"Lead Us Not into Temptation"

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Matthew 6:13

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Well this morning as we continue on in Matthew chapter 6, we are beginning the sixth petition
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So we are toward the end of the Lord's Prayer Of course when we began the
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Lord's Prayer We saw the first three petitions were all related directly to God praying for God's renowned
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God's glory God's kingdom reign God's will to be done on earth as it's done in heaven and then
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The latter four petitions of the Lord's Prayer are related to the needs of the disciple we see
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God teaching us how we ought to ask for forgiveness how we need our daily bread from his hand and This morning as we look at the sixth petition
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We see here in verse 13 a desire for God to lead us and even as he leads us to deliver us
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And so we look at verse 13 lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil.
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We're going to treat this all together This morning there are some that divide these two into a sixth and seventh petition
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But I actually think they belong together lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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I think that's right. You have a Coordinate clause here at the end and I hope you'll see how these things fit together.
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They do go hand in hand We're gonna look at this simply in two parts.
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First. We'll just look at the first part of verse 13 Lead us not into temptation. That is the prayer
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Then we'll look secondly at but deliver us from evil. So that's all we're seeking to do
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Together this morning. So let's begin there lead us not into temptation the first thing
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I would point out is it's very important to understand the word temptation is A is a translators decision
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It can be understood and should be understood that there's other layers to that word
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There's other ways that the same word is translated differently in Scripture and even where you have the same word if we're talking about God or we're talking about say
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Satan the evil one There's a different connotation. We mean something about temptation.
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That's slightly different So the word temptation has this twofold significance in Scripture When it is said that God tempts for example,
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Genesis 22 Verse 1 we read that God tempted Abraham We should not understand that as though God is trying to get
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Abraham to sin. God is interested in Abraham Stumbling. He's he's somehow the tempter or the author of sin
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Absolutely, not scripture is crystal clear. This is not true. It rather means that he tried him
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He put Abraham to the test you could say again not to trip him up but rather to prove him
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To prove the very work of God's grace in Abraham's life He was seeking to prove the faith of Abraham the faith
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That was a gift that God gave to Abraham when he called him in Genesis 12 And so we read
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God tempted Abraham a proper translation there would be God tested Abraham or tried
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Abraham same word we also read for example when
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Jesus was Thrown into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. We read there that Satan tempted him in the wilderness
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Now there Satan's not trying to prove Faith he's trying to bring about the downfall of the
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Son of God. He's tempting him He's seeking to ensnare him and drag him away again.
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Same word. So God does not tempt us But he does try us.
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He never puts sin before us as some sort of lure but he does allow us to enter into temptation as a test a
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Test that will lead us to humility Dependence upon him to understand more and more his wisdom his power his better More perfect design for our life.
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Satan is the one who tempts us to sin God is the one who tests us to righteousness
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Satan wants to destroy us. God wants to strengthen us and refine us and to increase our faith
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So it's really important we lay down that difference By the way This is very clear when you turn to the letter of James James is writing in a very intricate way
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Many commentators point out James is really relying not so much on a form of a letter as wisdom literature
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He's writing in a very unique style and he starts beginning to play with the fact that this one word can be understood in these
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Two ways he recognizes the fact that this word has a twofold significance as well
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So when you very when you begin the very first chapter of James, he says count it all joy when you face various trials
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Then he says in verse 12 blessed is the man who endures Temptation it's the same word
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The trials mean something very different to us than temptations, but it's the same word and James is interacting with that There's something about a temptation that is a trial when it comes from God's hand.
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It's it's a test But there's something about a test from God's hand. That is very much a temptation from the evil one
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And and we should understand that this twofold significance is here in verse 13 lead us not into temptation
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In other words, you're you're going to test us You're going to bring us to a time of testing but don't allow the evil one to ensnare us
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Lead us not into that kind of temptation But rather Providentially steer us away and where you've led us into that time of trial that place of testing deliver us from evil
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You see how these two things are held together now temptation, of course in the context of James is
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Described as that which comes about from our own evil desire We should not think of ourselves as hapless victims to the evil one
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There is real satanic agency at work in the world There are as Paul the
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Apostle says powers principalities. There was a prince of the power of the air we if anything err on the side of sort of denigrating or perhaps
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Sliding the influence and the agency of evil in our world Because we can measure things under microscopes and send satellites into orbit
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We think somehow it's sort of just us bags of flesh and bone and there is no actually
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There's no actual spiritual dynamics at play that's that's completely unbiblical There's an evil one who's seeking to work out his evil will in this world
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He has real power. He has real agency It's a rival kingdom and God has enthroned his king to rule and bring his enemies beneath his footstool
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But we shouldn't think of ourselves as somehow innocent hapless puppy dog victims to Satan's devices
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James says that in fact sin is born out of our own evil desires It's in response, of course to the temptations around us scripture talks about the world and our flesh and the devil
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It's all of these things together. Not one over against the other And so where does temptation arise if we are to pray lead us not into temptation?
