Temple Baptist Church - 11-13-2024
John 19:28-30
Introduction:
A. Tonight, I want to look at the 6th saying from the cross: “It is finished.”
1. These three words in English are one word in the Greek: τελέω teleō tel-eh'-o. To complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a debt): - accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, finish, go over, pay, perform.
2. “It is finished” is the proper translation as it implies that the task at hand is done and NOTHING is to be added or taken away from it. Christ had done everything that He was to accomplish. His Purpose fulfilled in “It is finished!”
Isaiah 50:5-7 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. (6) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (7) For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
B. In 1921, Jennie Evelyn Hussey wrote the hymn “Lead Me To Calvary. It starts out:
“King of my life I crown Thee now— Thine shall Thy glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow, Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane; Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.”
C. Here we find words of finality! Years ago, I heard Dr. James Crumpton preach on this subject and remember well his emphasis on the Greek word used here: “teleo.” The last stroke of the artist’s paint brush! Observed with scrutiny, the artist would lay down the paint brush never to take it up again. Thus, Calvary.
Isaiah 53:1-11 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? (2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
D. Jesus Christ, Jehovah God incarnate, The Word made flesh, came to die for the sins of the world. He came to finish the work that the Father gave Him to do. In the phrase “it is finished” we find accomplishment. His life; His work finished and summed up in one short phrase. “It is finished!”
1. Calvary, where redemption’s price was paid.
2. Calvary, where the Just became the Justifier.
3. Calvary, where the Innocent took the place of the guilty.
4. Calvary, where the blood shed covers my sin, my guilt, and my shame.
5. Calvary, where God’s mercy is great, and His grace is free.
6. Calvary, where the burdened soul finds true liberty!
E. It is here that we find, not a distressed voice and not a cry of defeat, BUT a clarion cry of victory! “IT IS FINISHED!”
F. In these three words, we find:
1. The Word Prophecy Fulfilled and Verified – Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
There were hundreds of prophecies written concerning Jesus Christ and He fulfilled every prophecy, every promise, every “jot and tittle” perfectly and completely! God’s Word can be depended upon not only in the performance of this life but also the expectation of the life to come. Jesus Christ left nothing undone!
2. The Work Of Propitiation was Finished – John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (2) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
At Calvary, we find the finishing of 4,000 years of sacrifices! Millions and millions of lambs had died while awaiting the death of THE Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Mankind had long awaited Messiah’s coming and we look back to His coming in wonder and amazement. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was saying that the substitutionary work on the cross for us had been accomplished.
Peter said, in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
Jesus Christ became both the “Lamb” who died and the “Scapegoat” who carried our sins far away. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking my place and dying for my sins!
3. The Way Of Salvation Established – John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
1 Corinthians 1:17-18 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. (18) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Man can teach and preach anything that he chooses but it does not change the fact that salvation is through Jesus Christ and Him alone! Not a church, not a denomination, not a movement, not a baptism, not a sacrament, not a dogma, and not an individual theology—but the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Man can go his own way but he will not go to heaven until he comes God’s way!
4. The Wages Of Sin Paid In Full – Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ezekiel 18:20a The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Jesus Christ became the “Sinner’s Substitute.” Our sin separated us from a holy God and Jesus Christ, our Propitiation, reconciled us back to Him through the finished work of Calvary.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The cross upon which Jesus died was an “altar” and He was the “sacrifice.”
5. The Unbeliever Condemned – John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
As Christ suffered for us as no man ever suffered, so the sinner who rejects Christ will one day suffer for all of eternity!
6. The Works Of The Devil Destroyed – 1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
God will destroy Satan’s position, his purpose, his power, his people, and ultimately his person. Because of Calvary, one day there will be no more Satan!
7. The Promise Of Eternity Secured – Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Because of the finished work of Christ on Calvary, one day we that are saved will be “finally home!
