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Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
This morning, we are continuing our study on the Lord's prayer. We will be looking at the last petition there. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And I want to go ahead and say at the start that I'm not entirely sure what Jesus means by this. Just what you wanna hear for the pastor who's about to preach on it.
Joel Brooks:But, you know, each week, I get up here and I I stand behind the pulpit or let turn. And I want you to have confidence in the things that I say, that what I'm saying is true, that I know what I'm talking about. And in order to ensure this, what it means is ever there's times where I'm not quite sure, I probably need to let you guys know, this is one of those times. I'm not quite sure. I think I get the general gist of this, but the more I have studied this prayer, the more I I'm realizing that there just likely is another layer underneath this that has not quite come into focus.
Joel Brooks:And so I'm glad to get to go with this, go through this with you guys. And the reason that this is such a hard text is there's a lot of oddities when you come to this petition. And let me just go through a few of these oddities before we we read it together and say the Lord's prayer together. But for starters, this is the only petition in which we're asking God not to do something. All the others were asking him to do something, but here, we're asking God not to do something, which is a little odd.
Joel Brooks:And it's especially odd when we consider what we're asking him not to do. Lead us into temptation. Doesn't that kind of feel like God wants to lead us into temptation, and we have to ask him then not to? Is that really the God that we worship? One who wants to lead us there?
Joel Brooks:Another part of this prayer that is unusual, comes in light of what Jesus taught us to pray right before this, which was forgive us our sins. So Jesus teaches us to pray for forgiveness first. Which means he knows that we're going to be tempted and we're going to fall into sin and need to ask for forgiveness. So Jesus already anticipates that there's going to be times in which God doesn't answer our prayer. That we are led into temptation, and that we are not delivered from evil.
Joel Brooks:We participate in it. That just seems a little odd that he would teach us through prayer a prayer that at least it looks like at times, God might not answer, because we will most certainly sin. And then a final oddity, at least the final one I'm gonna share with you, that Jesus was clearly led into temptation. We'll look at this as we go through the gospel of Mark, but but the gospels record this. After Jesus was baptized, you read that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil.
Joel Brooks:So the Spirit of God clearly led Jesus to be tempted. I could go on with a few more oddities, or maybe we could just call them mysteries about this text. But I wanted you to know this from the start that I think there's different layers and levels to this text that we're just probably gonna begin mining into. But let's go ahead and dig into that this week. There's several several passages of scripture I want to read through.
Joel Brooks:I'm gonna begin reading in first Peter, and we'll go down there. They're in their worship guide. And then we'll all say the Lord's Prayer together. 1st Peter 412. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes to you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Joel Brooks:1st Peter 6 through 7. In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while. If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Matthew 26 verse 36. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane.
Joel Brooks:And He said to His disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with Him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and he prayed, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Joel Brooks:Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And He came to the disciples and He found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, so could you not watch with me 1 hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the Lord. If you would pray with me the Lord's prayer. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Joel Brooks:Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. So one of my first memories of deliberately choosing to sin comes from when I was around 4 or 5 years old.
Joel Brooks:My mom, she assures me I sinned many times before then. But this is the first time I have a memory of it. And my mom was gracious enough to actually take a picture of it at the time and put it in the scrapbook. So I have documented Joel's first conscious sin. I don't know what you have in your scrapbooks, but that's what I have in mind.
Joel Brooks:So we were at Stone Mountain, Georgia. We were at the lake. Our whole family was. I wanted to get into the water. And my mom and dad said no.
Joel Brooks:They didn't want me to get my clothes wet. So I immediately, even as a 4 5 year old, I saw the loophole. Like, oh, so I could get in and not get my clothes wet. And so, I just kinda hiked up my pants, and I just started wading in there. And I just kept getting deeper and deeper and giving myself quite a wedgie.
Joel Brooks:But I mean, I'm going in. And then of course, eventually I fall. And so I get my clothes completely wet. My mom gets a camera, takes a picture for every document of Joel's first conscious sin. So here's the question.