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Well, where does temptation arise James 1 14 15 each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires
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Where does temptation begin? Don't think of the devil in some red
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Halloween mask Don't think of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other James has said it's your own evil desires
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That's where temptation begins to sprout Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed
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And now it's like this death cycle it's not a birth cycle giving way to life It's a death cycle giving way to death
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Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desire and what does desire bring about desire brings about?
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Conception and when desire has conceived what happens after conception it gives birth it gives birth to what it gives birth to sin and Sin when it is full -grown brings forth death.
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That's the death cycle Where does the death cycle begin? It begins with our own desires
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Being ensnared and led away by our own desires This is what
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James would have us understand when we pray lead us not in temptation Don't just deliver me from the world and the devil deliver me from my flesh as Paul would say who will deliver me from this body of death
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I don't want to be in this death cycle and he give thanks to Christ Jesus his Lord So so of course, there's this important understanding of the way that James is speaking of temptation
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But he also recognizes temptation trial temptation testing. This is all part of the same language
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So if you go back a verse to verse 13, he says this let no one say when he is tempted
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I am tempted by God God cannot be tempted by evil. He himself does not tempt anyone
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That's why it's really important. You understand this difference God is not tempting
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Abraham. He's trying him He's proving his faith So no one can say
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God is tempting me God's putting me to the test you hear of some some renowned preacher that had a spectacular moral failure and his whole ministry collapsed and If he's not moved to repentance in that state of hardened and blinded sin, he ends up blaming
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God I've seen this a number of times over the years well,
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I prayed for God to deliver me and I Sought him constantly to help me and he just never did it's like Oh God is to blame
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If you read James 1 13 God doesn't tempt anyone The fact that God does not tempt us does not mean that our temptations though are somehow outside of his control
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Again, that's just what hope that's just what is holding together verse 13 lead us not in temptation
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You have the power of where you're leading us. But even if you lead us into that place of testing and trial deliver us from evil
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It's exactly what James is keying eat in on the fact that God does not tempt us does not mean that our temptations are somehow
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Outside of his control. God is sovereign all over all affairs of this life And that includes every temptation to sin
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Some of you are sitting in this room and you in your testimony is when I came to faith When I first believed in the gospel
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The Lord delivered me miraculously from something that I was in bondage to and ever since that day
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I've never struggled with it again and some are sitting in this room and they're saying I Am continuing to battle against this tendency
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The sin that I I've had times of victory and then I've had seasons of loss and it just seems like I'm at constant war with this and God is sovereign over both of those things
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It's not as though God is in control and has moved for the one that has found that Immediate deliverance, but he somehow has a shortened hand and he's not in control over the one who's really struggling
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According to his perfect wisdom He's working things out in the lives of his people to bring about and conform them to the image of Christ Some of the ways he does that is by delivering us and freeing us sometimes the way he does that is by testing us and refining us by making us cling to the cross as We shudder to see our own failures and we have to rehearse and reenact the gospel again and again and again
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This is how God moves in the lives of his people One thing that God says to us all is our temptation is not stronger than he is
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It will often feel as though we're tempted beyond what we're able to bear But we have to take a step back and remember why are we being tempted in the first place?
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Why is this the struggle of the Christian life? It was Thomas Watson who said so well
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Satan does not tempt God's children because they have sin in them But because they have grace in them
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Satan's not gonna waste any of his time on people that are already held captive to his influence
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If there's no grace to be found in people as they Rush headlong into destruction as they embrace these this adulterous generation.
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Satan's not gonna be wasting any time with them There's no temptations to be given to them. They're already captured already ensnared
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And so Thomas Watson sees the the struggling discouraged Christian sometime my temptations wash over me and I'm not finding the deliverance and the freedom and the liberty that I want and and his
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Pastoral counsel as well. Listen, the only reason being you're being tempted in that way is because of God's grace in your life
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If you had no grace the devil would never disturb you And so he says this to be tempted as a trouble, but when you think why you're tempted
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It's a comfort It's a comfort I Remember years ago.
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You remember some of us in this room remember those great glorious days When Christian book distributors in Peabody, Massachusetts would have their annual warehouse sale
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I remember before I really knew any of you running into some of you in the long line heading into that warehouse and Of course, they'd have coffee and doughnuts and one of those mornings
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You know, the Sun was just coming over the horizon and I have my long laundry list of all the books I'm hoping
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I can find and Alicia's humoring me and this is ridiculous and we're kind of sitting on the curb waiting to have the doors open and these these three ladies walk by and The lady in front goes.
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Well, you know who that is The lady got and the lady behind her goes. Mm -hmm the devil and the lady behind her goes not today
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Satan and it's just like Alright Yeah, this is like they get it.
