Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Matthew 6:13 | Date: June 7, 2026 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew chapter six. One more time, we will look at the Lord’s Prayer, this model prayer for instruction, actually, how to pray. And I think for this time, I’ll read through the entire prayer again, beginning with verse nine.

“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 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.”

Again, we’ll look at verse 13 this evening: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” You might note that there is a footnote there, and in our version, the ESV, an alternate translation would be, “deliver us from the evil one.” We’ll talk about that as we go through.

By Way of Review

All right, by way of review, we’ve seen that this is a model prayer. This is not a prayer that Jesus prayed. He didn’t pray for the forgiveness of sins; He had none. But this is for the disciples to learn how to pray.

We saw that there are basically two categories to the prayer. There’s the opening address, and then there are the petitions. The opening address: “Our Father.” And then six petitions that are divided into two categories. That is, first of all, petitions for God’s glory in verses nine and 10, and then verses 11 to 13, petitions for our needs.

We have the opening address in verse nine, “Our Father in heaven.” And you might recall that I said something to the effect that if we don’t recognize when we hear this from Jesus—telling us to address God as Father—if when we hear that, it’s not surprising, stunning, shocking, impressive in some way, it is because we have lost some sense of the majestic transcendence of God. That the God who is the creator offers to us to come to Him calling Him Father. It’s an amazing thing, and we have seen then that that is our privilege through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then we saw these areas of petition. Verses 9 and 10, petitions for God’s glory. There are three of them. One, “Hallowed be your name.” That’s the petition. Make Your name great. Sanctify Your name in the earth. That’s God’s purpose in history, and we are to pray that that would be accomplished. Related to that is verse 10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

This is all a prayer for the advancement of God’s interests in history, God’s interest in the world. And I’ve tried to point out, and I think this is just enormously helpful in our prayer life to remember this and try to incorporate this in your prayer—I won’t be able to harp on it much anymore now that we’ve left the Lord’s Prayer—but try to keep this in mind that when you go to pray, think first in terms of God’s name, God’s kingdom, God’s will, His concerns in history, His concerns in this world.

And we are to enter into that God’s purpose in history and pray that He will accomplish what He has purposed to do in history, that is, make His name great in the world and the advancement of His kingdom.

Petitions for Our Needs

Then we saw in verses 11 to 13, we have another category of petitions, and that is petitions for our needs. Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread.” And we saw that the point there is not just to ask for things, but to express a sense of worshipful dependence upon God for all of our needs.

You are not as self-sufficient as you might think you are. Whatever means you have, whatever bank account or job or whatever it is that keeps you feeling self-sufficient, all of that is subject to factors beyond your control. And we still, no matter how wealthy we are, are left to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Provide for us what You require for us in order to live for You. So He’s emphasizing there a sense of worshipful dependence on God, our Father, to provide for us what we need to live for Him.

And then verse 12, we saw the next area of petition for us, and that is, “Forgive us our debts.” So there’s a recognition of daily need for cleansing. Our sins have been an intrusion to the relationship. We belong to God through His Son, the Lord Jesus, but our sins daily are an intrusion into the relationship. And so we are to pray daily, “Forgive us our sins.” That entails a confession of sin that we saw. And it also entails a gospel-informed appeal to God: cleanse us from those sins for Christ’s sake. And so we pray, “Erase the debt that I’ve accumulated by my sin. Erase the debt for Christ’s sake.”

So verse 11, we have prayers for provision. Remember, these are broad categories, not just isolated specifics, but categories. Pray for provision for our needs. Verse 12, prayer for forgiveness. And then now verse 13, we have prayer for protection: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” So verse 12 is a prayer for forgiveness and accompanying necessary repentance, confession of sin. Verse 13 now takes it a step further, and it says, “Keep me from sin. Protect me from sinning.” Verse 12: “Forgive me when I sin.” Verse 13: “Keep me from the sin altogether.”

So verses 11 to 13, we have three areas of petition. Verse 11, we pray for provisions. It reminds us that we’re altogether dependent upon God for all things, and so we ask Him to provide for us as a faithful Father. Verse 12, we pray for pardon, forgiveness. We’re sinners in constant need of forgiveness and we pray for that as well. And then verse 13 now, prayers for protection from sin. We are weak. We live in a hostile world. We have a hostile adversary. It recognizes all of that, and we pray for protection from sin.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

So let’s work our way through that one just a little bit more carefully. First of all, the word “temptation.” “Lead us not into temptation.” Our English word temptation, and it’s translated correctly here—our English word temptation has the connotations of enticement to evil, enticement to do what is wrong.

The word that’s used here in the Greek never has that connotation prior to the New Testament. In the New Testament it takes on those meanings, and it’s clear in several passages like here where that is the connotation. The word simply means a testing. Now a testing can be designed, on the one hand, to test the value of something, to prove its stability or something like that, or a testing can be designed to make you fail. And once it takes that kind of connotation in a spiritual sense, it takes the connotations of temptation.

Maybe it’s helpful, though—keep your hand here, we’ll be back—but look at James chapter one. An important verse here to help us focus the meaning here. James chapter one, verses 13 and 14. Again, a familiar passage. James 1:13: “Let no one say when he is tempted”—there’s that same word—”Let no one say when he’s 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’s lured and enticed by his own desire.” Much here about the origin of temptation and how it works in the psyche of the Christian when he commits sin. But what we’re pointing out here is that clearly here, the same word has that connotation of tempting to sin.

