RJ - It is Finished - Love Has Won

It is FINISHED! (Love Has Won)

To everyone who's lost someone they love Long before it was their time You feel like the days you had were not enough When you said goodbye And to all of the people with burdens and pains Keeping you back from your life You believe that there's nothing and there is no one Who can make it right There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on They lost all of their faith in love They've done all they can to make it right again Still it's not enough For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains You try to give up but you come back again Just remember that you're not alone in your shame And your suffering There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are Cry out to Jesus When you're lonely And it feels like the whole world is falling on you You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus Cry to Jesus To the widow who suffers from being alone Wiping the tears from her eyes For the children around the world without a home Say a prayer tonight He'll meet you wherever you are There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

Revelation 1:17a-18 “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death”

2000 yrs ago, a man, as human as we are, yet completely divine, absolutely willingly with consuming passion and love for all human kind, without thought to himself, suffering pain, degradation, rejection and hate, accomplished the greatest, the most powerful victory, ever won, in all of history and for eternity, for all who would ever live.

In the space of 3 days Jesus paid the price of redemption for humanity, justification and reconciliation of man before God. He substituted himself for man. He demonstrated a love for all mankind that transcends any love a person will ever encounter. He purchased our freedom, healing, deliverance, our future. He became our joy, our victory, our peace. He made an open show of the enemy, triumphing over sin, death and hell.

IT IS FINISHED

Jesus' words, "It is finished," appears only twice in the New Testament, John 19:28 and John 19:30

"After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), 'I thirst.' 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. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit,".

"It is finished," which is one of Jesus' most important statements, is translated from the single Greek word tetelestai.

The meaning of tetelastai indicates that the progress of an action has been completed and the result of that action is ongoing and with full effect. In other words, when Jesus uttered the words “It is Finished”(tetelestai) the work of the cross was finished and its was ongoing and with full effect!

You see Jesus is no mamby pamby weakling, with coiffed hair and an ambient glow about his face. His time on earth was marked by Him bringing about the power of God to the men of earth. From the minute he was born, the powers that be, were after Him. His message was compelling, offensive. His love was confronting, challenging. Satan was nervous, the demons reacted to His presence. They tried to shut Him up, kill him, end the truth that so clearly revealed their sin, the work of the enemy and the knowledge of who God is, through the work of the Son.

It is finished... Matthew 28:2-9 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

REJOICE! Love Has Won!

This is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday!

Romans 5:1–11 NIV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 8:1- 4, 15

No condemnation, No fear!

The greatest lie is that God has no power to save you, he has abandoned you, there is no power in the work of the cross or the resurrection. Satan will try to steal your hope in Jesus leaving you disillusioned, robing you of the power of the finished work of Calvary, his ultimate to aim destroy your life and your eternity with God. He works to negate the power of the cross, the work of the Holy Spirit in your life......He is a LIAR!!

Does he not know he is already defeated? Whatever the enemy is trying to hang over your head is already defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 For we do not grieve like people that have no hope, for if we believe God rose Jesus from the dead, He will also raise us from the dead.

Conclusion

The person of Jesus Christ His mission and message remain the same today. To some it is offensive and the power of the cross and resurrection confronting, but to those who receive Him, it is life! Nothing can separate you from His love, nothing can take away the power His work in your life!

Matthew 16:18I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And as Jesus met with his disciples one last time before he ascended to heaven, He spoke to them and said

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. AMEN