Verse 12, where as we started
talking last week about forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors and lead us not into temptation. I want to just comment
a little bit about forgiving us our sins. Forgive us our debts
or forgive us our sins. You know that forgiveness of
sin is a blessing that only God can give. No man can forgive
sin but God. We can forgive one another, but
when it even comes to forgiving us and us being able to forgive
somebody else, that's something that God has to work in us to
do. No wonder David said, Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputes not iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sins
are covered. And it's a covenant blessing.
God said, This covenant will I make with them that their sins
and iniquities I will remember no more. Not as I made with their
fathers." He said, I'll not remember their sins, and I'll not remember
their iniquities anymore. Now that is something when God
says He does not remember. He casts them as far as the east
is from the west, casts them behind His back, He blocks them
out as a thick cloud, casts them into the depths of the sea, and
He washes them away by His Son. He gives all kinds of scriptural
illustrations of what He does to put our sins away. And forgiveness
of sin is this, it's God passing by sin. Clearing the record. Giving us a discharge of our
sin. Cutting us off from it. Cutting
it off from us. And to forgive sin, I'll just
comment on this before I get to lead us not into temptation.
But oh, I want you to know your sins are gone. To know that you
can face God without any sin. Oh, what a blessing to know that
God hath taken your sin away. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquity, who should be able to stand? And God did mark iniquity. And now everyone for whom He
marked iniquity on Christ can now stand in the presence of
God. But He says, there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. And to forgive sin is
for God to take it away, to actually take it away. Take it from where
it was and put it someplace else. Job says, take away my iniquity
and lift it off. It's like taking a heavy burden
from a man's back who's fixing to fall under the load. And what
God does is He comes and He lifts. Off of us, our sins and our iniquities. Lifts them off our consciences.
Lifts the guilt off of us. And lays it on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was wounded for our transgressions. Bruised for our iniquities. The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And if they was upon
Him, that's where God, when He took them off us, He put them
on Him. And all bless His name. So what a blessing it is to have
forgiveness of sins. Like there's an old black preacher
named John Jasper. And they've written some autobiographies
about him. If you ever get one of them, be sure and read it.
He preached up in Virginia. He's one of the most famous old
black preachers there ever was. And I mean, he was a preacher. He was a gospel preacher. That's
what he was. That's what makes him a preacher,
a gospel preacher. But he was asking this other fellow one
time, and this other fellow had this big sack on his back, this
heavy weight on his back. And he asked Brother Jasper,
he says, Brother Jasper, how in the world can I know that
my sins are gone? How can I know my iniquities
are gone? He says, well, take that sack off your back and lay
it down. He took that sack off his back and he laid it down.
He said, how do you know that that sack's not on your back
anymore? I said, well, I don't have the weight on it. It's gone.
I've laid the burden down. He said, that's how you'll know
sin's gone. God will take it off your conscience and you won't
feel it anymore. The burden's gone. The weight's
gone. And that's what it is. You take that old heavy burdens
off your back. God takes it away. Takes it away. Now, let's look at this, lead
us not into temptation. We forgive God. We pray, God,
forgive us of our sins. Keep us from our sins. And that's
what the next one is. Forgive us our sins. As we forgive
those who sin against us. As we forgive those. And I'll
tell you, people that cannot forgive, That's a dead giveaway
that they don't know the Lord. God's people can forgive and
do forgive. They don't have to have their
arm twisted. They don't have to be threatened. This is not a
condition for God to forgive us. It's a fruit of us being
forgiven of ourselves. God has no conditions on us being
forgiven. He forgives us for Christ's sake.
And here he says, you know, we pray, Lord, keep us, not only
forgive us of our sins, but keep us from sins and the temptation
for sin and the foolishness of it. Lead us not into temptation.
Now, we see the first thing in this petition, in this prayer,
Lord, as we pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation. Let us,
oh, don't let us go into temptation. In this prayer, in this petition,
we learn this, and we have to acknowledge this. that God has
the power over good and evil. He has the power over both. He
has the power over both. That's why he says, lead us not.
Keep us from going in that way is what we're praying. Lord let
us, you know, we're going to be led some way. But he said,
don't lead us there. Keep us from going that way.
You know, David prayed, he says, Lord, keep back thy servant from
presumptuous sins. Sins that I think is not too
bad. Sins that I think that won't
get me in trouble. Sins that I think that I can
get by with. Sins that I think that I can
always ask for forgiveness for. Hey, that's what he's saying.
