Video Transcript: Lead Us Not into Temptation (Bob Bouwer)

Video Transcript: Lead Us Not into Temptation (Bob Bouwer)

That's the fourth time I've seen that I laughed just as hard as the first time I saw it. Oh, my goodness. I wish temptation was that funny. It's not. In fact, we're going to look at this little 13 word phrase from the Lord's Prayer. And it's serious business. And so I would invite you to pray with me, for the Lord to speak to us through his amazing word. 

Heavenly Father. It's so good to laugh. Thank you for making us with emotions. And the Bible tells us to see there's a season for laughter. But there's also a season to be serious. And what we're about to talk talk about from your word is serious business. It has great potential to make our life so much more enjoyable, and honoring for you. Lord, I pray that you would continue to speak to me through your word. And everyone who hears this message, their hearts and their minds and their ears, we attentive to You. Lord, speak for your children want to hear. We pray in Christ's name, Amen. 

Many, some of you know. And some of you don't know that Lori, my wife, Lori and I just returned from a trip. A trip that was a gift from you. You surprise this last summer with for the 20th anniversary of me being the pastor here with three options of three different places to go on a trip. And I want to thank you for that. And Lori and I have chose to go to Hawaii because we had never been to Hawaii before. And we heard so much about it. So you know, it was just it was a once in a lifetime kind of experience. And as my wife loves photography, she took a boatload of pictures, I'm only going to show you two of the pictures, from Hawaii. The first picture is a picture of me imitating Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. See yes. Oh, what fun that was to jump into the ways I felt like a kid. And but now on a serious note, the second picture Lori, she designed and she took herself for, took herself with her camera. And this one comes not from a camera but from our hearts. And we want to say this to you Faith Church. Thank you so much for loving us and giving us this really amazing trip that Lori and I had together celebrating 20 years celebrating our marriage together of 26 years, but also going into this tremendously beautiful state called Hawaii that has all these cool and unique islands. And we were able to visit three of the islands absolutely beautiful. Now one of the things that we did when we were on that island was explore. Many of you coached us who knew we were going on like you need to go see this, you need to see this, you need to see this and you, need don't miss this. And in some respects, I told Lori, we can't do what everybody tells us to do, or I will be just as tired as I was when we left. And I said let's pick and choose the things that we need to do. And so one of the things that Lori and I wanted to do in our exploration is to get to a Kona coffee farm. Because you know that I love coffee. 

Lori loves coffee and Kona is one of the best coffees there is on planet Earth. And so we looked online, and sure enough, we found what looked like a really neat place to go. And we began early in the morning with a rental car. And we had our map in hand. And we thought you know no GPS, we thought this would be pretty easy. I mean, the big islands, not that. I mean, it's not that confusing. It's quite honestly, no problem at all. We were wrong. Finding this place was a lot more difficult than we first thought. Thankfully, Lori had the map in hand. And after you get off the main road, we got onto the side road, which led into these winding roads, foot hill up some mountains, not very good signage. And it was getting a little crazy for me these hairpin curves and turns and it was way off the beaten path. And Lori said just around the corner. If the map is correct, there's going to be a road while it was a road. There was no sign it was a gravel road we turn we went into this brush and here is the Kona farm. We found it and we were so excited. We're like, I mean, I didn't do knuckle bump. And that's romantic. Isn't it?

We did it Lord, thank you for helping me and in this in we got here and we're able to enjoy this neat coffee Kona, I wish I could bring it back for all of you. But that would take a huge mortgage. Because that stuff's expensive. Without the map, in proper directions, we would not have found this coffee farm. Without this map and directions, we would have gotten lost. Without the map and directions, we would have gone into danger because there were some crazy, crazy corners, we would have been frustrated, possibly angry, and we would have never been able to enjoy this coffee Kona coffee farm. I say this. Because what is true about this story of Lori and I, is true about your life in my life. If we don't follow the direction of the Lord, we will get lost. We will stumble, we will fall, we will get off track. And we won't enjoy the life that God wants to offer you. That's why Jesus offers us 13 words in the Lord's Prayer. And I believe these 13 words are powerful, important, necessary for our lives. Again, Matthew 6:13, in Lord's Prayer, Jesus says, you know, he's given this outline on how to pray, said when you pray, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 13 words that we need to pray for direction in our life, and a better life and a more victorious life. 13 words that Jesus is offering to us that we desperately need to pray, Jesus isn't in essence saying in these 13 words, I am the map that you need. 

