Turn with me to the book of Matthew
chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Today I'm
going to conclude this series of messages that I've been preaching
on the manner of true prayer and it's I hope and pray that
we have learned something and maybe been reminded of things
that we already knew concerning the true manner of prayer. How
to pray. Lord, teach us to pray. And let's
just read through it again, verse nine. After this manner, therefore
pray ye. This is the Lord speaking to
the disciples. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now, verse
13 is what I'm going to conclude with this morning. And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or literally the
evil one. Deliver us from the evil one.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Today I want to talk to
you about the glorious preservation, which is the work of God for
his people and in his people. He preserves us. That passage
that Brother Tim just read is about God testing, trying the
people of Israel in the wilderness. And you see how many of them,
most of them, failed. And the reason they failed is
because they became proud and greedy. And they thought, they
believed that they were standing firm by their own power, their
own goodness, their own merits, and they sought to lean upon
their own understanding. Whenever they got in trouble,
they sought idols rather than turning to the living God. Well,
we know that every one of God's true people are going to be tested. We're walking, just like Israel
walking through the wilderness, We're walking through the wilderness
of this world, and God will test our faith. Now these tests, they
don't create faith. They reveal faith, and it's our
prayer that they will strengthen our faith, which means this,
that whatever test or trial we go through as children of God,
it causes us to look to Christ even more, to depend upon Him
even more. That's growing in grace and knowledge. To acknowledge that our total
dependence for our preservation unto glory is in Christ by His
power, by His goodness even more. And so we pray. Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. We're gonna be tested,
why would we pray not to? Here's the key to this petition
here. This is the prayer here that
for God to protect us and that we not be led into temptation
by the evil one, which is Satan. And it's praying for God's gracious
and powerful preservation of us as his children. God, keep
me. Save me by his grace. He'll keep
me by his grace and bring me to glory by his grace. You see,
God promises in the Bible that he will not let his children
fall away from the faith unto perdition, which is destruction.
Now there are those we read about in God's Word who are tempted
by Satan and who do fall away. But the Bible tells us, for example,
in 1 John 2, 19, they were never of us. They didn't lose their
salvation. They didn't have the gift of
faith, true faith, and then lose that gift. But by their going
away, by their falling away, by their apostasy, that's what
that means, They simply revealed that they never had been saved.
They never were true children of God. But if we're truly saved
by God's grace, we will not fall away. Paul said that in Hebrews
chapter 10, talking about those who fall away unto perdition,
and he says, we are not of those. who fall away under perdition,
but those who believe to the saving of the soul. Why is that?
Because we're kept by God, we're preserved by God. Let me just
read you some prayers. I won't read you the whole prayer,
but several of the Psalms, the Psalmist prayed this way. Listen
to Psalm 16.1. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee
do I put my trust. It's not preserve me, oh God,
because I've had a good day or I trust myself. I don't trust
myself at all. You should never trust yourself
in this matter. Trust the Lord. Psalm 25, 21,
listen, let integrity and uprightness preserve me. Let truth and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait on thee. Waiting on the Lord is a matter
of faith. God-given faith. Listen to this, Psalm 32 and
verse 7. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about,
that is surround me with songs of deliverance. How in the world
could we? We look to ourselves, listen
to this, Psalm 40 in verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. You see, that's a constant theme
throughout the Psalms. There's more. I won't read all
of them, but let me read a couple more. Psalm 140 has two prayers
for preservation. Verse one, deliver me, O Lord,
from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. Verse four says, keep me, O Lord,
from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent
man who have purposed to overthrow my going. We understand that
our lives are in the hands of our great God. And God promises
in his word that he'll never leave us, he'll never forsake
us, and he'll preserve us unto glory. Christ said that. John
10, 27, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, he says. They follow
me. It's not that they might do this. No, they do. And I give unto
them eternal life. They don't earn it. Eternal life
is the product of what Christ earned by his blood and righteousness
to give to his people. He says they shall never perish.
Neither shall anyone pluck them out of my Father's hand. or my
hand, my father which gave them me is greater than all. And no
man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my
father are one. I love that passage in the book
of Jude that ends his short letter. Jude 24, now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling. present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever. Amen. There's no possibility
that a true child of God could fall away into damnation. Why? Because Christ is able. He's
able to save us, He's able to keep us, He's able to bring us
to glory. Listen to this, Hebrews says, I'm gonna expect you all
to remember all these verses now. You know, you really do remember
them, because you remember the truth that they teach. And this
says about Christ, because He continueth forever. He's got
an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able to save
them to the uttermost. What does that mean? That means
to the nth degree. That come to God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Right now, the Lord Jesus,
if you're a child of God, if you're a sinner saved by grace,
justified, sanctified, redeemed by the blood, clothed in His
righteousness, regenerated and converted by the Holy Spirit.
