THE LORD’S PRAYER
Matthew 6:13
LEAD US NOT INTO
TEMPTATION
Part #7 of 8 on The Lord's Prayer
A minister was reviewing
the family bills. He found a bill from the local dress store for $250 for a new
dress. He confronted his wife yelling
that she knew they couldn't afford such expense. The wife replied, "I know
honey, but I tried the dress on and Satan tempted me. He said, 'My dear, you
look lovely in that dress.' So I bought it."
The husband asked,
"Why didn't you say, 'Get thee behind me Satan?'"
"I did," she
replied, "But he said, 'My dear it looks lovely in the back too!'"
(Source Unknown)
We all face temptations.
James 1:13-15
We will all be tempted
to do what is wrong. We can not avoid
temptation. However, I believe that God
has designed a way for the amount of temptation that we face to be drastically
reduced.
As we ask Him, He will
give us victory over temptation.
We come to the next
portion of our model prayer, The Lord's Prayer. Matthew
THERE IS A DESIRE ON MY
PART
Do you know why some
Christians have a real problem with temptation? THEY WANT TO!
There are areas of their
lives that they love so much that they can't let go. Their desire for the sin
is so great, that it does not take much to tempt them.
Some love pornography so
much that it doesn't take much to get them to be looking at pornographic
magazines or websites.
Some love sex so much
that it doesn't take much to make them immoral.
Some love gossip so much
that it doesn't take much to make them gossip.
Some love hunting,
fishing, or sports so much that it doesn't take much to make these things their
Gods.
Some love alcohol so
much that it doesn't take much for them to make them drink.
Some love themselves so
much that it doesn't take much for them to lie to save their skins.
Some love themselves so
much that it doesn't take much to get them to worry. And the great majority of
worry is self-centered.
What am I saying? We are
tempted to sin because we have the wrong kinds of desires.
When we pray in
sincerity, And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil: we are expressing the desire to have victory over the
wrong kinds of desires.
Please turn to 1 John
2:15-17.
According to this
passage, we are tempted in three areas. All the temptations I mentioned a
moment ago fall into one of three categories: LUST OF THE FLESH - LUST OF THE
EYES - PRIDE OF LIFE
They are the same three
areas in which Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden. God said not to eat a
certain fruit. Satan tempted Eve. The end result was that Eve succumbed to
temptation. Genesis 3:6
Notice what 1 John
2:15-17 is saying. If we love the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, we do not love God the Father! We are easily
tempted because we love the world and don't really love the Father! We have a greater desire to sin than we do to
please God!
We must remember how
much God loves us. Psalms 145:8-9, 1 John 4:10
We must remember that we
are to love Him!
1 John
John
Christian, do you love
God?
Christian, do you love
the Lord Jesus?
If you do, you should
have a desire not to sin, because you want to please Him.
If the desire of your
heart is not to sin, then your prayer needs to be in all sincerity, "Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:"
When you love God and
truly desire to please Him, it will be easier to say "no" to those
temptations, and to be asking God to deliver you from them.
THERE IS A DECISION ON
MY PART
What is the decision
that I make as I pray this prayer?
My decision is that,
with God's help, I am not going to give in to temptation.
Notice that I said,
"with God's help."
You can't do it
yourself.
Romans 6:1-4
When Jesus died on the
cross, you died with Him.
When Jesus was buried,
you were buried with Him.
When Jesus rose to
newness of life, you rose to a new life.
Romans 6:10-14
God says you must make a
decision. You must decide or "reckon" that you are dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God" through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Such a decision brings
another decision. To yield yourself to God and the parts of
your body as instruments of righteousness unto God. You will either yield to sin or yield to God.
With God's help you decide to yield to God!
And notice the promise
in verse 14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not
under the law, but under grace."
If your desire is to
please God because you love God, your decision must be to yield to God. If you
yield to God, your prayer again must be "And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:"
THERE IS A DEPENDENCE ON
MY PART
As I said a moment ago,
you can not do this yourself. You need God's help. And this request is actually
an admission on our parts that we can't do it ourselves, and that we need God's
help.
"And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil:"
And the neat thing is
that God will answer our request!
Turn please to 1
Corinthians 10:12-14.
Vs. 12 - "Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall."
We are warned here that
we must be careful to not get too smug.
There are times when we
think that we are doing just fine Spiritually, and
that we have everything under control. That's when we need to look out!
1 Corinthians 10:13 -
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it."
Any temptation that you
receive is a temptation common to the human race. You won't find that you have
a new temptation. In fact the Lord Jesus was already tempted with that same
temptation and victorious over it!
Hebrews
Now look what else it
says in this passage - but God is faithful!
God is faithful - He
loves you!
God is faithful - He
wants you have victory over sin!
God is faithful - He
will help you!
You are not being
tempted above that you are able. Your temptation
to sin, no matter how great it is, can be defeated, not in your own strength,
but with God's help.
With each temptation God
says, "There is a way to escape so that you can bear it."
So when God provides a
way to escape, what is our responsibility?
Take it!
1 Corinthians
So when temptation
comes, we must run from it!
It is as if you are in a
burning building and someone yells, "You can escape through the back
door." Whether you escape or whether you burn is your decision.
God says, are you being
tempted? Run! I will help you
escape.
You've heard the Bible
story about Joseph. He was being tempted to sleep with his master's wife. He
literally ran, leaving his coat behind. He was later falsely accused, yet he
was innocent. But he had to take God's way of escape.