The Lord’s Prayer (Part 2)

For Part 1, see here: The Lord’s Prayer (Part 1) – Proclaim & Defend

We come to the final two elements in Christ’s pattern of prayer for his disciples as recorded in Luke’s gospel. The first of these occurs following the petition for daily bread. Our Lord adds “And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). Bear in mind that this pattern for prayer contemplates coming daily before the Father. Consequently, it is acknowledged here that daily cleansing from sin is needed.

The prayer for forgiveness in this context has reference to the defilement of sin that impedes fellowship with the Father. For the believer, the condemnation of our sin has been removed by the blood of Christ. Paul writes, speaking of Jesus, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7) and “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Yes, praise God, our sins in their entirety have indeed been forgiven and we have been reconciled to God. Sinning now for the believer brings defilement only, not condemnation, and hinders our fellowship with God.

Jesus gave the perfect illustration of this necessity for cleansing immediately prior to his passion in the upper room where he and his disciples had gathered to eat the Passover. “And supper being ended…he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded” (John 13:2,5). Peter rebelled at the idea of his Lord washing his feet, but Jesus told him plainly that if he did not wash his feet then he (Peter) had no part with him. Upon this admonition, “Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” (John 13:9).

It is at this point that Jesus illustrates the distinction between salvation and daily cleansing. “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” (John 13:10). In Jesus’ day it was customary to wash off a guest’s feet from the dust collected by just walking in the streets of town. The guest did not need a bath, but only required the dust washed from his feet. So, it is in being cleansed from the defilement of sins committed. A Christian having been born again does not need to be saved again but does need cleansed to be fit for fellowship with a holy God.

John’s epistle gives us fitting words for this occasion. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10). The word of God speaks to our specific sins, e.g., unkindness, lying, etc. We dare not argue with the Lord and his word but follow Solomon’s advice. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

Child of God, is your fellowship with the Father broken because of unconfessed sin? Do not seek to hide from the Lord. As David testified “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

As Jesus brings his pattern for prayer to a close, he includes this petition: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Luke 11:4). It is important to rightly understand what is meant by the word “temptation” as it is used in this passage. We often think of temptation as an enticement to do wrong and that is its proper meaning much of the time. In this instance, however, the word temptation does not have that exact meaning.

In the first place, God never tempts any man to do evil. James, the Lord’s half-brother, testifies in his epistle to this truth. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13; emphasis added). What then is meant by “lead us not into temptation”?

To understand it fully, we must look to the latter half of the sentence where the Lord adds “but deliver us from evil.” There must be some relationship between “temptation” and “evil” as well as “lead” and “deliver” for the prayer to make sense. The answer lies in the petitioner’s sense of his own sinful weakness and inclination to sin. The prayer crystallizes his own desire to avoid sin and, consequently, anything that would bring shame to his Lord and disrupt his fellowship with God.

On the one hand he prays that God’s leading would be such that it takes him far from any opportunity to sin. He trusts in the Father’s leading, leaving the future in his hands while embracing the Father’s purpose to keep him free from sin. But he also understands the bent of his own heart and his own weakness to overcome sin, so he prays “deliver me from evil.”

Only God can keep us from sin. Jeremiah, the prophet, captured mankind’s problem succinctly. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). First of all, man’s heart is thoroughly sinful. In fact, God’s testimony concerning mankind immediately prior to the flood was this: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Nothing has changed.

But not only is man’s heart desperately wicked, but we are told it is deceitful above all things. Man’s assessment of his own spiritual condition is untrustworthy. We can put it this way. Man does not see himself as God sees him and God’s is the only viewpoint that matters. So we are admonished to pray “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  We do not readily discern sin, we walk willingly into sin, and we cannot deliver ourselves from sin. Ultimately, sin is all that matters between my soul and the Savior.

The Psalmist learned that nothing compared with the favor of God for “thy lovingkindness is better than life” (Psalm 63:3). But fellowship with God requires “clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:4). The question we must each ask ourselves is “Do I value my relationship with God more than the pleasures of sin?”

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Randy Livingston serves as a chaplain for a local police department. He writes devotionals for his ministry which also appear at his blog, From the Chaplain. We republish this post by permission.