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CPC Sunday School | The Lord's Prayer #7 (4-14-24)
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The speaker begins with a prayer, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to study and learn from the Lord's Prayer. They review the previous petitions of the prayer, highlighting the importance of recognizing and defending God's holy name, submitting to God's will, relying on God's provision, and forgiving others as Christ has forgiven us. They then focus on the final petition, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." They discuss the idea that God does not lead us into temptation, but rather leads us away from it, like a shepherd guiding his flock. They differentiate between God testing us to strengthen our faith and Satan tempting us to lead us astray. They provide examples from the Bible, such as Abraham and Job, to illustrate these concepts. They also mention Jesus being tempted but remaining without sin. Overall, the speaker emphasizes the need to rely on God's guidance and protection in the face of temptation. that you would bless the study today and that ultimately we would be continually reminded that we are able to graciously come before your throne and that we can draw near to you with confidence knowing that you hear our prayers. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to continue studying and finishing out the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. We pray that you would show us and guide us by your spirit that we might be enlightened to be able to understand and to ultimately take root in our hearts that we would be captured by the many things that we have learned, not just today but also from the beginning of the Lord's Prayer and how we're able to implement into our prayer life the way that you have taught us to pray. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So today we're going to cover lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. So if you've been with us as we've been going through the different petitions, this is the last petition of the Lord's Prayer. And I wanted to start with a little bit of review as we're kind of ending the petitions and give you a little bit of review of what we've covered. So Hallowed be thy name. We talked about how there is a unique fear and reverence for the holy name of God that we have to make sure that we recognize, not just in our prayer life but also in submission to him. To know and acknowledge and defend the holy name of God. So as our Westminster Confession uniquely states and as we're reminded that we're not just supposed to acknowledge him as God but that we're supposed to defend his name because his name is set apart, set higher than everything else. And he is the only God to whom we can pray and submit to. So we have to defend his holy name. In your kingdom come, your will be done. We are reminded that God is sovereign over all things, that we are submitting to his will, that we are ultimately, as we plan things, everything is submitting and putting it before his will, not our will. In part two, we have give us this bread, our daily bread, which reminds us of our dependence and needs to rest in the Lord's gracious provision. And then ultimately our need for spiritual bread and feeding is upon Jesus Christ because there's a spiritual aspect as well as a physical aspect. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. We learned that the forgiveness of the worst debt was laid upon and forgiven through the perfect atonement of Jesus Christ and which we will never be able to measure in our own forgiveness. And then secondly, we were called to forgive others as well through the sacrificial example that we saw a forgiveness in Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ. So that brings us to the last petition today, which is lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So I want to start at the beginning when we analyze this statement of temptation. And we want to quickly look at Genesis four, seven, because if we dive into this passage, we're reminded of Cain and Abel and the statement that the Lord gives to Cain as he visits him and asked him, Cain, what have you done? And we get this statement that sin is crouching at the door is what he's articulating. And ultimately, as we know that sin is crouching at the door, because God unfolded there, its desire is to rule over us. But the question is, do we recognize that sin is crouching at the door? Are we aware of it? Are we constantly on guard for it? Because if it's there and it's just waiting to pounce means that we're vulnerable at every moment. And as Dan walks through, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Ultimately, when we know that our rule is being is in submission to the Lord, it's if the rule of sin is to rule over us, we have to be reminded that God's rule, if we submit to God's rule, we want God's rule to rule over us, not sin's rule. So in temptation, when we study this statement of lead us not into temptation, it begs the question of what are we saying when we say lead us not into temptation? Does God lead us into temptation? Is he the author of evil? No. We know from scriptures he's not the author of evil. God is not the reason why we sin from temptation. We can't blame God and say, oh, because I'm tempted. Oh, God, you put that temptation there. And therefore you caused me to