Teaching, Preaching, & Healing

Point #1 → A Core Sample

In our Verses this morning, we have Jesus’ “rise to fame” as it were. Like we talked about a few Sundays ago, He spent a year in relative obscurity until the smaller villages gradually caught on to what was happening, and now the words of their mouths have traveled beyond their local towns. His fame has spread, and as God always promised, it has gone far beyond the biological children of Abraham.

When Matthew first penned these golden words into history, he was witnessing a “core sample” of Jesus’ ministry, that He was living out. In our Verses, Jesus is living out a summary of what His entire ministry would eventually look like. Matthew writes that Jesus went about Galilee, started in the Synagogues, and taught, preached, and healed all kinds of sickness and disease; and His words and actions then spread to the Gentiles. The ministry of the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:14), ordained for Him since before time began (Is. 46:10), if I could be so bold…can be boiled down to these truths. Jesus taught, preached, and healed.

Everything Christ said and did can be placed into one of these categories, and going further still, these categories themselves can all be boiled down to a single truth…that we will discuss in the final point of our Sermon.

But as it stands, what we have in front of us this morning is a summary of what to expect from the Ministry of Jesus Christ. Not only in what He did (teaching, preaching, healing), but in how He did it as well. And how He did it was by starting with the biological children of Abraham before going to all the Nations. 

Point #2 - The How

In our Verses today, it says that He went into the Synagogues. These were the local houses of worship for all of the towns and villages throughout Israel, each one pointing to the main Temple whose veil was torn by His death (Mt. 27:51). In every Gospel account we read this pattern of Christ starting with the biological children of Abraham by going to them in their places of worship (Luk. 4:15; 6:16; 13:10; Jn. 6:59; 18:10). And as the NT continues, Paul does the same thing and goes to the Synagogues first (Acts 17:2).

In fact, Paul tells us exactly why, in Romans 1:16 → “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

To the Jew first, then to the Greek. To the biological children of Abraham first, then to everyone else. To the ethnic Israelite first, then to every ethnicity. Furthermore, this truth is seen all throughout Scripture, not simply in the NT.

The Prophet Isaiah, in giving audible voice to the prophetic words placed in his mouth by God, wrote this about Jesus in Isaiah 11:10 → “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”

It was always God’s plan to start with the Jews, and then bring salvation to every people group. In fact, so unchanging was this plan, that Christ goes so far as to tell His Disciples to not even go to the Gentiles. Matthew 10:5-8 → “These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. [6] But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [7] And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ [8] Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

In John 4:21-24, He says this to the Samaritan woman at the well → “Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. [24] God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

And when a Gentile woman came to Jesus on behalf of her demon possessed daughter, He said this in Matthew 15:24 → “...I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then…when the love of that woman for her daughter persisted against the perceived ethnic animosity that she believed Christ was showing to her (He called her a dog!), He healed her daughter and proved that God’s plan to bring salvation to the Gentiles never changed.

In fact, bringing the good news of who He is and what He has done to every people group, was His final command to those within whom He now lives. The resting orders of God, unable to be changed, altered, or ignored, were spoken into existence by Christ Himself at His ascension to the right hand of His Father. 

Matthew 28:19-20 → “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

It was always God’s plan to go to the biological children of Abraham first…and then to the rest of humanity. Without getting too far off track from our Verses this morning, the “when”  in regards to the call going out to everyone, is seen in Acts 28:25-28 → “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, [26] saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; [27] For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” ’ [28] “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

Paul is, in effect, saying: “God said that you wouldn't listen, and now you're doing it. So…were going to the Gentiles.” In God’s perfect providence, decided upon according to His own will, the Jews rejected Jesus and thereby fulfilled His unchanging plan to bring salvation to everyone.

This teaching has a very strong “pull”, tempting us to divert away from the other truths within our Verses this morning, and if you have more questions about this I would encourage you to reread our Sermon “Israel and The End of The World” from our Eschatology series. But moving forward in our text for today, we can see that Christ starting in the Synagogues would soon give way to great multitudes that came to him from Syria, Decapolis (Roman region of “10 cities”) and places beyond the Jordan; and onward it continued in our own modern day until it concludes with members from every tribe, tongue, and nation being accounted for in the great multitude at the end of time (Rev. 9:4). 

