Everyone, no it's not 11 o'clock yet. We're together again. Okay. So we brought our Sunday school class over here again today. So I'm gonna interrupt the flow once again. All right, let me get what I need. So, what was that, a few weeks ago, right? We were together. So we're together again. So we're gonna go back to Matthew chapter five, I'm sorry, six. Wasn't five for so long. And we're still getting the, I didn't think I'd have to hear that when I came in here. You always hear it out there. You just have to go, 10-4. All right, yeah. We're in Matthew 6, and I don't remember. Let me see. Where were we when I was here last? I think we were back on. Oh yes, we talked about verse 10 the last time I was here with you. So we moved a little bit, we crawled a little bit forward. So we'll take it from there, let's pray. Father, thank you again that we have the freedom and the privilege to meet together like this, to study your word, to know what you have to say to us, we pray that you'll open our hearts to the truth of your word, to your spirit, and that you'll teach each one of us the things that you want us to change, to do, to pursue for your glory and for your honor. And Father, we continue to ask you to just put your hand upon our pastor and on Pastor Jim. Strengthen them and raise them up once again. And Father, for many other difficulties, both physically and otherwise, in our congregation, we pray that you'll come and show your hand of power to help, to heal, to strengthen, and to direct, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we are, we just took a little step last week in our class into the sixth petition in the model prayer. So just to get things started, how about we just review what we probably already know pretty well, but pretend like you never heard it before. And we'll read, do we wanna get context? Yeah, so let's read verses 7 through 15. I'd like a volunteer who would read that nice and loud for everybody. Matthew 6, verses 7 through 15. Who'd like to do that this morning? Oh, you're all so reticent. John, can you do that for us, please? I have to correct me with some words, don't I? But when he prayed, they met. All the way to 15. Thanks, John. OK. So we are now looking at what can be taken as either the sixth Petition or if you prefer the sixth and the seventh petition in verse 13, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So you can either take that as 6A and 6B, or you can take that as 6 and 7, however you like. And you can argue with the theologians that like to comment on these things and break things up that way. These are petitions, though. These are requests that we bring to the Lord And this first one is, actually the whole thing, is really tied back to the previous petition. The previous petition is in verse 12, and that is for forgiveness. We had a long time speaking about forgiveness. And it's not going to go away, in fact, because as you notice in verses 14 and 15, after Jesus gives this model prayer, he brings back this idea of forgiveness. And in fact, he brings it back with some disconcerting requirements about forgiveness. I don't know if we'll get there today. What I did last week was we talked about the subject, about forgiveness. It's very clear in verse 12 that what Jesus did was put us asking for forgiveness parallel to us forgiving. And I mentioned, I used to wonder about this when he says, as we forgive our debtors. And what does that really mean? Does that mean that as much as I forgive those who are indebted to me, in other words, those who have sinned against me, as much as I do that, that's how much I'll get forgiven by God? Is this conditional? Is God only motivated by what we do. Now you think about that in the bigger picture of what scripture teaches and you'll see we'll need to dig into this when we get to verses 14 and 15, but this principle is not only here. You'll also see this later on in Matthew 18, at the very last verse of Matthew 18, where Jesus makes a very similar point. And so I'll leave that there, because I won't repeat that from what we did last week in our class. But let's move on then to this very, I think, parallel request. Because if we need forgiveness for our sins, it only makes sense that an avoidance of needing forgiveness of sin is not to be tempted. Because temptation is what brings sin. And so in verse 13, it's legal to ask not to be led into temptation. Now, the real question here is, will God lead you into temptation? Why would we say to the Father, lead us not into temptation? Because what does James say about that, about God and temptation? Take a look in James chapter one. This would just be review for class, and that's okay. We like to review. In James chapter one, let's see, how much context do we want? Okay, somebody read verses 13 and 14 in James chapter one. I need another reader. wake you all up. Adolph. Thanks. So we see here that God, James says God doesn't tempt anybody. God can't be tempted and he doesn't tempt anybody. So then why is Jesus instructing us that when We pray, we ask God to lead us not into