That last phrase of verse four,
our Lord taught us to pray. Deliver us. Rescue us. Save us. From evil. Now, this is something that you
and I should pray for every day. And pray continually. Deliver
us from evil. Now, there is such a thing as
evil, and if I look at it as something out there, I prove
I don't really have any understanding of it. It's something out there. No, it's more than something
out there. The Apostle Paul said, when I
would do good, evil is present with me. And he's talking about
his own evil nature. He said, the good that I would,
I don't, I don't do, but the evil, which I would not that
I do. So understand when we're talking
about evil, we're not just talking about something that's out there
because it is out there, but it's also something that dwells
with us. It's part of a fallen nature. Now there is such a thing as
evil. There is good. And there is evil. God is good. I love saying that. God is good. He's essentially good. He's altogether
good. And anything opposed to him is
evil. Now, evil has been around a long
time. It was here before the fall of
our first parents. Satan is called the evil one
and the wicked one. And it was he who tempted our
first parents in the garden. In the garden before the fall,
we have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which they
were forbidden to eat. Now in the garden, God placed
a tree that was called the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Turn back to Genesis chapter two for a moment. Verse nine, and out of the ground
made the Lord to grow every tree that's pleasant to the sight.
and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Now that's
mysterious. I don't know what all that means,
but there it was. God had it there before the fall
of our parents. And look what he says in verse
16 of the same chapter. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely
eat, but 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." Now, God is in control of evil. Aren't you
happy about that? I sure am. God's in control of
evil. In Isaiah chapter 45 verse 5,
God is speaking to Cyrus. I'll read it. You can turn there
if you want. He said, I'm the Lord and there's none else. There's
no God beside me. I go to thee though thou has
not known me. that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there's none beside me.
I am the Lord and there's none else. I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Are you saying, I'm not saying
anything, I just read the Bible, the Lord God is in control of
evil. All of the evil acts of men are
according to his sovereign will. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. Well, he's in control of that too, because he controls
everything. He controls the thoughts that
are going through your mind right now. Whether they're right thoughts
or wrong thoughts, he's in control of them. Now, the story of Joseph
is a beautiful picture of that. Turn to Genesis 45 for just a
moment. You think of all the horrible
things that happened to Joseph. I mean, his brother sold him. He was accused after that of
a crime that he didn't commit. He was thrown into prison. I
mean, he had one bad thing happen to him after another. Now, this
is when he's going to make himself known to his brethren. When he's
the king of Egypt and you're going to get anything to eat,
you had to come to him for it. Then Joseph could not refrain himself
before all them that stood by him, and he cried, Cause every
man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians at the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph
said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren couldn't answer
him, for they were troubled at his presence. You think of how
the last time we saw him, we sold him as a slave. We got rid
of him. And they didn't know what he
was going to do. And Joseph said to his brethren, come near to
me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said,
I'm Joseph, your brethren, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you. to preserve life. Now what they
did, they did freely. They did what they wanted to
do. They hated their brother. They wanted to get rid of him.
They wanted him out of the picture. But God sent him there. Yes,
what they did was reprehensible, but God was in control of it
because God controls evil. He brings good out of evil. Only
God can do that. Me, you can't do that. But God
brings good out of evil. Now, therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath
the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years
in the which there shall neither be yearning nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God." Isn't that glorious? Look in chapter 50, verse 20. This is after Joseph has died
and they start getting nervous. They think, well, maybe that
now that our dad's gone, he's going to get us. Verse 17, So
shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee, now the trespass
of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto thee evil,
and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake
unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his
face, and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph
said unto them, Fear not, for I am the place of God. But as
for you, you thought evil against me. Everybody knows that. But
God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to
save much people alive. Now, what they did, they did
freely. They did what they wanted to
do. They did with malintent. and they did neither more nor
less than what God caused them to do. Now, I like it that way,
don't you? Evil is under God's thumb, and
nothing happens without Him. Turn with me to Luke chapter
22. I'm gonna look at a couple of
scriptures regarding this. You know, the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the great example of God's control of evil. I mean,
everything about it was evil, it was wicked, and yet the Lord
controlled it all. When he was talking about Judas,
look what he said in Luke chapter 22, verse 22. And truly the son of man goeth,
as it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom
he's betrayed. Judas did what he wanted to do.
He did it freely. but it was determined for him
to do it. Christ said he would do it before it ever took place. Look in Acts chapter two. These
are familiar scriptures, but I sure love them. Acts chapter
two. Verse 22, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know him being delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by
wicked hands of crucified and slain. Look in chapter four of
Acts. Verse 27, for of a truth against
thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. I just love that. Don't you? There is evil. And the Lord's
in control of every bit of it. There's nothing that happens
outside of His all-powerful, sovereign control. And we're
so happy about that. Men do what they want to do.
