Tune your hearts anew, ye seraphs. Join to sing the glorious theme. All in earth and all in heaven.
What are they singing in heaven right now? What are they singing in heaven
right now? We don't have to guess, do they?
And they sang a new song saying, Revelation 5, 9, Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain. and hath redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall
reign on the earth. What are they singing? We ought
to be part of what we, wish to have happen in church is that
we will be practicing the Psalms of Heaven. And what a glorious
word we have. It is finished. John 19 verse
30. If you want a definition of inadequacy
then try and look to anyone who's ever dared to preach from this
verse of scripture and to bring anything of its fullness so even
after we've looked at it today there's an infinite amount to
say again and again and again and so we confess our need and
I confess My failure before I even begin, but what a glorious, glorious
passage of scripture we have before us, and what an extraordinary
moment in time, what an extraordinary event in time. The word, it is
finished, is just one word in the original language. It is
the word telios or tetelestai. It means completed, accomplished,
fulfilled, and it means perfect. It is the word that was written
in the common language across the bills when you owed someone
money and you went and paid all of the money and they were right
across the bottom of the bill. Teleos, paid in full. You don't
owe another penny. It was a word apparently used
in the courts to refer to a judgment that is passed and finished. paid in full. It can also, I
believe, I've been told that it can refer to the triumph of
an army coming back and having won a great victory, and they
would say this word. In all points, it is just a remarkable
declaration of our Saviour from the cross. And the question that's
immediately before us is, what is finished? What is finished? What is fulfilled? What is completed? What is perfected? You don't have to turn there
but I'll take you to some scriptures that might help us there. When
the Lord Jesus Christ was in the temple when he was 12 years
old, these are the first words of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded
in the scriptures in his incarnation. And his mother and father had
gone on their way back to Nazareth and they couldn't find him and
they went all day without him and then they returned and they
spent three days looking for him and they found him in the
temple. And he said unto them, how is it, Luke 2.49, that you
sought me? Whist not, did you not know that
I must be about my fathers? The last words of the Incarnate
Christ are from the cross. He says, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. What
faith! What a trial of faith! And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
remained faithful unto death, the death of the cross. He came down, John 6.39, he came
down from heaven. What a remarkable thing, isn't
it? That God Almighty in human flesh should come down from heaven.
John 6.38, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of him who sent me. What is God's will? We don't
have to guess what God's will is. It's as clear as you could
wish it to be. John 6.39, and this is the Father's
will which has sent me. that of all of which he has given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me. that everyone that seeth, which
seeth the sun, I pray that we might see the sun this morning,
and believeth on him. I pray that he might give us
faith just to simply believe on him. This is the will of him
that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. It is finished. He bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. It is finished. It's in the perfect
tense. Perfectly completed. Never to be repeated. He's declaring mission accomplished. So if you have your Bibles there,
just turn back a couple of pages and let's look at why he came
and what it is that he's done. I just love the prayer in John
chapter 17. It's so profound and as all of
the words of our Lord, they are declared with great simplicity
of words, but so deeply, deeply profound. Why did he come? Why
did he come? Listen to what he prayed. John
17.1. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. What's it about? What's the work
about? It's about the glory of God and
the glory of the Son. And that glory revealed in the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Listen to what he
goes on to say. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, they might see Him and believe. They might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent. Listen to what he goes on to
say in verse 4. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. Finished it. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. That's what he's here
for, isn't it? And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ lived in
eternal glory with his Son. And here he speaks from the cross,
it is finished, looking so, so battered and beaten, marred beyond
recognition as a man, so far away from appearing glorious
you could ever have anyone to be. And yet, this is what he's
here for. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. If you have an opportunity, because
our time is limited, if you go to John 17, you just go through
all of the remarkable promises in John chapter 17, and you can
tick, and you can write beside them, finished, finished. The work given is finished. Verse
six, the manifestation of his name is given. Verse 11, the
union of father and son, and that union to his people, the
keeping of his people, the scripture fulfilling Christ. And listen to what he says in
verse 13. He says, and now I come to thee. I'm coming back to you, Father. And these things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. This is a time of triumph, brothers
and sisters in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ went there
as God Almighty in human flesh. He went there as a triumphant
saviour. He didn't come to try He didn't come to make something
available. He didn't come to create a possibility. You will call His name Jesus,
Matthew 121. Why? Because He shall save His
people from their sins. The thought of God Almighty Bless me. He is God. The thought of him failing is
like some worm of the dust standing before the mightiest animal possible,
isn't it? None of the stars could say no. None of the planets could say
no. Not an electron, not a tiny microbe
in all of this universe could say no. Our God reigns. Reigns. He came. He came. to glorify His Father. He came to glorify all of the
attributes of God. You take every single attribute
you can think of of God and you take it to the cross and you
see it just gloriously displayed. Who was
doing this? God was doing this. Who put him
to death? God put him to death. It was
the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God that did it,
and the men did it with wicked hands. But if you want to know
about the love of God, You go to the cross of Calvary. You
want to know about the grace of God. You want to know about
the mercy. You want to know about the wisdom
of God and the power of God and the justice of God and the faithfulness
of God. He came to glorify his Father. He came for his own glory, to
glorify all of the attributes of God. And he said, it's finished. It's all finished. It's accomplished. He came to
glorify the law and to make it honourable, Isaiah 42. He magnified
the law and made it honourable. People think that they can keep
the law and the Pharisees of old and the Pharisees of today
think that they can go to the law and work out of all of that
going, they can work out a moral behaviour and we ought to be
moral. But if the law comes to you like it came to Saul of Tarsus
on the Damascus road, you'll be crying out for a saviour.
