I hope you're all able to get an outline out there on the table because, and if you have, you'll see, we've got quite the sore drill this morning. And I think that will be indispensable to you, because I'm gonna be moving quickly through a lot of text today as we prepare, as we try to understand, really, the right context for this sixth petition, this final petition of Jesus modeled prayer here in Matthew chapter six. I want us hopefully to come away today with a sense of how right, how natural it is to pray the kind of prayer that Jesus is saying that we should pray here. I want us to be able to pray this prayer with an understanding of how God works and what his relationship is to the various trials and temptations that we endure in our lives. Because I think we need that understanding to pray as Jesus would have us pray this prayer. I wanna begin reading in verse one and I'll read through verse 13 and then we'll pray. Our Lord Jesus said, in this manner therefore pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Remember we've taken our cue from that request that this is intended to be a daily prayer. And so the things we're reading about here are assumed by our Lord Jesus to be daily needs that we all have and that he wants to meet, that our Father, our Heavenly Father wants to help us with. And so he goes on to say, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. He assumes we're going to need that every day, and our brothers and sisters around us are going to need that every day. Then he says, and do not lead us in temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, assuming that we're going to encounter spiritual battles every day, and temptations every day. And we're gonna need help with that every day. And then he ends with, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Whatever the evil one may try to do, he's not really ultimately in charge. Our heavenly father is. With that in mind, let's go to him in prayer and ask for his aid in understanding the Scriptures. Holy Father, we come to you asking that you will please help us to understand what our Lord Jesus intended us to understand when we pray this prayer, what his desire is for each one of us who call you our Heavenly Father. Help us to understand, we pray. Fill us with your Holy Spirit to that end. Help us to Love you more and trust Jesus more as our Lord and Savior as a result of our time together with you in the word today. I ask this in the name of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. There was a Frank and Ernest cartoon, that's a rather old cartoon that young people probably won't remember. They had two characters standing before a priest and Frank asks, How come opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats at my door every day? Temptation beats at my door every day, the character says, and we find an amusing statement in the context of that cartoon, not because it's foreign to our experience, but because it's so common to our experience, right? This is what Jesus assumes here, that it's common to our experience. We've seen that he teaches us, as we read the prayer, to pray daily for our physical needs and for forgiveness of sins, but he also wants us to pray daily for deliverance from temptation with hope that we won't sin in the first place, right? And it's because he knows it beats at our door every day. It was beating at his door every day, too, as he walked this earth, only he did not sin. More on that a little later. In addition, as Daniel Doriani has correctly observed, the petition, lead us not into temptation, logically follows the petition for forgiveness. Repentance includes the desire to sin no more, as John said in John 5.14. If one desires liberation from the guilt of sin, one should also want release from its power. I think he's right, Jesus is assuming that here. And with these things in mind, let's now turn to this request in Matthew 6, 13, and the first part of the verse we read, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now, in order to properly understand what our Lord Jesus is saying here, we need to consider the meaning of the Greek word translated temptation here in the New King James Version, as well as in most other versions, including the Christian Standard Bible, the English Standard Version, the New American Standard Version, The Greek word is the noun perosmos, and it has two primary meanings. It can be used in either of these two ways in scripture, either in the New Testament or in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, which was the main Bible of the people in Jesus' day, his disciples. It's the one most quoted in the New Testament, in fact. So it's an important term. It occurs a lot. And so we want to get a handle on it. In a positive sense, this word is used to describe God's examination of man and has the meaning test or trial. In a negative sense, it is used to describe an enticement to sin, either from within or without rather, and has the meaning temptation. And I got that from the Freiberg Greek lexicon. There's two basic definitions, but you're gonna look up any lexical definition, you're gonna give you these basic options. These are well understood options. And the related Greek verbs peradso and an intensified form of it ekperadso means to test or to try or to tent, right? And the ekperadso might mean to thoroughly test or thoroughly tent. But it's the same basic idea. And they're used in these same, the related verbs, the noun, they're used in all the same ways, these positive and negative senses as either testing or trying or a test trial or tempting or a temptation. So in order to understand how Jesus