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I'm surrounded by temptation. I'm a child of God, you know Nice try Satan not today that they understood
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There's something now about belonging to the Lord that paints a target on my back and it's not because God has lost control
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It's not the yin and yang of the satanic struggle versus the divine struggle far from it
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It's God who controls all things guiding his people and he guides his people through the snares of the tenter
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To be unaware of this is essentially to clothe yourself in bacon and lay down in front of the prowling lion
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He seeks around Prowling looking for whom he may devour
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I've watched enough nature documentaries to know when the lion is stalking the herd.
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He's waiting for the gazelle to turn away He's waiting for the wildebeest to not notice him
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We become prey when we become ignorant to his devices. That's why scripture says don't be ignorant to his devices
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Recognize the spiritual struggle for what it is That's why his disciples pray this daily prayer
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Lead me not into temptation deliver me from evil. This is
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God's plan and purpose. He uses Satan's temptations as a means of testing us for the purpose of strengthening us and Sometimes that strengthening actually begins to look like weakening.
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I thought I had this all worked out. I thought I was past all this How could I struggle with this again?
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I'm so humiliated I'm so distraught Christian that is
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God preparing to strengthen you Bringing you low So that in that place of humiliation and repentance
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You can seek his refreshing grace and be restored And this is why we also pray not just lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil another
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Interesting twist with this verse it's debated whether this should be understood as deliver us from evil or deliver us from the evil one
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That is from Satan In Greek you have it's an inflected language and nouns take on a grammatical gender
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And so the the masculine and the neuter forms are identical The masculine would be deliver us from the evil one implying
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Satan the neuter would be deliver us from evil evil things Now there's a lot of debate over church history about how to understand this.
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I I Think sometimes the fact that it's ambiguous is part of the point I don't think we can truly disconnect evil things from the evil one fully and finally
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Redemption comes as far as the curse is found The evil cannot be and even evil understood as harmful things cannot be so utterly
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Disconnected from the evil one and the effects of sin when we're praying for deliverance from Satan It's with this understanding that we're praying for all the effects of evil that he ushered in by causing the first Adam to fall and that Includes not just the evil he would bring about but even all the harmful conditions of life
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Afflictions and disease all the things that harm us financial loss bodily pain These are the things that Satan wants to do when he goes to ensnare
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Job and ruin him. What does he do? He brings all sorts of bodily financial woe upon him
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It's all part of the same evil at work So on the one hand
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Jesus prays in John 17 15 I pray not father that you take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one
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That's that's a very important parallel to this Understanding of the Lord's Prayer don't take them out of the world
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Just take them out of the clutches of the evil one That's the other side of the high priestly prayer where we pray lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil
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We're asking the same thing another parallel would be 2nd. Timothy 4 at 17
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I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord will deliver me from every evil work
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Again here. It's it's not Satan. It's just evil things evil works, but they're not so utterly disconnected
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From Satan even the mouth of the lion somehow Belongs to the prowling lion looking to devour
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Remember that it's Satan who Jesus says sit seeks to sift his followers like wheat
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Jesus seemed to be keenly aware of that prowling lion throughout his ministry keenly aware of his desires to Tempt and ensnare his followers.
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It's why he's teaching his disciples here to pray lead us not into temptation But deliver us from the evil one deliver us from all evil
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So with these words we see the reality of an evil that lies behind temptation
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Even though God in his wisdom allows it as a time of trial and we're to seek within that God's providential deliverance
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Deliver us Lord Again this is the need of the disciple, but we're praying it to the
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Lord. This is something only the Lord can do You're the one who's leading you're the one who can both prevent and bring us into trial and you're the only one that can deliver us
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That's what's contained in verse 13 When we pray this prayer we pray for deliverance from evil without us that is all around us
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We also pray for deliverance from evil within us Sometimes the Christians prayer is deliver me from myself because I've read
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James 1 Deliver me from myself Deliver me from this body of death deliver me from my desires
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But there is something to say about evil without and evil within this is all part of this clause I was reading this week
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Octavius Winslow. I've mentioned in the weeks past and this is something he pointed out I thought he had a really good image of Evil without the opposition that Christians face
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Not just the flesh not just the devil but just the world around us evil without And he says it's like this the believer is
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Like an individual who's thrown off their allegiance to a worldly King, right?
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He's a subject in a kingdom. He's lived there his whole life and all of a sudden he says I no longer am loyal I no longer have allegiance to this
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King and he disowns the kingdom and he refuses to obey its ways and He dwells in that very land that he has renounced and he lives close to that ruler that he has rejected
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And he says that that's basically the Christian life He Says this the grace of God has called us out of the world, but the providence of God has sent us into it
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Here we are we say we renounce all ties of allegiance we're no longer going to walk in your ways
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We're not gonna run in the same flood of dissipation. We pay no honors or homage to you
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We have a new king and a new loyalty and a new allegiance now How's that actually gonna play out over time? Of course, there's nothing but hostility to follow that hatred from the world.
