Well, we're studying the Lord's Prayer. This shouldn't be any surprise. We're actually coming upon the sixth petition tonight. I've been using the last many weeks to use the Westminster Shorter Catechism and then a book by Thomas Watson to help us as we unfold and understand a little bit better what the Lord was teaching his disciples and teaches us as to how we might pray before him. And just a brief review tonight, we've studied the preface to the Lord's Prayer, Our Father, which art in heaven, we've been focused upon His name, obviously, that He would, in fact, hallow His name, but not just His name, everything by which He is known. His word works. everything by which he's made known. And that he would work in us, that in all aspects of life, we would be setting apart, hallowing his name. That people would see that in us. That's part of the prayer. The first petition, hallowed be thy name. That's the whole idea, isn't it? In the whole course and tenor of our lives, we would be again, setting apart God's name. He would be sanctified by us. Academician, your kingdom come. We thought about actually three different kingdoms as we thought about praying this portion of the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come. We pray that Satan's kingdom would be destroyed. I don't know why the slides keep advancing, but they do. We pray that Satan's kingdom would be destroyed. We know that he has his kingdom here upon earth. We pray that the kingdom of grace, which is within our hearts, advance. We would grow and grow closer and closer to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ here on earth. And finally we pray that the kingdom of glory would come. Glory meaning Christ would return and we would be ushered into heaven with the triune God. Three different prayers really in the one, thy kingdom come. third petition, your will be done. We think of heaven as we think of the Lord's will being done here on earth. And as we think upon heaven, we know that within heaven, we know that in heaven, God's will is being done perfectly. There's no sin there. There's no opposition to God there. There's only doing the will of God. And that's the idea. We're praying that here in this world, on this earth, in these bodies, with this soul, we would be seeking to do God's will. That means we need to know his will. We need to obey his will. We need to be in submission to his will. The fourth petition, seeking our daily bread, knowing that we are not only spirit, but we are also body and praying that the Lord would provide for us all that we need in his good timing, that we would trust in his wisdom, that he would provide daily, that we would confess our complete dependence upon him and enjoy and content ourselves, not only in what he provides, but in God himself. The fifth petition, forgive us our debts. This is what we did last week. And as we go before the Lord, as we're seeking that he would forgive us, we're asking that he would pardon all of our sins, not for our sakes, but for Christ's sake. that we would, in fact, be confessing our sins that's caught up in this request that he would pardon our sins. We're certainly pleading for pardon. And then finally, that we would be committing to forgiving others. All that caught up in asking that the Lord would pardon our sins. Well, that brings us to the sixth and the final petition tonight. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And here's the prayer. We can just read it tonight. Again, pray it. In fact, as I do read it, pray along with me, brothers and sisters. In this manner, therefore, pray. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen Well, here's the Westminster's shorter catechism response to what is it that we pray in the sixth petition. I need a PowerPoint master to tell me why this continues advancing on its own. The sixth petition, which is, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, We pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin or support and deliver us when we are tempted. It's really straightforward. This is probably the most straightforward petition contained within the Lord's Prayer, within the model prayer. And it's obvious, seemingly. It asks, it calls upon us to ask for and meditate upon the work of the spirit who does keep us from temptation and who does deliver us from evil. The whole idea is for us to be meditating upon that work of the spirit of God and pleading for it. Well, we're breaking it down into those two items. Keep us from temptation. Deliver us from evil. Very simple tonight. Two simple heads as we open this up. First, it must be admitted as we pray this portion of the Lord's Prayer that we are weak. We're subject to being tempted. Chocolate cake looks great. Wish I could eat it. It's tempting. I'd like to eat it, but I won't feel good afterwards. That's the idea, isn't it? The Lord has created all things and placed the world before us. It can be used in ways which glorify God, and it can be used in ways which don't. And so as the world itself can be a temptation to us, this cake is just a wonderful thing that we can make that. And it looks delicious. It also can be a temptation for those of us who shouldn't be indulging in that. Not that chocolate cake is bad. It's not. But we're admitting that we're subject to being tempted. that our flesh is weak. I think that's exactly what we read as we opened up the Gospel of Matthew. As the disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus Christ, and as he's going off to pray fervently to his father, asking them that they would watch In fact, coming back and seeing that they are sleeping, telling them to pray, advising them, counseling them, your flesh is weak, brothers. You need to pray. It was so weak that three times they fell asleep. That's just a powerful picture about our flesh. about how weak we are and how much we need the Spirit of God. Scripture has many examples of men being tempted and falling into sin. Look at Noah. saved by God and his whole family, seeing God close the door on the ark, directing and guiding him, preserving him over many, many days, bringing him again to dry land, allowing him to come out and worship him. And as he grows the vineyard, what does he do? He abuses it, becomes drunk. He sins against God. He's tempted by what is a wonderful thing. God has given it back to man to tend and keep and watch over. And Noah abused it. He was tempted, and he fell into sin. Think of Moses. One of the most godly men that we read of in Scripture. And God gives him a command to speak to the rock. And he's been frustrated by the people and antagonized by them. And time and again, they're grumbling against him. And what does he do? Does he listen to God? No. He's tempted. He's tempted by the grumbling and complaining of the people. Shall I bring water out of this rock for you? And he strikes the rock. Think of David. With all that he had, kingdom. Many wives, wealth, victories in battle. And there was one more thing that he wanted. And so he takes Bathsheba. And he has her husband placed on the front lines where he will be killed. He's tempted. Even Peter. Even Peter. is tempted to sin against even the Lord. You're with him. Oh, no, it wasn't me. I don't know him. James writes this, let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. Each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. So