temptation. Well, then we have to understand the meaning of the language. And this is true anytime. We use language in different ways and we have to understand the intent of the language. Sometimes we get all hung up on what is said and not how it is said and what the meaning and the intent really is. So understanding that God can't be tempted and he doesn't tempt, we have to look at the word. What's the word temptation mean? Testing, what else can it mean? Yell at me. Trial, okay. John. Drawn away, and as James said, enticed. Enticed to do what? Sin, to evil, enticement to evil. So last week we talked a little bit about this word. This word that's translated temptation, and in fact, In James, he uses the word throughout that first chapter. I should have stayed back there, but I'll just summarize. The word temptation, the Greek word is parasmos. It's a very generic word. And like many words, in our own language, it's the same way. The context will tell you which of its many different possible meanings, or let's say shades of meaning, it's being used for in that context. So the word parasmos can refer to being tempted to do evil. But it can also refer to a test. Now I want you to think about this. It's really not, you say, isn't that a contradiction? No, because in fact, if you're being tempted to do evil, can that be a test? Certainly. The point here is that God doesn't tempt us to do the evil. but God can't allow us to be tested. Not every temptation is a temptation to evil, but every temptation is a test of some kind. And that's what, so earlier up, James in chapter one talks about let, no, back up, back up in my brain. at the beginning of the chapter, when he's talking about falling into trial. Same word, parasmos. But here, it's trial. Blessed is he that endureth temptation. So, there's not always a solicitation to evil in a test. Sometimes it's just a hardship. However, if you think about that for very long, you can say, well, in fact, when troubles come, I can't be tempted, can I? I can't be tempted to grumble and complain and be faithless and not trust God through my test, through the trouble that's come to me. So in many ways, the word is broad. It's a very broad word. And so here, lead us not into temptation has a qualifier after it, doesn't it? But deliver us from evil. So now we understand in the context what kind of temptation we're talking about. And will God tempt us to evil? No. Will God allow us? Yeah, he will. Give me an example of a person, just turn back to chapter five, or four, that's four, right? Yeah, right after, I'll get you right. Yeah, chapter four, verse one. So right after his baptism, it says, Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Oh, he was? Yeah. So what greater example do we have? What person in Jesus' cadre was in fact refined by testing and even temptation. John? Job, okay. I'm thinking more along his disciples. Job was tested that way, yeah, you're right. What disciple of Jesus was tested this way? Peter, right? Jesus even told him it was gonna happen, didn't he? And he knew it was for his benefit. Jesus knew it was for Peter's benefit. Peter didn't know that then, even though Jesus told him. He had a very special type of hearing that most of us have. To quote the words of a famous theologian, Paul Simon, a man hears what he wants to hear. and disregards the rest, la-da-da or whatever he said after that, right? This is the way we are. We're very selective in what we hear and how we process it. But yeah, in fact, not only in the wilderness was Jesus tested, but when we understand the meaning of this term, testing, we understand then that what we're being asked or told to pray for is And this isn't a wrong thing to ask for, not to be led into temptation to evil that would keep me from giving in to that temptation. That's a good thing to pray for. God doesn't always say yes to that, by the way. He allows us to be tested so that our faith can grow, so that our faith can be strengthened. I want you to turn to Luke 22. And this is a very familiar passage to all of us. But this is Jesus being tempted again later on. And let's take a look in verse, let's start in 39. He's in the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples. This is after the Last Supper. In verse 39, he came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into what? Temptation. Parasmos. