Well, I'm glad I'm here. I really am. I've got to figure out how to
turn this thing on. You have to do two things. That's one. And we'll go. That's two. You
know, I can't preach hard, so... John chapter 19. Thanks for that
old hymn. I hadn't heard that in a long
time. I used to hear that when my grandmother used to dandle
me on her knees and tell me stories about great young men with slings
that slew giants and such. Thirty-one years ago, I believe,
was the first time I preached in this pulpit. I preached from
Galatians chapter 5, verse 11. My memory is not that good, but
first things usually do stick in your mind. I preached on the
offense of the cross. I remember after I preached,
several of the men, some who are here tonight, took me over into the book room
and gave me a full set of Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. And they said,
man preached like that needs help. That's one of those phrases that,
you know, so I left it where it was, but those books have
been very useful through the years. John chapter 19, I want
to read one verse of Scripture. Verse 30, When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head. He gave
up the ghost, or he willfully, voluntarily died. It is finished, is my text tonight.
I think it was old Martin Lloyd-Jones said he loved the gospel because
it set everything in its proper order. I love it for that also,
and I love it for the fact that it settles everything when it Gary will stand up here later
and preach, and God give me grace to preach the gospel tonight.
There may be some here who won't believe what I say, but they'll know what they don't
believe. And that's a settling thing.
Nobody enters in and sits under the gospel of God's grace, God's
free and sovereign grace, and walks out the same. Nobody does. When you're confronted with truth,
and there is but one truth, you either believe or you don't.
Either in or you're out. It's that simple. It's always
that plain. That's the beauty of the gospel.
Poor creatures like us have to stand up and say it. We try to
preach it. But the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And what you've
heard tonight will put you where you're supposed to be. It always
works that way. God said through Paul, we are
always victorious when we preach the gospel. And though we are
poor creatures and not very good at it, it always smells good
to God. It is a sweet savor unto God. And to some who hear it, it is
a savor of life. It smells like life, eternal
life. And to others who hear it, it
smells like death. And that's what's going to happen tonight.
That's what's happening tonight. It is finished. Boy, that has a ring to it, doesn't
it? That has a sort of a stopping point, stop sign kind of sound
to it, doesn't it? There are no words in all of
Scripture, I think, that are more familiar and more precious
to the believer than these three words. It is finished. To me, and I believe to everyone
who loves the gospel, this is poetry. This is poetry. Not a very long poem, but it
is poetry nonetheless. These are words that describe
a crowning achievement, the achievement that began before time, when
God Almighty picked out of a fallen race that did not yet exist,
a people for himself, his very own people. God said of those
He chose, this is my very own people, this is my family. It was an innumerable company of
sinners, every one of them. a gargantuan
number of miscreants that walked upon the earth, on whom He would
simply, plainly, just, freely bestow His grace. Why did He
do that? Because He is God. And He can. And He did. He sent His Son into this world
to die for that number. and his son before the world
began, signed his name to the sin debt that they owed when
he mismade their surety. He assumed human flesh and stood
in their room instead and suffered the punishment that they were
due. For three hours of darkness, he bore up under the wrath of
God and drank that punishing cup dry of all wrath. And then we end up at our text. And he cries with a loud voice,
It is finished. It is finished. These words are
a powerful declaration of successful completion of the redemption
of every one of God's chosen race. In time, the Holy Spirit
will make this vast company aware of what God has done for them. He'll do it through the preaching
of the gospel, by taking the things of Christ and showing
it unto these elect. And the picture he paints and
the report he tells, the doctrine he teaches is so glorious. that
every one of the elect will be totally enamored with Christ,
helplessly in love with Christ. And one of the things that the
Holy Spirit will plant in the heart and mind of every believer,
ingrain it and etch it in them, are these three words. It is finished. It is finished. These words are spoken by the
Lord Jesus Christ, and these words are stronger than iron,
and they will ring true in all eternity when time is no more. I know religion endeavors to
change the meaning of these words, or give them some new meaning,
or explain them way altogether. But the believer knows what they
mean, and willingly hangs his never-dying soul right here It is finished. It is finished. One man said, not only does the
Bible say what it says, it means what it means. I've heard many
try to make these words say something other than what they say. One
man, while preaching a funeral, said that what Christ meant with
these words was that he was finished with his part, and the rest was
up to you. I heard another, a fellow down
in Atlanta, who is a doctor of theology, he spent an hour trying
to explain how the work of Christ was finished, but not complete,
unless a person believed it. How sad is that? How sad is that? How sad for the King of Kings,
bless his heart, to dangle in limbo two thousand years until
I came along and gave His words some value." That's a sad Jesus
if that's the one you worship. Men certainly think a lot of
