We find my text, my subject there
in verse 13. Verse 13. Last week I talked
about lead us not into temptation. Tonight I want to talk about
deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen. Deliver us from evil. You know, this prayer, this model
prayer, they call it the Lord's Prayer, but it's not really the
Lord's Prayer. It's a model prayer. It's a model
prayer. Our Lord gives us an outline,
maybe a way to say it. Our Lord's Prayer, of course,
was in John 17 when He prayed for us, prayed for the future,
prayed for His own apostles at that particular time. That's
when the Lord prayed. This is Him teaching us to pray.
And that's what He said, after this manner, there in verse 9,
after this manner, therefore pray ye. He said He's teaching
us how to pray. The first thing we do is we realize
that God's our Father. Our Father, our prayer, this
prayer starts with God. And that's where everything ought
to start. Start with God. The Bible starts with God. Theology
starts with God. Salvation starts with God. Everything
starts with God, and He's our Father. Not only our God, but
our Father. And then He says, you're in heaven. We're on the earth, and Hallowood,
how holy is thy name. Brother Henry's last week, and
he was offering thanks, and this is the way he addressed God.
He said, O Father, Hallowood, how holy is your name. How righteous
and reverent is your name. And that's what he prayed. And
that's what he did here. How honest, how holy and reverend
is your name. Your name is holy. And then we
entreat him and honestly pray that his will be done. Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. We want his will done.
And that's why, you know, the next world to come, and the world
to come, it will be done perfectly. It's done perfectly in heaven.
You know, His decorative will is done here just exactly right.
But you and I fail in the will of God in so many ways, because
this is the only will we know of, is the written will of God. And I don't know about you, but
I fail in His will in so many ways. But we do pray that His
will be done in our lives on this earth. And then we ask Him
for the necessities of life in verse 11. Give us this day. Our
daily bread. Give us what's necessary for
today. Give us what's necessary for
life. We have many needs in life, and
it's what this daily bread encompasses, everything that we need in our
life. Give us. You give it to us. We don't earn
it. We don't deserve it. We don't merit. But we say, Lord,
give it to us. Give it to us. There's a multitude
of people in this world that they don't get anything. But
God, give us what we need for today. And then we ask him, Lord,
Lord, forgive us. Forgive us our sins and then
teach us how to forgive others. Give us grace to forgive others.
Forgive us as we forgive our debtors. And then we come to
him and ask him to be our defense. Lead us not, defend us, keep
us, protect us. Lead us not into temptation. And then, then deliver us from
evil. We ask and see just how desperately
we need deliverance. This word deliver is the same
word as salvation. Deliver us. Give us deliverance.
Save us. Deliverance. Save us. Deliver
us from evil. And in these words, deliver us
from evil, our Father gives us a lively hope, a good hope. And
everything that's included in that awful word, evil, And it's
a word, a terrible word, a word, evil. We pray that God would
deliver us and take away and break the yoke of bondage that
would let us go free. Deliver us, save us, bring salvation
from this evil. And let me tell you this, the
very fact that we pray for such a thing, deliver us from evil,
gives us insight into our own natures that we need to be delivered
from evil. That gives us an insight into
our own nature, that we need saving from evil. Not only the
evil that's within, the evil that's without. The evil that's
to come, and the evil that has been. And it also gives us great
insight into the very nature of God Himself, that He's the
only one who can do this. So what is evil? Oh Lord, for
Thine is to deliver us from evil. What is evil? What is evil? Well, evil in the scriptures,
there's several different meanings of it. There's evil people. Satan's
called the evil one. The world's called evil. But
in this particular instance, when he says, forgive us, deliver
us from evil, this evil here is a word which expresses what
we call sin. Sin's evil. Sorrow. The troubles that come with sorrow
and cause us to have sorrow, grief and heartache. Evil's trouble. Jacob said this, my days have
been few and full of trouble. My days have been few and full
of evil. That's what he's saying. And
Job, nobody would not say that Job. And his days were full of
evil and full of trouble. And that's what this word evil
means here. Save us from this sorrow and
trouble and sin and trials and all the things that go with what
happens in this world. First of all, let's look at this
word sorrow and troubles. Deliver us from sorrow. Deliver
us from the evil of sorrow. That's what we call troubles.
