Righteous Prayer Focuses on the Deliverance of the Father, Part 2

Hi, this is the Human Proclaim podcast, The Messages of John Fonville. You're listening to season four called Pray This Way: The Divine Pattern of Righteous Prayer. Here's message number 13 called The Deliverance of the Father, Part 2. All right, so Matthew chapter 6. We're in the final petition.

Matthew chapter 6. And let me just quickly review with you where we've been because we're just about finished. In Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 through 15, which is the whole context. Jesus contrasts two fundamentally different ways to pray. He condemns unrighteous prayer in verses 5-8.

He commends righteous prayer. In verses 9 through 13, verses 9 through 13, righteous prayer is the Lord's prayer. To pray rightly Righteous prayer is to know God is Father. To know God is Father. is the key to prayer.

It's the key to everything. It's the key to your whole Christian life.

So, to know God as Father means that genuine righteous prayer. Flows from the gospel because the Father is only known through the Son. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.

So, if you want to know the Father, you have to know the Son, because the Son. perfectly makes him known. And so the Lord's Prayer, Jesus, teaches us these seven major themes that focus on God the Father. It reveals the true character of God the Father, and it shows how adopted sons of the Father pray to their Father.

So let me just quickly read these themes to you to come to this final petition. Righteous prayer focuses on the adoption of the Father. That's our Father in heaven. Righteous prayer focuses on the honor of the Father. Hallowed be your name.

Righteous prayer focuses on the kingdom of the Father. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Righteous prayer focuses on the will of the Father, that is, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Righteous prayer focuses on the provision of the Father. Give us this day our daily bread.

Righteous prayer focuses on the forgiveness of the Father. Forgive us our debts, cancel them. Take away all of this moral debt that we owe before you, because we can't pay it. And then lastly, righteous prayer is what we're looking at, focuses on the deliverance. of the father.

Some of you have shared some of your testimony with me as we've been going through the Lord's Prayer, and it's been so encouraging to hear. How the Father has delivered you. Rescued your life. from a great peril. And it's been so exciting to hear that.

And that's what Jesus teaches us here to pray. This final petition is a prayer for divine deliverance. Rescue. That's the Greek word that Jesus gives us here: divine rescue. And the second half of this petition clearly expresses that, as we saw last week.

This is a prayer of invocation. It's a cry for help. It's a cry for deliverance. Remember that this is in the context of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, the king, who is teaching us about the king and his kingdom. And so, ancient political treaties included an invocation that was a provision.

For calling on the name of the great king in a time of crisis. And so Jesus here teaches us to invoke our Father in heaven, the great King. To deliver us in a time of crisis. You see, because the Father, He reigns in Christ. The Father brings his subjects into his kingdom.

And then as the great king, he protects them. What king would deliver his people from all their enemies and then leave them open and not have any walls of protection so that the invading armies can just come back in and plunder them? It's not what our Father in heaven does. He's a great king in heaven. And he brings his subjects into his kingdom, and then he protects the subjects of his kingdom from all their enemies.

And Jesus says, You can petition, you can invoke. Your father in heaven, the great king, and he'll come every time and rescue you. Isn't that good news? Wow, that makes you pray. That's the key to prayer.

Seeing your father like this. And so, if you have a quick and superficial reading of this final petition. You might think that there's a couple problems here. First. Why would Jesus teach us to ask our Father?

Lead us not into temptation. I mean, does that petition imply that God the Father might lead us into temptation, that he might entice. or solicit us to sin. First of all, you have to understand that. The scriptures clearly teach that God does not tempt anyone to sin.

Listen to James, who is the half-brother of Jesus. He says, Let no one say when he is tempted. I'm being tempted by God. For God. cannot be tempted with evil.

And he himself Temps, no one. God, because of his nature, cannot do certain things. The prophet Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 13, as he's looking at the problem of evil with the Babylonian persecutors of Israel. He looks to God and he says, Your eyes are too pure to approve evil. You can't do this.