Point #3 - The What

Moving beyond the “how” He was going to be ministering throughout His time here on Earth, Matthew also gives us the “what” . Jesus taught, proclaimed, and healed.

• Our Verses tell us that He “went about…teaching in their synagogues”, and then we see him doing this in Mt. 9:35, 5:1 & 2; Mk. 1:21, 6:2; Lk. 4:15, 6:6, & 13:10 and Jn. 6:59, 18:20.

• Our Verses also say that was “preaching the gospel of the kingdom,” and then we see Him proclaiming the glorious truth of who He was and what He was sent to our World to accomplish in Mt. 9:13; Lk. 19:10; Jn. 3:17; Jn. 6:38 & 39; Jn. 18:37; (and many more places).

• And finally, our Verses say that He was “healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases.” Then we see Him doing this very thing throughout His entire ministry. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law in Mark 1:21; a Leper in Mt. 8:1-4; a man with a withered hand in Mt. 12:9-14; two blind men in Mt 9:27-31; the woman with issue of blood in Mt 9:20-22; and even exerts His power over death itself when He raises back to life a Widow’s son in Lk 7:11-17, Jairus’ daughter in Mt. 9:18-26, and Lazarus in Jn. 11:1-44.

Were going to explore these three (Teaching, Preaching, Healing) more broadly moving forward, but to finish out this point, what we need to understand is that the culmination of everything about Jesus; the things He did or didn't say, the actions He did or didn't take, and even the when and how He did or didn't do them; everything about the life of Christ…is a Sermon in and of itself. “Zoom out” in your thinking, look at the totality of everything about Christ from a bird’s eye view, and you will see a glowing structure of divine origin. You will see the outline of the greatest story ever told, penned with perfect ink, onto the pages of creation by a perfect Author.

Stay with me here. In Genesis 18:17 God says that He isn't going to hide from Abraham what He is going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. In Jeremiah 23:22 He says that His people should have listened to what He had to say. And in Daniel 9:22, Daniel says that God informed him and talked with him.

Each of these individual verses all speak to the truth that we see in Amos 3:7-8→ “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. [8]A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”

In our Verses this morning, we see that Jesus Christ is a living example of God always telling us what He is going to do. Meaning, that if we had never read Matthew before, and were going to make a guess as to what Jesus was going to do next…He tells us by the “how” and the “what” He did in Matthew 4:23-25.

What will we read in the next Chapter of Matthew? We will read teaching after teaching from the mouth of God Himself. What will we see Christ doing in the next Book that our tired eyes fall upon? We will see Him preaching the Kingdom of Heaven breaking into our World. When our weary hands flip the thin but weighty pages of our worn Bibles, what will we read? We will read about the blind being given sight, the deaf hearing, the sick made whole, the lame walking, the mute speaking, and the dead being raised. 

This “core sample” that we have in front of us, is pointing out the truth that Jesus Christ Himself is a living Sermon. The totality of His life; the culmination of everything about Him; every thought, word, action, inaction, behavior and belief, is nothing shy of a perfect Sermon. 

Jesus Christ is a living Sermon

that points humanity to His Father.

Point #4 - Teaching, Preaching, and Healing.

Now that we “zoomed out” to look at the Verses from a distance, and saw that Jesus Christ is a living, breathing, walking Sermon; we're going to “zoom in” and look at what it is about His life that allows us to make such a claim.

Teaching:

In James 3:1 we read a warning from God about teaching. It says this → “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” In its essence, “teaching” is communicating the unchanging essence of reality. We were taught that 1 + 1 = 2, because God fine tuned all of reality to such a degree that mathematical truths are evident in all of life. Students learn that photosynthesis converts specific wavelengths of light into chemical energy for flowers to consume…because it is an unchanging aspect of the essence of reality. On and on these lessons are communicated to the willing mind, each one pointing to an authority that transcends the student and the teacher.

So, when someone, intentionally or otherwise, teaches something false as something true…God is going to judge them more strictly. When someone furthers lies under the guise of truth, leading people into believing those lies, because they themselves refuse to admit that there is an authority above the facts of the universe…God stokes the fires of Hell to burn all the more brightly.