You do what you want to do. When you do something, it's not
because the devil made you do it. When I do something, I can't
say it's because the devil made me do it. No, we do what we want
to do. We act freely. But God is in
control over our free actions because He's sovereign. Now,
I can't intellectually grasp all that, but I believe it. I
don't need to intellectually grasp it. I just believe it.
God is God, and beside Him is none else. And if people come
up with objections to that, well, I'm sorry, it's still what the
scripture teaches. I form the light, I create darkness,
I make peace, I create evil, I the Lord do all these things. Now, God uses the evil to make known
who he is. If there were no such thing as
sin and evil, what would we know of God's holiness? we wouldn't
understand that concept. If there were no such thing as
sin and evil, what would we know of God's justice in punishing
sin? What would we know of God's absolute
power in controlling it all? What would we ever know of the
joy of forgiveness? What would we ever know of the
joy of grace? When the Lord gives you the grace
to see that you're like Job. We saw this morning in the Bible
study. Behold, that's what all Job was
leading to where he would say, behold, I am vile. When the Lord teaches you that
in the forgiveness of sins, the freeness of his grace, sweet. We would know nothing of this
if the Lord did not permit evil. Now go back to Genesis three
for a moment. Now the serpent verse one was
more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God
had made. And he said into the woman, yay. As God said, you
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Notice he modifies
what God said. God never said you shall not
eat of every tree of the garden, did he? He said of the tree of
the knowledge of the good and evil, you won't eat. So he modified
what God said. Verse two, and the woman said
unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden. No, he didn't say that. But of the fruit of the
tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it. lest you die. And I don't, we don't read anywhere
where God said, don't touch it. She added something to what God
said. God's word is so exact. May we never modify it. May we
never add to it. May we never subtract from it.
But this was the way he worked with the woman. And the serpent
said into the woman, you shall not surely die. It's not so. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you
shall be as God's knowing good and knowing evil. Now, I want
you to think of how plausible this argument was. He was saying
to Eve, right now, you don't know good and evil.
All you know is good. and therefore your goodness really
isn't all that good because you're not making a choice of the good
over the evil. God knows if you eat this fruit
that it'll make you know good and evil and you'll be making
a choice of good over evil and that's what will make you like
God. Really where you're at right now There's no moral virtue to
that, but if you eat of this fruit, that is what will make
you like God. Now that seems plausible. I can
see where it seems like it would be a better thing to be able
to choose a good over the evil. That sounds plausible. But let
me ask you this question. Is it true? Christ could not sin. There wasn't a choice for him
or he chose the good over the evil. He's holy. That's his nature. He simply obeyed his nature. Does that take away from his
moral virtue or his greatness or his holiness? Obviously not. So Satan was using a plausible,
but a wrong argument. Well, verse six, And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food. Now everybody here
likes stuff that tastes good. I do. This has to do with the
lust of the flesh. The pleasure of gratifying the
flesh. The lust of the flesh. This looked
like something that would taste good. It was very attractive.
And it was pleasant to the eyes. The lust of the eyes. That's what that represents.
The lust of the eyes. Remember John says all that's
of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life. It was pleasant to the eyes.
And a tree to be desired to make one wise. There's the pride of
life. I'll be just like God. That seems
like a noble ambition. Wouldn't you like to be just
like God? She took of the fruit thereof and did eat. And you
know, When she ate, nothing happened. Nothing happened. She didn't
fall. And I'm sure she came to Adam
and said, I ate of the fruit, nothing happened. You see, God
said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you'll surely die.
Adam is the representative. Adam is the one in whom our race
fell. It wasn't Eve, it was an Adam.
So, but she told Adam, I took the fruit. And you know, the
scripture also points out that Adam was not deceived, but Eve
was. And I don't even know what I think about this, but Adam
did what he did with his eyes wide open. He knew exactly what
he was doing. He knew he was sinning against
God when he did this. He knew he was going to surely
die. And some people say, and I like this as a type, some people
say he did this because he loved his wife so much that he was
willing to go down with her. Now that seems noble and I like
the thought of the Lord loving me so much he was willing to
go down with me. He became sin as the sinner's
substitute. That's a beautiful picture. But
do we say what Adam did was a good thing? Because it seems almost
noble that he said, I'm going to go down with his wife. Well,
sin's never a good thing. So you can't look at it as good.
Although you do see the typology there where Adam, if that's what
took place, Adam said, I'm going to go down with it. Well, that's
what the Lord did with us. And I'm so thankful for that. He said,
I'll, I'll go to hell for him. I'll go down with him, which
is an amazing thought. So you can see where Adam typifies
the gospel in that passage of scripture. But, um, he gave her
the fruit. She gave her husband the fruit,
he did eat, and thus we have the fall. And here's the results
of the fall. Look in Genesis chapter six, verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now there's evil. Every imagination
of the thoughts of my heart by nature is only evil continually. And the Lord teaches us to pray,
deliver us, save us, rescue us from evil. We're no match for
it. We're sure to be overcome by
it. If you don't deliver us, deliver us from evil. Now, some people that the definite
article is, is in there, deliver us from the evil. And some people
think this is a reference to deliver us from the evil one. And I'm sure that's a part of
it. I want delivered from Satan, don't you? I'm no match for him. He's the evil one. He's the tempter.