And you cannot look on wickedness with favor. You can't do that. God cannot be tempted with evil. God cannot entice anyone to do evil. To sin.

James also says in the same chapter that God cannot change.

So that means that there is no point in the future when there might be a possibility that God might one day entice you to sin. There's never a possibility for that. He cannot do this. Because of his nature.

So, where does temptation to sin come from?

Well, listen to James. He goes on and tells us, chapter 1, verse 14. But each person is tempted. When he is lured, that's like a fishing lure. when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Yeah. Internal temptation to sin comes from the desires of our flesh, that is, our fallen human nature. What we are in Adam, apart from being in Christ. Paul says, For the desires of the flesh Are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

In addition, external temptation to sin comes from the world. in its fallen state of alienation and opposition to God. Listen to John in 1 John 2, verse 16. He says, For all that is in the world, that is the world in its fallen condition that is alienated and opposed to God, that world. All that is in that world.

The desires of the flesh. The desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father. But is from the world. And then lastly, external temptation comes from the devil himself. The devil describes our adversary as, quote, the tempter.

Back in Matthew chapter 4, which we're going to come back to in a minute, in Matthew chapter 4, verse 3, Matthew records how the devil tempted Jesus. Matthew says, quote, the tempter came to him and said, And so the one who tempted Jesus also tempts believers. Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 5. Paul is exhorting married couples. And in the context of chapter seven, he says, Do not deprive one another.

Except perhaps by agreement for a limited time. that you may devote yourselves to prayer. But then come together again.

So that Satan may not Tempt you. Because You lack self-control.

So it is clear from Scripture that God Himself does not tempt us to sin. Jesus is not teaching believers to ask God the Father to do what He cannot do, that is, entice us to sin.

So, what does it mean then to pray to the Father, Father, lead us not into temptation? The answer is that Jesus uses a figure of speech. And this figure of speech You use an expression. In the negative, to negate the contrary. Let me give you an example.

She was not a little upset. That's the negative. The negative means she was really ticked off. She was really, she was extremely upset.

So the negative phrase, not a little, means a whole lot.

So, in the case of the first half of the petition, we would be praying in the negative. Lead us not into temptation. And then we would be praying the positive. For the same thing in the second half of the petition, that is, deliver us from evil.

So, the second half of the petition clarifies and expounds the first half of the petition. Jesus teaches us to ask the Father, what are we praying? Here's what we're praying. Lead us, Father. Not into temptation.

But away from it. into righteousness. into situations where far from being tempted we will be protected and kept righteous. That's what he's teaching.

So we have to be mindful of the fact that we are continually exposed. To the internal temptations of our flesh. Our flesh will never stop desiring against the Spirit. Never. We have to remember that we are always exposed to the external temptations of the world and to the devil himself.

And so we have to continually invoke or ask the Father, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the temptation of the world, deliver us from the temptations of our flesh, deliver us from the evil one, the devil. Lead us into righteousness. Keep me in situations where I will not be tempted, but I will be protected by your powerful hand.

So that I can remain faithful in this time of testing in my life.

Now, there's a second apparent problem that we also have to understand. If you look at this word temptation. The primary meaning of this Greek word that Jesus uses is not temptation. The primary meaning of this word is testing.

So here's the problem: is Jesus. Teaching us to ask the Father, deliver us from testing. That certainly can't be the case. Mark Lloyd-Jones says, God does test his children, and we must never presume to tell God what he is or is not to do. He knows that we need much training in our preparation for glory.

If you look back over in Matthew chapter 5, just look over there just for a second in Matthew chapter 5 in the context of the Sermon on the Mount where this prayer comes from. In Matthew chapter 5, verses 10 through 12, look what Jesus says. He says that spiritual conflict. That arises as a result of entering the kingdom of God is a given. Testing is a given if you come into the kingdom.

