Lead Us Not Into Temptation ~ Matthew 6:9-13

April 19, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: CS Lewis Screwtape Letters launched him into international prominence. The idea would be to give all
the psychology of temptation from the other point of view. The British professor of Literature at Oxford
University found himself on the front cover of time magazine in Sept 1947.
Question: Is temptation a big deal?
Ask King David (2 Samuel 11). One day he made the choice to linger in a glance. That glance led to adultery,
murder, & shame upon his family & nation.
As you may imagine, Jesus of Nazareth had a thing or two to say about temptation. What you do with
temptation says a lot about what you believe about reality.
1. When we pray this prayerwe correctly orient our reality.
1. Whatever Became of Sin? by Karl Menninger (named in 1990 by Life Magazine as one of the 100 most
influential people of the 20th Century). The very word sin, which seems to have disappeared, was a
proud word. But the word went away. It has almost disappearedthe word, along with the notion.
Why? Doesnt anyone sin any more? Doesnt anyone believe in sin?

2. The Original Temptation: Gen. 3

Adam & Eve wanted to be able to determine reality for themselves. They wanted autonomy.

Everybody does what is right in his or her own eyes (Judges 21:25).

3. Rom. 1 & the Suppression of Truth

This prayer is a reality-defining prayer.

2. When we pray this prayerwe bravely battle our weaknesses.

1. It is a prayer against entering temptation in the first place.

(1) Luke 22:40, And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter
temptation.

(2) Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love..

(3) James 1:14, Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own evil desire. Then
desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sometimes, we like to be tempted by the fleeting pleasures of sin (Heb. 11:25).

This prayer is weakness-battling prayer.

2. It is a prayer to resist temptation when we encounter it.

(1) Imp: God does not tempt us, even though he may allow us to be tempted.

James 1:13, 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.

(2) To tempt is to entice someone to do evil, and God never entices people to do evil. Its impossible.
It goes against Gods very nature. But God may use the occasion of temptation to test ones
character or to prove ones metal. IOW, although God does not tempt us, he may allow us to be
tempted.

1) Mt. 4:1, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2) Dt. 13:3, For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul.

3) King David prayed in 1 Chr. 29:17, I know, my God, that you test the heart..

4) The story of Job, Though he slay me, I will hope in him (13:15).

This prayer is weakness-battling prayer.

3. When we pray this prayerwe firmly stand in grace.

1. Apart from Jesus, we wont be able to resist temptation. We wont want to.

John 15:4-5, I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that
bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

2. Jesus battled temptation for you.

Heb. 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but
one who in every respect has been tempted like we are, yet without sin.

- Illus: The Walking Dead, Rick is in a church praying before a crucifix and says, I could use a little
something to help us keep going.some kind of acknowledgement, some indication Im doing
the right thing. You dont know how hard it is to know. Well, maybe you do.

- The gospel tells us that at every place we fail / mess up / screw up, Jesus stood strong.

Therefore, he because the perfect person to be our Saviour. Christ also suered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

3. Jesus battled temptation for you. Therefore we battle temptation for him.

Heb. 4:16, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.

This prayer is standing-in-grace prayer.

Main Idea:

The small choices we make in the face of temptation tell the big story of our lives.

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of
you that chooses, into something a little dierent than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all
your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or
a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself,
or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To
be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other
means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is
progressing to the one state of the other.