Let's turn again to Matthew chapter
six, and that part of the Sermon on the Mount, which we know as
the Lord's Prayer. We've been considering it now
some weeks. And tonight we come to the last
of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. In Matthew chapter six
and verse 13, the words, but deliver us from evil. God deliver us from evil. The seventh and the last of the
petitions that make up the vast majority of this pattern prayer. Prayers, I suppose, are really
made up of many parts. Remember how Paul exhorts to
the Philippians that we be careful for nothing but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgivings, which make our
requests known unto God. He uses a variety of words, and
there are other words that are used in reference to prayer.
But prayer is chiefly the petitioning of God, asking God, making requests. Even here, later in the sermon,
in chapter seven, we have those words, ask and it shall be given
you and we we can think of the words that we find in the epistle
of james you have not because you ask not you ask and receive
not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your
lust but we are then to come before god and god will hear
us in all our requests and all our petitions and he bids us
to open our mouths wide and he says he will he will fill our
mouths he will fill our mouths with prayers and isn't this what
the lord jesus christ is doing here with these seven petitions
and so coming to the words that we find in verse 13 but deliver
us from evil and i want to speak of a threefold evil which we
all need to be delivered from And that threefold evil is simply
self, Satan, and the world. So following that threefold division
for a short while before we come again with our prayers and our
petitions. First of all, there is that deliverance
from sinful self. And I think of the words that
we have in Hebrew 312, take heed brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
God. Here we pray to be delivered
from evil. There we need to be delivered
from that evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
God, unbelief. It is that sin which doth so
easily beset us as we are told there at the beginning of Hebrews
chapter 12, previously in the context, of course. Chapter 11,
we have that list of those from the Old Testament scriptures,
those men and women of faith. And then the apostle goes on
to speak of that sin of unbelief at the beginning of the following
12th chapter. unbelief is really at the root
of all our sins. And that is to be seen in the
Garden of Eden with regards to our first parents and the fall
of Adam and Eve. They rejected God. They rejected the truth of God.
They embraced Satan and his lie. When he says to Eve concerning
God's commandment, he contradicts it. He says, you shall not surely
die. is unbelief, to deny the truth of God. And that was the
sin that was committed there. And as a result, of course, all
those who have come by natural descent from that first couple,
we're all born dead in trespasses and in sins. We were all conceived
in sin and shapen in iniquity. And we're born with unbelieving
hearts, again, of the words of the Lord Jesus in this gospel,
in chapter 15, where he speaks, he's rebuking, really, the Pharisees. They wanted to make so much of
the externals, the ritual washings when one came from the market,
and those things that could be eaten, those things that were
to be denied. And in chapter 15 and verse 17,
the Lord says, Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth
in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the
dryness? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies, These are the things which defile a man, but to eat
with unwashing hands defileth not a man. To gain elsewhere,
the Lord declares out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaketh. It is that that is within us. It is what we are by nature. We are sinners and we are full
of unbelief. There was only one who could
ever declare the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in mine. Or the Lord Jesus Christ alone
could say that there was nothing in me that Satan could take any
advantage of. Humanity was a sinless humanity,
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher
than the heavens. The Lord Jesus is that one then,
the sinless man. Oh yes, touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, he knew sinless infirmities, he was tempted,
tempted in all points like us we are, yet without sin. But here is that that is our
trouble, what we are by nature, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirits. We're familiar with these verses
of scripture, these various statements that declare what man's condition
is, the awful doctrine of man's total depravity. Paul says, in me that is in my
flesh there dwelleth no good thing. The carnal mind, the natural
mind, the mind with which we're born, is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Neither, indeed, can be. And we remember how Paul felt
this so very keenly. He's that one, of course, who
is a patron to them which would hereafter believe. And what does
he say in that remarkable seventh chapter of the epistle to the
Romans? of this death. Whilst we're in
this world, we feel it. There is a constant conflict
between the old nature and the new nature in the experiences
of the people of God. So again, Paul, writing to the
Corinthians, is concerning the body. In this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with a house which is from heaven.
For we that are in this tabernacle do grow, being burdened. Oh, this is a burden that the
sinner feels, and so he must come with this petition, with
this prayer, and ask for God's deliverance. Deliver us from
evil, that evil heart of unbelief. It was said of Martin Luther
that he feared his own heart more than he feared the Pope.
