To commence again, the help of Almighty God, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together, the Gospel according to John, chapter 19, and the text you'll find in verse 30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. We are gathered once again to give thanks unto the Lord for the harvest that he has provided to that covenant made with Noah and with the world that summertime and harvest, summer and winter, cold and heat would not cease until the end of time. As time continues, so God will continue to honour that covenant that he made and every harvest the farmer has not finished. He may gather in one harvest, but then he has to prepare the ground for another harvest. And so there is that constant cycle, that constant ploughing and reaping, ploughing and weeping, reaping, that constant need for physical food. The nation, should the farmers cease, will know they will go hungry, and so the farmers have to continue. and that is the physical need of our bodies and that event, that harvesting and that seed sowing will not cease until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. We know as Christ comes again, the time itself will stop. There is one event written here in scripture that is a one time event. And that is the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said it is finished, it was truly finished. There was nothing left for him to do. There was nothing left for anybody else to do. It was completely finished. His sacrifice was a perfect sacrifice. With him, God was well pleased with his a beloved son, and so as he cried out, it is finished, and he gave up the ghost, he died, he gave up his life as a ransom, a payment for sin. And that event will never ever, ever happen again. It is finished was his cry because We look at the Old Testament and we see the ceremonial law and the types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that constant bloodshed as the animals are sacrificed. We see the whole of Jewish life and society and culture governed by the sacrificial system, the holidays, the Sabbaths that they had and the constant a shedding of blood that took place at the temple, it finished. As soon as the Lord Jesus Christ gave up his life as a ransom for sin, there was no more need of any other sacrifice for he was the perfect sacrifice, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, God's lamb as he offered it to the world to provide that perfect substitutionary atonement for sin. And so as we see the Lord Jesus Christ crying out, it is finished, the sacrificial system finished. We see the curtain being rent from the top to the bottom as the Lord Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, the way into the Holy of Holies, that way that had been fenced, that way that had been shrouded in mystery. that only the high priest was able to enter into that place once a year with blood. A place where the common man was not able to enter, but had to stand afar off and look on as the high priest went there into that holy place. The temple curtain was rent. The Lord Jesus Christ cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When he had cried again with a loud voice, he yielded up the ghost. As he cried, it is finished, he yielded up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And the earth did quake and the rocks, the earth quaked and the rocks rent. As Christ gave up his life, as his spirit separated from the body, as the soul separated from the body, as their temple was rent. And Christ opens up this new and living way where sinners are able to approach a holy God. You and I, we don't have to come with the sacrificial blood of lambs and bulls and of birds. We don't have to slaughter an animal to come into the presence of God. We don't have to be governed by times and seasons, the ceremonial law. We are able to enter into God's presence through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended up into heaven, into the holy of holies, not made with hands. And so we can come to this new and living way. We can pray to God. as a father that is in heaven, can enter into his presence, we can speak with him, and we can commune with our creator, all because the Lord Jesus cried, it is finished. All of those types of Christ, the high priest, the prophet, We see in the Old Testament that all the arrangements that were there made by God for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfils them all. He is the great high priest of his people, the one who is able to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, tried and tempted as we are yet without sin. He stands to mediate between God and man. He's the priest. He speaks the word of God. He speaks truth. God manifest in the flesh, the living word. And as the harvest now is finished. So this was the end of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those that are under the law. There was a great need for the Lord Jesus. There was a great need for this perfect sacrifice. We looked at this morning, we are all under sin, as in Adam all die. We were to live under the fear of the wrath and judgment of God. As the criminal, as we saw this morning, as the criminal it is, lives in fear of the police because he is guilty. So the sinner is to live in fear of God. Yet because Christ came and cried out, it is finished, and gave up his life, brought about reconciliation between God and man, that man, that sinners are able to approach God through Christ as their father. He became their substitute. As we look at the external sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see some of the horrendous injuries that he endured for his people. We're able to read them and we're able to in some way comprehend the pain that he went through externally. but nothing can fathom the depths of the sufferings of the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing can truly fathom the depths to which Christ suffered in his spirit as the wrath of God was poured out upon him for his people. We can understand in some way what it is to have an injury, And not many of us would like to take an injury on behalf of somebody else. Not many of us would like to be damaged because of the sin or because of the disobedience of somebody else. And of you children, we live in a politically correct age, but you would not like to be smacked by your mother or father because of the misbehavior of your brother. You would say, I don't deserve it. You would say it wasn't me that