He can make my night look just like day. He can turn me inside
out. I don't want to have anything to do with the evil one. And I say what We're taught to
pray where the Lord said in Jude, when Michael was contending with
the devil, he wouldn't do it. He said, the Lord rebuked thee.
I'm not rebuking the devil. Lord deliver me from the evil
one, the wicked one. Do you remember how God brought
Job up to Satan? Satan didn't come asking for
permission to get Job. God said to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job? He was going to give him over
to the evil one for his own glorious purposes. I think of where the
Lord said to Peter, Peter, Satan has desired to have thee that
he may sift you as wheat and do not think that he doesn't
desire to have you. Satan has desired to have you. Satan desires to have me. That's who he is. He's the tempter.
And he is at work. Peter says, because of all the
experience he had with him, you'll remember when the Lord said to
Peter himself, get thee behind me, Satan. For thou savors not
the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter
said, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about
seeking whom he may devour. Now, we looked at this in the
preacher's class yesterday, and we were trying to talk about
what our demeanor ought to be in the pulpit, but would you
turn to 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2. This is what every believer's
demeanor ought to be. Verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, must not debate and fight and be argumentative, but
be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves. They oppose the message,
and in imposing the message, they oppose themselves. They're
their own worst enemies. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, a change of mind
to the acknowledging, the embracing of the truth, and that they may,
listen to this, recover themselves. Awake to their senses out of
the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will
Now when I read passages of scripture like that, you know what I say
Lord deliver me from from the evil one. I'm no match for him.
I can be taken by a snare. He's far too smart for me. He
can fool me, and I won't even know it. You know, he comes as
an angel of light, the scripture says, and his ministers, ministers
of righteousness. I'm no match for him. There's
only one who is a match for him, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love to think of Satan tempting him, and command that these stones
be made bread. It is written. He named and it
is written every time he dealt with Satan. It is written. Man
shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. Well, if you're the Son of God,
prove it to us. Give us our eyes something to see and jump off
the temple and prove it. It's written, thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God. I'm not going to try to test
God. I'm the son of God. I know it. I'm not going to tempt him.
It's written. Well, if you're if you're the son of God, bow
down and worship me. All these kingdoms I'll give
you. It is written. Worship the Lord God only. Him
only shalt thou serve. And I love the way the Lord said
this. He said Satan had come and have found nothing in He
found nothing he could grab onto. He found nothing he could...
Absolutely holy. And he defeated Satan. And I say, Lord, deliver me from
the evil one. And that's something we are to
pray. Don't be presumptuous. Don't think that's not gonna...
Deliver me. Deliver me from the evil one. But this means more than the
evil one. We live in an evil world. A world that we're commanded
to not love. Love not the world. Neither things
are in the world. A world that we're commanded
to not be a friend to. Whosoever is a friend of the
world, James said, is the enemy of God. This world that was made
by Him, and He was in it, and it knew Him not. It didn't recognize
Him. This world that Christ refused
to pray for. That's strong language, isn't
it? He said, I pray not for the world, but for them which you
have given Me. This world that Christ said,
I'm not of this world. And which Christ said to those
who did not believe, the world cannot hate you, but Me it hateth,
because I testify of it, that the deeds thereof are evil. He
said to his disciples, if you were of the world, the world
would love his own, but because you're not of the world, but
I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Now, we wouldn't have any trouble
with the world if we didn't have an evil nature that finds the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
the life desirable. Now this world, would love us
to adopt it. To adopt its maxims, its values,
its philosophy. It would like us to be part of
it in its opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you realize
that this world is in opposition to Christ? It has no love for
Christ at all. And it would love you and me
to be part of it. It doesn't care if we're an atheist.
It doesn't care if we're a hedonist. It doesn't care if we're controlled
by sinful passions. It doesn't care if we're a self-righteous
religionist. It wants us, and sad to say,
we have a sinful nature that is attracted to it. Now that's
just so. So we're taught to pray, deliver
us from this evil world in which we live. Do you pray that prayer? Lord, deliver me from this evil
world. I know I'm gonna be part of it.
I know I'll be sucked down into it if you don't deliver me from
this. Deliver us from evil. But do you know, The evil that
I fear most, this evil, this evil one. When the Lord said to his disciples,
and I'm thankful he said this, I'm thankful he said this, it
comforts me. When the Lord said to his disciples,
if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more shall your heavenly father give to
them, but ask him if you then being evil. Now, none of his
disciples, Do a double take at that. Why's he calling me that?
