Nothing More That You Can Do

Have you ever said, “I just can’t seem to get it all finished?”

8 days in week.

1 more week in month.

1 more month in year.

Bad news: You are never going to get it all done.

I may get to inbox zero, but I never get to the end of my to do list.

Every one of us always has unfinished business.

One of the most frustrating things as an officer - leaving appointments with unfinished business.

We all have unfinished business, projects.

Only one person has ever finished what he came to accomplish

John 4:34 NLT

Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.

Jesus finished his work.

Good Friday, 2,000 years or so ago, Jesus was hanging on the cross, at the end of his life and suffering:

John 19:28-30

John 19:28–30 NLT

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

MESSAGE NOTES

Others thought Jesus was finished

As they looked on him, beaten, broken, bleeding, nailed to a tree in the most excruciating and humiliating and violent torture invented to date, most thought Jesus was defeated.

Pilate thought he was finished: had washed hands of him.

Roman soldiers thought he was finished: they’d beaten him and nailed him to the cross. After long and painful suffering, Jesus would eventually suffocate and die.

Jewish religious leaders thought he’d finished: competition defeated. They could go back to being in control.

Even disciples thought Jesus was finished: their dream had died. The Kingdom was gone. Romans were still here and not going anywhere anytime soon.

I suspect even Satan thought Jesus was finished. He must have convinced himself he’d won. The Son of God was dead.

But Jesus didn’t say he was finished

John 19:30 NLT

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What was finished?

His suffering?

His pain?

His earthly life?

The humiliation of the cross?

But much more than all of that was finished

John really wants us to understand this.

He uses the same verb or derivative three times in these three verses:

“Jesus knew that his mission was now finished” v.28.

“And to [finish or complete] what Scripture said, he said” v.28.

“It is finished” v.30.

John is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus has finished his work.

He has completed what Scripture says about him.

He has finished what his Father sent him to do.

Not a cry of defeat but a shout of victory!

Despite the horror, the cross is not God’s defeat.

It’s his victory!

Jesus had told his followers that he would be “lifted up” on the cross.

The crucifixion would be his coronation.

The cross would be his throne.

It is finished! is one word in Greek - tetelestai (teh-teh-Les-sty]

The most famous words of victory in the world!

Might remember:

“Veni, vidi, vici.” – Julius Caesar

“I came, I saw, I conquered.”

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother.” – William Shakespeare - Henry V

“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” – Braveheart

But they all pale into insignificance compared to:

Tetelestai - It is finished!

Not it is finished in weary defeat.

But a shout of joy because the victory is won!

The work of revelation was complete.

Jesus’ great work of redemption was done.

Jesus had given his flesh so we could have life.

As the good shepherd, he had laid down his life for the sheep.

He became the one man who died for us all.

He was the seed that had fallen to the ground and would produce many seeds.

He had laid down his life for his friends.

The strife was over.

The battle was won.

Even on the cross, Jesus knew the joy of victory.

Lifted up was he to die; It is finished! was his cry; Now in Heaven, exalted high; Hallelujah! What a Saviour! Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876) The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 183

Do you know who was finished on that first Good Friday? Satan!

As Jesus cried Tetelestai - it is finished! he destroyed Satan’s power to control you and me.

If you have God’s Spirit in your life, then you have power in you that is greater than Satan’s power:

1 John 4:4 NLT

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

You have the power in your life to resist Satan’s traps and tricks.

If you have the power of God in you that was demonstrated on the cross on Good Friday, then you have the power to resist Satan’s manipulations.

How does Satan try to manipulate you?

Through your thoughts.

By temptation, and by condemnation.

Satan will try to tempt you by getting you thinking that what you want to do is no big deal. Everyone’s doing it, and that makes it OK for you to go ahead and do it.

Then the moment you do it, he bait and switches, and your thoughts condemn you.

God’s never going to love you again after that. Forget that. You’re going to hell.

But Jesus defeated Satan and all that:

Colossians 1:13 NLT

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

Through the cross, God has forgiven you, and Satan can no longer accuse you:

Colossians 2:15 LBP

In this way God took away Satan’s power to accuse you of sin, and God openly displayed to the whole world Christ’s triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.

The cross was God’s victory over Satan and evil.

I know what you’re thinking: It doesn’t feel like that!

Still feel like Satan has an awful lot of power.

But if you have God’s Spirit in you, then Satan only has the power that you choose to give him.

He doesn’t have any power in your life if you choose not to give it to him.

The death of Jesus on the cross completes the picture God had been painting

The story he had been writing since before the beginning of time.

There was nothing more to be done.

It is finished. It will remain finished. It will always be finished.

Ask people to stand / Band to move.

And so the Good News of Good Friday - the reason we call it Good, even though it seems the complete opposite - is that there’s nothing left for you to do

Your salvation is finished.

It’s done.

The victory is won!

Eccentric evangelist - Alexander Wooten.

Approached by a flippant young man: “What must I do to be saved”?

“It’s too late!” Wooten went about his work.

Young man alarmed.

“Do you mean it’s too late for me to be saved”?

“Is there nothing I can do”?

“Too late!”

“It’s already been done! The only thing you can do is believe”.

There is nothing left for you to do.

It is finished.

The only thing you can do is believe and trust in God.

We are called to agree that Jesus’ work is indeed finished.

We believe it.

We trust.

We live lives of peace and confidence in the power of Jesus’ victory on the cross.

There is nothing more for us to do

Do you recognise this?

Picture: Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh

Pop along to National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and try to make it look better, would I succeed?

Of course not.

It is finished.

Or how about this?

Picture: William Booth’s Bust - WBC

If I chiselled away at his cheeks, or beard, would I make it better?

Of course not!

It is finished!

It is the same with God’s salvation and grace

Ephesians 2:8 NLT

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

You can’t add anything to them.

It is finished.

Your sins are forgiven.

You need to stop trying to pay for them.

All you have to do is accept his forgiveness, salvation, grace.

There is nothing more that you can do.

We come to the cross empty handed.

Tetelestai - it is finished.

The victory is won.

No! no! Nothing do I bring, But by faith I’m clinging To thy cross, O Lamb of God! Nothing but thy blood can save me. Richard Slater (1854-1939) The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 769

Songsters: Nothing But Thy Blood