So if you have your Bibles, if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 6, and just to speak of the elephant in the room, my eyebrows not sticking up. Apparently I was bitten by something during VBS, so I've got an infection in my eye and my head, so it's a scab, I guess you'd call it. So if you're looking at me doing this while I'm preaching, that's not my eyebrow, okay? I don't know, shows you how weak that we are. A little insect could cause some big issues for you, so I'll make sure and get that cleared up. before we enter into reading our passage here tonight Matthew chapter 6 we're looking at the Lord's Prayer that is found within the Sermon on the Mount so far we've considered the first clause of this prayer and then we have looked at five of six petitions the three the first three positions have to deal with God the last three have to deal with us and our requests from God who is our creational father, our covenant relational father, and our father from which that gives us all the resources that we need. So we're looking at the Lord's Prayer, two sermons left tonight and next week, and then to finish up our study on this model prayer. So Matthew chapter six, let's begin our reading in verse nine. After this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Looking tonight, again at the model prayer and we're praying for protection. In this prayer we learn how to pray for protection. You know everybody needs protection. Everybody desires protection. We want physical protection. We want spiritual protection, emotional protection. We want financial protection. We have insurances for everything under the sun. You can get insurances on your house. You can get insurances on your car, on your pets. You can get insurances on everything. Life insurance, health insurance. All these things fulfill our need of protection. You think about the family. The family looks to the father for protection, both physically and spiritually, that emotional core of the house. A wife looks to the husband at the church, looks to the pastor and the leaders for protection. Us as citizens, we look to the government for protection. We all want Protection. We all need protection. I just about hate to admit it, but as I was sitting there singing, I was thinking about Calvin, who had to be carried in and out of the church on a stretcher. They'd carry him up to the pulpit. He would preach. They would carry him right out. He needed protection. He needed strength. You think of people like Thomas Cranmer, who was burned at the stake. Thomas Cranmer needed protection. Lady Jane Grey needed protection. William Tyndale needed protection. All these great saints, all these martyrs that we like to read and study about, they needed protection and we do as well. And God fit that prayer into this model prayer. We must pray for protection. It's absolutely normal and absolutely needed and certainly commanded that we pray for this protection. It's perfect protection. It is divine protection. It is omnipotent protection from the omnipotent So the model prayer, praying for protection. So first of all, let's launch off into this study by first defining the temptation. We must define what the word temptation means in our text or we will miss the true interpretation of it. If you look at the Greek word used for temptation here, is parasmos, and it's used universally to describe a trial of a man's fidelity, a trial of a man's integrity, of his virtue or his constancy. Parasmos can also be the condition of things or the mental state which we are enticed to sin or lapse from faith to holiness. So temptations, as used here, can be a trial or the culminating of the circumstances that lead to sin. How do we know whether it's a trial or whether it's a temptation? We know the difference according to the outcome. A circumstance is a trial if it honors the Lord. The outcome honors the Lord. A circumstance is a temptation if it dishonors the Lord. The core meaning for the word temptation The core meaning of it, it comes from a word that speaks to the fact that all circumstances for believers start as a trial. God is sovereign. He orchestrates all things. All things start as a trial. They then become a temptation when we allow our flesh the devil and the world when we allow those things to make those trials an occasion for sin. That's when it turns to a temptation. You see our English language, it only wants to paint temptation in this malicious kind of way. Because we do not consider the context and the detail of words as the Greek language still does to this day. This is why when we read the Lord's Prayer, we read this model prayer, and we read the phrase, lead us not into temptation, it sort of catches us off guard. Our mind automatically jumps into being tempted maliciously. Maliciously with ill will. But that's not the case in the Greek. When the word parasmos is used, you must always look at the context. And the context will tell you whether this temptation is a trial or whether it's a temptation. Also, the word temptation, it can have both a positive or a negative connotation, again, depending on the context. So if we were to summarize what the definition of temptation is, In this context of the Lord's Prayer, this model prayer, we can simply say that temptations are trials ordained by God that may turn into temptations due to the response to them. For example, a mom. A mom may tell her son that he cannot eat a candy bar. The mom goes to the grocery store and she walks down the candy aisle. She is trying that boy. She is putting that boy on, giving him a trial to take. That trial would become a temptation if that boy's flesh takes over and he gets that candy bar and he partakes Is the mom responsible? No, the boy is, because it was the boy's evil flesh that made the occasion of this trial a temptation by sinning. The same thing applies to us with the Lord. He gives us clear commands, crystal clear commands. He then gives us trials to put these commands into action. If we do not allow our flesh to take over, these trials, they strengthen us. If we allow our flesh to take over, these trials turn from a trial to a temptation. So in any single