We open your Bibles with me to
John chapter 19. John chapter 19. There are a few phrases given
to us in God's Word that summarize the gospel of God's grace. We find the phrase in Christ
to be such a glorious summary of the gospel where God tells
us in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, but of him, of God the Father,
are you in Christ? who of God has been made unto
us our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption,
to be found in him. What a glorious, a glorious truth
and a glorious hope. In Adam, all die. Even so, in
Christ shall all be made alive. What a glorious summary and so
few words that gives the child of God hope of being found in
Christ. There is now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit. They don't mind the things of
the flesh for the hope of their salvation. They're minding the
things of the spirit for their salvation. Another phrase in the Bible that
summarizes the gospel is, Christ is all. He's all. He's all in salvation. He's all
in our election. He's all in redemption. He's
all in our regeneration. He's all in our sanctification.
He's all in our glorification. Christ is all, and He is in all. And He has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We know that He works all things
together for good for them that love Him and those that are the
called according to His purpose. We know that He created all things
and for His good pleasure they created and do exist. There is the phrase, or the name
we should say, I Am. This is another one of those
summary statements, if you will, that captures the glorious person
of the Lord Jesus Christ in so few words. translate this I Am
to Jehovah, it is the name that our Lord gave to Moses at the
burning bush when he said, you tell them that I Am hath sent
thee. He's the He's the self-existent one. He's not created. He's the creator. He's not dependent
upon anything. He's the sustainer of all things. He is the glorious I Am, the
uncreated, self-existent, immutable, sovereign, omnipotent God. He said, I am the bread of life. I am. the water of life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the resurrection and the life. The Lord Jesus
Christ tells us in this name how complete and full he is in
saving his people. Two words, I am. In Christ, two
words. Christ is all and in all, six
words. What are the most important three
words in the Bible? What are the three words that
summarize for us the gospel in such a glorious way? glorious
truth. It's found in Romans, in John
chapter 19. You have your Bibles open, look
at, look with me at verse 30. John chapter 19, at verse 30,
when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his mighty head. And then another gospel tells
us that he said unto his father, father into thy hands, I commend
my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. It
is finished. When something is finished, it
is brought to its end. The final conclusion, the perfect
completion. As a matter of fact, This phrase
is in the perfect tense in the original language, which just
simply means that it is an action completed, never to be repeated. That's what the perfect tense
means. An action completed, never to be repeated. He said, it is
finished. What is finished? What is finished? What did the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplish? What did He complete? What do these three words mean
to us? They were the last words that
He spoke from the cross. Surely He meant that He has finished
the performance of His Father's will. He told us, my meat is to do. Remember in John chapter four,
when the apostles went down to Sychar and they brought food
back, the Lord had revealed himself to that poor woman at the well.
And now he said to them, he said, aren't you going to eat? Now
my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. That's my whole
purpose. The very first words that we
have recorded in the Bible spoken by our Lord at 12 years old is
when he said to his mother, did you not know that I must be about
my father's business? And then his last words was,
it is finished. It is finished. I have completed
all that the Father sent me to do. I have kept his word and
performed his will. Turn to me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. The three words that summarize the gospel and
speak such peace and comfort to the hearts of God's people
is when the Son of God cried with a loud voice for all to
hear, it is finished. How successful have we been in
performing the will of God? Not very, have we? The Lord Jesus
Christ said, look what it says of him in Hebrews chapter 10,
beginning in verse seven. Then said I, lo, I come. For in the volume of the book,
it is written of me to do thy will, O God." In the volume of
the book, it is written of me that I am to do the will of my
Father. And so when he cried from the
cross and said, it is finished, He finished the will of God.
Look at verse eight, above when he said sacrifice and offerings
and burn offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest not, neither
had this pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. We're
not gonna satisfy the will of God by our offerings. The blood of bulls and goats
never put away sin. Then said he, then said he, lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He take it the way the first
that he may establish the second. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for
all. By the witch will, The Lord Jesus
Christ finished the will of his Father. In the covenant of grace
before the creation of the world, God the Father and God the Son
entered into a covenant relationship, and the Son agreed. to perform
and finish the will of his father. That's why our Lord in his high
priestly prayer in John chapter 17 at verse 4 said, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. You ever finish anything? I'm sure psychiatrists have a
heyday with me, but it seems like as I look back on my life,
everything I put my hand to, I leave a little something undone
on it. I don't know why I do that, but I do. Ask Tricia. Every
little project around the house, why didn't you paint that? Why
didn't you do... You know, I just can't seem to
ever get anything finished. Are you that way? The Lord Jesus Christ said he
finished. He finished the will of the Father. He performed all
that the Father willed him to do. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Oh, what great hope we have.
that our substitute, our sin bearer, our savior was able to
cry in a loud voice with confidence, it is finished. He was making himself an offering
to his father, was he not? This idea that Jesus is making
himself an offering to us to be accepted or rejected is just,
well, it sets man upon the throne of God is what it does. No, he
was offering himself to his father and he was crying out to his
father, it's finished. I've performed thy will perfectly. What else did he mean when he
said it is finished? Well, surely, He meant that he
had kept the law of God. Romans chapter 10, the scripture
says that those Jews had a zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge. You see, the religious man has
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of the righteousness of God, go about to establish
their own righteousness. Isn't that what man's doing?
