Lead us Not into Temptation

Well, we are continuing in our study series in the Gospel of Luke. And if you like a title for sermons, the title for today is, Lead Us Not Into Temptation. Lead us not into temptation. Fascinating study here that we're going to go through Scripture. And we're going to begin by turning to two passages of Scripture to begin with this topic of temptation and setting our foundation. First, let's turn to Luke. Luke 11. And verse 4. Of course, this is where the words in that title are found. And again, over the past weeks and months we've been going through the Gospel of Luke, we have found ourselves in the model prayer here. And you'll notice that Luke 11, they're, of course, beginning in verse 1. We have the disciple that beseeches Jesus to say, Teach us, Lord, to pray. He responds by giving them a model, a template, in which they should pray. Of course, in verse 2, he starts off with the focus on the Father.

When you pray, Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then we, in the prayer, he then turns to the petitions, the requests we can make. First, give us day by day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive others who are indebted to us. We looked at that through the story of Joseph last time. And now, with the concluding words here in the model prayer, we come to the second part of verse 4 with these words. This is how Jesus concludes his instruction on how and what to pray. And he says these words, to pray to the Father, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

If you'll turn with me next to James chapter 1 now, and we're going to read verses 12 through 15. This will be the second part of our beginning passages to set the foundation for ourselves. James 1 verses 12 through 15. This is one of the most direct words, instructions, teachings given in the Bible with regards to temptation.

Temptation that which looks to lure us away from God's way. And here, James speaks about that topic. James 1 verses 12 through 15. James says, with regards to being enticed away from God to sin, he says, verse 12, Blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Verse 14, But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Let's stop there.

Well, in beginning this study, I believe I'm confident to say right up front, that there is no period of time in the Christian's life in which we will be exempt from temptation.

If you're like me, when you were younger, you may have thought that by simply growing older, that somehow or another will manage to... the temptations will get less, of course. They'll get easier to deal with. Well, what many of us have found in this room and what our young people will find is it's just not the case. Often, and very often, and always, those same temptations will be with us for our whole life. They may take on new disguises in different ways, but they're always there right beside us, biting at our heels, if you will, seeking to bring us down.

And if that's not bad enough, often the old ones get joined by new ones, new temptations, temptations we've never faced before. And these new temptations, as you go through life, often are just tailor-made for whatever trial, whatever test we're going through.

And very specific in how they attack a particular vulnerability at this point in our lives. And so, yes, temptation is a reality and it's unavoidable. And the only time that we will be free from temptation is when, at Christ's return, God willing, we will be called and raised to be with Him.

But until that time, the Bible teaches that it's a reality and that the Christian is involved in a continual, unyielding spiritual war against these temptations that look to move us away from God. That's a fact. Now, with that, we might ask, why? You know, why would that be? Why is the Christian, the one called into a relationship with God, why would they be involved in a continual, unyielding spiritual war of this type? Well, there might be various reasons, of course, but I think simply what it is, is that the same grace which calls us and reconciles us to God is the same grace, then, that antagonizes us against the devil. Okay? So, in being called and reconciled to God, everything changes because when I wasn't in a relationship with God, in a sense, I was a friend of the devil. However, when God's grace brought me to be a friend of God, it simultaneously makes me an enemy of Satan. And so, from that point in the Christian's life, Satan brings all of his endeavors to bear upon the life of a man or woman who says they commit to God through Jesus Christ and want to follow him. So, making that statement, entering into that relationship, the man or the woman, is not then transferred over to smooth sailing, if you will. Rather, what we discover is that we're placed on a great battleground.

And I won't turn there, but perhaps for your notes, this is the reason why Jesus prays in John 17, Father, do not take them out of the world, but protect them from the evil one. And in a sense, we're seeing the echo here of the model prayer. You know, back there in Luke 11, lead us not into temptation, but then we pay special attention to the second half, which says, deliver us from the evil one. So, this is the part of the prayer where the believer asks to be protected from the evil one, protected specifically from temptations, so that we are not put in the grasp of the devil.