When Jesus Christ taught people, He was appealing to a transcendent authority over all of reality…which was Himself. At the very end of the Sermon on the Mount (which we are going to be starting next week), it says this: Matthew 7:24-29 → “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: [25] and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: [27] and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” [28] And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, [29] for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

The teachings of Jesus Christ were not resting on any authority but Himself. Even the Scribes, with their scholastic memorization of the perfect word of God, had no moral authority in and of themselves. They had to appeal to the written authority beyond them…and Jesus Christ is that written word made flesh (Jn. 1:1). His teachings are not mere lessons to be considered, they are concrete and absolute truths binding to every human that has ever lived. There are no students outside of His classroom, no useless information between the bells, and no superfluous tests or assignments. His call to “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17) is not a suggestion from a substitute, it is a command from a transcendent teacher. Jesus Christ is the first and final say of everything that is ever taught.

God Himself has taught humanity the unchanging and essential aspects of reality in the classroom of creation, and they are lessons we need to both put into practice and teach to others. We need to turn our backs on adultery, greed, lust, & laziness, because the ultimate authority of the Universe says so (Gal. 5:19-21). No one has permission to worship any other God but Jesus Christ (Ex. 20:3)…because the Teacher says so. 

And anyone who teaches anything but the unchanging truths of reality; no matter if they are a well respected speaker with millions of followers, or a destitute and homeless man muttering incoherently to passersby; will, as James said earlier, be judged more strictly.

Tread carefully with this verse from James, children of God, for though you may not have an established role or career as a Teacher, all of us present lesson plans and curriculums to our families, friends, and coworkers. All of us display things with our words and behaviors, so let your entire life teach people about Jesus Christ and what He alone has done in our World…by standing on nothing other than the first and final voice of reality.

Preaching:

The word that Matthew uses here for “preaching”, is the same word we talked about when we first met John the Baptizer in Ch. 3, “Kerysso”. Now, there are aspects of “teaching” rolled up inside of “preaching”; you have heard sermons from this very Pulpit teaching you truths about reality; but preaching is far more than communicating information.

It is not an inspirational message or motivational speech. It is not nice words to hear on a Sunday from a well dressed and polite speaker. It is not even Biblical information about the best way to live a Godly life, how you should vote in whatever election is around the corner, or how you can manage all of the broken relationships or highs and lows of your life.

Preaching is a proclamation of authority.

It is to act as a herald for the king who rules and reigns over the people whose ears your words are filling. It is to speak with earth shaking and thunderous gravity about the eternal King of the cosmos whose rule and reign has started, and will never end. It is to unflinchingly proclaim before princes and paupers the authority of Jesus Christ over every atom, person, establishment, corporation, nation, and family in the entire Universe. To preach is to act as a vocal ambassador to the subjects of the King whom they owe their undying allegiance to. 

And this is what Christ was doing in our Verses this morning. When Christ “went about all Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom”…He was not giving His listeners good advice about how to interact with someone they disagree with. He was not giving them tweetable little nuggets of wisdom about how to have a blessed life, or the best way to evangelize…that's all “teaching”. He was preaching that the kingdom of Heaven, His rule and His reign over every square inch of property, people, and politics, had begun. He was preaching that the kingdom of God, not a geographic location on a map as if it had borders, but the kingly right to rule over everything that is His was unfolding before their eyes and ears. 

And anything but the truth that God is currently ruling and reigning, and we owe Him our allegiance, is not preaching.

How many pastors have you heard, brothers and sisters, who refuse to press the crown rights of the King into the lives of their listeners? How many preachers in name only refuse to bow before the weight of the words of Scripture, and beat around the burning bush because they fear the flames. Such men are not preaching, and their pulpits ought be torn from before their well-intentioned smiles. Our culture needs preaching. Our culture needs the proclamation of the authority of Jesus Christ from men unafraid of the world, themselves, and the devil; who fear the God whom they herald more than the fiery darts of their enemies.

And, our town needs such men as well. I can stand before you this morning and say to each one of you, that Clyde-Savannah needs the preaching of The Gospel of the Kingdom more than Mosul, Iraq; Washington D.C.; or Beijing. This might be hard to hear because, yes…of course these places need Jesus Christ. However I will stand on my claim because it doesn't cost a Christian anything to sit back and say “that town or city on the other side of the World needs the Gospel.”

