Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO

Morning church!

Does anyone remember last week’s memory verse?

This week is the second half and addresses what we will be talking about today.

Last week we explored in Scripture about the preincarnation and incarnation of Christ, the Deity and humanity of Christ and today it’s all about the specific works of Christ!

This past week we were driving through Redding and I saw a construction company trailer and on the side it read “Framing the future and restoring the past.”

I thought that was a really cool slogan, and as I thought a little bit more, it painted quite a vivid reminder of the work of Christ to me.

The completed work of Christ in His death and resurrection truly framed our future eternal state of glory and restored our past fallen state of sin and darkness.

As we discussed last week, Christ in His incarnation held the fullness of Deity and humanity.

As we talk about the work of Christ today it’s important to keep in the back of our minds that His complete work was accomplished through 3 distinct facets.

Christ was and is a prophet, priest and king.

Let’s Pray

The first facet that Christ accomplished His work through was that of a prophet.

CHRIST AS PROPHET

Moses said in...

Moses didn’t know then, but was speaking on the Lord’s behalf about Christ.

Later in Acts 3, Luke writes...

READ ACTS 3:22-26

The reason why Luke affirms this about Christ is that it gives validity to the fact that Christ was the fulfillment of all prophets before Him.

After Christ, there are no other prophets.

It was known by ordinary people back then that Jesus was a prophet.

One example of this was when Jesus was riding in on the donkey during what is known as Palm Sunday.

In the 3 years of Jesus’ ministry there were 4 specific events or sermons that gave evidence to His status as prophet.

1) The first is known as the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7)

In the “Sermon on the Mount”, in front of many of His disciples, Jesus gave a call to repentance, apart from the law.

This call to repentance, in the sermon, didn’t require just a confession- but a complete lifestyle and heart change- that reflected the kingdom of God.

This was contrary to what the Pharisees and Scribes demanded in that day.

2) The second set of sermons is known to us as the parables or mysteries of the Kingdom (Matthew 13)

In these parables Jesus talks to His disciples about the characteristics of the kingdom in the time between His death and return.

These are events that have not yet happened during this time that give more evidence to His status as a prophet.

They were called “mysteries” because they were not known in the Old Testament times but now they were revealed to those who followed Him as He describes in Matthew 13:11.

These parables also give specifics as to Satan’s counterfeits in the kingdom on earth, Jesus tells them there will be rapid growth in the kingdom, that there will be evil in the kingdom, and a presence of wicked people.

This earthly kingdom, of course that Satan has limited rule over, is temporary until Christ’s return.

3) The third well known prophetic message that Jesus gives to His disciples is known as the “Message on the Mount of Olives”.

(Matthew 24-25)

This message is given toward the end of Jesus’ life and addresses the apocalyptic times before His second coming.

Jesus reiterates that the Jewish leaders at this time have fully and completely rejected the kingdom, but that there will be a time known to us as the “church age”.

In Matthew 24:4-29Jesus gives details about the Tribulation period.

In Matthew 24:30 through chapter 25 Jesus explains that no one will expect His second coming and He will return to take His throne.

4) Jesus’ last prophetic message is spoken, in one way or another, just about every week here at FCC during communion.

(John 13-16)

This final message is known as the “Upper Room Discourse”.

It’s His final message because it took place in the upper room, the night before His death.

In this conversation- Jesus declares the church age to come, He gave the new covenant...

He talked about a new hope...

He gave the promise of the Holy Spirit to minister to them, and in them, in many ways in His absence on earth...

Jesus explains that new relationships will take place, and that the basis will their common belief and devotion in Him.

Lastly, in this discourse, Jesus gives a new basis for prayer, in His name.

READ JOHN 16:23-28

Christ was a true prophet and to further the evidence we can clearly see this in the prophecies that were fulfilled in His last days.

In Matthew 26:21 Jesus predicts that one of His disciples would betray Him, later we read that it was Judas.

