Well again today, another one of those heart-to-heart talks.
As you well know that we are now in the study of the sixth chapter of Matthew.
And we've come to that part of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray,
where he says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Now this clause has probably caused more difficulty than any other part of the entire prayer.
And for many earnest Christians, it has been almost a stumbling block,
because they feel, and rightly so, that God could not lead anyone into temptation.
That God could not lead anyone into evil in any circumstances.
And so these words for them seemingly do not ring true.
And it is true, as you and I learned from our heart-to-heart talk,
in the talk preceding the one today.
God does not, God cannot, lead one into temptation.
And yet, regardless of how deeply spiritual you may be,
or what great spiritual experiences you may have had in your life,
you will still be tempted as long as you are in this body of flesh,
before this which is mortal will have put on immortality.
And so for this reason, a number of attempts have been made to recast the wording.
People have felt that Jesus could not have said what he is represented to have said.
And so they look for some other phrasing which they think would be
more in accordance with the general tone of his teaching.
There have been those who have tried to say that in the Greek original,
there was something different. But all of this is absolutely unnecessary.
Don't do one thing with it. Leave it just as it is, exactly as Jesus said it.
One thing you must remember, and that is that the Lord's Prayer,
this prayer that Jesus taught you and taught me,
as a pattern for our praying, covers the whole of the spiritual life, everything.
I know it's condensed in form, and yet nevertheless,
it's a complete manual for the development of the soul.
And Jesus knew the temptations that you and I would have.
He knew it. And we need to warn young converts, young Christians,
that even though they have been born again,
there will be temptations. You and I must be conscious of the fact
that the enemy of our soul is very active.
And sometimes I am prone to think that the greater the life of usefulness
for God, the greater will be that one's temptations.
And that is the reason we must be on guard.
And Jesus is telling us that very thing right here in this pattern for our praying.
I repeat again that Jesus knew only too well
all the subtle perils and difficulties that can and do beset the soul,
when once the preliminary stages of spiritual
unfoldment have been passed.
Those who are yet as a comparatively early stage
of development in their spiritual life do not experience
such great difficulties. They're apt to jump to the conclusion that
this clause is unnecessary,
but such is not the case.
The facts are these. The more you pray, the more time you spend in seeking the Lord,
the more sensitive you become, and the deeper you grow spiritually.
And remember, if you are a healthy Christian,
if there is his divine life in you, there will be a spiritual growth.
And you will grow from babyhood to an adult in spiritual things,
just as an infant grows. A daily growth spiritually, just as
an infant grows from infancy to being an adult.
Oh how well I remember something. It's as vivid to me as though it
just happened a week ago. Of course I began
the ministry when I was quite young. Stupid, I was so ignorant regarding
spiritual things. The only thing that I really knew about
spiritual things of course was being born again, accepting Christ as your
Savior. And I think I told you before that the
first sermon I ever preached was Zacchaeus up a tree. That was the first
servant I ever preached in all my life. And I began my ministry in the state of
Idaho. And I still hear from some of those precious
folk in Wendell, Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho,
Boise, Emmett. Oh sure, I preached in those little
Methodist churches, Presbyterian churches, Christian churches,
Baptist churches. But do you want to know something?
After my fifth sermon, I remembered so well.
After I had finished that sermon and was walking down the road to the
little room where I was sleeping, I thought now there isn't anything more
in the Bible to preach about. I have absolutely exhausted the supply.
There isn't another sermon in me. I can't for the life of me think of
anything else to preach about. I have exhausted the supply.
I rolled and tossed all night and I thought,
I cannot think of anything more to preach about.
A sixth sermon can't be born. I brained the supply.
Oh Landy, how many hundreds and thousands of sermons I have preached
since then. And of course now the whole thing has
opened up so beautifully, so marvelously as the Holy Spirit
reveals the deep truths. But do you know the secret?
I have grown. The thing was there all the time. These wonderful truths that I
have been bringing you were there the whole time.
