[0:00] Please take your Bibles again and turn to the book of Mark, second book of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and chapter 14.
[0:13] Mark chapter 14, and we'll start reading from verse 27. This passage is directly following the Lord's Supper and the portrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.
[0:24] Mark 14, verse 27. And I'll read through to verse 42. This is the word of God. You will all fall away, Jesus told them, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
[0:42] But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Peter declared, even if I fall away, I will not. I tell you the truth, Jesus answered. Today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times.
[0:58] But Peter insisted emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the others said the same. They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.
[1:14] He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said to them. Stay here and keep watch.
[1:27] Going a little further, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will.
[1:42] Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
[1:55] The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
[2:08] Returning the third time, he said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Enough, the hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[2:20] Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer. Amen. Let's hear the word of God preached. Teach us to pray, Lord.
[2:33] That was the request of the disciples to the Lord Jesus, and we have been making it our own request. It's here for us in God's word.
[2:46] And we're studying his answer given in the Lord's prayer. He's teaching us how to pray.
[2:57] When you pray, say. So it's a prayer that can be said as written, but it's also used as a pattern and a guide or an outline that identifies for us the kind of petitions that are most important that we dare not forget as we pray.
[3:16] Lord, teach us to pray and give us a heart. Give us a heart that will move us to pray like this. Well, we come today to the last petition of the Lord's prayer as found in Luke 11.
[3:32] Lead us not into temptation. Now, in Matthew chapter 6, the Lord adds a phrase.
[3:45] Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The additional phrase states positively what the first phrase states negatively.
[3:58] Don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So this is a prayer for our protection from temptation and sin.
[4:08] You'll notice this petition is closely related to the one that goes before. Having prayed for the forgiveness of our sins already committed, we then immediately pray to be kept from further sinning against our God.
[4:28] Our concern is not just to be forgiven of our sins only to return to them again. No, any confession of sin that is sincere will have this equal concern to be kept from sinning in the future.
[4:44] And so this reproves those who only want pardon for sin. They're not interested in the power and protection to be delivered from continuing in sin.
[4:55] Not at all. They don't want to stop sinning. They just want forgiveness as they go on sinning. And that is a sure mark of a hypocrite.
[5:07] So this petition proves the genuineness of the one going before it. Forgive us our sins, even as we forgive those who sin against us.
[5:18] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Well, several truths then about temptation. The first lesson, temptation to sin is not sin.
[5:32] Even Jesus was tempted to sin, Hebrews 4.15. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. So we must say, temptation to sin is not sin.
[5:45] Luther put it in his own homespun way. We can't help the birds from flying overhead, but we can keep them from nesting in our hair. We can't live in this world without being tempted to sin.
[5:59] But Christian, we can, by the grace of God in the gospel, say no to temptation. We can, by grace, submit to God and resist the devil.
[6:11] So think of that distinction. Temptation to sin is not sin. So perhaps we could say, as David was on the roof of his palace looking out over Jerusalem, that it was only a temptation and not a sin when his eyes bumped into bathing Bathsheba.
[6:36] Not a sin, but the temptation to sin. It was the second look. It was the lingering look, the intentional, lustful look that sparked the flame into which he entered into the temptation, so intensifying the power of temptation over him, inflaming his own evil desires that he could not and did not resist.
[7:03] You see, the Lord's way of escape in the temptation was to look away and walk away. He did not take the way of escape, but he entered into the temptation and fell.
[7:18] So even Jesus was tempted. He had no evil desires within to be sparked. But yet, the devil did plant thoughts into his mind as he does ours.
[7:31] That like us, Jesus had to resist and repel. And unlike us, he did so immediately and continuously, giving no place to the devil or his temptation.
[7:49] So James 1.13 tells us point blank that God cannot be tempted by evil. Well, Jesus is God, yes, but he's also man. And as man, he can be tempted and was tempted.
[8:05] Matthew 4.2 says that Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days in the desert. And when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him, but only for an opportune time.
[8:20] And then he was right back after him, nipping at his heels, tempting him all through his life and ministry. And then especially so in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary, when all hell broke loose against him in what Jesus called Satan's hour and the power of darkness, Luke 22.53.