Physical trouble. Physical evil. And you know,
If we live in this body very long, we're going to have pain,
we're going to have heartaches, and that's what this scripture
means. Deliver us from the heartaches, the troubles, the trials, the
sorrows that we're going to go through in this world. Whatever
wars against our well-being and happiness, that's what he says,
deliver us from this. And there's so many things that's
against our well-being and happiness. When a man is going through suffering,
physical suffering, mental suffering, emotional suffering, spiritual
suffering, you can't convince a man into believing that he's
not suffering. And that's what this is. That's
what this means. When his flesh is in pain, when
his heart is wounded, when his heart is heavy, when his soul
is heavy, that's why you can't tell him that he's not suffering.
You can't tell him if he just had faith that it would all go
away. You can't tell him that if he would just believe in God
enough, that he wouldn't feel that pain, he wouldn't feel that
sorrow, he wouldn't feel that heartache, he wouldn't feel that
heaviness. But oh my, that's not what this, that's what is
going to deliver us from this. Nobody wants to have the bad
news of being in pain and being in sorrow and their bodies being
afflicted. And that's what he talks about,
it's evil to be in pain. Pain is tough. It's hard and
it's evil to carry a heavy, heavy heart that won't let you sleep
at night. It's evil to have stripped from
us what we've been used to lean on when you've had someone to
lean on and something to lean on and God takes it away and
you don't have it to lean on anymore. That's evil. It's evil to be burdened down
with loss. Loss of health, loss of wealth,
loss of a husband, loss of a wife, loss of a child. It's hard and
it's evil to be burdened down with loss and then want what
you lost and can't get it back. And oh beloved, it's an evil
to stand by the grave while the coffin of somebody you love and
you love dearly, flesh of your flesh and bone of your bones,
lowered down in the grave out of sight. That's an evil? And it's evil to have men hate
you and reject you and have malice towards you. And oh, it's evil. That's what he's talking about,
this trouble, this sorrow that we go through in this world.
It's evil when It takes a child and it's full of life and it
turns that young face and fills them with lines and wrinkles
and takes their energy and changes it into a slow, heavy walk. No
wonder our Lord said, here pray deliver us from evil. Trouble. Trouble. David said, O Lord, God, deliver
me. There are six troubles. Yea,
seven. Deliver me from the seventh evil. Be my defense. When the evil comes nigh me,
Lord, be my defense. And that's why we pray for other
people. That's why we're praying for Ed Lawson tomorrow. That's
why we pray for them. That's why we pray for ourselves
that way. This is tough, you see. Lord,
save them from that. Deliver them from that. And what is evil? Not only is
it sorrow. Not only is it trouble. Not only
is it things that affect our physical being and our spiritual
being and our mental well-being and all the things that go with
this body. You know, I think of Scott Richardson. Here's poor old Scott. We're
up in his 80's and he is so frail. Had that cancer. Now he has to
wear a bag. And now he has to wear a bag
down around his leg. His wife's gone. He's there and
got two boys. It's just nothing but heaviness
and heartache and sorrow. And a dear preacher told me the
other day, every night when I go to bed, I pray, Lord, don't let
him wake up in the morning, don't let me either. It's not worth living in this
body the way it is, and the pain that's at the end of the world
in the shape it's in. Been here long enough, Lord,
and if you please you, don't let me wake. That wants to be
saved from the evil. Talk about it, pray for him,
tears well up in the eyes. Saved him from that evil, Lord.
There sat Job on the dung heap, and there he sat scraping his
boils. And three friends sitting there,
and Silac Elk was staring at him, and everything he had was
gone. And he sits there, and he's got from the top of his
head to the sole of his foot, and he's scraping pots and scraping
bowls, and blood and purse and corruption coming all out of
him. Oh, who can save you from that?