many things to notice in this particular verse. First of all, I want you to see that James does not write if he's tempted. No, he writes when. And we can apply that to ourselves, brothers and sisters. When we're tempted, what are we going to do? First, we're not going to blame God. He's not the tempter. You're tempted by those things that are within us. Tempted by Satan. Temptation is not an if. For us, in our weakness, it is a when. Satan is constantly working. seeking, if it were possible, to lure believers away from Jesus Christ, away from the kingdom of God, away from the kingdom of grace, back into his kingdom. That's his work, isn't it? It's his desire. And Peter writes, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That's the idea. That's the concept we need to have in our minds, even as we're praying this prayer, that Satan is trying to take us away with the darts and arrows that he throws at us, seeking to lead us, tempt us. So Peter, stop coming up here. Be sober-minded. Be serious about this. Know that your temptations are coming. And watchful causes us to think of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's the idea as we go to prayer, as we pray this portion of the Lord's Prayer coming to it in a sober-minded and watchful way, knowing that Satan wants to devour us, Lord, keep us from temptation. Let's not take temptation lightly, or be cavalier as we pray that we would be kept from it. Interestingly, Peter continued, resist him, Speaking of Satan, speaking of our adversary, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering, notice how he's characterizing Satan's temptations as suffering. Same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. As we pray this prayer, we should be praying it for one another, not just for ourselves. Resist him, firm in your faith. James adds to that, what causes quarrels, what causes fights among you, it is not this, excuse me, it is not this that your passions, is it not this that your passions are at war within you? But God gives us more grace. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. In this passage, James, as he's opening it up, mentions three or four different kinds of sins. He's saying, this is your estate. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, who's drawing you into these sins. He will flee from you. It's an amazing truth. The devil will flee from us as we submit ourselves to God. This prayer is part of submitting ourselves to God. You can clearly see the need, can't we? Every one of us is weak and subject to being tempted by Satan. Think of Job. You might think that all of Job, the entire book, is one big temptation. Satan brings the scourge upon him, takes away his family, his wealth, places disease upon his body, and his wife, even as the book is opening up, tells him, curse God and die. His wife. Satan was using his wife to tempt him. And then his friends come, not very friendly way. Every one of us is weak, subject to being tempted by Satan. How did Job resist? He didn't succumb to the temptation of his wife. He never cursed God. How do you do it? How do we resist? As we looked at those scripture passages, we find these things being watchful as we acknowledge our weakness. By going in faith to the one who is not weak, but all-powerful, by pleading with God to keep us from temptation. I really think those first two points are caught up in the third. As we're pleading with God to keep us from temptation, we're asking that he would keep us watchful as we acknowledge our weakness and we're actually going to him in faith. He's the one who is not weak, but all power. Brings us to our second point, then, deliver us from evil. This portion, this clause, of the prayer causes us to acknowledge, just as we did in the first clause, we're tempted, we know we're weak, we know we will be tempted. This one acknowledges that there are times when we fall into sin or evil. When we do, each of us need to be delivered out of it, to be pulled out of it. This differs from the fifth petition wherein we're asking to be pardoned. Being pardoned and being delivered from sin are really very related, but they're two different things. Being delivered from sin is really caught up within repentance, isn't it? Forgiveness, is what we have in Jesus Christ. It's what God proclaims, it's what God declares as a result of the shed blood of Jesus. But being delivered from it is to be taken out of it, is to turn from it. Consider the prodigal son. He asks his father for the wealth of the family. He takes it. What does he do? Give me the share of property that is coming to me. He divided the property between them and he goes off and he spends it on wicked and evil living. He enters into that world where he is surrounded, where he's immersed in sin. He wastes the money. It's all gone. Ultimately, what happens? He's delivered out of it. We see the forgiveness of the father as the son approaches and he is so rejoicing because of the return of his son. He was lost and now he's found. And we see forgiveness in the reception of the father, don't we? But we also see that this one was delivered out. He came to his senses. He sees that he did wrong, and he doesn't go back to it. He doesn't come back to his father asking for more money so that he can return. No. He's delivered out of it. He rejoins the family. He was lost, and now he's found. He's been delivered. Now think of the Apostle Peter. who gives us at least two good examples of being delivered from evil. Think of his turning away from Christ. Think of the three times that he denies that he knows Jesus Christ, and what does Jesus do? There's an unspoken forgiveness, isn't there? As Jesus approaches Peter, as he speaks directly with Peter, there's an unspoken forgiveness, but what does he do? He restores Peter. He delivers him out of his sin, out of his denial. And he brings him to that place where he must confess Jesus Christ. Feed my lambs. You see? He delivers Peter out of his fear and he places him into profitable labor where he must confess Jesus as his own. Think of Peter as the apostle Paul approaches him. Peter was, before Paul comes, eating with the Gentiles, but then he has this fear of the circumcision, those who were claiming that you must be circumcised in order to be saved. And so then he stops eating with the Gentiles and excludes himself to eat with those who are circumcised for fear of them. Paul calls him out. When I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, that's Peter before them all, if you though a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Scripture doesn't record anything further on that. I think we can safely assume that Peter was delivered out of that sin. that as Paul approaches him, as Paul confronts him, Peter is probably crushed by his sin and turns away from it and is delivered out of it. Paul's words were means used by God to awaken Peter to his wrongful fear and behavior and bring him to his senses, deliver him. So wonderful examples for us. That's the idea. God is called upon to keep us from temptation. And if we do falter, if we do sin, he's also called upon to deliver us out of it. Part of our repentance. Turn us away from our sin and turn us to new obedience. all caught up in this portion of the Lord's Prayer. Next week, Lord willing, we'll look at the, not the prologue, but the end.