It Is Finished
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Good morning, today we are going to continue in our series words from the cross and we are going to look at Jesus words, It is finished. Let’s remember where we have been.. The first week we talked a little bit about forgiveness as Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” and two week we looked at Jesus words, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” and we discussed Good people don’t go to heaven, Forgiven people do. Two weeks ago we looked at Jesus’ words, “My God, My God why have you forsaken Me” and we spent a lot of time talking about how this wasn’t God turning his head away from Jesus and abandoning him and leaving him alone. It was Jesus declaring victory from the cross in a moment when people thought he was being defeated he was telling them you just wait and see. And last week we looked at Jesus’ words, “I am thirsty,” and we talked about how thirst, hunger, pain, and sickness were all things we felt because sin entered the world, and it was showing us our separation from God and pointing back to our greatest need. Jesus was showing us how he was all that we ever would need and all that would fulfill us in our lives. Then the story picks up and we find Jesus next to last words on the cross as he says, “It is finished.”
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
First, we must look at this phrase, it comes from the Greek word, tetelestai and it means to end, complete, execute, discharge a debt.
Some of the ways it would have been used:
When a servant was returning to his master after completing a task he would have said: tetelestai I have finished. I have completed the work.
When you finally paid off a debt to a merchant he would have said tetelestai, The debt has been paid in full.
When a priest was examining a lamb for sacrifice he would have said, tetelestai, It is perfect.
And these are these are the words we see Jesus speak in this moment. He is talking about the completeness of what he has done and what has come. Remember, we have spent time talking about the pneumonic device people would use to recall to mind scripture by saying the first and last line they wanted you to think about and expect you to know what was in the middle. And this was the last verse Jesus quoted and to tie all that up and as we come to the end of this comparison I think it is important for us to go and look at what has happened.
On the cross Jesus said this in Matthew 27:46
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
And we saw this was nothing but Jesus remind us of Psalm 22:1
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
For those who weren’t here or maybe missed it, remember, this was just Jesus calling us to the words, we talked about how Jesus couldn’t have even been forsaken, but the Psalm itself says God had never hid his face, instead he has heard when he cried out.
Psalm 22:24 “24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.”
Soon we see the people begin to mock and make fun of Jesus in Matthew 27:41
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
And this follows right along with our story in Psalm 22:7
7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
And we talked last week as they are making fun and circling him and hurling insults telling him he should save himself, mocking him, Jesus says He is thirsty John 19:28
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
And we talked how this was the fulfillment of the scripture in Psalm 22:15
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
And this is exactly what is going on around the cross… John 19:23-24
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom,
24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,
And prophecy is coming to life right before them, and we see how important the Old Testament is to understanding Jesus and what he is doing as it all works together to show us what is going on.
And we see our quotes coming together today in Psalm 22:30-31
30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
He has done it. And we talked about a few weeks ago tetelestai is a greek translation of the Hebrew he has done it. It is the same thing and we can see Jesus is saying it has all been won. I have completed the mission I was sent to do, the work is coming to completion.
Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation. He has done it. It is finished.
But what’s that mean for us now? Since Jesus has taken care if it, does that mean we can just coast thru and do nothing? Answer is obviously no. I think the method some people will take when they think this way is we don’t have to do anything, Jesus did all the work, there is nothing left for me to do, but we know that isn’t true at all.
And what we can see in these moments is while Jesus work is done, and he has finished the work the father has sent him, our work is not yet complete. We have not done all we are sent to this earth to do, and we can be sure of that because we are still breathing. Look at what Rev 3:1-2
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
And for some of us we can easily identify our unfinished business: we want to lead our kids to the Lord, we have a relationship we need to restore, some of you want feel like you need to take better care of yourself, some of you have some classes you want to finish, some of you have some sin you need to finally lay down.
The key when it comes to all of these things as I am sure some of you are aware is for us to not just start, but to finish. There have been so many times in my life when I have started the diet and just given up half way through, and I know I need to be more like Jesus and finish the work.
I heard a pastor once read these verses at a wedding, and he said, anyone can begin a marriage, it takes special people rooted in the love of Christ to finish it until the work is complete, which I thought was beautiful. And when we think about unfinished business.
Some of you have a sin in your life that has a tight grip on you and you cannot seem to let it go, and let me stop and say I completely understand where you are and I know how hard it is, but you have to get to a place where you find the tools you need to finish. Some of you need to find an accountability partner, someone you can trust, and that loves the Lord, who you can turn to in your times of need to help you walk away from the sin. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is for this person to also love the Lord. If they do not they won’t help lead and hold you accountable by Godly standards, but by worldly standards.
For some of you, you have children that you want to lead to the Lord and it just hasn’t happened yet, they are living their life and they are not doing what is best and seem to never turn down the right path. Don’t give up. This doesn’t mean every day you tell them how sinful they are and how destined for Hell they are if they do not change their ways. But it does mean you can pray without ceasing. It does mean you can show them the love of Christ through your actions and your humility in hopes they turn back to Jesus through your example.
Remember, Jesus could have stopped his torment and his pain on the cross at any moment. He could have called upon his father to save him and remove him from the cross if he wanted, Matthew 26:53 tells us. However, had he done that, he wouldn’t have completed the work he was called to do.
Whatever work you still have to complete, I think we see the work that is most important for us to complete in the final words of Psalm 22
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
And we see through his act that he is king and all the nations will bow and worship him. The Bible tells us elsewhere every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is the Lord. But the most important part of all this lies in those last two lines, “it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; the shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
The question this morning is when was the last time you have done that? See this is an empirical command to us, in fact it was this command and this type of thinking that have you here this morning. Someone proclaimed to you his righteousness and that he has done it. Some of you came to church because your parents or your grandparents forced you to come as a child. While you were there you heard the truth proclaimed that you were a sinner, that you were separated from God and the only hope of restoration you had was Jesus giving his life as a perfect sacrifice for you, and that he had done it! The price had been paid and he had finished the work he needed to so you could be restored with God.
This scripture tells us we are supposed to keep on proclaiming that, it isn’t for us to just half complete the work and keep the good news to ourselves. We must continue to do what he has called us to and finish the work and proclaim it to all who will listen, that he has done it. Next week is Easter, who do you know who needs to hear that truth and you have given up on sharing? Don’t stop, keep going.