themselves, don't they? How desperate Christ must have
felt knowing that the efficaciousness of His work had to wait on the
wriggling worms and maggots of this earth to lift up their heads
from the dunghill that they lived on. and make His great works
viable. And this great proclamation has
some sort of value and meaning. No, it means what it means. And
Christ meant what He said. From the cross of Calvary, while
hanging in agonies and blood, He lifted up His head and with
great power and strength. And the reason for that was,
you see, that all that was going on there, with those men who
despised him and were wagging their tongues against him and
mocking him, and those soldiers who had put the nails in his
hands, and those who had spat upon him, and those who had abused
him. He was controlling their every
move. They didn't know it. They were being used. Don't you
just hate to be used? Let me tell you this. If God
made you, He uses you. And He'll use you exactly as
He sees fit. Everybody who lives on the top
side of this earth and who has ever lived and who ever will
be lived will serve God's purpose. They
will be used of God. That's the God of this Bible
who doesn't give account of His matters. who does as He pleases
in heaven and earth and all the deep places, even under the sea,
who could tell a bacteria called muraine, you can land on these
cattle, but you can't land on those cattle. Bacteria obey God. They obey God. These words, it
is finished, have meaning. They mean something and they
are backed up with the very authority of God Almighty in heaven, and
they are words that resound to the glory of Almighty God, and
words that fulfill all the prophecies, types, and shadows of all that
God has spoken throughout the Old Testament. Look with me just
for a moment at a few things that refer to what our Lord is
speaking of here. In Isaiah chapter 43, In Isaiah 43, look at verse 25. God said, I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not
remember thy sins. You reckon that took place? It
took place. How do I know? Christ said it. It is finished. It is finished. Look at chapter 44 and verse
22. I have blotted out. As a thick
cloud, as a cloud, thy sins return to me, for I have redeemed thee. Past tense. Spoken centuries
before our Lord said, it is finished. Isaiah 53, 6, "...all we like
sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities
of all." It says, "...by His stripes, and with His stripes
we are healed." Look at Jeremiah 31. Look at verse 31, "...Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, And with the sons of Judah, and if
you wonder who that is, if you're a believer, that's you. We are
through Israel. We are God's Israel. We're God's
people. He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, you see. But inwardly,
the circumcision is of the heart and not the flesh. This praise
is of God and not of men. Not according to the covenant
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the
hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was like a husband to them. But this shall
be the covenant that I will make with them with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their hearts."
That's not talking about the Ten Commandments. It's talking
about His Word. "...and write it in their hearts,
and I will be their God." They shall be my people, and they
shall know more every man say to his neighbor and his brother,
saying, Know the Lord." They're all going to know me. They won't
have to give invitations. They won't have to drag people
down the aisle and gang-save them. They won't have to do that.
Every one of God's elect are going to know God. That's why
we preach the gospel. That's why we send missionaries
to foreign lands to have them proclaim the gospel. That's the
only reason. That's it. They all shall know
me from the least of them to the greatest of them, and I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. How do I know that's taken place?
Christ said, it is finished. One more, Jeremiah chapter 50,
verse 20. Are you familiar with this? In
those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. That ought to float your boat
right there. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon whom I reserve." That's
taken care of. That's a done deal. That's what
our Lord meant when He said, It is finished. Something's done. Something is over. Something
is finished. That's what our Lord said. These
words mean something. They mean something to everybody.
I want us to consider this fact tonight and look at three points
of view. And I'll try not to keep you too long, because I'm
kind of looking forward to hearing Gary. The first thing is, what do these
words mean to God? Secondly, what do these words
mean to the believer? And thirdly, what do these words
mean to the self-righteous? First, what do these words mean
to God? Well, it is safe to say that it is God incarnate who
spoke these words in triumphant glory and power. These words
are true, or the one who said them is a fraud. My brother-in-law
was sitting in a restaurant in New York City just before 9-11,
and he was sitting at a table with several men he worked with,
or worked with the magazine he was working with, Jewish fellow,
and there was an Arab fellow, and there was a Baptist sitting
there and a Catholic sitting there. You just had the whole
conglomerate right there. And they started talking about
religion. And my brother-in-law didn't want to talk about it.
But they started talking about Jesus Christ. And the Arab said,
well, you know, he was a prophet like Mohammed. He sat right there
at the table. And the Jewish said, we believe he was a great
prophet also, great teacher. And of course, the Baptist said,
well, he's my Savior. And my brother-in-law, bless
his heart, he said, listen, fellows. He said, if he's not the Son
of God, he's a fraud and a liar. And all of them were taken aback.