Lead us not to where we're led into presumptuous sins. Keep
us from going in that way. Now, beloved, I do know this.
And you look with me in James chapter 1. I want to show you
several things over here. James chapter 1. God tempts no
man to sin. I do know that. God tempts no
man to sin when He says, lead us not into temptation. It's
said here in James 1.13. That's the first book after the
book of Hebrews. God tempts no man to sin. It
says in James 1.13, 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. God does not tempt a man. And
that's why He says, lead us not into temptation. Don't let us
go in that direction. Keep us from going that way.
But God does not tempt a man to sin, but He tries His people.
And there's a difference in temptation and trying. Now God tries His
people. He tried Abraham. When He told
him, He says, take your son, your only son, up on the mountain.
And He tries their faith. And that's what he said here
in James 1.3, look what he says about trying your faith. Knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. God,
the trying of your faith is much more precious than of gold. Now
God doesn't tempt His people to sin, but He tries their faith.
And He tries their faith, and I'll tell you the reason He tries
our faith is not to us It doesn't give us faith, it proves whether
we have faith or not. That's why He tries our faith.
He says your faith being tried, being much more precious than
a gold. Though you try it with fire. Gold can be tried with
fire, but beloved, when God tries our faith, He tries it to let
us know we have it. He knows what we got. And He
tries it to purify it and to make us consistently and constantly
look unto Him. Not only does He try their faith,
but He tries their love. Do you love me? He said to Simon
Peter. Lovest thou me, Simon? Yea, Lord, I do. Feed my lamb.
Lovest thou me, Simon? I do, Lord. Feed my sheep. Lovest thou me? O Lord, thou
knowest that you love me. It's like that Shulamite maiden. Whenever her master was gone,
she went running all through the night, looking everywhere,
knocking on doors, and said, Have you found Him whom my soul
loveth? Have you seen Him? Tell me where
He's at. And oh, He tries our love. And
then He tries our obedience. Whether we're going to obey or
not, or obey man. He's done that to Peter and James
and John. And those fellows told Him, Don't you go and preach
in the name of Christ again. And they said, should we obey
God or should we obey men? Which one? You tell us which
one we should do. Should we listen to what you've got to say or
should we do what God told us to do? Which one should we do?
So he tries our faith, he tries our love, he tries our obedience.
And I know best that temptations lead us not into temptation.
Temptation in and of itself is not an evil. It's not an evil
in and of itself. Then a lot of people tempted
that never sinned, never yielded to the temptation. Our Lord Jesus
was tempted in Matthew chapter 4. You remember that? He was
tempted by the devil 40 days and 40 nights. He was in the
wilderness. And four different times it tells us there about
the devil trying and tempting the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
first thing he tempted him with when he was hungry, if you got
to hear the Son of God command this stone to be made bread,
you could eat if you'd make that stone to be turned to be bread.
And our Lord answered him with the Scripture, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of
the mouth of God. So he tried him and tempted him,
but our Lord was tempted, yet he was without sin. James says,
Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. Blessed
is the man who endureth temptation. And God tried Peter, and you
know what he tried Peter? You know what Peter learned about
himself? He wasn't near as strong as he
thought he was. He wasn't near as confident as he thought he
was. Oh, I'm not going to let everybody else forsake you. I'm
not going to. I'm not only ready to be put in prison with you,
to be bound with you, but I'm ready to die with you. First
thing he said, do you know this man? I don't know this man. Try
him. Try him. Try him. So there's not evil in and of
itself in temptation. Our Lord was tempted without
sin. But where does temptation come from then? Where does it,
if you know, lead us not into temptation, where does it come
from? Well, it comes from us. Most of us, we're drawn away.
Look there in James chapter 1, verse 14, it says this. James,
well, I just read 13. Look in verse 14. This temptation
of sin comes from ourselves. He said, Every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust. His lust draws him
away. And he's enticed. Something entices
him. Something's set before his mind.
Something's set before his affection. Something's set before his desire.
Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin. You see,
you have this temptation. Then lust, when it's conceived,
it brings forth sin. And sin, when it's finished,
it brings forth death. And don't err, beloved brethren.