did it, you should punish him, you should discipline him, it was him that did it. Well the Lord Jesus Christ came to experience something far greater, not just physical pain but spiritual abandonment of his father upon the cross, the whole wrath of almighty God for sin was poured out upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because he himself had done anything wrong, or even Pilate himself says, this man has done nothing amiss. This man, I find no fault in him. And so the Lord Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the substitute for sinners, You see, it was not that Jesus deserved to be there, but he says, no man takes my life. I lay it down of myself and I take it up again. There was no, as he says to Pilate, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee has the greatest sin. In the Book of Acts it tells us, delivered by the predetermined counsel of God. This was God's perfect plan to bring about the salvation of his dearly beloved people, worked out from before the foundation of the world, spoken to and revealed to in the Garden of Eden by God himself to Eve that the seed of the woman was going to come to bruise the serpent's head, to overthrow the curse that was laid upon the Lord's dear people and that curse was going to fall upon his beloved son as a substitute for sinners. What Christ experienced is what everybody in hell will experience for all eternity. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ experienced it in a compressed space of time. Three hours in the darkness. Three hours as he cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Something that no human mind can fully comprehend. that Christ experiences the eternal wrath of God contracted to a three hour moment of time. And yet in that three hour moment of time it was enough to pay the debt of sin that was owed to God through millions and millions and millions of people that would ever believe in Christ Jesus. All of those in Christ Jesus were dealt with Christ cries out for them. It is finished. If you think of Abraham and Isaac, we have there a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary work. As God speaks to Abraham, and tells him that he's going to take his son, his only son, Isaac, and offering up for a sacrifice. And he obeys. He takes his son, Isaac, goes to the mountain of Moriah, and offers up his son. And Abraham said, my son, sorry, verse seven, and Isaac spoke unto Abraham, his father, and said, my father, he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. So they went both of them together. We see as Abraham goes up to the mountain and prepares the altar, takes the knife ready to slay his son. The Lord cries out, Abraham, Abraham. And he is provided with a substitute, he is provided with an exchange that he is to slaughter the ram in the stead of his son. And as we come then to Calvary and we see the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, we see the exchange that has taken place. Isaac was swapped for a ram. That ram was slain in his stead. The sinner who was due to fall under the wrath of God for their just punishment, for their sin, is exchanged. And that Christ becomes that sacrificial lamb. Christ becomes that Passover lamb, that substitute. I wonder, how is it with you? Isaac was able to testify. The Lord provided for me a substitute. The Lord provided for me a lamb. Have you got the lamb this evening? Have you got the lamb of God this evening? Did the Lord Jesus Christ cry out upon the cross? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Did he cry out for you? Is his finished? It's like the Jews on the day of Passover. The sacrifice was to be made. The lamb was to be slaughtered. The blood was to be placed upon the doorposts and upon the lintel and the angel passed over. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague will not come upon you to destroy you. Has the blood been applied to our hearts? Are we sheltering underneath the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? The Bible tells us that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from from all sin. Jesus gives us very detailed accounts of what it will be like to be punished by God. He tells us of the consequences of those who remain under the law of God, who die in their sins. He tells us very clearly that they will be judged according to the law. It tells us that they will experience the wrath of God, not just for a moment of time, because time will cease. It tells us that they will experience the wrath of God for all eternity. The Bible tells us that there will be the place of hell, by which there will be a place of punishment and torment. The Bible tells us there that there will be flames. But these flames will not be similar to the flames that we see here on earth. The flames here on earth give light, they give heat, they give enjoyment. But the flames in hell, they are flames of darkness. There is no light there. There is no means by which there would be mercy. All of those in hell are under the just judgment and wrath of almighty God. And Jesus says that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A complete contrast to heaven. The Bible tells us that in heaven there will be no weeping. There will be no regret. But hell will be a place of weeping and regret. For there They are abandoned by God. As Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So will be the cry of those in hell for all eternity. My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me? Why hast thou forsaken me? You see, there was darkness over the face of the earth. from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. Three hours, Jesus experienced all that he went through. And although we can only look into that external suffering of his, and no human mind can fully grasp or comprehend all that took place upon the cross at Calvary, but what we do know, that even in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cried out. if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. If it is possible, sweating great drops of blood as he foresaw all that he was going to go through, we can comprehend a little of the, of the, of the, of the, anxiety that was going through his body at that time as he contemplated all that was going to take place. But an angel appeared to strengthen him. He did not deviate from the work that he had come to do. because he loved his people. He says, I know my sheep and they know me. He calls