The Work of Christ

1TIM. 1:15  “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. “

‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.’ John 4:34 ‘…Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’ Mk.10:45; ‘For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.’ Matt. 20:28; For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ Lk. 19:10. Ever it was Christ’s work and purpose to redeem mankind. He was the Lamb ‘slain from the foundation of the world.’ For our study purposes we will break down His work into three categories, His Personal Ministry, His Teaching Ministry, and His Redemptive Ministry. None of these can be taken and dealt with totally by itself so as we study this look at it as a 3-D approach to seeing His Work. There is much here to take in and so therefore we will systematically dissect the parts of the whole for better understanding.

I. HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY
  A. To Completely Fulfill the Law Matt. 23:23 -28
      1. Matt.3: 15 “Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness…” Tempted in all points like as we yet…
      2. Matt.5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Every miracle wrought, parable uttered, and act performed was to prove his Messiahship foretold by the prophets.
  B. To Redeem From the Curse of the Law
      1. Won Souls – constantly he took advantage of opportunities to win folk on a personal basis, Nicodemus, Woman at the Well, the rich young ruler, the lawyer , Zacchaeus, woman taken in adultery , man born blind, etc.
      2. Won Souls in His death. Gal. 3:10,11,13,24

II. HIS TEACHING MINISTRY
  A. Miracles = a parable in action. Since He Himself was sinlessly human and eternally Divine He was the supreme Miracle. His entrance into the world was miraculous and His life in the world was miraculous. No one who believes in who He is, will find it difficult to believe in what He did. There were some 36 miracles recorded for us in the gospels = 3 realms.
     1. Human – they were performed to demonstrate and teach Christ’s sovereignty over all realms.
     2. Cosmic - ‘And many of the people believed on him and said, when Christ cometh, will he do more miracles then these which
     3. Spiritual - this man hath done.” John 7:31
  B. Parables = an earthly story with and heavenly meaning. Mk.4:2 ‘And he taught them many things by parables,…” There are about 70 parables. 50 = parables proper, and 20 are parabolic illustrations, and these treat a great variety of subjects
  C. Discourses – There are about 45 of these which can be categorized as Sermons – Exhortations.
     1. They deal with such subjects as: Blessedness, confession, discipleship, faith, faithfulness, forgiveness, the future, gaining and losing life, the H.S., humility, hypocrisy, the kingdom of God, love, mercy, offenses, prayer, regeneration, repentance, rewards, riches, righteousness, self-denial, service, sin, stewardship, true greatness, unbelief and watchfulness.
     2. They show – that the soul is more important than the stomach, eternity over time, spiritual over the material, purity over pleasures, truth over expediency, morality over money.
     3. Two deserve special attention because of their contrasted standpoints.
        a. Sermon on the Mount – Beginning Matt 5-7 the law, confirmation of the past.
        b. Upper Room Discourse – End John 13-17 the Gospel, Targets the future.

III. HIS REDEMPTIVE MINISTRY
  A. Death “5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”Isa 53. “God commended his love toward us … Christ died for us.” Rom.5:8
  B. *Resurrection – Faith in the resurrection of Christ is essential to salvation. Rom. 10:9,10. It is the Fundamental Doctrine of Christianity. If Christ has not risen, we are of all men most miserable. Shows His death was accepted by the Father.
  C. Ascension – this was His home going back to heaven after the resurrection. The bodily ascension of Christ is a necessary historical belief basic to belief in His bodily return. *Acts. 1:1. Plus our own bodily resurrection, we will be like him.
  D. Exhalation.- He has now entered into His priestly ministry in heaven, he has led captivity captive, He alone is worthy to open the seals, to receive all honor, and deserves the title deed to Earth.

Vs. 34 “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.”
Vs. 35 “Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest? I say unto you , lift-up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.”

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