You'll be crying out for a mediator. You'll be crying out for someone
who can keep it, as God requires it to be kept. And the Lord Jesus
Christ did. He said, don't think that I came
to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to
fulfill. And he did. Every last tiny aspect
of the law of God was perfectly filled with love and adoration
and delightful obedience to his father. What else was fulfilled? All of the Old Testament, you
open your Bible and hold it between Genesis 1 and Malachi chapter
4, and you can say to every promise and every type, it is finished. It is finished. The Lord Jesus
Christ finished it. He is the seed of woman in Genesis. He's the lamb slain to cover
the shame of Adam and Eve. He's the acceptable sacrifice
that Abel brought to God. He is Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark
was pitched inside and out. And that word pitch is atonement.
It was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in picture form
that kept those people above the wrath of God as the wrath
of God fell on Noah's Ark. And they, the children of God,
those eight souls, were protected in there just like all of God's
children are safe and protected from all the storms of God's
wrath and all the storms of this world in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's Abraham's provider. And here's Abraham's substitute. Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced. And he went up there. You can
read it in Genesis 22. It's the most remarkable story. You take
your son, your only son, up to this mountain I show you. And
Isaac asked the best question, the question that should be asked
over every message you hear from anyone ever speaking. He said,
here's the knife and here's the fire, here's the wood, where's
the lamb? Where's the lamb? And God said,
Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb for a sacrifice. And as he raised that knife above
Isaac, the Lord called out to him. And there was a ram caught
in a thicket. There was a ram behind them,
crowned with thorns. The Substitute. It's all speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Passover. He is the
smitten rock that followed them through all of the wilderness
wanderings. He is David's Lord and he is David's son of promise.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 9. I just love this verse of
scripture. It's so significant. If you ever want to know what
the Old Testament is about, when you're struggling with anything in the
Old Testament, Luke chapter 9 is really wonderful because this
is the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount
of Sinai. when for that brief time, the very deity that the
Lord Jesus Christ was shone through his humanity. And as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance, verse 29, was altered, and his
raiment was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, verse 30, which were Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the law, Elijah
represents the prophets. That's all of the Old Testament
is here represented in these two men, who appeared in glory. and spoke of his decease. That word decease literally means
exodus. The Lord Jesus Christ is crucified
at the Passover where they are remembering the exodus. They
spoke of his decease which he should accomplish. He should fulfil completely. Don't you love it? If you see
Him in His glory, this is what you will speak all of the time.
It's finished. If you hear, listen to what God
goes on to say. Peter, as ever, talks far too
quickly and far too often. And while thus Peter was speaking,
there came a cloud, verse 34, and overshadowed them, and they
feared as they entered into the cloud, and there came a voice
out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. If you hear of him in his glory,
in his word, this is what he will speak to you. It is finished. These scriptures testify of me. What did he do in John 4? Jesus says to those disciples,
my meat, the very sustenance of my being, is to do the will
of him that sent me and to finish his work. Finish his work. What a glorious work it is. The
very activities, the very work and the very being of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary is the fulfilment of
all of the scriptures. And what a glorious declaration
of our God. Listen to what Daniel says. You
can turn there if you like, but it's in Daniel 9. It's a really
well-known Prophecy of the Messiah coming, the Lord Jesus Christ. Seventy weeks are determined. upon thy people and upon thy
holy cities. That's why the Jews in the days
of the Lord Jesus Christ at his birth, they knew where he was
born. They were looking for the Messiah. They were anxiously
looking for the Messiah. They sent delegations up to check
out John the Baptist if he was the Messiah. They watched the
Lord Jesus Christ for three and a half years, examining him minutely. Our Lamb was examined as closely
as possibly could by the enemies. What a favour they did to us.