This is the way it is. God don't tempt a man. A man's
tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. And that's why
David, as you know, Hebrews 12 says, seeing we all saw our compass
about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every way and be sin. which doest so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race set before us." Paul
says, I know this, that when I would do good, evil's right
there with me. And he said, I see a war in my
members. My flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to
the other. And you cannot do the things that you would. So
this temptation, it comes from ourselves, it comes from our
own heart. We all got a traitor in our castle. We've got a traitor
in our castle. And you know the person you'd
like to get away from more than anybody else and be done with
more than anybody else when it comes to these things is us. Not anybody in this building
can make me sin. Not anybody in this building
could entice me and tempt me. I don't believe. But I tell you,
I've got enough kindling in my own heart. And that's why I say, Lord, lead
us not. Keep me from going that direction.
Stop me from going that way. And temptation, it comes from
ourselves, it comes from our own hearts. For from within our
heart proceeds these things. And all we know from our own
experience what our own selves will do if we've given long enough
rope. If God lets us go and leads us
to ourselves, and leads us to our temptations, and leads us
to our imagination, and leads us to our concupiscence, our
evil desires, and our covetousness. If He let us go, how far do you
reckon we would go? You don't have to go far. People
think you've got to go way far. No, no. Old David stood on a
balcony and looked on a woman. That's all he did. There wasn't
no temptation in him looking at her. But the temptation was
when lust in him said, I've got to have her. That's when he was
enticed. And not only does sin come from within ourselves, but
it comes from the devil. It comes from the devil. In fact,
he's called the tempter. You know that? He's called the
tempter. That's what he is. That's what
he lives for, is to tempt people. You remember in Bunyan's Pilgrim
Progress, he attacked the city of Mansoul, and he works to put
out the fire of grace. I know this. You remember when
Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, when an old Christian was taken into
the interpreter's house. And he went into the interpreter's
house, and there was lots of things going on in there. And
he came in there, and there was this one room he went in, and there
was this fire going. And there was a person standing
right in front of that fire throwing water, just one bucket of water
after another on that fire. And that fire wouldn't go out.
And he said, how come that fire won't go out? He said, he's throwing
water on it, throwing water. He says, come around here and
I'll show you. And there was a man standing in the back pouring
water, pouring oil on it. And every time this is trying
to boil out, He pour oil on it and the fire come back up again.
He says what means this? He said that fire is the grace
of God in a man's soul. The devil is the one trying to
put it out, but the Lord keeps pouring in the oil to keep the
fire from going out, to keep man from losing the grace, to
keep him from giving way to the devil, and the fire will never
be put out. Not only is he called the tempter,
but he's called the prince of this world, the prince of the
power of the air. You know, there's principalities and powers. There's
evil spirits out in the world. That's what it's called. God
says that there are evil spirits. He says there's princes and powers
and principalities out here in this world. And He's around no
matter what we do. And when you read, especially
the Bible, He'll be present to make your mind wonder. When you
pray, He'll be present to make your words stutter and be few. When you're meditating, He'll
try His best to get you to think about something else besides
the Word of God. And I tell you what, do you know
where we can find Him at? Find Him within us. And though
we guard against Him, we don't know how in the world He got
in. But boy, He gets in our minds, He gets in our imaginations. It's like Elijah. He prayed and
shut up the heavens. prayed a 67 word prayer. Fire fell from heaven, destroyed
all those false prophets and consumed all the sacrifices.
And then he prayed for three years, the heavens were shut
up and it didn't rain. But boy, when Jezebel said, I'm
going to kill that prophet just as sure as I live of the sons
that come, a woman now, he called fire down from heaven, shut up
the heavens for three years and it didn't rain, but a woman said,
I'm going to get it. He fled and went over and sat
by the book of Jareth and sat under a juniper tree and says,
God, just let me die. How in the world did he go from
calling fire down from heaven to being so Tempted? Tempted? Tempted? Huh? Oh my. And why are we in danger from
Satan's temptations? Why are we in such danger? Well, he has malice in his tempting.
