Lead us not into Temptation
August 28, 2005
Jacob Miles*
*Not his real name. Name changed for security reasons.
Text.
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'
T. S. Eliot
The world turns and changes,
But one thing does not change.
In all of my years, one thing does not change,
However you disguise it, this thing does not change:
The struggle between good and evil causes many to struggle with God.
The question that is asked by thinking people is God all-powerful and is the good and if he is where is in this evil world? Why is there evil in this world?
Noble people wonder why a day after Christmas tsunami that killed innocent children and how God to tolerate this natural evil.
But that is not my struggle -- I am not so noble.
Some struggle with moral evil. The moral evil that affects entire societies. They wonder where God is when Stalin is reigning in terror.
That is not my struggle.
My struggle is more personal. Mine is less noble and more perplexing. Where is God when I am tempted?
Why do I sin and hurt others that I love?
RC Sproul said it well “When we sin we not only commit treason against God that we do violence to each other. Sin violates people. There is nothing abstract about it.”
I also struggle with God's presence when someone else sins, or beats on me and only produces in me a temptation to lash back.
Whether it is my sin hurting others were theirs hurting me, it is all pain inflicting -- how can this be -- how can this be good – Where is God?
In the Bible the future kingdom allows for none of that, and here we are in the midst of a struggle between good and evil. Where is God?
More importantly, I need to know how God is good in all of this.
Is he doing something about the problem of evil and temptation in the world in the flesh, and the devil?
I find the Christian explanation of the origin of evil and the destruction of evil to be satisfying. But the in between is my issue. We are stuck in that time described appropriately by Augustine's. As a time, where sin is the punishment for Sin.
One of the most powerful stories I have ever heard on the nature of the human heart is told by Malcolm Muggeridge, who at the time claimed to be a christian. Working as a journalist in India, he left his residence one evening to go to a nearby river for a swim. As he entered the water, across the river he saw an Indian woman from the nearby village who had come to have her bath. Muggeridge impulsively felt the allurement of the moment, and temptation stormed into his mind. He had lived with this kind of struggle for years but had somehow fought off in honor of his commitment to his wife, Kitty. On this occasion, however, he wondered if he could cross the line of marital fidelity. He struggled just for moment and then swam furiously toward the woman, literally trying to outdistance his conscience. His mind fed him the fantasy that stolen waters would be sweet, and he swam the harder for it.
Many here this morning, relate more to Malcolm Muggeridge, then to the words prayed by Jesus Christ. For many there is a greater entrapment by sin and temptation that there is an allurement to do what is right. I want to know that God has committed himself to delivering ME from sin and temptation and the clutches of the evil one. I want to know that God has committed himself to delivering US from sin and temptation and the clutches of the evil one. One of us , experiencing God's strength does not help all of us. Even if one person can walk like Jesus does not mean that all of us benefit because the rest of us will batter and bruise each other.
Those trusting in Christ, are saved from their sin in the ultimate sense of the word, but what about temptation and our vulnerability to the evil?
Many times we feel like we are constantly attacked in the battle against the world the flesh and the devil. We feel like we are in the Frank and Ernest cartoon where the two characters are standing before Priest and Frank asks, how come opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats at my door every day?
Into a world with devils filled- into a world with weak-willed people, Jesus prays a radical prayer showing us a God that is FOR US.
From this prayer of Jesus, we see God has tilted the playing field. It is as if we're playing a game of rugby were all you have to is get the ball across the goal and God has tilted the playing field in our favor, so that the ball can just roll over the goal line.
To see how much God is truly for us, we must understand, who does the tempting , and what the tempting is.
The Bible is preoccupied with good and evil and the need for people to choose between them, and so it is no surprise that the temptation theme looms large. The routine meaning of temptation is that it tests a person, with the persons response determining his or her identity.
Here the test referred to is called tempting because it is designed to destroy. In other areas of scripture we see God tests in order to strengthen us and ultimately to reveal our true identity.
The first part of the sixth petition is strange. This is the final petition of the prayer and it says, “ and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” At first sight this is a very strange request. Why should we ask God, not to lead us into temptation? Couldn't we take that for granted? To ask God to keep us out of temptation would be more understandable; but to ask that he lead us not into it is difficult.
The explanation of this puzzling phrase is simpler than you might think. D. A Carson proposes that this is a litotes, a figure of speech, which expresses something by negating the contrary.
For example, He is not a bad singer, means he is in fact a good singer.
Or “not a few” means “many”; by negating a few we have produced this litotes.
In John 6:37, Jesus says, “all that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never driveway. Many people think that latter clause is a litotes meaning, “I will certainly receive all who come to me.”
In fact, this is an even stronger litotes than that. As the succeeding versus clearly shows, it means I will certainly keep in all who come to me. Thus, by negating “drive away,” a forceful and somewhat ironic expression for “keep in” is generated.
