Last week we talked about how Jesus survived a 40 day quarantine and came out stronger. We learned he realized that God was in complete control and how he relentlessly resisted the temptations of the Devil. Today we are going to learn the other two keys to his being able to come out stronger on the other end of his self-imposed 40 day quarantine in the wilderness of Judea.
Let’s pray
Have you ever been so weak that you didn’t know how you were going to make it? Maybe it was weakness from a surgery. I remember when my appendix burst when I was five years old. The poison went through my body and almost killed me. I was in the hospital for two weeks as they pumped the poison and puss out of my body, hoping I would live.
I remember waking up feeling so weak, seeing my mom asleep at my hospital bedside. I didn’t know if I was going to make it.
Or maybe it was a sickness that devastated you. Maybe for some of you it was the Coronavirus. Some who have survived this pandemic have only had mild symptoms. Others have struggled to breath immensely as water has filled their lungs and the virus begins to shut their body.
While most of us haven’t experienced the Coronavirus, all of us have had the flu. I remember just last year having the flu so bad that even standing up to make my way toward the bathroom felt like the end of a marathon or finishing out a Tough Mudder or Spartan race. I was physically depleted.
This must have been how Jesus felt at the end of 40 days without food. He had been without food for 40 days when Satan came and tempted him. He must have felt so physically weak that he cold barely stand up.
Yes, Jesus was fully God, but sometimes I think we underestimate his humanity. He was truly fully human. He got just as hungry, thirsty and tired as we do. In the words of Dr. Dann Spader, expert on the life and ministry of Jesus, he didn’t use his God card. He was fully God and fully human but, as a man, he lived fully dependent on God.
So, when the Bible says that he was hungry, he was hungry. And that’s when the Devil temptation him.
How did Jesus survive that temptation? That leads us to the 3rd way that Jesus survived his 40 day quarantine to come out stronger…
He relied fully on God’s Spirit and Word at His times of weakness.
“He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” Luke 4:3
I get “hangry” after four hours with out food let alone forty days! So how did Jesus do it? First of all…
Jesus was “full of the Spirit” during this temptation.
Remember what the beginning of this passage tells us in Luke 4:1, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
Jesus was full of the Spirit and led by the Spirit. This simply means that he allowed the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, to take the reigns to his life. He was yielding to him and depending on him. In doing so, he allowed the power of God to control his every action. Instead of trusting in his own human strength, he rested in God’s divine power.
Think of it like the difference between jumper cables and an electrical outlet. Often times we are “jumper cable Christians.” We go to church or Bible study or listen to that worship music or podcast that gets us spiritually energized. But over time, like a battery, we lose power. So we go back again and hook our jumper cables up to another sermon or worship song to get charged back up again…then soon after run out of energy. And so we repeat the cycle again and again and again.
But to be “full of the Spirit” like Jesus is more like plugging into an electrical outlet than getting a jolt from a jumper cable. As we “plug into” the Holy Spirit in us, the steady flow of God’s power runs through us and gives us the divine energy to face any trial or temptation. The Great Christian philosopher, Francis Schaeffer, used to call it a moment-by-moment dependence on the Spirit of God.
In the same way that Jesus was full of the Spirit, we can be too! Ephesians 5:18 tells us, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit….”
During this global pandemic where we may feel locked down to a degree we must learn, like Jesus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must learn to live in a moment-by-moment declaration of dependence on Him. He will give us the steady current of his divine power to make it through stronger….just like he did with Jesus.
Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit. But Jesus also depended on God’s Word during this time.
Jesus answered every temptation with “It is written.”
Three times Satan tempted Jesus and three times Jesus answered back, “It is written…” before quoting an Old Testament verse.
By the way, Jesus had to memorize verses of Scripture like everyone else. He wasn’t born with the Old Testament memorized. But there’s a good chance he memorized all or most of the Old Testament as a kid growing up in Synagogue school.
I’m so thankful for the verses my Sunday school teachers and youth leaders made me memorize growing up. By the way, how many Bible verses do you have memorized?
Sadly, most Christians don’t have many memorized beyond The Lord’s prayer and John 3:16.
Ephesians 6:17 tells us that we are to fight Satan by lifting up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” That word “word” in this passage is not the typical word used in the Greek, logos, which means “written word.” It’s “rhema” which means “spoken word.” In other words, the sword of the Spirit, is the spoken word of God. These are the verses of Scripture that we have memorized and can quote out loud of times of trial and temptation.
So are you fighting Satan with a pocket knife or a broad sword? If you only have one or two verses memorized you are fighting the Devil with a pocket knife.
So how do you begin to memorize Scripture? You can go old school by using 3 by 5 cards and writing the verse on one side and the reference on the other, quizzing yourself to you get it down. But, for those of you who do everything on your phone, by far the best app I have seen for verse memory is called Verses. You can find it in your App Store. It will cost you a few dollars but it is worth it.
If you use it, you’ll learn how to swing the broad sword of multiple passages against Satan, instead of a little pocket knife.
Are you walking in a daily declaration of dependence on the Holy Spirit? Do you have enough Bible verses memorized that you can ward off an attack from the Devil by saying “It is written….”
Jesus fought Satan’s attacks by a dependence on the Spirit and a knowledge of God’s Word.
So what’s the last key to coming out on the other side of this quarantine stronger like Jesus?
He readied himself to advance the Gospel effectively after the 40 days was over.
“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.” Luke 4:13,14
Often God uses extended periods of time to prepare his people for something great. He used 400+ years of captivity to grow his people of Israel from 70 people to 2.5 million. He used 40 years in the Desert with Moses to prepare him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He used 40 days in the wilderness with Jesus to prepare him for the 3.5 years of ministry that would change the world forever.
