The Lord's Prayer.
The Sixth Petition.
Which is the Sixth Petition?
_Our Father who art in heaven, lead us not into temptation._
What does this mean?
_God indeed tempts no one; but we pray in this petition that God would
guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not
deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair, and other great shame
and vice; and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally
overcome and obtain the victory._
1. _"And lead us not into temptation,"_ this is the Sixth Petition. Our
Catechism explains it in the first place by saying: _"God indeed tempts
no one,"_ that is, He tempts no one _for evil._ That is most certainly
true. Our heavenly Father is the holy God. He hates sin and all those
who willingly commit it. How could He tempt us to sin, try to lead us
into evil ways which He hates? Scripture tells us: _"Let no man say when
he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth He any man; but every man is tempted when he is drawn
away of his own lusts and enticed."_ Jas. 1,13.14.
2. As God does not tempt us for evil, why, then do we pray our Father
not to lead us into temptation? We pray _"that God would guard and keep
us" that our enemies may not lead us into sin and shame._ There are such
as always try to lead us, the children of God, into sin, those _enemies_
of whom we heard in the Third Petition--the _devil,_ the _world,_ and
our _own flesh._ Our most dangerous foe is the _devil. "Be sober, be
vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith."_
1 Pet 5,8.9. Remember how he tempted _Adam and Eve_ in Paradise and
seduced them to fall into sin. Our next enemy is the _world,_ that is,
all the wicked men around us. How often do our friends or schoolmates
entice us to do wrong! _"My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou
not."_ Prov. 1,10. The third enemy is _our own flesh,_ our old sinful
heart, which is full of evil lust. Our own lust draws us away from God
and entices us to sin.
3. These our enemies have an _evil will_ against us. They want to lead
us away from God and our salvation, to lead us again into the kingdom of
Satan and sin. They try with all their power and cunning to _deceive_
us; they try to give us the impression that it would be good for us to
follow their temptations. By such enticements they try to seduce us to
lead us astray from God and His Word, into _misbelief,_ into a wrong
faith, or into _despair,_ so that we abandon all hope for our salvation.
(Remember _Cain,_ Gen. 4,15, and _Judas,_ Matt. 27,4.5.) Or they try to
lead us into _other great shame and vice,_ into sins that will bring
shame upon us, to yield to evil passions, which will destroy our faith.
4. Against these mighty enemies we are _powerless._ We could not
seriously think of taking up the fight against them by our own power. If
we did, we would soon learn to our sorrow that we cannot successfully
resist their temptations. Our enemies would gain the victory over us. In
this our pitiful condition we come to _our Father in heaven,_ who has
promised us His help, and who is always with us. We pray to Him in the
name of our Savior not to lead us into temptation, that is, we pray that
God would _guard_ or watch over us that such temptations may not come
near us, that He would graciously defend us against them.--_If is
true, temptations will come._ We live in this sinful world, which is
full of temptations. The devil "walketh about" to devour the children of
God, and our flesh tempts us with evil lust. These enemies will again
and again _assail_ us to gain their evil ends and desires. _And it is
for our good that God permits them to do so._ But we pray God to keep us
steadfast in all these temptations, to _strengthen_ us in order that we
may fight the good fight of faith against them. We pray to our Father
that He may _preserve_ us in the true faith, so that we shall _finally,_
in the end, _overcome all temptations and obtain the victory._ Our
heavenly Father will hear our prayer. _"God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able."_ 1 Cor. 10,13.
According to His good and gracious will He wants us to be faithful to
the end and to be saved.