In his sermon, 'Lead Us not into Temptation,' Pastor Steve Hopkins addresses the sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer and its connection to seeking forgiveness and deliverance from sin. He explains that the fifth and sixth petitions are linked by the word 'and,' signifying a transition from seeking forgiveness for past sins to requesting God's guidance to avoid future sin. The sermon emphasizes the importance of sincere prayer not only for forgiveness but also for strength to resist sin. Pastor Hopkins clarifies that asking God not to lead us into temptation is not to suggest that God tempts us, as James 1:13 states that God does not tempt anyone. Instead, it is a plea for God to prevent situations where believers might be vulnerable to sin. Pastor Hopkins draws on insights from theologians like John Owen and A.W. Pink, discussing the distinction between trials meant to test faith and enticements to sin. He emphasizes that trials are meant to reveal one's reliance on God and strengthen faith. The sermon also highlights the necessity of self-examination, as seen in the prayer of David in Psalm 139, and discusses how God uses trials to humble and strengthen His people, as illustrated by examples like Abraham and Hezekiah. Pastor Hopkins encourages believers to place their trust in God rather than self-reliance and to live in God's Word and prayer, particularly during times of temptation. He concludes with a reminder of God's promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that He will not allow believers to be tempted beyond their ability to endure, and calls for trust in God's preserving power.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins will continue his series on the Lord's Prayer. Good morning once again. Let's open our Bibles once again to the book of Matthew, the sixth chapter, where we will be reading verses 9 through 13. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord.

Let's read together. After this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Let's pray.

Father we thank you God for your great eternal love for us for your people. You are our Father and we, your children, on account of the adoption won for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask this morning God for a greater certainty and assurance of your love for us. By your spirit God we ask that you would grant us understanding as we open your holy word and we pray God in this hour that you would fill us with joy and believing with joy unspeakable and full of glory as we seek your face in this time. For we ask it in the name of Jesus, amen.

Let's be seated. So this morning we will be looking at the sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer and lead us not into temptation. And lead us not into temptation. The first thing that we need to notice about our text this morning is that once again, just as the fifth and fourth petitions of the Lord's Prayer are linked together by the word and, so you'll notice that the sixth petition is also linked to the fifth petition by the word and. And lead us not into temptation.

And I think this is the thought. In the fifth petition, we're asking forgiveness for the sins that we have committed that are past. And in the sixth petition, we're seeking God's gracious help for the future, that we may not repeat those sins. So in the fifth petition we pray, and forgive us our debts. We're seeking mercy and pardon, and we're obtaining it for Christ's sake.

In the sixth petition we're saying Father having been assured by your word that you have in mercy forgiven us our great debt of sin, all our trespasses for Jesus' sake, and Father, trusting that everything we brought before you in prayer this day, you have for Christ's sake so graciously pardoned. Now Father, seeing this and understanding all that you have done for us and mercifully forgiving us, we now pray for grace. We now pray for grace going forward, going forward. Our Father, high above all, give us grace that we may not repeat those sins that we have committed against you in the past. Think about it for a moment.

To pray for deliverance from the penalty of sin without a sincere desire to be delivered from the power of sin going forward would be a prayer of hypocrisy. It would be the prayer of a hypocrite. To pray for deliverance from the penalty of sin and from the guilt of sin without a sincere desire to be delivered from the power of sin in our lives going forward would be just a prayer of hypocrisy. The true child of God must and will sincerely pray for both. The true children of our Father in Heaven desire to be delivered not only from the guilt and the penalty of past sins, but also from stumbling into future sin.

Our sincere desire is that the sins that we've committed in the past might not be repeated in the future. And our hope is in God to graciously answer that prayer. Matthew Henry comments on this passage, quote, having prayed that the guilt of sin may be removed, we pray as is fit that we may never return again to folly. Folly is defined as any act contrary to God's law. Sin.

Look at Psalm 85 at verse eight. If you would in your Bibles, Psalm 85 at verse 8. Here the psalmist says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly." He will speak peace. God speaks peace to his people. He speaks peace to his saints.