You've got a new heart, you've got eyes to see these things.
You're looking to Christ. Right now he's interceding for
you on your behalf. That's why Paul said, I know
whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
God's promise of our preservation is something he accomplishes.
and he accomplishes it by the use of his means or his instruments
which he has appointed and given and works in us by his spirit
through the word. In the book of Philippians, chapter
one and verse six, listen to this. He speaks of being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
We'll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What God started,
he'll finish. And what does the Bible say in
Ephesians 2.10? We're his workmanship, aren't we? We're not self-made
people. Salvation didn't come by our
works or our wills. By the will and the power and
the works of God in Christ. And so we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. So if I'm his workmanship,
he started it, he'll finish it, he'll bring me to glory. But
he does it by means, y'all have heard this verse, Philippians
2 and verse 12, think about this. And you know how some people
take passages out of context. Philippians chapter two and verse
12 says, wherefore for this reason, my beloved, As you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now
work it out. You know how some people take that, don't you?
Read the next verse, verse 13. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Isn't that
amazing? God uses these means for us to
persevere, continue in the faith, while all the time, He's preserving
us. He will not let us go. And if
He didn't preserve us by His grace, and if He let us go, we
would perish. Do you believe that? It's amazing. And so, As Paul
wrote in Ephesians 6, we put on the whole armor of God. But
how do we do that? Well, he says in Ephesians 6,
10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. The Christian walk in life is
not in our own power or in our own goodness. It's in the power
of the Lord. It's in the power of his might. And it's all based upon what
we are in Christ. Christ died for my sins. You
know what that means? It means they cannot be charged
to me. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. God doesn't charge us. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn? It means we
cannot be condemned. Christ died. We have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. It's his righteousness
given to us as he charged it, imputed it to us. How can we
be lost? He's given us of his spirit.
When Paul wrote, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
he said, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm not the source and
power of eternal life, spiritual life, Christ is. And so we pray, Lord, lead us
not into temptation. but deliver us from the evil
one. And as I said, he's talking about being delivered from the
temptations that Satan, the evil one, will attack us with. When Satan tempts us, now think
about this, when Satan tempts God's people, it's always tempting
them to evil. And his intention is always our
destruction. But turn over to James chapter
one with me. I read from this passage as we
started our service. God does not tempt anyone with
evil. That's not the kind of God he
is. And if you look at James one, look at verse 13. James
1, 13. Let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempted he any man, speaking with evil. Now God tests our
faith, but that's not for evil. That's to reveal our faith, to
strengthen our faith, to bring us to look to Christ even more,
to plead his righteousness even more. He says, verse 14, but
every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and
enticed. When Satan tempts us, he's got
an ally in us, it's called the flesh. His own lust and enticed. Verse 15, then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin. That's the product. And
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. See, that's why we need salvation
from sin. That's why we need our sins to
be taken away. If sin finishes us, that's damnation. But thank God Christ on the cross
finished sin, finished the transgression, made an end of sin so that sin
wouldn't make an end of us. And how could sin make an end
of us when God won't charge it to us? How could sin make an
end of us when we have a righteousness that equals what God demands,
the perfection of righteousness that's only found in Christ?
So don't blame God. Just pray to God, Lord, lead
us not into temptation. God tries his people, but it's
always to reveal and strengthen our faith in Christ. It's for
our good. But while we're in this world, while we're walking
in this wilderness like the Hebrew children were, and still plagued
with the remaining influences and contaminations of our sinful
flesh, there are numerous temptations that appeal to us because of
our flesh. because of our, as he puts it
here, our own lust. We still have it. An end to which
we would fall completely away from Christ if it weren't for
God's preserving grace. If it weren't for the fact that
no one can pluck us out of his father's hand. Now again, as
I said, God is not the author of evil. But I gotta tell you
something now, if you read your Bible, you'll know this is true. God is not the author of evil,
but you know what? He's ordained all temptations. Not to let us fall completely
away from Christ, nor to abandon us, but to show us that the only
way out is by His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what you read about there in 1 Corinthians 10. in that passage. If you'll look at that with me,
I'll show you what I'm talking about. Now again, as I told you, the
Hebrew children, they were walking through the wilderness, and many
times they became proud and idolatrous, and they sought ways out of their
mess that was ungodly, idolatrous even. But look here in chapter 10, He says, he says in verse nine, neither,
this is chapter 10 verse nine, neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. In
other words, they were in their minds, they were putting God
to the test. They were putting Christ to the
test. They were presuming upon God's power and goodness. He
says, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were
destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, for this
reason," now listen to this, let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. Now a lot of people use that
verse to claim that we as believers are not to have any assurance
of salvation. But that's not what that verse
is teaching. The Bible says that we are to have assurance of salvation. And our prayers ought to reflect
that. Our Father, which art in heaven. How can I presume to
call God my Father? I'm a sinner, how about you?