situation, you can have first a test and then a temptation. The test being the trial that God planned. He planned to strengthen us. The temptation being us failing the trial, failing the test because our flesh took over. Our English language calls both of these instances a temptation. So the definition of temptation, now let's look at the source. of temptation, the source. Some will read through this model prayer, they will deny the truth found in verse 13, the truth that God does tempt us. Look back to our text, Matthew 6, verse 13, and lead us not into temptation. So we are praying that our Heavenly Father who created the universe, eternally saved our soul and daily provides everything that we need does not lead us into temptation. Are we praying that? The answer is yes. That's what we are praying because the context of the word temptation here is speaking to a holy intent. So we are talking about temptations in the sense of a trial. The grammar of this text tells us, the Greek word used for lead here in its literal definition means to lead into. Who is doing the leading? It has to be God. God is the one of whom we are praying to. in the Lord's Prayer. And to be doubly sure it is God, when you parse this verb in the Greek, the verb used for lead, you will find it's written in the aorist tense, subjunctive mood, and the active voice. What does that tell us? This means that we are praying that God will not actively lead into the specific events of a trial that may turn into a temptation in the future due to our sinful flesh. Notice there's no question. It is God who's doing the leading. Now this gives us a great paradox. Because when we put verse 13, and lead us not into temptation, up against James chapter 1 and verse 13, that says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he You see, the reason this is a great paradox to so many is that they fail to read the context. They fail to read the context of James chapter 1. Because if you start in James chapter 1 and verse 1, and you read through all the way up to verse 13, what you will find is those previous verses speak to a negative connotation of temptation. Verses 13, they speak to a positive connotation. Verses 13 and 14 are a negative. 13 and 14 are saying that these are given instances where this is an enticing to sin which God does not do. Enticing us to sin is what our flesh does. Enticing us to sin is what the world does. Enticing us to sin is what Satan does. They are the instigators of sin. God commands and entices us to defeat the flesh, to defeat the world, to defeat Satan one right choice at a time. And as we endure these trials, these trials that He has orchestrated, He gives us what we need to defeat them. We see the source of temptation exemplified, if you remember, back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had no doubt a clear command. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is a trial. The temptation came when the serpent directly enticed them to sin. He enticed Eve to sin. And then you have Eve enticing Adam to sin. So when they were enticed to sin, they gave in to that sin, that trial turned from a trial to a temptation. Turn with me to the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark in chapter 14. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, as you will see when you Make your way there, Jesus and his disciples in this text. They're at the Garden of Gethsemane. And Mark really does a good job, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of painting a picture of this relationship that we're trying to teach here of a trial and a temptation. Mark 14, beginning in verse 32. It says, and they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he saith unto his disciples, sit here, sit ye here while I pray. And he taken with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. Notice who it was that led the disciples to the garden. Was it Satan? No, it was Christ. Christ led them there. Notice that it's Christ's command that they were to follow. Christ told them, commanded them in verse 34, This is a clear command. This situation is what we would call a trial. We have a clear command from which they are to follow. They have the opportunity to practice self-discipline and not give in to their physical desires to sleep. Third, notice their response. In verse 37, Jesus comes back, he finds them asleep. This is where the trial becomes a temptation. They had a clear command, tarry ye here and watch, and they disobeyed that command because of their fleshly, physical desires and how those desires enticed them to sleep. Notice the explanation Christ gives as to why they were successfully tempted. He says at the end of verse 38, the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. For as the spirit provided the ability for them to endure the trial, he provided that very ability. He provided the ability for them to endure the trial, which would have strengthened their faith, but they failed and allowed themselves to be tempted by the flesh. So we see two tempters here. We see Jesus providing the trial, and the flesh providing the temptation, that enticement to sin. And we see this in our own lives, day in and day out. There's always Two tempters. God is always providing those trials to strengthen our relationship with Him. And at the same time, the evil one and those that we fight against, the flesh, the world, Satan, they are always enticing us to sin. They're always trying to tempt us in the midst of those trials so that we will sin. So when we pray, lead us not into temptation, we are praying that our Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father that has entered into this covenant relationship with us, we are praying that He would not lead us into a trial that would allow us to be tested to the point that we would be tempted to sin. We are not praying to not be tested at all, because James 1-2 says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh. patience. There's no doubt that God uses trials to mold us and to shape us into what he wants us to be. Trials are a big part of our ongoing sanctification journey. But what Christ is modeling for us in this prayer, in