Jesus has made peace with God for all of his people by the blood of his cross but let them not return again to the foolishness of sin amen having asked God to forgive all our iniquity and having asked God to cover all our sins for Jesus' sake, will we now turn around and go right back to it. God forbid. God forbid. We pray, God forbid, lead us not into temptation. That is our hearts cry.

That is the petition we ask of our merciful Father in heaven in the sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer. Lead us, God, not into temptation. Seeing all that you've forgiven us, oh God, now lead us not into temptation going forward. Deliver us, O God, from falling into sin in the future. Deliver us from stumbling into sin in the future.

But many get this wrong. Many read the sixth petition and they think to pray, Father, lead us not into temptation, is the same thing as praying that God might not tempt us to sin. But you'll remember from our last session that we read from the book of James that God cannot be tempted, neither does he tempt anyone. James chapter 1 in verse 13 says, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So What does it mean?

What does Jesus mean when He instructs His disciples to pray and lead us not into temptation? If God cannot be tempted with evil and neither tempts He any man, What does Jesus mean when he instructs his disciples to pray, lead us not into temptation? When we pray, Father, lead us not into temptation. We are praying that God might not allow us to enter into any situation of temptation or trial or testing whereby we may be overcome and fall. We're asking God, we're praying God, you've forgiven us all our trespasses, graciously and mercifully on account of Christ's sacrifice for our sins.

Now we Pray, God, that you might not permit us to enter into any situation or any circumstance of temptation or of trial or of testing whereby we may be or wherein we may be overcome and fail you. That's our heart's prayer, God. You've forgiven us all our sins and all our trespasses, and we know that temptation and trial comes with the territory. But Father, let us not come into any situation wherein we may yield to temptation from this day forward. That is our earnest prayer.

John Owen in 1658, one of the great Puritan theologians writes, the word, quote, temptation is used in two ways in the New Testament. In general, to test or to prove, these are John Owen's definitions, And in the negative sense, to seek to lead a soul into evil. A.W. Pink says similarly, the word tempt has a two-fold significance in scripture. First, to try the strength of, or put to the test.

And then second, as John Owen said, to entice to do evil. Now we know from what we just read from James that God never entices anyone to do evil. God never entices anyone to do evil. It is outside of the character and the attributes of God for God to entice anyone to sin. But God does try His people.

God does try His people. And that for our good. And for His glory. God tried the faith and obedience of Abraham in a way I hope to never have any such intensity of trial. None of us would want to be put to the test that Abraham was put to.

God permitted Job to be put to the test, and he permitted Satan to sift Peter as wheat. Our prayer when we pray the sixth petition and lead us not into temptation is not that we might never be searched or tried or put to the test. That's not our prayer. But that we might be preserved in those times of trial. That we might not be led into any situation where we might fail our Lord, who gave his son to suffer and die for our sins and shed his life's blood that we might live in the presence of God forever.

David displays the right attitude in his prayer in Psalm 139. Turn in your Bibles with me to Psalm 139 and verse 23. This is the right attitude. David prays, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Of course God already knows what is in us, doesn't he? But in times of trial and testing, we are made to see what is in us. In times of trial and testing and adversity and affliction and persecution, the people of God, we are made to see what is in us. God already knows what's in us. David wants God to search him and try him and show him his own heart for his own good and for his progress in sanctification.

The same thing we pray when we pray and lead me in the way everlasting, as he says. A note in my Reformation Heritage Bible on this passage says, quote, he, speaking of David, prays for God to do what God already acknowledged he does in verse 1 of the same chapter in chapter 139 in verse 1 where he says oh Lord thou has to search to me and known me." He's praying for God to do the very thing that God has already done. Now search me and know my heart. It is a sincere prayer that asks God to examine him, please get this, to examine him so that God may help him to examine himself. Again from the Reformation Heritage Bible commentary quote, this reflects David's willing submission to God's will and his desire for divinely directed self-examination.

For divinely directed self-examination. God already knows what's in us. In times of trial and testing and temptation, we are made to see what is in us. In 2 Chronicles chapter 32 and verse 31, we're told that God left Hezekiah, King Hezekiah, to himself, quote, that he might know all that was in his heart." God left King Hezekiah alone for a time, to himself for a time, in order that Hezekiah might come to know all that was in his heart. This was after Hezekiah, you remember, had proudly displayed all the treasures of his house and kingdom to visitors from Babylon, to his great hurt, and to the great destruction of the nation.

