The Work of Jesus: What We Could Never Do
Who is Jesus?
HUMANITIES GREATEST PROBLEM
Have you ever looked at the world around you and thought, "Something is wrong"?
Maybe it was while watching the news. Maybe it was seeing someone you love suffer. Maybe it was experiencing
the pain of a broken relationship. Maybe it was simply looking at the world and realizing that things are not
the way they were supposed to be. We all have this sense that something is wrong. We see suffering, injustice,
broken relationships, loneliness, hatred, sickness, and death. We see people hurting one another, and deep down,
we know this is not how life was meant to be.
But there is another question that is much harder to answer.
Have you ever looked at yourself and thought, "Something is wrong with me"?
Because the problem isn't only out there. The problem is also within us. We know the moments when we have
acted selfishly. We know the times we have hurt others. We know the thoughts, attitudes, and desires that
we would rather others never see. The Bible tells us this is not simply a problem with our behavior.
It is a problem with the human condition.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
To understand what went wrong, we first have to understand what God intended. In Genesis, we are told that
humanity was created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God he created him; male and female he created them." Humanity was created with a purpose. We were
created to know God, to walk with God, to reflect His character, and to represent His goodness in the world.
We were created for relationship with our Creator.
But humanity chose another path. Rather than trusting God and living under His good rule, we chose
independence. We wanted to define life on our own terms. The result was not freedom. The result was brokenness.
Sin entered the world, and with sin came death. Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through
one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men..." Ever since then, humanity has been trying
to fix what we broke. We have searched for solutions through knowledge, morality, politics, technology, wealth,
and self-improvement. Many of these things can accomplish good things, but none of them can solve humanity's deepest problem. The problem is not simply that we need better information. The problem is not simply that
we need better rules.
The problem is that we need to be restored. We need something we cannot accomplish on our own.
And this is where the good news of Jesus begins.
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JESUS DID WHAT WE COULD NEVER DO
Jesus did not come simply to give us another set of teachings. He did not come simply to make bad people better.
He came to do what we could never do.
Jesus came to restore what humanity had lost.
Throughout the story of Scripture, humanity failed to live as God intended. Adam failed. Israel failed. And if we are honest, we fail.
But when Jesus came, He succeeded where we failed.
Hebrews 4:15 "…one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Jesus, the eternal Son of God who became truly human, lived the life humanity was meant to live. He perfectly loved God. He perfectly loved others. He perfectly obeyed the Father.
He was not merely a teacher pointing us to the right path.
He is fully God and fully human. He lived the life we could not live and walked the path we could not walk.
That is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:17:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Jesus came to fulfill God's purposes for humanity.​
THE CROSS: GOD'S RESCUE PLAN
And then He did something even more remarkable.
He gave His life for us. Jesus said: Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The cross was not an accident. It was not a tragedy that interrupted Jesus' mission.The cross was the mission.
Jesus willingly took upon Himself the consequences of our sin. He stood in our place. He carried what we could not carry.
2 Corinthians 5:21 "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him might become the righteousness of God."
This is the heart of the gospel. Jesus did not wait for us to become worthy of His love. He did not wait until we had cleaned ourselves up. He moved toward us first.
Romans 5:8 "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Before we wanted God, God wanted us. Before we sought Him, He came looking for us. Before we could do anything to earn His love, Jesus had already acted on our behalf.
The gospel is not the story of humanity climbing its way up to God. It is the story of God coming down to rescue humanity.
THE RESURRECTION AND NEW LIFE
But Jesus did not only come to forgive our sins. He came to defeat sin and death. The resurrection is the beginning of God's new creation. 1 Corinthians 15:20 "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." Jesus' resurrection is the promise that death does not have the final word.
God is restoring what sin has destroyed.
This is why the Bible describes salvation as becoming something new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
Jesus is not simply offering forgiveness for the past. He is bringing us into a new way of living. He restores our relationship with God. He changes our hearts. He forms us into His likeness. He creates a new people who reflect His character in the world.
And one day, He will finish what He started. Revelation 21:5 "And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"
THE INVITATION
That is the hope of the gospel. Jesus came to make all things new.
Not simply to improve our lives. Not simply to help us become better people.
But to restore humanity to what God created us to be.
He has done what we could never do.
He lived the perfect life we could not live. He died the death we deserved. He rose again to give us life.
And now He invites us to trust Him.
Not because we have earned our way back to God. But because He has already made the way.
The work of Jesus is the story of God's love reaching into our brokenness, accomplishing what we could
never accomplish,and beginning the restoration of all things through Him.
And the invitation of the gospel is to come to Him, trust Him, and become part of the new creation He is making.