sin. But thankfully, we have scripture that unfolds and says, that's not what's going on. James articulates in chapter 113 to 14, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil. And he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. So it's demonstrating that even though we have the statement of lead us not into temptation, and we're praying this prayer to him, we are also, we can't say that it's God who's leading us there because it's our own desire. Okay. So then what does it mean when we say lead us not into temptation? Well, let's look at lead us. First of all, lead us is a very type of shepherd language, which we see all throughout scripture. But just to draw on a couple of them, we see all we like sheep have gone astray. And who's our shepherd who's keeping us from being dropped from going astray. It's God, right? Jesus Christ is the shepherd who leads us, keeps us, sustains us, guards us, keeps us from being taken by the wolves. And so even we get a demonstration of that at the top level with Jesus Christ. But then if you take it a little farther, we can see the pastors are even described as shepherds throughout scripture. Okay. So there's this type of language there, which is leading, but not leading towards sin, leading away from sin, guarding us from sin, protecting us from our vulnerabilities. So just like a flock, our prayer is lead us away from temptation, keep us from temptation, guard us from temptation. Okay. So when we just analyze the two words of lead us, that ought to start changing our perspective in the sense of, okay, well, it's clearly not leading us into temptation. And what would leading us be doing? Well, from a shepherd type language, it's actually leading us to the opposite. It's leading us away from temptation. So when we think about temptation throughout scripture, I want to draw on a distinction which sometimes can be articulated and misunderstood. So one of the things that commonly can be misunderstood is, is God tempting someone or is God testing someone? Because there's a difference. And so when God is testing someone, if we were to use that for a second and say, all right, let's say it's testing because we've already articulated, it can't be tempting. When God's testing someone, what is he doing? Ultimately, he's testing us for our faith to produce steadfastness. And what does steadfastness do? It helps us grow. It helps us have a mind more like God. It helps us be able to be sustained and more dependent upon the Lord. And so I want to look at some examples of where this is done, because some people say with Abraham, God is tempting Abraham. Okay. But I would argue that God is testing Abraham. So let's look at that real quick. If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 22. So we're going to look at the first five verses, see if we can draw on something here. So chapter 22, verse one says, after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. So we see this unfolding of testing going on, but I want us to specifically look at verse five. Verse five, Abraham says, stay here with the donkey. And he says, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. So he already knows that God is going to sustain him. He already knows that God's going to bring both of them back, right? He already knows that God is, he's going to be called to sacrifice his son, but yet his faith is in God, knowing that God, through this testing, is going to deliver and bring him and his son back. Wait here, we're both going to come back, okay? So through this testing, what does it show? It shows Abraham's faith. He doesn't delay. He's immediately preparing for what God has called him to do. But then on top of that, he also knows that the Lord is going to provide a way in which, through this testing, the Lord is going to provide deliverance through it. And he trusts in that. Okay, so with Abraham, again, we see this testing example, which then we could go to another example of Job, which everybody's familiar with Job, right? But with Job, there's two different things that we get to immediately look at that's a little bit different than Abraham. In that, we get to see both words present there, tempt and test. Because Satan wants to tempt Job, but God is going to test Job. So there's a difference between tempt and test. Satan wants to use it for his own privilege and good, to draw him away from God. And God is saying, no, I'm going to use it for my good and sanctify and grow Job to have more dependence upon me. Okay, so our next example that we get is Jesus. It says that the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness to be tempted. Okay, but even though Jesus was tempted in every way, we know that he was without sin. Okay, so he didn't fall at all into any of Satan's disguises and he didn't fall into sin. And that helps us ultimately to see that we have a merciful Savior who understands us. He understands going through the temptations, going through the testing, and still being without sin. And one thing that I find interesting is that we have the temptation or the testing of Jesus in the wilderness, which is in chapter 4, but then we have the Lord's Prayer in chapter 6. It might be something to draw on there in that the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, okay, I know what it's like to be tested and here's how we ought to pray to prepare. So what does that tell us about tempting and