Hezekiah had become proud, and he needed to be humbled, and he needed to see his weakness. Brothers and sisters, God has the right to try his people in any way he so chooses. He is the potter and we are the clay. He has the right to try us in whatever way he sees fit. Whatever is his good pleasure, he has the right to try his people in any way he so chooses.

Our job is to trust Him. Our job is to trust Him no matter what trials of life He will have us to face. That is our job. That is our duty. Just to trust Him.

To trust Him with the future. To trust Him no matter what circumstances or situations of life He brings us into. When we're preparing our children for marriage And we talk to them about courtships and future marriages and all, we always tell our children, we're gonna do the best we can. We're gonna do the very best we can. We're gonna seek God, we're gonna try to help in this process as best we can in asking God for a future spouse for you who will be godly, who will not turn against God, who will not grieve the heart of God and who will not bring great distress upon your soul as well.

We pray for that. We always tell them we pray for that, but we don't know what God has in store. We don't know what the future is. We don't know what God is going to do with our children and with those that our children marry. We don't know.

But we pray, we pray, we pray, and we just trust in the Lord. And we trust in the Lord. Our job is to trust Him. And your job, son and daughter, will be to trust him No matter what trial of life he will have you to face James chapter 1 and verse 12 says Blessed is the man blessed is the man that endures temptation, for when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. We're all going to be tried.

We're all going to be tested. As we are tried and as we are tested, we are crying out to God in this petition, Oh Lord, lead us not into temptation. Our trust is in you and in you alone Blessed is the man that endures Temptation for when he has tried he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him The ESV puts it this way blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test, etc., etc. The New American Standard renders it blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. All of these are accurate translations of the passage.

All of God's people will be tried to one extent or another every one of this is going to face trials in this life But notice how the passage begins James 1 12 blessed is the man. Blessed is the man. And of course that means man, woman, or child. Blessed is that person. God's intent when we are put to the test and through trials of this life is to bless us and not harm us.

It is to bless us and not to harm us. God is for us and not against us. He is a loving and merciful Father. He is a loving and gracious and merciful Father. And we are His children.

When our faith is tried as by fire, God's intent is that the dross may be burned up and the gold remain. He's for us and not against us. He is our Father and we are His children. What a blessing it is from God when He by means of trial, affliction, adversity, or even persecution, increases our faith and strengthens our resolve to obey Him. That's a blessing.

It's a blessing. David says in Psalm 119 verse 67, Before I was afflicted, I went astray. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have I kept thy word. What a blessing it is from God when God sends those things into our life that actually helps us, that actually increases our faith, that actually turns us to Him and to greater obedience and holiness of life.

What a blessing it is from God when perseverance under trial produces greater patience in our lives. James 5 11 says, you have heard of the patience of Job. Job is the most patient man who ever lived besides of course our Lord Jesus. He is the patientest of man. One of the old children's confessions says, You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord.

That is, the purpose of the Lord in it that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy Amen, we've seen the end of it the purpose of God in it. He is merciful. He is of tender mercy and he is full of pity and tender mercy toward his people. Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, the psalmist writes, for his mercy endureth forever. And he repeats it again and again and again, oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

Our tendency, however, is to go forward in self-reliance. Our tendency is to go forward in self-confidence and not to rely on God, but to rely on ourselves as if we could navigate this life in our own strength. Peter was full of self-confidence when on the night of Christ's betrayal he contradicted Jesus saying that even if he had to die with Christ, he would never deny Him. He was full of self-confidence. If everyone else Falls, Lord, I will never deny you.

But Jesus responded, Verily, I say unto thee this very night that this night before the cock crow, Thou shalt deny me thrice before the sun rises in the morning. Peter, you can deny three times that you even know me. Such is your weakness. It is a blessing from God when our self-confidence is crushed and our desperate need for divine assistance is acknowledged. O God, our Father, lead us not into temptation.

What a blessing it is when God-ordained circumstances drive us to our knees in humble reliance and dependence upon God. It's a blessing when we're driven to our knees. It's a blessing when circumstances drive us to prayer, drive us to humble reliance and dependence upon God. When we pray and lead us not into temptation, we aren't asking to be exempted from any and all testing and trials that our Lord has determined are for our good and for his glory. When we pray and lead us not into temptation, we're asking again that we might not be directed into any situation of testing or trial of our faith beyond that which we can bear.