intends the word to be understood in the Lord's Prayer, I think it's best for us to remember how this word is used in all its different ways and zero in on exactly what Jesus's intention is in using it the way he does in this prayer. And so we're going to Remember four points that become clear as we examine passages which use this terminology, the noun or the related verbs, in both the Septuagint, that Greek translation of the Old Testament, and the New Testament, because the New Testament usage flows out of that Old Testament Greek Septuagint usage. The way Jesus uses the term is well understood given that Old Testament background, as a matter of fact. And so in the process of doing this, I'm hoping that we'll be able to fully grasp what Jesus is getting at, and then we'll have greater wisdom about praying prayers like this, what they mean, and God's working in our lives. And what he does and does not do with respect to both trials and temptations. Because Jesus is assuming something about that when he tells us to ask our Heavenly Father not to lead us into temptation. The assumption is that he might do that. Well, how on earth could that happen? Well, this is why we need a fuller understanding, lest we misunderstand God's working. So first, we have to remember this very important thing. God does test us. There are many believers that don't think that's true. can't have read their Bible very much. I've been in Bible studies in my neighborhood in the past where people, the idea that God could somehow actually himself test us or try us and bring trials into our life seems anathema to them. And it makes me wonder if they'd ever read the Bible at all to say such a thing because the Bible so clearly states this about God so frequently. It's kind of hard to miss unless you just are willfully blind to it. So let's, we'll briefly examine a few texts. We don't have time to look at all of them, of course. The first I want to look at is from the book of Exodus. God has manifested his presence on Mount Sinai. The people are scared witless, having heard God's voice booming from this mountain and so forth, this great theophany of all his power. And in Exodus 20, verses 18 through 20, we read this. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. And then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you. Perazzo, it's the Greek word in the Septuagint there. that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin. We see here that God tests his people in order to help them learn to trust him and in order to keep them from sin. Now, the reason so many immature believers who don't know the Bible well think that God couldn't possibly test us is that we tend to be tempted when we're tested And we think God could never tempt us. And we're right about that. That doesn't mean He can't test us. But His purpose in testing us and bringing trials that test us is in order to teach us to trust Him more so that we won't sin. It's a very different intention that He has. And it's very clear in what Moses says. His testing is for our good. It's good for us to be tested. That's how we learn to trust Him more. That's how we learn better to avoid sin, because we've learned to trust Him more. It's good for us. We need to keep that in mind. So that'll help us when we come to how Jesus is using the word. He can't be saying, Lord, don't lead us into things that are good for us. He can't mean that. So He can't be referring to testing, right? Even though the word can be taken that way. In Deuteronomy 8, beginning in verse 1 through 3, and then I'll jump to verse 16, we read this, a very similar emphasis. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you should remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you. That's ekperadzo, that's that other verb. in the Septuagint, to know what was in your heart, whether we keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you. So this double emphasis on humbling them through this testing that he brought in their lives. It's ridding them of pride, helping them to trust him more. This is good for them again. He allowed you to hunger, that was part of the trial, the test. And He fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. They couldn't get the manna every day unless God commanded it, right? They needed God to speak more than they needed actual physical bread. These are the kinds of things he intended them to learn through these tests. Later on in verse 16, he says, that God fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. There you have it again. God's testing is to do you good in the end. And sometimes that testing means you're deprived of certain things, even basic needs for a time to learn to trust God better, to be humbled, and to see how dependent you really are on Him, and on His Word in your life, even more than physical sustenance. So again, He thoroughly tests His people for their good. He knows what's best for us in the end, and His tests are designed to bring that about. In the case of Christians, of course, what's the ultimate goal? To be conformed to the image of His Son, to become Christ-like. All the tests in our lives, Paul tells us, work together for good. And what's the good? To be conformed to the image of His Son. Go back and read Romans 8 for more on that. He knows what's best for us and tests are for that. This perspective is also carried into the New Testament as we see, for example, in the words of the Apostle James, and we're gonna be in James several times this morning, because there's a lengthy passage in James 1 about testing and temptation, as it turns out, and something of a relationship between the two, as we'll see. So we'll be going back and forth there. But beginning in James 1, verses two through four, we see this. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, that's the plural of perosmos, or tests, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. He's talking about growing in spiritual maturity here. That happens through testing. Now, James does not specifically say here that these trials or tests come from God, but he certainly assumes it. as he speaks of the way in which they are designed to do the same thing that God's tests are typically designed to do by helping us grow in our faith, as we learned in our Old Testament passages, and that James knows the Old Testament very well, and if you study his epistle, you'll see he's constantly referring back to it and to concepts in the Old Testament. James knows that the people to whom he's writing understand that God's the one that does testing for our good, because they know their Bible, right? So he doesn't have to spell that out. to them, they know it, and he knows it. It's assumed, and we're to assume it as well. He's the one who's concerned that we grow in our faith in immaturity, not the devil. So these aren't temptations, they're tests. And in addition, when we return to this passage later, we'll see that James seems to think that his readers will assume that these tests are from God, Because when they're tempted in them, they might mistakenly accuse God of that. And they'll be wrong about that. But we'll get to that later. That's the first thing, though, that we need to understand here. God does test us. Second, we have to remember that though he tests us, God never tempts us. He never tempts us to sin. After Adam fell, he seemed to forget this fact, didn't he? This is what fallen people are like. Fallen beings, human beings, ever since have forgotten this fact, that God does not tempt us. Remember how Adam essentially blamed God for having given Eve to him, and then she was involved in leading him into sin? Remember what he said in Genesis 3.12 when he was confronted by God? The man said, the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me the tree and I ate. What's the implication there? I wouldn't have sinned if it weren't for that woman, and you're the one who gave her to me. That's essentially blaming God for tempting him. Now, God was testing him, but he wasn't tempting him. The devil, the serpent, did that. Adam had a hand in it too. However much he wanted to blame someone else. In fact, his sin was worse. Eve was deceived. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open. And so his deflection is even worse, isn't it? That's what fallen people are like. We'll blame just about anybody for our sin, including God. But it wasn't God who tempted sin, because he never tempted Adam to sin, rather, because he never tempts anyone to sin, ever. James makes this point quite clearly later on in James 1, when he says in James 1 verses 13 through 15, let no one say when he is tempted, and now he's shifted from using this language about testing, he knows it has two meanings, now he's shifted to the meaning of tempting, from testing. He's talked about testing, now he's shifted to tempting. And God's the tester, he's not the tempter. 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. 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." James won't even allow us the devil-made-me-do-it defense, right? That one's gone. You got enough in your own heart. Now, does the devil tempt? Yeah, he does. But in the end, we sin because we're sinners, not because he's a tempter. And I don't think James wants us to forget that. But he's shifted to using the terminology from the positive to the negative sense. He was using it, as I said before, in the positive sense, talking about testing early in the passage. But here's what he knows. He knows in the midst of testing, we're often tempted. And immature believers who know that God brings tests into our life, they know that much, might, when they're tempted in the middle of their testing, be tempted to accuse God of tempting them. And so he says, no, you can't go there. God brings tests in your life for your good, to mature you, to grow your faith. And if you're tempted in the midst of those, you've got yourself to blame for that, not God. He doesn't tempt anyone. And so don't ever think because you are tempted in the midst of a test that the temptation is God's fault. No, that's your fault, James is saying. Never accuse God. That would be another sin to do that. That would be blasphemy, slander against Him. He knows us well, doesn't He, James? He writes as someone who's lived the life of a Christian and battled sin, doesn't he? He knows where we go in our heads when we're not thinking straight, and he wants to prevent that to help us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He wants us never to think God, who tests us for our good, is himself in any way responsible for the temptations we may experience in the process of being tested by him. No. They all come, he says, from our own evil desires, as well as, he would grant, as well as demonic or satanic influence, which we'll see further in our study that Jesus has primarily in mind, although he agrees with James about the other, he has satanic temptation or demonic temptation primarily in mind in our prayer, in his model prayer. But this leads us to yet another important point to consider as we try to put all this in the proper Right? Scriptural context and get our minds right about all this, right? Third, we must remember that God does allow us to be tempted. And that's also not the same thing as tempting us. If