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Jesus says You're not of the world That's why the world hates you and when we say the world hates you and we see the satanic agency behind that again
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We shouldn't think of the devil as some spooky, you know Halloween iteration of the demonic
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He masquerades himself in light Satanic agency puts on a white lab coat satanic agency pushes buttons in an administrative building
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We need to think very differently about evil, it's what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil
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We remember the words of the Lord and we we live in the midst of authorities and powers that resent us and oppose us not because of us but because of the allegiance that we have the
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God that we serve and That means like we've been praying for Christians in Syria or Nigeria or the
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Philippines or wherever persecution breaks out What are they praying in a way that we're just? Almost getting our fingers around they're praying from the heart deliver us from the evil one
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Deliver us from evil agents at work in his rival kingdom to leave us from deliver us from evil designs from neighbors and men and women and governors
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Yesterday was the 250th anniversary yet at Lexington and Concord I found it a touch ironic that our governor was there to talk about our need to protect our liberties and defend them when
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She's one of the most active governors in the country removing our liberties I think if you really had the minute men behind you that things would look very differently at that podium
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We pray for deliverance It's not our lot to lead.
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It's our lot to be led God sees fit to take us into trial and therefore people often cry deliver me
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We pray for deliverance still It's why those very minute men made their appeal to heaven
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We can't we can't this is above us. We can't deliver ourselves Our appeal is to heaven.
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We can't do this. I Was watching some of the live stream of that event coverage the only
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References to God were the reenacted references to God From the mouth of the
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Lexington preacher Jonas Clark or whatnot, wouldn't it be nice? But it didn't have to be a historical reenactment to show fear and honor to God and realize that all deliverance comes from his hand
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That's the evil without what about the evil within I? mentioned John brought us in quickly becoming one of my favorite commentators from the 19th century and he says
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The prayer is that God will not bring us into temptation or trial. That's a good translation.
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He's not just lead It's bring bring us into temptation or trial. Why why is that the
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Christians prayer? Why should that be the disciples prayer because we're afraid that we won't be able to endure it
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And that's why quickly following that don't mean don't leave me here Lord, I'm too weak
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Don't bring me into a place of trial. I'm afraid I'll fail Lord. Don't test me. I don't know if I'll come through That's why the second clause has to be so deliver me
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He uses this example. He says there was an advertisement a man was seeking a coachman right someone to drive his his carriage through the streets and Three applicants came and so he asked each one
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How near will you run my carriage wheel to the edge of a precipice in other words like, you know
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You know, there's a there's a drop -off on the route that I want you to take how close to that drop -off
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Are you gonna get it? And they think oh you're wondering about our skill as drivers the first guy feeling pretty good about himself.
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He says I Can drive within a foot of it? Second guy feeling even better.
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I will drive within six inches of that drop -off the third guy Said I'm gonna stay as far away as I can
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And that's the guy that got the job. I Don't I'm not trying to prove your driving ability.
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I want you to stay a far away from a drop -off as you can I don't want to crash That's essentially what we're doing
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Lord. Don't bring me into a temptation. I don't want to fail Don't take me into a time of testing
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Lord. I don't know if I'll be able to make it through We realize what
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Paul says if you think you're standing beware lest you fall It's just this prayer in other words
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Lord. I don't know if I'll be able to stand Without trial and temptation.
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I'm barely making it through the Christian life. Please don't lead me into it, but he does
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And with this prayer we know that he will deliver because as 2nd Peter 2 9 says the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations
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So we pray on the one hand Lord Don't lead me into temptation. I'm too weak to endure it and then we're reminded
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Yes, but the Lord also knows how to lead you out of it He knows how to deliver you out of temptation if he leads you into it.
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He will deliver you out of it Becomes that the fear becomes the very hope of the
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Christian life Of course a godly person is not always in a in a state of mind to pray this way
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Over the years I've noticed my tendency is to manicure my prayers very carefully
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When I was a young Christian, I used to pray God Strengthen my faith and give me endurance and perseverance and now
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I'm an older Christian I know how he answers that prayer and I'm like, I'm okay with this But I have to remember what
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Peter's saying The Lord knows how to deliver It's a terrifying thing
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To be in in the in the streets of Persia and See droves of people drop their knees to the satrap passing by And you and your buddies are going are we doing this are we really doing this we're gonna do this
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To get hauled into the furnace, but the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations
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Again we're not always in the frame of mind to pray this way Part of that is because we have to turn within ourselves before we pray it.