And yet because of the fact that I was so young spiritually,
just a newborn child spiritually,
I did not see the full depth of meaning in His Word. I had to grow
and as I grew the Holy Spirit revealed the deep truths to me. And as He revealed
the deep spiritual truths to me, I grew. It was bred to my soul. It fed my
soul. I developed. I grew spiritually just as
a baby grows when it is given the right food. First the milk
and then food a little more substantial. And then it isn't long before the
potatoes and the meat and then it isn't long before the youngster sits up
on the side of his dad and says, Daddy I want steak just like you're
eating. That's it. The secret is growth.
And it is true.
Those my friend and these are facts that I'm giving you. The more you
pray, the more time you spend in meditation,
the more sensitive you become to the Spirit.
And if you spend a great deal of time working on your soul in the right way,
you become very sensitive. This is excellent. This is marvelous. But
like everything else in the universe, it works both ways. The more sensitive
and spiritual you become, the more powerful and effective are your
prayers. The better work you do for him, the more
you'll be used of him and you will advance
in spiritual things. But for the same reason you also become
susceptible to forms of temptation that simply do not be set those at an
earlier stage when it comes to their spiritual growth
and the spiritual life.
If like that, there has been a stage in your life, in my life,
just as I felt that I had exhausted the supply,
there wasn't another sermon to be preached.
I had drained the supply after my fifth sermon.
Also in my life, I felt that I had surrendered everything to God.
In those early years, if someone had told me
that I was not completely surrendered to him,
I would have wept bitterly. But as I look back now,
it was some of self and some of him.
Later in my life, there came that time when it was
less of self
and more of him.
Today, I can take you down a road
in a certain town, in a certain state.
It's a dead-end street. But my friend, it was the opening
of the greatest day of my life. When walking down that
dead-end street that day, I surrendered everything,
body, soul, and spirit to him. I remember it. The tears streaming down
my face. A full surrender for the first time
in my life. It was none of self and all of him.
But with that surrender, came a responsibility,
a great responsibility. It was when I made that full
and complete surrender to him of everything,
that the Holy Spirit took the empty vessel.
And that's all that he asks.
If the only vessel that he's looking for are golden vessels or silver vessels,
he never in a thousand worlds would have chosen me.
You just don't realize where I came from.
Nothing.
Nobody.
Stupid.
Really no natural talent. Not really.
It isn't golden vessels. It isn't silver vessels.
Empty vessels. The word says he uses the weakly,
the base thing, the things that are not wild, that no
flesh should glory in itself. That's one thing he'll not share with
any human being. That's the glory.
He feels what we surrender to him.
I had no real ministry. Not really.
Until I walked down that little road, that dead end street and
surrendered to him everything. And I became an empty vessel.
And he filled that empty vessel with the Holy Spirit.
But with that filling, a responsibility that was so tremendous
that many a time since, I've looked up and almost wished.
I was back again as a small town girl in Concordia, Missouri.
But watch it.
The greater the yieldedness, the greater will be the responsibility
that is ours. And along with it, the greater will be
the temptation.
It's like that. As we advance, new and powerful temptations await us
on the path. They're there.
Every turn of the road, there's temptations.
There's temptations to work for self-glory.
There are temptations for personal honors and distinctions.
There's a temptation for material gain.
I'm just laying bare my soul to you.
Watch it.
There's temptations to allow personal preference to hold sway.
There are temptations to take the advice of folk in the world
that you feel are so much better educated than you and that perhaps have a greater knowledge
and perhaps greater wisdom in dealing with a thing than yourself.
And yet, when one is called a God, one is to look to Him, the one who has called you,
for wisdom, for guidance, for leadership.
And it's just like that. I repeat,
one becomes susceptible to forms of temptation that simply do not reset those
who are less spiritual or less used to God.
And I think the worst temptation of all is the temptation to spiritual bigotry.
That's so easy. All the deadly sin of spiritual pride,
of spiritual bigotry.
I'm just telling you
why Jesus included this part of the prayer that He taught us to pray.
Great knowledge brings great responsibility.
The greater the knowledge, the greater will be the responsibility.
And the responsibility misused brings terrible punishment.
Don't pray, just stand in my shoes.
Please do not.
There's one thing I am very aware of, and that is if I misuse that which God has given to me,
my judgment, my punishment will be far greater than the judgment of one
to whom this great responsibility had not been given.
One's knowledge of truth is a sacred trust and must not be violated.
That leads us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.