"And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen." Matthew 6:13.
Welcome to our first day of memorizing Matthew 6:13. I checked out my NASB this morning and found that this translation does include "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever", in brackets in the text rather than footnoted, whereas yesterday I mentioned that this translation had only footnoted it. So my apologies to NASB fans. In fact other modern translations may include it in the text as well, it's best to simply be aware that some translations might not include it.
There is so much that can be said about temptation that today I can barely touch the surface.
Temptation. What a subject.
In the Old Testament the word "tempt" or "tempted" appears 5 times. And of these verses it is God who is being tempted, and it is people who are doing the tempting. In Exodus 17:2 while the Israelites were camped in Rephidim and they contented with Moses to give them water, Moses responded, Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?" In Exodus 16 the LORD had just started supply the peoples' daily needs of quail and manna, as a result of the peoples' complaining against Moses. It's important to note in verse 7,8 that the peoples' complaints were actually against God.
"And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD; for He hears your complaints against the LORD. But what are we, that you complain against us?" Also Moses said, "This shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD." In verse 12 we see that the LORD provided the quail and manna in order that the people "shall know that I am the LORD your God.".
So in Exodus 17 at the waters of Massah and Meribah in Rephidim in verse 7 we see that they tempted the LORD in saying "Is the LORD among us or not?" They had just seen God's cloud of glory in providing the quail and manna and yet they continued to deny His presence.
Deuteronomy 6:16 is in reference to this event. In reference to when the Israelites would come into their inheritance in Israel, and they ate of the fullness and abundance of the land that they did not themselves sow or plant, from verse 12 we read:
"-- then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and you shall take oaths in His name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken." (Deuteronomy 6:12-19.).
Notice the parts that I've highlighted.
Tempting the LORD includes: Forgetting God and going after other gods which arouses God's jealousy and anger against His people and tempts God to destroy His people. Rather we are to do what is right and good in His sight.
In Psalm 78 (verses 40,41) we find in a recounting of the works of God and the failures of His people we read, "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel."
And in Malachi 3:14,15 we read that the people said, "It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Beofre the LORD of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.'" Things had come about to the point where God's principles of blessing had abandoned His people, and those who had no stake in God were receiving His blessing instead. Yet God promises in the next verses that His work would come and His people would once again be acknowledged and blessed as His people:
"Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.
"They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him."
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him." (Malachi 3:16-18).
So this is the first type of temptation that there is. The tempting of God by outright disobedience and disdain of Him and His response of anger and (our) desolation. Interestingly when Satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness in the New Testament, Jesus' final word to him was "Do not tempt the LORD thy God." Underwritten in Jesus response was the fact, "lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 6:12-19). As well as the fact that since Satan was tempting Jesus, Jesus was saying "Do not tempt the LORD thy God." We learn from this that when we are tempted, Satan is still under the restraining hand of God in all His actions, as well as that, God's protection of us in His blessing is also active in us as we walk and live in Him.
As we know temptation for us as believers is a temptation to abandon God in our daily walk and lives, to serve and follow other purposes and actions apart from God's will, to deny God's work in us, and to do those things which are not pleasing to Him (see all above). Falling to these temptations means to sin, to transgress against God's Holy Divine person and character.
God's response to sin can be seen in Romans 1:24-32 is to give people over to sin.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness..." Paul then describes how people have abandoned and denied God.....
"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts....
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions.....
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debased mind...
And thus we have all those kinds of things that people tend to do when they give into temptation:
"to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; (they are) whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful,"
That is quite a list, but we must be careful before we start pointing at other people, because we might actually be pointing at ourselves, as Paul continues:
"who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:32.)
So when we talk about temptation (even though we have barely scratched the surface) we need to recognize that when we abandon God and fall into sin because of temptation, not only are we tempting God to work adversely toward us, we are also endangered by sin itself in destroying our own heart, soul, and mind. And this happens to be what happened to Adam and Eve back in the garden and has been happening ever since.
The difference for us however is that we have our Saviour, Redeemer and Lord, Jesus Christ. He who stood against all temptation and who was without sin, and who died upon the cross so that we could be and are forgiven by God for our sin. In Christ, God's remedy for sin has been wrought. He has also given us His Holy Spirit, and breathed in to us His life and even His righteousness. The Spirit of God is at work in our lives, and He is perfecting us as we live and grow in Christ. And Christ will present us before God as being completely righteous in His sight. As our Father, God now receives us and welcomes us to Himself.
As as our Father in Heaven we ask of Him "Lead us not into temptation".
As we follow You, the God of our salvation, we ask that in your Guidance and Holy providence that you do not lead us to a place where we will forget or abandon You or Your work of redemption in our lives. We ask that we do not forget you, that we do not refuse Your Lordship in our lives, that we do not live or act in such a way as to stir Your Holy jealousy or wrath. And as our mediator, our saviour, Your Son has worked before You and within us, we pray that as He was exposed to all temptation and was without sin, that according to Your Holy Spirit we would live our lives in Your presence and Your provision as Your children walking in Your light and Your love, and Your mercy. We ask that You would provide a way of escape as we are tempted (according to Your word), and that through Your grace we may grow to be trees of righteousness according to Christ's righteousness at work within us. And we ask that when we sin, that Your mercy and grace would be shown toward us, that our hearts would turn to You and find Your forgiveness in Your Son our Saviour, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen
"And do not lead us into temptation.
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen".
Matthew 6:13.
