It Is Finished

John 19:28-30

Have you every heard any one communicate a weighty truth only using few words? One phrase or sentence that brings with it many truths and implications?

I’m not a very concise person. It takes a lot for me to say all that I want to say in just few words and that goes for not just sermons but even in conversations. Maybe you’re like that. You’re able to say only a few words and people can feel the weight of a thousand words.

The ancient greeks were known for their eloquence of speech and rhetoric. I’ve read before that one of the goals of Greek oratory is to communicate much with only a few words. It was to give a “sea of matter in a drop of language” as the saying goes.

In the very last moments of Jesus’ life recorded for us in John’s gospel as Jesus is bleeding profusely, gasping for air in agony, and calling out to His father with deep emotional pain, he cries out final words. Word’s that transcend time and history and anything else we do in this life. Words we need to turn our attention to, not just now but every day we live. We will of course look at them in context but we look at the simple words: “it is finished” we make that our focus not only because that’s the focus of this little section, but because in these few words Jesus communicates an ocean of truth. Perhaps we’ll only grasp a little bit of that tonight.

These word’s “It is finished” are at the core of the Christian life. This is what’s central and what fuels everything else.

Key Idea: The finished work of Jesus Christ is not only central to the biblical story, but it is continually the foundation of our lives.

Main points:

“It is Finished”- What does it mean?

The eternal plan of the Father was accomplished

All of the Old Testaments prophesies, types, and promises reach final fulfillment in this moment.

We see in our immediate context in vs. 28 that Jesus, as He is hanging on the cross knows something. He knows that all was now finished. And when he cried out “I thirst” John tells us that he does so to fulfill scripture.

Throughout the story of scripture we see prophecies and allusions to a coming messiah king who will suffer, be glorified as king and redeem all things— make all things new, and reconcile sinful people to a holy God.

The Old Testament drips with anticipation of this man who will bring redemption.

In our text Jesus fulfills the prophetic speech of Psalm 69:21. In this Psalm we see the David cry out to God in deep sorrow and lament and we see him in his thirst have sour wine to drink.

and on the cross here we see Jesus knowing that all was now accomplished but seeing another prophesy that has yet to be fulfilled, He cries out “I thirst” and thereby evoking the fulfillment of David’s words as the soldiers here give him sour wine or vinegar to drink.

We don’t have time to get into the countless prophecies that were given hundreds of years before Jesus even came, but there are numerous other examples of the law and the prophets predicting a future redemption by a messiah.

Then as the story of the bible unfolds, we see the institution of the sacrificial system so that through the blood of an animal, shed by the hands of a high priest, the sins of the people would be atoned for. There was sacrifice after sacrifice one dead animal after another and finally here we see that type fulfilled by the once for all sacrifice of Jesus. No more sacrifices need to be made— Atonement was made once and for all.

If I asked you this question: what is the core of the Christian life? What is the core of the Christian faith? Or put another way, what is the constant fuel and foundation that strengthens and keeps us moving forward as Christians?

It’s not what you do for God, but what God has already done for you. How we live right now absolutely matters.

The gospel of grace emphasizes God’s faithfulness to you rather than your faithfulness to Him because if anything depended up on us then we would be doomed.

That’s why I love when Theologian Micheal Horton said “the gospel is not (and the core of the christian life is not) ‘what would Jesus do, now do that.’ It’s ‘what has Jesus done now believe that.’”

Christ’s perfect obedience is finished.

Active obedience

Christ’s active obedience is the obedience of Jesus we see in the gospel accounts.

His resistance of temptation. His obedience to the moral law of God. His baptism. His unwavering love for His Father. His sacrificial love and care for others.

All of this was finished. He lived the perfect life we couldn’t. It is finished.

Passive obedience

But then His passive obedience was finished. This speaks of Christ’s sufferings. Jesus is the perfect spotless lamb of God sacrificed for us.

This is everything from the beating He took, the beating that was so bad that no one could recognize who He was, to the crown of thorns placed upon His head, the nails in His wrists and feet, the mocking from the crowd, and of course the absorbing of the full weight and fury of the wrath of God against sin. Through all of it He was obeying His father’s will. That’s why in the garden He prayed to His father in agony that if there was any other way for redemption to happen then let it be but “not my will but yours be done” Jesus said.

I emphasize all that is fulfilled because the verb here “finished” in the greek is Τετέλεσται as you may know. The tense that it’s in the in original language depicts and emphasizes culmination, and from our perspective, all that culminates in these final words can have lasting implications in the present.

“It is finished” was the climactic moment of Christ’s life, ministry, and work. He fullfilled all there was to fulfill and completed every task given to Him by His Father.

Every bit of Sin-debt is paid for completely on behalf of God’s people

Τετέλεσται can also have the meaning of payment. It’s been said before that back in this time when a debt was paid off by someone, they would receive a receipt with the word Τετέλεσται stamped on it which meant “paid in full.”