And then the next verse says, but Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The Lord Jesus
Christ kept God's law perfectly. You and I have never been able
to keep any part of God's law, not to God's satisfaction. Oh,
a man may be able to say with the apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus
concerning the law, I was blameless. And what he meant by that was
before men, no one could charge me of being a lawbreaker. But
he goes on to say, when the law came, sin revived and I died. In other words, when God spoke
the truth of the law to me, I came to realize I've never been able
to keep God's law. The law killed me. The law put
me to death. And that's what the law does
to every man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that was
able Not only in his outward deeds,
but in his inner motives, in his thought, in his heart, in
his words, he performed the will of God. He said, think not that I came
to destroy the law. I did not come to destroy the
law, I came to fulfill it. That's what I came to do. And
when he cried, it is finished, what he was saying was, the law
is satisfied. I came to fulfill the law. He
went on to say, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot
and not one tittle of God's word will pass until all the law be
fulfilled. God requires his law to be kept. You and I have never been able
to keep any part of it. The Lord Jesus Christ cried with confidence,
Father, I've performed your will and I've kept your law. It is
finished. He was obedient to his father,
even obedient unto death. Yes. His death on Calvary's cross
is part of his obedience. We think oftentimes of the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ being his perfect life, but his perfect
death is part of his obedience. The father had sent him to die
and he was obeying the father in laying down his life for his
sheep. And so his death is as much a
part of his obedience as was his life. What a glorious statement. Here's our hope, our savior,
our sin bearer, our substitute, our surety, crying with a loud
voice with great confidence, knowing that his father was pleased,
it's finished. It's painted full. That's what
that word means. It's all done. It's complete. Nothing can be added to it and
nothing can be taken from it. Is that not how the scriptures
conclude with that warning? If any man adds to the prophecy
of this book, the curses of this book will be added unto him.
That means to add to the Lord Jesus Christ, His accomplished
work. It is finished. If I try to add
anything that I do to what He did, well, that's law and grace,
isn't it? And you mix law and grace, and
it becomes law. Grace, grace unto it. And that was Zachariah said in
Zachariah chapter four. Oh, Zerubbabel cried with a loud
voice. Grace, grace unto it. It's all
of God's grace. And it's all by the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that these words would ring
in our ears and speak truth to our hearts. It is finished. It's finished. The law has been
kept, it's been satisfied. He came in order to give his
life a ransom for his people. Matthew 20, verse 28 says, the
son of man came to give his life a ransom. Now that word ransom
is the purchase price of a slave. The Old Testament economy, all
slaves sold for the same amount. Unlike the slavery we had here
150 years ago, where you might sell one slave for a large amount
and sell another slave for less, depending on their health and
their age and their strength. No, all slaves sold for 30 pieces
of silver. And that's exactly what Judas
sold our lords into the bondage of sin for the Lord Jesus Christ,
who knew no sin, would be made sin on Calvary's cross. And He being sold as a ransom,
offered His precious blood to His Father and ransomed us. from our sin. Those who are held slaves to
sin and death by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn with me to Psalm 49. Psalm 49. This is what it is finished means,
brethren. It's finished. It is finished. Are there three more precious
words in all the world in any language that we can hear spoken
by God Almighty? It is finished. The will of the
Father has been perfectly performed. The law of God has been perfectly
kept. The ransom price has been perfectly
paid. Psalm 49. Look with me at verse
six. They that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for
him. What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world or loses his own soul? What will a man
give in exchange for his soul? What are we gonna give God to
ransom us from the slavery of sin? That's what our Lord's saying. He's not just talking about material
wealth. He's talking about the wealth
of self-righteousness. A man will not come to the light
because his deeds are evil. He doesn't want what he boasts
in as his righteousness to be exposed for what they are. Filthy
rags. No man with any amount of wealth,
materially or morally, can redeem himself or his brother. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to do that. Oh, men try. The world is full
of people trying to redeem themselves, trying to offer God something
to purchase their soul from judgment. But here our Lord's telling us
nothing, there's only one thing, only one redeemer. And he wasn't
trying to redeem anybody, he actually redeemed them. He actually
purchased them with his precious blood. Psalm 130 says, let Israel hope
in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is mercy.
