IT IS FINISHED

Introduction

-When someone is on their deathbed and are coherent, there have been many final statements/last words that have been inspiring, while others maybe have made people scratch their heads

-Let me share with you some of the last words of some people you may or may not know:

~Some last words are a little bit on the light side, like English politician Lady Nancy Astor, when she briefly awoke to see her family gathered around her, she said: Am I dying, or is today my birthday?

~Some in their dying moments stay true to who they were in life, like when French grammarian Dominique Bouhours gave these grammatically correct last words, saying: I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct.

~Some last words show where a person’s heart truly lies, like when circus mogul P. T. Barnum asked as his last words: How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?

~Some last words were unintended last words, when the person didn’t think there was any chance of the getting killed, like during the Civil War when Union General John Sedgwick was shot and killed in battle, he stated before getting shot: They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist. . .

~Other people are in complete denial of what awaits them, as actor John Barrymore said in his last words: Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.

~There are other famous last words that have been etched in history, like Julius Caesar’s words: Et tu, Brute?

~There have been some who were tragically defiant until the end, like actress Joan Crawford, when her housekeeper started praying out loud for her, said: Don’t you dare ask God to help me!

~Some last words are tragic and scary, as atheist philosopher David Hume lastly cried out: I am in the flames!

~But there are some that offer peace to all who hear it as they die in faith, such as author Charles Dickens who said: “I commit my soul to the mercy of God, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I exhort my dear children humbly to try and guide themselves by the teaching of the New Testament.”

-However, there is one final statement, one last word that changed the course of eternity—this last word either saves you or condemns you—what are these famous last words? They are the last words of Jesus on the cross, when after bearing the wrath of God He cried out w/ a loud voice: IT IS FINISHED!

-No words ever spoken in history were so pregnant w/ meaning as these—we want to look at the full force of how Jesus declared that He had fully accomplished salvation for mankind—may it lead those of you who have never trusted in Christ to trust His accomplishment for your eternal soul, and for those who have believed that you live in light of what Christ accomplished

John 19:28–30 ESV

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.

-three times the word group in the Greek meaning accomplishment or completeness is used—the Greek word tetelestai in ESV in v.28 says that all was now finished, teleothe in the same verse tells us all this was done to fulfill (to finish) the Scripture, and then tetelestai again in v. 30 is translated IT IS FINISHED

-Inspiring John to use these words, God declares that all that needed to be done had been done—we want to consider today what was accomplished according to these inspired words—first…:

I) The Scripture is Fulfilled

-The words of accomplishment in this passage point out for us that Jesus, through all that happened on the day of His crucifixion, completely fulfilled God’s plan & program for salvation which was set in place before the foundation of the world, and was revealed through the prophets from Genesis all the way through Malachi

-By saying that it is finished, Jesus declared to the world that the intended goal of His coming as a human on the earth, His life, His ministry, and now His suffering and death, has now reached its intended goal----everything was working up to that moment of sacrifice----it was exactly for that moment that Jesus was born

-There is a thread throughout Scripture of God declaring His plan for the redemption of mankind, and it all builds up to Jesus’ suffering on the cross

-But as Jesus fulfilled the plan of redemption as revealed by God in general, it is also important to note that very specific prophecies that gave very specific details were fulfilled to a T

-Although we don’t have time to fully analyze it, I encourage you someday soon to read Psalm 22—written 900 years before there was even such a thing as crucifixion, it gives graphic detail of exactly what Christ suffered on that day: from the fact that he wld be ridiculed while surrounded by His enemies, to the fact that His bones wld be taken out of joint when His hands and feet were pierced on the cross

-But not only did God give details of the crucifixion itself, He prophesied abt the meaning of Christ’s suffering in death, such as in Isaiah where He declared that Christ wld be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed

-Knowing that Scripture is fulfilled gives us several lessons:

(1) God’s plan to save mankind from sin was His eternal plan, and therefore only plan—there is no other plan, so if you want to be saved, it is only by accepting the grace He gives through Christ’s suffering and death

(2) It lets us know that God is in control of history as well as the future, and therefore He is in control of every aspect of our lives

(3) God fulfills all His word, therefore we can trust every word and every promise we find in Scripture

(but I want to stress, that the promise must be taken in biblical context {something you will hear me stress over and over again----not all promises in the Bible are for us, but the ones that are for us we can take to the bank})

(4) If Christ fulfilled all the prophecies that had to do w/ His 1st coming, then we know that the prophecies of His 2nd coming are a surety

(there may be disagreements on how things might play out in the end, but we do know this—Jesus Christ is coming visibly and physically to bring history to its intended purpose)

-IT IS FINISHED==Scripture has been fulfilled—but Jesus also declared that:

II) The Work is Complete

-as 1 author put it, by saying tetelestai, it is finished, it “signifies full completion of Jesus’ work and the establishment of a basis for faith. Nothing further needed to be done.”