So, therefore, a Christian, a true Christian, must figure out how to deal with the temptations in our life. And that's what we're going to really look to deal with today. We're going to look to fully understand what temptation is, you know, that enticement, that luring away from God. Then we're also going to look to see how do we deal with it? How do we deal with it? And for our help, I've broken it down into four parts to help us understand temptations and help us successfully engage in our battle to resist them. So, four parts. Number one. Number one. Number one is simply to understand that it is, in fact, a daily battle. Okay? So, number one, fact to understand, understand that the fight against these temptations, it is a daily battle. That could come forth just in the fact that it's part of the model prayer. You know, of all the petitions that Jesus Christ could put in at this moment there, He adds this one as the one that wraps up the prayer. It's a daily prayer, a daily focus. The Christian deals with temptation by actively engaging in the battle every day. So, if you want to write this on your pad, if you want to write it in your heart, these are the important words to understand. I will engage in this battle of temptation each and every day. That's the commitment here. Why is that statement so important? Well, I think many of us can fall into the misunderstanding that somehow or another there's going to be some all-incompath... there's going to be all this endeavor where we can just get rid of the temptations altogether. If I make this one act, then I'll be done with it and I can move on to a smoother life. If I could just get past this, you know. Well, I'm here to tell you there's no such experience. In my own life, I experience it in counseling others. The goal in our humanity is to somehow just completely get rid of it out of our lives. But the truth is, no matter what kind of spiritual victory I had yesterday, I know when I move out this morning, I'm faced with the task once again to resist whatever temptation comes my way. Very important. No matter what success I had yesterday, I know this morning is a new day. I must refuse to allow my eyes to wander off to sin.

No matter success yesterday, this morning, I must... it's another day I must refuse to allow my mind to contemplate something that is sinful. I must refuse to allow my mind to contemplate something that is sinful. No matter what happened yesterday, today, I must refuse to allow my affections to run after anything that is not of God. So my ability to be victorious is not in my ability to think back on a previous day's victory. Rather, it's my ability today, today, to avert my eyes, shift my thinking, and align my affections back to God. It is a daily battle. And so we understand why Christ puts it in to the daily prayer.

It's very enlightening to understand this first point because we can't unconsciously be looking for removal from the battleground. It's not going to happen. It's a battle every day. Receiving God's grace does not remove us from the battlefield. And what you will actually realize is it's just the opposite. You know, after we receive God's calling, through baptism, receive His Spirit, and just have that wonderful grace placed upon us, it is then when my senses are really heightened and I find myself fully aware, more than ever before, of those things that are out of step with God. So Jesus teaches us in this response. The disciples ask Him to teach us to pray. And just a few requests He puts in the list. He makes this the very thing that we should conclude with. So think about this phrase, you know, this last part of the model prayer. It's so spiritually purposeful. There's nothing... I don't know if there's anything that builds character more, and there's nothing more beautiful than for the believer, the bride of Christ, to be showing her love and commitment and devotion to the bridegroom every day. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Father, just like yesterday, I am yours. This is what we're praying here. The one way in which I'm going to show you, Father, that I'm yours is not putting my affection on anything else but you. You're my bridegroom. I love you, you know. I'm not going to commit to anything else. I'm not going to make an idol or look to anything else to place my affections. So when we raise our head from this part of the daily prayer, Father, do not lead us into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one. We're making a new commitment every day to be His. I'm yours, Father. I'm yours.

So it's a daily battle, and it requires a daily commitment every day. And we do so by understanding that it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of focus daily. Okay, number two. The second aspect to understand regarding temptation, number two, is God is never and cannot ever be the source of temptation. Okay? This is an interesting one. Number two, understanding God is never and cannot be the source of temptation.

If you're still hearing James 1, look at verse 13 again here, stated very clearly. James 1 verse 13, where James says, let no one say he is tempted. When he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, so He can't, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. So absolutely and categorically stated there. And there's really a logic to this. Good reasoning here. God is incapable of being tempted by evil. He's totally insusceptible to evil. And so therefore, He is unable to tempt others, He says here, you see. So this fact has caused many of confusion when it comes to this part of the Lord's Prayer. Because we could ask, why would we even pray this part of the Lord's Prayer if what James is saying is correct? If God cannot be tempted, and therefore He cannot tempt other, why would I be instructed to pray to the Father, lead us not into temptation? What is God asking us? What are we asking God for in this part of the prayer? If God doesn't do this, why do we have to ask Him not to do it? Good question. I'm glad you asked. Well, you don't have to get it too complicated in the answer. Really, a good practice when you come across something like this is just to dig in a little bit more. And sometimes it takes digging in a little bit to what was the original wording? What was the original Greek word? How was it translated? What can I find out more about this word? And when you dig in, what you find in all these cases in the model prayer and here in James, it uses the same word. And the word is p-r-a-z-m-o-n. Sometimes p-r-a-z-m-o-s. I'll spell it for you if you're interested. P-r-a-z-m-o-n might be pronouncing that incorrectly, but the spelling is p-e-i-r-a-s-m-o-n. P-e-i-r-a-s-m-o-n. Parasmon. Same word used in the last part of the model prayer. And it's the same word used here in verses 12 of James 1, 12, and 13. And what you find when you just do a quick cursory glance is that it can be translated either trial or test or temptation. Okay? It's translated in various Bibles, different variations, translations differently. You will see it translate translated in these different ways, but translated either tried or being tried or being tested or temptation or tempting. And so the determination of how you look at this depends on the context. Okay? So let me try to explain it as simply as I can so we can get this. When we consider Luke 11 in the model prayer and James 1 here, here's how to think about it. What God may allow in our experience as a necessary trial or test, the evil one may seek to use as a source of temptation. Okay? I'll repeat that. I'll repeat that. I'll repeat that. What God may allow into our experience as a necessary trial or test, the evil one may seek to use as a source of temptation. In other words, we know God allows or even brings into our experience tests and trials. Those trials that he has brought are to produce Christian maturity or character. Well, those trials the evil one then seizes upon and takes that which is a test or trial and seeks to turn it into a temptation.

