The Father's Guidance & Protection

Should I have my hands together or apart?

Should I look over here to the left or to the right?

Should I wear colourful socks or plain socks?

Choices.

Scientists estimate that we make 35,000 choices every single day.

Some of those choices are trivial, like what colour socks to wear, or whether to have Vegemite or peanut butter on your toast.

But some of those choices that we make every day dictate the course of our life.

Will you marry me?

Will I take this job?

What do I want to do with my life?

Choices.

Did you know the story of humankind begins with a choice?

The story of human beings in the Bible begins with a choice of two trees.

In Genesis 1, 2 and 3, there are two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

Adam and Eve make a choice in Genesis 3.

You could probably say it's the most consequential choice in the history of humankind.

Now, our choices don't have the same level of consequence, but our choices do represent two paths.

The choices that we make take us down one of two directions.

Either they bring life or death.

They can be good or bad.

They can be honoring to God or dishonoring to God.

Our choices take us in two directions.

We all make choices.

35,000 of them every single day.

Well, Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

It's a prayer for protection and guidance.

In other words, it's a prayer for wisdom in making choices.

And these aren't the choice of what color socks to wear.

The choices that matter is the wisdom that Jesus has for us this morning.

So we're in the third of our three-week series in the Lord's Prayer.

I encourage you, if you missed the first two messages, catch up on the website or our podcast.

The Lord's Prayer has seven verbs, seven petitions.

Hallowed be, kingdom come, will be done, give to us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us, are the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

And when you read it, you realize Jesus has structured the prayer in two halves.

The first half of the Lord's Prayer has the first three petitions, and it's all about God.

God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

And then the second half of the prayer has the last four petitions, and that's about humanity's daily bread and forgiveness, which brings us today to the sixth and seventh petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

If you're a note taker, this message is titled, The Father's Guidance and Protection.

As we've studied the Lord's Prayer, we've said multiple times that the core theology that undergirds the prayer is this idea of heaven and earth.

In fact, core to the message that Jesus came to bring on earth is Matthew 4 17, the kingdom of heaven has come near.

This was a graphic in the left that we used last week to kind of depict this idea that Jesus brings the kingdom of heaven into earth.

And the theology of the gospel of Matthew as a whole, and then the sermon on the mount, which is in Matthew, and then more specifically, the Lord's Prayer.

It's built on this idea that in Jesus, the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Prayer is stepping into the overlap of heaven and earth.

When we look at the structure of the Lord's Prayer, when we stand back and look at the seven petitions, the two halves, we see it's almost like a camera.

The camera is on heaven, and then over the course of the prayer, the camera pans down.

The Lord's Prayer starts by saying, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

And then it starts to pan down on earth as it is in heaven.

And then the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray for our earthly needs.

We have been plugging the Lord's Prayer with a trailer, just a 30 second trailer.

And I'd like to play it again now, just quickly.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven, give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the enemy.

The Lord's Prayer.

Those dulcet tones are Lachlan Ford, who lent us his beautiful voice.

But the idea behind that trailer is this structure of the Lord's Prayer.

It pans from heaven down to earth.

It starts with heavenly petitions, and then it comes down to earth.

But I think when we come to the last two lines of the prayer, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, it's almost as if the camera has reached the bottom of its pan.

We've gone from pure heaven, Father, may your name be glorified and hallowed.

And then it pans to the overlap between heaven and earth, until it lands on earth.

And at the end of the Lord's Prayer, we realize that there's another character in the story of the universe.

We are not alone with God, but there is, as Jesus says, an evil one.

One who is influencing us and speaking to us.

The Lord's Prayer pans from heaven down to earth, and we see that there is an evil one in this universe.

And if that's true, that that means there's a choice.

A choice that humans have to either step into the overlap between heaven and earth, or not.

Because there is a Father in heaven who is real, but there is also an evil one on earth.

This graphic that we've been using, I had the honor of, go back with the, oh no, that's perfect, thanks.

This is the graphic we've been using.

And the concept behind that is this idea that prayer is the overlap between heaven and earth.

Jesus taught us to pray to step into the Father's presence, so that even when we're in this beautiful flower field of earth, through prayer we have a portal into the Father's presence in heaven.

But by the end of the Lord's Prayer, we see that there's another choice.

There is a second door.

If there is an evil one who is real, who is leading us astray and away from the plan of God, that means that in our choices, there is a good and a bad.

There is the Father's will and the enemy's will.

We all make choices, 35,000 of them.

The problem is we don't see our choices like this.

Now, obviously, what color socks you wear is not a life and death choice, but some choices are like this, but we don't see it.