[8:42] So the first lesson is temptation to sin is not sin. The second lesson is a little more complicated, so follow me.
[8:57] It's this. God leads people into situations where they are tempted, but does not himself tempt them to sin. Matthew 4.1 says after Jesus' baptism, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
[9:21] So God the Holy Spirit did the leading of Jesus where? Into the desert for what? To be tempted by who? Not God, but the devil.
[9:32] God himself never tempts. James 1.13. When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, neither does he tempt anyone.
[9:47] So lay that down as a sure truth of God's word. God doesn't tempt, but he does lead you into situations where you are tempted, and the tempting comes from the devil.
[10:04] God only tests you, never tempting or enticing you to evil.
[10:15] That's the devil's work. God tests and Satan tempts. It's the same Greek word, by the way. But when God's doing it, he's doing it as a test of you, not trying to pull you down to evil.
[10:31] No, all of that enticement is from the devil himself. Same event, two different goals and aims.
[10:42] God testing your faith. Satan enticing you to evil. And even when he's doing that, Satan is God's Satan. And even when tempting you, he's under God's control.
[10:57] He's on God's leash, and he can only go as far as God allows him to go, as we learn in the book of Job. That's why God can assure us in 1 Corinthians 10.13 that he will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to bear, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape so that we may be able to stand up under it without falling into the temptation and sin.
[11:28] The third lesson has to do with the source of temptation. Who is it? If God does not tempt us, who does? Well, we begin with Satan.
[11:40] Satan. He's called the tempter. Not a tempter. The tempter. Matthew 4.3. 1 Thessalonians 3.5.
[11:51] And the second line of this prayer, as it's found in Matthew's gospel, is deliver us not just from evil, but from the evil one. That's the better translation.
[12:03] It's not just an impersonal force out there. It's an evil one. It's the devil. So what do we know about the tempter, Satan? Several things.
[12:16] He's a supernatural enemy. He's a fallen angelic being with powers far greater than ours. And he has many other fallen angels that fell with him to do his tempting work with him.
[12:33] And we're no match for his strength. Luther's song reminds us, on earth is not his equal. He's a supernatural enemy. He's an unseen enemy.
[12:46] And because we can't see him, we're likely to forget about him. And no enemy has more advantage than a forgotten enemy, out of sight, out of mind.
[12:59] He's an unseen enemy. He's also a hateful enemy. You know, he hates all mankind. He wants them all in hell. But he especially hates you who are the children of God.
[13:14] And he hates you because you have left his kingdom and sworn fidelity to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And so you've got a bullseye on your forehead.
[13:29] He wants you in hell. If he can't do that, he wants to make your life a hell on earth. He wants to make you miserable. He wants to steal your joy and peace and hope and assurance, your love and trust and obedience to God and make you a dishonor to him.
[13:46] He's a hateful enemy. He's a lying enemy. Jesus called him the father of lies. More deceitful, more tricky, more subtle than we are wise.
[14:02] He's even able to transform himself into an angel of light. He's a white devil. He's a friend, not a foe.
[14:14] A speaker of the truth. Even quoting scripture. Painting sins as virtues and virtues as sins. Pointing out the way that seems right to us.
[14:29] He's a liar. He's a deceitful enemy. And then he's an experienced enemy. He's been honing his strategies for thousands of years.
[14:41] He knows human nature through and through. He knows you better than you know yourself. He and his agents have been watching you, marking you.
[14:53] And with that knowledge of you, he matches his temptations to your particular weaknesses, your personality, your own evil desires, your fears, your pride, your desire, your love of self, your love of money, your love of men's praises, whatever is unique to you specifically.
[15:18] He matches the temptation to you. Presenting the bait and hiding the hook, Thomas Brooks says. And like a good fisherman who knows when the fish are biting, he knows when to tempt you.
[15:33] When you are most vulnerable to the temptation. He knows where to tempt you. He knows how to tempt you. He's able to shoot tempting thoughts into your mind like fiery darts that stick there and are hard to get out.
[15:49] I wonder, is anyone yet feeling the need to pray, leave us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one? But Satan is not alone in tempting us.
