In our last little heart-to-heart talk, we were discussing that portion of the Word of God as found in the sixth chapter of Matthew,
that wonderful pattern for prayer that Jesus gave us.
And we discussed that part of the prayer which He gave in these words, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And you will remember that we saw that in this prayer we are obliged either to forgive our enemies in sincerity and in truth,
not just merely with words, not merely with our lips, but we must forgive our enemies with sincerity and truth.
And we are never going to repeat this prayer. The Lord actually makes our claim to our own forgiveness to depend upon our forgiveness of others, and it's just like that.
You have no right to ask for forgiveness of your own sins as long as you are not willing to forgive another's injustices against you.
We cannot demand our own release before we release our brother. It's there.
That's the reason when you analyze the whole thing, you see that the forgiveness of sin is the central problem of life, and it's just like that.
Now we come to the next part that Jesus gave in this pattern for our prayer.
And get it, just as I said it, our prayer. This is not His prayer. This is our prayer.
And this is the pattern that He has left for you and for me to use.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This clause has probably caused more difficulty than any other part of the prayer.
For many earnest people, it has literally been a stumbling block.
They feel and rightly so that God could not lead anyone into temptation or into evil in any circumstances.
And so to them these words do not ring true.
Oh, so many people have been confused regarding this part of the prayer.
And I can honestly say that I do not believe that I have ever really heard a sermon preached on this part of the Lord's Prayer.
Usually when one is giving an interpretation of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, when they come to this clause, they ring it and then pass over it very gracefully.
Because it just is not being understood.
And if one was a medical man, they would just diagnose the case as virus.
You know, I told you, the very prominent Dr. Henry East, who in just a personal talk, he said, you know,
we have gotten to the place in the medical profession that if we are not quite sure what the disease is and in diagnosing a case, why we just call it virus.
And haven't you talked with folks who had, oh, something wrong with the head and the doctor said, well, it's just virus.
And then maybe the next hour you'll find someone else. They have a terrific pain in the back. What is it?
The doctor said it was virus. And then there's all excruciating pain in the leg and they had it diagnosed and the doctor said virus.
And so we can just put this down as virus because spiritual virus, because we just haven't been able to understand this portion of the Lord's Prayer.
I know there have been a number of attempts that have been made to recast the wording.
They felt that Jesus could not have said what he is represented to have said. And so they look about for some phrasing, which they think would be more in accordance with the general tone of his teaching.
And those who tried to tell us that the Greek original meant something different than you and I accept as being a part of the prayer.
But all of this is absolutely unnecessary.
Jesus said exactly what he meant.
There's not a lost word.
And the meaning of this, the spiritual meaning is tremendous.
Don't try to sidestep it.
Don't try to put words in the mouth of Jesus that are not there.
Don't try to change the meaning of this.
He said exactly what he meant to say.
And what is here in this prayer is exactly as it should be.
First of all, you've got to remember that the Lord's Prayer covers the whole of the spiritual life.
The Bible, once, though the form is, is nevertheless a complete manual for the development of the soul.
It covers everything.
If all that we had, if the only Bible that we had, was just this small portion as given from the lips of Jesus, and that which we call the Lord's Prayer.
All we had was just these few verses, as we call it in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
We would have enough gospel to know how to be saved, how to live a spiritual life.
For this covers every phase of a man's life, one's spiritual life.
It's a complete manual for the development of the soul.
And Jesus knew only too well the difficulties that can and do beset the soul when once the stages of spiritual unfoldment have been passed.
He knew well the temptations in the life of every human being.
Now, the difficulty with too many people is this fact.
They feel that after they have been born again, after this wonderful experience of regeneration, they will no longer have temptations.
And this is where many a spiritual leader has failed.
We somehow, in our zeal in trying to get men and women to accept the Christ as their Savior, paint such a rosy picture of the Christian life that the unregenerated feel that when once they have accepted the Christ,
there will no longer be battles, there will no longer be temptations, all the fact will have ceased in that wonderful experience of regeneration.
My friend, believe me when I tell you, we'll have temptations as long as we're still in the body of flesh and steel on this old earth, and as long as the enemy of our soul is in the same world.
And it's just like that.
I don't care how deeply spiritual you may be.
When anyone comes to me and tells me that they have reached such a spiritual plateau, they have soared so high spiritually that they no longer have temptations.
I just smile to myself and I think, Brother, you're only kidding yourself.
You are the only one who's being deceived.
I don't care who you are, what spiritual experiences you may have received.
How deep you go in the things of God.
I would not discredit the fact one iota, not for a minute, would I argue the fact with you that you are not a saint of God.
I will agree with you.
But I will have to argue the fact with you if you tell me that you never are tempted.
My brother, when one is even as spiritual as the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest saints that ever lived, when you realize what a surrendered life Paul must have lived for God to have used that vessel
and to have given Paul the deep spiritual secrets that he gave to him.
I do not believe any human being was ever closer to God in the flesh than the Apostle Paul.
And yet constantly he was reminding us of the temptations that you and I would face.
He was constantly having a war within himself regarding his own temptations.
Why?
Because he was still in the body of flesh.
Know that.
This flesh is still corruption.
This flesh is still mourning.
And you will have temptations as long as there's breath in this mortal body, regardless of your deep spirituality.
I give you a personal word of God as found in James, the first chapter.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.
Now that's exactly what I'm trying to say.
This clause in this prayer that Jesus has taught us to pray has probably caused more difficulty than any other part of the prayer
because Christians feel and rightly so that God could not lead anyone into temptation or into evil in any circumstances.
And so they feel that these words do not ring true.
And this is substantiated in this personal word of God.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.
For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man.
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
As long as he is still in the body of flesh, as long as this body is still corruption, there is still the flesh to contend with.
The scripture continues, then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.
Bow me a little closer.
Temptation is not a sin.
Remember, I said the greatest saint living today will be tempted because the devil is still very much alive.
Secondly, because that saint of God is still in a body of flesh and that flesh is still corrupt,
there will still be the lust of the flesh.
You will be tempted, but temptation in itself is no sin.
It's when you yield to temptation that it becomes a sin.
Don't tell me that you are no longer tempted.
Look at the very sum of the living God and do not say that his temptation was not real.
Do not tell me that he could not have yielded to temptation.
Remember that he was as much man in the flesh as though he were not God.
And of course, there's much God as though he were not man.
Jesus was tempted by the same devil who tempts you and tempts me.
But even though he was tempted, that temptation was not a sin because he did not yield to temptation.
He was as perfect as though he had never been tempted.
Don't feel as though you failed God.
Don't feel as though you have slipped spiritually.
Don't feel as though you have lost some spiritual experience when temptation comes to you.
No, my friend, with that temptation, Jesus will be there to be your strengthener
and you'll receive a reward for having overcome the temptation. Amen.