I invite you to turn in the word of God to the gospel of Luke. As we come to the concluding petition of the Lord's prayer that we have been considering over this past number of weeks, we will read Luke's gospel chapter 11 verses one to four. And then I want to read the first 11 verses of the fourth chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Luke's Gospel, commencing to read the living word of God at the first verse of the 11th chapter. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. Then I invite you to turn to Matthew's gospel, the fourth chapter of Matthew's gospel. and the events following immediately after the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Matthew chapter 4, verse 1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 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. But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.' Jesus said to him, again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. And there we end the reading of God's Word. As I said in the introduction to the reading of the Word of God, we come this morning to the final, the sixth and final petition of the Lord's Prayer as it's recorded here in the Gospel of Luke. It's a petition which has two parts. Although only the first part is recorded in Luke, In Matthew, the first part says, well, we have it here, lead us not into temptation. And in the second part of the petition recorded in Matthew's gospel, we read, deliver us from evil. Since it's unlikely that I'm going to be preaching again the Lord's prayer in the detail that I have done so over the past few weeks, I will pick up in a future week. that statement from the Matthew's gospel deliver us from evil, but today and probably the week after I come back from America, we will concentrate on this statement, lead us not into temptation. It's a strange sentence, isn't it? Lead us not into temptation. Where else in the Bible do you read about God tempting us? The implication here is that God tempts us and we're asking him not to lead us into temptation. Well there isn't anywhere else in the Bible where you read about God tempting us. Because God doesn't tempt. He doesn't tempt. James writes in James 1 verse 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. And then James goes on. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Yes, God permits sin, but he doesn't promote it. His purpose for our lives is that we would be holy and blameless. And therefore, he cannot be either an enticer or an encourager of sin. So if God does not tempt man to sin, what then is the meaning of lead us not into temptation? Well, simply put, it means that God would guard or prevent us from being overcome by temptation and so drawn into sin. When we're praying this, we're asking God that he would enable us or guard us or prevent us from being overcome by temptation that would then lead us into sin. And that's really important. That's of the utmost importance. Because temptation is a serious thing. It's a real thing. We live our lives and we make choices. And the choices and the decisions that you make and I make in our lives impacts our lives. Whether we later want to excuse the choice that we make by attributing the consequence to the feeling of another person is neither here nor there. The reality is that when you make a choice, whether a small choice or a large choice in your life, it is you who make it. And you have made that choice. And whatever comes as a result of that choice, you will either have to suffer the consequence or enjoy the blessing. And temptation comes to us and it presents us with an attractive, an attractive end in respect of many of the choices in our lives. The problem is that that attractive end is to our detriment. It is not to our good. Temptation realized in sin, James says, results in death. Temptation resulting in sin leads to corrosive attitudes, destructive behaviors, and ultimately to disquiet of the soul and a failure of contentment. That's the real problem. That's the real issue. And it's a huge issue and a huge problem for each one of us. We do not live in a vacuum We do not live in a theologically or a religiously cleansed cocoon. We live in the world, and that world and the ruler of that world desires, desires that our lives would be turned upside down, that our new life in Christ would be damaged that our desire for the things of God would be harmed and that we would not experience the blessing of God, but that we would experience the consequences of sin. That's what he desires. And I could give you any number of simple examples to prove that is the case. The reality of temptation is serious. But what is temptation? If we're going to pray, lead us not into temptation, then we've got to look at what temptation is. And I want to look at that question this morning, focusing on the subject of temptation, and in particular, the way it comes to us by the actions of Satan. We've already noted that temptation can come to us from within our own hearts and minds. James says, and I reiterate it again, that temptation can come from the own sinful desires of our hearts when we are rude and enticed. We have to be clear about that. We have to be clear about our personal capacity to self-will enticements and inducements that will lead us to sin, that you and I have the capacity through what we see, through what we hear, through what we have in our mind, through what we have in our hearts, to actually want to pursue after that which will destroy us. You have that capacity within you because of your sinful nature. And many of the struggles and wrestles that you have in your life are down to what you choose to do, because you choose that you want to do it, even though you know that it is wrong, just as I do. Even though it's written down in black and white, I know I shouldn't do this, or I know I should