testing? Well, it tells us that in the face of trials, in the face of testing, we are uniquely vulnerable. And because of that vulnerability, we have a need for asking for the Lord's protection. So I want to draw on three points here which help us to be able to tease out this idea of protection. And number one, Satan, which we could describe as the tempter, is continually trying to exploit the situation for our ruin. He doesn't want us to succeed. He doesn't want us to depend more upon the Lord. He wants us to come out of that doing the opposite. Instead of depending upon the Lord, he wants us to question who the Lord is. God, who are you to do this to me? Right? But the testing is the opposite. The testing is, God, you are good. And through this, you're going to continue to cause me to rely upon you in joyfulness. Okay? So two, the weight and pressure sometimes of trials can cause us to shrink. And I think sometimes you can look at the illustration of Jesus Christ. He says, let this cup pass from me. But then he responds with what? Not my will, but your will. So it's submission to the Lord. Even though he feels this pressure of the trial, he's still going to respond in submission to the Lord. And then number three is we are continually vulnerable to Satan's schemes and tactics. And the way that he schemes and decides that he's going to try to build this plan sometimes is more powerful than we can defend against in a way. And that's why we need to go back to the Lord and say, Lord, I can't do this alone. But the way that he schemes things sometimes is that he has this full frontal attack. We're focused on the full frontal attack, and then he comes in behind. And so if we're focusing too much on a specific area and that we think, okay, I've got this under control. I'm focusing on this area. He's not going to beat me here, but then he's here. Right? So one of the really good books that I would recommend that's been really helpful for me is this book by Thomas Brooks called Precious Remedies Over Satan's Devices. And it's a really good unfolding of how the devil continually uses these tactics, these methods of how he wants to make us vulnerable, wants to hit us here, wants to cause us to look away just to be able to attack from behind. But ultimately, the idea for protection is that we have to depend upon the Lord. It's not upon what we can do of our own strength. So we have to also understand that there's a seriousness with temptation. So do we, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, do we pray with a sense of urgency? Do we recognize that temptation is a serious thing? Do we remember that it's waiting behind the door, crouching there, waiting for its opportunity to lash? Because there ought to be a seriousness that we take with that. Because there ought to be a seriousness that we take with that. And we have to acknowledge the danger behind it. We have to acknowledge that we need a shepherd to keep us from danger. And so it sometimes can lead us, not in a bad way, but sometimes it can lead us to looking at the temptation in others. So you might think about parents and children. Because the Lord has sanctified us uniquely and afforded us opportunities in where we are able to grow, we're able to help route our children appropriately and say, don't touch that, or don't do this, because it can lead to this. And at a young age, it might be something like, don't touch. But then as you get older, it might be, the Lord has taught me this, through this trial, beware. Right? And so it's not a bad thing to also look at how others are tempted, so that we can uniquely pray, not just for ourselves in the battle against temptation, but also for others. As the petition says, lead us not into temptation, we're also praying for the church. We're also praying for the body. So the second part of the petition is deliverance. Deliver us from evil. Or in some ways, the Puritans and the Reformers would say, deliverance from the evil one. So deliver us, what does that mean? Well, it's a plea for help, right? Deliverance doesn't happen in and of ourselves. So another word that you could parallel with deliverance is rescue. Does a rescue happen by yourself? Can you rescue yourself? No. Rescue articulates that someone else is needed, that you can't do it by yourself. So deliverance, ultimately, is that plea for help. The sole rescue of which is by Jesus Christ. Because we cannot defeat Satan, we cannot defeat temptation in and of ourselves. So this idea of the Lord being our rescue, or specifically the word deliverance, let's draw on that a little bit and say, where do we find deliverance throughout scripture? Well, it's everywhere. I could have a full list of the entire presentation about all the areas where God is our deliverance. But just to articulate one, in 2 Samuel 22, 3, David says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. Okay? So all throughout scripture, we continue to see that the Lord has the function of deliverer. That reminds us that we are submitting to him, knowing and pleading with him in humility, that we cannot do it in and of ourselves. So sometimes when we think about temptation or even deliverance, sometimes we think we're immune. And this is where we get ourselves into trouble because we're blinded by so many things. Uniquely, modern comfort and security are very blinding. Right? We get into our groove, we have a certain set of things that