Joel Brooks:Did my parents lead me into temptation? I mean, here's the truth. I would have never sinned, except they drove me there. They drove me there. They forgot my bathing suit.
Joel Brooks:And then they decided to set up a picnic right at the lake. I would have never had the chance to sin unless my parents did that. So did they lead me into temptation? What about Adam and Eve? Did God lead them into temptation?
Joel Brooks:I mean, why did he put that dang tree in the middle of the garden? Who puts a tree with forbidden fruit there? I mean, if you're gonna put a tree with forbidden fruit, put it the outer edge of the garden. You know, behind the crab apple tree or something like that. Why put it in the middle of the garden that they're gonna see every day and be tempted by?
Joel Brooks:Did God lead them into temptation? Or was it a test? Was it a test or was it a temptation? And if so, is there any difference between the 2? It's actually a hard question to answer.
Joel Brooks:The word that is translated as temptation is the exact same word that's translated as trial or test throughout the Greek or throughout the New Testament. It's the word, parasmos. And it is the exact same word. Test, trial, temptation. Only context decides how we are to translate that word.
Joel Brooks:And so it's translated as trials in James 1:2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. It's translated as test in Hebrews 11 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And it's translated as temptation in James 113.
Joel Brooks:Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. So depending on how you translate that word, it can have a positive or a neutral or a more negative leaning. Only the context dictates how it's interpreted.
Joel Brooks:But I think the truth is every single day, we all go through a parasmus. I'd like to use the word tested of all three of those. We all go through test every moment of every day. Let me give you an example, a few examples of maybe a test. Imagine you have a boss who wants you to ignore, maybe a federal regulation, Just kinda look the other way at a certain federal regulation in order that the company might maximize its profits.
Joel Brooks:And then, of course, you'll reap some of the benefits of that. It's a test. You're being tempted to just please your boss and to not break the law. You're being tempted at the possibility of a larger bonus. But then, of course, there's this immense pressure during this test that makes it a trial.
Joel Brooks:It's a very trying time. Let me give you another example. What if you borrow a friend's car? And as you're driving, you hear your phone ding. You get some text.
Joel Brooks:And so you decide just to give it a little look. And you look, and it's, you know, some group text with a a cat and a birthday cake or whatever it is. You know, meme there. And it distracts you just for a little bit. You veer off the road, and when you veer back on, you nail a pothole.
Joel Brooks:You don't get a flat tire or anything, but you kinda notice the car's drifting left now. The alignment's a little off. Do you tell your friend? Or do you just ignore it? It's a test.
Joel Brooks:I was tested yesterday at Walmart. The self checkout line. The great test we all go through. So easy to fail that test. So I check out and I'm leaving.
Joel Brooks:And I made it past their security, you know, with the receipt in my hand. And then I looked and I realized, oh, I don't think I paid for the frozen pizzas. But once again, I'd already made it past the security. To test. I turned around, I went back.
Joel Brooks:And I was like, I I need to I don't think I paid for these. Actually, I had to get back in line to go back and pay for these things. When I was in seminary, my final exam in ethics had one question. Write down the percentage of the reading you did for this class. That will be your final grade for the class.
Joel Brooks:Like, come on. I mean and the thing is we all get the paper. No one instantly turns it in. There's just a groan. People like as people are just wrestling internally, I remember just trying to define read.
Joel Brooks:What does read really mean anyway? Like, is read just like, you know, you glance? Like, if I just flip through it, was that reading? And then I really was trying to settle on, did I read 91% or 92% of my reading? Because that was the difference between an a minus and an a.
Joel Brooks:And I really wrestled. It was a test. That test was a test. You go through tests like this all the time. You find yourself in a situation where you're being tempted to do wrong.
Joel Brooks:It's a very trying moment for you. And if you pass the test, though, it reveals a strength in you. It's an encouraging moment for you. It grows your faith. But if you fail the test, you see it more as a temptation that caused you to sin.