He says, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And then back in Matthew chapter 4, which we'll come to in just a momentarily, in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was tested in the wilderness. And just as Jesus was tested, so believers will undergo tests, trials, suffering, persecution.

And the Bible teaches that these tests, these trials, are beneficial for our faith. Listen to James again in James chapter 1, verse 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials, when you mean trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It's a beneficial result. In a similar fashion, Peter, in 1 Peter 1, verses 6 through 7, he's writing to persecuted believers going through a severe trial of faith, a severe testing of their faith, in the Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey. And listen to what he says to them. He says, in this you rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary.

You have been grieved by various trials.

So that the tested genuineness of your faith. More precious than gold. that perishes through it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So Peter says that testing trials are the Father's will. They're necessary. They're the father's will for his children so that their faith might be purified and shown to be genuine. God Tests the faith of his children to sanctify their life, to refine their faith. He does test them, but he never tempts them.

And so John Calvin, he's thinking about this, and he offers the following explanation concerning the difference between the father's testing and the devil's tempting. Listen to what he says. God tries in one way, Satan in another. Satan tempts that he may destroy, condemn, confound, cast down. But God, that by proving his own children, he may make trial of their sincerity.

and established their strength by exercising their faith. That he might mortify, purify, and cauterize their flesh. Which, unless their flesh were forced under this restraint. It would play the unrestrained license and it would boast itself beyond measure.

So, coming back to the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is not saying. That we should ask the Father, Father, do not bring us into testing trials which are good and profitable for us. Don't do that. I start with Jesus is teaching. Such a petition is completely odd and it is out of line with the teaching of Scripture.

But if we find ourselves in a severe trial or test of faith, We can and we must ask the Father, give us strength or grace to endure faithfully this test.

So that this test does not become an opportunity for temptation and we fail. That's what Jesus is teaching us to pray. You see, so the key to understanding this final petition is found in Jesus' own temptation in Matthew 4.

So look back in Matthew chapter 4. In Matthew chapter 4, we have the temptation narrative of Jesus, but it goes all the way back to Matthew chapter 3. I'm just going to make a quick reference to Matthew chapter 3. In Matthew chapter 3, you have the baptism of Jesus. And at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3, verse 17, the Father declares Jesus, listen, to be the true Son of God.

This is my beloved son. With whom I am well pleased. And if you look at the genealogies of Luke's gospel, Luke's genealogy reveals to us that Jesus is the true Israel, and he is also the true Adam. He's the true Son of God.

So, having received the Father's divine commendation, the issue now is this. Is Jesus really the true, acceptable Son of God? Is he the faithful beloved Son whom the Father pronounced him to be? This is what Matthew is teaching us. And so immediately following the Father's commendation of Jesus, The Holy Spirit leads God's Son into the wilderness to be tested or tempted by the devil.

And that brings us to Matthew chapter 4. In Matthew chapter 4, verses 3 and 6, twice, look what Matthew says. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, Verse 6: If you are the Son of God, the Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. And the devil says, If you are that, Let me tempt you to see. Let me make you fail in your mission the Father sent you to achieve.

And so listen very carefully. Just trust me, this is going somewhere. Jesus answers each temptation by appealing to the Word of God. And the word that had originally been given to Israel. whom the Bible calls God's Sun And he appeals to Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, Deuteronomy 6, 16, and Deuteronomy 6 verse 13.

And unlike Israel and unlike Adam, who are both sons of God. Jesus, the truly human Son of God, in his moment of severe temptation, submits his whole life to be sustained and governed by the Lord's Word. He gives perfect submission and obedience to the word, to the will of God, in a time of testing, and he's utterly faithful. He's the true Son of God.

So the significance of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness becomes quite obvious if we look at the whole history of the historical redemptive context of the whole Bible. The storyline, the plot, is obvious. And I want to show it to you. If you go all the way back to the garden where God established his kingdom. In the garden, the great tempter came to the Son of God, Adam.

and tempted him in a severe test of his faith. And the first son of God, Adam, was tested in the garden. And what did that first son of God do? He failed the test. And as a result, He and all his descendants were excluded from the kingdom of God.