them by name. He has the Lamb's Book of Life by which I recorded all of his dear ones. And so he couldn't deviate from the task that the Lord gave him to do. But for love, for love to sinners, Jesus died. Sinners Jesus will receive, be that forgotten never. This man receiveth sinners, is the accusation that they spoke of him. But are we not thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ received sinners? Are we not thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ left the eternal glory of heaven and made himself a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death so that he could be born under the law of God and live a perfect and an upright and righteous life so that his people might live, so that his people may be able to be classed as righteous as he dies upon the cross, as he pays the penalty for their sin. so that they might go free. And so he cries, it is finished. This work that I have come to do is now complete. I've completed all of the ceremonial law. I've completed all of the prophecies regarding myself. I've completed the work that the father gave me to do. I am now, I've experienced the wrath of almighty God for the eternal judgment for sin. And now he gives up the ghost. He gives up the ghost so that he can experience death for his people. Made himself a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. But he didn't lay there. And like Muhammad, many of the other prophets who were still in the grave, But the Lord Jesus Christ is not in the grave. The scripture tells us that he rose again from the grave. and stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre and seeth the linen clothes lie, and a napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. Then Mary went to the sepulcher and meets the Lord Jesus Christ. Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? The other gospel tells us he is not here. The angels say he is not here. He is risen. He rose again from the grave. The scripture tells us to justify his people. Although it is finished, he enters into the grave and he rises again, signifying that God was well pleased with his son's sacrifice, that his blood had made an atonement, that he had paid the debt that was owed to his people. If you think of the high priest when he went in on that day of atonement, the people of Israel, how they waited in anticipation for the high priest to come out again. knowing that the Lord had accepted the sacrifice. So as Christ rises again from the grave, we see and can testify that he is not here, that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of his beloved son on behalf of his people. But his work is not finished. Yes, we read it is finished. and his earthly life, physical body came to an end, but he rose again as the first fruit of the resurrection and then ascended up into glory. And there he is even today at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding for his people as their great high priest. And that work that he is doing will continue. It will continue until time has an end. until the Father says to the Son, it is finished. Puts an end to this world. The trumpets will sound and the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. Everything on this world will just continue as it is. Buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be. the coming of the Son of Man. God the Father will say, it is finished. Time will be no more and Jesus Christ will come again to deliver his people. You see, we fall into a rut. We are lulled into a false sense of security that time is just going to continue and continue. Our lives are just going to go on and go on, but they're not. There is a time set by God the Father when this world shall cease and our lives shall be no more. One day we'll begin a year and that year won't end. One day we'll begin a month and that month won't end. One day we'll begin a day and that day won't end. One day will begin an hour and a minute and a second and those things won't end. Because Christ will come and put an end to all of these things that we see here below. Then there will be the judgment. Before him will be gathered all nations, the scriptures tell us. seemingly an impossibility, but not as impossible as God sending his son into the world to die for sinners, paying the eternal wrath of God contracted into three hours to redeem a people for himself, if that could take place. And John says, these things have written so that you might believe. Then there is coming a day when all nations shall stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, every person that has ever been born from Adam to the person who is the last person ever to exist on this earth, they will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody will be missing. And he will divide them as a shepherd divides his sheep. And it will be either you pay and I pay or Jesus pays for the debt that we owe to God for our sin. And Jesus said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. At the end of time it will be, it is finished. He won't bow his head, but he will come down from glory and he will divide as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And those on his right hand will be with him forever and ever. Not because of anything that they have done, not because of any works that they have achieved, but all because of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Going into all the world and preach the gospel is the command of the Lord Jesus. Preach that there has been a way made that sinners may look to the Lord Jesus Christ and that they may live. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man should be lifted up. And whosoever looketh upon Him should not perish, but have an everlasting life. And so as we are truly thankful for another harvest, but it's another harvest less. It's another harvest less for us, for we don't know when our life will end, but it's also another harvest less for this world. God has set a sand timer on this world, and one day it will finish. And only those who are found in Christ Jesus, when he cried out, it is finished. Only those will live for eternity with God. The others will cry out for eternity, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? They will eternally exist in darkness with weeping and with gnashing of teeth. May the Lord grant us that faith to be challenged by the word, the truth, and to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to live. It is finished. Amen.