he's testing us, as we've already seen, and he knows when he tests us, we might be tempted to sin because we're fallen and because the devil and his minions are around trying to tempt us all the time. He knows that's going to happen when he tests us. Well, then he's allowing that temptation to happen. That already logically flows from what we've seen. But there are other texts that make it quite explicit. Perhaps the greatest example, the clearest example of this, is our own Lord Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. It says in Matthew 4.1, Jesus was led up by the Spirit, referring to the Holy Spirit, into the wilderness to be tempted," and the Greek there makes it clear, in order to be tempted by the devil. The purpose the Holy Spirit had in mind in driving Jesus into the wilderness was in order for Jesus to be tempted by the devil. But it wasn't the Holy Spirit tempting Jesus. It was the devil. He was testing Jesus, but he wasn't tempting Him. What was the test? to expose him to this temptation, but put him in a position where he could be tempted. That's clearly what was happening. Not only did he allow him to be tempted, he led him into the wilderness for that very purpose. We're not surprised then that the Apostle Paul also teaches that God allows us to be tempted, as he made very clear in his first epistle to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10, 12 through 13, he says this, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. The Corinthians, as you recall, had a problem with arrogance and had become quite prideful. And they thought they were better than they were. And so he's reminding them again, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. And then he says, no temptation, there's Perasmus, has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you're able to bear it. When Paul says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we're able to bear, right? Does he not also indicate that God will allow us to be tempted within what we're able to bear with his help? Because he makes the way of escape. so that we won't fall under it. This means we must be trusting him. Someone once said, the will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you. Whoever said that was exactly right. The fourth thing we need to remember is that God does sometimes test us by allowing us to be tempted. We've already seen that, right? And I think that's what was happening with our Lord Jesus. So we begin here again with a couple of Old Testament examples that show this quite clearly. In Deuteronomy 13, one through three, if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you saying, let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with your heart and with all your soul." Here, God's desire is to test the Israelites by allowing them to be tempted by false prophets. He could just kill the false prophets, but He lets them come. His intention is to test them for their good in this process, but he's clearly allowing them to be tempted by these false prophets. We find a similar situation when we read about God's reason for allowing the pagan nations to remain in Canaan to test the Israelites. Remember, they came into the land of Canaan, and they took over the land of Canaan. And they weren't able to drive out all the nations that were there that God had ordered them to drive them out, right? And the reason they were to drive them out was primarily because there would be temptations, there would be a snare for them and a temptation to fall into idolatry, which happened over and over and over again. Well, the author of Judges, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, explains this to us a little bit. Beginning in Judges 2, verse 20. We read this, then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded my voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, so that through them I may test Israel. And in the Septuagint, that's Perazzo. This is our terminology that we talked about before. That I may test Israel, he says, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not. Therefore the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately, nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua. In fact, so he's telling us, in fact, that's why they hadn't been driven out by Joshua before. This was always God's intention, in other words. So God knew these nations would tempt Israel to sin, but he allowed such temptation to remain so that he might test them. God himself did not in any way tempt them to sin, however, but only allowed them to be tempted. As James would tell us, they sinned because they're sinners. So let's remember again what James said. We'll go back to that passage one more time, in which he emphatically asserted that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone himself to evil. James 1, verses 12 through 15, we read this, blessed is the man who endures temptation, or the ESV in the New American Standard here has endures under trial. There's something that happens that we've already seen before in James. He starts out talking about testing, and then in the midst of that, he shifts and uses the language that can refer to either testing or temptation. He used it in the positive sense of testing, and then he shifts to the negative sense of temptation. The New King James Version thinks that shift happens in verse 12. I think the New King James translators are wrong about that in this case. I think that the shift takes place in verse 13, and that's the assumption of the ESV, if you have it, or the New American Standard. So they both agree that both translations or translation committees of these different translations agree that he shifts from the positive to the negative sense. There's just a difference in which of the verses, 12 or 13. So we're gonna read it again as though it happened in verse 13. Then blessed is the man who endures under trial, or endures testing, right? For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. You see, it sounds like it should be the positive reference there. But clearly by verse 13, he's shifting to the negative sense. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. Now he can't mean there, let no one say when he is tested, I am tested by God, because his assumption throughout the passage is that God tests us. And that is perfectly in line with lots of Old Testament teaching as we've seen. So clearly in verse 13, he shifted. He knows when we are tested by God, we fall into temptation, and that one of the temptations is to blame God for the temptation, and he won't have it. So that's where the shift is. Let no one say then when he is tempted, peiradzo, our verb again, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone, as we saw before. So James is clearly relying upon the dual meaning of the word pirasmus and these verbs, pirazo, in order to make the point that the very testing of our faith that he'd spoken of earlier in the passage, which God brings about and which leads to our being approved, may also become times of temptation for us. But he just doesn't want us to make the mistake of thinking that the temptation comes from God, even though the testing does. Every time we're tested, it's not just God involved, it's us. We're the ones being tested. We're the author of the sin and the temptation in our own hearts. Unless, in certain circumstances, there's demonic influence, as we'll see, with which James would agree. This is a brief survey of the scriptural teaching concerning the issues of testing and temptation. This is my attempt to give us a more holistic understanding of how the Bible speaks about these issues of testing and temptation and what God's role is or is not in these things. This is a good mindset to have when we get back to what Jesus is talking about. Is Jesus then referring, when he says, lead us not into temptation, he uses perosmas, our translations are right to say he means temptation, not testing. Now, of course, there have been people on both sides of this issue. You won't find many of them, but there are those who think that Jesus is telling us to ask the Father not to lead us into times of testing. We know testing's for our good. We know you test us, Lord, but we're asking you not to. That's what they think Jesus must be meaning then. But that seems very unlikely, doesn't it? That Jesus could possibly mean that. After all, he's the one who said if we're gonna follow him, we have to take up our cross. He's the one who said that we can expect persecution and suffering if we follow him, which are trials and temptations, or rather trials and tests that God has in mind that become temptations to us, right? So frequently. He knows that. So I don't think he means that. I think the second option that most people agree with, that Jesus is telling us to ask the Father more specifically not to lead us into times of temptation. We don't mind being tested, Lord. Please don't let that become a temptation. That's a better way to put it. We want the good that comes from testing. We accept it if we're mature believers and we want what God wants for us to be Christ-like. We know trial's the right part of that. Through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God, as Paul says. We all know that if we're mature believers. And though it's hard, we are, You're like, fine with it, right? We just ask God, help us to endure it, right? And in it, don't let us be tempted. We don't mind testing. We don't like being tempted. And that's the option, that's the understanding reflected in most translations. The King James, the Legacy Standard Bible, the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible, you could list others. It's so clear he means temptation here. And it's also the most likely option given how he tells us to go on a break, but deliver us from the evil one. Okay, well, gotta have temptation in mind. So, although God may allow us to be tempted, we're taught by Jesus to ask him not to let us be tempted such that we might be overpowered, right, by the evil one. That's what he means when he says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That's what we don't want to happen. We don't want to be tempted such that somehow we succumb. And we become like, say, the Jews in Jesus' day who rejected him, and we're told in John 8 that Jesus said that they're sons of the devil, because they do the works of their father, the devil. We don't want to be like that. That's why we're praying this way. We don't want to fall into that hypocrisy. But this part, this last part of the petition, delivers from the evil one, brings up yet another question. Does Jesus teach us to ask God to deliver us from the evil one or to deliver us from evil? The New King James Version has the evil one. You may have some translations that say, but delivers from evil. The New King James says, but delivers from the evil one. It's a bit more specific. Does Jesus refer to evil then in general, or to a specific and personified worker of evil, namely the devil in particular, or Satan, as he's also known? I want to put to you that I'm convinced that he intends to refer to the evil one. i.e. Satan or the devil in particular. And of course, whenever he's referring to the devil and what he's doing, there's an assumption that his demonic forces are also