MATTHEW 6:5\u201314<\/b><\/p>\n
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
(Matt. 6:12\u201313).<\/i><\/p>\n
The second half of the Lord\u2019s Prayer deals with our warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The fourth petition of the prayer in its Lukan form literally says, \u201cForgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Law, there is a distinction between \u201csins of wandering\u201d (see tomorrow\u2019s lesson) and \u201ctrespasses.\u201d When someone sins against us, it means that they did something relatively small, something they were not really thinking about, some manifestation of insensitivity. Such sins we can \u201cexcuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
A trespass, however, is a deliberate invasion of our lives. It is a rape or murder or slander of our integrity as a person. It is something that causes us deep distress.<\/p>\n
Jesus says that our sins against God are of this kind. They are serious violations of His character. We must ask Him to forgive us, but we must also forgive those who commit such sins against us. This does not mean that we do not seek to bring criminals to justice, but it does mean that we are not to let the sun go down on our own wrath. Recognizing God\u2019s good hand in such violations, we must forgive, submit to His providence, and not let such violations cause us to become bitter.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, we must pray not to be led into temptation, which can also be rendered, \u201cdo not put us to the test.\u201d We recognize our weakness, that we might fail the test, and that we might fall before temptation. But we also recognize God\u2019s providential direction of all the events of history: We ask Him, then, not to allow us to come into tests and temptations that we cannot withstand.<\/p>\n
Finally, we must pray to be delivered from evil. In Greek, the word evil<\/i> is personal, and this phrase should be translated, \u201cDeliver us from the evil one.\u201d When we pray this, we recognize that we are in a spiritual war, and that the fallen angels are more powerful than we are. We do not fight this war in our own strength, but by wrestling with God, who alone can deliver us. Jude 9 tells us the same thing, reminding us that even the angel Michael did not attack Satan directly, but said, \u201cThe Lord rebuke you,\u201d calling on God to act.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Revelation 17\u201319<\/p>\n
Today use the Lord\u2019s Prayer as your prayer outline. Review yesterday\u2019s and today\u2019s lesson, spending time on each petition. Ask God to make you a more effective warrior against evil and to bring His kingdom more and more to fruition on the earth.<\/p>\n
For further study: Zech. 3:1\u20132 \u2022 Matt. 18:21\u201335 \u2022 Psalm 71:1\u20138<\/i><\/p>\n
friday<\/p>\n
december<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MATTHEW 6:5\u201314 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one\u201d (Matt. 6:12\u201313). The second half of the Lord\u2019s Prayer deals with our warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The fourth petition of the prayer in its … Continue reading “THE CHRISTIAN CONFLICT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}