I'm saved. I mean, how could he call me evil if I'm saved?
If I've been saved by the grace of God, if I've been given a
new nature, how can you call me evil? But the Lord is speaking
to his disciples there, and it's in the context of him teaching
them how to pray. If you then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children. Turn to Romans 7 for just a moment.
I've quoted this. Paul said in verse 18, for I
know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing
for to will is present with me. You know, it's present with me.
I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. I would be just like Him. To will is present with me. I would never disbelieve Him
again. I would believe Him perfectly.
I would trust Him completely. I would never look to myself
for a thing. I would walk with Him in fellowship
and communion. To will is present with me. but how to perform that which
is good. Now notice what he says. He doesn't
say I mess up sometimes. He says in no unmistakable language,
He said, I find not. Aren't you thankful that Paul
talked that way? I mean, where would you be if he said, well,
sometimes I mess up. And you think, well, I mess up
all the time. It's scary, wouldn't it? But he said, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not.
That I do. Now, if I do that, which I would
not, it's no more I do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me,
I find in a law, a principle, that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. You know, in Psalms, the Psalms,
I love the Psalms. David, the man after God's own
heart, writing the Psalms, 54 times we read where David cried
for deliverance. And the Lord teaches us to pray
every day. This is something you ought to pray. We ought to
be saved and saying those words. The Lord said, when you pray,
say, well, what if I just say it mechanically? Well, don't
say it mechanically. Ask the Lord to give you grace to not
say it mechanically. I don't want to say a mechanical prayer.
I want to mean it from the depths of my heart, inspired by the
Holy Spirit. But the Lord said, when you pray, say deliverance
from evil. Psalm 39, verse 18, David said,
deliver me from all my transgressions. Psalm 40, verse 12, David said,
for innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're
more than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O Lord. Oh, be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. He said in Psalm 51, 12, deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God of my salvation. And my tongue
shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Now, when the Lord says, deliver
us from evil. Yeah, I want to be delivered
from Satan. I'm no match for him. I want to be delivered from
this present evil world. But I want to be delivered from
myself. Save me from myself. Save me from my own evil nature. Save me from doing the things
that I would do if you don't prevent it. Lord, save me from
myself. And the scripture that really
came to my mind when I thought about this thing is I thought
about where 2 Peter 3, 7 says that the Lord delivered just
Lot. He delivered just Lot. Now if we would have looked at
Lot, I'm not real sure we would have come up with that assessment
of him. He delivered just Lot. Lot's history was That of being
selfish, opportunistic, worldly, drunken, incestuous man who lingered
in Sodom and had to be pulled out by the angels. But yet God
calls him just. He talked about that righteous
man and even talked about his righteous soul. His righteous
soul. This was God's assessment of
this man. I don't know that we would have
assessed him that way. I was talking to somebody yesterday,
and they said, I wonder how we would handle it in our church,
the Dodge Road Grace Church, if somebody murdered somebody's,
or somebody committed adultery with somebody else's wife and
then murdered their husband. That'd be, oh, may the Lord deliver
us from anything like that happening, but it happened with David. And
I'm sure at that time, people said quite a few things about
David. I mean, can you imagine what all was said about him?
Just Lot, just Lot. Now, was Lot really righteous? Was he really just? Yes, he was. God said he was. And that's the
real lot. The other stuff's just the sin
that dwells in him. Now, here's the deliverance I
need. I need a deliverance. When I pray, deliver me from
evil, I need a deliverance that will make me just like the Lord
Jesus Christ, altogether just, altogether righteous, without
sin. That's the deliverance I need.
And I cry out, Lord, deliver me from evil. You know, Paul said he will deliver
me from every evil work. And here's why. Romans 11 says
there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them when I shall take away their sins. Oh, my deliverer. I love
the way he's called the Deliverer. The Deliverer will come. He'll
turn away ungodliness from Jacob. He'll take away their sins. Now that's the deliverance I
need. I need deliverance from Satan. I need deliverance from
this evil world, but most especially, Lord, save me from myself. Save me from my own wrong thoughts,
my wrong attitudes, my selfishness, the wrong way that I know I'll
go if you don't prevent it. Lord, save me from myself. Now isn't this a glorious thing
for us to be praying on a continual basis every day? Saying this,
Lord, deliver me from evil and he will do it. Let's, I've been
talking, let me close by looking at 2 Peter. Would you turn with
me there? Verse 7. He delivered just Lot,
justified Lot. vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked for that righteous man. This is the deliverance
I need. Something will make me a righteous man. Dwelling among
them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under the
day of judgment to be punished. Now, that's the deliverance I
need. Same kind of deliverance Lot
had. And I know every believer feels the same way. I don't have
to convince a believer of that. Lord, deliver me from evil. Let's pray. Lord,