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We have to examine ourselves Am I am I meaningfully sincerely praying
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Lord? Keep me from temptation when I'm actually giving myself over to it It means we have to examine our hearts and say
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Lord. Am I actually holding on to a sin? I don't want to let go of and So what ought to be a heartfelt prayer more of a cry than anything actually becomes a sort of a token prayer
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Lord help me even though I have no intention of letting go Lord deliver me even though I'm actually going into it further
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This is part of the problem We we won't know the Lord's deliverance if we haven't come to him in this way if we're not forsaking our sin
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If we're not actively seeking to resist it if it's holding us captive holding sway in our lives
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Then we'll have no sense. No desire to approach God with these words because these words would condemn us
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I've never prayed for deliverance from the sin that I'm presently enjoying I've sometimes half -heartedly prayed for deliverance when the sin begins to reap consequences in my life, and I never pray for deliverance like when the
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Lord brings me to a fresh view of the old rugged cross and Then from a sincere heart
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I say Lord deliver me from my sins Even though we have little strength against temptation.
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We often feel from experience that we may fall into it again When we pray this prayer with a real desire to be freed and to be delivered to be led away from the things that so easily ensnare us
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We'll find that the Lord will answer the Lord will provide It's a folly broadest says if we're praying for forgiveness of sin praying for deliverance from evil but there's not with it a prayer for a more cherished desire of holiness a
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Strengthened effort to abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good you you can't pray deliver me So I can go on as I see fit.
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It's delivered me because I want to be more holy like you I Want to be closer to you. I want my walk to be more intimate with you
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I want to be more effective for your kingdom. I want to understand more about your word
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Lord That's why I need you to not lead me in these ways. I don't be bogged down and discouraged and Yet the
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Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations Now again realize within that he may delay his deliverance he may give you the detour of deliverance
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But it's no less an answer to prayer It's no less an answer to prayer as Thomas Manton says you're to endeavor you're to pray and use all good means to come out of temptation, but The Lord has yet to deliver you submit to him and do not murmur even though God is continuing the temptation and At present it doesn't seem he's giving you the measure of grace.
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You need to have victory. You must not murmur You must lie at his feet. God is the
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Lord of his own grace That's what Manton says we realize this is why the
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The prayer is a daily prayer. We pray daily for our bread We pray daily to be led away from temptation and to be delivered from evil.
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It's a daily prayer of a disciple Now sometimes the the deliverance takes it's not just the detour of the deliverance that hasn't come the deliverance takes us in a way that Was completely unexpected
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Remember reading this about Joseph when he was in Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife was
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Seeking to sort of drag him into adultery and day after day Joseph was refusing to listen to her
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He was he was if anyone praying this prayer lead me away from temptation deliver me from evil deliver
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Deliver me from the evil one deliver me from this evil woman who's seeking to ensnare me kill me
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And of course the response when she basically pounces on him is how could
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I do this evil against my God? That's the prayer of one who day after day has been seeking
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God to lead him away from temptation and deliver him from evil That's the kind of reaction and guess what he runs out of the house
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He's got no plan B. There's no backup plan. He's just like I'm out of here. I have no idea what's gonna happen next and God's deliverance looks like for him a dungeon and I always wonder if Joseph was in that dungeon at some point across those years wondering
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I Shouldn't have run I Shouldn't have run Why did
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I run? No, no, it was right Lord It was right. I couldn't do that evil in your sight and Into time it was clear why that deliverance had such a confusing detour.
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It was so the Lord would exalt him Put him on a throne so he could deliver his people from destruction from famine
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Isn't it often true that in the Christian life we gain by our loss Isn't it often true in the
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Christian life we go forward in faith by being set back in circumstance Isn't it often true in the
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Christian life that the way God makes us whole is by actually allowing us to be wounded The kingdom the kingdom ways of God Defy the ways of the world
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It's often the case in the Christian life that God takes his people to the heights Only because he has first taken them through the depths and all of this.
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I'm convinced is bound within verse 13 It's a prayer for God's leading lead us
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It's a prayer in light of God's control lead us not into temptation It's a plea for God's power deliver us from evil
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The depths are all too often the very means of God proving our faith in temptation and trial the means of our sanctification we come to them and view them as the opposite of that Trials come temptations here.
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Now. I'll never be sanctified. What that's how you'll be sanctified These are the very means the depths the seasons of desperation the setbacks the stumblings
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The the shocking failures of our pilgrimage These are all the necessary steps of walking according to his grace being conformed to the image of his son and in that sense the trials
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That caused us to cry out for his deliverance. They don't just prove our faith In some sense, they don't really prove us so much as they prove him
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It's not it's not it's not our character.
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That's being proven. It's God's character It's not my faithfulness that's being borne out.
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It's God's faithfulness to me Isn't that the the words of Louisa stead that beautiful him?
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Jesus Jesus precious Jesus how I've proved him over and over I'm not being proved.
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He's being proven. I've proved him Jesus Jesus precious
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Jesus Oh For grace to trust him more. He's always shown himself to be trustworthy.
