Every now and then there comes a time when you learn something that can be game changing. One of these for me happened shortly after I became a Christian and it reoriented much in my heart and mind. What is this thing? It’s that whoever has God as your friend, will also find Satan to be your enemy.[1] This realization changes a lot about how we view most everything. It changes how we think about ourselves as Christians, it changes how we think about the Christian life, and it changes how we think about the world. This is a sobering reminder that we’re in a war, that our enemy is real, that evil is out to get us, and that if we’re to make it to the end victorious, we’ll need help, we’ll need protection, and we’ll need preservation. While these things may be daunting to realize, it’s very encouraging to know this passage we’ve come to today where Jesus not only speaks to us honestly about these things, but He instructs us on what to do about it, and encourages us to ask for the help we need.
So we come today to the sixth and final request in the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Some see two requests here in v13, a sixth about temptation and a seventh about deliverance from evil.[2] While I understand how one could arrive at that opinion I don’t see it this way. Rather than viewing v13 as containing two separate requests, I think these two requests go together and form one main plea. We’ll see this firsthand as we walk through it.
A Trinitarian & Natural Flow
v13 is the final request in the Lord’s Prayer. Recall the first three requests are centered on God and His glory while the final three requests are centered on us and our needs. Now that we can see these final three in their entirety, I do think another pattern emerges. The theologian A.W. Pink mentions this in his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, saying there is a Trinitarian pattern to these final three requests. Our daily bread and daily provision comes to us by the hand of the Father, our sins are forgiven by the work of the Son, and we are preserved and protected from evil by the work of the Spirit.[3] That is indeed wonderful to see isn’t it? All of the Godhead active and eager to provide for us in every need we have. That’s the Trinitarian pattern to see.
But we also see a natural flow in v13 too. We mentioned it last week but I’ll say it again, when we come to the fourth request in v11 for daily bread we’re reminded of our many needs. And when we’re reminded of our many needs, we’re reminded of our greatest need, to be saved from our sins. This naturally leads us to the fifth request in v12 where we pray for the forgiveness of our sins, as well asking for the strength and grace to forgive those who sin against us. When we linger on sins of the past, both ours and others, we’re than naturally led to v13. What do I mean? It is not a coincidence that v13 comes after v12. After the request for the forgiveness of former sins in v12, we now come a request to protect and deliver us from future sins in v13.[4]
That is the natural flow to see, and we need to see it. Why? Because, how many of you want to grow and mature in the Christian life? I know all of you do. One of the ways we build up a desire to grow and mature in the Christian life so we can press on confidently and gladly in the future, is to remember where we’ve been in the past. That’s what we see in the transition from v12 to v13. Reflecting over our sins of the past, stirs up a desire in us to be kept from such sins in the future. Or to put it another way, once the miracle of forgiveness comes to us and we enjoy God’s grace covering our many sins, the Christian grows eager about not wanting to offend God again by sinning. So while forgiveness is indeed a miracle, forgiveness isn’t the end of the story for us, it’s just the beginning. Or once again putting it another way, all who are forgiven are justified, and all who are justified anxiously desire to be sanctified.[5]
All of this is exactly what v13 is all about.
Towards Understanding
Now that we’ve seen something of the nature and flow of this sixth request, let’s move on toward defining these terms more closely so we understand what Jesus is teaching us.
Matthew 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
This is one of those verses that at first most everyone thinks they know what it means, but on further thought, so many questions come into view causing us to wonder what exactly this verse is all about. The big question surrounds the meaning of the first phrase, and what exactly is meant by the word temptation. An initial reading seems to give us the impression that this is a request we make to God asking that God not lead us into temptation. Which gives us pause because of one other passage that seems to say the exact opposite. The other passage is James 1:13-14 and it says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” So James is clearly saying God doesn’t tempt, allure, or entice anyone to sin. Which brings us back to the Lord’s Prayer, scratching our heads and asking the question, does God lead us into temptation, or do we lead ourselves into temptation?
What do we do with this? I think we can answer it simply by pointing out that there two different ways the Bible speaks of temptation.[6] First and most commonly, temptation is presented in the Bible as an enticement to sin. This can be an internal reality where our own sinful nature or indwelling sin tempts or entices us to sin by truly desiring sin. This is the kind of temptation James 1 has in mind that I just read. This can also be an external reality where another person(s) tempts or entices us to sin. Think of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Genesis 39 tells us she had been trying to allure him for many days but on that particular day she came on strong and demanded that they sleep together. In that moment Joseph didn’t pause to carefully consider, or try to reason with her so she’d change her mind or calm down. He just ran out of the house because he knew the danger of the temptation. This kind of enticing or alluring is the first and most common way the Bible speaks of temptation.
Second, temptation is presented in the Bible as a test or trial. These moments are not sinful in themselves but they can lead to sin if we do not stand firm during them. 1 Cor. 10:13 speaks of these moments saying, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” James 1:2 also speaks of this saying, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” The word here translated as trials is the same word translated as temptation in Matthew 6:13. Peter also contributes to our understanding of these things with his opening comments in his first letter. There in 1 Peter 1:6-7 he says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – which is more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
I wonder if this is new to you, thinking of temptation in this way, not as an enticement to sin, but rather as a season of trial or testing, that God brings us into, where we’ll encounter difficulty, and in which we must persevere.