do this. I know that if I do this, I'm breaking the commands of God. If I know that I don't do this, I'm breaking the commands of God. But still, in my mind and in my heart, I am willing to play the game with God that maybe just once I'll get away with it. When we know in our heart of hearts that we will never get away with it, yet there is within our sinful natures this capacity to self-delude ourselves in such a way that we think we might be the one human being who has lived in the face of the earth, who can engage against God and win. And we need to keep speaking to our hearts. And we need to keep speaking to our minds. And we need to keep telling ourselves that we have this capacity, this inclination, that we have to wage war against those tempting thoughts and those tempting desires. And you have to work that out for yourself. You have to work that out for yourself. You can't keep blaming other people. You can't keep saying, well, if my wife was slightly different, it'd be different. If my husband wasn't the way he was, or if my job was different, if college was different, if school was different, if these people in my life were different, then I would be all right. That will never change. You are where you are. You are who you are. You have to learn to develop and mature and grow up and realize that it's my choosing and I have a responsibility to lay to waste these temptations in my own life. You have to get ahead of the game. You have to understand the consequences of sin. But I want in particular now to pick up on the reality of Satan and the temptation that he brings to us. And I want to look at the prompts Satan, what prompts Satan to tempt. I want to look at the persistence of his tempting. I want to look at the prolific nature of his tempting. I want to look at the power that lies behind his tempting and the persuasiveness of his tempting. Now, we're not all going to get through that this morning. We'll see how we get on and we'll pick up this evening where we leave off. First, what prompts Satan to tempt? Jesus speaks of Satan as the tempter in Matthew's gospel, chapter four. Jesus had been baptized and he's led into the wilderness to be tempted, we are told in verse one, by the devil. Verse three, the tempter comes and says to him, just as we have read, but what is it that prompts Satan to tempt us? What lies behind his desire to tempt us? Why does Satan invest time, thought, and energy? Why does he direct those who are under his control to tempt us? Well, there's one word that sums it up. Malice. He has a desire to harm us. His intentions are evil. They are construed out of a hatred towards us. They are full of spite and animosity and hostility. This fallen angel, created perfect in the image of God, who fell from grace and was driven out of heaven by God because of the arrogance of his pride in seeking to usurp God's authority. He is real and his existence day by day is driven by the poison of malice. He tempts us because he is envious of the blessed state in which we exist. And he is envious of the fact that God has not wiped off the face of the earth, the ungodly who despise him. Satan hates us. He hates mankind because men and women are created in the image of God. And every human being that walks on the face of the earth, regardless of their size, their age, their ethnicity, whatever cultural background they come from, regardless of their intellectual ability, regardless of who they are, they reflect the glory of God. Even the most intellectually and physically disabled human being on the face of the earth reflects the glory of God. The enemy of our souls would have an unborn child who has multiple disabilities put to death before it has seen the light of day. Why? What threat could such a human being pose to the ruler of the principalities of darkness? Why would he be so concerned that such a conceived human being would be put to death? Because that human being makes known the image of God once they enter the world. He hates humanity. He cannot stand it. And he cannot stand the fact that man would want to follow in any way the God whom he despises with all his heart. The fact that Satan and his life is full of horror and turmoil, the fact that his life must be one that must be of extraordinary pain and grief to live. Yet, the enemy of our souls is driven, even through the misery of his existence, to tempt us. to tempt us. It's almost astonishing. You would think that someone, that some creature that is so consumed with the horror of his own being and the future that is going to be so unspeakably horrific for him, you would think that he wouldn't be bothered with anyone at all but himself. Why would he care given the state of his own misery as a created fallen angel? Why would he care given the reality that's going to await him for all eternity. Why would he be bothered at all with individual human beings? And yet such is the depth of his malice towards God and towards mankind. Such is the degree of frustration and resentment and anger and loathing and animosity and spite that he bears. He pushes through all that misery. He pushes through all that anger. He pushes through all that frustration. And he invests himself and invests others in seeking to tempt us to do wrong. It's astonishing that Satan seeks our destruction in light of the fact that he knows that he can't succeed. He knows that the heart of the unregenerate and the mind of the unregenerate are receptive to his schemes, but he knows that they are also dead already. Satan knows that they are dead. Satan knows that they're under his bondage. Satan knows that they are by nature objects of God's wrath, and yet he persists in seeking to destroy them. He knows that they're bound, but he's not content. He's going to drive them into the ground. And with regard to those of us who are alive in Jesus Christ, what