He had such a fear of himself, and you're probably familiar
with the saying of dear John Newton. He said, I have heard
of many wicked Popes, that the worst of all is Pope Sal. Or
that I have not a myself, said another saint of God. The evil heart, the unbelieving
heart, the sin that is within us all, and it's Satan, of course,
who fills the heart with evil. Think of the words that Peter
spoke to Ananias. He was lying against the Holy
Ghost. We have the record and the solemn
words that Peter speaks to that man there in Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5 and verse 3, Peter said, Why hath
Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep
back part of the price of the land? What a solemn statement
is that, that Satan hath filled thine heart to lie. For we find so much in us when
he comes with his wicked suggestions, with his temptations and his
allurements. And so we need to be deliberate
from ourselves, from sinful self. But then, of course, in those
words of Peter to Ananias, we are reminded that we also need
to pray to be delivered from the devil himself, to be delivered
from Satan. And it's interesting, when we
examine this particular petition, we observe that, in fact, the
word evil, as the definite article before it. Literally, deliver
us from the evil. And some say that what is really
meant is deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from the
evil. And we remember the prayer of
the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17, that great high priestly
prayer that he prays at the close of his earthly ministry There
we see him, a praying priest. And as a priest, he prays for
his disciples. He would go on, of course, as
a priest to make the great sin atoning sacrifice for his people.
But what does the Lord pray amongst many things there in John 17? He says, I pray that thou shouldest
keep them from evil. Literally, again, it's the definite
article that appears before the word evil. I pray that they should
us keep them from the evil one. The evil one. It's interesting
time and again we see how the definite article is put in front
of a noun and when we take account of it, it seems to bring out
the force of what's being said. We have it again in 1 John 5,
19, the whole world lieth in wickedness, is how we read it
in our authorized version. But if we put the article in,
we could read it, the whole world lieth in the wicked one. Or the
wicked one, he is the prince of the power of the air. And
there we are to pray against Satan and all his allurements
and all his temptations. We have to remember who he is.
He is the devil, he is the source, he is the inventor of evil. I know there's some dispute with
regards to Isaiah 14, but it is an interesting portion of
scripture. Historically, where it there
speaks of Lucifer, we recognize that the reference, historically
as I say, is to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Let's just
turn to Isaiah 14. What does it say there, verse
4? Thou shalt take up this proverb
against the king of Babylon. And say, O, hath the oppressor
ceased, the golden city ceased to word against him, Babylon? It was the Babylonians, of course,
over on Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, taken the Jews into
exile. God would destroy the Babylonians,
and so he did, and his people would be delivered out of captivity,
and that's what Isaiah is speaking of many, many years before the
event actually occurred. But then he goes on, speaking
against Babylon, and against the king of Babylon. Verse 12,
Thou art now fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morn. How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sight of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I shall be like the most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell. to the sides of the pit. Historically,
we recognize the context, it's Nebuchadnezzar. And those who
succeed him, the king of Babylon. But the word Lucifer, which is
applied there, Lucifer means the shining one. And really the
reference is to the shining one, to a fallen angel. In Job 38, we're told when the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for
joy. That's at the creation, the morning
stars. The morning stars, the sons of
God, those are the angels. And there is an angel, a shining
one. That passage there in Isaiah 14 tells us of the origins of
the devil himself, a fallen angel. And he is there, of course, in
the fall of Adam and Eve, by means of the instruments of the
serpents, or the devil. And what is the devil? Well,
the Lord Jesus speaks of him in John 8, and says he was a
murderer from the beginning, not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies. What
do we have in Genesis 3 with regards to the fall of Adam and
Eve? It is the devil's lie. He says
to Eve there in Genesis 3, 4, Ye shall not surely die. And
that is the plain contradiction of the commandment of God. God
had said to Adam, in Genesis 2, 17, concerning the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die. And what is the devil doing?
He is contradicting. He is lying. He is a liar. He is that one then who is the
source of all evil. And he is a fallen angel and
he's a mighty angel. Let's not forget that the angels
have great strength. And again, the Lord speaks of
Satan as a strong man armed. A strong man armed. There in
Luke 11, 21. Or do we not read subsequently
in Paul's letter to 1 Timothy of those in the snare of the
devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. How he holds the sinner in his
very grip. And how he is the destroyer of
men. How he hates man. Why does he
hate man so much? Because man was created in the
image of God. Man was made in God's likeness.
