"Petitions 5 & 6"
[I John 2:1-2; I Corinthians 10:1-13]
March 21, 2008 Second Reformed Church
Jesus said that when we pray we are to address our prayer to God, the Father, Who loves us and chose us to be His people. Then, our petitions are to be: First, that God is known and honored as holy. Second, that God's Glory and Grace would be fully known. Then that all creation would obey God's Revealed Will and submit to His Secret Will. And fourth, that we would pray that the whole Body of Christ would understand what our needs are, that our needs can only be fulfilled by God, and that we would trust His Promise that He will fulfill all of our needs for each day on a daily basis.
Tonight, on this Good Friday, we take a quick look at the fifth and sixth petitions: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This is an appropriate night to consider the petitions about sin and evil, because on this night we remember that Jesus took on Himself our sin and evil -- He became the curse for us, and suffered God’s Wrath and Hell for us. Paul wrote, "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.' But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree' -- " (Galatians 3:10-13 ESV).
Paul argument is this: if we are relying on keeping God's Law for salvation, we are all damned to Hell, because no one (except for Jesus) can keep all the Law of God. Rather, our salvation is through faith alone. We can be saved through faith alone because Jesus, Who kept God's Law Perfectly, freely chose to take on our guilt and sin and evil and become a curse by suffering crucifixion.
And as we look at these petitions, let us notice, once again, that Jesus told us that we are to pray for "us" -- not "me." In these petitions, we ask that we, all, would be forgiven for our sin and that we, all, would be kept from sinning.
So, let us look at these petitions:
First, "forgive us our debts." We are to pray, asking that God would forgive the sins of all of His people -- of the whole Body of Christ. And let us understand that just as our mothers wouldn't forgive us when we said, "sorry," not meaning it, neither will God. A few verses before this evening's Scripture in I John, we read, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9 ESV). We must truly be sorry for our sins and desire and work hard not to sin them again -- we must "turn around" as the literal meaning of "repentance" suggests. If we express true repentance and a change in the way we live, then we have the promise that this petition will be heard and we will be forgiven and cleansed.
And we may ask, "Why?"
There are two answers in our scripture from I John: Jesus is our Advocate and Jesus is our Propitiation.
"But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 2:1b ESV). Another word for "advocate" is "lawyer." Jesus is our Lawyer before God the Father, our Judge. The Father knows the sin and evil we have done, but Jesus argues that we are legally innocent, because He has already paid our debt and credited us with His Righteousness.
"He is the propitiation for our sins" (I John 2:2a ESV). What does "propitiation" mean? To "propitiate" is to appease God, or to make right with God. So Jesus, as our Propitiation, appeased His Father; He made us right with His Father -- through His Sacrifice that first Good Friday.
So we can ask God the Father to forgive our debts -- our sins -- because Jesus has kept God's Law on our behalf and suffered God's Wrath against our sin on our behalf, and, as the author of Hebrews puts it, "[Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because He continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:24-25).
But, we haven't looked at the whole petition: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." We are asking that we would be forgiven by God in the same way, in the same measure, to the same degree, that we forgive our brothers and sisters. Jesus said, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV). Jesus is making the point that if we are asking the Almighty and Holy God to forgive us for our sins, we ought to forgive those who have sinned against us. Surely, if God is willing to forgive us, we ought to be willing to forgive all of the sins of our fellow humans. We have not understood sin and its forgiveness until we are able to forgive our fellow humans.
So, in the fifth petition, we ask that we, all, would be forgiven, based on the Merits of Jesus Alone, and we commit to not sin again and to be a people who forgive others.
Second, we are to pray, "lead us not into temptation" -- and that should cause us to pause: does God lead us into temptation? We are praying to God, our Father, so, the implied leader is God the Father -- "God, our Father, lead us not into temptation." Does God try to trick us into sinning? James wrote, "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" (James 1:13 ESV). It would be hypocritical -- it would mean death for God -- if God tempted us to sin, because God is Holy -- He cannot sin and would never tempt us to sin.
So, what are we asking for?
We are asking that God would prevent us -- again, all of us -- from being so overcome by temptation that we give in to it and sin. We are asking God for the strength -- the grace -- to say "no" when we are tempted to sin.
So, who does tempt us? Some temptation comes from ourselves, and some temptation comes from the devil. It is not always clear from which temptation is coming, but the point is that we recognize temptation. Remember what Peter wrote, "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" (I Peter 5:8-9 ESV).
When we do what God has forbidden or do not do what God has commanded, that's sin. When we think, "Well, I'm not a rapist or a murderer, so God will surely forgive this little sin -- this little peccadillo," we are encountering temptation. When we rationalize that we're better than most people, so God will give us a little slack, we're encountering temptation. When we say, "I know it's in the Bible, but I don't think it's true," we're encountering temptation. There are myriad ways that we and the devil tempt ourselves. We ought to recognize it as temptation and not give in -- we ought to refuse any suggestion that would cause us to sin.
