And lead us not into temptation
The Lord’s Passion and the Lord’s Prayer: The Sixth Petition
Matthew 6:13| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 25, 2026
The Sixth Petition
And lead us not into temptation.
What does this mean? God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
Immediately after praying that God would forgive us our trespasses, Jesus teaches us to pray that He lead us not into temptation. We are in constant need of this prayer, because temptation afflicts us throughout our life. As Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “our life is such a nature that we stand today, and tomorrow we fall.” It is appropriate that we study this petition on the night in which our Lord Jesus was betrayed, for it was a night of temptations and betrayals, as Jesus spoke to the cowards who arrested Him, “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53)
On this fateful night we see not only strong temptations but horrendous falls from grace. Even Judas Iscariot and St. Peter, Apostles of our Lord Jesus, and students of His seminary for three years, fell in disgrace; Judas permanently, but Peter by the grace of God was brought back. So, you may say, “If even Jesus’ chosen disciples and prized students fell in the hour of temptation, what chance do I have?” But Jesus would not teach us to pray a petition, which God did not intend to answer, as Jesus promises, “Ask, and it will be given to you.” So, let us first explore the three sources of temptation, each of which we see in full force on this darkest of nights, and then we will look at three aids God gives us against temptation.
The first source of temptation is the devil. St. John tells us that even as they ate together at supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Indeed, he had gone voluntarily to the chief priests and elders and offered to betray Christ for money, thirty pieces of silver. And at dinner, Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)
The second source of temptation is the world. In His discourse with His disciples on this night of His betrayal, Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world (John 14:30). And we see it as Jesus is met in the garden by a crowd armed with swords and clubs to do the devil’s bidding. Yet the world does not always appear so violently opposed to Christ, but we must not forget that the world is at enmity with Jesus, and so we should not seek its friendship (John 15:18). Even St. Peter fell to this temptation on the same night that Jesus was betrayed. A couple servant girls and a handful of bystanders asked him if he was one of Jesus’ disciples, and fearing their judgment and hostility, he denied Jesus with an oath.
The third source of temptation is our own sinful flesh. Jesus admonished Peter when He found him sleeping when he should have been praying, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) And so, we are reminded that although we desire to do good according to our new self, our old Adam still drives us to sin according to his selfish and lazy desires (Romans 7:18).
So, what can be the solution to these temptations? Let us address them in reverse order. Jesus tells Peter that his spirit is willing, but his flesh is weak. Now people naturally think that to resist temptation means to try harder. You fall into temptation, because you aren’t trying hard enough to resist it. And while we should try hard to resist temptation, we should not trust in our own strength! Listen to Peter, who says to Jesus, “Even though they all fall away, I will not!” and “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” (Mark 14:29, 31) See how well Peter’s strength kept him! When Jesus told Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” he wasn’t telling Peter to try harder, exert his flesh more. He was telling him to pray. In prayer, we are not resting on our own strength, but on God’s. In prayer, we cling to God’s promises and knock, seek, implore Him to lead us out of temptation, because we know our flesh is weak. “Watch and pray,” Jesus says, not, “rely on your own strength.”
Next, we address the world. God tempts no one, but God does test us. Although the world has used threats and fear to intimidate Christians to deny Christ and His Word, the world’s ordinary course is to use cares, riches, and pleasures of life to lull us into complacency, so that we deny Christ lest we lose the things we love in this world. God often helps us through such deceptive temptations with trials. Hebrews 12 states, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.’” (verses 4-6)
And so, to lead us out of temptation, our heavenly Father sometimes places trials in our life to strengthen our faith and prevent our lazy flesh from ruling over us. Trials draw us closer to Christ in prayer by making us realize our weakness. St. Paul speaks of such a cross Christ gave him to keep him from falling into the sin of pride, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this,” he writes, “that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Finally, we have our chief enemy and source of temptation, the devil himself. Satan opposes and slanders us. How can we, who are so weak, resist this archdemon who seeks to sift us like wheat? The Apostle tells us in Hebrews 2, “For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (vs. 18) Here he speaks of Jesus, who made propitiation for the sins of all people through His suffering on the cross. It is Christ Jesus who crushed the head of Satan through His wounds, moreover, by His cross He overcame the world and condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3)! Christ Jesus is our source and aid against temptation. It is in His name that we pray. It is He who is our strength when we are weak.
St. Paul comforts us in 1 Corinthians 10 with these words, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (vs. 13) But what is the way of escape? St. Paul writes these words after giving examples in the Old Testament of the children of Israel falling away, because they rejected God’s promises. But in every situation, there were those whom God preserved from falling, who held fast to God’s promises.
So, the way of escape is always found in God’s promises. The way of escape is always found in Jesus Christ. It is Christ Jesus who has defeated Satan for us. And He gives us His victory through His Word of Grace, the Gospel. Meditating on the cross of Christ, where Jesus overcame the devil, the world, and all sinful flesh grants us power to overcome temptation and to drive Satan away from us. As Johann Heerrman’s great Lenten hymn states:
Should some lust or sharp temptation
Fascinate my sinful mind,
Draw me to Your cross and passion,
And new courage I shall find.
Or should Satan press me hard,
Let me then be on my guard,
Saying, “Christ for me was wounded,”
That the tempter flee confounded. (Jesus, Grant That Balm and Healing, LSB 421:2)
Immediately after Paul writes of the way of escape God grants from temptation, he gives instruction in the Lord’s Supper. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”, he writes. He then says that we must not eat of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. In the next chapter, he again instructs us to examine ourselves before eating Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament, warning that those who eat it without discerning the body have become weak, sick, and some died (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s true body and blood, whether you believe it or not, whether you trust in Christ or not. Those who receive it without faith in Christ, eat it to their own judgment, as Judas Iscariot did, who already gave his heart to Satan. Yet, for those who trust in Christ, the Lord’s Supper is a wonderful source, not only of forgiveness of sins, but of aid against temptation. Satan was defeated by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. On the cross, Jesus wiped away Satan’s life’s work in His blood. In the crucifixion of Jesus’ flesh, God solved the problem with our sinful flesh, by condemning sin in human flesh, so that we might become the righteousness of God in new resurrected bodies. When we receive Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament with true faith, we receive the victory Christ’s body and blood won over Satan on the cross.
The greatest temptations Satan strives to deceive us with are false belief and despair. He’s not content with you falling, but rising again, as Peter did. He wants you to go the way of Judas, who despaired of God’s forgiveness. And so, the greatest aid against temptation is the forgiveness of sins won by Christ. Just as you cannot love one another unless you first have received Christ’s love for you, so also you cannot resist Satan unless you first receive Christ’s victory over Satan through faith.
When we pray, “And lead us not into temptation,” we are praying that God would lead us to Christ, to receive His grace and mercy again and again, which will strengthen our faith and keep us close to Him.
Lead not into temptation, Lord,
Where our grim foe and all his horde
Would vex our souls on ev’ry hand.
Help us resist, help us to stand
Firm in the faith, a mighty host,
Through comfort of the Holy Ghost. Amen.