this prayer outline that he wants us to model our prayers after, He is modeling for us that we must have a heart desire. We must have an attitude to avoid any trial from which we will fall into temptation. We are praying that God does not place anything in our lives from which we will fall into a temptation because our spirit is willing but our flesh is so very weak. If we go back to that candy bar Analogy, that child that knows that he loves that candy bar and knows that he would fail the test if he walked down that candy bar aisle would do all that he could to not go down that aisle. Would do all that he could to go down another aisle. That's what we are praying. That child would be so aware of his weaknesses that he would cry out to the one that controls the trials to keep him from that temptation. This is what we are to do with God. We are to know our weaknesses. Know our weaknesses so well that we would cry out to God to not test us with any situation from which we know we can't handle. The source of temptation. We define temptation. Consider the source. Now let's look at the plea for deliverance. The plea for deliverance. Turn back to our main text. I want to read the second part of the first half of Matthew 6, verse 13. It begins, and but deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil. Deliver comes from a word that means in its most basic literal sense to rescue or to draw up or to pull up or to snatch up. It would be best pictured by a father pulling his child to safety by a rope one grip at a time pulling him unto himself. And what are we asking the Lord to snatch us from? What are we asking the Lord to deliver us from? It is evil. Evil, as used here, or poneros in the Greek, it actually means the evil one. So we are praying that God would deliver us to himself from the evil one. This is a prayer that acknowledges once again our weaknesses. We are weak. creatures we are praying that if we are praying that if we do fail if we do fail God's trial by making that trial a temptation because we give in to that enticing of sin we are praying that God would deliver us from the one who tempted us in the first place notice there's no hesitation in this text this is an urgent prayer of deliverance Why? Because this prayer comes from a saint that has his eyes so fixed on God that he completely understands sin, he completely despises sin, and he can't stand the thought of himself giving in to it. This prayer is a prayer to be prayed by a saint who knows his weaknesses. This prayer is a prayer to be prayed by a saint who is pleading with God to keep him from those sins that he knows he will fall into if that trial is placed in front of him. This is a prayer of attitude, an attitude of disdain towards sin to the point that we cry out to God to keep us from any trial. from which we cannot handle. We pray with Christ as he prayed in that same garden. He said, Father, in Luke 22, 42, Father, thou be willing to remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. You see, Jesus, in His humanity, He desired to not have the cup of His Father's wrath poured down upon Him. So He prayed that if there was any other way that God would make it happen Christ knew that his flesh was weak but yet he still prayed nevertheless not mine will but thine be done this goes to show us that it's perfectly okay for us to pray that a trial not come upon us but we must never forget to pray above all else that the Father's will be done before we move on I want us to once again notice in this section of the prayer, the community of this plea. Look back to verse 13 once again. It says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Notice there's no selfishness in this prayer. This is not a solo prayer that involves only one pray. This is a prayer prayed by the whole church. for the whole church. We pray not only that we personally are not led into trials of which we do not think we can handle, but we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray that they won't be dealt a trial from which they will be enticed to give in to a temptation of sinning. This is yet another reminder that a person must be focused on others and not themselves. You see, a person's physical needs is not their greatest need. Their spiritual need is their greatest need. So when we pray, we must, yes, pray for their physical needs because that can be a trial, but we must go past the physical and pray for their spiritual needs. Our plea for deliverance from temptation is a plea that involves the entire family of God. The plea for deliverance. And then let's look at the act of deliverance. The act of deliverance. You'll turn over to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. James is a wonderful book to read. I don't want us to think that all we need to do is to pray a prayer of deliverance and sort of hang up the prayer phone because James tells us how that God delivers us from evil. Now James chapter 4 beginning of verse 7 is speaking primarily of salvation. But this passage from verse 7 to verse 10 has implications even past our salvation. It has implications into our continual deliverance from the evil one and our ongoing sanctification process. So James chapter 4, I want to begin reading in verse 7. It says, Submit yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. First, we resist the devil by submitting ourselves to God. Submission is a voluntary ranking under. It is a ranking under Christ Lordship. So we are delivered from the evil one through a total submission unto God. were delivered for salvation and then for sanctification. Secondly, we are delivered from the devil and his plans by drawing nigh to God. This is simply telling us that we must have an intimate relationship with him. A deep fellowship with our covenant relational father who provides all we need. Third, we are delivered from the evil one through cleansing. James is speaking of salvific cleansing. But we as God's people need a daily cleansing of sin through confession. 