Joel Brooks:Abraham was led through a test like this. We read about it in Hebrews chapter 11. By faith, when he was tested, same word, or tempted or tried, He offered up Isaac. And can you imagine how hard that test was? If this is the kind of things that God would tell me during a quiet time, I would just quit having quiet times in the morning if you don't tell me this is what you have to do.
Joel Brooks:No. I mean, being asked to tie up and to kill your own child is a unbelievably hard test. No one chooses willingly to go into a test like that. I don't care how strong you are, how confident you are. You're not like, yes, Lord, please test me like this.
Joel Brooks:No, you want not to be led into temptation. You don't wanna have that test. I'm sure Abraham didn't want it, but nevertheless, God led him into this test and he came through a much stronger person. He came through it with an even greater trust in God. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, God stops him.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't kill his child. Stops him at the last moment and provides for him another sacrifice. So we got to see God as his provider. Would you ever choose to go through a test like that? No.
Joel Brooks:It's why you pray, lead me not into to a test. But looking back, are you thankful for the test you've gone through? Yes. They grew you. Now, most of us are not gonna have huge tests like that.
Joel Brooks:You're not gonna be asked to sacrifice one of your kids. You're not gonna be asked to sacrifice one of your kids. Most of our tests are much smaller. I like to think of them as quizzes. You're given a lot of little quizzes throughout the day.
Joel Brooks:Quizzes are designed to prepare you for the bigger test. So when you study and you pass the small quizzes, it grows you in confidence that when the tests come, you're going to do well. But if you fail at these little quizzes, there's no confidence in the tests that are to come. Let me give you an example of some of the smaller tests. I'm gonna pick a really non controversial example.
Joel Brooks:We're just gonna talk about whether you wear a mask during a pandemic. I'm not. No. There's no way. I was just setting you up.
Joel Brooks:I'm actually gonna just talk about tithing. I just wanted you to first have a lot of fear. And now tithing doesn't seem so bad, does it? Let's talk about tithing. Imagine you're a teenager who just gets paid $40 to babysit.
Joel Brooks:Do you tithe that money? I mean, it's only $40. You know, you're just a teenager. It's also never gonna get easier. I mean, you're not taxed on it.
Joel Brooks:It's not like you're paying rent. It's as easy as it's gonna get to test. A little quiz. Or what about when you graduate from college, you get your first job, you get your 1st paycheck, do you tithe on that? You've got a lot of student loans to pay off.
Joel Brooks:Now you are paying rent. You're paying insurance. You've got lots of bills. Do you tithe? Or do you wait till you get more income?
Joel Brooks:It's a quiz. It's a test. The thing is, if you fail that test, you should not the The less percentage you give? Well, these are just examples of some small quizzes, small tests that happen moment after moment after moment all throughout the day. Perhaps we could better understand the Lord's prayer this way.
Joel Brooks:Not lead me not into temptation, but would you deliver me through all the temptations, all the tests that are gonna bombard me today? Because they're everywhere, And they all matter. And whenever these tests come, know that suffering and pain accompany them. Abraham, I guarantee, was in absolute agony as he was tying up his child thinking what he had to do. He was certainly tempted.
Joel Brooks:Tempted to disobey God, go back down that mountain, and just enjoy his cushy lifestyle that he had before. Tests are painful. That's why we don't like them. They hurt. But hear me.
Joel Brooks:Pain is never the enemy during a time of testing. Sin is. Evil is. This is where the second part of this petition really sheds light and clarifies the first part. Lead me not into temptation or into a trial or to a test, but deliver us from evil.
Joel Brooks:Now, if you only had the first part of that petition, you might think, well, what we're being asked to pray for is, can I just avoid suffering? Can I just avoid a a trying time? Lord, could you get me out of that? You might be tempted to think that might be what the Lord is teaching us to pray. But then he really clarifies it and he says, but deliver us from evil.
Joel Brooks:And now you realize that the real test is not suffering. The real test is evil, not succumbing to evil. For us as Christians, suffering cannot hurt us. It can only make us better. Sin alone can hurt us.