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I Pray, he doesn't lead me into temptation. I pray he delivers me from evil. I've proved him every time And now
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I ask for more grace to trust him still This is the Lord's Prayer As we come to a close here this morning
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As we've said, you know, the Lord's Prayer ironically is a prayer. That's actually the disciples prayer Jesus gives it to his disciples so that they can pray it.
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It's it's the disciples prayer but here with verse 13
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I I can't help but reflect on how meaningful it is to call these verses the
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Lord's Prayer as we saw when we saw the third petition not my will your will be done
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Essentially, that's Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying
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Let your will be done on earth as it's done in heaven We start to realize that this prayer
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He's giving to his disciples as expressive of his own life of prayer with his father And when we come here and we look at these words lead me not into trial or temptation
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Deliver me from the evil one deliver me from evil all about me We we start to reflect on the fact that in deep and powerful ways.
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This really is the prayer of the Lord It's the prayer of one who lived by this prayer who walked in light of this prayer
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Who we could say fulfilled this prayer on our behalf Jesus teaches us to pray nothing that he himself did not fulfill
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Jesus trusts the leading of God even as he did back in the wilderness. We saw that When Satan was seeking to lead him into temptation to destroy him
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He responded man doesn't live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God There's a trust there
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I trust my father he's the one that's leading me that leading right now looks like the the heavens burst open at my baptism and the light showed upon me and my father pronounced his
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Pleasure over me and now turn the page. He's thrown me into the wilderness to starve and That's him leading me and the serpent slithered in not into the lush paradise of Eden But into this desolate wayscape and he says your father must hate you.
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I wouldn't let my son starve Don't you know how generous I am compared to your
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Vengeful spiteful father you must have done something to wrong him. I would give you the kingdom of the earth all you have to do is bend to me and Jesus one who had perfected this prayer in his life
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Lead me not into the tempter's snare deliver me from evil says No, it's my father's leading.
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It may look devastating. It may look ruinous to everyone else, but it's my father's leading It may cause the the wife of Job to say just curse
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God and die What God is worthy of this kind of loyalty? Look at what he's doing to you
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But Jesus the greater
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Job says no, it's my father's leading. I trust him He will deliver me.
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He will lead me and protect me and bless me his own character his own word as those promises are at stake and Though I don't know the way the valley will lead and what alleyways and dangers and snares
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What scornings and mockeries and persecutions what sufferings await? I do know my father and I know his wisdom and I know his power and I know he will deliver me
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He alone can deliver me. So you start to realize it's it's trust.
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It's his faith in his father And you should know
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Christian that it's it's our lack of faith that causes us to doubt the wisdom and goodness of God It's our lack of faith that causes us to begin to tremble and all of a sudden our feet plunge into the
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Galilean Sea Why did we doubt? Why do we have such little faith?
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Why do we interpret the difficult crosses that we bear to mean somehow God is not wise not gracious not powerful
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Not able to deliver and fulfill all that he has promised us Our unbelief causes us to challenge the wisdom and goodness of God who put
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Jesus in the wilderness God Who led
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Jesus down the bloody path to Golgotha? God for 30 years on the earth
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Jesus lived in flawless Obedience and perfect faith in the leading of his father.
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It wasn't effortless for him to do that He had to depend on daily bread
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He didn't know how Ends would be met. He was a man of sorrows.
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He was acquainted with grief It wounded him to to bear with the scorn and mockery of the people.
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He came to deliver It wounded him to see droves turn away out of out of some fickle selfishness
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Because his words were hard to hear it hurt him to realize he had to fulfill
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The shepherd being struck and watching all of his beloved sheep scatter and repudiate him
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I don't know the man Peter says But in that flawless obedience in that spotless holiness in that perfect trust for the father's deliverance
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He reveals the majesty and the mercy and the character and the trustworthiness of God Jesus proved
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God over and over he trusted him and And God led him he trusted him and God delivered him
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God was leading him through that Desolate wind how old the wilderness God was leading him through captors chains and soldiers whips
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God was leading him even when the mocking soldiers were leading him. So it's reflecting on that when
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I was reading At the end of Mark's gospel this week It says, you know after they
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Basically had a mock Roman triumph and they put the scepter in his hand and they twisted thorns and pressed it onto his head to a crown and they pretended to bow down and worship him and Then it says and they stripped all these things away stripped him bare and they led him away
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It just stood out to me. That's even that is the father's leading the father leads by having these
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Sinful mockers take the emblem of the curse from Genesis 3 remember it's a result of our fall into sin that thorns and thistles shoot up from the ground and God leads these scoffers to take up the thorns and take up as it were the emblems of our curse our own sinful rebellion against God and twist them and press them into Jesus skull and That's the father's leading and God was delivering him
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I think of Jesus praying father lead me lead me through this father I don't want to drink this cup, but I know you're leading me and if it's your will then here
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I am to do your will Oh God, and I know that you'll deliver me and we read that in fact that yes
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God was delivering Jesus quite often. He was delivering him but not in the way we would at first expect What does the deliverance look like at first?