But that's just the case. The one who spoke these words
is God, who cannot lie. To God, these words are the completion
of something. I mean, it is He who speaks when
He says, It is finished. It is the completion of something.
It is the completion of whatever He intended in the suffering
and death of His Son. It was done right there and completed,
whatever was intended. The promises of the Old Testament
are manifold concerning this very hour on Calvary Street. Every lamb, every bullock whose
blood was drained from his victimized body, form a great coagulant
finger that points across history and time to the one who cried
these three words, it is finished. Every day of atonement, every
prophet, priest, and king lived, existed in this world to point
to this man who speaks these words at this time. To find out
what God intended is easy. I know a lot of people say, well,
I don't know what the will of God is. Stick around, you'll find
out. One old fellow said, I pick up
the paper every morning to see what God's done. We just had a new president elected
to the United States of America. Some people are really unhappy
about it. I'm okay with it. You know why? Because God put
him on the throne. God puts princes on the throne
and takes princes down. That's His business. It's His
business. And it's not going to change
anything. Everything's on schedule. Everything's running right on
course. Every dust speck that's been
ordained to fly across the sunbeam is still going to fly across
the sunbeam. And you're going to get up in the morning if God
has so ordained it, and you will do what you do tomorrow. Because
that's how it works. You say, well, that's absolute
predestination. Put you out. The only one that can do absolute
predestination is us. Ronnie was telling me about it
a couple of times. He said, I was on my way to Cherokee, down to
the conference, on my way out of town, in the car with the
bags packed, headed for Cherokee. Something happened. And I couldn't
go. Man proposes. God disposes. That's how that works. We predestinate
all the time. We live a life of predestination.
We're all practical predestinaries. We are. How'd you get here tonight? Well, I just sit in my living
room and I ended up here. No, you didn't, did you? What'd
you do? Well, probably took a shower. I hope you took a shower. planned
today to get into your car at a certain time, to have a meal
at a certain time, to get in your car at a certain time, to
turn the key on in your car, all that's part of the plan,
you see. Your destination was to get here tonight. That was
your destination. You predetermined to get here
tonight. And you did all that other stuff, finally getting
there, cranking up your car, driving it on the road, pointing
it in this direction to arrive at this place. You're a predestinarian. It's not that people don't understand
predestination. They just don't like it when
God does it. They understand it perfectly. They practice it
every day of their life. People say, well, I don't understand
it. That's just a lie. You do, too. You just don't like
it. People have difficulty with election. They say, I don't understand
election. You do understand election. You just don't like it. Everybody
understands election. We choose all the time, though.
I chose my wife. She's not here tonight, but she'll
be here tomorrow. I chose her because I loved her. I wanted
to be with her the rest of my life. And that election wasn't
a general election. It was very specific. If it had been general, I don't
think my life as a wife would have proved. You understand elections. Of course you do. Everybody does. Everybody understands the truth.
They just don't like it. You can't not understand the
truth. It's just one thing you can't misunderstand it. You see
that? There's one way, one truth, one
life. That is Jesus Christ the Lord. That's it. That's it. And if it's just one way, you're
not confused. If there's two things, you'd
be confused. But there's just one, so you can't be confused.
You can just hate it or love it, but you're not confused.
Our Lord said, it is finished. And what God, we can know what
God intends to do by this thing, what gets done. There you know. Because if it gets done, we can
rest assured that God intended to do it. So don't worry about
God's intention. Just look at what He's done.
And that's what we do every time we get up and preach the gospel.
All we have to do is look at what was done. He's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Paul told Timothy what these words meant to God. Paul
told Timothy, God has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world
began. That was His intent, and that's
what He did. That's what He did. It is finished. It is easy to understand what
God meant with this and what it means to him by the fact that
he told Joseph to name Jesus Christ a certain name, a certain
name in Matthew 1.21. Our Lord was named Jesus. Why name him that? Because he
shall save his people from their sins. Call in there. You want
to know what God intended? He intended for Jesus Christ
to save His people from their sins. This matter here on the
cross, when our Lord said it is finished, speaks to death.