But I'm a sinner saved by grace. Our Father. That's assurance
of salvation. He is my Father. How do I know?
Because I'm looking to His Son. I'm resting in His Son. I'm pleading
His righteousness alone. Hallowed be thy name. What he's
talking about here is a presumption, a sinful presumption that does
not honor God. And so he says, you who think
you stand, you who are so proud, self-righteous, You take heed
lest you fall. Verse 13, there hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man. Do you know that we go
through many of the same temptations that unbelievers go through,
same testings? But here's the difference, but
God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that you are able Now that's not our own ability, but look
what it says, but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape that you may be able to bear. There's a way to escape.
There's the way to come through. And what is it? By God's grace,
looking to Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. That's the key. And this is a
recognition and acknowledgement that we're totally dependent
upon Christ for our whole salvation. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one. We can never look to and depend
on ourselves. We run this race looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And God continually
delivers us from evil or the evil one. You know, Satan is
always attacking God's people. He sure is. Somebody said, well,
why does God allow that? Well, God ordained it. And here's
the thing, I know people don't like to hear that, but if you
don't believe that, go in your Bible and find the book of Job
and read it and believe it or rip it out. Because that's what
that whole book is about. God said you can do anything
to Job you want to do, but you can't touch his soul. You remember
that? You can't touch yourself. He's
a sinner saved by grace. He's a child of God. Nobody's
going to pluck them out of my father's hand, he said. But he
allowed Satan. He ordained that Satan should
test Job, and he did. And you know, if you read the
book of Job, you'll see Job failed many times, didn't he? And he
had three good buddies who came along, and they thought they
had the answer. And they said, all right, Job, let's sit down
here. You know, when they first come to him, they didn't say
a word. They just sat down there. I don't know how many days it
was, but just sat in silence to be with him. And then when
they started to speak, that's when they got in trouble. And
they said, let's figure this thing out, Job. Let's figure
out why God is doing this to you. What sin have you committed
that's brought this? Now, isn't that religion? Job's three miserable comforters. That's what that is. You remember when the Lord told
Peter, he said, Satan desires to have you. And he said to Peter,
remember he said this, he said, but I pray for you that your
faith fail not. You say, well, what are the exact
words that our Lord prayed? I don't know, but I can give
you an example, John chapter 17. He's praying for his people. You know what Satan's main weapons
are? Turn over to Revelation 12 with
me. I'll get to this in a minute,
but just give you a heads up. Show you something here. Talking
about God providing a way out. Satan has three main weapons. What are they? Number one, deception. Deception. He deceives people. But you know what? God has taken
care of that for his people. You know why? Because he's the
light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Before
we were brought to faith in Christ, what were we? We were deceived
in the dark. But God turned on the light,
brought us under the preaching of the gospel, gave us life,
a new heart, ears to hear, eyes to see things we didn't hear
and see before. And he brought us to the glorious
person and finished work of Christ for our whole salvation. And
Satan's deceptions are done away with by the word of God. This word is a light unto our
path. a lamp unto our feet. And so
we go to the word of God. Next, Satan's weapon is accusation. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. Now look at Revelation chapter 12, verse nine. He says, the great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. You see the deception there?
Who's the world there? They're deceived. He was cast
out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ for the accuser of our brethren. There's the second
one, accusation. The accuser of our brethren is
cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Look at verse 11, how do we overcome him? What's the way out of this
when Satan accuses? They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. What is the blood
of, that's the blood of Christ. Satan's accusations cannot stick,
because who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who can condemn us? The blood of the Lamb. The righteousness
of Christ, that's what that is. That we stand before God within.
Deception, accusation, and then Satan's third main weapon is
temptation. He tempts the people of God. Now he cannot win. Because we're
saved and protected and preserved by God's great grace in Christ.