[16:03] He makes use of two other enemies of ours. Secondly, who tempts us? The world. The world. We know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one, John says in 1 John 5, 19.
[16:17] That by God's permission, Satan presently reigns over this world system. He's the mastermind behind it all. He's got his slaves doing his bidding.
[16:30] He's got a world of unbelievers to spread his lies, to normalize sin, to mock holiness, to scorn biblical morality, to pervert God's created design.
[16:45] And he uses the world's peer pressure and persecution to scare us into silent conformity with its ways. He uses the vanity fair of allure to allure us into its short-lived pleasures of sin.
[17:00] And he knows how to take God's good gifts and turn them into God's substitutes that draw you away from God rather than to Him.
[17:10] Oh yes, the world is a source of temptation. And then there's one even worse and that is our own flesh. Our own flesh indwelling sin that according to Romans 7 still remains in every single believer, the Apostle Paul included.
[17:28] This is the enemy within. The Trojan horse inside the city that is always ready to throw the gates open and to let sin in.
[17:43] The traitor within our own evil desires that love what the devil is fishing with, that love what the world is offering. And that's why James says, when tempted, no one should say God is tempting me, but each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he's dragged away and enticed.
[18:06] You see, if we didn't love what was on the hook we wouldn't bite. It's our own evil desires. They're like gunpowder just waiting for a spark from Satan's temptation to ignite.
[18:21] Our Lord says that it's from within, out of the heart, that comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
[18:40] All these evils come from inside. Matthew 7, 20 to 23. And so Paul has to confess in Romans 7, that I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing.
[18:57] This is the flesh that lives within you. And it's in league with the world and the devil. It wages war against the spirit. Ephesians 5, 16 to 18.
[19:08] It's still as anti-Christ and anti-God as it ever was. Your flesh has not improved. If God's for it, your flesh is against it.
[19:19] If God's against it, your flesh is for it. And that's what keeps you from doing the good that you wish you could do in perfectly obeying him. For when I would do good, evil, evil is present with me.
[19:32] That's because we carry it around within us, in our own hearts. It's a humbling thing to know that there's a part of me that loves the lie more than the truth of God.
[19:46] It's a humbling thing to know there's a part of me that loves sin more than holiness. self more than God. The easy wrong more than the hard right that loves my way more than God's way that has an itch for the forbidden fruit.
[20:01] Right here, the enemy within. And so these three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, they're not working separately, just out there attacking on their own.
[20:13] No, they're a trinity of evil working in league, in cooperation together against us. That's what magnifies and multiplies the power of temptation.
[20:26] It says, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and Iran, and the other enemies around Israel, they're all working in league together against her. And that's the way it is with our enemies.
[20:41] Though how we then need to cry, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. You remember on the night of Jesus' arrest, He prayed for His disciples in John 17.
[20:55] Now, get the picture. Jesus has walked on this earth for 33 years. He's lived with these men three years. And He's now leaving His disciples.
[21:08] And no one knows better than Jesus that this vile world is no friend to grace to help us on to God. He was tempted like we are. He knows the strength, the deceitfulness of the enemy.
[21:22] He's fought Him toe-to-toe. And He also knows the weaknesses and vulnerability of His disciples. He's seen them fall time after time over three years.
[21:34] And so, the very first petition as He lifts His cry to heaven for these men is, Holy Father, protect through Your name these whom You've given Me.
[21:47] Protect them from the evil one. You see, knowing our danger, that's how He prays for us. And in the Lord's prayer, He teaches us to pray for our protection.
[22:05] Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. In other words, we're taught to pray even as He prays. So, the sober realities of the tempter, His supernatural power, are meant, this is meant to empty us of any false security, of any self-confident presumption.
[22:29] This enemy brought down Adam and Eve in the holy environment of Eden. This enemy has brought down the greatest kings of Israel, David and Solomon. The greatest apostles found themselves outdone by this tempter.
[22:43] And do we think that we are a sufficient match for Him? Paul says, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls.
[22:56] So, Peter, he's a helpful case study given to us in Scripture for this very reason. He has all the scars from this roaring lion that he could never forget.