And again, this is exactly what our Lord has already promised us, has already assured us in His Word. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, we read, There has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it." Amen? That you may be able to bear it. He doesn't leave us alone in this life to navigate through this life on our own.

He's with us. And He will not allow us to be tempted or tested above our ability, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it. The sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer is an acknowledgement of our weakness. It is an acknowledgement of our weakness. In the sixth petition we're saying, Lord, we are weak.

We are weak, oh God, but we acknowledge that you are strong. It is a prayer of admission that cries, Father, I cannot handle the trials and the temptations of this life on my own. None of us can. We are completely and totally dependent upon you, God, to hold us up and to carry us through whatever lies ahead. The sixth petition is an acknowledgement that apart from God's help, that without divine strength, that apart from our merciful fathers preventing and upholding grace, we will most certainly fall.

It is an admission. David cries out to God in Psalm 51 and verse 12, uphold me by thy free spirit. Uphold me, God, by thy free Spirit. He no longer trusts in himself to uphold himself. And in Psalm 119, 117, he says, uphold me and I will be delivered.

Uphold me and I will be saved. Uphold me and I will be saved uphold me and I will be safe to pray the sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer is to cry along with the psalmist the Lord is my strength The Lord is my strength and my shield. Psalm 28, seven. When we pray and lead us not into temptation, we are displaying our trust in God and our distrust in ourselves. Our trust in God and our distrust in ourselves.

Calvin writes in his Institutes of the Christian religion, you need to be, quote, made fully conscious of your weakness and so impressed with a sense of your weakness as to learn to distrust yourself and to distrust yourself so as to transfer your confidence to God. Amen? To transfer your confidence to God. He goes on reclining on Him with such heartfelt confidence as to trust in his aid and continue invincible to the end, standing by his grace, standing upon God's grace, so as to perceive that he is true to his promises and so assured of that certainty of his promises as to be strong in hope." End quote. Oh Lord, deliver us from self-confidence and help us to transfer our confidence to you.

Direct us, O God, away from any situation wherein we might succumb to temptation. A.W. Pink writes, God often permits Satan to harass and assault us. We'll be looking into this more deeply next week in the message, and deliver us from evil. But God often permits Satan to harass and assault us in order to humble us, in order to drive us to himself, and to glorify Himself by manifesting more fully to us His preserving power.

Don't think you can go forward with it. We can't just pray, oh God, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and go on. We must look to the future and say and lead us and lead us and lead us not into temptation. Oh God we are trusting in your preserving power. We are trusting in you oh God and whatever is needed to humble us and drive us to you, O God, and bring glory to you, we will resign ourselves to.

When Paul sought deliverance from his, quote, thorn in the flesh. He was told to rely on the grace of God. My grace is sufficient for thee, the Lord told him. My grace is sufficient for you. John Owen writes in his book entitled Temptation, quote, we will not know the power of grace until we feel the power of testing.

We will not know the power of grace until we feel the power of testing. We must be made to realize the glory of being preserved. Amen. We must be made to realize the glory of being preserved. Amen.

We must be made to realize the glory of being preserved by God. Owen speaks of men being put to tasks beyond their strength to accomplish, like Abraham when he was told to sacrifice his son. And he says, quote, it was a thing absurd to reason. In other words, he's saying We are brought into situations and circumstances in our lives many times where we think, how can this even be? How can I even be going through this?

Why would God permit it? It was a thing absurd to reason, says Owen, bitter to nature and grievous to him on all accounts. But men do not know what is available to them until they are asked to do something utterly beyond their strength. The duties God has for us along our ordinary path of life are not in proportion, please understand this everyone, please get this, they're not in proportion to the strength we have in ourselves, but in proportion to the help and relief that is laid up for us in Christ. Victory comes by His grace.

Remember the seed sown on the rocks in Jesus' parable fall away in times of testing. They fall away. The seeds, they wither, they dry up, they fall away. But the seed that is sown on the good soil has its roots going down into Christ, and it survives and flourishes and brings forth fruit. Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing.