We don't see the fact that there is a good and a bad choice to be made.

We need the wisdom of the Lord Jesus to make wise choices.

Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived.

I said that last week, I've said that a few times, but I just, that blows my mind.

That was so key for me.

I read Dallas Willard wrote this in The Divine Conspiracy.

The quotes should be on the screen.

Can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart?

If he were divine, would he be dumb or uninformed?

Once you stop to think about it, how could Jesus be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best informed and most intelligent person of all?

The smartest person who ever lived.

Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived.

And we all face choices.

And in the scripture this morning, we have the wisdom of Jesus himself, offering us wisdom in how to make these choices that we make every day.

So Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation.

When I pray those words, and often when you pray the Lord's Prayer, you kind of flesh it out with other words that kind of build on the petition.

I often pray things like, Yeah, Father, lead us, lead us into the future, lead us in your plan.

But that's not really what Jesus is saying.

Literally, it's negative, it's do not lead us.

Do not lead us into temptation, is the way Jesus taught us to pray.

Which raises the obvious question, does the Father lead us into temptation?

Is the Father gonna lead us into evil?

Does the Father secretly will that we would fall into sin?

This question is really quite key to this part of the Lord's Prayer.

And I think it comes from the fact that we have three words in English that equal one word in Greek.

Temptation, test and trial.

These are three English words which have kind of a nuance.

When I think of the word test, I think of an evaluation of a person or thing with a view to proving how good they are.

When you do a school test, you're testing how much you know in order that you might learn.

When we use the word tempt, in my mind, I think of an evaluation of a person or thing with a view to making it fall into evil.

And when we use the word trial, often it's this sense of enduring, enduring a tough season.

The problem is, all three of those are one word in Greek, perasmos.

Test, tempt, and trial is one word in Greek.

And this is the word which Jesus says, don't lead us into perasmos, into temptation.

And so when we're asking this question, does the Father lead us in order that we might fall into sin?

We need to look at the context.

James 1 verse 2, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials.

That's that word perasmos.

Trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing, that's a different word, the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Trials is perasmos, which, if you read it in the paragraph, has that sense of endurance, that we might persevere under the trial.

But then you go down to James 1 verse 13, when tempted, same word, perasmos, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, same word, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

It's the same word.

But this time, it doesn't mean enduer, under a prolonged trial, a season of struggle, but it means to be tempted toward evil.

And James is clear, God does not tempt us.

God doesn't will that we should fall into sin.

And so that's an easy answer to the question.

Does God, when we pray, don't lead us into temptation, does God lead us into temptation?

No, he doesn't.

God does not will that we should fall into sin.

But, test is the third aspect of the Greek word, peresmos, which is a evaluation with a view of proving the faithfulness of something.

God tested Abraham.

Not that Abraham would fail and murder his son, but that Abraham might demonstrate his faith in God.

God does not tempt us to evil, but he tests us for good.

You and I all know the experience of temptation.

We have a choice in front of us and we choose the bad.

We wander into the wrong action.

James is saying, God did not tempt you.

God did not draw you into evil.

We see in Genesis 2, I opened this message by referring to the choice, which was at the start of humankind's story.

Two trees in Genesis 2, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

Two voices speak in Genesis 2 and 3 from verse 15.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die.

That's God's voice.

God has spoken.

But then the very next verse, no, not the next verse, a bit later, chapter three, verse one.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent, we may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.

You will not certainly die, said the serpent to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

Two voices in the choice, two choices, there are, there is in Genesis 2, a voice behind each of the options.

God made the choice.

God made the test.

It was God who put two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

God put the test there, but it was not the voice of God which drew Adam and Eve to sin.

It was a different voice.

God put the test in the Garden of Eden in order that humanity, Adam and Eve might choose the good, but there was a second voice.

And you know how Genesis 3 ends, Adam and Eve listen to the serpent and they make the wrong choice because they listen to the wrong voice.

Adam and Eve take the right door, the dark door, and human history, human experience is the same story.

We choose the dark door.

We don't choose the good that God wants to bring into the world.

Adam and Eve might have been the first ones to choose that door, but we do that every day.

We choose the wrong door all the time.

And so we need the wisdom of Jesus to know how to not choose the wrong door, but to choose the right door.

And Jesus gives us that wisdom, but what I think is awesome about the wisdom of Jesus is it comes from his experience, not only from his teaching.

Matthew 3 records the story of Jesus' baptism.

John the Baptist, that wild man from the wilderness, baptized Jesus, and we read in Matthew 3 verse 16.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him.

And a voice came from heaven and said, this is my son whom I love.