[23:09] And with it, he warns us about this devil as a roaring lion being on the prowl to see whom he can devour. So, as the Scripture was read this morning, on the night of Jesus' arrest, he told the twelve that he was leaving them.
[23:27] Peter's sad to hear it. And he's also sad to learn that he could not go with Jesus wherever it was that he was going. And Jesus then told them, you will all fall away on account of me.
[23:42] And Peter replied, even if all should forsake you, Lord, I never will. And Jesus said, I tell you the truth, today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows, you yourself will disown me three times.
[23:56] And Peter insisted emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the others said the same.
[24:09] Now, we need to be clear, Peter was no hypocrite. He's not pretending some loyalty that he did not truly feel at this point. He was at that moment so full of love for Jesus that he can't even imagine himself falling and denying his Savior.
[24:28] We just sang it, if ever I love thee, my Jesus tis now. That's what Peter's saying. And I can't imagine, it will never happen, Lord.
[24:41] But you see, at that moment, he's not facing temptation, is he? He has no desire to disown Jesus and no opportunity to do so.
[24:52] No, he's drinking in his Savior's love and he's loving him in return. But this same Peter, just a few hours later, will be tempted by the devil and will find his love for Jesus as weak as water and in the right circumstances with just the right people around him, he will have both the opportunity and the desire to forsake Christ, to disown him.
[25:18] And he did so three times, even swearing an oath that he did not know him. This is why it always scares me when I hear someone say, I would never do that with disdain, looking down their nose at another.
[25:35] I would never do that. Well, I know they feel that way at the moment, but they don't know themselves very well. They don't know just how quickly they would fold in the right circumstances of a strong temptation.
[25:52] Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. That was Peter. Peter, take heed. Peter, watch out.
[26:04] And sure enough, just minutes later in Gethsemane, Jesus warned him again. He told his disciples, keep watch. And then he went a bit further to pray to his heavenly father and when he returned, he found the disciples sleeping.
[26:16] Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Could you not watch for one hour? Watch and pray. Why? So that you do not enter into temptation. Lord, lead us not into temptation.
[26:29] Peter, why weren't you praying? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Temptation is coming. Pray that you not enter into it. You should have prayed.
[26:43] The Lord's prayer, what he told him to pray earlier. Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. But instead, he's sleeping and he fell into the temptation and sin.
[26:54] He was confident that he could stand and therefore he fell. He thought he was stronger than he really was and he thought the temptation was weaker than it really proved to be.
[27:07] So this petition, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. It is a confession of our weakness. It's a confession of just how vulnerable we are and a plea, therefore, for God to deliver us.
[27:25] It's the prayer of one who knows that left to myself, I'll fall. Do you know that? Just left to yourself, you will fall.
[27:38] That's a given. Amen. That the only thing keeping you from falling are those everlasting arms, that grip of the Father and of the Son.
[27:54] Father, don't leave me to myself. You know I'm so weak that if you don't hold me up, I'll fall. So help me. Hold me up.
[28:05] Keep me from falling. Protect me. Guard me. Deliver me from the evil one. That's the way the psalmist prayed. We've been studying in Sunday school something of Psalm 119. Let me read some of the prayers from Psalm 119 and then there's another from Psalm 141 and 142.
[28:24] These are the statements. This is how the psalmist prayed. Do not let me stray from your commands. I feel something inside of me, pulling me away from your commands.
[28:38] Do not let me stray from your commands. Keep me from deceitful ways. Oh, I'm too easily deceived. I've gone wrong directions.
[28:50] Keep me from being deceived. Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things.
[29:01] They're attracted to worthless things. Turn them away. Lord, deliver me. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil.
[29:12] Oh, Lord, it's being pulled. It's being pulled. Don't let my heart be drawn to what's evil. Rescue me from enemies too strong for me.
[29:24] You see, he's asking God not to leave him to himself, but to act on his behalf and deliver him from temptation. And so, in this prayer, we're asking the Lord to keep us out of those tempting situations that would lead to us entering in and falling into sin.
[29:43] Keep my desire for sin and the opportunity for sin miles apart. You know, sometimes the desire for sin is stronger than other times, but the opportunity is not there, and so we're kept.