But what James 1:13 affirms is that God cannot tempt us to sin. That would be contrary to His character. And so, back to Matthew 6, it cannot mean that we should pray, “God, don’t tempt me to sin.” He doesn’t do that. He can’t. It’d be contrary to His character. But neither can this prayer simply mean, “God, don’t test me.”

The New Testament is replete with passages that tell us that He will test us. And that testing is part of the Christian experience. In fact, it is given to prove the genuineness of our faith. And so coming back here to Matthew 6 and verse 13, “Lead us not into temptation” must have a kind of permissive sense.

And that is: let us not be brought into temptation, understood by the devil. And we pick that up from the translation that I suggested. The footnote here in the ESV is correct: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” The definite article is there: deliver us from the evil one. It pictures Satan as our adversary coming against us to make us stumble. And so the prayer is: don’t allow us then to be brought into temptation by the devil in a way that we cannot overcome it and we would fall.

Jesus instructed His disciples to pray in a way similar to this in Mark chapter 14. You remember in the garden of Gethsemane. A real trial of faith was on the horizon. It was coming very soon, a matter of minutes, hours at the most. And Jesus instructed His disciples when they were falling asleep: “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.” Because there’s a severe testing that is about to come. It may lead you to stumble. Pray that you not.

So then: don’t allow us to be brought into temptation by the devil, but deliver us from the evil one. That is, “deliver” can have the sense of spare us from it or preserve us against it, but here it is clearly, I think, preserve us from the evil one. Now, it’s not necessary to infer from that that the devil is behind every specific temptation that we have, that the devil specifically, personally, is behind every temptation that we experience, but think in terms of the bigger picture that the New Testament gives us.

The devil is called the God of this world. We are told that the world lies in the lap of the evil one. We’re told in Ephesians chapter two that the world walks in lockstep with Satan and he directs it as the prince and power of the air. And so it sees all of the advance of evil in the world as a grand conspiracy with Satan at the top of it. And we are seeing something of that here then. So, don’t let us be brought into temptation by the devil. Deliver us from the evil one.

What’s Entailed in All of That?

All right, what’s entailed in all of that? I said these are categories to pray. What’s entailed in all of that? Well, we’re praying first of all, obviously, “Keep me from sin, protect me, help me not to fall.” It’s a confession of our weakness and our recognition that we need divine aid to remain faithful.

Now that also recognizes that we live under divine providence. To pray, “Don’t let us be brought under the temptation of the devil so that we fall,” recognizes that God in superintending providence rules over all the details of our lives. And it recognizes that. And so just like in verse 11, we pray for God’s provision—we’re dependent on Him for our provisions for daily needs—and just like in verse 12, we are dependent upon God for forgiveness of sins, so we’re expressing again now in verse 13 our dependence upon God to keep us faithful and to keep us from sin. So, “Don’t allow me anywhere near any kind of allurement to sin. Keep me from it. Steer me away from it. Keep me from sin. Keep me far away from it.”

This prayer also entails a recognition of our weakness, our proneness to sin. If you don’t know that about yourself, you should learn it soon. We have a proneness and a proclivity to sin. God has changed us radically, but it’s not over yet. He’s not finished with us. And there remains in us the remains of corruption that leaves us with some kind of a perverse allurement to sin.

And so again, just as we pray with the sense of dependence upon God for providing our daily needs in verse 11, and the sense of dependence upon God for forgiveness of sin in verse 12, so now in verse 13, we pray with a sense of dependence upon God to enable us and to keep us strong.

Once we have said all of that, well then we see that the prayer entails something about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. How is it that God would keep us faithful, keep us from sinning? Well, He does that through the work of His Spirit in us. This also entails a recognition of the world as a dangerous place, full of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life. So it recognizes all of that and prays that God by His Spirit would enable us to be faithful.

All right, this is a category for prayer. How can we pray this? What else can we say in this regard? We say these words: “Deliver me from sin,” “Lead me not into temptation,” “Deliver me from the evil one.” We also can pray in that category: Lord, strengthen my faith. That’s how Paul prays for his people in his epistles quite often. Strengthen my faith so that I’ll be faithful. Strengthen my resolve to be faithful. Strengthen my conscience. Make my conscience more sensitive to sin. Give me an increasing love for God so that I love God more than I love my sin. Ultimately, ultimately, that is the answer to every kind of temptation: a love for God over the love for sin. A zeal for the glory of God rather than a zeal for the temporary pleasures of sin.

This entails a prayer: “God strengthen my will, strengthen my resolve, work in me by Your Word, by Your Spirit, strengthen my will and my affections, teach me to love You, teach me to hate my sin.” All of that is entailed in this prayer request. So expanding on this prayer then, we’re praying for God to strengthen our hearts, praying for God to guard our hearts, praying for God to enliven our affections. We’re praying for God to transform our hearts, renew our hearts daily. All of these are categories of prayer that we see very often in the Apostle Paul’s prayer for his people.

I’ll close with this. J.I. Packer, in a brief treatment that he has of the Lord’s Prayer—it’s a bit of a catechism on the Lord’s Prayer—he asks, “What help do you seek from God in the face of temptation?” And then he answers—now this is in reference to this prayer request—”I ask God to increase my faith, to trust Him; to enliven my conscience, to fear Him; to soften my heart, to love Him; to strengthen my will, to obey Him; that I may resist evil and stand in the face of temptation.”

All of these then are the categories in which our Lord instructs us to pray. And it would be good for us all to meditate on these categories and see how they are to expand in order to enrich our prayer lives.