It appears that “lead us not into temptation” is a litotes akin to those examples. “Into temptation” is negated: Lead us not into temptation, but away from it, into righteousness, into situations where, far from being tempted, we will be protected and therefore kept righteous, and then we will be kept or delivered from the evil one.
So we can conclude, consistent with other passages of Scripture that God does not tempt us. Also consistent with Scripture we find that God does test us. So the “ who” that does the tempting is the devil.
What then is temptation? It is extreme testing to destroy our true identity.
Who does the tempting? The evil one. Satan.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'
So then what does God's Word say about God?
From our discussion so far , we see that he leads us away from evil, toward righteousness and now He delivers us or Snatches us from the evil one. The word for snatch is the very strong, even a violent word for rescue or seize. It suggests that the evil one is constantly luring us towards his mines and pits and that only the father's constant and more powerful snatching, and seizing, and rescuing can free us from destruction.
But what motivates God towards us? Why is He so inclined to help us? The prayer itself gives three powerful answers to that question.
I. God delivers us from evil and the evil one because it is his purpose.
We must understand that God's main purpose is to be our father. God has established himself as our father through adoption and he confirms his position as father by delivering us from destructive evil.
Illustration:
What did God do in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to establish the fact that God is for him, that Jesus is in fact his son? In Matthew after Jesus comes out of the water we see God affirming Him as his son.
Matthew 3:17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
1. Matthew Chapter 4: 1- 11 records the temptation of Jesus. This is a passage with several unique features, and one of them being that the narrative must have come from the lips of Jesus himself. Apparently, no one was with him during this long Fasting and temptation. The intensity of the conflict, he experienced must have been shared with disciples after the event. Since that is so, the summary statement with which Matthews account begins, should be understood as Jesus’ own interpretation of what happened: he was led by the spirit into the desert be tempted by the devil. The devil tempted him. But even in that context, Jesus was led by God’s spirit.
Two things are noteworthy for us;
1. Jesus was Tested or tempted thoroughly. The temptation was specifically designed for his destruction. He was delivered. He was not lifted out of it. In the end he commanded Satan to be gone. Through this tempting, Jesus’ identity was again revealed. Now, throughout the sermon on the Mount and this prayer Jesus repeatedly calls God, his father. The identity of Jesus being the son of God was affirmed by the father delivering him from the temptation.
Now in our prayer, Jesus desires us to be delivered or snatched out of such an experience.
2. God’s deliverance of Jesus was grounded in the revealed truths of God, and facilitated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was quoting scripture. God's provision for us is the same Scripture Jesus had. Jesus did not unload on Satan from other truth he possessed, but with the truth we have access to currently.
Now in our passage Is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Jesus is teaching us here to pray that we will be protected from such an experience. Furthermore his temptation was but the forerunner of the greater temptation to come.
In Luke 4:13
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Now later in Luke 22:53
Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns." .
Just as baptism in the Jordan River foreshadowed his baptism in blood on the cross, so his tempting in the wilderness was the forerunner of the terrible temptation he would face in Gethsemane and on Calvary.
Even so in all the temptations God the father was delivering his own son from evil and the evil one, because he was his son. God's purpose is to care for us as his own children and protect us from the temptations of the evil one. This is his way of cementing his relationship to us.
Illustration
I have a daughter that is 21 months old, and she still takes a Bottle at night. You may ask why does she do that?
It is because we missed the first 13 months of her life. She was not around us. We want to bond with her in our social worker said that it would be a good way to make up for the 13 lost months. Every night, she has the opportunity to see my face, hear me sing songs to her, and have me tuck her in. All of that creates a sense of belonging and her. It creates an atmosphere of security and protection.
Since God is a good father he is desire is to cement our adoption and are belonging to his family by delivering us from destructive evil. Because he is a righteous God , he wants to foster righteousness in us.
2. His purpose is destroyed his enemy. He desires to destroy the enemy that profanes his name. Satan will be destroyed.
I John 3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work
In Revelation 20:10-The devil will be destroyed forever.
God also begins establishing a greater degree of his name being hallowed throughout this world. As he accomplishes this 6th petition of the prayer. He also accomplishes the very first petition in the prayer. In essence, God's is again assuring us of Satan's end. It is only appropriate that there would be a progressive muzzling of his enemy and our enemy.
So God has a particular purpose for us, and his purpose is to establish himself as our father, and he does that by confirming his fatherhood and that is to deliver us from this is sure to evil that is around us. He also does that in destroying the enemy, Satan's end is confirmed. So God's purposes are established.
II. Secondly , God delivers us from Satan and evil because he has a plan.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
How does God do this.
1. God is establishing a Kingdom---NOW. His kingdom is both now and in the future. God is creating for us a future.
In the second half of the Lord's prayer, we see,
the petition for bread was a prayer for the present,
the petition for forgiveness , a prayer for the removal of the bad past,
and now the prayer for leading is a prayer for a good future.
The good future is that God is building a kingdom characterized by righteous subjects.
I want my future to be like the past were I sinned had hurt those around me and the needed forgiveness again and again. Our text is about a God that does delivers us from that future into one where we are being sanctified.