He has malice. Malice is a horrible thing. Malice
means that you wish ill. And if you've got it in your
power to do evil and do ill towards a person, that's what you'll
do. And he has malice in his tempting. He's jealous. He is
jealous of our happiness. He's jealous of our joy. He's
jealous of our peace. He's jealous to look down and
see a worm of the earth. A worm of the earth. A grasshopper
like us. Have fellowship with God. Commune
with God. Cast himself on Christ. And when he sees that, it fills
him with such hatred. It fills him. Here he is. The
devil came down and says he was having great wrath. And oh my,
nothing would please him better. I know a fella, I know a fella
that here a few years ago, I run into him. And oh, he was a stout,
stout Calvinist. Oh my, he was in a service one
time and some statements was made he didn't agree with. And
I mean, he got on a blog and he went to fighting and fussing
and starting arguments and writing all kinds of letters and all
that. You know, going to straighten everybody out on how mad they
missed this and how bad they missed that. I found out just
a little over two weeks ago, this very man, who was such a
staunch Calvinist and wanted to straight everybody out, had
his own blog, 5souls.org. This same man says he does not
believe in the Christian faith whatsoever now. He's denied Christ,
denied faith, denied the Scriptures, Denied ever believing. He says
that is nothing to Christianity whatsoever. He started reading
some books and decided that everything about it is false. First 11 chapters
of Genesis is just a fairy tale. He says now. Lead us not into temptation. How could he go from straightening
everybody out who says something wrong? And I'll tell you why it got
him upset was, as Zephelah says, you know that we have the righteousness
of Christ imputed to us, and the righteous nature of Christ
imparted to us. That when God makes us a new
creature, not only do we have the righteousness of Christ imputed
to us, but we're made partaker of the divine nature, and God
gives us a nature that loves righteousness. And he took exception
to that. And now he don't believe nothing.
He's an infidel. He's an antichrist. And oh my,
you see how Satan's tickled to death the guy. Now he's fighting
just as hard to show people that the Christian faith is awful
and blasphemous and false as he was to prove Calvinism to
be right. So he's got malice and tempting.
And then he's diligent in his tempting. That's why, oh God,
we're in danger, and Lord, lead us not. You know, they said,
you know, that the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. He'll be like the Pharisees.
He'll come to sea and land to make one proselyte. And if he
gets just a little advantage, now listen to me, if he gets
just a little advantage, he won't let up. It's like Judas. Well, he just dangled just a
little money in front of Judas. Just a little. And that just
kept thinking on Judas's mind. And Judas just kept thinking,
Boy, that's money. That's a pretty good bit of money.
Next thing you know, they made him an offer. And he took it. And he's called the son of perdition. And went to his own place. He
never let up. Once the devil ever got in bed,
he never let up until he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
is diligent. Satan is diligent. If one thing
won't work, he'll try something else. You know that? If lust
won't work, he'll try pride. If pride won't work, he'll try
covetousness. If covetousness won't work, he'll
bring you to despair. If despair don't work, He'll
cause you to be presumptuous. If He can't make a man wicked,
you know what He'll do? He'll make him as religious as
all get-out. He'll make him a Pharisee and
give him a Bible and get him out of those scriptures. And
make him think, boy, I tell you what, anybody who goes to heaven
is going to be me. No wonder he says, Oh Lord, Lead
us not into temptation. And oh, not only is he malice,
he has malice in his tempting and diligent in his tempting.
But consider his power. Do you know how much power Satan
has? Now, he's not omnipotent like God, but we and me ain't
no match for him. He's called the prince of this
world. Look over in John chapter 14 with me, just a minute. John
chapter 14. You know, He's that strong man
armed. As long as He keeps His palaces and His goods
safe, He's that strong man armed. But He's called the Prince of
this world. You know, Christ is called the Savior, the Prince.
The Prince of Israel. He's called the Prince of His
people. A Prince to get repentance unto Israel. But Satan's called
the Prince of this world. This world and its system. He's
the one that's got all the power and all the glory as far as this
world is concerned. He's got more power than God
does in some people. But of course, we know He doesn't.
But look here in verse 30. Our Lord Jesus says hereafter,
John 14, 30, Hereafter I'll not talk much with you. For the Prince
of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. The prince of
this world is coming. And what that means is if he
has nothing in me, he can tempt. If he has nothing in me, he can
try. If he has nothing in me, he can draw me away with. I have
nothing in me that can be tempted. I have nothing in me that can
be overcome. I have nothing in me that he
can entice me with. But now me and you are not that
way. But that the world may know that I love the Father, as the
Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
So here he is, he's the prince of the world, but if he comes
after me and you, can we say he's nothing in me that he can't
get to? Oh my, he has power. I'll tell
you how much power the prince of this world has. He has power
to transform himself into an angel of light. Yes sir, you
see him on television all the time. You see him in these millymouth
preachers. You see him in the Pope. He transforms
himself into an angel of light. And people say, oh, look how
glorious, how bright. What a wonderful man. Oh, he
loves the Lord. They just go on and on about
how great he is. But, beloved, he has the power
to transform himself into an angel of light. How can you tell
that he's not an angel of light? How can you tell that he's one
sin of God? It's his message. Does His message give all the
glory to God? Does His message put man in the
dust? Does His message present Christ
as the only Redeemer? Does His message make Christ
to be the only Savior? Does His message make man to
be absolutely nothing? How many preachers do you know
call a man a worm? How many preachers do you know
call a man a grasshopper? That's what the Scripture calls
him. But oh, most preachers are telling everybody, oh, we can't
spell church without you. Come to the place where everybody
is somebody. When God said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and the only reason we're anything
is because Christ redeemed us, Christ chose us, and God saved
us. And oh my, that's why he transforms
himself into an angel of light. And as a power, as a spirit,
he can get into your thoughts. Now I want you to see this in
Matthew 16. Now you think Satan ain't got some power. Here he
used an apostle. He used an apostle in Matthew
16. Look what he did with an apostle here. You think he can't
use somebody? Listen, he can use it as an apostle. Look here in Matthew 16.21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go up to Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders, chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter
took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee. This cannot happen. But
watch what our Master said to him. But he turned and said unto
Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me.
For thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. Does that mean Peter was Satan? No, Peter was not Satan. But
Satan was using him. Satan was speaking through him.
Satan was trying to keep Christ through Simon Peter from going
to the cross. You don't need to go to the cross
to save us. You don't need to suffer to save us. You don't
need to die to save us. Just be a good example. Just
show us what we ought to do. We can follow you. We can follow
your example. Oh, just give us a shove and
the rice, all it takes. And our Lord says, that's not
the way. You save us the things of men. That's what man wants. He wants a Redeemer without suffering. He wants salvation without death.
He wants salvation without his sin been put away. He wants salvation
on his terms. But we're going to have to get
it on God's terms. I must suffer. That's what he said. And oh,
beloved, I'll tell you one thing Satan can't do. He has power
in tempting, but he cannot force the will. He can't force the
will, but he can sure entice it. He can sure entice it. It's like Achan, you know, said,
don't nobody take nothing out of that thing. And Achan saw
that wedge of gold. And oh, you know, not only
does Satan tempt us, oh Lord, lead us about into temptation.
But he has power in his subtlety. Subtlety, so crafty. So crafty. Paul says, you know, as Satan
beguiled our mother Eve through his subtlety, through his craftiness,
through his craftiness, I pray he not beguile you from the simplicity
that's in Christ. He told the church at Thyatira,
he says, you know the depths of Satan. You know the depths
of Satan. Paul said, we're not ignorant
of his devices. And you know, He learns our weaknesses.
Learns our weaknesses. Learns things about us that our
nation, what we can be tempted with. What you like the best,
that's what He'll lay before you. You know, He desires to tempt
us. He learns how to tempt us. It's like when Christ was hungry,
that's when He tempted Him with bread. And it's while men sleep. It's while they sleep that the
enemy comes and so fares among the wheat. And you know, I'll
tell you something else about him. He tips to sin very, very
gradually. He entices you away a little
at a time. Just like David. David was walking out of the
evening to meditate. Looked over and saw Bathsheba,
just for the look. If he'd let it go at that, then
all right. But the look, Led to the desire,
led to the taking, led to the murder, led to one thing after
another. It didn't all happen at once.
This happened over a long period of time. And it's like, you know
how it is when Job was presenting himself and sacrifices on account
of his children. He went to offer sacrifices.
You know where Satan was? He was right there. God said,
you see that man down there? He said, you know what? He said,
if you turn me loose on him, I'll cause him to cuss you to
your face. That's what he means, don't let him send you to temptation.
He says, the only reason he serves you is because you bless him.
You take his blessings away from him. He's a mercenary. You take
his blessings away from him and he'll cuss you to your face.
God says, you can tap him. And I mean he took everything
Job had. And you know what Job says? The Lord gave and the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Now, I don't want to go through that, do you? That's why I'm
going to pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation. Oh my, there are untold ways,
untold ways he can overthrow us. He has 6,000 years' experience. If he overthrew our mother and
father in the Garden of Eden when God talked with them every
day, how much do you think it would take for him to overthrow
the Lord? with this like us. That's why Lord Jesus, keep us,
lead us not, deliver us, protect us, preserve us, put a hedge
around us. And oh, he's had 6,000 years
experience. Oh Lord, lead us not. Well, what
should we do when we're tempted? When we are tempted, then we
have temptations. I have them, you have them. We're
tempted sometimes to tell people off. We're tempted sometimes
to get even with people. We're tempted sometimes to go
after this thing, that thing, and another thing. We're tempted
sometimes to... God only knows what goes through
our mind. What do we do when we're tempted?