But listen to what the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is. This
is what's finished. Listen to it. 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Listen to it. To finish
transgression, that is all of your activities in breaking the
law of God. To make an end of sins. and to make reconciliation for
iniquity. Transgression, sin and iniquity. And listen what he brings in.
He's taking those things away and to bring in everlasting righteousness. We think everlasting starts when
we do something and it goes on forever, don't we? That's how
we normally think of something as everlasting. Not according to
the scriptures. Everlasting has no beginning
and everlasting has no end. And in reality we are living
in everlasting right now. It has no beginning and no end. Everlasting to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint
the most holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,
and threescore and two weeks, and the streets shall be built
again, and the wall even in troublous times. And after threescore and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, killed, but not for himself. The Messiah shall be cut off. Why was he cut off? For all the
sins of all of his people. He shall save his people from
their sins. I must work the work. I must
work the work of him that sent me. The Lord Jesus Christ saw
the cross of Calvary and he set his face like a flint. He came
to this world to go to the cross of Calvary. He says in Luke chapter
12, he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how I
am straightened until it be accomplished, finished. He had a baptism. He on the cross of Calvary was
completely immersed, submerged under the wrath of God. Our great God bore the infinite
wrath of God Almighty in his own body. and in him on the cross
were all of his people. So what was finished in him was
finished for all of his people. Listen to how the Apostle Paul
is led of God to describe the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, Galatians 2.19, For I threw the law and dared to
the law that I might live under God. Listen to what he says.
I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. The Lord Jesus Christ was there
as a representative of all of his people. And doesn't it give
us great hope, brothers and sisters? We have a gospel that's powerful.
We have a gospel that is finished. We have a gospel that because
of the glory of that finished work, it will reach to the chief
of sinners. It will reach to every one of
those sheep. There will be a sheepfold that
will be full of the sheep. There will be a body which is
perfect, there will be a congregation in heaven which is perfect and
full. And because of that finished
work, Listen to how the Apostle describes what happened to him.
Because of what happened on the cross of Calvary, while Paul
was an enemy, while Paul spent the next several years doing
the level best he could to destroy the very name and mention of
the Lord Jesus Christ from this earth, it says, he says, But
when, Galatians 1.15, this is conversion. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his Son, what's the next word say? In me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. How can a risen, resurrected,
holy God live in someone like us? There is just one reason, isn't
there? It is finished. All of the sins, just as we read
in Daniel 9, all of the sins and all of the iniquity and all
of the transgressions were all laid on the Lord Jesus Christ
and God the Father punished them until he said, I am satisfied. And therefore God can come and
say to these people, they are mine. God can take up residence
in his people because it is finished. To reveal his son in me that
I might preach him among the heathen. He came to save his people from
their sins. I want us to turn briefly to
see something that I think is just so wonderful in Hebrews
chapter 10. These are well-known verses,
but in Hebrews 10 verse 40, 10 verse 12, and we'll go down a
bit further. Hebrews 10 verse 12. But this
man, listen to what he finished. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Why did he sit down? It's finished. Paid in full. Completed. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. All of those, we are in Adam
natural enemies of God Almighty. And he comes in sovereign power
and sovereign grace and declares to his people, it is finished. And he makes us, we bow, don't
we? We find being at his footstool
so wonderful. Listen to what he goes on to
say, for by one offering he hath, what? Perfected forever. That's our word. He's perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also
a witness to us, for after that he said before, this is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, so the Lord, I will
put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write
them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sin. I just love hearing those words. God has accepted His Son and
His Son's offering and everyone in His Son is accepted in the
Beloved. But listen to what he goes on
to say. This is the ongoing work. I wanted to say, I said earlier
that this is a work that is finished and this is a work that is ongoing
in our world right now. Having therefore brethren, boldness,
freedom to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new
and living way. New and living way means in the
original flesh freshly slaughtered. The blood of Christ is ever new. The blood of Christ is always
fresh. new and living way which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh,
and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water. Finished, accomplished, fulfilled. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful who promised. What is finished? All of what he came to do. Don't you love the fact that
all of the promises of God our yay and amen in him to the glory
of god by us second corinthians chapter one all the promises
all the promise did he do it And in the hearts of his people,
he does it. It's a perfect. That word can
be translated and often is, and we read it in Hebrews chapter
10. He has perfected. Perfect salvation is completed
salvation. Perfect salvation is finished
salvation. Perfect salvation is fulfilled
salvation. And it's fulfilled on the cross. but it's fulfilled as a living
reality in the lives of all of his people. Why? Because they
are in union with him. His final words in his prayer
in John 17 are just wonderful, isn't it? He says, Father I will,
this is my prayer, I will, verse 24 of John 17, Father I will,
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. What's heaven? being with the
Lord Jesus Christ where I am, that they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world, O righteous Father. The world hath not known thee,
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and I will declare it. Don't you love the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the preacher of the Gospel? And if
you're ever going to hear from God, you're going to hear the
words as they really are, the very words of God. That, and
this is the reason for the declaration of the Gospel, this is what he
finished, and that the love wherewith thou hast loved me I don't know what those words,
I just can't get to the depth of the wonder of those words.