With him I am well pleased.

In Jesus' baptism, he hears the voice of the Father.

This is my son in whom I am well pleased.

I love him.

The very next story, flip the page on Matthew 3 to Matthew chapter 4, Jesus hears another voice.

He's heard the voice of the Father, Matthew 4 verse 1.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, perasmus, by the devil.

Jesus hears a second voice.

After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

Probably the understatement of the entire Bible.

Verse 3, the tempter came to him and said, If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

There's that old serpent's voice again.

Two voices.

Jesus hears the two voices.

God the Father says, you are my son, I love you.

And with you, I'm well pleased.

And then the next story, he hears the voice of the evil one, tempting him towards sin.

So Jesus himself experienced the two doors.

The choice of life and death, of trusting the Father, trusting that if the Father loves the son, then he will provide for him.

Or to use the power that Jesus has to satisfy his own desire.

Jesus faced a choice.

But how did Jesus respond?

Jesus didn't do what Adam and Eve did.

He didn't choose the bad door.

Matthew 4 verse 4.

Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Jesus chose a voice to listen to.

Jesus made the right choice.

This is the wisdom of the wisest person who's ever lived.

Jesus is teaching us how to choose the good door.

Jesus says, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And this same Jesus, the one who chose the good door, teaches us to pray in the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father in heaven, don't lead us to be tested, but if we are tested, deliver us from the evil one.

I think Jesus is saying in every test, every trial, every temptation, every peresmos, there are two voices.

Behind the two doors are two voices, the voice of the Father and the voice of the evil one.

And I think Jesus would say, in order to make the good choice, you have to know which voice is behind each door.

Jesus knew the voice of the Father.

He knew scripture, and that's how he made the wise choice.

And so the wisdom for us then is, know the Father's voice.

Discern which voice is behind each door.

The problem is, how do you know whose voice is whose if you don't know what the Father sounds like?

If you've never heard a voice before, you can't tell who that voice is.

And so when we hear the two voices behind each door, it is essential that we know which voice is the Father's.

And Jesus would say the way we know the Father's voice is in here.

The Father has spoken to us in Scripture that we may know His voice.

And in the moment of testing, when the two doors are before us, that we may choose to, by the power of the Spirit of God, choose the right door, because the Father speaks from behind that door.

The way Jesus made the right choice was he knew Scripture.

He knew the Word of God.

Hebrews 412, the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

2 Timothy 3, 16, all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

We have to know Scripture to make the wise choice in temptation.

That's what Jesus teaches us.

So what does Scripture say?

Here are 3 passages, 3 excellent places that you should memorize because of how helpful they are in temptation.

These are 3 Scriptures to hold on to.

Number 1, Hebrews 4, verses 14 to 16.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted.

Parasmos, that same Greek word, who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin.

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in the time of need.

That's a good Scripture to lock away.

The Father is faithful to answer the prayer of the Son.

Jesus taught us to pray, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Jesus himself, Hebrew says, felt every temptation that we feel, and yet he endured.

The Father is faithful to answer the Lord's prayer that we would be delivered.

CS.

Lewis has this great idea.

He talks about the fact that sometimes we think Jesus didn't really know what it was like to be human.

We sin.

We feel temptation and we sin, so we know what it's like to be tempted more than Jesus did, because he never sinned.

CS.

Lewis says that's entirely wrong.

He flips it upside down, and he says, imagine, this is CS.

Lewis, imagine walking against the wind, and the wind is temptation, and every human being walks against the wind and tries to take ground, but eventually succumbs to sin.

Jesus is the only human being who has fought the wind and made it all the way to perfection.

Jesus knows more than we do the weight and the pressure of temptation.

We think Jesus doesn't have it as bad as we do.

He had it worse.

He felt he endured every temptation more than we do, and Hebrews says that there is grace and mercy for us in our time of need.

So when we feel the temptation, when we're standing in front of the two doors, there is grace to help us because the father is faithful to answer the son's prayer.

Scripture number 2, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13.

No temptation, Greek word, peresmos has overtaken you.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.

God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

One of the biggest lies that the evil one says is there is no choice.

In the moment of temptation, the evil one will say there is no door of heaven.

You can only sin.

If you don't indulge the flesh in a hundred billion ways right now, you will die.

There is no choice.

You're a slave to sin.

You can't help but choose evil.

Jesus says that God is faithful.

Paul said that in 1 Corinthians, but the wisdom of Jesus in Scripture is God is faithful.

No temptation will overtake us, but God will give us a way out.

There is always a choice.

The evil one will lie to us.

