Lead Us Not Into Temptation. A sermon, by Charles Spurgeon.
Channel: Take Up The Cross
Date: 2018-03-11

Lead Us Not Into Temptation. A sermon, by Charles Spurgeon.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
~ Matthew 6:13 a, b

Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
~ Deuteronomy 8:16

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
~ Matthew 26:41

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
~ 1 Corinthians 10:13

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
~ Deuteronomy 8:2 

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
~ Hebrews 11:36

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
~ 2 Peter 2:9

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
~ Revelation 3:10

"Let me observe that God, in no sense, so leads men into temptation as to have any share in the blame of their sin if they fall into it! God cannot possibly, by any act of His, become partner with man in his crime. As good old Trapp well observes, “God tempts men for PROBATION, but never for PERDITION.” The devil tempts men that he may ruin them—God tries men, and puts them where Satan may try them—but He leads them into temptation for probation, that the chaff may be sifted from the wheat, that the dross may be separated from the fine gold. By these trials, hypocrites fall, being discovered in the hour of temptation, just as the rough March wind sweeps through the forest, and finding out the rotten branches, snaps them from the tree—the fault being not in the wind—but in the decayed branch! James alludes to the actual solicitation to evil in which the most holy God can have no part, but our text deals with the providential bringing about of the temptation which, I think you can clearly see, may be the Lord’s work without His holiness in any degree being stained. When the Lord leads us into temptation, it is always with a design for our good. He leads us to battle, not that we may be wounded and defeated, but that we may win glorious victories which shall crown the head of our gracious Leader with many crowns, and prepare us for future deeds of valor! temptations overcome are inestimable blessings, because they make us lie the more humbly at His feet, bind us more firmly to our Lord, and train us to help others. Tempted men can lift up the hands that hang down, and confirm the feeble knees; they have been tempted in the same manner, and can, therefore, succor their brothers and sisters. Yet, while the benefit which God brings out of our being led into temptation is very great, still, temptation in itself is a thing so dangerous, trials and distress, in themselves, are so perilous, that it is right for the Christian to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Though, as Martin Luther says, “temptation is the best school into which the Christian can enter; yet, in itself, apart from the grace of God, it is so doubly hazardous, that this prayer should be offered every day, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ or if we must enter into it, ‘Lord, deliver us from evil.’”

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