7 Sayings Of The Cross – Part 6 – It Is Finished

Temple Baptist Church - 3-20-2016

John 19:28-37

Introduction:

A.  Thus far, we have seen:

1.  Calvary’s Pardon as Jesus Christ cried out for the forgiveness of Herod the king of Galilee, Pilate was the Roman governor in Judea, the Roman soldiers who drove the nails into His hands and feet carried out the brutal torture, to the Jews who planned it and for all the human race who are responsible for His crucifixion.  “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!”

2.  Calvary’s Promise as Jesus Christ responded to the penitent cry of a dying thief.  To the thief He promised, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” thus giving hope to all who put their faith in Him.

3.  Calvary’s Provision as Jesus Christ placed His loving mother into the hands of John the beloved.  “Woman, behold thy son…Behold thy mother.”  Dying, our Lord entrusted His earthly family to His earthly church.

4.  Calvary’s Price as our Lord became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!  “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  Because Jesus Christ literally became sin for us that we might one day live forever with Him.

5.  Calvary’s Pain as, in the darkness of the noon day, Jesus Christ’s voice was heard once more.  “I thirst.”  He suffered as no man has ever suffered and His suffering was for our sins.

6.  This morning, we come to Calvary’s Purpose.  “It is finished!” 

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.”

B.  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!

C.  Jesus Christ, Jehovah God incarnate, 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.

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!

D.  This morning, we find: not a distressed voice, not a cry of defeat, BUT a clarion cry of victory! “IT IS FINISHED!”

E.  As I thought on this sixth saying from the cross, I pondered on just what Jesus Christ had finished.  I hope and pray that these will be a blessing to you as they were to me.

1.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find The Word Of God 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.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find The Work Of Propitiation 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. 

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 the “scapegoat” for you and me.  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking my place and dying for my sins!)

3.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find 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.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find The Wages 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.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find The Lost World 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.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find 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.  In “It Is Finished,” We Find The Wealth 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!)