Another Forty Days

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11

Introduction

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4:1–3

• This is my final installment in a series about how real and alive Jesus is in the resurrection.
• I find it interesting how Jesus was fasting for 40 days before being tempted by the devil.
• And then in today’s story, He comes back and spends 40 days with the disciples before sending them out to ALSO be tempted by the devil.
• I mean would you agree that to walk in this world is to be tempted by the devil?
• And would you also agree that it would be so much easier to cope if we had Jesus with us
• Well, that’s just the thing because we DO have Jesus with us: He sent the Holy Spirit.
• He left the disciples after 40 days, but only ten days later, the Holy Spirit came to them.
• And now we have the Holy Spirit with us to help guide us through this dangerous world.
• There were three temptations of the devil that Jesus dealt with.
• And in each case, He quoted Scripture to refute the devil,
• Let’s think about these three temptations as we consider His 40 days with the disciples:

1. Prove you are the Son of God by turning stones into bread.
2. Prove you are the Son of God by throwing yourself off the temple roof.
3. Bow down to Satan and all the world will be yours.

1. Turn stones to bread

• As we have discussed over the past several weeks, He came back to the disciples.
• He did this on numerous occasions.
• And each time He came he gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
• This last time, He appeared to them over a period of forty days.
• Luke says He spoke about the kingdom of God.
• What do you think He was telling them about the kingdom of God?
• According to Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

He had given them a general idea of that kingdom, and the certain time it should be set up in the world , but here he instructed them more in the nature of it, as a kingdom of grace in this world and of glory in the other, and opened to them that covenant which is the great charter by which it is incorporated.

 

Now this was intended, (1.) To prepare them to receive the Holy Ghost, and to go through that which they were designed for. He tells them in secret what they must tell the world; and they shall find that the Spirit of truth, when he comes, will say the same. (2.) To be one of the proofs of Christ’s resurrection; so, it comes in here; the disciples, to whom He showed himself alive, knew that it was He, not only by what He showed them, but by what he said to them. None but he could speak thus clearly, thus fully, of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He did not entertain them with discourses of politics or the kingdoms of men, of philosophy or the kingdom of nature, but pure divinity and the kingdom of grace, the things which most nearly concerned them, and those to whom they were sent.

• Jesus came to earth to lay the foundation for the kingdom of God which is to come.
• This will come at the end times of the world we currently know.
• Jesus is building this kingdom by calling people out of the world to accept Him.
• Those He calls, and whom answer His call, will become the sons and daughters of the new kingdom.
• Those who turn away from Jesus and ignore the call will be left behind and miss out.
• Satan tempted the starving Jesus after 40 days of fasting with the idea that Jesus could simply access His deity and turn stones into bread if He wanted to.
• Jesus would go on to manufacture food on many occasions during His 3=year ministry,
• But at this particular time, Satan was mocking Him and calling Him out.
• Jesus’ response comes from Matthew 4:4:

“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

• This was a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3
• Satan has no part in the formation of the new kingdom that Jesus is building,
• But Satan simply could not understand and accept God’s plan and preferred his own plan.
• This is where we get in trouble as well when we lean on our own plans instead of God’s.
• God has a plan for us as individuals and as a church.
• If you could see this place yesterday, it was teeming with life and activity.
• Not only has Biltmore connected with God’s plan that is much bigger than us …
• But He is also connecting us with a network of 63 churches and all their resources.
• Berea Baptist received 44,000 lbs of potatoes and shared 2000 lbs with us.
• We still have 800 lbs left.
• Sylvia’s Sisters gave away about a dozen cases of feminine hygiene products.
• Mechanics of Faith shared their story with dozens of people.
• We had a Spanish language interpreter, Tom Jenkins from Broaddus Memorial on site.
• All this while the clothes closet was in full swing, and the blessing box was rolling.
• Jesus knows He can turn stones into bread, and He is doing it right here amongst us.

2. Throw yourself off the temple roof

• Satan thought he would be clever and tried to use Scripture himself to tempt Jesus with Psalm 91:11,12:

“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.’”

• Nice try Satan, but Jesus simply countered with Deuteronomy again with 6:16:

“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

• Point goes to Jesus,
• I believe that we have discovered the one time when it is OK to put God to the test …
• Anybody want to guess when it’s OK to test God? When we are OBEDIENT.
• Sure, if you want to see what God will do, try obeying Him.
• The conversation Jesus had with the disciples for 40 days was next steps.
• If you have ever worked in corporate America, you know meetings can be a time waster.
• The sign of a good meeting is when everybody is on the same page and there are ACTION ITEMS that come out of the meeting p what are the next steos?
• For three years, Jesus has been training them using parables and vague references.
• The disciples really were scratching their heads when Jesus wound up on the cross.
• That all changed in these last 40 days because now they had the example of seeing Jesus do three things:

1. He was the fulfillment of the sin of mankind by dying on the cross in sacrifice.
2. He conquered death by His resurrection, and
3. He is physically alive and will never again face death.

• Now tat they have this new information, Jesus can speak plainly about Himself.
• And presumably, FINALLY, the disciples are getting the picture.
• Understanding the message is only part of the battle: now they need to know what to do,
• Jesus addresses their next steps with the promise of a helper who will come soon.
• In verses 4 and 5, Jesus tells them:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

 3. All the world will be yours

• Satan makes one final appeal to Jesus in Matthew 4:8-9:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

• At this point, Jesus is done with Satan’s temptations and says:

“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

• This is from Deuteronomy 6:13.
• The disciples were now well-trained and understood the mission completely.
• But they still had one burning question in verse 6:

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

• It’s a fair question and one we still have today – in fact even more all the time.
• Jesus answers them in verse 7 that basically, even He doesn’t know the timing:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

• He instead changes their focus back to the task at hand in verse 8 when He says:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

• We have approached our mission here at Biltmore in much the same way.
• First, we have witnessed to our own Jerusalem here in the Biltmore community.
• Then word has spread and we now draw from at least a 50-mile radius – Judea
• Our reach and our territory continues to grow and expand as our Facebook page has 1600 followers.
• Just like the disciples, we are called to expand our reach so that the world can be HIS.