Deliver Us from Evil

“...and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Luke 11:4)

This is part of the Lord’s prayer. This Scripture is related to what John said. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 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.” (1John 1:8-10) If we are saved, born again of God by the Holy Spirit, we still sin. Our human spirit was reborn, but not our flesh, not our soul (mind, will and emotions.) Many say that the Lord’s prayer is a pattern to pray. If it is, then we must ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins. Our human spirit yearns for fellowship with the Lord. It yearns for righteousness in us. But our flesh is pulling us away from righteousness. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.” (Galatians 5:17) Our human will determines what we will do. Will it obey the spirit or the flesh? That depends on to which one you yield. There are lots of little steps to obedience to the spirit. The spirit says, “Read your Bible instead of watching TV.” Or it might say, “Pray instead of spending time on Facebook.” Little acts of obedience help us to obey when temptations come. Also, reading the Word of God transforms our mind which will influence our will. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)  

When Jesus went to the cross, He took all of our sins, past, present and future of the whole world with Him and paid the penalty due for them. “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.” (1Peter 2:24) You might ask then why we would have to confess our sins and ask forgiveness. When we came to Jesus, we asked Him to forgive us our sins, but we continue to sin. Those “new” sins are forgiven, but we must repent of them and allow the Holy Spirit to purge them from us. That will only happen when we repent or renounce them, turning from them. I have been saved fifty years, and I am ashamed and scandalized by the sin in my flesh. Sin will spout up and shock us. We must recognize it as sin without reserve, ask the Lord to forgive us and give the Holy Spirit full reign to purge it out of us.

In this version, “for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us,” is in other versions, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our debtors.” It means the same, but the other version makes it clear that our forgiveness depends on us forgiving others. Jesus said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) Many say that this is the Law and that in the New Covenant, our forgiveness depends on our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior. This is true but forgiving one another is very important to the Lord. James wrote, “So speak and do as those who shall be judged by the Law of liberty. For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.” (James 2:12-13) Although we are forgiven, we must speak and do as if we’re under the Law showing mercy to those who have offended us. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32) And to the Colossians he writes, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender feelings of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.” (Colossians 3:12-13) We are to forgive because Jesus has forgiven us of much.

The next petition is for the Lord to keep us from temptation. James tells us that God doesn’t tempt us. “Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one.” (James 1:13) The word tempt that James used means to test. And the word used in our Scripture that Luke used means to put to the proof by experiencing evil or adversity. Both words mean practically the same, one to test us the other to prove. James tells us what tempts us. “But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15) The temptations come from our flesh. If we give way to it, we sin. If God doesn’t tempt us and the reality is that we get tempted by our flesh, then the phrase, “lead us not into temptation” means other than the concept of God leading us to temptation, but that of asking that God not allow us to be led into temptation. The next petition is attached to this request, “but deliver us from evil.”

God doesn’t tempt us with evil. He has no evil in Him. James continues to explain. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) All the trials and afflictions are tests certainly. They test our faith. Do we really believe or are our hearts receiving the seed as the wayside that allows the devil to steal the seed, or stony ground that doesn’t allow the seed to take root or on thorns that choke the seed. (Matthew 13:19-23) It’s not God sending the affliction, but He is allowing the affliction for His purposes. Keeping in mind that God is for us and not against us, that God wants the best for us and that God’s main concern is for our eternity, He uses what the enemy means for destruction to teach us, to grow us and to bring glory to His Name when we are victorious.

Briefly, our Scripture of study teaches us that yes, we do continue to sin and need to repent and ask forgiveness. We must forgive because we’ve been forgiven much, and mercy is exalted over judgement. In the Lord’s prayer we ask that we be delivered from evil, including the temptations and afflictions that come from the enemy. God allows us to go through some things because through them we don’t gain eternal life, but prove our faith, grow in faith and glorify the Lord in the victory.