-There needed to be an atonement for sin, a covering for sin—what Jesus did on the cross completed that—no more atonement is needed

-A substitution for mankind needed to be given otherwise the weight of sin still bore down on man—Jesus Christ was that substitute—no other substitutes can be or needed to be given

-Jesus’ suffering and death took place once, and once was all that was needed—His suffering and death covered all sin for everyone, so nothing else cld be done or needed to be done

-That is why thereafter, the Bible tells us things like:

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Rom. 6:10 ESV)

he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:12 ESV)

And by [God’s] will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb. 10:10 ESV)

-You see that repeated ONCE FOR ALL—nothing can be added to what Christ did, no more sacrifice is needed, perfect grace had been completed on that day

-This brings up some very important points that need to be made:

(1) Since Jesus alone completed the work, there can be no other means of salvation from sins. The lie that all roads lead to God comes straight from the devil (who is the father of lies). The perverted versions of Jesus in the cults, the God of Islam, Buddha, Confucius, none of them completed the work of redemption. Only the Jesus of history & the Bible completed the work by His sacrifice, and is therefore the only means of approaching God.

(2) Since Jesus alone completed the work, we cannot add to or contribute to our own salvation. If there was anything else we needed to do to be saved on top of Jesus’ sacrifice, then Jesus was a liar when He said IT IS FINISHED (b/c it wouldn’t have really been finished).

~If baptism were needed for salvation, then Jesus would have yelled IT IS FINISHED WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED. (but He didn’t say that)

~Or if following certain traditions were needed, then He would have yelled IT IS FINISHED WHEN YOU FOLLOW THESE TRADITIONS. (but he didn’t say that)

~ Or even if good works were needed for salvation as opposed to being a fruit of salvation, He would have yelled IT IS FINISHED WHEN YOU DO GOOD WORKS. {but He didn’t say that either)

~He said IT IS FINISHED exclamation point. End of sentence. Nothing more and nothing less than His sacrifice alone.

(3) Since Jesus alone completed the work, there is nothing else we can do to bring us into God’s favor or make God love us more. Even after salvation we may think that we need to do something to keep God’s love or earn His good graces. But if we have trusted in Christ, we are then placed in Christ based on His merit alone, and it is on that basis that we are loved. So if God loves Christ infinitely, and we are in Christ, then we are loved infinitely and there’s nothing we can do to change that for the good or the bad.

-IT IS FINISHED==The Work is Complete—finally, those words tell us:

III) The Debt is Paid

-A quick lesson in Greek: back in the day the word tetelestai was used with regard to paying what was owed----it was used to indicate that someone paid their taxes, tributes, or customs duty to officials

-But it was all used by merchants in the world of commerce to indicate that someone paid their debt or their bill fully----if a merchant was holding some sort of writ of debt or an IOU type of document, when the person paid off what was owed, they wld write across it TETELESTAI, the debt has been paid in full

-Imagine you owe a credit card company a lot of money—but eventually you paid back the last bit of it—after you have paid it back in full, the credit card company can no longer hold the debt over your head or try to collect on it—it has been completely taken care of

-When Jesus cried out from the cross, IT IS FINISHED, He was saying that the debt of sin was completely paid in full

-When we sinned and broke the law of God, it put us in a spiritual debt to God Who demands a righteous payment or righteous judgment from lawbreakers—the wages of sin is death—but Jesus fully met the righteous demands of a holy law from the Holy God, and by His death paid the debt that we owed

-If we were to pay the debt ourselves, it take us all of eternity—but when you trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for you, that debt is no longer held over your head, God will not try to collect it from you, b/c Jesus fully satisfied it—it is PAID IN FULL

-What this means for us is that we have absolutely nothing to offer to God that wld satisfy the sin debt we owed—this is why the whole idea that somehow if our good outweighs our bad that we are OK w/ God is a bunch of garbage—we’re not OK w/ God b/c none of our good works, which are nothing but filthy rags to God, can pay the eternal debt that was owed

-That is why hymns like Rock of Ages and others have these words: NOTHING IN MY HANDS I BRING, SIMPLY TO THE CROSS I CLING—there’s nothing we have that God needs, and there is nothing we have that can redeem our soul

-Jesus asked the question: What will a man give in exchange for his soul? The answer is nothing—we have nothing—all our hope lies in the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid the debt—if it didn’t, then we are still in our sins and in more trouble than you can imagine

-But Jesus cried out IT IS FINISHED==He said that the Debt has been Paid In Full

CONCLUSION

-No greater last words have ever or ever will be spoken==Max Lucado summarized it this way: The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The joy was finished. The song had been sung. The blood had been poured. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over.

-For the Christian, let it be a reminder that this is how and why we live—b/c Jesus finished it all----maybe your lifestyle is not matching your profession of faith----come up to the altar and ask God to get that straight in your life.

-It you have never trusted in Christ, listen to me very carefully, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD. You have nothing to offer, but Jesus offered Himself. Religion, church, good works, cannot clean the slate of your sin. Only what Jesus accomplished—only through Him is it truly finished. I invite you to come forward today and give your life to Christ.

-Maybe you are looking for a church home that teaches and preaches truth, and will love you and your family beyond measure. You have found your home. Come forward today and join Harvest Baptist Church.