Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let's pray. Father, we thank youk for the opportunity to worship youp in song.
[00:00:08] You teach us in youn Word to worship youp in spirit and in truth.
[00:00:16] And we thank youk for family. We thank youk for your Word, for your living and active word and these next few moments. We humble ourselves and we pray that you would be the one who would speak to us. We humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus, and so we commit this time to you that our hearts would be ready and prepared to receive, not just because of knowledge, but because of application and transformation.
[00:00:56] So strengthen us, feed us, teach us and equip us. We pray to act upon your Word.
[00:01:06] We're thankful for it.
[00:01:08] To you be all the glory. In Jesus name we pray.
[00:01:12] Amen and Amen.
[00:01:18] A frustrated motorist parked his car in downtown London in a no parking zone and attached the following message to his I have circled this block 20 times.
[00:01:36] I have an appointment to keep.
[00:01:38] Forgive us our trespasses.
[00:01:43] When the owner came back to his car, he found this reply attached to his I've circled this block for 20 years.
[00:01:55] If I don't give you a ticket, I lose my job. Lead us not into temptation.
[00:02:10] I mentioned before that this is the final of our six week series in and on the Lord's Prayer. And we've discovered a number of things through this journey. This last six weeks. I think we've discovered that the Lord's Prayer from week one, I said is designed for you and I, for us to become or be a people of prayer. Full stop.
[00:02:37] Remember, the disciples were the ones who asked the question, jesus, teach us not how to. They knew how to pray, but teach us to pray. They saw in Jesus life something so very special between Jesus the Son and Jesus the Father. This relationship and the disciples wanted what Jesus had had.
[00:03:02] Could the same thing be said about you and your prayer life, I wonder?
[00:03:07] Or about me?
[00:03:09] I want what you have in terms of your relationship with your. You have something very, very special. And that's where we started. We said from week one that it's designed. This prayer is designed for you and I to become a people of prayer. And of course it represents the posture, the perspective that we are to adopt when we PR to get our hearts aligned to God's heart, not vice versa.
[00:03:40] It's a prayer that's not necessarily to be memorized, but more a guide to approach how we approach our Father in heaven. Because when it comes to prayer, we do need to know that there are no spiritual breakthroughs without prayer.
[00:03:57] There are no salvations without prayer, there are no prodigals returning without prayer, there's no discipleship movement without prayer. And so we can't necessarily control the hand of God, but we can certainly move the hand of God through prayer.
[00:04:23] And so prayer must be at the core of our gathering.
[00:04:28] Prayer must be at the core of our singleness.
[00:04:32] Prayer must be at the core of our marriage, our family, our parenting. Prayer must be at the centre. And when I received the call to come and pastor amongst you, our prayer as a couple was we hope and pray that this gathering of people that we're about to start a journey with, an adventure with is kind of like we're dating. Can I say that? Can you understand what I mean? Kind of like we're dating one another at the moment. Because by the way, for those who don't know, I've got a 12 month kind of ministry here at Summerhill Baptist and we're dating one another. To see how you feel, to see how we I feel.
[00:05:12] And to our delight, our absolute delight. And I encourage you as a gathering of God's people here that this certain is certainly is a gathering of people who pray.
[00:05:29] And incredible stories before I arrive that I'm being told and I hear and I speak with some of how you landed here. It's just extraordinary. And it comes down to faithful prayer. Amen. It comes down to faithful people who pray.
[00:05:45] So we can't control the hand of God, but we can certainly move the hand of God through prayer. It must be the core. And because prayer is certainly not a part of the work. Prayer is the work.
[00:05:57] Doing ministry or trying to follow Jesus without prayer is human effort without God's power.
[00:06:06] And so you might remember that this last six weeks we've been working around a hexagon. Do you remember that there are six movements to this prayer? And here it is here we started in week one, of course, where we say our Father and we know his position. He is in heaven, but he's as close as the air we breathe.
[00:06:22] Our Father. And that's who we are praying to. And of course, Jesus. Remember back in week one, he was the first Jewish rabbi to call God first Father. Jesus of Nazareth called him Father.