Joel Brooks:Deliver me from evil. Suffering only makes us better. Fire purifies gold. You know, pressure could turn a lump of coal into a diamond. Suffering will strengthen and will refine us.
Joel Brooks:So when suffering comes into our life, our first prayer shouldn't be, God, get me out of here. How can I avoid this suffering? It should instead be, Lord, deliver me from evil. As I'm in this trial, would you deliver me from evil? Would you keep me, please keep me, from sinning?
Joel Brooks:That's what I think we're really praying for here. Now, some of your translations might be a little different. And they might say, deliver me from the evil one. It's likely all of your translations at least have a footnote that say you can translate it that way, which you can. Flip a coin as to which way you want to translate it.
Joel Brooks:Deliver me from evil or deliver me from the evil one, which would be Satan. And I I don't think it makes that big of a difference how you interpret it. Basically, Satan is the evil one. And yes, he does want to destroy you. But he wants to destroy you by getting you to do evil.
Joel Brooks:So, really, we want to be rescued or delivered from evil. Think of it this way. God brings tests into your life in the hopes of strengthening you. Satan looks at those same tests and he sees a hope of destroying you. Same test.
Joel Brooks:God is wanting to strengthen you. Satan is wanting to destroy you, to bring evil into your life. Now, Jesus knew this experientially. He knew He had an enemy who wanted to destroy Him. I'm not sure if you've recognized this or not as we've been going through the Lord's prayer.
Joel Brooks:It took me years to notice this. And then when I did, I'm like, how? I felt like an idiot. You can't unsee this. But the Lord's prayer seems to be deeply shaped by Jesus' temptations in the wilderness.
Joel Brooks:By what he experienced in the wilderness. There he was tempted to provide for himself his own daily bread, when he was asked to turn stones into bread. There he was tempted to test God and to test himself by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple and seeing whether or not God would deliver him. And finally, he was tempted to not wait for God to bring the kingdom, but to For him to circumvent God's plan and try to bring the kingdom on his own through Satan. And really, what's behind every one of those temptations was just trying to get Jesus to doubt who he was.
Joel Brooks:Are you really the son of God? Is God really your father? That's really what was behind all these temptations. Is God really your father? So the Lord's prayer, it seems to have been shaped by Jesus' own experience with temptation.
Joel Brooks:So really, we can see this entire prayer as being designed to rescue us from evil. The entire prayer designed to rescue us from evil or to rescue us from the evil one. Jesus understood we have a evil enemy. He wants to destroy us and we need to pray for the Lord's deliverance. After Jesus did resist all of Satan's temptations, we read that the devil left him, then adds this little line, for a more opportune time.
Joel Brooks:What a horrible line. You just go through 40 days of intense temptation and say it's like, alright. You won this. I'm gonna get you when you're weaker. I'm gonna get you later at a more opportune time.
Joel Brooks:And we know when that opportune time came to Jesus. It was the night Jesus was betrayed, and He was arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane. It was there that Jesus went through the ultimate temptation, the ultimate trial, the ultimate test. It's there that His suffering began. We read this.
Joel Brooks:Go back to Matthew 26. Once again, there in your worship guide. Verse 36. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray.
Joel Brooks:And taking with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. It was here that Jesus' trial began. Mark's gonna make a point of this. Luke is gonna make a point of pointing this out. It was it was here.
Joel Brooks:It began. Here, his forsakenness began. Here, his atoning work on our behalf began. Here, his final test began. And Luke tells us that he was in such agony during this trial, that his capillaries actually began to burst and he began to sweat drops of blood.
Joel Brooks:Don't miss this. The first drops of blood that Jesus shed for us were not at Calvary, they were at Gethsemane. This is where his atoning work begins for us. We first sinned in the garden, and then God began to atone us in a garden. And while all of this is beginning, you know what Jesus wants?
Joel Brooks:His friends. I mean, this is perfectly divine and perfectly human Jesus. And you just you see his humanity coming out here as he's entering into this moment of temptation, the ultimate test. He's like, Peter, James, John, would you just would you just be with me during this? Would you just watch with me?
