Word of Salvation – Vol. 29 No. 05 – February 1984
Deliverance From Temptation
Sermon by Rev. H.W. Pennings, v.d.m. on Matthew 6:13
Scripture Reading: John 15:1-17
Suggested liturgy: 444:1,2; 286:1,4; 427:1,2,3,4; 444:3,4; 21
It is very comforting for believers that Jesus, who was Himself tempted by Satan, has also taught us about temptation. He has done this in many parts of Scripture, for He is the Author of the whole. But Jesus has also taught us about deliverance from the tempting power of Satan when He taught us, in what we know as the Lord’s Prayer, to make the request, “Father in heaven, because you have made us a part of your perfect Kingdom, deliver us from temptation, from that evil enemy who seeks to make us his disciples.”
The second part of this prayer, “…deliver us from the evil one”, helps to explain the first part. For, while Scripture clearly teaches us that God tests us, it equally clearly reveals that He never tempts us! The words “temptation” and “the evil one (Satan)” are always linked together. The word “temptation” is always used with evil overtones. We cannot say, for instance, that we are “tempted to do good… to do God’s will”. That is a contradiction in terms. It is only Satan who tempts. For, even when God tests us, the purpose of that testing is to bring us to trust Him more and more.
When we make this our own petition in prayer there are two things which we confess. Firstly, we confess that we are spiritually poor in ourselves that we are weak and liable to be led astray. The second thing that we confess is Satan’s super-human power and super-human subtlety. Even as a new creation in Jesus Christ I am easily drawn away from what the Lord declares to be good into doing what the Lord declares to be evil. That’s why we have to make this particular petition like all the others, one which we bring to the Lord, who owns us, every single day of our lives. We totally depend upon God’s grace and strength to overcome temptation. We should not think that we are, on our own, strong enough to withstand Satan’s evil influence. While we cannot, as true believers, fall from grace, we can drift away from the comfort of being aware that we are never on our own.
When once Jesus was speaking about our human weakness He used, as a teaching-model, the parable of the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine. Believers are the branches which are attached to the vine. Of course, any branch not attached to the vine is a dead branch – a branch only fit to be taken away and burnt. That is the tragedy of unbelief! But Jesus also teaches us about branches of the vine which, because they do not seek their strength from the vine, start to wither and are in danger of death. We must take what Jesus says seriously. Apart from Jesus, the vine, we are nothing! We are not branches of Jesus by right of birth into a Christian home, or even because we “join the thronging worshippers” on the Christian day of rest. A Christian is one who daily draws his strength from Jesus. You can be physically alive apart from Jesus; not, however, spiritually alive.
This is the first principle of spiritual life which we have to learn. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches of that vine. It is from Jesus alone that we receive spiritual life, and food for that spiritual life. Jesus also teaches us that, if our faith is real (seed that brings forth a harvest), we must seek to keep it alive by asking Him never to let us go (which is Jesus’ work) and by endeavouring to stay close to Him (which is our response of faith).
Are we always aware of how subtle Satan is in temptation? One of the crimes within society which always receives a lot of news coverage is the crime of kidnapping. But do you think that a child will follow a man (or a woman), who says, “Come here, kid, and I’ll give you a hiding”? Usually not! A child is far more likely to be tempted to go to that person who has the proverbial “bag of lollies” to offer; or, when it is pouring with rain, says to that child, “Hop in, and I’ll give you a lift home,” That’s temptation. It’s the offer of something which is nice or comfortable.
Now, the Christian (remember) is a person attached to Jesus who is the vine which gives life (and love, joy, peace and security). Do you think that Satan, the subtle tempter, can persuade us to leave the vine just by saying, “Leave the vine; it’s alright nothing will happen to you”?
Of course not! While we know that Satan is the sworn enemy of God and His people, and that he never ceases to attack us, it is most unlikely that he will attack us, will tempt us in that way. That only works with unbelievers who were never part of the vine Jesus. Satan will seek out our weaknesses and will attack our weaknesses; and he will have no difficulty at all to find them. We are not yet in heaven. The time has not yet come when Satan is completely bound.