[29:59] Other times, the opportunity for sin is right there under our noses, but the desire for sin at that point is not strong, and we're kept. So, we're asking God keep those miles apart.
[30:13] Don't let me fall into those overpowering temptations where those two things meet, desire and opportunity. So, this prayer comes from a heart that dreads sinning against God.
[30:26] One whose greatest grief is that he sins against the one who redeems him. And so, knowing something of our weakness, we don't trust ourselves to be in temptation.
[30:38] We pray to be protected from temptation, either by being kept from it altogether or by being strengthened in it. Well, enough talk about the powerful tempter and our weakness.
[30:54] In this petition, Jesus wants us to know that we have in heaven a father who is greater than he who is in the world. And that's why he tells us to pray to him.
[31:08] Yes, we're no match for Satan. That's true. But he's no match for your father in heaven. 2 Peter 2.9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
[31:20] He knows where you live, brother. He knows where you live, sister, in a wicked world with a sly devil. And he's able to deliver you. He's not only able, he's willing to deliver you.
[31:33] Would Jesus actually teach us to pray this? Father, deliver us from the evil if he wasn't able or willing to do so? That's ludicrous. He's no deceiver.
[31:45] He is willing and able to deliver. So ask him and he will. Jesus is teaching us. He knows how to keep your desires and opportunities for sin apart.
[31:57] Did you ever think that this could be the reason why some of you didn't get your number one choice for college? Why you didn't get that job, that promotion that you were looking for?
[32:09] Could it not be that your father in heaven was keeping desire and opportunity, that there were some dangers in those things that he kept you from lest you fall?
[32:26] We don't know the half of the times that we've been delivered from temptations too strong for us. We know we have one in heaven who does deliver us from temptation, shielding us during special times of vulnerability.
[32:42] How many ways of escape has he opened up for us? How many times have we been distracted from the temptation? Strengthened just in time so that when it came we didn't give into it.
[32:58] We did bear up and resist and resist and resist again. We've been protected. So ask him daily.
[33:09] Keep me. Protect me. Deliver me from the evil one. You know, sometimes God does let us fall, doesn't he? Just like Peter.
[33:21] But when he does there's a good reason for it. Peter came out better in the end. Yes, he had the scars on him. Yes, he walked with a spiritual limp the rest of his life in certain ways.
[33:37] But he came out the better for it. You don't find Peter self-confident anymore. We find him confident in the one who cares for him and pleads with him to deliver him from temptation and he warns us then in his letters to do the same.
[33:57] Believers, we even gain from our losses. So blessed is our position in Christ. So our response to the tempter and his temptations, Jesus says, is to pray. Pray.
[34:08] But there's something else to do as Jesus told Peter in Gethsemane. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. You know, it's tough to walk with one leg, isn't it?
[34:22] So God gave us two. We need both. And likewise, we were never meant to pray without watching or to watch without praying. They're the two legs of walking with God, of resisting temptation.
[34:39] We watch and we pray. We need both to watch as if the outcome dependent upon us and our watchfulness and yet to pray knowing that it all depends upon God's strengthening might with us.
[34:57] So we need to watch against the occasions of sin, the places of temptation, the persons, the activities that have proved to be such a problem for us in the past.
[35:11] We need to not needlessly expose ourselves to temptations. And if you pray for God to deliver you from temptations and then intentionally put yourself in the path of temptations, you're just mocking God with your prayer.
[35:27] No, the man with an open keg of gunpowder strapped to his chest will try to stay as far away as he can from fire lest a spark should ignite what is within his bucket.
[35:39] And so your deliverance from pornography is to be matched with watchfulness against the occasions of temptation. You don't pray for deliverance and then surf the net unfiltered.
[35:56] If you don't want to get burned, you don't go near the fire. The father says to his son, you don't even go near her house. You take a detour. Don't even be found in the way of temptation when you can rightfully flee it as Joseph fled and left his garment behind.
[36:19] Jesus says if your right eye is the thing that's causing you to sin, then pluck it out. It's better, he says, to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. So we're to take radical measures of surgery, cutting things out of our lives that are temptations that we keep falling in.
