May it please God to bless us
together as we continue our meditation this evening in the Sermon on
the Mount and that part which we refer to as the Lord's Prayer
and virtually to the end of the Lord's Prayer. You'll find that
in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 and the first part of verse
13. The Gospel of Matthew chapter
6 and the first part of verse 13. And the Lord tells us there,
this prayer, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. So we have really here in the
first part, lead us not into temptation, a negative statement. and then but deliver us from
evil, which is a positive statement. Well, what a wonderful prayer
it is and how important it is that you and I are able to always
come daily to pray this prayer, because there are many ways that
you and I can be tempted tempted to turn away from the great truths
of the gospel, from the great examples in the Word of God,
and to follow our own inclination and those things which are not
good, and so therefore we're told and lead us not into temptation. You see, we can be tempted both
by adversity and also by prosperity. both of these left to themselves
and left to ourselves can become indeed the great matters of temptation. So we should not think, well,
of course if I walk through adversity I won't have any problems and
similarly if I walk in a way of prosperity I won't have any
temptations. Well, that's not true. Both of
these situations can produce these times of temptation. And in these times of temptation,
really they can make us annoyed, perhaps even angry, because of
the path that God has led us into. And we might therefore
be tempted in such a situation. that surely this cannot be of
God, otherwise it wouldn't be in this way. But the Lord knows
how to deal with his children. He knows what adversity you and
I need. He also knows what prosperity
you and I need. But in both of those situations,
do not be left so that we perhaps think that they are things which
are for us and encourage us in a wrong path. You see, it's easily
to be sidetracked into a wrong path. And therefore the Lord
gives us this prayer, part of this great prayer. and to pray
in this way that the Lord will not lead us into temptation. Well, we might wonder sometimes
what these actually mean. Well, the Word of God through
the apostles directs us in many ways to words of instruction
and words of direction. And in the first epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians, The 10th chapter we read in the 13th verse
these words There hath no temptation Taken you but such as is common
to man That means we shouldn't think well. This is a temptation
that no one else has entered into I'm just it's a personal
situation and no one else can understand my scene at all and
Remember, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common
to man. But God is faithful. What a blessing in times of temptation
to realise God is faithful, who will not suffer you. to be tempted
above, that ye are able, but will, with a temptation also,
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. So sometimes there are these
temptations which the Lord allows to come into our life. And those temptations under the
Spirit of God will be for our benefit and for our good. Because the Lord tells us, He
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. You may perhaps sometimes think,
well I can't really bear any more of this temptation, it's
just too difficult for me, I should just fall under it. We have a
God who has told us that he will not suffer us to be tempted above
what we are able. We might think we've come to
the end of our tether, but the Lord knows what it's producing. And as we come in these words
and lead us not into temptation, realise that the Lord favours
us in this way, that we are not tempted above what we are able
to stand, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape. So although we are to pray that
the Lord will not lead us into temptation, because Sometimes
in a very painful position it brings us into, yet if we do
come into it, to believe the Lord will make a way to escape,
that we may be able to bear it. And because there is that situation,
surely we understand why such a prayer is good. Lead us not
into temptation, because these temptations can be very painful
and can be very difficult for us to bear and to understand. And also, God's servant James,
in that little epistle. He tells us in the first chapter
and the 19th verse, he says, let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. You see, we sometimes think
that these things just emanate, just occur, but you see the God,
the great God of heaven is in charge of all these things. And then he goes on in this first
chapter of James to say, but every man is tempted when he
is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. That's when we enter
into these temptations, when we're drawn away. And we have
an evil nature, and it's easy sometimes to be drawn away. What
a blessing it is then to know that we have a great God who
is able to deliver us, but every man is tempted when he is drawn
away of his own lust and enticed. We can be drawn away by our own
lust and we can be enticed. And so let no man say when he
is tempted, I am tempted of God. No, it's the evil, it's the great
evil that Satan brings before us. That's where the temptations
emanate from. God sometimes allows these things
to come into our lives to produce and to show us his great grace
toward us in that he does not deal with us. as our sins deserve. And then the Apostle Peter in
his second epistle, he tells us these words in the second
chapter. The ninth verse, the Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. And so we are
to pray, lead us not into temptation, and yet sometimes the Lord does
allow us to come into temptation, and if we are brought into that
position to realise we have a God who knows how to deliver us out
of these temptations. Perhaps we haven't prayed sufficiently,
but the Lord would. Lead us out of temptation or
rather lead us not into Temptation so that we don't even get into
it and we forget to pray then you see we find ourselves in
the place of temptation and Then we wonder how we will get out
of it and then to realize the Lord has said he knows how to
deliver us and Perhaps we learn lessons. Perhaps we learn our
own failings. Perhaps we learn how we failed
to commit our way unto the Lord, how we forgot to pray that the
Lord would lead us not in temptation, and we've assumed we're strong
enough and able enough to just carry on, or perhaps totally
ignored our weakness. where the Lord sometimes deals
with us, and what a mercy it is, in love to our souls. And so as we have this prayer