He hates man, he seeks to destroy man. His name there in Revelation
9-11 is Apollyon, a destroyer. And that's what he seeks to do
with his temptations, drawing the sinner away from the truth
of God. And then when he comes and he
draws us aside, he soon turns accuser, the accuser of the brethren.
says John in Revelation 12, accusing them day and night before God.
Oh, he comes and he entices us, and then when we fall into his
trap, he soon turns against us and accuses us, and we're ashamed,
and we can scarce even come and make our confessions to God.
He will silence our prayer. He is such an awful firm. When
I referred to Luke 11, 21 and that strongman arm, but then
doesn't the Lord go on to speak of one who is stronger? There's
one stronger than the strongman arm. And that's a great verse
and the most comforting verse that we find back in the prophecy
of Jeremiah. You turn to Jeremiah 15, 21 and
the promise that God gives. He says there, I will deliver
thee out of the hand of the wicked one. And I will redeem thee out
of the hand of the tarry. For there is deliverance with
God. We read that portion, that lovely portion at the beginning
of the second Corinthians. The God who delivered us from
so great a death. And doth deliver. In whom we
trust he will yet deliver us. There's deliverance in the past,
there's deliverance in the present there's deliverance in the future.
There are deliverances. And so when the Lord puts this
prayer in our mouths, as it were, by this instruction the Lord
is filling our mouths, just as God says, open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it. And the Lord says we are to pray
these words. Deliver us from evil. And God
has delivered and does deliver. and will deliver us from every
evil. Deliverance then from self and
all that we are as sinners, the evil heart of unbelief. When we come to God, we must
believe that he is, says Paul, and that he is the rewarder of
all that diligently seeking. Deliverance from ourselves, deliverance
from Satan. And then finally, we need to
pray for deliverance from the world. Deliverance from the world. As I said, we're told at the
end of that first general epistle of John, the whole world lieth
in wickedness. So John says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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 of the world,
and the world passeth away, and the lost thereof. But he that
doeth the will of God abideth for forever." So what is the
will of God that we're to come to Him and we're to come to Him
with these prayers? Now we need to pray these prayers
in this life. All this life it's full of evil. That evil which all our temptations
spring from. Now we're to come then and pray
in these final petitions. We looked last week at the opening
part of this 13th verse. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. As I said last time, in this
world we are surrounded on every hand by temptations. They're
before us, behind us, on the right hand, on the left hand. And so God gives that command,
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. The multitude in
this world, they do evil. They go their own way. They walk
in that broad way that is leading to destruction. The believer
is one who is kept, unspotted from the world. But then the
final deliverance, of course, the final deliverance only comes
with death. And then it's heaven. As the
Lord says to that penitential faith upon the cross today, shalt
thou be with me in paradise. Oh, what a place is that. How
it's spoken of so gloriously in the book of the Revelation.
The language that we have time and again there in that remarkable
book, that strange book in many ways. Difficult for us to understand
and interpret but still full of much comfort to the saints
of God. Look at the words that we find
in Revelation 7, and the end of that chapter. Verse 13. John says, one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? And whence came thou? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sunlight on them nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Oh, what a deliverance. There we have that glorious deliverance
from evil. And then again, if we turn to
the end of the book, the words that we have in chapter 21, the
last verse, there shall he no wise enter into it anything but
defile it. neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. And this is what we're to pray
for, you see, deliver us from evil, along with those who are
looking and longing for that blessed place. Heaven is that
holy, happy place where sin no more defiles, where Christ unveils
his blissful face and looks, and laughs and smiles. Oh the Lord grant then that we
might be those who can from our hearts pray after the manner
that the Lord himself is teaching us and after this petition that
we might be delivered from self, from Satan and all his temptations
and ultimately delivered from this wicked world. and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. And then with that closing
blessing, as it were, we're reminded that God is the one who has all
kingly power and he's able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think. Well, the Lord will look at those
concluding words next Thursday. The Lord bless these words to
us tonight.