And with the Lord, there is plenteous redemption. Oh, plenteous redemption. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ was successful in redeeming God's people from their
sin. And so when our Lord cried, it
is finished. It's finished. The will of God
has been fulfilled, for it is written in the volume of the
book that I came to do thy will of God. The law of God has been
satisfied. Every jot and tittle, the Lord
Jesus came to fulfill the law, to satisfy its every demand. And the ransom price for God's
people has been paid in full. Nothing else to add to it. God
was pleased with the shed blood of his son for the covering of
the sins of his people. The Lord told Moses and Aaron,
you put the blood of that Passover lamb on the mercy seat, and there
I will meet with you. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when
that bale was rent, went into the holies of holies, not the
one built by the hands of men, but the one that was in heaven.
And he placed his precious blood as the ransom price for God's
people. And God said, here, I will meet
with you. Oh, it's finished. It's finished. Don't try to add anything to
the precious blood of Christ. He gets all the glory. He paid
the price and he was sold into slavery in order that he might
be made a slave to sin, was held in bondage to sin, to bear the
sins of his people in his body upon that tree. Fourthly, The Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to justify his people. What does it mean
to be justified? We go about trying to justify
ourselves all the time, don't we? Scripture says in Romans
chapter four, that he was offered up for our offenses and raised
again because of our justification. When God saw the travail of his
soul, God said, I'm satisfied. And God's people were justified.
And God Almighty raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And
the scripture goes on to say, therefore, being justified. Romans chapter five, verse one,
therefore, being justified. By faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are justified. That
means there's not a charge to be made against them. That means,
as we saw in the previous hour from the book of Hebrews, they
have a clear conscience. To be found in him, they have
no sin. They can stand in the presence
of a holy God and be accepted in the beloved. They have no
sin. That's what it means to be justified. The law can find no charge to
make against us. And our Lord cried, it is finished. It is finished. All that God
required has been fulfilled, has been satisfied. Turn to me
to Romans chapter five. Look at verse 18. Therefore,
by the offense of one, speaking of Adam, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. Adam wasn't just our federal
head, Adam was our seminal head. We were literally in the loins
of Adam. And what Adam did, God charged
all of his prodigy, all of his descendants were charged with
the sin of Adam. Someone said, well, I don't like
being charged for something that somebody else did. Well, I got
two things to say about that. Number one, if you're not charged
by something that somebody else did, then you're never gonna
know the righteousness of God in Christ. because that's God
charging to us what someone else did. And the second thing I would
ask you is, okay, if you're not guilty in Adam, how are you doing
on your own? See, here's what God says. By the offense of one judgment,
God says, judgment came, judgment came. God said, we send in Adam,
we send it out. Whether we feel it or experience
it or understand it, God said it, that settles it, doesn't
it? Came upon all men to condemnation,
condemned in Adam, judged guilty in Adam. For by the obedience
of one, sorry, even so by the righteousness of one, the free
gift came upon all men unto justification of life." The free gift of God
through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He cried
with a loud voice, it is finished. God's people are justified for
by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. What hope? It's finished. What a glorious
gospel. What a great God. What hope can
we have? What can we say that we finished? We haven't finished anything.
The Lord Jesus Christ finished performing the will of His Father. He finished the law, satisfied
all its demands, every jot and tittle. He gave His life a ransom
for His people and finished the ransom price. Ah, He justified
His people once and for all. justified in the presence of
God Almighty. Not a single charge to be made
perfect in His sight, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
It's finished. It really is finished. If it's
finished, then that's the end of it. Fifthly, He came to save
His people from their sins. He finished
that work. You shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The end of death,
the end of sin is death. I had a brother tell me once
recently, he said, I'm so glad the Lord didn't let sin end in
my life, that he stopped me. Let me show you this passage.
Turn with me to James chapter one. James chapter one. We own our sin. We can't charge
God for it or anyone else. God makes you to be a sinner.
You know that it's all on you. Look what the Lord tells us.
In James chapter one at verse 13, let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with
evil. Neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is
finished bringeth forth death. You see that, don't you Bert? God didn't allow sin to be finished
in the lives of His children. Otherwise, we would die eternally
separated from God. But God did allow sin to be finished
in His Son. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. When sin was
finished, it brought forth death. Everything that sin required
was finished in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with
me to Daniel chapter 9. Verse 24, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Now that's the time
between Daniel and the time when the Lord Jesus Christ would finish
sin. He would put an end to sin. Verse 24, what's gonna happen? He's gonna finish the transgression.