He will speak his native tongue when he lies, and say that there is only one choice, only the dark door.

But God is faithful and he will not let us be overtaken.

John 8, 34-36.

Jesus says, if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed.

You will no longer be a slave to sin.

Description number three, Galatians 5, verses 19 to 21.

The acts of the flesh are obvious.

That's the word ergon, which means works.

I'm gonna say works.

The works of the flesh are obvious.

Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That is clearly dark door stuff.

That's acts of the flesh.

That is everything that comes from making the wrong choice.

That is not heaven on earth.

That is the other place on earth.

But Paul goes on, Galatians 5 22, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

That's heaven on earth stuff.

That's like bright heavenly door kind of life.

Love, joy, peace and patience.

Paul says there are two choices, the works of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit.

You think about that language, the works, the acts of the flesh versus the fruit.

I think of works as kind of impulsive and active.

We work the flesh.

We get triggered by something and we just act.

The acts of the flesh are obvious.

But then Paul contrasts that with the fruit of the spirit.

Fruit takes time to grow.

It's more passive.

It requires sunlight and soil and water and oxygen and all those things to grow over time.

And so Paul draws this contrast between the impulsive acting of the flesh and the patient fruit of the spirit.

In our staff meetings upstairs, we often make the comment that's something like spiritual maturity is lengthening the time between trigger and response.

So you get triggered.

Someone cuts you off in traffic.

Someone says a snappy word to you at work.

Something happens and you just want to act like works of the flesh, snap back or shout or make hand gestures that are not godly or words that are not godly.

You just want to act.

But the wisdom of scripture, the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives us is to lengthen the time between trigger and response.

That's what fruit means.

Fruit takes time to develop so that I think the wise believer is triggered.

But then pauses and says, God, I want to act in the flesh right now, but your spirit wants to bring the fruit of the spirit out in me, love, joy, and peace.

Would you help me to respond in a godly way right now?

The enemy wants me to just act impulsively in the flesh, but the fruit of the spirit is patience.

And so there's this wisdom in just pausing, be triggered, and just pause and pray, Father, don't let me fall into this test, but deliver me from the evil one right now.

And then you can respond out of love.

Earlier in Galatians 5, Paul says, walk by the spirit.

That's the life of a follower of Jesus.

Walking is rhythmic and slow and methodical.

Walk by the spirit and it will transform us.

Those are three scriptures to help us in the test.

The wisdom of Jesus, as we finish, is to see that behind every choice, behind the two doors is a voice.

Behind the choices we make in life are two voices.

And so, we have to know the voice of the Father that draws us into heaven on earth, into the fruit of the Spirit.

As Jesus said, when he was tested, it is written, Jesus knew the voice of the Father, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And so, in the moment of temptation, the evil one wants to say, you have no choice, there is no heaven door, it's only hell on earth.

You can only act out in the flesh, but the Spirit of God is bringing the fruit of the Spirit in us who trust in Jesus, that we may pause when we get triggered and lengthen that time, and in doing so, that we might be able to make the wise choice, because God is faithful.

He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, but he will always give us grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.

So if the scientists are correct, you and I will make 35,000 choices today, and so many of them are not moral choices.

Doesn't matter what color socks you wear, peanut butter or Vegemite on toast.

It's not a moral decision, but a lot of those are moral.

Far more than the enemy would have us understand, of the decisions that we make every day are between good and bad, between better and worse, between God and the enemy.

And so, this is what I come to.

This is the only hope we have in making it through temptation, is that we have the Spirit of God inside us who can bring the truth of scripture in our moment of temptation, that we will never be tempted beyond what we can bear, but there will always be a way out.

So let's make good choices.

Jesus taught us to pray, Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Let me pray.

Father, we recognize your name as holy this morning.

We give you praise for your greatness and your glory and your goodness.

Your goodness is revealed to us in your son who you gave for our sins.

He took our place on the cross so that we might have forgiveness and freedom, that we might be adopted as your own.

And so those of us who believe in Jesus this morning, we stand as sons and daughters of the Most High God.

We thank you that you do not lead us to be tempted that we might fall, but you draw us to yourself in the decisions that we make.

And so I pray for us now, for my brothers and sisters and myself, that by the Spirit of God, you would empower us to make wise and godly decisions today.

Give us eyes to see in the moment of temptation the two doors before us.

Give us ears to hear your voice calling us to yourself.

We acknowledge that we have no power to resist temptation apart from you.

If we were on our own, we would choose the wrong every time, but you have transformed us, and we are not what we were, and we thank you, Lord.

So would you lead us not into temptation, Lord, but deliver us from the evil one?

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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