Dr. Michael Youssef begins this episode of Leading the Way with a challenge to stay realistic when God uses you for his service. When God blesses you with a great ministry opportunity, the devil is going to come. He's going to tempt you with the evil of thinking that you are the best thing that ever happened to God and to the kingdom of God, and therefore you should be very proud of these opportunities. Then you need to cry, Oh God, deliver me from the evil one.
Don't you just love those feel-good stories of people who've stepped up in their neighborhoods and communities to bless others in the name of Christ? The fact is, while God is honored by these sacrifices, Satan can also use these times to distract you. With your own skills, rather than the power of Jesus. Hey, thank you for taking time to connect and listen to Leading the Way. With Dr.
Michael Yousaf. Today, Dr. Youssef continues guiding you through the challenging words found in the Lord's Prayer. and how it gives you tools for real life. Do remember that this message is available on the radio, online.
through the Leading the Way podcast, the app, and more. Learn about ways to connect when you go to ltw.org. Right now though, listen along as Dr. Youssef begins today's teaching time. One of Satan's greatest deception is to make the very core of evil Pride.
To be a sin that is respectable among Christians. If I would come down and ask any group of Christians. What do you think David's greatest sin? I think without There are very few exceptions, which say his adultery with Bathsheba and the death and killing of Uriah. Without exception.
And that was the sin of the flesh. And four people died because of the sin of the flesh. And in the church of Jesus Christ and among Christians, we always focus on the sin of the flesh, and we should. But somehow we ignore the sin of the spirit. to our own detriment.
to our own lacking in blessing and to our own failure and sin. In fact, because David's sin of the flesh, four people died, but because his sin of the spirit, 70,000 people died. The evil one's goal is to always get to your will. and control it. He may begin by deceiving the mind.
As we saw in the last message, how he deceived Adam and Eve's mind, this is his entry point. He may use the physical pain as he did with Job as an entry point to get to his will. and to bring pride to his life. But always He never loses sight of his number one goal, and that's your will and my will. Jesus was not just giving us some random thoughts here when he gave us the Lord's Prayer.
Trust me, these are very logical. and sequential petitions. First, lead us not into temptation. Then deliver us from the evil one. Yeah.
First. Keep our minds from being attacked. Then protect our wills from the evil one. First, keep our bodies from being tempted, then stop the evil one from getting to our wills.
Now Sometimes Satan bypassed the mind. Many times he bypasses the body. And he goes straight into the will, as he did in the situation here with David. David's sin of the spirit. Happened when Satan went straight for his will.
Please turn with me to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. And if you look at this chapter and you read it carefully, you're going to find that David's mind was not deceived. David physically was well. He had no problem with his body. In fact, the kingdom was doing so well, things were going great.
There were no problems to speak of. There were no temptations. At this point, Satan went straight for David's will When David rebelled against God, He did it with his eyes wide open. And that is why I cry on a daily basis. Deliver me from the evil one.
Believers, listen to what I'm going to tell you. I have been seeing this in the Christian church, the church of Jesus Christ, all over the world: the respectability of the sin of the Spirit. There are some Christians who are intellectual Christians. And intellectual Christianity will satisfy your mind, but never changes your life. Listen to me.
There are Christians who are emotional Christians. Emotional Christianity is made up of changed feelings. Emotional Christians Want to be always on an emotional high, and if they're not on an emotional high, they think that God doesn't love them anymore. But God wants the whole package, He wants the whole inner person to be committed to Him in order that when we cry, Deliver us from evil, we know He's going to answer that prayer. God wants an intelligent mind, God wants a fervent heart, but above all, God wants an obedient will.
Please hear me right. This petition, deliver us from the evil one, has to do with our will. You can memorize the scripture, you can read it for ten hours a day, but if it is not going inside there and changing your will and aligning your will with the will of God, then you have lost out to Satan. Satan's original sin was the sin of pride. And pride attacks the will.
In fact, in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning at verse 12, within three verses, Satan said, I will five times. I will, I will, I will, I will. And what Satan is always busy doing what is Satan busy doing every single day, every single moment of every single day, is trying to duplicate his sin of pride in the life of every believer. David was feeling so important when Satan approached him with the suggestion that he should count the people. that he should number the people.
In fact, if you read 1 Chronicles 20, you're going to find there are so many great victories in that chapter that David had.
So many wonderful, wonderful victories, even so much so, there was a crown that they captured, and they came and they put it on David's head. David won many victories, But he lost the war. Do you know why? Do you know why he lost the war? Because Satan used these victories to inflate David's ego and lead him to evil, which is pride.
And David fell for it like a rock in the water. Lead us not. into temptation. That is a petition that's to do with the sin of the flesh. Deliver us from the evil one.
That's a petition to do with the sin of the spirit. No wonder the Apostle Paul listened to what he said in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. He said, Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from the defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. perfecting holiness in the fear of God. You know that famous story in the book of Luke chapter 15 about the prodigal son?