Jesus saying, I am the one who can direct you to the place that you really need to go. Jesus said, I can guide you, I can protect you, I can save you from the dangerous roads of life, the dead ends, I can prevent more failure and frustration, and Jesus saying, but you need to listen to me how to pray and how necessary this prayer is. So we're going to look more closely at just 13 words. It's going to be a map, it's gonna give direction for you. In these 13 words, as I prayed through them, study them, God pointed out to me and to you that in those 13 words, there are two directions to a better way of living. The first direction is into not into temptation that you know, when you saw into temptation into is a directional word. Now, in the passage in Matthew 6:13a, he says And lead us not into temptation. And now we need to talk about this huge and enormous thing for a few moments about the Lord saying, you need to pray for me so that you will not go into temptation. Jesus pointing out to us that we desperately need him, and we need this prayer. Now, here are a few basic things that you need to know about temptation. First of all, temptation is not sin. Okay, if you are being tempted, that is not the sin. Jesus himself was tempted. It says in Matthew four that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. 

Temptation itself is not the sin. The Lord also second thing you need to know about temptation is that the Lord God does not tempt you. Because temptation comes from an evil source from the evil one. And the Lord God does not tempt us. Now I need to take a few moments with you and I'll prove that first of all in in James chapter one, verses 13 to 15. This is what the Lord's word says, "When tempted. No one should say God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when every one of us is tempted when by our own evil desires, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, when sin is full grown, gives birth to death." So the Lord's clearly saying I am not the source of temptation, the source of temptation is evil and the evil one. Now, that being said, I also want to tell you that the wording of the Lord's Prayer is interesting. You are the Lord saying, when you pray, say to Jesus, say the Lord. Lord, lead us not into temptation, don't you almost say, it's almost like you're hearing the Lord saying, I do I do lead you into temptation. Well, that's because you and I need to leave God alone to be sovereign. He's overall things he is over evil in since he controls it, he won't let Satan do anything more than he, God allows him to do. 

The Lord isn't tempting us, because temptation comes from an evil and evil source, but the Lord saying I am so much more sovereign and control that I even control all things, including temptation. And the Lord says, I won't allow you to be tempted beyond that, what you can withstand. And we need to know that the Lord is saying, Yeah, in some respects, I am so awesomely in control, that I even control Satan and evil. Now the Lord will test us. The Lord will test us, he'll allow trials to come our way. But here's the difference. Here's the difference. Evil and Satan tempt you to ruin you. The Lord tests you to renew you. And the Lord says, I don't I'm not a source of temptation. But I can use temptation to test you to strengthen and renew you temptation is this lure. It's this deceptive invitation into what we think is a better way. And then we discover it's not. temptation is this violent assault of Satan. Please don't deny temptation. Realize that it's part of everyone's life, temptation for me, this week, I have discovered that temptation is way more than I first thought. I was all my life. 

I thought temptation were the big ones. You know, not to cheat, not to steal, not to commit adultery, the big monster ones. But the closer I got to the Lord's word, and understanding scripture, temptation, the more I realize that temptation is way greater, way more intense, and way more often, to every one of our lives. Every single step you take in life, you step into the presence of temptation, you're what I just said, every step you take, you step into the presence of temptation. So tomorrow students, you will step into school with temptation. Tomorrow, some of you step into work with temptation. Some of you step home into temptation, some of you step into the restaurant, and some of the health club, wherever you step, you are stepping into temptation. The other thing is, every moment is a moment with potential temptation. If you analyze your life, you will realize you are being bombarded and assaulted by temptation, way more than first thought maybe that's part of the victory The enemy has gotten in our lives to think that oh, that's someone else. 

That's the drug addicts as being tempted, or the alcoholic or the sexual sin person. No, it's way more intense, way more often. Let me just give you one example. The average American adult, who's probably here, you and I are exposed to advertisement, whether printed material, signs, television, radio, in a given day, somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 advertisements of those, your heart and your mind locked into 75 to 100 every day. You see we are exposed to the lure. Now that's just an example of advertisement and advertising not bad. Some of it may be bad. But again, I just want to point out to you that it's way greater than what we first think every step and every moment of our life is a moment of temptation, innumerable ways. Every step every moment, what are the temptations? What are some of the temptations you and I face? pride. Lying, exaggerating. laziness. cowardice, stealing, cheating, worrying, exploding anger, fear, self pity, self centeredness, doubt, eat too much, talk too much, excuse too much, despair, addiction, sexual thoughts and sin, materialism, money, revenge, inward mind temptation that goes on, the internet, secrets, judgmentalism, back stabbing, gossip, temptation to waste time, temptation to control everything, you see evil and Satan want to tempt us in our weakness and in our strength, hear me out. 