1 John tells us that. Fourth, we are delivered from evil through our attitude towards sin. Notice the attitude we are to have when we are saved. Look back to verse 9. It says, be afflicted. That word afflicted means be miserable. Mourn. Weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Why all of this mourning? Why all of this weeping over sin? Well, we can answer that question with another question. How can we be delivered from something that we enjoy? We can't. So we must see sin as God sees it, which will deliver us from the grasp of the evil one. Lastly, we are delivered from the evil one through humbleness. We must see God as great and mighty and majestic and perfect and holy. We must see God as the most powerful, the most just, the most rightful. And we must humble ourselves before all that he is. It is in this humbleness that we find deliverance, the act of deliverance. We define temptation. We've learned the source of temptation, this plea for deliverance, the act of deliverance. Now what about the application? How sad it would be if we are given such a great responsibility in Matthew 6 of the Lord's Prayer and not apply what we learned. So to apply Matthew 6 and verse 13 in this message, I think we can do three things, three quick things. Number one, We must first know our weaknesses. We must know our weaknesses. If we are going to pray and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, we must know our weaknesses. I'm meaning both our physical weaknesses and our spiritual weaknesses. Both our personal weaknesses and our corporate weaknesses. We must do a self-examination. We must do an examination of each other. When you think about doing this with others in the church, what does that mean? It means that we have to communicate more than we do in a worship service. Because I don't know how many times we've thought about this, but in a worship service, there's not much person-to-person communication that goes on. That communication happens before. and after. That communication happens in small groups. That communication happens during the week by text or phone call or by email. That communication happens as we fellowship. So if we are going to pray in plurality and lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil, we must know what us are going through. So that means we have to communicate. This idea that attending corporate worship service, even three services a week, coming in last minute, leaving as soon as it's done, you might wave, you might grunt, you might, I don't know, snicker or something and leave. That's just not church. We have to fellowship. We have to know what each other are going through. We have to know what each other are struggling with so that we can pray, Father, lead them not into that temptation. I know that they can't handle that trial. So Lord, please do something in their life to get them out of it. I know they can't handle that. Please help them. I mean, think about all the things that people struggle with. Some people would really struggle with something involving their family. They just could not stand the thought of their family suffering, even for the Lord's sake. That would be tough. So how would we pray for that individual? Father, please don't put the trial in front of them where their family would ever have to suffer. Think about someone who might struggle with accepting failure. Father, please don't let them fail. I know that they may be tempted to sin. Don't let them fail. What about someone who may struggle with finances? Who must have a certain amount of their bank account to feel secure? How can we pray for that individual? Father, please protect their finances. Please help them because they may be tempted to sin if not. You see, we're all different and we all have different trials that we struggle with and we must know what each other struggle with so that we can pray and lead us, not a temptation, but deliver us from evil. To apply this message, we must first know our weaknesses. Know our weaknesses. Secondly, or be in your outline. to apply this message, we must study the Bible. We must study the Bible. I think in every single application, it always ends up here. It always goes back to the Word of God. Why is that? Because we can't get enough of it. We can't get enough of the Word of God in our life. Our appetite for it could not be high enough. We could not attain enough of the words inside of it to ever make us full of the Word of God. And by saying study, I mean more than just reading. Reading is great, but we must move past the reading into digging a little deeper. You can do this by getting a study Bible, getting a good commentary. You see, the Bible was not designed as having some of these hidden images or hidden meanings or hidden messages or words all over the white in your Bible. Mine don't have much white, but I really believe that some people's Bible must have That much words and about that much white in it because they always live in the white of their Bible They'll say something. I'm like, wow, I don't know where you got that at Okay, we must be like Lady Jane Grey and just stick to the text, you know, but that's where they need to stay But we must read and interpret the Bible correctly. And that means we're going to have to spend some time in it. We're going to have to daily read and study our Bible. That means we're going to have to be in a Bible study. That means we're going to have to listen to some good Christian podcasts of good biblical men who preach biblically and good doctrine we're going to have to do that during the week to have a good healthy intake of the Word of God we must do that if we're going to pray lead us not into temptation because what we will find the more that we learn about the Lord the more that we learn how often we are tempted how many trials we are faced You see, even in putting our spiritual gifts to service, that's a trial. That's a trial that could become a temptation. Because with every trial, there's a choice for us to not be faithful. And when we're not faithful, it's now become a temptation. So we must know what those trials are. so that we can pray and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. You know what you find in the Bible? You find people like Job who endured temptation, who endured trials. And then you find David who failed. You have Jeremiah who