It might be new to some of you, but then again, it can be seen all around Scripture. Think of all the examples of trial and testing in the Bible. Three of them stand out for our purposes here.
First, Adam and Eve.[7] In the Garden God gave them one command, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by allowing the serpent to come in and speak to them God was testing our first parents. As you know they failed the test, and sin entered into the world.
Second, Israel. Deut. 8 specifically mentions God was testing Israel as they were wandering in the wilderness. How did they fare? Similar to our first parents, they failed, grumbling and complaining and not trusting the Lord, time after time.
Third, Jesus. He experienced this for Himself firsthand. After His baptism in Matthew 4:1 we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” So just as God tested Adam and Eve, and tested Israel, so too He tested Jesus, leading Him into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil. Yet where Adam and Israel failed, Jesus succeeds.
Why share about these moments? I share them to make one point. When Jesus instructed us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation…” He was speaking from experience.[8] He was led by God through a severe time of testing, and God saw Him through it. And here in the Lord’s Prayer He’s instructing us to ask the Father to not bring us into such trials and temptation where we would be exposed to such great testing. Don’t mishear me. I’m not saying we can dictate to God about what our lives ought to look like. Not at all. But I am saying we may honestly ask our Father in heaven that, if it’s according to His sovereign will, He would not lead us into so hard a temptation that we would easily fall.[9]
But at the end of the day, Jesus also knows God might ordain a hard season for us and bring us into great trials, to test us, expose us, keep us humble and dependent on Him, all for our good and His glory. So while desire to not have to go through such testing, we might really find ourselves in such a spot. If temptations shaped the heart and life of our Savior, who is perfect, how much more do temptations help us? Indeed, just as the breaking down of a muscle grows that muscle, so too temptations encountered and faithfully resisted grow the soul.[10]
What do we do when we find ourselves in there? We cry out to God with the words of this sixth request, trusting Him in the hard time yes, but also asking Him the rest of v13, “…deliver us from evil.”
And I mean evil. I know there is an alternate translation, it’s in your footnotes, where this could read the evil one instead, referring specifically to the devil. I think the word evil fits better.[11] Because evil includes every shape and form of it: the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is these things we must ask to be delivered from, lest they overtake us and overpower us.
So when we pray v13 we mean two things. On one hand we pray something would not happen, and on the other hand we pray that something would happen.[12] Specifically, that seasons of great trial and testing and temptation may not happen. But if they do, if we need them, we pray to be delivered from such evil.
The Peril and Posture of a Christian
This last request in the Lord’s Prayer, more than any other, reminds us of where we began today; whoever has God as your friend, will also find Satan to be your enemy. If you live long enough as a Christian you will know others who seemed to be spiritual strong at one point, and yet now seem incredibly weak or perhaps no longer walk with the Lord at all. Why is this? Our enemy is real. One author said it well, “Most of us, if we’re honest, live our lives too serious about casual things and too casual about serious things. We fret about clothes and calories. We fuss about diets and home décor. Our whole week can be ruined by a sporting event gone wrong. We are supremely concerned about these relatively unimportant matters. And yet we will start each new day as if we were in no spiritual danger, as if we had no enemy, as if we were not at war with our flesh.”[13]
So while we need to understand our peril as Christians, we must embrace a humbly dependent prayerful posture toward the Lord asking Him to give us strength to match our days. The Heidelberg Catechism sums it up nicely in question 127. “In ourselves we are so weak that cannot stand even for a moment. Moreover, our sworn enemies – the devil, the world, and our own flesh – do not cease to attack us. Will You (God), therefore, uphold and strengthen us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, so that in this spiritual war we may not go down to defeat but always firmly resist our enemies, until we finally obtain the complete victory.”
Conclusion: Final Word
What about the traditional ending of the Lord’s Prayer? Most of you know the ending often said after v13 is “for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” While this ending is present in the KJV it is absent in the ESV translation we use here at church. Why is that so? It’s not in most modern translations because in the oldest and best New Testament manuscripts this ending is not there. So this likely means the ending was not originally a part of the Lord’s Prayer, but was added to it at some time in Church History. But while we admit this, we must also admit that the ending is present in many of the writings of the early Church fathers, which means it was likely added to the end of the Lord’s Prayer very early on.[14]
All this to say, while I do not think the ending is actually Scripture, I do not think it’s wrong to pray it. In fact in a large way it fits really well, because with it the Lord’s Prayer begins and ends with God’s glory, which is always a good pattern to follow.
[1] Herman Witsius, Sacred Dissertations on the Lord’s Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010) 342.
[2] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1-13 – WBC (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1993) 151.
[3] A.W. Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1953) 163.
[4] R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew – NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007) 251.
[5] Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, entry for morning 10.29.
[6] Kevin DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022) 86.
[7] R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2009) 91.
[8] Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord, 93.
[9] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grands Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971) 2:76.
[10] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom - PTC (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001) 199-200.
[11] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2:77.
[12] Witsius, Sacred Dissertations on the Lord’s Prayer, 345.
[13] DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer, 94.
[14] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew – PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992) 149. Also, that the Didache includes the ending, makes a strong case for an early use of it.