[00:06:36] Disciples, you are allowed to call God Almighty, for whom that was what they were used to calling Him. You are now to call him Father.
[00:06:49] And of course that means a number of things we talked about. It means access.
[00:06:54] No longer does a priest have to go on our behalf into the temple, but we have access, we have relationship, we have intimacy. And because we can call him, our Father.
[00:07:06] We are his children.
[00:07:09] We are his children and he is our Father. The next movement, as you can see there, is that of King. Not that he's just our Father. No, he has a kingdom and the kingdom needs a king. And he is our king of kings. That's who we are praying to, that we want God's kingdom to come.
[00:07:26] And God kingdom comes wherever people submit to his rule.
[00:07:32] The third movement there is provider. You remember that verse, Give us this day, give us today our daily bread, where Jesus invites us into this radical trust, this radical trust for God's provision each and every day. By the way, that's why we pray before our meal times, do we not? We pray and give thanks for this meal, reminding us each and every day of God's provision in our lives.
[00:07:57] He's also our forgiver. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. That's a really easy one. And we'll move on from that one.
[00:08:04] And he's also our protector.
[00:08:07] Lead us not into temptation. He's our protector. He is the one that we pray. Protect us, protect us from temptation. And of course, the final movement here today, he is our deliverer.
[00:08:21] Lead us not into temptations as part of the same prayer, but deliver us from.
[00:08:26] And of course, I don't need to tell you that evil is everywhere.
[00:08:35] It's everywhere.
[00:08:38] Just as recently, these last few weeks, you and I know, I won't mention any names through our news, evil is surfacing itself everywhere and being founded out numbers. Chapter 32. Your sin will find you out. Be absolute sure of that.
[00:09:00] And so we've got celebrities and sports people, and the sin is coming to the surface.
[00:09:09] And so evil is everywhere, you name it. Human trafficking, online exploitation, political corruption, terrorist extremism, religious extremism, murder, identity theory, theft, scams, etc. Etc. And so who is the architect of all of that?
[00:09:27] Yeah, yeah. Do not be naive. We do have a spiritual enemy. Evil is real. And you and I have an enemy. Now we talk about the enemy devil, the devil, Satan. We are not to fear the enemy, but certainly don't be naive to think that we don't have one.
[00:09:48] Remember in John 10:10, Jesus himself said that I have come to give you what life and life in all of its fullness or all of its abundance. The enemy's role description goes on and says that the enemy, the thief, comes to what? To steal, kill, destroy. You were to write a job description for our enemy. It is to steal, kill and destroy. That's the enemy's role in this world. But we shouldn't fear the enemy because we know who has the victory.
[00:10:29] So God.
[00:10:31] God is our deliverer. And of course, throughout Scripture, God rescues people.
[00:10:36] Deliverance is very much a part of his character and nature. And God delivers people from fear, from sin, from temptation, from bondage and slavery. But also from this idea we're talking about of evil today. Deliver us from evil. Can I read a couple of verses? Psalm 34:17 says, the righteous cry out, and the Lord. Here we go. Got it there. And the Lord hears them. He what? He delivers them from all their troubles.
[00:11:07] Colossians 1:13. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Now, some of you may be wondering, but, Steve, whereabouts is the end of this prayer?
[00:11:23] For yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, yours is the glory. We won't be actually speaking into that. We end it here on deliver us from evil. So where is that? And of course, it's not included, in fact, in the earliest and most reliable of the Greek manuscripts.
[00:11:38] But it does appear in later manuscripts, most commonly in the new King James Version, where we've been reading this passage from.
[00:11:48] But many, in fact, Bible translations leave them out, but include it as a footnote. But now, it doesn't mean that it's wrong or it's unbiblical at all. I think we'd agree. I think we'd agree that the whole Bible declares that the kingdom, the power, and the glory does belong to God.
[00:12:12] And so Matthew 6:13, I lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. A very important and relevant last petition in the Lord's Prayer, of course, teaches in the Christian life that we are engaged. We talked a little bit about this last week, that we are engaged in a battle and that is fought on two fronts, that there are temptations that lurk within us and there is evil that we've just talked about all around us.