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." What's Jesus asking? So Adolf got one interpretation, which I'm going to show you in a minute why he said what he said. What do most people think Jesus is asking? How do most people define the cup here? The cross. Most people say Jesus was asking God to not have to go to the cross. Now we've heard the other side of this here, but in a lot of places you won't hear that other side. Actually, all that really all boils back to, because I have the same commentary that Pastor has, is Kenneth Wiest, who gives us a very important comparison to make. I want you to turn to, if you've never seen this before, turn to Hebrews chapter five. If you've seen it before, turn to Hebrews chapter five. Either way, review is not bad. In Hebrews chapter five, right in the midst actually of a context that is a really great context I'm gonna just dive right into because otherwise I'll go chase the rabbit in Hebrews since it's so good. But in chapter five of Hebrews in verse seven, Somebody read verses seven and eight for us. This is talking about Jesus, who is our great and greatest high priest. So verses seven and eight, who would like to read those? Danette. Okay. Who is this talking about? Jesus, right? When did this happen? When he was in the flesh, when he was human, He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from what? Death. Now, I hope you kept your finger in Luke, because if you look back in Luke, after Jesus makes that request, and as he goes back again the second time, what happens in verse 44 of Luke 22? It says he was in an agony and he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. What death was he delivered from? The death of the cross? You could still say that, okay? I'll give this to those who take the other position. You could still say that he was heard in that he feared or the thing that he feared if he feared the cross. because he rose from the dead. But he wasn't delivered from death, he died on the cross. But he didn't die in the garden. What was the temptation in the garden then? Perhaps. Perhaps, but Dr. Wiest has another thought, which I think is, this is way conjecture. I mean, he's really stretching it, but that's okay. Since we're not told exactly, we can think about what it might be. We're talking about the son of God. Did Jesus have to go to the cross? Did he have to go to the cross? No. Did Jesus have to die in the garden? Jesus said, when Peter sliced off Malchus's ear, don't you know that I could do what? I could call? No, that's the song. 12 legions of angels, gotcha. I don't know why they didn't put 12,000 in the song. He said, I could have called 12 legions of angels. I have control over the whole thing here. So what was he being tempted to do in the garden? Perhaps, Dr. Weiss says, he was being tempted to stop it all right there. If he could do it when they came to arrest him, he could have done it right there when he was being Tempted. Tempted to do what? Take his rightful authority as the son of God and say, I'm not going to do it. These people aren't worth it. And we're not worth it. But he didn't do it. And the struggle was so great that he was about to die over it in that wrestling in the garden. Something to chew on. I don't have any scriptural basis for that detail, and neither did he. But it is intriguing to think the fact that Jesus was asking for this temptation to leave him in the garden, the temptation to take his rightful place and not go to the cross. Still has that same connotation of not going to the cross, but not because he feared the cross. So many times we may have the same issue. We may not be tempted to do a sin on the list, so to speak. But one of the greatest sins of all time, in fact, maybe the greatest sin, is pride. I don't deserve this. And therefore, I will take my way and do things that I want instead of seeking the will of God and the will of the Father. That pride is the sin that condemned Lucifer. And so these are the things, in fact, that show us, now back to Matthew, why Jesus was an expert on saying, lead us not into temptation. But it's not only lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. John, question. Let's say a little bit different way on this. I look back on Earth being safe, saying we're just coming and being safe, It is. Yeah. Right. I see no difference in what you're saying. No, no, I invite questions. That's good. Yeah, don't get me wrong. I wasn't negating the basic understanding. And the basic is, yeah, I don't want to sin. I don't want to be tempted to sin. And when I'm tempted to sin, I'm more prone to give in, right? So in the context of this sermon, by the way, most of which, remember, the key verse to the Sermon on the Mount really comes shortly after the Beatitudes in verse 20 of chapter 5. Accept your righteousness, succeed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You'll not see the kingdom of heaven. We're talking about what man proclaims as righteousness and what God proclaims as righteousness. Everything that we're going to see in the Sermon on the Mount is impossible to do in our flesh, in our human strength. We need the grace of God. And these Pharisees, who were the major target of most of what Jesus is teaching here, Especially in, you know, remember he's telling them how to pray after he tells them how not to pray. And if I could sum it up, he said, don't pray like a Pharisee. Don't pray to be seen of men. Right. That's how we started all this. But then he comes back here and he says, this is how to pray. And generally speaking, and John brings up a good point, it's, How do I say this? Not easy. Relatively, when we're first, say, most of us, it depends on what your background was, there are certain things that seem to be easier to put off. Paul