we're used to doing, but it becomes very blinding. And we lose sight of sin crouching at the door. Right? So thinking that we're immune from temptation, what does it lead to? It ultimately leads to us losing the urgency in our prayer. So now instead of praying it daily or weekly, we're saying, I'm good today. Right? So we lose the urgency, we lose the desperation that we need for a deliverer. And so we have to be continually reminded through that, that we cannot resist temptation in and of ourselves. We see temptation even through David who is tempted. David, this man that we all look to, the king that's demonstrating the ultimate king to come, yet he falls into temptation. So no one is susceptible to temptation. And ultimately, it also should point us to that we have a weak willpower. I was reading this New York Times study. And in the study, it was articulating that ultimately going on diets, food diets, don't work. Because over time, you may start out really well, but then in the end, it's not sustainable. Right? So what ends up happening is, is that you see this picture of this person and they've had a success story. Right? And you see the picture and you're motivated and you're like, oh man, that could be me. Right? But they use those success stories to lure you, to bring you in. Right? But then throughout that entire process, the New York Times realized, well, this is not something that's actually sustainable. And we're also able to articulate that they're all kind of the same. Like they're different a little bit, but ultimately they're very similar in a lot of aspects. Right? But what does it point to? It points to our willpower, how weak our willpower is. We don't have the ability even to hold a specific diet for a long period of time. Could we do it for a lifetime? No, nobody does it for a lifetime. Why? Because our willpower. We think we have strong willpower, but we don't. And that's the temptation of ourselves is that we want to convince ourselves, oh, I'm strong enough to beat temptation. I'm strong enough today. I don't need to pray. But that's our willpower, not submitting to God. Right? And we see that even in the garden. That's where it starts, is the willpower, even at the beginning of the Bible. Our willpower isn't strong enough to defeat sin. So in Matthew 26, 41, it even articulates this and says, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So we need to pray ultimately for endurance. We ought to know that this is not just a fight that is temporary, but it's a fight that we're going to continue every single day every single day, needing dependence upon the Lord. And what I wanted to write, what I wanted to draw out here a little bit is in our daily bread, it indicates that it's a daily thing that we need. So our daily bread, but then comes later, lead us not into temptation, but they're connected because our daily bread is reminding us how often we need it. But then it's the same thing with temptation. How often do we need to be led and how often do we need to be delivered daily? And so temptation ultimately will not end in a phase of life. It's not going to end tomorrow. I mean, it's not going to end as you become more sanctified, even in your later years, it will not end. It's why we daily need this prayer. Cynthia Ferguson puts it eloquently and says, old writers said, we are brought into temptation when desire meets opportunity. Sometimes there is desire in us, but we lack the opportunity to sin. Sometimes there is opportunity and in God's mercy, we lack the desire. But when both are present, we are brought into temptation and it's this that we are praying about. We're praying to be delivered from the strategies of the evil one. So as we kind of think about all of the petitions, I wanted us to kind of try to draw things together into like, what is our target? What are we trying to be reminded of? And ultimately, where does it lead us to? So we think about specifically, lead us not into temptation. We have to be reminded of the humbleness that we need through that prayer, submission to the Lord. Otherwise it can lead us to, well, go ahead, Father, put us to the test. After all, we know we can pass it, right? There's no humbleness in that. Instead of it's boastfulness, depending upon yourself. So instead, it's a prayer of rescue and it's leading us to a confession of our own weakness, leading us to the idea that through humility, we are weak, you are strong, Lord, we must depend upon you. So when we look at each petition and each declaration of that, each petition and each statement is a reminder about not us, but it's a reminder of God. That ultimately, there is a declaration somewhat about ourselves, but the whole premise is about God. So give us this bread, our daily bread. Give us this day, our daily bread. It shows our dependence, that we need the bread, our dependence upon the Lord. When we look at forgive us our debts, it assumes that we're sinful. Again, back to the Lord. Lead us not into temptation is demonstrating, Father, we're weak and we need your protection. So why isn't the Lord's Prayer an outright confession? Why is it not, we are dependent, we are sinful, we are weak? Because that often leads to us finding ourselves saying, I have failed, I need help, and I want to grow, right? And all those things are not bad. I'm not trying to argue that these are bad things, but what I'm trying to draw your attention to is