does he know? He knows that we have been made alive in Jesus Christ. He understands that. And yet such is the maliciousness of his heart, and knowing that he cannot succeed in taking us out of the hand of God, even though he knows that, he still persists. He still persists. He knows he can't succeed, but he persists. He knows he is failed, but he persists. He knows that he will never, ever, ever attain his goals, and yet he persists. Why? Because he's so filled with anger and rage against God, such as the malice in his heart against us, that even though he knows he cannot turn us completely and destructively, yet he wants to damage us, he thinks, for all eternity. And another thing about the malice of Satan that is so clearly seen in Temptation is the fact that he knows that every time he causes someone to rebel against God, he is increasing God's punishment upon himself. And yet he keeps on going. He keeps on going. He pushes through the misery of his own existence because of the hatred that drives him. He pushes through the fact that he knows that he cannot succeed because of the hatred that drives him. He pushes through the fact that he knows that he is merely heaping punishment on himself from God because of the hatred that drives him. Now, how perverse is that? How perverse is that? That your own state is so miserable you can hardly bear it, but you're consumed to destroy others. That you know you have no hope of succeeding, and yet you're consumed by persisting at it. And you know that every time that your sinful desires are realized in the lives of the creatures of God, that you're actually heaping coals on your own self, that you keep at it. Is that not astonishing? And does that not speak to us of the malice and the depth of the malice that drives the enemy of our souls? Now surely, that should awaken you up to the seriousness of what we're discussing. If that hasn't got your attention, then nothing will. If you know and have heard that there's an enemy out to seek all that he can do to harm you, and I'm not talking in hypotheticals, I'm not talking in theoreticals, I'm not just talking on theological niceties. I'm talking about you, your mental capacity. I'm talking about your physical well-being. I'm talking about your psychological stability. Because when you get into temptations, we don't talk in temptations in the abstract. They're all concrete. They're real. When you look at something and you see something that you know you should not touch and you should not get involved in, when you know that and you get involved in that, you know the destructive nature of that. I read this week of a woman who was a centrefold in the Playboy magazine. The pornographic magazine of the 60s and 70s and 80s. And she has come out to say, and this has nothing to do with any relationship with God or any sense of righteousness or believing in Jesus Christ. She's come out to say, she has come out in the past few weeks and said that pornography is destroying the lives of men and women. Pornography is destroying the lives of men and women. This is not an abstract truth. This is concrete. The enemy of our souls hates us, despises us, and his malice towards us is of such a magnitude that he will press through the misery of his own life. He will pursue it with a vigor even though he can never succeed. and he pursues it even in the face of the reality that he is merely heaping up punishment for himself. That's what we're asking God to protect us from. What then of the persistence of Satan's tempting, the persistence or the diligence with which he is committed in his pursuit of his agenda and his rebellion. Well, Peter writes to the church in 1 Peter chapter 5 and he opens a window into this for us. He says in 1 Peter 5 verse 8, Be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Our adversary, our enemy, the devil, prowls around. It's not only a statement which has menacing overtones. When you think of someone prowling around your house, it's not what you would say of your Your grandmother, if she comes to visit, is it? Or your mother? Oh, my mother's prowling around the house. She's coming to visit us, but beware, because she's only prowling around the house. It's a word that conveys menace, isn't it? It's a word that conveys and engenders within us a sense of fear. Let's step back. If there's someone going to come into our home and prowl around it, they don't have good intentions. But it not only speaks of the malicious nature or the malicious current, it speaks of the continuum of the activity. It speaks of a persistent attitude that gives rise to perpetual, unrelenting activity. The enemy of our souls would wish us to be lazy and idle. One of Satan's primary weapons that he uses to disengage men and women from a contentment in their creator is to make them lazy and to make them inactive. We were created to work six days and to rest on the seventh. The devil does not want us to work any days. He wants us to be lazy because when we're lazy we become depressed and become depressed and become dysfunctional. And so that's why he is an active advocate of a non-working week. He is very happy when people do not work, and I'm not talking about employed payment here or employment. I'm talking about activity. I'm talking about his desire is that we would sit in front of the television or read the newspaper all the days of our lives if we're physically able. Those of you who are no longer physically able to go out and work because you've reached a stage in life when you're not that physical, understand I'm not talking about you here. You're doing other things. You may be expending as much energy to get up and get dressed and get your breakfast in the morning and some of the younger ones spend an eight-hour shift. We all understand that. But do you know this? The enemy of our souls doesn't know