First thing you do, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Look unto Him. Go unto Him. You know it says here, you know
that our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in all points like we
are yet without sin, and He is able to secure them that are
tempted. And oh my! And then there's a blessing
of enduring a temptation. Blessed is the man who endures
temptation, for he shall receive the crown of life, the Lord Jesus. And over in 2 Peter 2.9, it says,
the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. And look over here with me in
1 Corinthians 10. This is one of my all-time favorite
scriptures, and I'm sure it is yours, because some of you have
been through some awful temptations. And to be perfectly honest about
it, there are times When things have happened, we say, Lord,
how could God be in that? How could God have done that?
How could God be in such a situation as that? We wonder these things.
We ponder these things. And we're afraid to mention them,
bring them out and speak of them. But yet they're there. And God
knows them. And we're tempted. Those are the kind of temptations
we have that God saves us from and forgives us of. We don't
act on them. But look what it said here in
1 Corinthians 10.13. I love this. Love this first
scripture. Remember this the next time you're
tempted. There hath no temptation taken you but as such as is common
to man. If you're a man, if you're a
human being, every temptation is common to man. Man's going
to be tempted. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. Are you
tempted? He said, I'll keep you, whatever
your temptation, above that table. But will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Now
that's a promise God made. That's wonderful. What a blessing.
What a blessing. Oh my, it's like Elijah. God made a way to deliver Elijah. When Elijah prayed for him to
die and nobody left but me, you know what God said? He said,
Elijah, I've got 7,000, haven't bowed a knee to Baal yet. There's
only one left. And you know what he done when
he got over there? God said, you know poor old Elijah sitting
there under that juniper tree wanting to die? He sent a raven
to bring him bread. He set him down by a brook and
made the water run so he'd have something to drink. And that's
why he's in his temptation. That's why he's murmuring. Peter
denied Christ. Job was tempted to curse God.
Our Lord was tempted of the devil. And you know why all these men
stood? Christ said, I prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not. God made a way of escape for
every one of these with their temptations. And oh, beloved,
our Lord Jesus rules in our heart to keep us. And oh, let me show
you this in Hebrews, not that I'm through. Hebrews chapter
4. I've done quoted, but I want
you to look at it for yourself. Our Lord Jesus has sympathy with
us and is able to secure us. Hebrews 4.15. And we all have this. Hebrews 4.15. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You go to a priest or a preacher
and you try to tell them what's going on with you, they can't
be touched with your feelings. Tell them what they're going
through at that particular time. They cannot be touched with your feelings.
They cannot be touched with your infirmities. He may be infirm
at that time himself. But this high priest, he can
be touched within feelings of our infirmities. But was in all
points tempted, like as we are, yet he was without sin. So let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Look in verse 18 of chapter 2
here. Hebrews 2.18, for in that he
himself, in that he himself had suffered being tempted. It was
suffering for him to be tempted. He is able to secure them that
are tempted. You know, he'll make a way of
escape. And you know something else he's done? He's like done
when Joshua, the high priesthood, The devil stood at his right
hand to resist him. You know what? God says, the Lord rebuke
you. The Lord rebuke you, devil. The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan.
And all in our temptations, when it's all said and done, will
be to the praise and the glory of God. The trying of your faith
being much more precious than of gold, though it be tried with
thought, that might be found under praise and honor and glory
at his superior. And that's why, David, that's
why we pray here in this Lord's Prayer. And our Lord taught us,
lead us not into temptation, Lord. Why not lead us into temptation? Because we're weak. Because we
don't want to sin against you. And we certainly don't want to
shame our profession. Do you want to shame your profession
of Christ? Do you want to dishonor Christ by falling into a temptation?
I don't want to sin against you. I don't want to shame my profession.
Deliver us from our sales. Deliver us from our deceit. Deliver
us from our secret faults. Deliver us from our presumptuous
sins. And do it for Christ's sake.
Keep us from temptation, Lord. Don't let us go. Don't let us
go. Our blessed Master, our gracious,
gracious Lord Jesus, bless this word to our hearts, to our understanding. Lord, we know that you said in
your own word, and we know from our hearts and our experience
and the truth, that without you we can do nothing. And Lord,
we know what we're capable of without you, without your sustaining
power, keeping power, loving power, sustaining power. So,
Lord, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against
us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us, save us from
evil, and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.