before us this evening, may we be thankful that the Lord has
provided it for us, and we may ever have it before our mind,
and lead us not into temptation. And then, on the positive side,
when the Lord comes and says, deliver us from evil. Well, what a needful prayer that
is, isn't it? There are evils on every hand,
and so easily we slip and slide and fall under the temptation
of Satan into evil ways, especially when the devil brings us into
a scene and he says, well, there's no problem here, there's no harm
here, you can get involved with this, and before we know, we
fall into his snare, and the evil scene has swollen us up. Well, the word tells us here,
but deliver us from evil. You may wonder this evening,
why? Did we read the 17th chapter of John? Well, apart from the
fact, of course, it's a very wonderful and beautiful chapter
and an amazing prayer. Yet in that prayer, we come down
to verse 15. The Lord says this. He says,
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil." What a blessing to have
a God like that, who praised his people, praised his Father,
for you and me today. that we won't be delivered from
the situation in this world which we find ourselves in, but the
Lord's prayed this way, that the Lord would keep us from the
evil. What deliverance that is, isn't
it? How humbling that is, as we recognise that the hand of
God has been upon us and has kept us from evil. Perhaps our flesh wanted to get
involved in the evil. And yet the good hand of God
has been upon us and has delivered us from that situation. And we've realised that this
has been accomplished for our benefit, that the Lord has indeed
kept us from the evil. There it was before us. and yet
perhaps an unseen hand, an unseen situation developed which kept
us from evil. How humbling that is when we
realise the good hand of God is upon us. How humbling it is
to realise the blessed and glorious Saviour prayed such a prayer
for his people including unworthy sinners like you and me." Well,
what a blessing then that we have that prayer and the detail
of it. Of course, these words of encouragement
are not only confined to the New Testament, they also refer
us to the Old Testament. And Solomon, the king, as we
know, was blessed with much wisdom, He's given wisdom to seek and
to search out those things which are good and those things which
are wrong. And in the 30th of Proverbs we're told, these words,
lest I be full and deny thee. And say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and take the
name of my God in vain. Two situations really, coming
back to the first clause I mentioned, to be tempted by adversity and
by prosperity. And see here, Proverbs picks
it up. in this situation, but deliver
me from evil, from occurring in one of these ways, lest I
be full and deny thee." That means we've got that which we
need and therefore we don't really thank God for His mercy and His
blessings, because we just absorb that which God has given us,
and the effect is that we're denying the good hand of God
upon us. How sad, isn't it? deliver us from evil, the evil
of forgetting, the great God who's blessed us with favours
and prosperity, so we don't fall into this snare, lest I be fool
and deny thee, and say who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and
steal. The other side, pour and steal,
and take the name of my God in vain. I wonder how many people
perhaps have been left to that situation. Give me neither poverty
nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
to me, not only in a natural way, but also in a spiritual
way. You see, in a spiritual sense
we can also have times when the Lord blesses us, And we forget
that it's a good hand of God upon us. It's the mercy of God. It's the love of God. It's the
grace of God which has blessed us with these things. But deliver
us from evil. The evil of forgetting the good
hand of God. Forgetting to be thankful to
God. and the evil of such a situation,
because by that we're really denying what God has done for
us. And then on the other hand, not
to be left so that we're so poor and tempted then by the evil
of stealing. Well, great isn't it if God is
gracious to us and hears our prayer. And again it's needful
we continue to pray in this way, but deliver us from evil. And then we can also read in
the epistle of John, the first epistle of John, a very beautiful
epistle in the second chapter and in the 16th verse he tells
us this, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the
Father, but is of the world. And what is that? It must be
the evil of the world, the evil of our own natural sinful nature. And so to pray in this way and
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The apostle writes here in this
very positive way, for all that is in the world, The lust of
the flesh. We all fall under that position,
don't we? We must have done so, and we
still do so. The lust of our flesh, lusting
after, coveting after things perhaps that we haven't got,
and we might think, well I wish I had that, and I wish I could
do that. You see, lusting after, seeking
after wrong things. Deliver us from evil. The lust
of not only of the flesh, The lust of the eyes. Both, you see,
go after things which may not be good for us, may not profit
us, will bring evil upon us. And, of course, the pride of
life. How easy it is to be proud of
our situations in small ways, in large ways. It's very insidious,
the sin of pride. The pride of life. And the Apostle
tells us, These things are not of the Father. They're not of
God. What are they? They're of the
world. What does that mean? They're
of the devil. And so, what a blessing it is,
if you and I are privileged to be able to come and to pray like
this. And the Lord has so gloriously
given us such a prayer, such a simple prayer. They're so short,
these sentences, so short. that we should never forget them,
and we should always remember to pray for them, and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Because if we're
able to do that, I believe our eyes will then be taken off all
the vanities of this world, and our eyes will be set upon heavenly
things, and those heavenly things centre of course in the Lord
Jesus Christ and in our great salvation and in the wonder of
his redeeming love and sin-atoning blood. What a difference that
will make. What a blessing it will be. How
we shall indeed be favoured in our souls. And so may we earnestly
pray to not be turned aside and to spend our time, our valuable
time, Let us be found redeeming a time and not spending our time
in temptation or in things which are evil. And therefore pray
from our heart and lead us not into temptation but deliver us
from evil. Amen.