That's evil. Trouble, sorrow. And, oh, deliver
us from evil. What's evil? Say, not only sorrow,
but sin is evil. Sin is so evil. And I tell you,
everybody don't know how evil sin is. And I'm grateful God
don't let us know how bad it is in His sight and turn all
of our hearts white. That means all of our hearts
are white. But every kind of sin is evil. And all dominion
and everything that's contrary to God's will is evil. Deliver
us! Pull us out! Drag us from this
thing called sin. Deliver us up and purge away
our sins. This is what he's talking about.
And oh, when he talks about delivering us from evil, it's a cry from
our hearts. for the entire emancipation,
freedom, and utter destruction of every evil and its effects
on us. Lord, save us from sin and sorrow
and all the things that affects us in this world. We want to
be free from it. And, oh beloved, in asking to
be delivered from evil shows that we, first of all, recognize
our condition. You ain't going to pray, deliver
us from evil, if you don't recognize what condition you're in. How
many times have we said, oh, this whole world lies in wickedness.
Oh, I hope you don't know what goes through my mind. When I
first started seeing the grace of God and first started seeing
what I am, I used to think, boy, if folks ever find out what I
am, nobody will ever speak to me again. If these preachers
in these churches ever find out what I am inside of me, if they
ever find that out, I'll never get another invitation to preach
and nobody will ever have me at their house to visit because
if they ever find out what I'm like, nobody, I'm worse than
a leper. Now that's why if you won't pray
for deliverance from evil, do you realize what evil is? That's
why we recognize our condition. Sin. Sin is exceeding. Paul said,
how are we going to describe sin? It's exceeding sinful. How
sin is sin? This is sin. Define it for me.
It's exceeding sinful. How bad is sin? It's exceeding sinful. And oh, we've got an evil... Sin comes from the evil heart
of unbelief. An evil heart of unbelief. And
it's the origin, it originated in our parents, it originated
from the devil as he lied to our parents in the Garden of
Eden. He was a liar and a murderer. And he abode not in the truth
and he come into the garden and because he didn't abide in the
truth he lied to our parents. He deceived our parents. Deceived
Eve and from that day sin entered into this world. And evils come
upon us, and this body and our minds and everything is permeated
with this awful thing. It started with Satan when he
went into the garden. It started with Satan when he
said, I will ascend above the throne of the Most High God.
That's when sin started. And in the universe, he was Lucifer,
the archangel, the sun of the morning. That's what they called
him. And there you find him out in
Isaiah 14. It says, And I will Ascend above the throne of the
Most High. I'll not let God be my God. God cast him down. Oh my, and
that sin that he come brought into this world, how it's affected
us. And sin's against God, that's why it's so evil. And oh my,
sin's a transgression of the law. And it's an act of ingratitude
toward God to sin against Him. And sin is such a foolish thing.
Oh, how evil sin is. It's a foolish thing. God told
that rich man, He says, You fool. You fool. This might is your
soul required of you. You know there's a difference
in God requiring your soul, and that's Him taking our soul. He
requires it of the lost. He comes to get ours. He comes
to take it to Himself. And sin is an enslaving thing.
It enslaved Judas, enticed him. Brought old Judas, made him a
son of perdition. Ananias and Sapphira, it enticed
them and made them lie to God and the Holy Ghost. Oh, sorrow
and trouble and physical evil, we pray deliver us from it. Oh
Lord, deliver us, drag us and keep us away from this evil sin. And then deliver us, Lord, from
the evil one. Look over in John 17 with me,
just a minute. John 17. In verse 15. We pray, Lord, deliver
us from the evil one. The devil. The devil. He invented evil. He plotted
treason against God Himself. But look what our Lord Jesus
prayed for here and for us in John 17, 15. I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. That evil there means the same
thing as saying the evil one. And all that is evil. Deliver
us. Keep us from this evil. We know
we're not no match for Him. And the devil, all he can do
is evil. And that's what I read to the men back in the study.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against power, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Oh
my, if we could wrestle against flesh and blood, we might win.