For example, for example, we won't turn there, but the familiar story when God tested Abraham and tested Abraham and Sarah. He comes to Abraham and Sarah and he says, I'm going to promise you a son. Okay? I'm going to give you a son even in your older age. I promise you a son, but you're going to have to wait. And the test or trial is in the waiting. But Abraham is tempted to take matters into his own hands and to bring about the promised son through their servant Hagar. And what happened? Well, Satan came along to take the test which God brings and he says, I'm going to turn this test into a temptation. And Satan tempts Abraham. Abraham listens. He fathers his son through Hagar. And you have all this chaos and disaster. And all the chaos and disaster emerged from was not as a result of God tempting Abraham to sin with Hagar, but as a result of Abraham giving into the temptation to sin in this way. Abraham taking a test which God gave and succumbing to the temptation to do the job himself. So, we can all relate to that. So, just know, Satan is always ready to turn a test or trial from God into a temptation to sin. It's always there. He's always there.

Now, the good news, of course, God's very merciful. He's very patient. And God brings Abraham another test, another trial. And eventually brought him to that other trial where you find Abraham being faithful in the test by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. And God and Abraham resisted the temptation at that time to be unfaithful to God. So, he had learned, right? So, when you begin to wrestle with the subtle distinction between testing from God and temptation from Satan, we understand the prayer in this way. When we pray, lead us not into temptation, what we're saying is, God help us not to let the testing which comes from you become a temptation from sin, from Satan, to do evil. Okay? Help us to not do that. We need to be praying daily and making this petition. Father, if I'm going into a severe test here, don't let me go without your power and don't let me go without your protection.

Please, if I'm going into this severe test and trial, would you be there to deliver me from the evil one? I don't want to give in to sin's seductive allure from the testing.

So, again, God brings testing to Abraham. In that way, we see one failure that he succumbed to temptation, and then we see one example of faith. And just know, here's another major difference. Every trial and test from God, he gives with the absolute purpose for us to succeed. Okay? For us to come through, for it to garner the character that we need to develop in this lifetime. However, every temptation that the evil one gives is totally focused on our failure. All right. So, you see a major difference there as well.

I hope that's clear. That has made many a stumble, or just not understand, there in the model of praying, what we're actually asking for. So, that's the second understanding. God can never be the source of an enticement to evil. All right. Building off of that, we now will come to James 1, verse 14, where we're going to have our third point here shown to us. James 1, verse 14, where James says, But each one is tempted, and drawn away by his own desires, and enticed. So, the point number three understanding with regards to temptations is, number three, temptation begins with our own desires. Okay? Very important to understand. In other words, I know that any evil desire, any enticement that comes upon me, while it may be exacerbated by the devil, the fact is ultimately it's coming from within. A carnal heart is producing this.

It's emerging from within. And you look in Scripture, and you see this fact throughout, but there's one direct word which was given to us by Jesus Christ himself. If you would like to keep your marker here in James, I want to show you this. It really punctuates this third point. Turn over to Mark chapter 7, verses 17 through 23. Mark 7, verses 17 through 23 here, where Jesus Christ himself is going to emphatically make this point of where defilement comes from.

Where does evil come from? Where does uncleanness come from? Here in Mark 7, we're going to break into the passage a little bit here, beginning in verse 17, but let me give you a little context. Let me give you a little context. Previously here, Christ is chastising them for ignoring his commandments. You see there in verse 8, we have this picture of them ignoring God's commands. They're washing the outside of the cup, and so Christ seizes upon that symbolism to show, yes, the outside might be clean, but what about the inside?

So that's the context here. So verse 17, when he, Jesus, had entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he said to them, Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from the outside cannot defile him? Because it doesn't enter his heart, but his stomach and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods.