But now, as I said before, and I mentioned this before, but
here's the truth that the world cannot take. They just cannot
take this. Satan is sometimes God's unwilling
agent to accomplish God's will in the salvation of his people.
And as I said, consider Job. Consider the apostle Paul. Remember
when he was talking about his thorn in the flesh? You know
what he said about it? I'll just read it to you, 2 Corinthians
12, 7. Listen to this. He said, and
God, remember he said he sought God three times to remove this,
and God said no, and he told him, my grace is sufficient for
you, just depend on me. Well, listen to what Paul said
about it. what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. He said,
and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations. See, Paul had been given so much
light, probably more than any other person, even in any other
apostle. And what do we do when things
like that happen? What do we have a tendency to
do? The flesh inspires us to be puffed up and proud. And that's
what he says, lest, He said, lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Did you hear what
he said there? Or did that fly by you? What
does he say? There was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. Now who gave it? God did. You remember the man in Corinth
who was committing fornication with his father's wife? And the
church at Corinth was just letting it go and not dealing with it,
and Paul said, you're not right now. You need to deal with it. And what did he say to do to
the man who would not repent, who would not stop that behavior?
In 1 Corinthians 5, in verse 5 he says, deliver such in one
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And they did it. And then it
worked. How did it work? Look at 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 7. Now remember what the Lord said
there in 1 Corinthians 10, that God's going to provide a way
out. And what is that way out? It's the way of grace. Everything
that we have and everything that we are and continue to be is
God's grace that reigns unto eternal life, reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And listen to what he said. They delivered that man over.
They cast him out. That's what they did. Not to
condemn him. Not to say you're going to hell.
But hoping to draw him back. And it's only by the power of
God. And what does he say? Look at 2 Corinthians 7 verse
8. Paul writes, he said, I made
you sorry with a letter. Sorry for your behavior, sorry
for your attitude. He said, but I don't repent.
Though I did repent, in other words, Paul, what he's expressing
there is, I don't know if this is gonna work or not, maybe they
took it wrong or whatever. For I perceive that the same
epistle hath made you sorry, though it were for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. In other words, I'm
not rejoicing just because you were in the despondency of sorrow,
but that you sorrowed to repentance. It brought you to a change of
mind. For you were made sorry after a godly manner. Now what's
the difference? Is there a way of being made
sorry after an ungodly manner? Yes, legalism. Legalism, self-righteousness. It can make a person sorry. It
can bring a person to tears. But here's a godly sorrow that
does what? That drives God's people more
and more to Christ to find relief. He says in verse, after a godly
manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing, we didn't
damage you, we helped you. The law beat you down. Legalism
beats you down, it doesn't help you, it just puts you in the
slew of despond. But Paul says that you might
receive damage by us in nothing. Verse 10, look at this. For godly
sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented
of. You know that ungodly sorrow
that brings legal repentance? You need to repent of that. But
here's a repentance you don't need to repent of because why?
It brings you back to God. It brings you to Christ for salvation,
for relief. But the sorrow of the world,
that legalism, that works death. And he says in verse 11, for
behold this selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sword.
Now remember what I'm saying now. How do I know it's a godly
sword? Because you end up with no hope. but Christ. And then what does that do? What
carefulness it worked in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves,
what indignation, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea,
what zeal, what revenge, in all things you have approved yourselves
to be clear in this matter. Now he's not talking about work
salvation there. He's not talking about preserving
ourselves in our own power. He's simply saying this, you
have been brought by God to a sorrow under repentance to salvation
that brings you to Christ. You come out of this thing looking
to Christ even more, resting in Christ even more, pleading
Christ even more, knowing that it's by God's grace, it's the
righteousness of Christ that saves you and preserves you and
will bring you to glory. And that's how we pray. Verse
13 of Matthew 6, lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one. Lord, keep us, just like the
Psalms. Lord, preserve me. Lord, don't
let me go. Don't leave me to myself. I have no power, I have no strength. I cannot, I cannot take on Satan. I have to plead the blood of
the Lamb who conquered Satan. Conquered death, conquered the
grave. And this is the acknowledgement at the end of the prayer. For
thine is the kingdom and the power. The kingdom is God's. The power is God's. And the glory
is God's. Forever and ever, amen. This kingdom of God, the power,
the glory, it belongs only to God. No one can defeat God. He's the sovereign, He's invincible. He who saves and preserves His
kingdom forever and ever, amen. And we're safe and secure as
we're in Him, as we're in Christ. All right.