But with me, you can do all things. With him, we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. The message of the world in which we live is trust in your own heart. How many times have we heard this? Just trust in your own heart.

But God's word in Proverbs 28-26 says, He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Proverbs 28-26. All our confidence must be transferred to God. It must be transferred to God.

I've heard men say it with their mouths that all their confidence is in God, that they're looking to Christ to be delivered from temptation. Listen to this, brothers. I'm looking to God. Oh, My confidence is in God. I'm praying, oh God, lead me, lead us, not into temptation.

But all the while they dance on the edge of a cliff. They know that places they've gone in the past have been a source of temptation in their lives, but they keep going back to the same places. They know the company they've kept in the past has been a source of temptation, but they keep returning again and again to the same company. They know there are circumstances that have caused them to enter into temptation in the past, but they put themselves right back into the same circumstances over and over again. They may pray, Father, lead us not into temptation, but they keep leading themselves into it.

Others neglect the reading of God's Word. Brothers and sisters, we need to be living in God's word daily. His word is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and we cannot exist and survive on bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We need to be living in the word of God continually. When temptation rears its ugly head, quote God's word.

Read God's word. Meditate on passages of God's word associated with the very temptation that you are presently enduring. You may find that it is quite impossible to yield to a temptation when you're lying at the feet of Jesus reading his word. We are instructed by Jesus to do the necessary preventive preventative work. Jesus told his disciples watch and pray lest she enter into temptation.

Matthew Henry comments on this passage, the consideration of the weakness and infirmity of our flesh should engage and quicken us to prayer and watchfulness." To watch is to keep alert, not to allow ourselves to fall asleep spiritually. But in the words of John MacArthur, quote, to discern when we are under spiritual attack, end quote. Brothers and sisters, we need to pray, pray, pray. Yes, be in God's word, be in his word, meditate on it. Quote his word in times of temptation, dive into his word in times of temptation and live in his word.

Live at Jesus' feet in his word, especially in times of temptation. But brothers and sisters, pray and pray unceasingly. Jesus said to his disciples, could you not watch with me for one hour? And in that hour, Jesus was on his face praying. Couldn't you pray with me for one hour?

Even one hour? The spirit is indeed willing. The flesh is weak. Make time for prayer and look to Jesus. Look to Jesus.

Look to Jesus. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 18 through 19 says, for in that He Himself, Jesus, has suffered being tempted, He is able to succor, that is to help, them that are tempted. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus.

In your time, in your hour of testing and temptation. Remember Jesus was tempted by everything the devil could throw at him in those 40 days in the wilderness He knows what we're going through He knows what you're going through right now He knows and he is able and he is willing to help us. Hebrews 415 says, for we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In other words, he can be touched, he can, He also feels the same thing that we feel in our infirmities. He was there He was in all points but was in all points just as us tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The throne of grace, as we close, is the place where Christ's atonement for sin was ultimately made. In times of temptation, look upon Jesus suffering for the very sin you are tempted to commit. Look upon Jesus, see him bearing God's wrath, being poured out upon him for that very sin you're tempted to commit against Him or go forward in. Look to Jesus bleeding on the cross. Jesus who was tempted in all points like his us, yet without sin.

Cry out to him for help in your time of need and trust that he hears you and he will help you. Jesus, cry to him, Jesus, save me from this. It is too much for me to handle. You shed your blood to deliver me from both the penalty and the power of sin. I'm trusting in your name Lord and in the power of your death and resurrection.

Now give me grace in this time of need and trust that he will, trust that he will, as you pray, and lead us not into temptation. Let's pray. Our father James said we should count it all joy when we fall into different types of temptations. Understanding this, that the trying of our faith works patience. Thank you Lord for your words of comfort.

Help us Father to Count it all joy as you work patience in us through the trials and the and the temptations the testing that we must necessarily face in this life and Father help us to understand as The Apostle Paul said that though we are troubled on every side, yet we are not distressed. And that though we may be perplexed, it will not be to despair. Though we are persecuted, we will never be forsaken. That though we are cast down, we are not destroyed. And that we are always bearing about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our body oh father forgive us our debts and lead us not into temptation, for we ask it in Jesus name.

Amen.