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As he tells his disciples the Son of Man will be delivered to be crucified That's I think that's a divine passive In other words
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God is the actor the Son of Man will be delivered by God to be crucified
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My father I'm praying for deliverance, and yeah, here's here's the first part of that deliverance. I'm delivering you over to death
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He says in Luke 24 the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day
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He'll rise again. You see not a deliverance out of evil like Matthew 6 13
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But at first it'll live a deliverance into evil The father leads and delivers him into the hands of evil men into the hands of the evil
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Tormentor into the hands of the evil suffering on Golgotha. He delivers him into it, but the son trusts him perfectly
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This greater Job says even though he slay me. I will trust him and so we've come to Psalm 22 and we see the
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Lord's Prayer Written before the Lord's Prayer We see the very meditation that was in scripture rated.
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I I'm convinced to actually Aid our Lord Jesus to persevere in his trust and confidence in God We know that because as you've understood from sermons past when
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Jesus is being crucified He's quoting Psalm 22 He's not there in some proof texting capacity on the cross
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Saying you'll understand what this means if you look up some 20 east it's Psalm 22. He's worshiping his father in light of Psalm 22
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The sky is not burst open with light now. There's no pleasure being shown to the Sun It's pitch black.
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The father turns his face away. The son still prays for deliverance as My chest cavity is heaving and I'm suffocating on blood.
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You've led me to this place and all of my trust is in you You will deliver me
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And when you look at Psalm 22 You realize all the scorners all the mockers all the scoffers are surrounding him and they're actually mocking his trust in God All those who see me ridicule me
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Psalm 22 says they shoot out their lips. They shake their heads saying he trusted in the Lord Let the
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Lord deliver him The whole crowd becomes Job's wife
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So much for that deliverance. Look what your trust has paid off You have the gall to teach your disciples to pray lead me not into trial deliver me from evil
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Look how well that worked out for you. He trusted in the
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Lord. Let the Lord deliver him and then this meditation we can Picture our
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Lord in between catching breaths worshiping his father from this song He hears that scorn and he doesn't like the first Adam go.
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You know what? Maybe you're right Maybe my maybe my trust and my loyalty has been in the wrong person
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Now he begins to reflect on his creator and he says But you're the one who took me from my mother's womb.
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I was cast upon you from my birth From my birth. You've been my God Be not far from me troubles now near and there is no one to help you look at verse 19
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But you Oh Lord do not be far from me. Oh my strength hasten to help me deliver me and Jesus dies
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Before he recites the rest of it as far as we know, but we're some 22 goes is You have answered me you look at Psalm 16 and you realize this
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Psalm another one that would Aid our Lord Jesus to endure all the suffering all the
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Crushing weight of the father's wrath due for our sin in Psalm 16 beginning in verse 8 the psalmist again
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Pointing forward to the Lord the Lord using this as a way to Voice and articulate his trust in God to worship and steal his nerve in the same way.
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We use the scriptures today And he says I've set the Lord before me
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You know Jesus is on the cross and the sky was black and for the first time Though the
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Lord was set before him. He couldn't find the Lord's presence and sometimes in the
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Christian life You set the Lord before you and it's just pitch black That's why
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Jesus is a sympathetic high priest Lord beef you're before me, but I have no idea what
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I'm going You're before me, but I I don't see you. I don't feel you.
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I don't know you at all And you pray to a Savior that says I've been there
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I know that and I'm telling you you can trust him
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He will deliver you He is still leading you though you see him not and The clouds you so much dread will soon break blessings on your head
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I've set the Lord before me and he's at my right hand Therefore I'll never be moved and my heart's glad and my glory rejoices and my flesh will rest in hope
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Why? Because you won't leave my soul in shale you won't leave me in the grave
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You haven't led me all this way and given me a trust in you and deliver me from evil just to abandon me to corruption
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You won't allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life Jesus is essentially
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Realizing through Psalm 22 and all of the scriptures that he knew and drew upon to sustain his sacrifice My father is the one who leads me.
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My father is the only one I can trust My father is the only one who can deliver. He leads me to the cross He leads me into the grave, but he won't leave me there.
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He'll lead me out of it He alone can deliver me from death what does Isaiah say about death
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The mightiest men the mightiest kings and the mightiest kingdoms of the earth. Can they do anything about death? This is the wages of sin.