So let me just stop there for a moment. So the stomach, of course, is designed to do the job of purifying. So even if you eat with unclean hands, which I don't advise, but even if you eat with unclean hands, you know, God designed the stomach to be a wonderful thing to purify foods.

But then notice, Christ is speaking about something specific here, and he's going to get to the heart. Notice verse 20. Verse 20, and he said, What comes out of a man that defiles a man, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed this list here.

Look at this list. Evil thoughts, adultries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. You almost think he probably at this point said, Should I, shall I continue? You know. And then verse 23, all these things come from within and defile a man.

So this really punctuates the third point here. Out of a man, that's what defiles him. It is from within, from the heart, the carnal nature of the heart. So we know that Satan has his participation in this.

But ultimately, we're being educated here of where the actual defilement comes from here. And if you kind of think about this and you take it to its conclusion, you know, anybody who's raised a little one knows that most of the time you don't have to teach little Jimmy to to tell to to tell the truth. You know, often you have to teach little Jimmy not to lie. You know, did you eat that cookie? I see the chocolate on your face.

You know, very often, from a very early age, they have within them their propensity to say, No, mommy, I didn't, you know, we don't necessarily have to teach a little one to to just keep their own toys. You know, often we're teaching them don't take little Timmy's toys.

You know, did you take that from him? No, I didn't, you know. And then, of course, the anger and the emotion that comes when you take it back and give it back to Timmy. Very early age. So, again, while it is true the devil comes to entice our carnal nature. While that is true, we got to be clear of the fact that every time I sin, it's because I made a decision to sin.

It comes from within. We won't turn there, but for your notes, Genesis 4, 7, very familiar verse, Genesis 4, 7, where it says sin lies at your door and it desires to have you. Another translation is sin crouches at the door. So it's just waiting there. And it's desires to have you. Sin does. But then the verse goes on to say, but you must rule over it. You must rule over it.

So, temptation cannot open the door to sin. All right? And did you know that even the devil cannot open the door to sin? The devil can't make you do it. That's Tom Sawyer.

That part of Tom wasn't true. Because who ultimately makes the decision to open it? We do. Sin is crouching at the door. That is true. But he says it desires to have you. That is true. But you, you must rule over it. Very important. So when you think of the temptations in your life, this understanding will prevent you and I from making all the excuses we made. How do we try to explain why the door is open? Well, in my youth, I would say, well, that was my friend's dad. You know, dad, if you knew my friends and the influence they have on me, man, that's why that door is open. I have horrible friends, you know. Or, boy, if you knew the upbringing, the difficulty that I had as a kid, you would understand and you it would justify why I'm participating in this behavior that I shouldn't be participating in. Back then, these weaknesses were caused in me and I'm just that's why the door is open.

If you knew the environment at my home with my wife or my husband, you would understand why I act this way, why I'm acting out against God. Well, with this understanding, we know that we can't hide behind our environment. You can't hide behind unruly friends or family. We can't even blame the devil himself. According to James 1, verse 14, we cannot escape the personal responsibility in giving in to temptation. So, if you'd like to turn back to James 1, verse 14, we see that now, through this, we understand it's a daily battle. The temptations do not come from God. Satan is there to entice us in temptation within the tests that we receive. But, despite Satan's efforts, we are responsible ultimately and responsible for ruling over these desires.

So, that brings us to the fourth and final point to understand. We're really going to move now from understanding temptation to now, okay, if it's a reality, how do I deal with it? If it's here every day of my life, what do I do? How do I handle it? How do I deal with it? Well, we're going to begin to go into that with this fourth and final point. The fourth point to understand is, when you're thinking about dealing with temptation, number four, temptation in and of itself is not sin. It's how we respond to it that matters. Okay? I'll repeat that. Temptation, number four, understanding. Temptation in and of itself is not sin. How we respond to it is what matters.

And here in James 1 verse 15, we see that there's a process when temptation rears its ugly head, a process by which we can deal with it, and one leads to life and one leads to death. Look at James 1 verse 15. So James 1 verse 14, we just said each one is tempted by his own desires. And then verse 15, so these temptations are here, these desires are here. When desire has conceived, verse 15, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. So how we respond to the desire, the ungodly desire, the temptation, how we respond will either result in life as we read at the beginning or result in death as we see here in verse 15. So this really gets to the day-to-day wrestling with it. And such an interesting example here that he applies to it. Kind of this, there's a process, there's a growth process by which a temptation starts, and then it grows, and it's conceived, and eventually it becomes full grown here. So how do we apply this? How do we apply this to our day-to-day lives? Well, one of the primary takeaways here is that we must recognize and deal with the temptation when it first arises. Every Passover, you may be the same here, I look at my life and I recognize fully grown sin. And I think, and I'm so in the moment discouraged and disappointed in myself, that I allowed it to grow. Boy, if I would have dealt with this when it first reared its ugly head, oh, how much easier it would have been. And this is one of the things we teach our young people. When you have temptation come into your experience, the time to deal with it is right then. Because we see from James here, there's a growth process and it begins to take hold. So let me give you some examples. Sin, it's not sin in the accidental opening of a lewd website. That's not sin. Easy to do these days.