that the Lord's Prayer is focused and centered on not ourselves, but the Lord and what He is doing and why we need Him. So this focus, kind of what I just said, focuses on God. So we may be the grammatical object in some of those sentences, but God is the subject, right? So even in confession, you give us bread. You forgive us, you lead us, and you deliver us. So it's all about what He has done and not about anything we have done. And I want to make sure we don't lose sight of that because it's easy for us to think about this prayer and us to gravitate to ourselves because we're a very selfish people. And so it's easy for us to be drawn into that. It's easy for us to be susceptible to that, but we need the continual reminder that the Lord is good, and through His goodness, He gives us bread. Through His mercy, He forgives us. He leads us. He delivers us. So what are some takeaways from Lead Us Not Into Temptation? Lead Us Not Into Temptation. So I think it's a daily being on guard that comes through prayer. So when we think about Mark's sermon series through Ephesians, we can easily remember the specific verses in Ephesians that talk about us putting on the whole armor of God. And I think directly about the correlation of that with the Lord's prayer because if there's a day that goes by that we're not asking for that armor, if we're not preparing ourselves for battle, it's too late for us. We've fallen. And that's how on guard we have to be. And so when we pray for the shepherd's leading hand, it needs to be a daily prayer that each day in our own sinfulness, when we think that we're doing well, that's when Satan specifically likes to attack us. And so if you think about the structure of the Lord's prayer, I think it's unique that we specifically have forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors right before Lead Us Not Into Temptation. Why? Because Satan specifically does like to use opportunities when we feel like we're forgiven. That's an opportunity of vulnerability. I'm not going to lose. He's not going to lose this attack. And he didn't say, oh, he thinks he's forgiven. OK, now I'm going to attack again. Right. So it's just all the areas that we lose sight of the Lord that we have to be aware and on guard because it's in those moments that we can become vulnerable. So that's why it needs to be a daily ask, a daily prayer for deliverance from the Lord, asking for continual awareness and protection, asking for the Spirit's hand upon us that he would help us to see and recognize and help us when we when we do fall to forgive us. Right. But then after that forgiveness to immediately turn back to, OK, now help me be more aware. And so if it's not something that we're conscious of and daily praying, then that's when it becomes dangerous. So I think that the biggest takeaway that I would argue that we should take from this is just a reminder that it needs to be daily and that ultimately we have to, in humbleness, remind ourselves that we cannot be the deliverer, that we cannot be the leader, that it has to be the only way to defeat temptation is to submit to the only deliverer, to rest upon the only shepherd and leader that can help keep us from temptation, keep us from falling. But then at the same time, also be reminded that the Lord does use testing and the Lord through that testing ought to be able to, as we feel the pressures that and the difficulty that come from testing, that hopefully by God's grace we submit to that and instead of allowing that to crush us, allowing it to turn our eyes away from God, that we ultimately use that testing or the Lord uses that testing for us to draw us back to Him as deliverer. So I want to leave you with a quote from John Owen. He says, If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession. God, preserve my soul and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled. When this is true in our lives, the passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage. Questions? No questions? Okay. Well, I ended a little early then. I wanted to... Hey, Nate. Yes. Back here. Yeah, I really appreciate what I got from you. I just wanted to ask, you know, as you went through and talked about, you know, the prayer and applying it, is it only in the point of view of things that we can think about for ourselves or is it more in total of like kind of the fact that, you know, we live and breathe in this flesh and we just, you know, have to be more mindful as a whole that we have, you know, this need of temptation and the temptation going as far as just not trusting the Lord, you know. So, are you asking if it's more like individualized? Is that what you're asking? Does it get more specified? Do we, you know, specify for ourselves things that, you know, we can see in ourselves or is it things that, you know, as you know, you know, you and me both just, we don't always see everything for ourselves, but just having a fuller complete of ourselves? Yeah, that's a good question. I think that there are general temptations which all man is susceptible to that we could put at the highest level, like man is susceptible to pride, right? That's a more general temptation. We're all tempted in being prideful. But then there's also a more specific level where it's like unique to specifically you. You might be unique to falling into temptation into, you know, more specific things that Satan knows those vulnerabilities. He's