Lead us not into Temptation

Part 1

27^th February 2009

This is part of the Lord's Prayer, as found in Matthew 6v9-13.

Before we study temptation, we need to understand about our relationship with sin. A good place to start is in 1 John 1v8-10. The first part of that passage is:

1 John 1v8
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Every one of us has sin in our life.

I occasionally hear doctrines called "Christian Perfection" or "Sinless Perfection", that seem to say that we can reach a stage where we no longer sin. But I have to tell you that I have not reached that stage. And I should point out that St John was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say that it's not possible this side of the grave. St Paul wrote:

Romans 7v15-25
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

This is quite a complex passage but it repays the effort of studying and meditating on it. Paul is saying that, even for a sincere Christian, there is an internal battle between the desire to do right and the temptation to do wrong.

My "sinful nature", as Paul calls it, is: What I was before Jesus saved me. God is in the process of restoring broken people. When Jesus found me, I was in a bad state, and bit-by-bit He's restoring me. But there are parts of me that are not fully restored. So even when I do want to obey God (which is most of the time) I find it difficult to do.

All real Christians want to obey God and do what's right. And all Christians fail, to some extent.

God sent Jesus to die for us, to pay for our sin, and to set me free from sin. And I do sin less than I used to. But I still sin.

The next part of the passage from 1 John is:

1 John 1v9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

And that is what God's doing for all his people, when they admit that they still sin. He not only forgives us, He also purifies us. But this requires us to repent and confess to Him the sins we have committed. He only cleanses us of the unrighteousness we want to be cleansed of, and only if we will admit to Him that we need Him to do it.

Sometimes we can be so caught up in sin that we're unable to repent, and we need to pray to God for the ability to do it.

John reminds us in the next verse:

1 John 1v10
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him [God] out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

So we live with these two warring principles in us:

We want to live right
Those parts of us that are not fixed yet continue to cause us to live wrong

So what do we do?

I'll write about that next week.

But, please, be honest with God about the state of your life. He will help you, if you're honest with Him.