https://assets-cdn2.dropwave.io/086174f0-efbe-400f-a3e9-b91549a26ab7/media/Good Friday AD 2026.mp3

If you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold; but if you lose, the Devil gets your soul. It might be a sin, but I'll take your bet (The Devil Went Down to Georgia).

“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.

In this life, we are daily and constantly tempted by the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. [101] Temptation… is of three kinds: of the flesh, of the world, and of the devil…. The old Adam encourages us to have all kinds of evil lusts, which cling to us by nature and to which we are moved by the society, the example, and what we hear and see of other people…

[103] Next comes the world, which offends us in word and deed. It drives us to anger and impatience. In short, there is nothing but hatred and envy, hostility, violence and wrong, unfaithfulness, vengeance, cursing, railing, slander, pride and haughtiness, with useless finery, honor, fame, and power. No one is willing to be the least. Everyone desires to sit at the head of the group and to be seen before all [Luke 14:7–11].

[104] Then comes the devil, pushing and provoking in all directions. But he especially agitates matters that concern the conscience and spiritual affairs. He leads us to despise and disregard both God’s Word and works. He tears us away from faith, hope, and love [1 Corinthians 13:13], and he brings us into misbelief, false security, and stubbornness. Or, on the other hand, he leads us to despair, denial of God, blasphemy, and innumerable other shocking things.

[105] Great and grievous, indeed, are these dangers and temptations, which every Christian must bear. We bear them even though each one were alone by himself. So every hour that we are in this vile life, we are attacked on all sides [2 Corinthians 4:8], chased and hunted down. We are moved to cry out and to pray that God would not allow us to become weary and faint [Isaiah 40:31; Hebrews 12:3] and to fall again into sin, shame, and unbelief. For otherwise it is impossible to overcome even the least temptation

(Large Catechism, Sixth Petition).

On the night Jesus was betrayed, the disciples argued about which of them was the greatest. On the night Jesus was betrayed, the disciples couldn’t remain awake for a single hour while Jesus prayed. Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:40-41) When Jesus was arrested, all the disciples ran away and fled.

Peter denied Jesus three times. He said he wouldn’t. And then he did. Jesus had warned Peter that temptation was coming — And not just that ‘temptation’ was coming, but this precise sin: denying Jesus. Yet Peter insisted he would never — could never — commit that sin. Peter relied on his own personal strength. He wasn’t as strong as he thought. Three times in a row, he fails.

And this is often the way that we, also, approach sin and temptation. We believe ourselves strong — able to “handle” some kind of evil without giving in. It’s what led Sampson to so easily hand over the secret to his strength. One day he woke up and didn’t even realize the Lord had departed from him (Judges 16:20). Or we think that ‘just once won’t hurt.’ It doesn’t affect me. It’s only a little sin, a little compromise. ‘I can stop anytime I want.’ Yet pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). O Lord, lead us not into temptation!

But it’s even worse when we consider how easily we give in. What a costly price we’ll pay for such a fleeting pleasure. If you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold, but if you lose, the Devil gets your soul. It might be a sin, but I'll take your bet. If you know how the song goes, it sounds like Johnny wins his epic battle with the devil. After all, Satan gives him the golden fiddle. But it turns out that Satan is smarter than Johnny. Satan won even before the competition started. He won the moment Johnny agreed to gamble his own soul. I don’t think Johnny’s chief sin was pride in his own ability. I think his chief sin was failing to value his own soul.

And how easily we give into temptation. Getting an eternity of hell seems an easy price to pay for what I want now. And we rationalize. We’ll come up with all kinds of ways to say the world is ‘difficult’ and ‘complicated’ and ‘what choice did I have?’ But you did have a choice. You could have prayed ‘lead us not into temptation.’ You could have sought out the way of escape God gave you. O Lord, lead us not into temptation!

Unlike us, Jesus did not fail or fall. Faced with betrayal, false accusations, and the worst kind of suffering, He remains steadfast. He is the obedient and sinless Son. He remains resolute — all the way to the end. Jesus — not only as God, but also as Man — is victorious. No one takes His life from Him. He lays it down of His own accord. O Lord, lead us not into temptation!