Do you know what your weaknesses are? Not your physical weakness, but your spiritual weaknesses? They are the things which will most readily tempt you to accomplish things your way as opposed to God’s way; the things which will stop you from praying because you feel so filthy before the Lord; the things which you will not specifically mention when you are praying because your conscience, educated by God’s Holy Spirit, makes you feel so uneasy; the things which you can’t defeat because you don’t wholeheartedly always want to defeat them. In the spiritual struggle to remain attached to Jesus, the vine, these are most likely to draw you away.
You may have certain ‘friends’, but they are not only not Christian friends, but are the type of friends where, when you are with them, you are a changed person. Your language is different, and in a bad way. They may even be fellow church-members, but your conversation doesn’t reflect that. You know that being with these people is bad for you, yet you still want to go back again and again, preferring their company to the company of those who build you up in your faith, or whom you can likewise build up. Then, when you pray, or try to, these friendships become a huge obstacle! This is especially the case when you, young people, start going out regularly with a non- Christian boyfriend and girlfriend. How spiritually blind untrue love can make us!
On the other hand, maybe your spiritual weakness is what you like to call financial security. But if you are a believer you cannot fool yourself by using this convenient term. You know that it is greed for possessions, and that greed is always ungodly and leads you to do things, even to order your whole lifestyle, in such a way that you can see the tears in God’s eyes!
It is in these weaknesses, that Satan attacks us. If you now think: “the preacher has missed the mark”, don’t be complacent. If you know yourself, you’ll also know your own weaknesses. If you know God’s Word, you’ll know your sin. Then you’ll also know the areas of your life which Satan can, and will!, attack. Do you know yourself? Do you know your spiritual weaknesses? Well, that is a blessing! There are many who show by their manner of life that they are not attached to Jesus, the vine, but who couldn’t care less. If you can, therefore, recognise your weaknesses, and if your conscience does trouble you, it is a sign that the Spirit of Jesus is working within you. When, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you are so ashamed that you try to hide from God, you feel so guilty about your most constant sin, remember from Genesis 3 and Psalm 139 that God will never allow His loved ones to be at peace until He Himself has given them peace. It is a curse when a person feels no shame before the Lord. It is part of His rich blessing in Jesus when we know that Satan, our enemy, is trying to wrestle us away from God’s peace.
Scripture teaches us that believers can ask for, and can gain, forgiveness for all their sins. Jesus has fully paid the price for every single one of our transgressions to make us righteous and has perfectly resisted Satan’s temptation to make us holy. Believers are both sinners and saints. On the other hand, Scripture also teaches us to come before the Lord daily, and in prayer request of Him: “Father in heaven, because you have made us part of your perfect kingdom, help us to listen to you and to you alone.” That’s what it means when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”
When you and I confess our guilt – our weaknesses and spiritual frailty – what we are asking for is that Jesus, the only true vine, will help us to remain part of Him, and the He will feed us so that we are strong when temptation comes.
When your prayer is sincere, remember Jesus’ promise. He will never let you go! Sometimes, also acting as the vinedresser, He has to trim some branches so that they may become more fruitful. God will have to do that in your life and in mine. We might not like it at the time, but it is still a blessing. Only the dead branches are cut off altogether. So, if you are sincere about admitting your spiritual frailty, and also sincere in asking for forgiveness through the precious Name of Jesus, rest assured that Jesus is still working with you in spite of all that is so wrong. Jesus doesn’t find saints; He makes saints!
Yes, we are spiritually weak, collectively and each one of us also in different ways. Yes, Satan will keep on attacking us especially where we are most vulnerable. Yes, and Satan’s helpers, too, will be used in the battle. That boy, that girl you find so attractive – to whom you are so attracted – but who is unwilling to bow before the Lord. That new and bigger car or house. That attractive – but ungodly! – business opportunity. Why miss out? Satan will even use those, whom we suppose to be our friends, to tempt us to walk breezily along the highway rather than to cautiously seek out the narrow road of God’s Kingdom.