But we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. Principalities
and powers that come and entice us and get in our minds and get
in our nature. And all the devil does, he constantly practices
evil. And he goes about as a roaring
lion to get us to commit sin. He was there when Job was getting
ready to go worship. And he said, oh, look here, if
you consider my servant Job, he's a just and upright man.
He won't be when I get through with him. That's what he does. You let me at him, I guarantee
I'll turn him against you. No, not one for whom Christ died
will the devil ever turn against Christ. Not one. And then, beloved,
deliver us not only from the devil, but deliver us from this
evil world. This evil world. And the older I get, the more
I realize just how evil it is. It's astonishing, astounding
what goes on in the world. We used to not know much about
it, but now we've got satellite television, Satellite radio,
we can get instant news. I mean, if something happens
on the other side of the world, boom, it's heard just like that. 24 hours a day. Things that you'd
never know existed in this world now, you find out instantly.
Somebody takes off with a little child, you find out instantly.
Somebody commits murder, mass murder, you find out instantly.
You find out instantly if somebody's dropped a bomb. You find out
instantly if somebody sets somebody on fire. Find out instantly.
In all this world, beloved, and I'll tell you something, I'll
go somewhere and be in a meeting and be away from it for several
days. I'll just get some calm, don't even think about it, and
I'll come home, turn the television on, 15 minutes, I'll be gone.
Do you all do this? We need to stay away from that
maybe more. But anyway, save us from this, deliver us from
this evil world. This world is a defiling world.
It defiles people. It defiles them by the way they
think. James says, keep yourself unspotted from the world. You know what? Its opinions are
defiling. You think about the opinions
of the world. What's the opinions of the world of God? What's the opinions of the world
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now you can't pray in Jesus'
name. If you're in the military, and you're a chaplain, you cannot
end your prayer in Jesus' name anymore. Because it will be too
offensive to those who don't believe in Jesus, and in Muslims,
and that kind of thing. It's too offensive. So now, what's the world's opinion
about marriage? What's the world's opinion about
homosexuality? And they're fixing to bring a
law into, and I'll tell you, I warned you about this. They're
fixing to try to pass a law that if you ever, if a preacher or
anybody else says something publicly against homosexuality, that they'll
call it a hate crime, and they put you in jail. They're already
doing that in Canada. There's a man who went to jail
because he got up and said, preached from the scriptures about homosexuality,
and they put him in jail. And that's coming to this country
if God's people don't wake up and rise up. That's the opinion
of the world. What's the opinion of sin? Whatever makes you feel good. You don't marry just something
that's a thing of the past anymore. Now it's called a significant
other. Male or female, it's just the other. Have you got another? You got another? I got another.
Have you got another? That's what they talk about now.
It's just a significant other. Oh, you see, this is a medieval
world. Who wants to go on living in a world like this? And it's
examples are defiling. You just look at what goes on
in the world, the way people dress, the way they talk, the
advertisement, and the media, and everything about it. It's
examples are defiling. The world actually practices
what it preaches. It practiced that I don't know
God, don't want to know God, so it ridicules God. It don't
believe in sin, so it ridicules sin. It don't believe in the
Bible, it ridicules the Bible. It don't believe in marriage,
it ridicules marriage. And everything that's unholy
and unrighteous is what they hold up to be the example for
everybody to follow. Oh God save us, deliver us from
this evil world. All that's in the world is the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And oh, the lust of the flesh.
Oh, I want my flesh. I want my fallen nature satisfied. I want my eyes. And the lust
of the eyes means I want people to see me. I want people to recognize
me. I want people to see what I've
done and what I've accomplished and what I believe and what I
can do. That's what the lust of the eyes means. Not what you're
like. Your eyes are setting on one. It's what you want. Everybody
knows what you've done. And the pride of life. Look at
all my accomplishments. Look at what all I've attained.