Some of you are very weak right now maybe physically maybe emotionally, you are unbelievably susceptible to temptation in your weakness, sick people are very tempted. And then in your strength, you can be strong in something you have, be aware that you're being tempted in your strength. There isn't an angle in your life, where evil and the evil one is not trying to tempt you to ruin. It's trying to live our life on our own. Temptation, Jesus says, I need you to know that I am ready and willing to help you out, to lead you not into temptation. We need to cry out to the Lord say, Lord, prevent me from doing that which I love to do and want to do. Keep me from myself. For without Jesus, we will fail, we will get lost, And we will end up in danger, and ruin. When we were in Hawaii, I goofed up and failed on a few attempts at directions. I am a man. And I think I have a pretty good internal GPS. And I always pride myself. I know north south east west. 

So I said Lori, we don't need the map twice that I can recall, she'll probably say there's a lot more, but I only remember two times where we literally were dead end. We're looking for the Lord. And we have seen this one colored sand beach. And I'm like, I think I saw I saw on the map before I think I could get us right there. We were literally at the dead end, oops. Friends, you can try all you want to live your life without sin on your own, you will end up in a dead end. Because we are that off track left to ourselves. And Jesus said you need to cry out the lead us Lord not into temptation to try to do this on our own. To be humble enough to say, Lord, I need you so desperately. So the first direction that the Lord says is that brings life and a better life and victorious life is Lord, lead us not into temptation. The second one is a direction lead us, you know not into but from the evil one. Lead us away from the evil one. Again, I'm gonna look at Matthew 6:13b be the second half of this verse. It says, but deliver us from the evil one you cry out say Lord, can you get me out of this one. 

This is an amazing prayer. But deliver us from the evil one. This is an amazing prayer. It's a prayer of mercy. It's a praise prayer of grace. It's a prayer of hope. It's a prayer of freedom. Jesus saying pray this when you've crossed the line from temptation into evil. Hear me, Jesus is saying when, Jesus I know you're going to be tempted in a boatload of angles in a vicious attacks in ways that you could not imagine. And the Lord says when you cross the line, isn't that interesting, He assumes we're going to cross the line. He says when you do, cry out to me, deliver me from the evil one. Oh, what grace there is for every one of you who have crossed the line. Every one of us crosses the line. And we need to know of a God who loves us so much, who even after we cross the line, we missed the mark. We fall into temptation and sin the Lord says, but deliver us from evil Lord, get us out of the sin and the temptation and the mess and the evil and the evil one. And Jesus has the authority and the power to deliver us, to bring us out. Let's think about that for a moment that phrase, but deliver us from evil. First of all the wording. Many of you how many of you grew up in you did the Lord's prayer and deliver us from evil and you stop there. You didn't say the evil one.

And most of us, and I remember when they made the switch, I'm like, What's up with that? You know, that you just made it hard to pray the prayer because now I have to add words on it. What if I forget that your natural question for me and probably for you is like, why did they add that on? Well, the truth is, when the original language was translated, they translate in English, they use the word evil, but further scholarship of the original language that it really probably more accurate to say, delivers from the evil one, because the evil one is the source of all evil. Now, John Calvin, back in the 1500s, in his commentary on this phrase, said, there are two options to answering that little phrase in the original language, you could deliver us from evil, or the evil one, he said, both of them are one in the same, they're equal. He says, I would lean towards evil one, because, yes, the evil one saying is the source of all evil that comes out of and it's also in us, so it's both and so the Lord deliver us from evil, or delivering the evil one are the same thing.

Also that Jesus tells us to pray this. Knowing that we will cross the line not just once, but a lot. Some of you will cross line and huge and enormous public sins. And some of you just quiet little ones. We all need Jesus. We've all crossed the line, we've all missed the mark. I wish I could say to you, I will never cross the line again. I won't until I get to heaven. But we need to ask Jesus to deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from ourselves our sin. Note also the Jesus telling us that there is a real evil and a real evil one. This is a real spiritual warfare going on friends. There's a real Satan. There's a real co-plotting between our sin and the the lure of Satan himself, trying to destroy us. And especially if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if you're not a follower of Christ, Satan really doesn't mind you. You weren't a big threat to him. But if you have Christ in your life in your heart, and you're saved, you are on his radar for frontal attacks, and subtle and mysterious ways. The Bible says and you love this passage, I love this passage. 