When you ask the Lord to help you to fight against the temptations which the evil one puts before you He will certainly answer your prayer and will also help you. But how will God help us, and how should we ask the Lord to help us? For one thing we should ask God to make us stronger when we confess that we are so weak. In practice that means asking the Lord that He will help us to walk closer to the Lord Jesus Christ to whom we already belong. For God will certainly grant such a request. Scripture also tells us that our victory over Satan will, in God’s time, be a complete victory. Yet, even in our weaknesses, and even when we succumb to temptation, we have already defeated Satan in Jesus our Saviour. When Jesus had completed that victory on the cross on our behalf He also ascended to heaven on our behalf. He has gone to prepare a place for us. But, at the same time, through the Holy Spirit, He is present with us. In heaven Jesus pleads on our behalf before the Father, but at the same time Jesus is with us on earth to give us spiritual strength. His hand firmly holds our hand. Else there wouldn’t be one temptation which we could overcome. Jesus told His disciples: “Without me you can do nothing.” We are only flesh and blood; we are only weak, whereas Satan is in complete control of a whole host of evil spiritual forces, all of which work against us. No, we cannot stand by ourselves. But we don’t have to! We can stand with Jesus and can ask Him to give us heavenly, spiritual strength.
We should always remember that God has given us a clear responsibility to do those things, and to be in those places and with those people, where the Lord will keep us in His strength; places, and people, where it will be more difficult for Satan to tempt us. Scripture says that, as believers, we are children of light. Therefore we are responsible not to make close friends with those who are children of darkness. When you pray this petition, do you think about these things? The Lord declares that we must. Our prayer must be sincere. No, not in the sense that we have to defeat Satan before the Lord will listen to us and help us. Rather, sincere in that we begin to do, with His help, the things in which we have asked for His help. One of the proverbs of Solomon (Prov.28:9) puts it quite pointedly: “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the “torah” (God’s Word), even his prayers are detestable.”
Being sincere in your prayer for spiritual strength to fight temptation cannot go together with “turning a deaf ear to God’s Word.” For instance your prayer cannot be sincere – it cannot be prayer at all if you are at the racetrack about to put your money on the nose of a horse and you ask the Lord to help you to be satisfied with the money you have. That’s maybe an extreme example, but the principle involved isn’t extreme. While we must continue to live in the world, Scripture warns us not to make close friends with those who will hinder you in your Christian life. Therefore when a young person (we are not picking you out, but it applies to you, too) – when a young person, wanting to be a disciple of Jesus, prays this particular petition but is also thinking seriously of marrying an unbeliever, it’s a pretty crazy situation. If you are inclined to be violent at times, or inclined to use ungodly language, and you still on purpose watch those TV shows or read those books which promote these things, and then you pray: “Father in heaven, please, help me to overcome the temptation to be violent and help me to speak with decency.” then there won’t be much rejoicing in heaven; there cannot be. The Lord may still be merciful, for His mercy knows no bounds. Every sin will be forgiven a believer, except the sin of rejecting the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit to bow in faith before the Lord and Saviour of mankind. That is our comfort, and it is real comfort. The Lord accepts sinners! On the other hand, sinners are called to a repentance that is true, that makes us fight against the power of Satan. The two go hand in hand.
So, when you ask the Lord to help you to be strong, to receive spiritual strength to fight against Satan, your thankful response to His love and mercy ought to be that you ask the Lord to help you do His will rather than the will of Satan. When you draw closer to fellow believers you can also expect to be drawn closer to your Saviour. There are so many fellowship groups to which you can belong. And, while even there Satan will not leave you alone, these and similar groups will be used by the Lord to keep you within His strength.
As a branch of Jesus, the vine, you may have to be pruned so that your faith becomes more effective. Accept that. Accept the Lord’s discipline, for He gives it in love. Try to be more fruitful branches of Jesus the vine. Isn’t that what you really want? Can you find a greater treasure than the treasure of the love of your heavenly Father? In Jesus Christ who died and rose for our justification and lives for our sanctification we have God’s promise that, when we confess our spiritual weakness and seek His strength to fight against the wiles of Satan, He will never, no never, leave or forsake us. And also, that He will keep us strong until the day when we are called to our heavenly home, when our victory over Satan and his temptation is completed.
Amen.