They were kicked out. The Lord God, Genesis 3:24, drove them out of the garden and put an angel there with a cherubim with a turning sword and said, You can't come back in here through your own obedience. And if you try to, the angel will kill you. You're going to have to come back another way, which is promise. Adam was not the beloved faithful son.

He was the cursed unfaithful son. And then you have Israel. And Israel, like Adam, the other son of God, The nation of Israel was brought into a time of testing. Israel was given a gracious opportunity to live as the faithful son in the land flowing with milk and honey. A typological picture of the kingdom of God, the promised land, Canaan.

And in Exodus 16, verse 4, the Scripture said, The LORD said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day. That I may test them. Whether they will walk in my law or not. What did God's Son do? The Lord's daily provision of bread was not intended just to provide for Israel's physical needs.

The Lord's daily provision from heaven was intended to test Israel to see if God's Son would submit his whole life to be sustained and governed by the Word of the Lord. We know this because listen to Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, which Jesus quotes to the tempter in Matthew 4, verse 4. Moses writes, And he humbled you, and let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. And so ultimately, we see in the biblical narrative the story as it unfolds. God's son Israel fails, and what does God's son end up doing?

Wandering in the wilderness, cursed. In exile, Adam in exile. Israel, God's son, in exile. Adam failed. Israel, the son, failed.

And then you have Jesus. And finally, a true and faithful son. comes into what Graham Goldsworthy says our self-imposed wilderness. And he stood the test for us against the tempter. This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased.

And the tender says, Oh. If you are the Son of God, and he tempts him. And Jesus withstands the test to prove to the tempter he is the Son of God. And he puts Satan to flight by perfect obedience. But Luke adds this interesting phrase in chapter 4, verse 13.

He says the devil left him until an opportune time. You see, what we learn from the Gospels is that Jesus' wilderness test. was simply the foreshadowing of an even greater test to come. And the devil would come back to tempt Jesus to try and make him fail in his rescue mission so that you couldn't pray, Father, deliver us from evil, rescue us.

So, in Matthew chapter 16, just a couple chapters beyond the Lord's Prayer. Matthew records how Jesus in chapter 16 verse 21, listen, he began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day. And in verse 22, immediately the devil attempts to hinder Jesus' rescue mission through Peter. And Matthew says in verse 22: Peter took Jesus aside.

I would have loved to have seen this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Jesus, recognizing this as a temptation from the devil. Turned and he said to Peter in verse 23, get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling block to me. For you are not setting your mind on God's interests. But man's. And then in Matthew 26 and 27, Matthew records for us how Jesus faces his greatest test, his greatest temptation in both Gethsemane and at Calvary. In anticipation of going to the cross, Luke says in chapter 22, verse 44 of his gospel, in the parallel account, he says that Jesus anticipating this great test.

Will the Son of God be faithful and prove to be the faithful Son of God? He says, being in agony. He prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Will the Son of God in this severe test pass it and remain faithful? In Matthew chapter 26, verse 41, while Jesus is praying, his disciples are sleeping.

Obviously, who's doing all the work at that point for our salvation? They're not contributing anything to that event. Listen, Jesus says, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation because that's exactly what he was doing in agony with blood pouring out of his pores, praying that he would overcome the temptation to not go to the cross. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

So we come back to this petition and the Lord's Prayer. And as we consider Jesus's wilderness temptation, As we consider his account with Peter, as we consider his agony in Gethsemane, and as we consider his. Final Obedient Act at Calvary. Oh only test, all a temptation not to go there. Even when he was on the cross, come down.