[00:12:54] And so the battle is always on these two fronts. Second Corinthians 7:5 says this. For even when we came into Macedonia, Paul writes to the church, church, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn.
[00:13:12] Fighting without and fear within.
[00:13:19] Fighting without and fear within. What he's saying is that when we looked out, all we saw was fighting. Yet when we looked within, all we saw was fear. And so the battle that Paul is referring to is fought on these two fronts. And if we were to say we're going to honor God's name, and if we were to advance God's kingdom. And if we are to do God's will, that we need to not only be sustained and forgiven, in fact, we do need to be delivered, and we need to be delivered from evil.
[00:13:54] In these two spheres, the temptation lurks within us and evil is all around us.
[00:14:04] And so as we move forward in this message here this morning, we're going to look at three different things. Why we need this prayer, why we need this last little bit of this Lord's prayer, what we are in fact asking of God ourselves in this prayer, and also how God will answer this prayer. Firstly, why?
[00:14:27] Why do we need this prayer? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:14:34] And just go back last week, we kind of touched on this very briefly. I wanted to bring it up again this Sunday, as I said last week, that evil is in fact introduced to us from the beginning of the Bible story where God made everything good, but in the garden there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[00:14:59] You might remember that story, remember Adam and Eve as they were created by God, already having that knowledge of everything good. Yet by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the only thing that would be added to them would be the knowledge of evil.
[00:15:19] And God said to them, do not do that.
[00:15:22] Do not go there. Do not eat of that tree. In other words, there's a terrible reality outside of that. It's in fact beyond your experience right now, and I don't want you to ever to know its destructive power. So do not eat of this tree.
[00:15:46] But man and woman, what did they decide? They decided that we really want the knowledge of evil.
[00:15:54] And they got it. They certainly got it. And we've all lived with it ever since. And evil then, I would say, is very simply the destructive power.
[00:16:08] The destructive power that has intruded into every part of God's world.
[00:16:17] And it includes all that came into the world through and after the fall that was not there before. You name goes everywhere. War, conflict, famine, disease, the political, the social, the economic, the biological. As we watch the daily news, I don't need to tell you that the headlines that lead our news daily are all related to one of the dimensions of evil that we're talking about that have intruded into God's world.
[00:16:57] And it is everywhere.
[00:17:01] And that is why is it not that we need to pray this prayer? Deliver us from evil. For it's all around us. Not only because it's all around us, but also because its root lies deep within us.
[00:17:18] And James tells us that each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own.
[00:17:28] Their own evil desire and enticed.
[00:17:32] God will not tempt anyone. We said that last week. God does not tempt anyone. He will test. And you can look at some of the characters within the Bible who he does test. Abraham was one of those with his son Isaac. We talked about that last week.
[00:17:46] So, therefore, we need this prayer. Lead us. Not because of the nature of your own life and because of the nature of the world in which you and I live. Number two, what are we actually asking of God in this prayer?
[00:18:01] When we pray, deliver us, we are praying and saying to God that the power of evil is not what we can do because the power of evil is way too much for us, but it's not too great for you. So, God, deliver us.
[00:18:18] Deliver us.
[00:18:22] Got this picture here. I wonder what you see. I see this hostage as somebody sitting there, bound, cannot move, ropes, cape over the head.
[00:18:38] A person locked in prison, tied to this chair, and they cannot get out.
[00:18:46] And this particular person, as we see here on the screen, needs to be delivered, but simply cannot do anything in their own might and power to be delivered. They need somebody to storm this building they find themselves in to set them free.
[00:19:07] And this is how Jesus teaches us to pray, Father, come, Holy Spirit, and do for us what in fact we cannot do for ourselves. Delivery us from evil. Which leads us to the next question is how?
[00:19:25] How will God answer this particular prayer?
[00:19:30] And he answers this prayer by grace.
[00:19:37] By his grace. And I want to focus on this word, grace, to take us out of this message here this morning as we come around the communion table in just a few moments, because the table that we eat and drink from is all about God's grace. But we'll come back to this prayer just for a few more moments, if I could. Because grace, very simply, is something that is undeserved, that is freely given.
