Luke 11:4-5

TEMPTATION

‘And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.’

Luke 11:4

Temptation is the precincts of sin. The soul that has trespassed, and is restored back again, is desirous to stand aloof from the neighbourhood of sin; it hates everything to do with sin; and therefore its cry is, not, ‘Lead us not into sin,’ but ‘Lead us not into temptation.’

I. Temptation and probation.—Temptation is sometimes, in God’s Word, taken in the same sense as probation—‘God did tempt Abraham.’ We may go further. Every temptation is a probation, and every probation is a temptation. The difference lies in the motive or intention. God tempts you to do you good, Satan tempts you to do you harm; but Satan’s temptation is God’s probation, and God’s probation is Satan’s temptation. Does, then, God ‘lead us into temptation’? Surely, for our good. Whenever Satan tempts, he does it by permission, therefore it is God’s tempting. Nevertheless, what does St. James say? ‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.’ The distinction lies in the intention. To make any ‘temptation,’ there must be two parts. There must be the outward object which affects the senses and which is the means of the temptation; and there must be the inward inclination and desire, which is influenced by that outward object. It is plain that there may be a strong disposition in the heart to commit any sin, but because there is no occasion on which that disposition is called into action it sleeps. While, on the other hand, the external circumstance may be very seductive, but if there is no state of heart responding to the seduction, the power of the temptation is taken away. Thus a thing is, or ceases to be, a temptation according as the feelings and principle run parallel.

II. Prevention of temptation.—The prevention may be effected in three ways. Either the occasion may not be presented, or every sinful inclination may be taken away and overruled, or the power of Satan to deal with one or the other may be abridged or withdrawn. And undoubtedly, when you say this petition in the Lord’s Prayer you ought to have those three thoughts included in your mind.

(a) You ask that God will so overrule His providential arrangements that you may not be placed in a position calculated to excite and draw out your besetting sin.

(b) You ask that if it be needful for you to be placed in circumstances of danger, you may not be overcome by them, but that God will deliver you.

(c) You ask that Satan himself may not be allowed to gain an advantage over you, but that ‘when the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord may lift up a standard against him.’

III. Deliverance from evil.—Nor does the petition end here. The language of the believer is, ‘Deliver us from evil’; but he asks it advisedly and deliberately, considering three things.

(a) Remember that there is no evil which is not mingled with some good. Therefore he would analyse, and beg, not at random, to be delivered from painful dealing, but that the evil of the painful dealing may be taken away.

(b) An enlightened man knows that though he may ask God to ‘deliver him from all evil,’ whatever it be that presses upon him, even with a feather’s weight, still, he may not define the time, or fix the way.

(c) We should have a distinct understanding of the manner in which God delivers. God’s only plan of deliverance is by ransom. He has provided a system of substitution. You must carry this thought with you to your knees when you say, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ that God delivered Christ to evil that He might deliver you from it.

—Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustrations

(1) ‘The first spiritual petition in the Lord’s Prayer was retrospective, “Forgive us our sins.” The second becomes prospective, “Lead us not into temptation.” This is as it ought to be. No man should go on into the future with God till he has a clear past. And indeed it is only the soul which has once tasted forgiveness that knows what is the fear of sinning again. It is made quite white, and can he bear the thought of sullying it? Shall a man recover from a malignant fever, and go and breathe infection? Only take the personal answer to that “Forgive us”—feel your pardon—and you will find such a loathing of corruption that you will then be prepared to cry out, as you ought, “Lead us not into temptation.” ’

(2) ‘The several parts of the Lord’s Prayer are outlines; we are to fill them in by our own personal circumstances, and a man misses the true intention of this clause if he does not fill it in with the thought and the secret mention of his own special temptation. If there be an audacious thing before God, it is to ask one thing with the lips, while you ask another thing with the life. And yet, what else than this do they do, who, knowing where their own particular evil bias is, nevertheless pray in the morning, “Lead us not into temptation,” and as certainly, every day, run to the very edges of their besetting sins, crying as loudly as actions can speak, “Lead us into temptation”? In the morning say, “Lead us not into temptation.” And then, all day long look out for the leading for which you have asked; for if God does not lead you, the devil will; and if the devil lead you, where will be the goal?’