You can call a whole legion of army of angels, come down. You can end it. To the very end, he was severely tempted, and he proved himself to be the true Son, the true obedient Son of God. And we come back to Jesus' wilderness temptation in connection to the final petition in the Lord's Prayer, and here's what: here's the point. Jesus is teaching us.

to pray that we'll be protected from such an experience that he went through. What do you mean by that? This is what I mean. Jesus is teaching us to ask the Father Deliver us from the temptation of the devil in a time of severe testing, so that we are not overcome by evil, but remain faithful. The Lord's model prayer ends with this plea, this invocation to the Father.

Of the adopted Son, who delights, like Jesus, the Son of God, to trust the Heavenly Father for deliverance from the devil's strengths and wiles.

Now, it is worth noting that this final petition flows from the previous petition, forgive us our debts. Because did you know what a great temptation is in life in relationships? When somebody hurts you, You know what the great temptation from that trial or testing of your faith is? The temptation from that test is: I'm not going to forgive them, but I'm going to hold on to bitterness and hold a grudge in my heart and let it stew and then let it kill me. Jesus understood this.

And so this final petition follows upon that struggle of sanctification. Perhaps Jesus had part of this in mind as he gave us this final petition. When you find yourself in a situation in your life. Where somebody has sinned against you and hurt you. And you want to be tempted from that test.

To not forgive To hold that offense against them and make them pay what they owe you. You've just given into the temptation and you and Jesus says at that point you need to pray, Father, deliver me from this temptation. Deliver me from this evil. Save me. And so, while the personal reference to the devil is most likely for lots of reasons, I'm not going to go into it, but it's probably the evil one here.

It doesn't rule out evil in general. It doesn't really make any difference if you understand this as the devil himself, which I think it is in this context, or if it's evil in general. Because what we're praying for is this, is that, Father, Let us not be overwhelmed by any temptation from the devil. Let us not be overwhelmed by any temptation from our flesh. Let us not be overwhelmed by any temptation from the world.

But help us to stand fast by your power against all hostile powers of evil that come against us. Father, don't let us submit to this temptation. But let us be received into your care, into your safe keeping. Let us be secure in your power.

So that we can persevere. And endure sin, endure death, endure the gates of hell and the devil's whole kingdom. That is, John Calvin says, to be freed of all evil. This is what we pray. And so Jesus is teaching us.

What is he teaching us? Here's to boil the whole thing down. Here it is. Call upon your Father in heaven. Who is a great king?

Who loves you and has all power in his possession. To keep you from a time of testing that will overcome you. and make you sin. A perfect example is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.

So I want you to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. And if you don't have your Bible, just listen. And let me give you the context. In 1 Thessalonians. The Thessalonian believers are undergoing severe testing of their faith through persecution.

We know this from chapter 3, verse 4. And so Paul understood his enemy. He knew. That the devil, who is the tempter, would constantly seek to destroy the Thessalonian believers' faith. Through the temptation and that trial to give up.

He knew that the devil would come and solicit them to sin. He knew that the tempter would seek to turn the Thessalonians' severe testing into a temptation. A temptation to abandon the gospel and abandon their faith and thus make all of his gospel mission to them in vain.

So listen to what he says in chapter 3, verse 5. For this reason, the context that I just gave you, for this reason, When I could bear it no longer, He was concerned about what the tempter would do to them through this trial. I sent to learn about your faith for fear. that somehow the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. You have a test.

And the tempter makes it a temptation to destroy your faith. And Paul understood this, that this is what the tempter, the devil, is constantly doing for believers. The Devil is a vicious merciless, relentless enemy of the gospel in your faith. Describing the devil, the Apostle Peter writes, Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The tempter's ultimate purpose is to, quote, blind the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Who is the image of God? And if he cannot keep you from seeing it, then he will work overtime to make you not enjoy it and to lose your assurance. How do we know that? Ephesians 6 verse 16. Paul speaks of the flaming darts of the evil one.