[00:20:07] It's something that is undeserved, that is freely given. And God's grace operates in many wonderful ways. And I just want to bring four to us here this morning, if that's okay.
[00:20:22] Four ways that God's grace operates in your and my life. The first is this. I don't know if you've heard this before, but it's called common grace. Let me explain it. It's God's kindness to you, to me, to all people, including those who defend him.
[00:20:46] Let me explain. Let me explain. Hang in there for a moment.
[00:20:50] When we pray, deliver us from evil.
[00:20:55] God answers this prayer through common grace.
[00:21:00] Listen to Jesus describing Common grace in this great Sermon on the Mount.
[00:21:08] But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
[00:21:20] For he makes his sunrise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
[00:21:34] Very clearly, in this particular passage of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching us that every good gift comes from God, comes from the hand of God and includes the good in those who do not yet believe. And by the way, if you're here and you're wrestling with faith and asking a whole lot of questions, can I just say welcome? I talk to. I run with a friend. So I've gone way off script.
[00:22:01] I run with a friend who doesn't do church either.
[00:22:05] And we do life together. We've been life together. And I talk about faith all the time. It's just who I am. It's the way God's wired me. I don't care. I don't mind talking to anyone about faith. That's once again just me.
[00:22:16] And we're having conversations and talking through that. He's got a lot of questions.
[00:22:22] And he said to me, like, I'm sure some of you received that input in your life from friends who are far from God.
[00:22:29] Said, oh, if I came to church, the old Ruford cave in, you know, Ruth had caved in.
[00:22:34] And my simple reply is, it hasn't caved in on me yet because we're in the same boat.
[00:22:42] It's common grace. And I believe God's grace is over, my good friend.
[00:22:47] I believe God's grace is over his life and I pray for him regular. He knows it. He knows it anyway. Come back, come back. Where was I? Oh, common grace. Yes, yes, common grace. Of course. Every good gift comes from the hand of God and includes those. Yeah. You think about the blessing of love and family. You think about the creative gift of music and art, the discoveries of science and medicine and the brilliant minds that led to them all. Where did all this good come from? It comes from God, even on those who don't believe. That's common grace.
[00:23:21] That's one of the four graces that God expressed, you know, is over our lives.
[00:23:29] This is beautifully expressed. Let's go there in Psalm 145. 9. That the Lord is good to some and his mercy is over just some that he has made.
[00:23:39] Doesn't say that at all. Right. The Lord is good to all. All and his mercy is over all that he has made. God answers this Prayer through common grace. Then God answers this prayer for deliverance through special grace. Let me explain this. Hang in there. Let me explain this.
[00:23:57] It says there that this is God's kindness to strengthen us at times when we are being tested in life, when we're at the end of our rope.
[00:24:08] This is special grace from God because Paul describes this, you know, from his own experience. And I love the life of Paul, that he has gone through times where he's had plenty in that verse, where he's had plenty. But I've also gone through times in life with great need. I don't know about your life. Certainly sounds about like my life. I've had a lot, but I've had a great need. And in these times when, in these times when what he's talking about here, when he was in great, God gave him special help, you know, in Philippians chapter four, one of my favorite books in the entire Bible, Philippians 4:13, one of my great. I love this verse that I can. He said I can in spite of I'm in jail, by the way. I'm in jail. I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength, special grace, special grace when I'm in need. He's saying that he gives me special strength. And so God gave Paul strength to match the trial that he was facing. And I believe he'll do the same for you.
[00:25:08] I absolutely believe he'll. In fact, he is doing the same for some of you.
[00:25:13] Receive that, receive that special, that special grace. He will give all that you need to endure all that you are facing and all that you will continue to face, that special grace. Father, Father, I believe over people here this morning for your special grace. And the same thing. In 2nd Corinthians 12:9, Paul speaks about a great trial that God did not take it away. You might remember that he did not take it away, but God gave him special grace to bear it. He says this, that my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in what a great verse that is. Once again, again, some of us sitting here this morning, some of those here listening online, receive this over your life in Jesus name.
[00:26:01] When you reach that point where you can't bear anymore, God's grace will be sufficient for you. That is special grace. Let's move on.