Look at what all I've got. Look at all my abundance. Look
at all my degrees. Oh Lord, deliver us from this
evil. Deliver us from the evil of this
body of sorrow, trouble, heartache and pain. Deliver us from the
evil of sin. Deliver us from the evil of the
devil. Deliver us from the evil of this world. This world is
an evil world. It's a discouraging world. It's
very discouraging. And oh my, it's a deadening world. It will just deaden your soul,
deaden your thoughts, deaden you spiritually. It will deaden
you and just weight you down. And that's why with Scriptures
exhorts us to set your affection on things above. Where Christ
sits on the right hand of God, there'll be conversation, be
in heaven. And oh, beloved, how does God
deliver us from evil? How does God deliver us from
evil? We pray, Lord, deliver us from evil. How does God deliver
us from evil? Through and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, bless His name. Lord, save
me for Christ's sake. Look in Galatians 1-4 with me,
just a minute. Galatians 1.4, this is right
here. He delivers us from evil by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one thing that's
such a blessed thing for every child of God. The only world
we'll ever experience evil in, and trouble in, and sorrow in,
and sin in, and the devil in, and this world in, is here. Because when this life's over,
we're going to a place wherein dwelleth righteousness. There'll be sin no more, sorrow
no more, no more tears, no more hunger, no more thirst, no more
heave, no more everything will be perfect! Never have to pray,
deliver us, Lord, from this evil. Speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, verse 3, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father,
and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins,
that He might deliver us, save us from this present evil world,
according to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. Oh, He delivers us from
sorrow. He delivers us from suffering.
And you know how He often does it? By teaching us how to bear
it. By giving us grace to stand up
under the burdens and the grief and the sorrow and showing us
the meaning of it. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
of God. Everything. I don't care what.
We know we don't suffer needlessly. David said of this, it's good
for me that I have been afflicted. It's good for me that it keeps
me calling on God, looking to God, not trusting in myself.
Look with me in Job. I want you to see this real quick,
and then I'll wind it up. Job 33. Job 33. Job 33 and verse
24. We don't suffer. God doesn't
sin. He's not capricious in our trials. No, no, He's not. Look what God
says here about us. God's saving us, delivering us.
It says here in verse 24, Then He is gracious unto him, and
saith, Deliver him, save him from going down to the pit, We
may have great trouble and grief in this world, but deliver him
from going down. I found a ransom for him. Look down at verse 28. He will deliver his soul from
going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Oh my. You know, whatever is going on,
It's always darkest before dawn, but dawn's coming. The light's
coming. And it always has and it always
will. That's why we pray, deliver us.
He delivered us from sin by His own precious blood. He delivers
us every day and keeps us every day by His intercession. He takes up our name. He takes
up our cause. There's a high priest who sits
at the right hand of God and never lives to make intercession
for us. And one of these days, He's going
to deliver us once and for all by taking us unto Himself that
where He is, there we may be also. Huh? Yeah. Going to take us. Going
to take us. Going to take us to be with Him.
Lord, deliver us. Thy deliverance is come. Salvation hath been, art being,
and shall be. Deliver us, Lord. Save us. Save
us. Our Father, in the blessed, holy,
glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, how wondrously blessed
you are. Lord, we thank you for your gospel.
Thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. Lord, we do. How often have we prayed, Lord,
save us. Save this one, save that one,
save the other. As we see them be tried, see
them go through sorrow, go through physical pain. We see ourselves
and others tempted by sin and fall into sins. We ask the Lord,
deliver us. We see this world and all its
evil and wickedness around us, and we ask You to save us from
it, deliver us from it. And Lord, one of these days,
one of these blessed days, Father, You'll save us from all the evil
that's ever been in this world, once and for all. And we bless
You for the day that's coming. What a day that'll be. Oh, what
a day it'll be when our Lord Jesus Christ we'll see, when
we look upon His face, The One who saved us by His grace. Oh, we look forward to that day.
And we bless you in Christ's name. Amen.