Jesus tells His disciples that His suffering will come from the Jewish leaders themselves in Matthew 16:21...

And of course we read in Matthew 20

about Jesus’ death and resurrection...

The final proof that His disciples and other’s knew that Jesus was a true prophet was after His resurrection.

They lived completely different.

In an online article titled “Resurrection Proof: The Disciples’ Sacrifice” I read this and thought it was fitting...

“The disciples believed so much in the resurrection that they gave their lives to sharing the news.

The first to die was James the brother of John, who was killed by the sword upon the order of King Herod (Acts 12:1–2).

Church tradition holds that John miraculously survived being put into a cauldron of boiling water, then later was exiled to the island of Patmos; Peter was crucified in Rome upside down; Matthew was slain by a sword in a distant city in Ethiopia; James the son of Alphaeus was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple, then beaten to death with a blacksmith’s tool; Philip was hanged against a pillar at Hierapolis in Phrygia; Bartholomew was skinned alive; Andrew was bound to a cross — and preached to his persecutors until he died; Thomas was run through with a lance in the East Indies; Jude was shot to death with arrows; Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded; Mark died in Alexandria in Egypt after being cruelly dragged through the city.

Let me ask you: Would you have died for a lie?

Would these disciples have endured such persecution for a dead man?

No.

They saw the risen Lord—then gave their very lives in service to Him.

They were no longer afraid of death because they’d found the true meaning of life.

They were transformed, for they were living in resurrection life.”

(https://www1.cbn.com/onlinediscipleship/resurrection-proof-the-disciples-sacrifice)

The first major work that Christ displayed was that of a true prophet.

But a prophet unlike any other.

It’s important for us to realize that a prophet spoke to men from God but a priest spoke to God for men.

The second work that Christ displayed was that of a Priest

CHRIST AS PRIEST

Most of us have heard of a priest today or know that there were priests that atoned for the people’s sins in the Old Testament.

But most may not know that in the Old Testament times there were two types of priests.

The Aaronic Priests which were solely just priests through the line of Moses’ brother Aaron (Leviticus 21)

And the Melchez-e-dekan priest.

The Melchizedek priesthood only applies to Christ and no one else.

Some would debate that this Melchizedek priest in Genesis 14 was an early revelation of Jesus Christ but others would say it was a “type of Christ”.

A type in the Old Testament was simply a person or thing that foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament.

When it’s said that someone is a type of Christ, it’s meant that a person in the Old testament behaves in a way that reflects Jesus’ character or actions in the New testament.

So when we read about Melchizedek we see Him as a type of Christ in the Old testament, regardless if it was physically Christ or not.

While the Aaronic priests were strictly priests, Melchizedek was both a priest and king.

This two position royalty was said about Christ in

Unlike Aaronic priests who counted on their ancestors to be a priest there were no recorded ancestors that qualified Melchizedek to be a priest or king.

There was also no recorded beginning or end of His reign.

Abraham acknowledged that this type of priest was superior to the Aaronic priests in Genesis 14:20.

Christ is like Melchizedek in the fact that He is a ruler, He receives great respect, He blesses us and sustains us.

To get a better picture of this let’s turn to Hebrews 7:11-28.

READ Hebrews 7:11-28

READ Hebrews 9:11-15

Why is all of this important?

Christ’s fulfilment of the Old Covenant and ushering of the New Covenant, to be the great and final high priest is essential to God’s plan and purpose for our lives.

We do not need a physical priest to go to to confess our sins, or teach us about God, we go straight to Him ourselves.

Christ is now sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, continuously interceding on our behalf.

He is the most high eternal priest that is interceding for us.

He is praying for us and for our salvation.

What is He saving us from by His interceding?

Christ is saving us from the wrath of God and He was the propitiation for our sins.

Atoning translates as propitiation.

Propitiation is the complete removal of God’s wrath by providing a substitute.