It's a Trap!

lanny smith

Pray Like This • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Matthew 6:13

Temptation

0 ratings

· 47 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Antlion traps other insects in a pit.

We may consider it foolish for the prey to fall into the trap, but we’re just as prone to traps as the insect world.

Last sermon in our series, “Pray Like This.” Lord’s Prayer teaches us so much about God and ourselves. So much about what is important in our communication with God.

We have a true, capable Father who is in heaven. We have comfort and confidence when we pray.

We can pray big, bold prayers that God’s will is done in the world: beginning with ourselves and moving out into the world.

We can pray in faith that we have a Father to rely on, who will meet our every need.

We can boldly go before a just and holy God, in all our imperfection and sin and ask for forgiveness. We have the power to offer, in Jesus’ name, that same grace and forgiveness to others.

Today, finally, we come to the final petition in Jesus’ prayer: to ask for help to avoid the traps we set for ourselves and the traps that are set for us.

What Does It Mean?

Keywords in the verse:

Lead us, don’t let us yield

“Guide us away from”

Temptation, debts

two directions with this word:

Trials or traps laid for us.

testing by the Lord

Most often trials or traps.

Rescue, deliver

idea of defend, protect, ward off, guard

Evil (one)

Either impersonal - evil in general

personal - Satan, the devil

Interpretation:

Matthew 6:13 The Message

13 Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You’re in charge! You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.

Essentially, we’re asking for divine protection and guidance.

When we offer this prayer, we’re given the chance to be reminded of some spiritual truths:

We Are Tempted

Oscar Wilde quote

I can resist anything, except temptation.

James 1:13 NLT

13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

Our temptations come from within and without.

James 1:14 NLT

14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

James 1:2–3 NLT

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

Romans 7:18–24 NLT

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

Romans 7:18–23 NLT

Bible doesn’t catalogue our temptations in detail; each one of us struggles with our own desires. Two specific areas, though, cover a lot of territory:

1 Timothy 6:9 NLT

9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

1 Corinthians 7:5 NLT

5 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 cor

In case we missed it, we need help.

We Need Help

The good news is we don’t have to face temptation on our own.

Romans 8:37 NLT

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Hebrews 4:15–16 NLT

15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

1 John 4:4 NLT

4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

We need help because our enemy is strong:

Matthew 6:13 NLT

13 And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

James 1:13 NLT

13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 NLT

5 That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless.

Mark 4:15 NLT

15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.

Satan has tons of helpers:

2 Peter 2:18 NLT

18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.

Colossians 1:13 NLT

13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

2 Corinthians 1:10 NLT

10 And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.