Who cares if North Korea needs the Gospel when the people in your own backyard are dying and going to Hell? Who cares if Washington D.C. needs Jesus when your own relative or neighbor is even now sprinting towards the cliffs of eternity with nothing but the remnants of a Christian Nation convincing them they are going to heaven?

To preach is to tell the people in your life that Jesus Christ has taken the throne of the World, and is actively asserting Himself into the affairs of our daily life.

How many times have you, children of Clyde-Savannah, been told by others: “Stop preaching at me!” when you have told them that Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe and they owe Him their allegiance?

You see, on its surface, our enemies (the world, ourselves, & the devil) can tolerate “teaching”. Yes…that doesn't seem to be the case in our culture lately, but stay with me here. They can tolerate lessons and teaching  because it gives them the opportunity to dismiss it as an opinion. But preaching? Preaching can not be ignored or dismissed. When someone hears that Jesus Christ is the authority over their life, and they owe Him their allegiance, it places a moral obligation on the listener that they themselves are unable to wiggle free from. It places the weight of a decision that no one can bear firmly on the hearts and minds of all who hear it. “Preaching” is warning people that the King they have spent their lives hating (Col. 1:21)…hates them (Ps. 7:11), and that the only escape from this divine hatred is to have the sins which have earned it given to Christ. “To preach” is to press the crown rights of Jesus Christ into the very center of enemy territory, regardless of who that enemy is (the world, ourselves, or the devil). And because we can not bear the weight of such a thing, preaching is met with vitriol or violence.

The martyrs in Church history weren't crucified or fed to lions because they taught moral life lessons. They were killed because they preached the truth that God is ruling and reigning over all humanity, and all humanity owes Him their fealty.

_____

One final thing before moving forward, part of the problem that I see rising in America lately is that Christians have supplanted the preaching of the Word by thinking that laws can take its place. Don't get me wrong…yes we should have laws that honor God.

Yes…abortion should be criminalized and the murderous mothers should meet the justice that God requires. Yes, homosexual mirage should be illegal, and the sodomites should be stripped of every social and economic benefit that comes with a real Marriage. Yes, we should have laws and the processes by which they become laws, be ones that God approves of (if you remember, this is our definition of what makes a nation a Christian Nation). However…if we as a culture continue to assume that God-loving laws can create God-loving hearts, we will be left with nothing but the ashes of the West, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Romans 10:14-17 → “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? [15] And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” [16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” [17] So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Dead hearts are brought to life by Christ alone, and the means that He uses to do so

is the people of God preaching the Word of God.

Healing:

Matthew then gives us one last aspect that he sees in the “core sample” that Jesus is living out in our Verses together; Healing. 

It says that Christ was .23 → “...healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases...” and the Gentiles (people from Syria) .v24 → “...brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptic, and paralytics; and He healed them.”

As we learned earlier, this was a hallmark of the ministry of Christ to such an extent, that people from all over that place in the World came to see Him. They braved the exposure of their sin, the ethnic animosity that existed, and followed Him everywhere to the point that the crowds were so dense, it says in Mark 3:9, that He would have been crushed by the number of people.

However, because of the hatred of His authority over Creation, this aspect of His ministry has been highlighted above the rest. People wanted themselves or their loved ones to be healed, which isn't necessarily wrong of them, but becomes sinful when they did nothing more than treat Jesus like a prostitute.

Luke 17:11-19 → “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. [12] Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. [13] And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” [14] So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. [15] And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, [16] and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. [17] So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? [18] Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” [19] And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

“What can you do for me Jesus?”

“Make me feel good Jesus.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I heard what you had to say, now get to work and make me feel better.”

With no regards to who He was as a person, or the reasons behind the life He was living, the people exploited Him for the purpose of their physical body being made to feel good. 

Yes, there were healings that He performed where the person that was healed submitted to His authority and “glorified God”. We just read of the one leper among ten and, to only name a few, there's:

The crippled woman in Luke 13:10-13 →“Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. [11] And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. [12] But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” [13] And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”

And blind Bartimaeus in Luke 18:40-43 → “So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, [41] saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” [42] Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” [43] And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”

But what we need to understand about these healings, is that Christ performed them for a specific purpose, not simply to be nice or earn brownie points with His Father. We can see that purpose in Matthew 9:1-7, which moves us forward this morning → “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. [2 ]Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” [3] And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” [4] But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? [5] For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? [6] But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” [7] And he arose and departed to his house.”