tells us clearly, put off. The old man put on the new. But if you look at those things he tells you to put off, don't exclude the things further down on the list. So a lot of us say, well, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm not going to do drugs anymore. Let me say it that way. I'm not saying that's easy. People are addicted to something. It's very difficult. But most people can put that off before they can put off gossip. Right? In fact, we talked about that last week. Was that last week? I can't remember. You know, it's easier to quit smoking than to quit criticizing, for example. Right? So we have to look at all of the sins. And by the way, there's no Bible verse that names Smoking, someone brought it up last week so that's why I'm talking about it. But there is lots of Bible verses that name criticizing, gossiping, and backbiting. So this is the force of what we're seeing in this Sermon on the Mount. By the time Jesus gets done with me in the Sermon on the Mount I recognize I am hopeless without him and that's what he's teaching us here. And so we have this clear parallel between forgive me and then, and help me not to be tempted. Don't let me be tempted because I need to be delivered from evil. Now what's evil? You ever try to define evil? The word here is preneros. Even sounds bad, doesn't it? Preneros. I gave up trying to like write a definition because when you look at the definitions that you see, it's this long. It's just anything. Here, let me give you a few. I think I have something. My note to myself is it seems to be a very general of all things bad, evil, hurtful, harmful, lewd, and perilous. How's that? Evil. And so evil is all around us. because of the fall, because of the curse. Now, some suggest that this should be translated, deliver us from the evil one. So I dug into that a little bit and said, why? In fact, Dr. Robertson, who is a pretty well-known old Greek scholar, explained that to me. He says that the Greek case here, and we won't get into grammar, but the Greek case obscures the gender. So it could be either the evil thing or the evil one. Now, in English, we don't have gender on inanimate things, but in other languages, that's all the time. When I learned German in high school, a door was female. Why? I don't know. But that's just, you know, they assign gender to different things. Here, the evil, because of the construction of the original language, could mean the evil one, or this could be evil things, things that would bring me to do evil, or would bring evil upon me. Either way, it's all a test, it's all a temptation. Even though we have that possible difference, it all boils down to the same thing, because it's the devil that's going to tempt me anyway. And whether I want to be delivered from the evil one or from the evil that he wants to bring me to, it's very similar. So deliver us from evil is fine. But in the end, if we look at what temptation brings us, and the worst thing that can happen From temptation is what? Sin, right? That I fall, that I fail, and that I sin. And therefore, what's the consequence of the temptation finally? Judgment, right? That's also evil. It's bad for us. Anybody want judgment? No. And so to deliver us from evil has different aspects to it. Remember when Jesus, just go there, John 17. Jesus is praying for his disciples in this chapter just before his arrest. Only John gives us this prayer. In fact, I think it's McGee that says this is really the Lord's prayer in John 17. And it's a long one. But as he prays for his disciples, somebody read John 17, 15. Go ahead, Nathaniel, evil one translated there. So he didn't pray for his disciples to be taken out of the world. In other words, they would still be subject to temptation, but you would keep them from the evil. This is the same thing that we are now being told pray for to be kept from evil. So there are different aspects then to evil when I'm saying deliver us from evil, correct? Note, by the way, as an aside, deliver us. When I'm praying I'm still praying not just for me, I'm also praying for my fellow believers, deliver us from evil, we all need this same thing. One aspect of evil is just from the general hurt that evil brings to us, whether it be now in this life or in a final judgment, that's evil. The other thing though that sin does to us is it brings us into bondage, doesn't it? And that's an evil. We mentioned earlier some kind of addiction with anything. That's when you really feel the bondage, but we're all addicted to sin. We all have a problem that needs to be fixed, and it's sin. But what's the promise? Who knows Romans 6, 14? I won't even make a turn to it if you know it. What's it say about sin to the believer? For sin shall not have what? Dominion. over you for you're not under the law but under grace. What then, should we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid, and he goes on. So to be delivered from evil in that sense is to be delivered from that dominion of sin. So this again is a legal request. It's a request, in fact, that we are exhorted to in