involved, right? But he's the leader, so he's singled out here. And I think that this is true for a couple of reasons. First, Jesus used the article, the evil, and as well as a masculine form of the word. So I think it most likely refers to an evil person. A lot of in masculine terms, as the devil is in Scripture. And there's also the fact that earlier in the context, Jesus used a very similar Greek construction in a clear reference to a personal evildoer. You see that in Matthew 5.39, which we looked at in our previous study of the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, but I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. Well, I think he has an evil personal being in mind here as well, using the same kind of Greek. And this understanding also reflects other biblical teaching. For example, we have the teaching of the Apostle Paul concerning spiritual warfare that we're constantly engaged in as Christians. In Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 18, he says this, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." These are the very things that Jesus is assuming when he tells us to pray. lead us not into temptation, but delivers from the evil one. Another way of praying that is, help me put on my armor, and help me pray, and help me dress, right? Paul fills that out some more, right? But it's the same kind of thinking as Jesus had in mind. He says, therefore, in verse 13 of Ephesians 6, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, or the evil one. when Jesus was talking about, I think, in the Lord's Prayer. us pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Remember, we've seen this thread throughout the Lord's Prayer. We're not just praying individually for ourselves, we're praying for ourselves and our brothers and sisters in the Lord, all who call God Father as His adopted children. Paul's assuming the same thing, right? That we need to be praying always, not just for ourselves, But for all the saints, because they're in the same battle we're in. That's the very assumption that Jesus is making. In fact, there are ways in which you could see, if I'm understanding Jesus' statement correctly, Paul just expanding on what Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer. Notice how he focused on the word of God being the sword of the spirit, that offensive weapon. Go back and look at Matthew four, for example, and you look at the temptation of Jesus, the spirit led him to be tempted by the devil. What was Jesus' weapon? He hit him with the word of God, the word of God, the word of God, right? And that's exactly what Paul is saying we have to do. I don't think we'd be hard-pressed to say. In fact, we ought to assume, because Paul tells us very clearly that he learned all his gospel from the Lord Jesus. He got all this information from the Lord Jesus himself, simply expanding on what we see in the Lord's Prayer. The Apostles James and Peter also reflect the same understanding. For example, James goes on to write later in James 4, 7, therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And I said earlier, when we're tempted in the midst of testing, And we need to look for no further than ourselves for who to blame for temptation. But he also knows the devil is at work. And so he says, we got to resist the devil. It's not just our flesh we're battling. And Paul made that clear too. First Peter 5, 8, 9 says this, Peter says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith." That shield of faith is in play again. Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Never forget you're a part of a body, that you're all going through the same thing, right? And here, he sees that as an encouragement. If we need help, where do we turn then? to the Lord and to his people. That's the assumption. So we can see that it makes perfect sense for Jesus to teach us to pray that God will deliver us from the evil one, who is Satan. But even as important as this issue is, he doesn't want us to finish praying on this note. Instead, he wants us to finish praying with another reminder of the ultimate goal of our lives, which is to bring glory to God, and with the reminder, having mentioned the evil one, that although he is a mighty foe, and we can only resist him with God's help, that's why we're praying for God to preserve us from the devil, we don't have the power to resist him. He's too powerful for us. But the Holy Spirit can enable us to resist him, just as he empowered our Lord Jesus in his temptation. This is why he says, for yours is the kingdom, not the devil's. Yours is the power, not the evil one. Yours is the glory. One of the reasons we don't want to fall into temptation, we don't want that devil getting any glory that belongs to God. That's a good time to say amen. So he does. He says amen. The majority of Greek manuscripts actually contain this final phrase, which is why I'm including it here in my teaching, although some early manuscripts don't include it. And that's why many modern versions will leave it out and just put a text or footnote or sometimes put it in brackets and put a footnote or something like that. But I think it is best taken as genuine. I don't think there's any reason. I don't agree with their reasoning. I think there's some manuscripts that inadvertently left it out is what I think. But even if you're one of those people that says, well, I lean in the favor of those manuscripts that don't have it, you still have to admit that this is a biblical concept. taking it as genuine as I do, I find it very similar to other doxologies in Scripture, particularly 1 Chronicles 29, 10 through 11. Here we see, therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly, and David said, blessed are you, Lord God of Israel, our Father, calling God Father, forever and ever, for all Then He says, "'Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord.'" So we're seeing kingdom, power, glory language in David's prayer. "'Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You're exalted as head over all.' I think it may well be that our Lord Jesus, who is the Son of David, the Messiah who is to come, deliberately borrowed language from this prayer of David in giving us this model prayer. David referred to God as Father. Jesus takes that up and says, we call him our Heavenly Father. And how does he end the prayer? These issues, yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory, seizes on three of these things that also happen to be in David's prayer and gave us a model to pray. We're not surprised also then to find similar sentiments expressed later in a prayer of praise to Jesus our Lord in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 5.13 which says, and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. In other words, the same things you say of God the Father, they're saying in heaven of Jesus the Son. Who is God? In conclusion, I'll just point out a couple of things. I think C.S. Lewis was correct when he wrote this. And this is what I want us to walk away with when we are struggling under trials and when we are tempted. I want us to leave here with it emblazoned in our heads, to whom we must always turn. He writes this, C.S. Lewis, no man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it really is. Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is the only man who knows to the full what temptation means. Isn't that right? This is why I want to conclude with an encouragement to take all our struggles with temptation to Christ. I don't know about you, but if I want help in temptation, I want to go to the one person who's never yielded to temptation and never sinned, who always, under every temptation, came out victorious and without sin. I want that man to help me, and he is the Lord Jesus Christ, who the author of Hebrews says this about in Hebrews 2, 17 to 18. Therefore, in all things, our Lord Jesus is who is referring to had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. That means, and it was himself he offered as a wrath ending sacrifice. That's what the propitiation means. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. What's one of the reasons that Jesus took on human flesh and was tempted? So that we can know he can help us. There's always someone we can go to. Paul said there's always a way of escape. It's Jesus. He's our way of escape. Later in chapter four, verses 14 through 16, the author of Hebrews says this, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Remember Paul told the Corinthians, you're not going through any temptation, but such as is common to man, When Jesus went through all the temptations that are common to man, yet without sin, because he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. And so he says, let us therefore come boldly, confidently to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Sometimes when we're struggling with temptation, we're tempted wrongly to think we can't go to Jesus. And the author of Hebrews says, he's the only one you can go to. He's the only one who understands and has conquered every temptation. And you shouldn't be afraid to come before his throne of grace to ask his help. He did this to help you. Take advantage of it, confidently. He wants you to come to him for this help. as one who sympathizes with your weaknesses, as one who understands. So I couldn't finish talking about all this without ending on that. The Lord Jesus, who taught us to pray this prayer, is the one who fought every single battle about which we're praying and to whom we can turn. And he's God's answer to the prayer. in the end. Lord, we're praying you won't lead us into temptation. We know it's gonna come. Deliver us from the evil one. How's that gonna happen? Well, Jesus already died for us. We're already trusting Him as our Savior, and now we need to depend on Him as the one who beats the devil for us every single day and every single way. That's what we need to leave here with. Let's pray. Holy Father, I hope I've done a good job. I've tried hard to deal with some concepts that lie behind this prayer our Lord Jesus gave us that are confusing to lots of particularly immature believers. And I just pray, Lord, I have been able to effectively communicate a broad vision of scriptural teaching on these issues that will help us each to live more wisely as Christians, that will help us to trust you better. that will help us to understand better what you're doing and not blame you for things that aren't your fault, not pridefully try to dodge our own guilt, but just keep coming back to you, remembering that we have Jesus Christ as our high priest, who forever intercedes for us. He is at your right hand even now, interceding for each one of us. praying the most effective prayers that could ever be prayed and that are always heard on our behalf. Help us to cling to Him as we battle against sin and against Satan and his minions every single day, remembering that He is the source of our power. He is our champion. He is our defender. Help us always to feel confident to run to Him as our Savior. As we pray every day, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We ask these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you once again for your kind attention. Had quite a theology lesson today. Good hearers of the Word.