BUT I DON”T FEEL LIKE A RIGHTEOUS SUBJECT OF THE KING.
I AM NOT THE PERFECT CHILD!
God may have a plan, but Satan also has a plan!! How are we to respond?
Illustration
This is an old Jewish folktale.
Once a rabbi decided to test the honesty of his disciples, so he called them together posed a question.
“What would you do , if you were walking along and found a purse full of money lying in the road?” He asked.
“I'd return it to its owner,” said one disciple.
“The answer comes so quickly, I must wonder if he really means it.” The rabbi thought.
“I’d keep the money if nobody saw me find it,” said another.
“He has a frank tongue, but a wicked heart,” the rabbi told himself.
“Well, rabbi,” said a third disciple, “to be honest, I believe I'd be tempted to keep it. So I would pray to God that he give me the strength to resist such temptation and do the right thing.”
“Aha!” Thought the rabbi, “Here is the man I would trust.”
We are to pray that we will be delivered from the evil one now, and kept from the test of his full onslaught against our lives; that we will either be protected from such terrible testing, or, should we be faced with it in the providence of God, that we will be protected in it with the armor of God. Ephesians 6:10-20.
Scripture describes both of these elements of testing with great vividness. It reminds us that we are exposed to the influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We can deal with the flesh by God's grace, or with the world and its allurements, and even with the devil in the strength of Christ. But the ultimate test confronts us when all three conspire together.
Who is able to stand when indwelling sin is incited by the temptations of the world and the worldly people, and stirred up by the activity of Satan, either spurring us on to sin or hiding its dire consequences from us? This is the evil day of which Paul spoke, for which we need the full armor of God, if we' are to remain standing. That evil day is itself a shadow of the great last Battle of the kingdom of God, the ultimate, eschatological evil day, from which we pray to be spared. We will be spared. That is what the subjects of the king experience—The King’s deliverance.
Wesley describes my previously sinful state.
And reminds me of the beginning of God’s kingdom work in my life.
Long my imprison spirit lay.
Fastbound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye defused the quickening ray.
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Before the King first delivered me I was a tempted defeated, slave to sin.
2. God is redeeming a people to himself---In the process of sanctifying them and conforming them to his will.
Isaiah 44:22 (Show me Isaiah
44)
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
Tempting us is contrary to his nature and plan.
Testing us is consistent with fathering to strengthen us. Again, it reveals our identity as his children, and his subjects in his kingdom, and his redeemed in the process of sanctification.
13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
II Peter 2:9a then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,
A comment from C. S. Lewis on temptation:
A silly idea is current, that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--- the only complete realist.
So we know that God has a purpose and we also find out that he has a plan.
III. Next we find out, that God Leads and delivers us from Satan and evil because it brings him pleasure.
His desire is to show as his name, his kingdom, his will, his provision in our daily bread, his forgiveness and his deliverance from sin. All of this is so that we live for who we were made for. We were made for God , and for infinite pleasure.
Psalm 84:10
Better
is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
How often do we settle for something or someone less?
In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire, which is both sudden and fierce.... It makes no difference whether it sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money, or finally, that strange desire for the beauty of the world, of nature. Joy in God is… extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
RC Sproul-I've committed many sins in my life. Not one of my sins has ever made me happy.... But my sins have brought me pleasure.
2. His pleasure is to create a people who delight and find pleasure in him.
I love the idea that has been propagated by John Pieper. He says in many of his books." Here is the rock solid foundation of Christian hedonism: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. This is the best news and the world. God's passion be glorified and my passion to be satisfied are not at odds.
God is the rightful best self promoter, and when we get excited about him, than we are most fulfilled.
C. S. Lewis's book, The Weight of Glory
In it he shows us that we are tempted by lesser things.
There lurks in most modern times the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant, and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desire is not to strong, but too week. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling around about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
The pleasure of God is for us to find in him great satisfaction. Great pleasure and delight in God is what we long for, it is what we are made for.
Remember Malcolm Muggeridge, swimming towards the Indian woman?
Now he was just two or 3 feet away from her, and as he emerged from the water, any emotion that may have gripped him paled into insignificance when compared the devastation that shattered him as he looked at her. “She was old and hideous... and her skin was wrinkled, and, worst of all, she was a leper... This creature grinned at me, showing a toothless mask.” The experience left Muggeridge trembling and muttering under his breath, “what a dirty lecherous woman!” But then the rude shock of it dawned upon him -- it was not the woman who was lecherous; it was his own heart.
Summary
God takes us our lecherous hearts and all and leads us away from temptation and snatches us from the evil one to fulfill his purposes, his plans and his pleasure-------So that we can fully live as his children with father on our lips. Spoke in--a holy fashion; members of his kingdom redeemed from our former slave master -- sin; increasing in doing his will -- making here like heaven, all because he made us to delight, take pleasure in him. How humbling it is to have a God like our God. A rescuing, snatching God, a delivering God.