Joel Brooks:And while he sweated drops of blood, they slept. Once again, this is where the forsakenness of Jesus began. Verse 38. Then He said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.
Joel Brooks:And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, my father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me 1 hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
Joel Brooks:The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation or enter into the trial or enter into the test. I'm not I'm not exactly sure what Jesus means by this. But I'm pretty sure that in this moment, at this time, he's not talking about temptation in general. He's not saying, hey, Peter.
Joel Brooks:I know you know you struggle with anger. You know, you really shouldn't lose your temper with your mother-in-law and have a burst of anger. I don't think he's talking about that when he says, watch out that you, you know, you not fall into temptation. I don't think he's talking about lust. Peter, I know you struggle with lust.
Joel Brooks:Watch and pray that you don't enter into that temptation. Maybe I just I don't see it. I think he has a very particular temptation, a very particular trial, particular test in mind that He wants them to watch out for. And I think it's what He's entering. Even Jesus doesn't wanna go there.
Joel Brooks:Jesus doesn't wanna enter into this test. I mentioned that, you know, the start of this message, I don't fully understand this this passage. But I do think that the Lord's prayer is driving us to this point. This is the least part of it. The Lord's prayer is driving us to this moment in Gethsemane.
Joel Brooks:Because I think Jesus here, He's praying about the trial, the temptation, the test. And this is where he is going to be led by his father into that test in order to deliver us from the evil one. Jesus is praying here at Gethsemane and like, he's asking God, I really don't wanna take this test. I don't wanna have this exam. Is there any other way?
Joel Brooks:I mean, are you sure? Is there no other way? Can you remove this cup from from me? Nevertheless, I'll do what you want. But is there any other way?
Joel Brooks:I mean, think of that. As strong and as powerful as Jesus was, He did not want to take this test. Jesus, who could just with a mere word, hush a hurricane, is now sweating drops of blood with anxiety over having to go through this test. He's like, is there any other way? Pray that you don't have to.
Joel Brooks:Pray that you're you don't fall into enter into temptation to this test. Watch. Pray. But ultimately, Jesus, he obeyed his father. He entered into that test in order to deliver us from evil.
Joel Brooks:And he did that by letting evil do its worst to him. He was whipped. He was beaten. He was crucified. And ultimately, he was forsaken by God.
Joel Brooks:I've mentioned this numerous times at Redeemer over the years. But when you look at what happened to Jesus on the cross, and He's crying out at that worst moment, He doesn't cry out, my hands, my hands, they hurt. He doesn't cry out, my feet, my feet. My head, my head. My back, my back.
Joel Brooks:He goes to the source of the greatest pain. He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's the only time in scripture Jesus ever calls God, God and not his father. Every other time He is talking to His father, He calls him father. But there, He doesn't.
Joel Brooks:He calls him my God Because at that point, he doesn't feel like a son. He is certainly not being treated as a son. He's being treated as a sinner, so that we might be treated as a son. He is taking on evil, so that evil might not conquer us. He's delivering us from evil here.
Joel Brooks:And now, what I believe our test is for us is will we embrace that? Will we believe that with our will we believe Jesus is who he said he is at the moment? Will we believe and accept his atoning work on the cross? Or will we succumb to whatever our culture tells us? And will we enter into temptation and deny him?
Joel Brooks:Will we run away like the disciples ran? Or will we embrace what Jesus has done for us and who he is? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Trust, follow Jesus as your Lord and your savior. Accept that he has been the one who has delivered you from evil.
Joel Brooks:Let's pray to him. Father, there is a depth to Your word that we just scrape. But that's enough for us right now in this moment. And when your spirit just press those things deep in our hearts. Thank you, Jesus, for going, entering into the test on our behalf.
Joel Brooks:Thank you for going through that trial. Thank you for delivering us from the evil one. May we watch and pray that we may now enter into temptation. May we trust you with every fiber of our being. Thank you for for the forgiveness in the new life you have given us.
Joel Brooks:And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.