He's gonna make an end of sin. He's gonna make reconciliation
for iniquity. He's gonna bring in everlasting
righteousness. He's gonna seal up the vision
and the prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Sin was finished
on Calvary's cross and it brought forth death. And Christ died
that we might be made alive. And when he cried, it is finished. He was not just saying, Father,
Your will has been perfectly completed in my life. He was
not just saying, I've kept the law perfectly even unto death,
yea, the death of the cross. He was not just saying, I've
paid the full ransom price for my people, or I have justified
them perfectly. He's saying, I have finished
sin. Sin. Power of sin is broken. How do I see? You say, well,
power of sin seems so strong in my life. If you're a believer,
if you've rested all the hope of your salvation on the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sin has been broken. Sin has
been brought to its end. You see, The essence of sin is
unbelief. That's the sin that doth so easily
beset us. That's the mother of all sins.
God broke that sin at Calvary's cross. There was a time when
you could not believe. You would not believe and you
could not believe. But because the Lord Jesus Christ
put an end to sin, because he finished the transgression, Because
sin was brought to its end in death. That sin of unbelief has
been broken in the hearts of God's people. And they can't
not believe. They can't not believe. God made him who knew no sin. sin. The end of sin is death, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. It is finished. It's finished. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord in its origin. The Lord Jesus Christ and entering
into that covenant promise with his father. God the father electing
a particular people. And all that He foreknew, He
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
all that He predestinated, He called. And all that He called,
He justified. And all that He justified, He
glorified. Notice the tense in that passage
in Romans chapter 8. It's all past tense. It's finished.
It's done. That's what our Lord was saying
when He cried out to His Father, with a voice that had to be heard
by all. It is finished. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. Don't you love the story of Ruth and Naomi and
Boaz? And Ruth goes with her husband,
Elimelech, to Moab because there's a famine in Bethlehem. Never leave the house of bread
for a better job. That's what Elimelech did. He
left the church to go to a foreign country where there was no church
so he could have a better income. And he died there, and his sons
died there. And Ruth comes back, a bitter,
sad woman. Or Naomi comes back, a bitter,
sad woman, and she brings her daughter-in-law, Ruth, with her.
And Ruth, in God's good providence, happed, the scripture says, upon
the field of Boaz. She didn't know that Boaz was
Naomi's kinsman redeemer. Boaz is a type of Christ in this
story. And Ruth the Moabitess is me
and you. And Boaz falls in love, falls in
love with Ruth. And Naomi being an older woman,
she senses this man's in love with this young woman. And Naomi
gives Ruth this counsel. She says to Ruth, she said, sit
still, my daughter. Don't do a thing. Don't try to
manipulate this. Don't try to offer anything.
Don't try to provide anything. Sit still, my daughter. Until
thou knowest how the matter will fall, for the man will not rest
until he has finished the work this day. Sit still, my daughter. Don't
try to add to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
the God-man will not rest until he has finished the work. And then you remember what Boaz
did? Boaz came to Ruth and said, yes, I am your kinsman redeemer,
but there is another kinsman nearer to you than me. He's got to be reckoned with
first. And so Boaz goes to the gates of the city and meets with
the 10 elders of the city. What does that number 10 represent?
What is that kinsman redeemer that was nearer to Ruth than
was Boaz? It's the law. The law has got
to be satisfying. The law has got to be reckoned
with. And Boaz said to this kinsman
redeemer that was nearer to Naomi than he was, you know, Elimelech's
wife has come back from Boaz. And according to the law, it's
your responsibility to redeem her and to restore to her the
land of her husband. Keep it in the family. That was
the law. And this kinsman said, oh, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll
redeem her. She's an Israelite. She's kin. And then Boaz said, in the day
in which you redeem Naomi, A limilex wife, you must also redeem Ruth,
the Moabitess. And what did that kinsman redeemer
say? Oh no, I can't do that. I can't redeem a Moabitess. It'll
mar my inheritance. If I bring a Moabitess into my
family, then everything starts falling apart. I can't do that. And Boaz said, I'll redeem her. And Ruth and Boaz gave birth
to a child named Obed. And Obed gave birth to a child
named Jesse. And Jesse gave birth to a child
named David. And that Moabitess, by the name
of Ruth, was in the very lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's what God does for each of us. The man will not rest
until he has finished the work this day. You sit still until
you know. When he cried, when he cried
from Calvary's cross to his father, it is finished. Nothing more for me to do but
to rest in what he has done. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word with the gift of faith. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 15 in the spiral hymnal. Let's
stand together. Number 15.