You remember how the prodigal was seeking after the sin of the flesh and he wanted to live it up? He wanted to live in pleasures. And he took off. And we always say, isn't that terrible? Yes, of course it was terrible.
But don't ever forget that the older boy who stayed home, he was just as guilty because he was critical, he was legalistic, he was proud of his obedience. He was guilty of the sin of the spirit. You know, we Christians are often quick to condemn the sin of the flesh, and we should. But oh, how, how often believers in the Lord Jesus Christ just wink at the sin of the Spirit. Close their eyes to the sins of the spirit.
Rationalize the sin of the spirit. Go easy on the sin of the spirit. They go easy on pride. They go easy on stubbornness. They call it something else.
Go easy on gossip. Call it something else. They will go easy on envy and jealousy. Please hear me right. The sins of the spirit are just as bad as the sins of the flesh.
And we need to be on our guards for both. And this is a great temptation for most believers, mature believers. People are walking with the Lord for years. Don't ever be tempted to think that you can be immune from being tempted of the sin of the Spirit. If Satan would not immune the Lord Jesus Christ, and when he took him up on a high place and showed him the world, this is all yours for the asking, then I want to tell you something.
Don't ever think you're going to be immune from being tempted by him if he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ. Pride glorifies man and robs God. And we need to be ruthless in resisting pride. By crying to the Lord. Deliver us.
From the evil one. Pride is a weapon that Satan uses with great skills. No wonder the Apostle Peter could say, God. Is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.
Insecurity right at the very core of it. Pride. Fear at the very core of it, pride. Worry at the very core of it, pride. Anxiety at the very core of it is pride.
Dig whatever you may, you're going to find that at the very core there is pride. Please listen to me very carefully. I learned from a wonderful godly man by the name of John Stott years ago. When I was talking to him, he said, Michael, always watch out over the sin of pride. And I have never forgotten that.
And I want to tell you today. That when God blesses you financially, the evil one is going to be standing here right on your shoulder and trying to lead you to think that you had something to do with it. At that moment, you need to cry to God and say, Deliver me from the evil one, and give it away ruthlessly. When you have been blessed of God with a brilliant mind, with a very intelligent mind, the evil one is going to be standing there and he's trying to tempt you to believe and to think that you did it by yourself. I want to tell you that at that moment you need to cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, deliver me from the evil one.
When God blesses you with health or good looks or whatever it may be that God gives you, don't look down at other people. And the evil one is going to tell you to by thinking that you did it for yourself. Cry, say, deliver me, Lord, from the evil one. When God blesses you with a gift of faith, don't look down at people who have no faith. The devil is going to tell you that you should be proud of your faith because this is your own brilliance.
But at that moment, you need to be crying to God, oh God, deliver me from the evil one. When God blesses you with a great ministry opportunity, the devil is going to come and he's going to tempt you with the evil of thinking that you are the best thing that ever happened to God and to the kingdom of God, and therefore you should be very proud of these opportunities. Then you need to cry, Oh God, deliver me from the evil one. When God blesses you with success, whatever it might be, in whatever area you're involved in, the evil one will always be there to tell you that you and you alone deserve everything that's coming to you. That moment you need to be crying to God, oh God, deliver me from the evil one.
I am so grateful. For the godly men that God always brought my way and continues to bring my way, I've learnt more. from them than I can truly Explain in words. I don't remember who told me this. I really don't.
I all remember it's a long time ago, and I was beginning and contemplating that God was calling me to the ministry. And this person said to me, he said, He said, Michael, have you ever thought about the mule that carried Jesus into Jerusalem? I said, no, not really. I don't think about the mule very much and I don't really give that much thought. He said, Have you ever occurred to you?
That when Nemu looked over there and he saw all the praising and all the waving of palms and all the rejoicing, did he even for a moment just think that this might be for him? I tell you what, I've never forgotten that. And I always try to remember my place. Yeah. What was so wrong with David's numbering of the people?
What was wrong? After all, Moses did it in Exodus chapter 30. Moses numbered the people. Oh. There is a great deal of difference.
Between what Moses did and what David did. You see, Moses conducted the census in obedience to God. God said to him that every male 25 years of age or up needs to pay a ransom in order to remember that it was God, Jehovah, who brought them out of the land of slavery into the wilderness and then onto the promised land.
So God said, count them, and Moses did it in obedience. It was the acknowledging of God's redeeming power. But in David's case, He numbered the people for his own glory, not the glory of God. Be careful. Who gets the glory in your life?
Be careful who gets the glory. in your life. It was pride that motivated David's action. Satan got hold of David's will. And he's inflated his ego.
And he led him to sin. You remember how When David, young David, He came in and see the people of God. under oppression by Goliath. What did he say? How can they do that to the army of the living God?
But when he got blessed and received all the victory, he said, Now I want you to count my army. Let me tell you something. We all know and understand the sin of the flesh, but I want to tell you: the downfall of the Christian church is going to be the sin of the spirit. I don't say that with joy. Oh God.
Deliver us. from the evil one.