God used these 40 days in the wilderness to help Jesus learn obedience.
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Hebrews 5:7,8
We automatically go to Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane when we read this passage and, of course, the Hebrews passage includes that. But I believe it characterizes, not just his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, but his entire earthly ministry. Jesus was learning obedience to the Father, starting in the Wilderness when he was tempted by the Devil, continuing through his earthly ministry and culminating in the Garden of Gethsemane and the cross.
I want to teach you a theological term. It’s called “The Hypostatic Union.” It simply means, “the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ.”
As I stated before, Jesus was fully God and fully human. This means that he had a divine nature and a human one. Don’t misunderstand me, he did not have a sinful nature, but he had a human one. Like Adam before the Fall, he was fully human.
How did his divine nature and human nature interact? This is somewhat of a mystery but, as a human with a human nature, he needed to learn obedience. His divine nature was supernaturally subservient to the Father but his human nature was tested and strengthened here. He learned obedience. Like the forging of steel, it was strong to begin with and was strengthened even more under the white hot heat of trial.
Are you allowing God to use this time to help you learn obedience like Jesus? This pandemic is a test to our human natures. And, unlike Jesus, we do have a sinful nature, so it’s easy for us to give in to sin. Instead, we must allow God to use this time to strengthen us and teach us to learn obedience.
Jesus learned obedience and then….
God unleashed Jesus to preach the Gospel with passion and compassion.
“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Luke 4:14,15
Immediately after Jesus left the wilderness, he traveled and preached the Gospel. From here he started a movement that would change the world.
I believe God prepared Jesus for something big during his quarantine. In the same way, God is preparing us for something big.
And, unlike Jesus, I don’t think we have to wait until this quarantine is over. For us it’s not a full quarantine. I’ve seen more neighbors in the last 30 days out walking their dogs or out with their families, than I’ve seen in the last 30 months! And people are having conversations from six feet away. Guess what? You can share the Gospel from six feet away!
You can also share the Gospel online. While so many are freaking out on Facebook and Instagram we can be the voice of calm. We can point people to Jesus.
By the way, Dare 2 Share has developed an amazing app that is now “pandemic proof.” It’s called Life in 6 Words. You can share the Gospel face to face or, in keeping with social distancing, you can record your audio story and send it to a friend, neighbor, classmate or co-worker, during this pandemic. It’s a really cool way to share the 6 Words of the Gospel.
What are those words? God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.
Put all of these words vertically and they spell out GOSPEL and have a deeper meaning.
God created us to be with him.
Our sins separate us from God.
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life.
Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.
By the way, if you’ve never put your faith in Jesus alone to forgive you for your sins you can do that right now. Simply believe he died for all your sins and rose from the dead. Then trust in him alone to forgive you for all your sins and give you eternal life.
(give an opportunity for them to respond in faith to Jesus)
If you’ve already put your faith in Jesus then I challenge you to go to your App store right now and download the Life in 6 Words app. It’s free and available on the App Store as well as Google Play. If you’re over the age of 60 just hand your phone to the youngest person around you and they will download it for you ?
Now here comes the challenge. Will you send an audio story from the app to one person who doesn’t know Jesus? Will you do it in the next 48 hours? Why 48 hours? Because studies show if you don’t do what you learn right away then the chances are you’ll never do it?
If you had the cure to the Coronavirus, you’d share it with everyone. Well, you have the cure to something infinitely worse than the Coronavirus and your friends that have it are headed something infinitely worse than death. Will you share the cure? Will you share the Gospel?
Conclusion.
In the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine there’s a powerful scene where the evil black ops leader is about to infuse The Wolverine, also known as Logan, with Adamantium, an indestructible metal discovered in a meteor that hit the earth. This guy has a conversation with Logan before the infusion. He reminds him that he will be indestructible after the procedure but he warns him, “You’ll suffer more pain than any other human can endure.” He says, “We’re gonna make you indestructible, but first, we’re gonna have to destroy you.”
Logan is put in a tank that is filled with water. That’s when multiple syringes full of this special metal, Adamantium, are pointed at all parts of his body. The needles on these syringes look more like drill bits.
With a push of a button the syringes drill do their work. They drill into all of his bones from his head to his feet and infuse the special metal. At first you think he’s dead but his heart begins to beat again. He’s now fully indestructible.
But even under the water he could hear the evil scientists plan to now kill him and harvest his DNA for another project. That’s when the tables turn. The blades on in his hands come out and he begins to thrash. Suddenly he jumps up from the water and screams with all of his might. All of his body is flexed in power and he escapes their grasp to save the world!
What a great picture of the pain that Jesus suffered in the wilderness. But God used this time to infuse a divine metal stronger than Adamantium into his spine and bones. In the same way as the evil scientist sought to kill The Wolverine, the Devil sought to destroy Jesus in the desert, but it backfired.
Jesus, in a sense, jumped up from Satan’s temptations with a roar of obedience and then escaped the desert to save the world!
In the same way, God wants to infuse our spines with a heavenly metal. He is using this trial to infuse us with it. The consequences of this pandemic feel like drill bits drilling into our bones and causing us pain that could lead to depression, discouragement or anger. But if we allow it to, this pain can forge in us a divine metal that will make us stronger, ready for the mission before us to save the world!
May we be like The Wolverine. May we stand and roar our victory! May we be like Jesus, fighting off the enemy and escaping to save the world!
Let us pray!
