Our Plea

Introduction

If you don’t think you are in danger, you will not take precautions.

For example, if you were to play golf, it would be silly to put on padding to protect your body from hits from your opponent because in golf, there is no danger of your opponent blindsiding you on the field of play.

However, if you were to play football, it would be foolish not to wear padding and a helmet to protect your body from your opponents who are seeking to rip your head off.

Yet, in the Christian life, it seems that we often think we are playing the game of golf and need no protective padding, when in reality we are on the gridiron of spiritual warfare and have an enemy who is seeking to devour us.

Because of this, Jesus stresses that we must be aware of the spiritual war we are in and that we have real enemies that we must protect ourselves against.

Key Point: we need to have a warfare mentality when it comes to living the Christian life and be proactive in fighting sin and temptation, not reactive.

In the last two weeks, Jesus has taught us to pray for God’s provision for our daily bread, and pardon for our daily sins. Tonight, he will teach us to pray for God’s protection from our enemies.

We have three enemies:

The world, the flesh, and the devil.

So, in the last request of our prayer Matthew 6:13, Jesus teaches us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Let’s pray. . .

Tempted and Tried

The request is simple: God, please don’t let me fall into temptation. But, to understand this request, we must first understand what the word temptation means.

1. Trials or Tests.

Sometimes, the word temptation is used to describe a trial or test God puts us through to strengthen and prove our faith.

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The Greek word is the same for both temptations and trials.

James 1:13 is clear, God never tempts anyone, but sometimes God leads us into times of testing and trial to strengthen our faith to make us more like Jesus.

For example, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and God allowed Job to go through suffering from the devil to allow him to prove his faithfulness to God.

2. Temptations as enticements to sin.

Other times, temptations are described as situations where the devil or allurements of the world may externally tempt us to sin.

Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness is an example of the external temptations he went through from the devil.

Joseph being tempted by Potiphar’s wife to sleep with her is another example of external enticements to sin from the sinful world system or the devil.

3. Temptations that arise from our sinful desires.

As we talked about last week, even though we are free from sin’s power, we are not completely free from it’s presence.

We still have indwelling sin that lives inside of us that can tempt us to disobey God.

James 1:14 ESV

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Hebrews 3:13 ESV

13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin is deceitful because it looks good, it is pleasurable (temporarily)

Example of a bacon burger

These are temptations Jesus did not experience because Jesus did not have a fallen human nature.

His temptations were only external from living in a fallen world and the devil.

So, we are tempted by all three forms of temptation, whereas Jesus only experienced the first two.

One note to remember is that we should not try to separate these three forms of temptation into distinct categories.

In some sense, oftentimes, our temptations could be a mixture of all three.

For example, God might test us, but as he does, Satan may try to deceive us and turn the trial into a temptation to sin. This could also occur with our sinful desires turning a test from God into a temptation to sin.

So, going back to the request. . . we are asking God to not lead us into these temptations.

This request implies four things. . .

First, this means, we are asking for God’s protection to not allow us to be lured away into sin by the temptations of the devil, the world, and our sinful desires.

In a similar way this is why Jesus teaches us to “watch and pray” so that we are not led into temptation.

When it comes to spiritual warfare, we need to play offense, not defense.

Second, by asking God NOT to lead us into temptation. . . we are positively asking God to lead us in the paths of righteousness and pursue holiness. . . we are asking our Father to help us delight in his commands and not walk in the pathway of the wicked.

Third, by us making this request, we believe that God is sovereign over satan and his schemes. We can only be tempted by the devil if God allows it (Job 1:6-12).

Fourth, we are also asking that God would keep us from the testing of the wilderness.

Even though God does providentially allow our faith to be tested for our good, to strengthen us, the Bible never teaches we should ask God for tests and trials.

Rather, we should pray that God would keep us from trials. . . but, when we do face trials or find ourselves in temptation, we must plead with him to deliver us from all evil.

This is where the second phrase comes in. . . “but deliver us from evil.”

Deliver Us

When we pray “deliver us from evil” it communicates an utter dependence on the Lord to be rescued because we know we cannot escape temptation in our own strength.

The word “evil” can be personified as “evil one,” which specifically refers to the devil.

Peter tells us that we have a real enemy, the devil, who is roaming the earth like a lion who seeks to devour us.

Yet, despite the strength of our enemy, God has given us victory over the devil in four ways:

First, Jesus has defeated sin and Satan through his death on the cross.

Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Second, God promises to deliver us from the evil one when we cry out for his protection.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV

3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

Third, 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches that God promises to give us the strength to endure every temptation we face and will not let us fall into a temptation that we will not be able to endure and overcome by his grace. He is faithful, and will always provide a way of escape

Fourth, Jesus specifically prayed for us in the garden that we would be kept from the evil one (John 17:15), and as our great high priest, is continually praying for us now.

In summary, both requests. . . to not be led into temptation and delivered from evil communicate the same plea. . . protection from the spiritual forces of evil.

Case Study: Jesus’s Temptation

To understand how to watch and pray and rely on the Father’s strength to be delivered from evil, we need to follow the example of our Savior.

Through observing Jesus’s temptation, we also can learn the schemes of the Devil and specific ways he will tempt us to help us not fall into his schemes.

In Matthew 4:1-11, Satan tempts Jesus in three ways.

Pleasure (Matthew 4:1-4)

Pride (Matthew 4:5-7)

Power (Matthew 4:8-11)

Each time Jesus was tempted, he defeated Satan’s schemes through depending on the Father’s deliverance through his Word.

Pleasure, Pride, and Power. . . these are the tactics of our enemy that he used with Adam and Eve in the garden, with Jesus in the wilderness, and these are the same tactics he uses with us today.

Response

Which brings us to the first way we need to respond tonight to God’s word. . .

Know Our Enemy

We are in a war and we have an enemy.

If we have God as our friend, we will have Satan as our enemy.

We must know his schemes and not be deceived by his tactics.

Know Ourselves

We are helpless a part from Christ.

Which of the three schemes of the devil are we more prone to fall into?

Which one tempts us the most?

Don’t place yourselves in situations where you know you will be weak and vulnerable.

Know From Where Our Help Comes

Jesus overcame every temptation.

He has the power to deliver us because he has conquered sin and satan.

He is our great high priest who can sympathize with our weakness.

He will provide the way of escape, if we run to him.

1 John 4:4 ESV

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Romans 13:14. . . Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (the armor of God) and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

In the end, we can trust the Lord that he will deliver us from the temptations of the devil. . . and we can close the prayer on a resounding note that proclaims God’s victory over all evil through Christ’s victory on the cross. . . and we can say with Jesus. . .

For yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever and ever amen.