Well, I want to tell you a few things. As I conclude, really, this is my sermon outline that I'm going to tell you now because that was my introduction. And I figured out that uh Now that I've given you the introduction is a little more fully, I'll just give you the outline very quickly. And the outline is this: I have three things to tell you. Number one, We are delivered from evil.
By the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ did not only deliver us from the penalty of sin, which is eternal torment, but it delivered us from the power that is holding us from the power of sin in our lives. And whenever you feel that you are unable to overcome the power of sin in your life or the power of addiction or whatever it may be, it's going to be one of three reasons. Number one, you are not asking for God's power. By faith, believing.
Or you don't want God's power to work in you. Completely. Or thirdly, You have believed Satan's lie. that you cannot have power over sin. The Bible said resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Some of you probably heard me say this before. Here's what the scripture says. Resist the devil. But flee from temptation. Do you know what most Christians do?
They reverse the formula that God has given us in the scripture. They try to resist temptation and they fail. And they flee from the devil when they're supposed to stand toe toe with him. Yeah. Martin Luther.
The great reformer. Used to say That when the devil come knocking on his door He sends Jesus to answer the door. And when Jesus comes and answers the door, then the devil says, I want Martin. And Jesus says, Martin used to live here. He doesn't live here anymore.
I do. He said, I've always had the victory. When a slave is set free, it may take a little while to accept that his former master has no power over him, has no authority over him. It may take him a little while, but listen, sooner or later, he has to exercise his freedom. And if you're a new believer, it may be taking you a while to break from the chain of addiction, but listen.
You have to exercise that freedom. God wants you to exercise that freedom. There has to be a time when you look at your former master in the eye and tell him. to buzz off. He has no claim over you.
He has no power over you. And that is why only believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can pray this prayer with confidence, can offer this petition with confidence that God will answer it. Oh, deliver us from the evil one. Because, what in effect you're saying, you're saying this, you're saying, Lord, you have delivered me. from the evil one eternally.
Now deliver me daily. Lord, you have delivered me from the evil one positionally.
Now deliver me continuously.
Well, the second thing I want to tell you very quickly is this. The reason we pray with confidence, deliver us from the evil one, is because Jesus I'm getting ready to cry because I know what I'm going to say. Jesus is interceding on our behalf right now. Right now. Listen to Hebrews 7:24.
Here's what it tells us: that the Lord Jesus Christ is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through Him, since always, since He always lives to make intercession for them. He's making intercessions for you right now.
So, when you are under the gun and you cry out, Oh, deliver me. from the evil one, you can be sure that he's not only heard you, but he answered you. The third thing I want to tell you is this. God Answers this prayer. In the context of the church.
In the context of the Christian community. in the context of fellowship with other believers. The community of believers Are a community of the covenant. Not only a covenant with God, but a covenant with each other. Listen to what I'm going to tell you.
And I pray the Spirit of God will interpret this in your heart and you'll accept it the way I mean it. The church of Jesus Christ is not made up of a bunch of individuals who come to church on Sunday 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early. That is not the church of Jesus Christ. That is the wrong concept of the church. The church are those who have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.
The church are those who have deep down feel a sense of responsibility to one another. The church are those who are united together for mutual encouragement, for mutual accountability, for mutual responsibility, and yes, for mutual prayer support. Because it is together. We can become strong and wise, and not a prey for the evil one.
So when we pray, deliver us from the evil one, we can pray with confidence that God. Not just can but will. Answer our prayer. Passionately proclaiming the uncompromising truth of God's Word. That's what Dr.
Michael Youssef does each day through leading the way. Remember you can listen on the radio. online. through the app, and by connecting to the Leading the Way podcast. You can also watch the weekly TV broadcast and other video content.
Information about your options is all right there at ltw. Yeah. doctor Youssef recently released a book that dug into content that brought him profound hurt as a pastor, because it exposed truth about how pastors and churches to day have fallen into marketing Jesus rather than declaring God's truth. His book is called Seeking. Saving Christianity?
And today is your last day to get your very own copy upon request when you give a gift to leading the way. A gift of any amount. Get your copy on the way when you call and speak with a ministry representative. 866-666-866-866- six two six four three five six. Of course, you can also order securely online at ltw.org.
ltw.org The church today is being attacked and destroyed from within, as dangerous false teachings have been welcomed and are now widely taught. What can you do you ask?
Well, start by gaining an understanding of these false teachings and renew your confidence in the essential, foundational truth of the faith. When you have a solid foundation, you won't fall for teachings that undermine the gospel. In Dante Youssef's book, Saving Christianity, experience and understand the truth so you will not be deceived and you can protect the next generation from a faith that is destined to crumble. This month, Dr. Yousev is offering to send a copy of Saving Christianity.
As his way of saying thanks to those who give a gift of any amount to leading the way. Get more details about the content of this powerful book at ltw.org. Stand with Dr. Youssef as he passionately proclaims uncompromising truth today. Call a ministry representative right now.
866-666-866-866- Six two six four three five six. Saving Christianity. It's available when you give a gift of any amount to leading the way. you can also order at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr.
Michael Youssef.