You know, there it is. You didn't expect it. It's not what you expected. You redirected your eyes, you closed it, you moved on, you moved on to other things so as to get your thoughts off it. You immediately start praying, you know, about it. That's not sin. It's sin when you begin to put your affections onto it. Right? And kept it up.

Many other examples. It's not sin when the temptation to gossip hits you.

That's not sin. And if you're like me, I know this has come up. You begin to say, something and you're like, oh, and you stop. That's the Holy Spirit, you know, pinging you. This is not something to say, but then you have a decision. Am I going to allow this to grow? Am I going to or am I going to respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and then say, ah, you know, I shouldn't, I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that. I catch myself, you know, and you move on. You move on different topic. It's only sin when you push past those promptings and then find yourself whispering in that ear.

It's not sin when the temptation of anger hits you. And it's there. And there's no denying it. But through the help of God, you pray quickly, you count to 10, you say, give me just a moment. I need to remove myself from this conversation.

If you would just give me a moment, let's, I want to come back to it. I'm just not in a position right now to carry on this conversation at the moment. Please, please allow me to do this. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Boy, if you go through that process, that's a beautiful process. That means, wow, I feel myself about to set my affections on something else other than my bride groom. I'm about to set my affections on myself and the false relief that I think it'll give me to express these angry words. So we see that there is here what James is instructing us here. There's always a moment. There's always a moment where the temptation hits, always a moment, the enticement, and the choice is whether to allow it to grow in our hearts or not. And so simply stated, sin is born the moment you become aware of its temptation and you refuse to get rid of it. So sin is born the moment you become aware of its existence of that temptation and you refuse to get rid of it. And so it goes without saying that Christians, true Christians, must deal with the temptations at the moment it appears. That's the only time to deal with it. So therefore we understand that if you are praying this model prayer, and of course it's just a structure, it's just a pattern, but it's an important pattern. When you get to this part of your pattern or you're praying, you understand why it's so important to pray these words daily, to be setting your mind on what temptations may come to you in that day so that you can deal with it and so that you're keeping God close in that way.

Well, we're going to be working to a conclusion, but I wanted to conclude with a pretty encouraging scripture with regards to temptations. And, you know, God wants to help us in this, and He wants to help us so much that He gives us a wonderful promise with regards to temptation. You know, as God is putting before us or allowing tests and trials, His whole heart desire is to provide us everything possible to help us successfully navigate through them. That's His desire, and it's so much so He gives us a wonderful promise that I'd like to conclude with here. And this promise is found in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. If you'd like to turn there. Again, here in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, I find this to be one of the most powerful and encouraging promises from God to all those who are in the fight, to all those who are in the battleground and fighting and against these temptations every day. I want you to listen to this promise by God with regards to this specific part of the model prayer. Here it is. Really think about this, and you could add this to your meditation as you're looking to pray this in a greater way. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. Here it is, the promise from God.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man. Here it is. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. But with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Let's stop there. Isn't that encouraging? What a promise from God here. God is faithful. That is a statement. And He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. And with every temptation, He will make a way of escape so you can bear it. You can bear under it.

These temptations are common to all man. Yes. But God is calling you, beloved. This is the beloved of God. He's calling you to rise above them and to conquer them. And to rule over them. So I want us to acknowledge today this promise today as we look to conclude. For the son or daughter of God, there has never been and there never will be a temptation too strong for you to escape. There will never be a temptation that God will not provide a way for you to bear under it. Start with that. I wonder if you believe that. What temptations do you face today? You can bear under it. There's a way of escape. So when we pray these words, this part of the model prayer, let's pray in a greater way. Father, be with me in this daily battle. I'm asking, Father, whatever trial, whatever test you bring into my life, help me to pass it. Don't allow it to be a temptation to sin against you. Father, I am weak. I have a carnal heart. Would you create in me daily a new heart? Help me respond ruthlessly and immediately when these temptations come. And, Father, would you please make a way of escape broad enough, make a broad way of escape, Father, in your mercy so that I can bear it. Father, lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one.