Eld Chew Chong Kiat

"And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil"

Christ taught us to pray only to God our heavenly Father, for ourselves and others. We are to pray with faith and the fear of God in our hearts. Our prayers must always be for the glory of God.  

Some of the things Christ taught us to pray include:  

1. The advancement of the Kingdom of Christ and His return to judge this world of sin.
2. God's will to be done on earth by God's obedient children, just as it is always done in heaven.
3. God’s provision of our daily needs and the faith to be content.
4. God’s pardon for all our sins for Christ's sake, and in evidence of which we forgive those who trespass against us, by God's grace.

In the sixth petition, we pray that God will not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.

We may learn the following lessons:  

a. God Tempts No Man

By that we mean that God does not do so like Satan the Tempter whose aim is to tempt men to sin. God tests His children like Abraham when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22). God also allowed Job to be tempted by Satan and his devils.  But God is faithful and wise, and will never allow His children to be tested beyond what they can bear, and will with every test also make a way of escape so that they may not sin against Him (1Cor 10:13). We know that when He allows such testings, it is intended for good, that our faith may come forth purified as gold. God knows how to deliver His children out of temptations (2Pet 2:9a) and He will deliver them who cry out to Him for help and strength to persevere. These temptations are not evil but can still result in sin if the child of God does not exercise his faith and trust God to see him through without sinning.  

b. Types of Temptation

God tests our faith that we may know the strength of our faith. It is meant for good always, that we may be strengthened in the process. There is another type of temptation that is evil in nature which is never from God. An example of such a temptation was Potiphar’s wife’s seduction of young Joseph in Genesis 39. Joseph fled from her as fast as he could. This is the evil temptation that the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray and ask God to lead us not into. We need help from God to have the wisdom not to find ourselves in such situations and to flee from such evil temptations. 

c. Temptation and Deliverance

i. Lot (2Pet 2:7-8). Lot lived in the midst of a wicked and crooked world. What should he have done? He should have separated himself from that environment and gone to Abraham his uncle or relocated elsewhere. His heart was not right with God. He was carnal. Living in a city is not wrong. We live in the city of Singapore. When the heart is carnal even when one lives in the wilderness or the plains, one will not be right with God and will sin.  Lot knew that what he did was wrong because he vexed his spirit daily with the ungodly deeds (2Peter 2:7-8) and compromised the spiritual life of his own family. I recall how I was vexed by the vulgarities of my instructors and platoon mates when serving my National Service. Evil communications corrupt good manners (1Cor 15:33). But I had no choice, I couldn’t run away, and I could only pray to resist the temptation to sin and to be like them. The command is to flee (1Cor 6:18, 10:14, 1Tim 6:11) when we can. If otherwise, we must resist steadfastly by the grace of God (James 4:7b). 

ii. Simon Peter (Matthew 26:36-40). He was warned by Christ that he would deny Him. “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31). But Peter was so sure of himself that he swore he would never do so, and was prepared to go to prison and die with Christ. He was filled with self confidence. When Christ went with him, and James and John to pray in Gethsemane, He exhorted them to pray that they would not enter into temptation. Sadly, when Christ returned from praying, He saw them asleep, “and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt 26:40b-41). These words were directed at Peter in particular. Sadly, Peter did not take heed, and we know the rest of the story. We must heed this exhortation today, to watch and pray so that we can be delivered from temptations! Otherwise, we will lose our steadfastness and fall into temptation. The flesh is weak! Peter trusted in his flesh. It is powerless against spiritual tests. Peter succumbed to fear and deserted Christ his Lord.

iii. Christ Jesus (Matthew 4) Christ was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. What enabled Him to resist the temptations and overcome them? He trusted in God and clung to the veracity of God’s words. Christ knows the Scriptures and with each temptation He quoted them. He believed in them and, standing on those words, He resisted the Devil’s attacks; and the Devil, having no power against Jesus, departed eventually, defeated in tempting Jesus to sin. We, too, need to hide God’s words in our hearts and when tempted we must stand on them in faith without wavering. Don’t give place to the devil to cast doubts. Stand against his wiles with the sword of the Spirit, and the shield of faith.

Let us pray the sixth petition, "lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil", with faith in God who is strong, recognising our weakness without Him. Thank God we have the power given by Him to stand against all temptations and to overcome them when we believe in what God says. The Devil will not succeed in his temptations when we so stand against him, having put on the armour provided by God.

Amen.