Romans 6. And then finally, as we mentioned, ultimately to be delivered from final judgment. So when we say deliver us from evil we can mean a whole lot of stuff just like when we say lead us not into temptation we can mean a whole lot of things. This is quite a thing to ask for and it's only one little sentence, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. And now what Matthew gives us here in the Sermon on the Mount that Luke doesn't give us in that other place that, you know, again, for many years in my early life, I didn't understand why some people didn't finish it. It's just because they had Luke's version. But he says then, because of all this, and note that it's in the same verse. Now again, the verses aren't inspired, but it's in the same breath. For thine, for. What does the word for mean in this context of what he's saying? Because, all right? For is another one of those words. Depends on the context, what it means. For. In other words, deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. We have a reason to not want to sin. We have a reason to be delivered from evil because we want to glorify God. And that's the beginning. of what he says in this model prayer, isn't it? Question. Yes, and that's the only way we can overcome these things. Again, when I get to the bottom of all of this sermon, I'm Totally understanding my own inability, and I must trust Christ. He has to be everything to me. Now, I want to take a quick look. I want you to go, yes, to 1 Chronicles 29, because what you're going to see is, if you will, this doxology to end this prayer. Jesus didn't make up. No. He's simply reflecting something that, if you will, his earthly progenitor, David, said. In 1 Chronicles 29, if you're familiar with this, David had made a request to the people of Israel to come and bring offerings for the temple that he was not allowed to build. And even though he was not allowed to build it, he made a lot of preparation for Solomon to do so. And here in chapter 29, after it's all over, in verse 10, Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thine hand is power and might. And in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. You see, in the context, he'll go on to say, everything we've given you, which was a whole lot of stuff, if you want to read it all, in the chapter, he said, we just have given to you what is yours. That's what we do when we give. We're just giving God what he owns anyway. But what he really owns, is all of this stuff, the kingdom and the power and the glory is all there. And Jesus is just, if you will, using this very familiar doxology that the people of Israel would know to say, to take us back to the beginning of this prayer that says, thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's for the glory of God. Those early, if you will, those early petitions, which I think we discussed last time I was with you, were for the glory of God. Then we come to these other petitions that, if you will, are for us. But again, for us to do what God wills is also for the glory of God. And so he just brings it all the way back to remind us as we pray to our Heavenly Father that all of these requests are for the glory of his kingdom, to show his power and his glory forever and ever. And then, of course, he ends it, as we're back in Matthew, with a very important word, amen. And, you know, our kids all think that amen means the prayer is over, right? And in fact, amen means true. And when you see Jesus say, verily, verily, if you look at it, it's amen, amen. It's the truth. This is so. And in this case, to finish, say, so be it. How can we say that after we've asked God for all these things? Simple. Faith. Do I believe that God could do everything I just asked him for or not? I say amen. What I'm saying is I believe, Lord, that you can do exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think. For thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever. Do I have time? No. I was going to read you a little pink. Let me do it. I think this is quick. Pink has a little word to say on this. He has a lot of words to say. Okay, he says, to deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, et cetera, is teaching us to back up our requests with scriptural reasons or arguments. From the divine perfections, the suppliant is to take encouragement to expect a gracious answer. There is nothing in or from ourselves which is meritorious. Very important. That's where he started. Not to be seen of men. And therefore, hope must be grounded upon the character of him to whom we pray. His perfections are not evanescent, but forever. The concluding amen expresses both a fervent desire, so be it, and a vowel to faith, it shall be so. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this model for us. Give us faith in our hearts and minds to follow this, not by rote, but in spirit and in heart, that as we come to you, We know that your will is the best thing. Teach us to ask according to your will and to obey according as you demonstrate to us in your word. In Jesus' name, amen.