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

Colossians 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross

That record of debt that we spent our whole lives building up was nailed to the cross and as He said “it is finished” He not only purchased our redemption from sin but by virtue of His resurrection He secured for us the Spirit’s work which applies this redemption to all who believe.

So it’s as if we had a rap sheet with all of our wrongs and Christ didn’t just give us a clean slate. He threw the old slate away and now we’ve been given a new record and on it all is says is “the righteousness of Jesus."

Sin, Satan, and Death are defeated once and for all.

Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

It’s almost as if “it is finished” was a cry of victory. It was never a cry of defeat. And what proves that is the resurrection. I love how Pastor Jeremy Treat put it...

“The cross of Christ was not a defeat that needed to be made right by the resurrection, it’s a victory that was revealed by the resurrection.”

The resurrection is proof that the cross was a victory and as we see in 1 Corinthians 15 and elsewhere, at the cross Satan was defeated. It ensured his ultimate downfall.

“It is Finished”- It is true even when...

…I can’t seem to get my act together

There are those seasons where it seems like the sin struggle just won’t let up. Or that you feel like you’re not saved because you’ve fallen into the same sin time and again. Or you just live in condemnation because you’re not growing the way you think you should. You live with the title “failure” across your forehead.

How we need to constantly Believe the words “it is finished.”

To be sure, God does not by any means clear the guilty. You feel the weight of the law of God that is against every sin. And if God judged us based on our performance in keeping His law we would all be condemned.

But the good news even for you now is that Christ fulfilled the law perfectly in your place and now His own righteousness is imputed or credited to your account.

I love how the Heidleburg Catechism puts it:

How are you right before God?

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.

If you are living with constant condemnation and feeling like God looks at you as disgusting or is constantly angry with you, then you are ignoring Christ’s final words from that cross. You are not believing those words any longer.

In those seasons not only do you have the hope of a clear conscience and knowing that you are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and God no longer sees your sin, but you also have the hope of the Spirit to accomplish in you true holiness and righteousness even now— Its all of His grace!

The finished work of Christ FOR us ensures that He will finish His work IN us.

Now from a place of safety and rest we labor to put our sin to death knowing it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. We pursue worship of God in every aspect of life now because of His finished work on our behalf and the Spirit’s work within us.

So in the battle against sin, keep the cross in your view. Keep clinging to the cross and those final words of Christ from the cross.

Spurgeon “Look to the cross, and hate your sin, for sin nailed your Well Beloved to the tree. Look up to the cross, and you will kill sin, for the strength of Jesus’ love will make you strong to put down your tendencies to sin.”

All of the Christian life and gospel obedience grows in the soil of the finished work Jesus.

…I rely upon my strength to perform well and some how prove myself to God

Some of us think that when Christ said “it is finished” that He really said “Okay I did my part now it’s your turn to do your part and maintain what i’ve done”

We think that somehow we’re justified by grace alone through faith alone on account of the finished work of Christ alone, but now we’re sanctified or made holy by our own works.

Listen to how Paul rebukes the Galatian church when they thought this way

Galatians 3:1–3 (ESV)

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

When we rely on our own strength and think that we by our perfomance can merit or maintain God’s love for us and we seek to prove ourselves. this is again showing that we do not believe His final words from the cross.

When pursuing good works, remember, it’s from a place of already being loved and forgiven by God. We don’t do anything to add to Christ’s finished work. He purchased your righteousness before God and your holy life when He died there and will see to it that you make it to the end. We can have full dependence upon Christ and His Spirit as we seek to love Him and love our neighbor.

…When I see much victory and good days

When we see a unique time of victory over certain temptations and sins and maybe don’t have a lot of trials to deal with, the same is true, we look constantly to the cross and to the finished work of Christ.

This will keep us in a humble place to recognize that any good thing about me or happening to me is by and because of the sheer grace of God and apart from Him and His work on my behalf I have nothing and am worth nothing.

Jesus said in John 15, apart from me you, you can do nothing.

…When you refuse to trust Christ for salvation and reject Him as savior and Lord.

You may be here because you were invited by a friend.

maybe you don’t even believe in God. Maybe you consider yourself a spiritual person and you’re interested in the person of Jesus.

You need to realize that to leave this place and not make a decision about the person of Jesus is to make a decision. There’s no neutral ground. You either have trusted Him and have been absolved of guilt and possess a right relationship with God, or you are still under His wrath as His enemy. And yet tonight, I beleive Christ is offering Himself to you as savior.

Will you trust Him tonight? Will you stop trusting yourself and stop putting it off and receive Him and rest upon Him for your salvation.

Jesus said that I am the way the truth and the Life...

He said come to me if you are burdened and heavy laiden and He gives rest for the soul.

Come rest in His infinite love for you. Come embrace those words it is finished. Because all the while you’ve been rejecting Him, those words from the cross have remained true and they remain true even now and if you entrust yourself wholly to Him, you’ll be brought into this eternal relationship which will not only make you new, but also satisfy your longing soul both now and for eternity.