[00:26:11] Then there's this restoring grace, restoring grace. This is God's kindness to us when we have failed. I put my hand up, you know, Paul said, I'm the greatest of sinners of all. I'm the same. You know, I'm with you. I'm with you. That we've all failed. We've all failed. And praise God for this table we're about to eat and drink from. We're reminded it is with us. We're reminded that we are many, but we are one. We're reminded that we are family, that we're going to eat and drink and remember because we have failed.
[00:26:43] He has won the victory upon the cross. Let's come back. Then. There's restoring grace.
[00:26:49] Remember, just a quick little story the night that Jesus was betrayed. Remember that story where Peter was tempted? Jesus said to him, watch and pray that you are not in, that you enter not into temptation. Jesus said, but what did Peter do? He did not watch. Peter did not pray.
[00:27:05] And temptation overtook him. And he denied Jesus. How many times?
[00:27:09] Three times. Very good.
[00:27:11] And Jesus knew. Jesus knew, of course, that this was going to happen. And there's something else that Jesus said to Peter that same night that's incredible in relation to this restoring grace that we're talking about.
[00:27:24] And we find it in Luke chapter 22. It says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. What a great picture.
[00:27:34] But I have prayed for you. Press pause.
[00:27:41] I've prayed for you.
[00:27:46] Do we tell our family and friends that we pray for them?
[00:27:52] I pray for you. That's what makes the difference. That's what makes the difference here at this gathering of people, that your faith may not fail.
[00:27:59] And when you've turned again, strengthen your brothers. Jesus knew that Peter would fail.
[00:28:06] But Jesus prayed Peter's faith would not fail.
[00:28:11] And that's why sin did not have the last word in Peter's life. And he repented. And that. That is restoring grace. And like Peter, just like Peter, you and I may fail. Yes, we will.
[00:28:26] Like Peter, you and I will turn again. We will repent and receive restoring.
[00:28:32] And that is why sin will never have the final word in a believer's life. So when we pray, when we pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. God answers, with what common grace?
[00:28:52] He answers with special grace.
[00:28:55] He answers with restoring grace. But the greatest of all, he answers with saving grace.
[00:29:04] Saving grace, which is God's kindness to us when we turn to him in faith and in repentance. Saving grace.
[00:29:18] Ephesians 2.
[00:29:21] We got it. There. Where is it? No. For by grace. Here it is. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
[00:29:30] And this is not your own doing, for it's the gift of God.
[00:29:37] Here endeth the lesson.
[00:29:40] Just about there's. One other thing that I want to share with you.
[00:29:45] Because as we come to an end, come to the end of this six week, even though it's taken a couple of months to get there, I'd like for us to consider for those of us among us who feel like you have lost all hope.
[00:30:05] And each and every day it seems like you are crying out to God for help, that you need deliverance, that you need a Savior, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior that you need.
[00:30:22] You see what happens when you cry out to him and hand over your life to Him?
[00:30:29] It's as simple as saying, I give you my life.
[00:30:33] I give you my life. Come into those place and those spaces within my life that you're not there currently take over you be the one who steers my life.
[00:30:47] I want to be on your agenda, not my agenda. And when you come to know God that way, as your Father in heaven, through faith in Jesus, as a child of God, you will have way more than common grace.
[00:31:05] You're going to receive saving grace as Jesus saves you.
[00:31:11] And when you're tested, he's gonna give you special grace.
[00:31:16] And when you fail, he's gonna restore you and give you his restoring grace where God will put his spirit within you.
[00:31:25] And as you believe in his one and only Son and what he's done for you upon the cross which we're about to remember, he'll give you a new love that will fill you to overflowing for him and for others.
[00:31:42] And then you will be able to say.
[00:31:49] Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
[00:31:59] I once was lost but now I am found. Was blind but now the spiritual part of my life I can see.
[00:32:11] Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come.
[00:32:16] For it's grace that brought me safe this far and it's grace.
[00:32:30] That will lead me home.
[00:32:35] Will you please join with me as we remain seated in saying the Lord's Prayer one final time together?
[00:32:46] Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[00:32:53] Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:33:00] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
[00:33:09] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:33:15] For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And all God's people said amen.
