Chapter 4
The Hope of Christ: A New Pattern for Desire
I. The Pattern Breaker
a. The Circumstances of Christ’s Temptations
b. The Nature of Christ’s Temptations
c. Christ’s Method of Overcoming Temptation
II. The New Power
a. To Understand
b. To Live
c. To Do
d. To Obey
e. To Overflow
III. The New Pattern of Belief
a. Seek the Lord (instead of “See”)
b. Desire rightly (instead of “Covet”)
c. Give Generously (instead of “Take”)
d. Confess Freely (instead of “Hide”)
Talk 3: The Hope of Christ
Verses & Quotes
I. The Pattern Breaker
1Cor. 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Matt. 4:1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matt. 4:5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matt. 4:8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Matt. 4:11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
II. The Cross: A New Power
Eph. 3:14For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Col. 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Eph. 3:20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
2Pet. 1:3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Rom. 15:13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
III. The New Pattern of Belief
John 15: 7 -11
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Growing In Contentment:
1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.
2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstance in which thou are not.
3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.
4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou doest thyself.
5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God’s not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. “The Lord will provide.” E.B. Pusey
“So whatever desirable scheme presents itself to you, you must be governed by humility and the fear of God as you work towards it; above all, you must commit it entirely to [God], abandoning your own will, and saying: Lord, you know what is best. May your will decide what shall be done. Give what you will, how much you will, and when you will. Do what you know is best for me, do what pleases you and brings your name most honor. Put me where you will, and deal with me in all things as you please. I am in your hand— turn me backwards and forwards, turn me upside down. Here I am, your servant, ready for anything, for I have no desire to live for myself, but only to live perfectly and worthily for you.” Thomas a Kempis
Question 147: What are the duties required in the tenth commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the tenth commandment are, such a full contentment with our own condition, and such a charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbor, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him, tend unto, and further all that good which is his.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
“How suddenly comforting it was to lose the false comforts of the past! I had long feared losing them, and now it was a joy to throw them away. Truly it was you who put them far from me, my true and supreme comfort; you put them far away and set yourself in their place.” St. Augustine
Growing in Contentment
1. Go to God first. Kneel in silence. Lift up your heart and hands. Listen. “I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him” (2 Samuel 15:26).
2. Receive the Givens and the Not-Givens. “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.” (Psalm 16:5).
3. In acceptance lies peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27)
4. It is always possible to do the will of God. “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15, 15:10)
5. Do it now. “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands” (Psalm 119:60). “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow” (James 4:14).
6. Love means sacrifice. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (I John 3:16).
7. Choose your attitude. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who ...made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...He humbled himself” (Phillipians 2:5, 7-8)
8. Analyze your struggle. Is it merely delayed obedience? “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32)
9. Give it all to Jesus. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
10. Do the next thing. “In the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded” (Ezekial 24:18).
11. Give thanks every day and for everything. “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything”(Ephesians 5:20). “Let a righteous man strike me - it is a kindness; let him rebuke me - it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it” (Psalm 141:5).
Elizabeth Elliot
“Secure in the Everlasting Arms”