Jesus healed people’s bodies, 

to prove that He could heal their souls.

And any who go to him for a healing of their body while rejecting the healing of their soul, we see Him confront in Matthew 12:38-40 → “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” [39] But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. [40] For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Many want the benefits of Christ without His authority. They want all the blessings and flourishings of a life in union with the Creator of life, all the while sliding their money across the bedstand as they turn their backs on Him.

Do you want a sign from God? Then remember that God always tells His people what He is going to do, then He does it. Do you want a sign from God? Then reread the story of Jonah laying dead for three days in the belly of the great fish then being resurrected…and see it as God pointing forward to how His Son Jesus Christ, would soon lay dead for three days in the belly of the Earth then rise victorious from that Earthen grave.

And this has always been the purpose behind the healings that not only Christ performed, but His Disciples as well. After healing a man born lame from birth in Acts 3 the Disciples are brought before the Sanhedrin to explain themselves.

Acts 4: 10-14 → “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. [11] This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ [12] Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [13] Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. [14] And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.”

Jesus healed people’s bodies, 

to prove that He could heal their souls.

Now, to not go too far off track; what are we, today, supposed to think or feel or believe about healings that do or don’t come to us from God? Has my sin caused this physical infirmity in my body? Does God love me more than others if I am healed? On and on these questions will froth within our hearts, but all of them are born from the enemy of ourselves, designed to divert us away from the truth that God is sovereign over every sickness. But…to slightly nibble upon the bait that our thoughts have brought before us, I’d like to read two different verses.

First: After healing a man who couldn't walk, Jesus said this to him in John 5:14 → “ [14] Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Can we experience physical maladies because of spiritual crimes? Yes.

And second, which will bring us to what everything about Christ “boils down to”, is seen in John 9:1-4 → “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. [2] And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. [4] I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”

Point #5 - What it all boils down to

We started our Sermon together with the claim that Christ was giving us a “core sample” of His entire ministry in Matthew 4:23-25, and said that it could be summarized with “Teaching, Preaching, & Healing”. But if you can remember, I said that even these three aspects can be further summarized into one essential truth about the ministry of Jesus Christ. And we just read it. He said: “I must work the works of Him who sent me.”

Everything Christ did, the culmination of His entire life,

was to glorify His Father.

John 6:37-40 → “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. [39] This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. [40] And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

In eternity past, the Father gave a people to the Son. In time, the Father sent the Son to save His people. In eternity onward, the Son will present His people to His father as a pure and spotless Bride. In perfect obedience, Jesus Christ loved His Father with all of His heart, Soul, and Strength (Mt. 4:1-11), and when He set about His ministry, He proved it over and over again.

His teachings were aimed with perfect precision at the heart of humanity. Never once giving a false lesson, never letting a single student slip through cracks, and providing numerous and varied illustrations and lessons to better convey the unchanging essential nature of reality that flowed from His beautiful mouth.

His preaching was food for the soul, nourishing it with the freedom that comes from joyfully living under a righteous and powerful King who never changes. Never once did He abdicate his throne, forcing His people to live in constant fear of death.

His healings brought strength to bodies and bones, continually pointing people to the truth that though their bodies will die, they never will. Never once did He let His healings lead people on, or assert that they were an end in and of themselves.

See the culmination of the life of Jesus Christ you sons and daughters. See previews of Him throughout the time you spend reading the Old Testament, knowing that God has woven golden threads into the tapestry of humanity that started with, and met their end in, the person and work of His Son (Rev. 22:13). 

Read His teachings and free your heart & mind, knowing that His lessons are good lessons (Prov. 4:172), able to be trusted, relied upon, and then put them into practice.

Listen to His preaching, kiss the ring of His benevolent hands (Ps. 2:12), knowing that His Kingly authority will continue forever in your life, regardless of what He may allow to come your way.

Feel the healing that He brings to whomever He wills (Eph. 1:11), never accusing Him of wrong should He not heal you, knowing that whatever may happen to you is for the specific and intentional eternal purpose of making you more and more like Himself (Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 3:18).

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

September 7th 2025