Which are designed to attack the believer's faith and destroy your assurance. Listen carefully. The devil knows when you're going through a severe trial that that is your point of vulnerability to sin. And Graham Goldsworthy says that the accuser attacks the people of God at the vulnerability of their sinfulness. He throws doubt on the acceptability of the people before God.

And so, what we learn from this final petition is how spiritually weak and vulnerable we really are to our enemy. We have to call upon the deliverance of our Father in view of this powerful enemy that we have. We cannot defeat this enemy. Our father can. We are fully dependent upon His provision for all our spiritual needs.

And so this petition looks to our acceptance with God the Father on the basis of Jesus' perfect obedience won for us in the wilderness. In a time of testing where Adam failed, where Israel failed, where you and I have miserably failed. and yielded to the temptation of the devil. We have failed to be sustained at all times and always governed by the word of the Lord. Jesus, this true Son of God, has succeeded for us.

Now listen. He resisted Satan and defeated him by giving perfect obedience to his father. He submitted himself on our behalf to his father's will. Why? Listen, so that when we become united to Jesus by faith alone, We are accounted by the Father as also having stood the test.

You're a faithful son. To be justified by grace through faith in Christ, the Son of God alone, means that we now share with Christ his acceptability with the Father. This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. All of you, I'm well pleased. And so, Jesus, listen, he's bringing us back to the first.

Part of this prayer, the opening address, Our Father. He's just coming full circle. He teaches us to begin prayer in a startling way because only Jesus has the right to address or call God his Father. And he says the relationship that Jesus, as the eternal beloved Son, has always enjoyed with his Father, he has come to gain for us through victorious obedience against the temptations of the devil on our behalf and to share that victory with us. And so what Jesus is teaching in this final petition is that in Christ, listen, we not only have the unspeakable privilege of addressing God as our Father, but guess what else we have?

Because of his obedience on our behalf, we also have the privilege to invoke the Father's sovereign protection who is our great King, our Father in heaven. Invoke that Father's protection against all the enemies of our faith, world, flesh, and the devil. Father, come and deliver me from all of it. And He'll come every time because of Jesus. And so we have to know that we're in a spiritual war.

And it's vital to know that in times of temptation because we often fail in times of temptation. Uh And the tempter, when we fail, attacks us at that point of vulnerability. Where we sin by omission or co-omission, the tempter comes and he throws his flaming darts of doubt on our acceptability with the Father. This is how it works for me. Maybe you can relate.

You call yourself a Christian. Look at what you have done. Look at what you have said. Look at all that you have failed to do in your life. You hypocrite.

You keep doing the same things over and over. Give up. You're such a loser. Your Father in heaven is growing tired of you. I don't know about you guys, but that's what I hear often.

The accuser, the tempter, comes. And he wants to cast doubt. On the word of the Lord given to us. And then we muster up all the strength we can to remember the gospel promise. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And we begin to quote this. Promise to ourselves, and as soon as we ask the Father to forgive us our debt, sins of omission and commission, cleanse me from my sin. The tempter comes right in that moment. And he throws his flaming darts of doubt on the faithfulness of our Father to forgive and cleanse us. And he says, You didn't confess your sins sincerely.

You did this two days ago, and now you're coming back. You're not forgiven. You're dirty. You're not cleansed. You're guilty.

And it is precisely at this point of temptation to doubt our Father's willingness to forgive and cleanse us that we have to remember. That because we are united to Christ by grace through faith, we are acceptable to the Father. And that our Father, because of what Jesus has done on our behalf, will always answer our prayer and come to our rescue. We have to remember that in the context of the Lord's Prayer, the gospel, this final petition finds its fulfillment in the gospel. This final petition, listen, it is directing you and me to look at our acceptance with the Father on the basis of the perfect obedience of Christ for us, his victory in the wilderness, and Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 18.

I've not come to abolish the law, I've come to fulfill it, I've come to accomplish it on your behalf to give you a perfect standing before my Father in heaven as all gift. Jesus alone fulfilled and accomplished what the law demands. And because of that, you know what? You and I can confidently call on our Father for deliverance on the basis of our justification. Do you know what it looks like?

