Matthew 6:13 PRAYER IS ABOUT RELYING
“and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Intro: This phrase teaches us that Prayer Is About Relying. May
the Lord teach us this evening, that in the greatest battle of life, we
need to learn to rely on Him, for therein lies the secret of our
victory!
I. THE PROBLEM OF TEMPTATION
This statement presupposes the leadership of the Lord in our
lives.
A. Do we look at God for the blame?
Does a Sovereign God lead us into temptation?
When Adam was tempted and fell into sin in the Garden of Eden,
he tried to lay the blame at the feet of the Lord, Gen. 3:12. But, the
fault did not lie with the Lord. The fault was with Adam and
Adam alone!
(Ill. Once, two monks were journeying along a path, when they
came to a crossing. There, attempting to cross the same river was
a young woman. She was frightened and unable to make the
crossing. One of the monks picked her up, carried her across the
stream and sat her down on the other side, and the two monks
continued on their journey. After some time, the other monk
turned to the first monk and said, “My brother, I am troubled by
something. As you know, our order prohibits us from even looking
upon a woman, much less touching one. Yet, you picked that
woman up and carried her across that stream and you do not seem
to be bothered by your transgression.” The second monk merely
smiled and said, “My brother, I put that woman down back by the
river’s bank, but you still carry her in your heart.”)
That, my friends, is the essence of temptation! It is a
problem within man. You see, the heart of the problem is a
problem in the heart, Matthew 15:17-20 “Do not ye yet
understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the
belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which
proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they
defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat
with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”
B. We are to Look Ahead to solve a Problem
When I pray, “Forgive my debts;” I am looking back to the
past. When I pray, “Give me this day my daily bread;” I am
looking to the present. But, when I pray “Lead me not into
temptation,” I am looking to the future
II. THE POWER OF TEMPTATION
A. Temptation’s Cycle
We are drawn away of our “own lusts and enticed,” James
1:14. The word “enticed” comes from a word that means “to
bait.” James 1:13-16 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn
away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.”
B. Temptation’s Response
1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth
is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth
against his own body.”
1 Corinthians 10:14 “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from
idolatry.”
1 Timothy 6:10-11 “For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O
man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”
2 Timothy 2:22 “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart.”
C. Temptation’s Limit
But, thank God, the power of temptation has no more force in our
lives than we allow it to have! What are those promises?
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.”
III. THE PLEA IN TEMPTATION
*Spare Us from the Evil One and his forces
This verse closes with the words, “but deliver us from evil.” This
phrase carries this idea, “but deliver us from the evil one.”
Ephesians 6:12. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places,”