[36:39] If you spend too much time on your electronic device, there's a timer on it. Set it and stick to it. Life is too short to fritter your life away on trifles.
[36:51] There's a kingdom to advance. There are prayers to be lifted up to heaven. There are people to serve. There are Bibles to be read and studied and memorized. There are duties to be left undone or not half done.
[37:04] And so we're to mortify sin. We're to put to death the misdeeds of the body. We're to murder them. Romans 13, 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh.
[37:21] The flesh is a hungry beast and you don't satisfy it by throwing it through. Food. You only make it hungry for more. So God is saying put on the Lord Jesus and don't make any provision.
[37:35] Don't even throw so much as a bone its way. Or as J. Adams says, don't buy groceries for the flesh. You starve that flesh to death. Not feeding it.
[37:47] Romans 13, 14. John Owen says, take your sins to Christ for the killing of them. Yes, this one who's teaching us how to pray.
[38:04] The believer always has someone to go to in every temptation, an ever-present help in time of trouble. You know, the Lord Jesus is no longer on earth teaching the 12 to pray, is he?
[38:20] No, he's been from there. He's gone on to the cross where he was triumphant over temptation and sin and Satan and death in the grave.
[38:33] He rose victorious over death and ascended back into heaven where he now reigns. Where? At the throne of God that rules over all things.
[38:44] That's where this Jesus is. And believers, he's saying in this petition, I'm here for you now. I'm here for you as your great high priest.
[38:56] I know all about the power of Satan's temptations. That's why I became like you in every way except for sin in order that I might be your merciful and faithful high priest.
[39:08] And because I myself suffered when I was tempted, I'm able to help you who are being tempted. I know what it's like. And I know not only all about Satan's powerful temptations, I also know all about your weaknesses and your failures.
[39:24] I've seen every one of them. And don't ever think I'm a high priest who's unable to sympathize with your weaknesses. No, my loving heart pities you in your weakness before such an enemy.
[39:38] I'm on your side in this battle. And I'm here for you. And I have what you need. Mercy to give you. Grace to help you in your time of temptation.
[39:49] I have both pardon and power for you. So come and get it. Approach my throne of grace. Not with timidity, but with boldness.
[40:02] Confident that you have one here who sympathizes with you. Who pities you and has power to help you. Pray to be delivered from the temptations of the evil one.
[40:18] That you might be strengthened and stand up. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
[40:30] So that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to take your stand, to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand. My friend, if you're not in Christ today, that means you don't know Him as your Lord and Savior and He doesn't know you as one of His sheep, then you're on your own and you don't have a chance against the enemy of your soul.
[40:58] You're left to your own strength, which before Him is weakness and He's got you right where He wants you. Believing His lies, you're back toward Jesus and on that broad road that's leading to hell.
[41:15] Turn. Come to Christ. Confess your sin. Ask Him to forgive you and save you. And He will. And then in Christ, you will have Him fighting your battles with you and for you.
[41:29] In Christ, you will be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power so that when the smoke clears from that last field of battle, you will be found still standing, kept, held fast, safe in the arms of Jesus.
[41:51] Let's not miss the point of this petition. Why is it in this prayer? Why is this the prayer Jesus is teaching us? Yes, because our enemies and their temptations are strong.
[42:05] And yes, because our weaknesses are great. But more than that, it is here to teach us that we have one in heaven to help us. I want you to go home with that.
[42:19] Let these other things, the power of temptation and your weakness, let it squeeze out of you this petition. Lord, don't lead me into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[42:31] Thank you, Lord Jesus, for teaching us this petition. Thank you for telling us that we have a Father in heaven who's more than willing and able to answer this petition.
[42:44] That both you and He holds us fast in the palms of your hands. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I know them and I give them eternal life and they will never perish.
[42:59] We thank you for those sweet promises. Forgive us, Lord, for praying and then skipping our way into temptation's snare. Oh, teach us to pray with all of our hearts and then to watch with all of our hearts.
[43:15] Thank you that you're ever willing and ready to save us, to deliver us. Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His presence without fault and with great joy to the only God our Savior, the glory and majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ before all time, today, and forevermore.
[43:42] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.