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This is the predicament of humanity Death is something that we cannot escape Isaiah says it's a veil that's cast over every nation
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It's this veil that darkens and clothes and brings to dust every human being made in the image of God and generation after generation after generation
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Downstream through history from Genesis 3. This veil is cast over all peoples And it's almost like John with the scrolls who's worthy to break open this veil
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Who can deliver out of death and Jesus trusting his father
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Who leads him into trial To prove his faith Delivers him from the grave and the grave couldn't hold him and Jesus tore apart the veil of death as he tore apart the veil of the temple ushered in a new creation a new day a dawning day in Civilization for all image bearers of God and now you see the fullness of God's deliverance
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And it wasn't just the deliverance of Jesus from the grave it was the deliverance of the people who follow
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Jesus From all evil from the clutches of the evil one and from the veil of death
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We now worship a Savior who knows the way out of the grave We worship a risen
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Savior and King who will raise us out of the grave. He won't leave us in the grave
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We trust he'll deliver us because we worship the one who gave himself for us That he might deliver us from the present evil age as Paul says in Galatians We realize
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God has delivered us from the power of darkness Conveyed us into the kingdom of his Son in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins
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That's God's deliverance of his people And he did it by delivering Jesus And he was able to do it because Jesus trusted him
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Followed his leading and was faithful even to the bitter end At the very centering pulse of our faith brothers and sisters is the risen
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Savior Who by his own spirit? Reveals the will of the
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Father leads us through the valleys and over the snares and at the end of our days He leads us out of the grave
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All our hope all our stay all our trust is in him The sting of death has been removed.
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What power is there over us now? We pray for martyrs in Nigeria or in Syria or in China and underground churches this morning
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They know a precious truth. We barely know Their captors their tormentors even the prince of the power of the air himself has no longer any leverage over them
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They glory in the cross that they bear the sting of death is removed And though in their daily life they face as our daily lives bring many troubles toils and snares unknown
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We pray to the one who's able to deliver us from evil Because the gospel gives us the blueprint of that deliverance from the very beginning
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This is how God did it. And therefore this is how God will do it at the end of days
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He will deliver us from evil So as we close this morning, let me ask just a few questions in light of verse 13
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Have you learned to pray for God's leading? So that you can follow it a brother or a sister in the room struggling and they've been praying
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Lord Lead me out of temptation. I'm really suffering and struggling and Someone they meet, you know, hey, we should connect some time.
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You know, in fact, we should pray together It'd be really good to kind of get to know each other. No, that would be nice. I'm way too busy
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That's the answer to that prayer. Oh Lord deliver me out of temptations.
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It's it's so hard. Maybe I should confess my sins to someone that I can trust
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No, that would be far too embarrassing That's the answer to that prayer listen do you ask for God to lead you out of temptation out of trial
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So that you can follow it Don't be oblivious to the way that he's answering those prayers to the prompts and The direction he puts on your heart
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So have you learned to pray for God's leading so that you can follow it? Secondly, have you learned to pray for God's deliverance so that you can find it if you're bound up with idolatry if you're bound up With certain passions that are against God's will for your life.
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You won't be praying for his deliverance sincerely. That's for sure Have you actually prayed for deliverance from a sincere heart
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From a guilty conscience that's wanting to be delivered If you don't pray for God's deliverance in this way, you won't find
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God's deliverance and Have you in the Christian life learned that God never leads you in a way?
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That isn't absolutely necessary for you. He tells
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Peter and he tells the twelve Men are gonna take you in a way.
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You don't want to go this world Evil agency they're gonna lead you in a way you do not want to go.
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That's the father leading No servant is greater than his master. That's the father leading
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It may be that for you as a Christian sitting here this morning The father in his own way is making it very clear to you.
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He wants to take you in a way You don't want to go. Have you learned that his way is what is absolutely necessary To preserve your life of faith and deliver you ultimately from the grave
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The Lord himself is the one who preserves our going in and our going out We recognize that when we pray to this one
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To lead us and to help us escape the tempter snare and to bring us safely through trials and deliver us from evil
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We're praying to the one who is our rock who trains our hands for war Whose loving kindness is our fortress whose high tower is our deliverance whose shield is the place that we take refuge
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That's the Lord that we're seeking in this prayer Who do we have in heaven but him? Who on earth do we desire but him?
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To this God we're praying lead us not to temptation deliver us from evil for this
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God as psalm 48 14 says This God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.
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Amen Let's pray Father, thank you for your word.
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Thank you Lord that this petition this prayer
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We see so fully and meaningfully drawn out in the life of our Savior Whose trust was perfected in you who found the deliverance that no
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No other could ever find and now has become the firstfruits of our great.
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Hope whose life death Resurrection and ascension is the anchor of our faith in the glory of our worship in The boast of our testimony in the light post of our trials
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In the path of our sufferings and the call of our discipleship in the ballast of our drowning the provision for our poverty the balm for our suffering
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The glory for our despair. Oh Lord, thank you for your gospel
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Thank you that It's helpless and weak as we are You are leading your people and as weak as we feel and desire not to be led into trial or temptation we know
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It's not so much we but you that are being proved Thank you precious precious
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Jesus that we prove you over and over give this Congregation the grace to trust you even more