In Revelation 16, we get the view of God’s judgment from heaven. The full wrath of God is poured out on the world. God will make the world “drink the cup of the wine of his fury and wrath.” Lightning flashes; thunder rolls; the earth quakes. God the Father also speaks: “It is done.” But where is it, from our earthly perspective, that God’s full wrath is poured out, other than on Jesus as He hangs upon the cross? For Jesus takes the cup of the Father’s wrath from you, and from the whole world, and drinks it Himself — down to the bitter dregs.

“It is finished.” There is nothing left for anyone to do. There is nothing left for you to do. There is nothing left even for Jesus to do. Nothing is left undone. The work of salvation is completed. Finished. Accomplished.

Now all that remains is for this finished work and its fruits to be delivered. Jesus dies and breathes out the Holy Spirit. The Church, figured by Mary, receives His Holy Spirit. John, who bears witness, receives His Holy Spirit. One thief who suffers justly for his sins repents and believes; he receives the Holy Spirit A soldier, representing all the godless pagans, receives the Holy Spirit and confesses that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

Jesus washes you with the spring of living water that flows from His side. Jesus had taken the cup of the Father's wrath from you, the foaming wine well mixed. Then He gives you another Cup, which He fills with the blood of infinite worth that flows from His side. O Lord, lead us not into temptation!

When Jesus calls us to pray this petition, He is calling us to recognize our human weakness and to call upon God for the help He promises to give.

[100] Although we have received forgiveness and a good conscience and are entirely acquitted, yet our life is of such a nature that we stand today, and tomorrow we fall [Isaiah 40:6–8]. Therefore, even though we are godly now and stand before God with a good conscience, we must pray again that He would not allow us to fall again and yield to trials and temptations.

[106] This, then, is what “lead us not into temptation” means. It refers to times when God gives us power and strength to resist the temptation [1 Corinthians 10:13]. However, the temptation is not taken away or removed. While we live in the flesh and have the devil around us, no one can escape his temptation and lures. It can only mean that we must endure trials—indeed, be engulfed in them [2 Timothy 2:3]. But we say this prayer so that we may not fall and be drowned in them.

[107] To feel temptation is, therefore, a far different thing from consenting or yielding to it. We must all feel it, although not all in the same way. Some feel it in a greater degree and more severely than others. For example, the young suffer especially from the flesh. Afterward, when they reach middle life and old age, they feel it from the world. But others who are occupied with spiritual matters, that is, strong Christians, feel it from the devil. [108] Such feeling, as long as it is against our will and we would rather be rid of it, can harm no one. For if we did not feel it, it could not be called a temptation. But we consent to it when we give it the reins and do not resist or pray against it.

[109] Therefore, we Christians must be armed [Ephesians 6:10–18] and daily expect to be constantly attacked. No one may go on in security and carelessly, as though the devil were far from us. At all times we must expect and block his blows. Though I am now chaste, patient, kind, and in firm faith, the devil will this very hour send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never stops or becomes tired. So when one temptation stops, there always arise others and fresh ones.

*[110] So there is no help or comfort except to run here, take hold of the Lord’s Prayer, and speak to God from the heart like this: “Dear Father, You have asked me to pray. Don’t let me fall because of temptations.” Then you will see that the temptations must stop and finally confess themselves conquered (*LC: Sixth Petition).

Temptations find their end not in the strength of your will, or in your striving and determination. Temptations come to their end in Jesus. Temptation could not win against Him.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). The three other Evangelists don’t record these words. Instead, they describe them. Just before Jesus died, He cried out with “a loud voice.” That means “It is finished” isn’t a statement that Jesus is barely able to get out. It is a Victor’s shout, a Conqueror’s cry. As we sing in the Christmas hymn, All My Heart Again Rejoices,

Hear! The Conqueror has spoken: 'Now the foe, sin and woe, death and hell are broken!' God is man, man to deliver.

Jesus is not weakly thanking God that His suffering is over. The mission with which God has charged Him has been accomplished. And no one can ever undo it. No one can destroy or take away this victory. It is finished!

O Lord, lead us not into temptation!