endured and Samson who failed. You can find example after example of men and women on both sides of the aisle. Some endured the trials, some failed and gave in to the temptation. It's through the study of the Word of God that we can learn how to navigate these trials that we face. So to apply this message, We must first know our weaknesses, that's our corporate weaknesses. We must then study our Bible. And lastly, we must pray every day. We must pray every day. Did some research, I did this research before, but the average time spent in prayer for the average professing Christian, you know how many minutes a day it is? It's five. Five minutes a day is what the average Christian spends in prayer. Is that enough? I don't know. It's a loaded question. I don't know if that's enough or not. But my question would be, what is the quality of those five minutes given to prayer a day? In the scripture, you find that People prayed at all times of the day. You find David and Christ both praying at night. You find Christ praying in the morning. You find Paul praying sporadically all the way through the epistles. He saw the need and he just prayed. When writing on the topic of how long we should pray, C.N. Wilborn, who is a Presbyterian pastor, and he writes some good articles for the Table Talk magazine. We have some of them out in the lobby most of the time. And he says this about when he was asked about the length of prayer or when we should pray. He says, and I quote, as often as we see a praiseworthy matter in everyday life, let us praise him. As often as we see a thanksworthy reminder during the day, let us thank Him. As often as we see a sinner, let us petition Him. As often as we are tempted, let us cry out to Him. You see, I think Wilburn would agree that we have plenty to pray for throughout the day. So praying every day, throughout the day, as needs and praiseworthy issues arise and thanksworthy items are placed before us. Prayer is always the proper response of a believer. We see roots of this in the model prayer that we are looking at. When Christ says, in the verses leading up to the prayer, in Matthew 6, in verse 2, He says, Therefore, when thou doest alms, in verse 3, but when thou doest alms, verse 5, and when thou prayest, verse 6, but when thou prayest, Verse 7, but when ye pray. Verse 8, after this manner, therefore pray ye. When we get on into fasting, he will say, and when ye fast, do this. All of these commands are in the present tense. We are to be presently giving. We are to be presently praying. Praying every day. All of these statements point to an active prayer life, an active life of giving, an active life of fasting. So my question is, how active is our prayer life? Is our prayer life an afterthought or a forethought? Is our prayer life a result or is our prayer life a cause? Because prayer changes things. Is prayer a contributor? Or is prayer simply a response? Scripture has proven time and time again, somehow in God's majestic, perfect plan, He uses the prayers of the saints to change things. So why don't we pray more? Friends, we must be committed to praying fervently and often for ourselves and for other believers so that we do not fall into temptation. So to apply this message, we must know our weaknesses. We must study our Bible. We must pray every day. You know, to say that we don't care about praying is to say that we don't care about being delivered from temptation. And to say that we don't care to be delivered from temptation is to say that we don't care about God. God is clearly communicating to us and commanding us to pray. To pray for ourselves and to pray for one another. He is commanding us to pray so that we would walk a godly life and not fall into temptation. So for somebody to say that they could care less about praying, I challenge their salvation. All of those who could care less about praying for both themselves and others, there's something wrong at the core. Thomas Brooks said, I ran across this quote this week and I loved it. Thomas Brooks said this, and I quote, Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord. You see, we're going to breathe out what was breathed in. So if the Spirit of the Lord has been breathed into us through the new birth, we will breathe out prayers. Thomas Brooks was stating a fact, a true Christian. will truly pray. A true Christian will pray and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Bow with me as we pray. Father, Lord, we thank you so much, Lord, for creating everything that we see and everything that we enjoy. Lord, we thank you that you called us to salvation in eternity past. Lord, we're so thankful that before we were even born, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to take the full wrath of our sin upon Himself. Lord, You imputed our sin to Him, and we are so thankful. Lord, we're also thankful that at the time that we received You as our Lord and Savior, at the time that You worked in our hearts through Your Spirit, And we cried out to you in repentance and faith that you imputed unto us Christ's righteousness. Lord, what a blessed truth this double imputation is. And Lord, I pray that we will never forget it. Lord, I pray that the fact that you have saved us from such great sin saved us from the very pit of hell in which we would suffer the eternal separation from you. I pray that that would encourage us and would fuel us to pray more and more every day. Lord, it's my prayer that we would be so concerned with our church. And we would be so in tune with what we're all dealing with that daily We would pray that our brothers and sisters in Christ would not be led into temptation. And Lord, if they find themselves in the midst of a trial and they given in to a temptation. Lord, it's my prayer that you would deliver them from the evil one. Father, we pray if there's anybody in the sanctuary here today that is not saved. Lord, we pray that you would save their soul. We pray that you would work in their hearts, they would call out to you in repentance and faith. Have your way with this time of invitation. We'll give you all the praise, honor, and glory for it. It's in your son's name we do pray. Amen.