aware that because he knows you and he's gonna tempt you in those ways. So, I think we have to ultimately be susceptible and aware to both, right? Because as soon as we hone in and focus on one specific area, that's when we're vulnerable. So, I think to answer your question, it's that it's more of a general. Like you can ask specific as well and say, Lord, I'm very tempted in this way or I'm very tempted in this way. And I think that's fine, but it also needs to be a general as well. Because if we're not specifically focusing and or losing focus on the general, that's when it can become a vulnerability. But good question. Other questions? Yes. So, thanks for the comparison to willpower and dieting and then also the distinction between testing, which comes from the Lord, and temptation, which does not. It seems like the connection there is that when I'm tested, my willpower tends to run out quicker because it's hard. And so, you know, do you have some kind of practical thoughts on preparing for those moments when the testing can make us perhaps more susceptible to temptation? Yeah, that's something I did want to draw out a little bit. So, I appreciate you asking that. So, I think often like we can be tempted even when we're not going through a trial. I think we all acknowledge that. But I do think that during testing, that's when we're even more uniquely susceptible to falling into temptation. And that's why I tried to draw on the illustration of Jesus Christ when he's going through that, having to go to the cross. It's like, Lord, let this cut pass from me, but then submits to the Lord's will, right? So, I think throughout scriptures, we can see that even with the illustration of Job, there's a unique difficulty and a lot of temptations that are coming his way through this very difficult trial, right? Curse God and die is just at the beginning. And we think, oh, that's the worst of it. No, it gets worse. So, I do think that when we think about trials, we might even need to be even more aware because as we're being, I don't want to say crushed, but as we're being challenged each and every day, sometimes through those challenges, we question who God is. Often, when you see someone that's lost a loved one, it's, why God? Why did you do this? Right? And I don't think that's necessarily wrong as long as we're following that up with, Lord, I know that you're good, and I'm going to submit to your will. So, I think that there is a lot of difficulty with temptation that comes from trials and temptations that we have to always be on guard, but even more so praying the whole Lord's prayer, really, but uniquely, like saying, Lord, I'm susceptible to temptation in these moments. As it's becoming more and more difficult, Lord, hold me up because I don't want to fall. I know where Satan's trying to lead me through this unique moment. I know you're using the trial for good, but he wants to crush me from it. He wants to make me look at my life and say, your life is worthless. Don't submit to the Lord. Waste your life. So, I appreciate you asking that question because I think it's very true. Like, through trials, it's even more difficult. It's even harder. It's a harder battle. Yes? Any thoughts on when temptation actually becomes sin and, you know, because there are people in our own denomination who have argued very forcefully that you can be same-sex attracted and that's not sinful as long as you don't act on it. Yeah, I'll be careful what I say. So, yeah, that's a hard question to answer. I mean, but it's a good question because I do think that, you know, the illustration that we can look at is the illustration of Jesus Christ, I think, is the best way to articulate it because when we look at Jesus Christ, yeah, he's tempted, right, but he uses Scripture to argue against what it is that he's being tempted for. So, he recognizes the temptation. Why does he recognize it? Well, because the Spirit of God is helping reveal to him. But I think that's where we have to, you know, if we're daily praying for that, for the Lord to help us be on guard, if we're resting upon the Spirit, then hopefully the Lord will reveal that to us and say, here's where you're being tempted. This is when you need to lean on Scripture. This is when you need to submit to my will. And so, I think part of it is that we have to be in utter dependence upon the Deliverer and the Shepherd in leading us away. But to try to put a wall up and say, how do we know when it's temptation and how do we know when it's sin? I think we have to look to Scripture and we have to ask the Spirit to help reveal it to us. I mean, in the argument against, you know, whenever somebody's saying I'm same-sex attracted, I think if you look to Scripture, we know when it becomes sinful, right? I think every person is going to be tempted, but are we giving into the temptation? Are we, through that temptation, are we doing something that is in thought, word, and deed that is not in submission to the Lord? When does it become more me-centered? Yep. Made me anew. That's right. Good question. Anything else? So, you're saying that, especially in that specific example, that temptation is not just the deed, right? Temptation can be sin before it's the actual deed itself, because you specifically said thought, word, and deed, right? So, in this specific example about same-sex attraction, it's not just whether I acted on that same-sex attraction or not, where you've actually given into temptation. You've already given into temptation when, in thought, you are basically acting on that temptation, right? That's right. Yep, exactly. Yeah, and that's why, you know, Jesus illustrates and draws out further, even the seventh commandment. He says, you committed sin in your heart already by thinking of her in that way. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yep. Anything else? Yes. Some people say that they blame God, because He controls all things. That's why I did this, because God in His sovereign ways, you know, such as David, Yahshua, and the sovereignty in that situation. Yeah. Yeah, I think just using the illustration that you pointed out of David, I think it's hard sometimes when we think about death, as difficult as it is, that we tend to look at that specific moment in time, because we don't know God's plan. And so, ultimately, in His sovereignty, we know that because He has a good plan for us, that He is a good God, that ultimately, He has a plan to bring about good for us spiritually, right? Because He's molding us into who He wants us to be, in more conformity to Him. But because we can't see His whole sovereign plan, and we just see a moment in time, we're just looking at that moment in time, and saying, this is hard, this is difficult, why? But if we see the full unfolding plan, then we could say, oh, yeah, I see why you're doing that now. You're building me into this, from this, and it's good. And so, with the illustration of David, yeah, it might be easy to look at the moment of Bathsheba and the falling into sin, and then the weight of losing a child, but ultimately, what comes about from us? True repentance. It comes from, like, we get a perfect illustration in Psalm 51 of, what does true repentance look like? How do we articulate it? And how are we wiped clean from that? And so, I think there's good, like, where would we be without Psalm 51? Like, it's a perfect example to us of how we ought to live in repentance. So, through everything, I think, when we submit to thy will be done, and the sovereignty in that, we have to recognize that through a trial and temptation, like, if Job was looking at the middle of his trial and temptation, he'd be like, why, God? Why are you doing this? Right? But then, when we get to the end, we see the beauty and joy in it, because it was molding Job into who he was supposed to be, and then a perfect example of, for us. So, we tend to look to the moment in time. I think that's the way I would answer it, but we don't have the full unfolding sovereign plan of God. Dan? There's another reason that I love the Confession. So, chapter three, speaking of God's sovereignty versus the trials that we come through, it says, God, from all eternity, did by the most wise and holy counsel of his will freely and unchangeably ordain whatever so comes to pass, yet, so as thereby, neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offended to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established, which is a very complicated way of saying that, yes, everything which comes to pass is at the hand of the Lord in his perfect will, but at the same time, we are fully responsible to that, and he is not tempting us. And so, that's a deep passage to kind of meditate on, and I'd encourage you guys to look up some of the scripture references to that, but we can freely see, you know, even Joseph or Jesus in parallel to that, you know, that man sins of his own volition and desire, but also in keeping with the sovereign will of God. So, we're not tempted by the Lord directly. It's his will that we would prevail in those, but yet, because of our fallen nature, we are still subject to the depravity of the world around us. So, something to add to and think about. Yeah, amen. That's great wholeheartedly. Anything else? Yes. Kind of along with that, I think when people want to blame God for things, we're really not understanding how depraved we are and how sinful we are, and we're really trying to elevate ourselves. Right, amen. Yep. All right, if there's nothing else, I'll close this out in prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for this study, to teaching us how to pray, to showing us not only your sovereignty, but where we are continually vulnerable and susceptible because we are depraved. Lord, we just pray that we would submit to your will, that we would know that you are molding us and growing us, sanctifying us to be more like Christ. Lord, we pray that you would help us to be constantly on guard, aware, for us not to be boastful and ultimately think that that we don't need to pray to you today, or we don't need your help today, but that ultimately we would submit to our own weaknesses, knowing that we do need your help, we do need your shepherding leadership, that we do need your continual spirit to help us and lead us and guide us. Lord, we pray that as we close out these petitions, that you would help us call to mind for the deep-rootedness of this study to sink in, that we might continually come to you in humble prayer, being reminded of your hallowed name, being reminded of your holiness. Lord, we just pray that as we go into the worship service, that you would prepare our hearts, that we might receive it through the power of your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.
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