God gives us strength, through His Grace, which we receive through the reading and preaching of His Word, through the sacraments, and through prayer -- as we have already seen.
The petition continues, "but deliver us from evil" or "but deliver us from the evil one." We ask, not merely that we will recognize temptation, not merely that we will not be overcome by temptation, not merely that we will say "no" to temptation, but that God will provide for us myriad ways of deliverance from the evil we and the devil lead us to. We are asking for more than just knowledge, more than just strength, but for specific ways of escape that we can take to keep from sinning.
We find some of those ways in our second Scripture this evening. Paul explained to the Corinthians that they should look to the Scripture for examples of what happened to Israel and find ways of escape there. Paul began chapter ten of I Corinthians reminding the Christians in the Church at Corinth that God had led them out of Egypt, through the Wilderness by a Cloud, God delivered them through the Red Sea, baptizing them through Moses, through whom God gave them not only physical food and drink, but spiritual food and drink -- God gave them His Grace and taught and matured them in the Wilderness, and God sent a Rock to follow them through the Wilderness and that Rock was Christ. But most of Israel was not pleased with God -- most of Israel did not receive propitiation -- so God killed them. Paul then told them to learn from their sin and not to do like them. Rather than be ungrateful for God's Grace, be thankful. Rather than groan that God's Provision wasn't what they would have chosen, be thankful that God persevered them at all.
The Church in Corinth had a problem with sex -- they saw nothing wrong with having sexual relations with everyone they desired. Paul told them that Israel had indulged in sexual immorality in the Wilderness and God killed twenty-three thousand because of it -- take a hint. The sinned by complaining, and God sent serpents -- don't be like them.
One way of escape God gives us is the example of men and women who came before us. We can read the Scripture and learn the history in it, and when we are faced with a temptation, God will bring to remembrance that so-and-so also had the same temptation -- and we don't want to end up like them -- or, and we want to follow their example.
Paul warns the Corinthians and us, not to think that we are better or stronger than the men and women in the Bible, lest we fall into the same sins they did. Hear again the promise: "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 provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (I Corinthians 10:13).
In other words, your temptations and my temptations are nothing special -- we are tempted by the same things that have tempted humans for our whole history. And God promises that He will always provide us with a way of escape from temptation. God does not allow us to be tempted such that we cannot but give in to sin. God promises that we will always have a way out -- so God has made it such that we never have to sin. "The devil made me do it." "I couldn't help it." Those excuses don't fly. God has made it so we never have to sin. If we sin, it is because we choose to say that our sin is worth more to us than the salvation of Jesus. If we sin, it is because we choose to say that our sin is worth Jesus suffering all the torments of Hell. We're saying, "Kill Him again, Lord!"
"Deliver us from evil." Read the Bible; learn the examples God has given us. Seek out a friend you can trust when you are feeling weak. Pray. Think about what Jesus suffered for our sake and consider if you want to be part of the laughing crowd, calling "Crucify Him!" Consider who God is and what power He has to deliver us, trust and look to Him. Thomas Watson writes, "There is a great deal of succor to the tempted in the names given to Christ. As Satan's names may terrify, so Christ's may succor. The devil is called Apollyon, the devourer. Rev ix 11. Christ is called a Saviour. The devil is called the 'strong man.' Matt xii 29. Christ is called El Gibbor, the mighty God. Isa ix 6. The devil is called the accuser. Mtt iv 3. Christ is called the Comforter. Luke ii 25. The devil is called the prince of darkness. Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness. The devil is called the old serpent. Christ is called the Brazen Serpent that heals. John iii 14. Thus the very names of Christ have some succor in them for tempted souls" (The Lord's Supper, 286).
Let us seek the ways of escape that we might not sin against Him.
In the sixth petition, then, we ask God that we all would learn to recognize temptation, that we would not be overcome by temptation, that we would say "no" to temptation, and that we would know the way to flee from temptation.
On that First Good Friday, Jesus was beaten, ridiculed, and nailed to a cross. And as He hung between Heaven and earth, the Creation waited to see what would happen -- was He really the Savior?
"After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I Thirst.' A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus received some of the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:28-30).
"It is finished." Jesus accomplished the Law and the Prophets. He made us able to call God, "our Father," and to pray after the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer, knowing that God will receive that prayer in mercy and change us to His Glory.
Let us pray:
Our God and Father, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." We thank You for Your Life and Death, that we might be able to pray those words and receive Grace and forgiveness from You. As we receive the elements of the Lord's Supper this evening, may we better understand the depth and breadth of the sin You have forgiven through the cross. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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