what laziness is in his own existence. He doesn't know what idleness is. He is constant and is prowling around, roaring like a lion. He's never slow to react. You give him an opportunity and he will engage with power subtly applied. The enemy of your soul needs no second invitation or asking. You create a little opening for him and he will step through it. There'll be no hesitation, there'll be no dilliance, there'll be no dalliance. He, you can take it for sure, will step in. If he comes to you and he seeks to tempt you, just turn yourself to Genesis chapter 3 and read how he came to Eve. and how he began by being friendly and affable and amiable and how he began by just simply placing a little bit of doubt in her mind and then as she engaged with him he responded to that pleasantly and invitingly and said, well God's not really going to say that and he moves from doubt to hesitation then to outright denial of what God has said. You see, he has the capacity to do what he will do And he follows that through with a sense of continual activity. There is never a day in the life of Satan where he is not pursuant after the destruction of the people of God and man made an image of God in some part of the world or other. He is not all powerful as we shall see this evening. His power is limited, but he is powerful. And you know, that's one of the reasons why. One of the reasons why the leadership in this church, if you're not at worship, and we don't know why you're not here, if you're not well and you convey that different issue, but if you're not at worship or maybe you're not at a Met, that's why we will contact you to see how you're doing. Sometimes that has been construed as checking you off a tick box, but it's not. It's not. The leaders in this church don't have the time to run around ticking boxes on bits of paper. It's nothing to do with keeping a note of who is where, when they're at. It has nothing to do with that. We, in our imperfect understanding of these truths, have come by our understanding of God's Word and our own failures as individuals. We've come to realize the vulnerability of our own souls and our own hearts and our own minds. And we've come by the grace of God to accept the responsibility that Christ has given us as leaders in this church to speak with you if we feel that there is within you an opening for whatever reason that will give a foothold to the enemy of your souls. For the last thing that we want for you to do is intentionally or unintentionally get into a pattern of thought or behavior which will see you open the door even the littlest bit to the enemy of our soul, your souls and our souls. We want to try and guard you. It's not about, why were you not there? It's about, are you taking care of your own life? Are you taking care of your own soul? Are you giving Him an opening? Are you giving Him an inkling? And being honest with you, we would rather that you think that we are overbearing at times. We would rather that you would think of us at times that, why are they asking me again this? That we would run the gauntlet of that thought in your life. We would rather that than say, well, he wasn't there, she wasn't there, just leave her to it, leave him to it. It doesn't really matter. That's the choice they've made. And just let them see them drift and drift and drift and go. And then maybe a year, 18 months later, you come to us and say, why did you never say? Why did you never ask the question? I've come out of a period in my life where I wandered from the things of grace and God, and I took up a temptation. And if only someone had said early on, because the enemy of our souls, he would have us destroyed. He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to nibble at, seeking someone to sniff at, Seeking someone to lick. Seeking someone to devour. Don't know if you saw it a month or six weeks ago. I think it was in China. A woman had got out of a car in a lion or tiger enclosure. I think it was a lion enclosure. I can't remember which. She'd had a row with the other person in the car. She gets out of the car and she stands. If you get an opportunity to watch it on YouTube, you should. She stands. And then, I think it was a lion, I think it was a lion, or a tiger, whatever, came and grabs her by the waist. You know the startling thing? Was how the force of that animal, when it dragged her away, it just dragged her like a rag doll. You know the way you pick up a doll sometimes? And the arms just go like that there, and the legs just go up in the air. Just like a doll picked up, the arms just flailing. That was this human being, just dragged and the arms just flew up, the legs just flew up and the head went back. Just the sheer force of this animal grabbing her by the back. That's the Satan who would have you. He would treat you like a rag doll. He would drag you. Not to lick your face, not to nibble at your toes, not to sniff at you, but to devour you. to devour your soul, to devour your heart love for God, to destroy you and leave you mangled, to leave you psychologically distressed, to leave your body physically rot. This is why we ask God to protect us from the temptation that comes our way. What prompts him? It's malice. He breaks through his misery, even though he knows he can't succeed, he persists. And even though he knows he's heaping coals in his own head, he doesn't stop. And far from being lazy and inactive, he is continual, perpetual, and ever at it. Never stopping, never taking a day's relief, because he hates God and he hates those made in the image of God. This is but a little taste of what is the reality. The reality is much, much, much more horrific. The limitedness of my ability with words and other things means that that's as much as I can convey to you, but I hope the Spirit of God will bring it to your mind and your heart. Amen.