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the

love of the Father is not in him.

That means there should be a type of sorrow in our hearts

when we scan and see ungodliness, unrepentant

oppressive power structures, greed and war.

We look within and we look without, but we not, we must

also look at Jesus. And you not watch with me?

He asks His disciples. Watch with me.

We watch with Jesus. He is the one who has vanquished

our enemies. He is the one that is causing

spiritual fruit to move in and through us as we abide in Him.

We watch with Jesus, and we watch with Jesus.

By watching for Jesus, like the ones in the parable whose Wicks

are prepared and their oil lamps, they have a vigilance.

They're watching for the coming bridegroom, the Lord Jesus

himself. And it's with this, this

watching with him and this watching for him that enables us

to stand. Last thing I'll say about

watching before we talk about prayer briefly, this watching,

this vigilance is not an anxious watching.

We are not on that wall, just waking with fear constantly when

the as soon as the smallest little thing goes like this that

we freak out and catastrophize. The sky is falling.

We are not anxious watchers. It's more like driving,

hopefully. I don't know what you're like

when you drive. There's a lot of danger when you

drive. It's the most dangerous thing

you undertake by far. Statistically speaking, driving

is dangerous. But nobody wants to ride with

somebody who drives like this. They're wearing a helmet.

They want you to wear a helmet. You're like, what is your

problem, man? Can't we just like listen to the

radio or something? And yet you don't want to ride

with somebody who's like asleep, who doesn't care who's driving

on the rumble strip. And so there is a there is a

vigilance which is appropriately aware of spiritual danger, but

it's also has competencies built up in Christ and in spiritual

resources so that you can play the song on the radio and have a

conversation, all the while vigilant against evil.

So I don't want to cause a vigilance which is so anxious

that you can't be a joyful Christian friend so you can't

hear the music anymore. So it's not a anxious watching,

it's not paranoid, it's not suspicious, it's vigilant.

What does this look like? Jesus says watch and pray, and I

would say the vigilance comes by prayer.

How do we watch? Mostly by praying.

Praying. This line from the Lord's Prayer

admits our spiritual weakness. Hopefully it causes repentance

for the deadly sins in our heart, which causes also a

vigilance about the world as we go out into it for our day.

But a prayerful with Ness as Jesus is with us by the Holy

Spirit protecting us, guiding us, giving us everything that we

need in Christ Jesus. So there's a vigilance by

prayer. It's a for a daily protection.

And I think that it also wells in up into a type of

Thanksgiving for all the hidden protection that we have against

evil. And I'm going to finish with

this, friends, You are being protected all the time against

dangers you know nothing about, and for this we give thanks.

If you want to have a good conversation over lunch, ask one

another. Friend, when has the Lord

protected you from sin? Tell me about a time where you

had a near miss. Tell me about a time when your

heart was hard and you could have ruined your life, but God

rescued you somehow. Let's hear that.

Let's testify. Let's well up in Thanksgiving.

The Lord is protecting us all the time from hidden dangers we

know nothing about, often in response to prayer.

Prayer isn't just some psychological spiritual

exercise. It's real.

It matters. The Lord has angels at His

disposal to help guard and protect his children, whether

that's from spiritual dangers or physical dangers.

There should be a Thanksgiving that wells up in our hearts.

I was talking to a friend just this week.

We had a long journey to drive, and when they finally arrived,

they called me and said, I'm here.

I made it. The Lord's been so good.

He protected us over all those miles.

I'm sure his angels were surrounding us.

And I thought, praise God for you.

This person isn't just assuming that they go through this life

in their own power, under their own protection, but that they

are weak and frail and needy and that the Lord provides all of

these things. There's going to be more to say.

We're going to have to talk about rescue from evil.

We're going to talk about the devil that's coming.

But for today, we'll conclude where we started.

Friends, we have spiritual enemies and they're dangerous,

indwelling sin, the world and the devil.

They gravely threaten us every day, but with our risen Lord, we

watch and pray in order to overcome sin and live holy

lives. I've been inviting the folks

here to join me in the Lord's Prayer as a way to conclude.

If you don't know it, that's OK. I'd encourage you to listen when

we get to the part about sins or deaths or trespasses.

We've been saying trespasses. So would you join me as we pray

together the Lord's Prayer? Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily

Bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those

who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the

power, and the glory forever. Amen.