The Bible says this, Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world that a great passage, the Lord Jesus saying. Greater is He that is in you, which means Jesus Christ is in you greater is Jesus in you than he was in the world, which is Satan, right? Oh, that makes me feel so good. But I want to, I want to also add a little phrase, but greater is He who is in the world than you, you heard what I said? In other words, Satan is more powerful than you alone. In this world, Satan is evil is more powerful than you standing alone. That's why Jesus said greater is he who is in you Christ in you said, when you pray, lead us not to deliver us from evil. Do you think I'm the one that you need to be aware of in your life who can help you overcome your sin, and a temptation to sin? Jesus saying to you and I, I am the way out of evil. I am the way out away from the evil one. I am the deliver. Jesus is the deliver. He's better than FedEx and UPS put together. He don't even have to track his GPS arrival. He shows up. When you say, Lord, deliver me from evil. He's there to forgive and make you new. Prayer, this prayer is a prayer of release from our sin, and the stranglehold of the evil and the evil one in our lives. Pray it often. Jesus helped me Deliver me and he will. He does. He loves. He's the map. He's the way, He's the direction, He's the victory. Jesus says this is how you should pray. 13 words, two directions, one victor, Jesus Christ. 

So what's the bottom line today? What can you take home? Well, first of all, I want to point out that there's not a person who hears this message in the auditorium out in the well, who ever hears this on the internet. There's not a person here that does not need this prayer. The Lord even puts the wording so well. He says deliver us. He's assuming everyone, right? It's plural. Every one of you needs this sermon, every one of you needs this prayer in your life. Pray this prayer often. pray this prayer more often than you currently are praying it and you'll find life. Pray this prayer when you're tempted, which is all the time, this past Thursday, I dropped off Holland, Michigan to speak to 50 pastors and leaders of churches in West Michigan. And I thank the Lord on the way home for giving me the study beforehand of this 13 words, I was a better communicator, more humble communicator, because I knew the temptation I was getting into when I got up there. First of all, I had the temptation to be, wow, you're somebody, Bob, all these pastors think you're good. What you say is so bright and so wonderful. And I knew because of this, I've been praying, Lord, leave me non temptation. 

Lord, make me aware of the moments when I think I'm somebody and I'm not, Lord, prevent me from the natural flesh that wants to say, with pride, wow, I did that. Friends, you need this. Because you need to examine your feelings. Because what you're feeling is a lot of time not correct. And when you're feeling is incorrect, you will be led into sin. And the Lord saying, I will deliver you. So pray this prayer more often than you're praying right now. And then pray this prayer. Right now. If you are an evil, some of you hear this message are currently caught. In a vicious and violent, evil. It secret you think no one knows. And you think you can get out or you think you're in, you're in control.

I want you to know that Jesus loves you so much, that you're hearing it now. And the Holy Spirit is convicting you. But you must respond. Jesus, forgive me, deliver me from this evil. And then the battle begins. He will release you, but the how you need to find your every waking moment dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord helped me lead me not into the temptation, Lord, deliver me from the evil one, and the evil. Oh, how I hope and pray that some of you are caught in evil right now are experiencing the freedom that Jesus offers. This is a very, very important prayer for your life. It's not a prayer that should only be prayed in church on weekends, or at the dinner table a couple times a week. It's a prayer that we need to pray every day, a lot of times throughout the day. But here's the coolest part. You and I pray this prayer often. Lord, direct us out of temptation, deliver us from evil, we will experience the victory. Because we'll experience the victor Christ, our life will get better. Our life will be more God honoring, and we will enjoy life a lot more. In fact, you'll be able to knuckle bump Jesus like Jesus, thank you. 

Your directions worked, we got to the destination, which is your glory and honor. 13 words, two directions, one victor. Back in the 1500s Christians didn't have Bibles yet in their homes. They didn't have commentaries. They didn't have Google. They didn't have libraries. So how were Christians to be developed? Well, they created in the 1500s, a question and answer method to teach people about God and about temptation. And in one document called the Heidelberg catechism. Question 27. Can you imagine the people coming to church and the pastor says, Okay, this week, we're going to learn about that one verse. You know, lead us not into temptation and ..., okay, good. He said, well, we've summarized an answer that will help you and they probably all wrote it down and said, We can take that home because we don't have Bibles enough commentaries, but I'm going to read it the question in the answer, I don't want you to read it out loud. I want you to just follow along on the screens, because the words are beautiful. What a summary of this 13 words. So the question I never get a question number 27. What does the sixth request mean? 

That's a sixth request the Lord's Prayer, the answer. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one means by ourselves, we are too weak, to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies the devil, the world and our own flesh, never stop attacking us. And so Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory, ain't that cool. 13 words, two directions, one victory in Christ. 

Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus, for teaching us how to pray. Thank you for loving us so much for making these 13 words so applicable to our lives. We're sorry if we haven't prayed this with great meaning many times in the past, but Lord by your Holy Spirit, seal this into our hearts that we cry out to you often lead us not Lord into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Lord, You are the source you are the victory. You are all that we need for life and eternity. We pray in Christ's name and all God's people said, Amen.