Listen, let me tell you what it looks like. Paraphrasing the Heidelberg Catechism, how you're righteous before God, this is what it looks like. All who are in union with Christ can call to mind that even though your conscience accuses you. That you have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God. Even when your conscience reminds you that you've never kept any of God's law.

And that you are presently inclined to evil and to give in to temptation and sin now as a believer. Yet, God, without any merit of your own, out of sheer grace, reckons to you the perfect satisfaction, the perfect righteousness, the perfect holiness of Christ, so that it is as if you have never had nor committed any sin, and it is as if you yourself have accomplished all the obedience in the wilderness. Which Christ did. For you. That's how you defeat temptation.

When you hear the accurate accusations of the devil, did you hear that? The accurate. Accusations of the devil. You can confidently ask your Father to forgive your debt and call upon Him for deliverance. You can confidently, freely, honestly, without any fear, Confess all your stinky sin to him.

Yes, I have sinned, but all my debt, sins of omission and commission, they have all been paid by Christ in his life and death, devil. All my guilt, all my shame is covered for the sake of Christ alone. I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for all my sins, past, present, and future.

So you say to the devil, get the hell out of here. Boom! Because that is exactly where you're headed. And that's exactly where I am not headed. And as one profound theologian said, well, I'll be damned.

And then he said this. He wasn't swearing. He said, that's exactly right. I won't be. Why?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us. I can't be charged.

So, as we reflect on this final petition, you know what we learn? We learned that this is a comprehensive petition. And this prayer that we prayed is answered. in the person and work of Jesus on our behalf. Our plea for deliverance is answered by the Father on the basis of Jesus' obedient life in the wilderness for me.

Matthew 4. It is by his perfect obedience in the wilderness that Jesus puts the devil to flight. and by which we are accounted as righteous and having stood the test. We need to be delivered from the devil. And Jesus delivered us by his perfect obedience.

He also delivered us by his perfect prayers on our behalf. Listen to this. On the basis of his prayers in his incarnation, on my behalf. He prayed that we would be delivered from the evil one in John 17:15. Listen to what he prays.

Father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. This is the same prayer that he tells us to pray in Matthew 6. Do you know why, when I pray, Father, deliver me from the evil one in Matthew 6, do you know why that's answered by the Father? Because Jesus prayed it for me. I am delivered from the devil because of his perfect obedient life.

I am delivered from the devil and all evil because of his perfect prayers on my behalf. Second Thessalonians chapter three, verse three: The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And then ultimately, our prayer for deliverance is answered on the basis of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus' death and resurrection secures our ultimate victory, deliverance, rescue over the devil and all evil.

Colossians 2 verse 15. Paul says that when Jesus died on the cross, he canceled our debt. And when he forgave us our debt. Fifth Petition Guess what he did? He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.

Deliverance right there through his death and resurrection. We need to be delivered. from this present evil age. And in the gospel, we have the promise that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself, that substitutionary atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us. Same word in the Lord's Prayer, rescue, deliverance, to deliver us from the present evil age.

According to the will of our God and Father. We need to be delivered from our sinful flesh. We need to be delivered. From the evil desires that lurk in our heart and remain with us, and listen to the promise that we have in Galatians chapter 5 in the gospel. Paul says this: He says, Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh.

with his passions and desires. You might think the desires of the flesh that war against the desires of the spirit are going to win out, but they won't because Paul says this triumphant gospel message: those desires that war against what you really want to do, they've been crucified 2,000 years ago at Calvary, and they're going to lose. In Christ, we have the sure testimony of the faithfulness of our Father, who will deliver, rescue us from all evil, and bring us safely into the consummation of his kingdom. Because Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 18, the Lord will rescue me, deliver me from every evil deed, and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen. Thanks for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com. We look forward to next time.