It Is Finished
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles we are going to begin this morning at
Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
This Easter service, I want to do things a little bit different than the past couple of years. We are going to work our way through the cross to the resurrection of Christ. These verses in the Bible is what everything had been leading up to, through the Old Testament and through the earlier parts of the Gospel. We are all here today and have dedicated our lives to the Lord because of these verses. The cross and resurrection of Jesus are the lynchpins that hold together our faith.
The promise that God fulfilled through Jesus on that Sunday is why Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and why it shows God is ultimately in control of all things. It is only the Lord that can defeat death, it is only the Lord that can give us an escape from the bondage of sin. We aren’t able to do that on our own. The cross is ultimately the greatest act of love in the history of the world.
Jesus tell us this before He goes to the cross.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
Jesus shows us the greatest love and then He call us friends, if we are following His commands. The greatest love is sacrifical love , it is a love that cost something. It cost Jesus His life.
The Jewish leaders take Jesus to the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. These are all actual events by the way. Now to give you some context to the events that are going to unfold and how the Lord is in charge of all things. Pilate did not live in Jersualem but instead lived in Caesarea it was about 75 miles away. It was a four day journey. He traveled to Jersualem because the passover time was a particularly dangerous time because of the threats of a riot or insurrection.
The Lord was putting everything in motion, but one comment on
Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.
This is why John the Baptist and Jesus called out the Pharisees. Last week, I talked about being part of the 99 that did not believe they needed to repent. They could not enter a gentile home because it would make them unclean for the passover. However they are there to deliver Jesus to be crucified. They were to concerned with the wrong things.
They had over Jesus to Pilate because in the Roman Empire , only the Romans could execute the death penalty. First Jesus and Pilate have one of the most important conversations in the entire Biblical record
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
His Kingdom is the kingdom of God, He comes to us from the Heavens, He came down to give bring us salvation and to fulfill the prophecies from the Lord.
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
What is truth? That is a question that has plauged the world since the fall in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve were given the truth and the devil distorted the truth. Over and over throughout the Old Testament, the world was given the truth. Jesus preached the truth to the world. The apostles went out in the book of Acts to preach the truth. What is the truth? That Jesus came preaching the Gospel and died for our sins on the cross so that we can have forgiveness.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Jesus is the foundation of the truth in this world. The devil has tried for a long time to distort that truth just like he did in that garden. Do not fall for it , like the Pharisees did. Jesus is the truth.
Jesus would of course be sentenced to cross. He was beaten by the Romans, and forced to carry the cross. He hung that day bearing the wrath of God for us. He took the wrath and the punishment that a sinful people deserve. He took our place so that we could have life, a real life. Not a life spent wandering the desert but a life spent in the Kingdom of God.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
They gave him wine vinegar and after he received the drink, He gave us his spirit. It is finished. One of the most important phrases spoken in the Bible. It is finished. The penalty has been paid. The bondage of sin is broken. The separation between us and the Lord was gone.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
That moment , the curtain rips. That curtain wasn’t a regular curtain, it was 60 ft high and 30 ft wide. it took 300 priests to hang it. It separated the holiest of holies in the temple. That divide between people and God was now gone. It is finished. The new covenant had begun. The earth, all of creation was felt the death of Jesus.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
They had covered the tomb with a large rock, that had been moved away, it had also been sealed by the Romans. Yet now Mary looks in and sees the empty tomb.
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
If you ever had a doubt that competitiveness runs deep in men. Here we have the greatest event in history, but John needed to ensure that it was recorded for all of history that he beat Peter in a footrace to the tomb.
They find nothing but the linen that Jesus had been wrapped in.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
Imagine the going through that Saturday. Everything had changed, even though Jesus had told them everything that was going to happen. Even though the Old Testament had been moving in this direction and all the prophecies that God had given to the world. Now in your own life, there is always a Sunday
This moment of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus is the fulfillment of our faith. Because then this happens as Mary is crying.
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus is there standing next to her and she doesn’t even recognize Him at first.
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
When Jesus calls her by name , she knows that it is Him. When Jesus calls your name run to Him. Here is what He says in
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Do not miss this in your life. Just as He called our Mary’s name on that Sunday. Jesus is knocking on your door , and He is calling your name. He is the one that saves and gives life.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
That evening the Lord came to the disciples. Peace be with you. The confirmation of the resecurretion, the living proof that Jesus defeated death and freed us from sin.
In his life Christ is an example showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession a high priest.
Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)
Jesus is everything to us. Jesus is the truth of the world. His blood, cleanses us of our sins. He shows us how to walk through this world and how we are to deal with worldly teaching, with the devil, with sin. He is the lamb of God that is sacrificed for our sins and conquers what we could not. He is the King of Kings.
We are going to close with what Jesus told the disciples that night in the upper room.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
If you have not accepted Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior, please do not miss the opportunity here today. On the day that we celebrate the resurrection. The purpose of man is to glorify God. We are to bear fruit and follow Jesus. That is why we are all here. You cannot do this alone, you must do it with Jesus. Do not miss what Jesus did for you on that cross. We all carry sin, we all carry pain. You do not have to carry that. Jesus already took care of all it when He said It is finished. Trust in the Lord tha it is finished and step into the Kingdom of God.
Let us pray.