It speaks to the penalty of sin. It means that the laws demands
on all for whom Christ died were finished and satisfied. Justice
can demand no more, you see. Why? Justice, what do you have
to say? I can't say anything. Why? Because
it's finished. It is finished. Justice has received
its pound of flesh. The law has been satisfied in
all its demands. And that's a sure and an absolute. What does the law have to do
with the believer? Nothing. Why? It's finished. It's finished. What do these words mean to the
believer? Everything. They just mean everything to
the believer. To elaborate a little bit, one
thing it means is that when my salvation was finished, it was
already done before I ever heard about it. It was taken care of. It was settled. This means to
me that there was no way that I could have ever had anything
to do with it, because it was finished. It means the world to me because
I know what I am, and I know what I am. And if something had
been left up to me, I simply had nothing to offer. And it's
really good news to someone like that to hear these words. He is finished. Something else. I'm here, tonight, now. And these
words mean the world to me right now. I live and breathe and walk in
this world. I seek to serve the Lord. I've
never been very good at it, but I try. I love my family. I love my brothers and sisters
in Christ. I seek in my crippled way to
please my Savior, but you know what? None of that matters. Because
it's finished. You see, 2,000 years ago, it
was finished. Before the world began, it was
finished. That's a constant, pleasant reminder
that my life, my life has nothing to do with my salvation. Now, salvation has something
to do with my life. But my life has nothing to do
with my salvation. These words also reveal to me
that no event or circumstance can change this fact, none whatsoever. When I find myself in heights
of glory, nothing has changed this fact. When I find myself
in deaths of despair, nothing changes this fact. If I live
or die, Nothing changes this fact. If I live long enough to
get really old and infirm, and I get dementia and forget God
altogether, and hate everybody I see, and drool out of my mouth, nothing changes. It is finished. It is finished. That's why we can say, we know.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate to Him, He also called, justified
and glorified. It's finished. You're as holy as you're ever
going to be. You're as righteous as you're ever going to be. What's
going to change? You're going to leave something
behind. when you die. You know the only things of value
in this world today? I know we count a whole lot of things valuable.
You know what's valuable? I'm going to tell you. You can
write this down. You can put this on your wall as a motto.
If I can't take it with me, it ain't worth nothing. I think that over. That's just
the truth. If I can't take it with me, it's not worth a thing.
What can you take with you, believer? Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Whom on earth beside Thee? I
can take Him with me. I can take what He's done for
me with me. That's eternal. Everything else
I'm going to leave behind. It's just of no value whatsoever.
What do these words mean to the self-righteous? Now, when I speak of self-righteousness,
I'm not talking strictly about individuals who exhibit such
a goody-goody, two-shoes behavior that no one can hardly stand
to be around. I know some people like that. There's a lot of me
in there. A lot of that in me. I've said
many times before, I'm a recovering legalist. I'm a legalist in recovery. I've not beat it yet. When I talk about self-righteousness,
I mean those who believe that somehow, some way, They merit
a righteousness before God. They merit a standing before
God, based on what they do or what they don't do. They believe
that somehow, in some way, their life recommends them to God. They don't partake of social
evils. They are kind and philanthropic and spend their lives in service
to others. Perhaps some feel righteous because
they have embraced a system of theology and joined themselves
with those who worship God in spirit and in truth. All of these things are commendable.
They are. And things that all men, especially
believers, should aspire to. But you see, It's finished. It's finished. You and I can
neither add to nor take away from that which is done. It's perfect. That's another
rendering of those three words. It's actually one Greek word.
I don't know much Greek. I know a little Greek. His name
is Sam Blahos. He's about 5'4", and he owns
a Greek restaurant. I used that joke 30 years ago. The word is perfect. Teleo. It is translated here. It is
finished. Back up in verse 28, I think
it is. The word is accomplished. All
things were accomplished. That same word, teleo. When it
said in Hebrews chapter 10 that by his one sacrifice he had perfected
forever them that are sanctified, same word. Now imagine the scene,
if you will. Our Lord hanging there. Men having
done their worst to it. God having poured out His wrath
on him in three hours of darkness, punishing our sins in Him. And Him coming out on the other
side alive. Remember that. God didn't kill His Son. And
you didn't kill His Son. Because that's what was in your
heart. He was a murder in your heart. Then he did something. After he had suffered the ignominious
hatred of men against him, that's his physical sufferings. He suffered
the punishment that was due his people for an eternal hell in
three hours. And then he did something. He
died. He accomplished death, is what it
says. Luke 9. He died. And when he died, when
he died, everything was finished. It was finished. You say, well, don't we have
to hear about it? You're going to hear about it. You want to
God's sheep, I'm telling you, He'll leave 99 behind and chase
you down until you hear about it. It's finished. Don't look at yourself. Stop
it. It'll help you. I'm telling you,
it'll help you. It is my prayer that if anyone
within the sound of my voice is considering, considering that
they have by any means attributed sufficient righteousness to gain
God's approval, if in any way. Hear these words. Hear them clearly. is finished. Hallelujah.