I believe them and I rejoice in them. But what a remarkable
prayer, finished, perfected, forever. When did it happen? 2,000 years ago. on a cross outside of Calvary. Why is it perfect salvation? Because you didn't have anything
to do with it. It's all the work of God. Wasn't all the work of
God 2,000 years ago? It was all of his work, wasn't
it? He did it. It's perfect salvation. It's
completed salvation because there's a perfect saviour. The salvation
is finished because of the he who finished it. It's perfect. If Christ saved you, you can't
mess it up. When Christ died on Calvary's
tree, every single sin of yours was a future sin, wasn't it? He took them all away. He gave his life for the sheep. Salvation is finished. It didn't depend on you when
he said these words. And it always depends on him.
Who is God the Father looking to for all of the salvation of
all of his people and all of the glory of his name? He's looking
to the Son. Just think for a minute what
it is for God the Father to see His Son in glory now, with those
wounds, having finished that work. If the Lord Jesus Christ died
for you, you are saved. You are saved. You were saved
before the foundation of the world. You were saved by the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. We're
saved when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us through the
preaching of the gospel and he takes up residence in us. We
are being saved and we're continually being saved. Turn with me to
2 Timothy chapter 1 and I want us to see how glorious and eternal
and secure this salvation is, how wonderful it is. This is the testimony. This is
what Paul says is the testimony that God gave him. He says, Be
not thou therefore ashamed. Don't you be ashamed of the testimony,
the witness. This is the witness of God the
Father, God the Spirit and God the Son about the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us, with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel,
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles, for which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless
I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed. Believing to whom? If you have
the whom right, all the other aspects of believing will be
just fine. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able. to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day. His work in the hearts of
his people is to cause them to be persuaded, to cause them to
commit, to cause them to look to that glorious day. It is finished,
brothers and sisters. It is finished. How thankful
we ought to be to our God for His great and complete and accomplished
and perfect salvation, if He allows us, by His grace,
to worship Him in spirit and truth. That's His work in our
lives, His ongoing work. look unto me and be ye the Lamb of God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you and praise you for the coming, for the sending and the coming
of your dear and precious Son into this world, Heavenly Father.
We praise you for a life lived in love and perfect holiness
and obedience before you. And we praise you, Heavenly Father,
for the wonder of a union of all of your people, with your dear
and precious Son, from all eternity, and reaching through all of the
ages of time, until that glorious time, Heavenly Father, when time
will be no more, and all of our vision and all of our views of
Heaven will be caught up in the wonder of the crucified and slain
Lamb of God, who reigns and rules over all things. Heavenly Father,
you've given him power over all flesh. I pray that in that power
he might be merciful to us, all of us here today, and others
that we know and love, and have on our hearts so much, Heavenly
Father. We thank you that that blood
reaches so deeply, works so powerfully, and speaks so securely. Bless his words to our hearts,
Heavenly Father, and may we May we be caused by your grace and
the faith that you alone can give to eat and drink in remembrance
of him and to declare the glories of his death until he come again.
Heavenly Father we thank you for accomplished salvation. in
your dear and precious Son. Bless these words that you have
caused to be written to the hearts of your people. May we go out
into this world being continually reminded of the power and the
wonder and the glory of our Saviour. We pray in his precious name.