It is so good to be able to be
here, to be able to come together and worship. Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John, chapter 30. John, chapter 30. I'm sorry, my assistant over here. It's
John 19, verse 30. Is there 30 chapters in John? I thought there was a lot of
papers. I'm sorry. John chapter 19, verse
30. When Jesus, therefore, had finished
the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we come this evening,
we are truly thankful. Lord, not as we ought to, not
as we shall be, but Lord, We are thankful. Thankful that You
give us a heart to be here, the desire to be here. I pray this
evening, would You bless this Word, bless it to our understanding,
bless it to our hearts. Oh, may Christ be honored. For
it is in His name we pray. Amen. the words of our Lord, it is finished. Signal the glorious completion
of what Jehovah eternally purposed to do. In that everlasting covenant
of grace, And the only way we know that
there was ever an everlasting covenant of grace is the Word
of God tells us that there was. And the Father, in covenant mercy, chose a people. The Son, in covenant
mercy and agreement, would be made flesh come into this world
and would set forth what God Himself everlastingly purposed
to do. And the Holy Spirit in covenant
mercy and agreement would call out in regeneration, quickening
power, all that the Father chose and the Son would redeem. they
would come to Christ. And God Himself knew in perfect
agreement, perfect purpose, this is what is going to be done. My counsel shall stand. I will do all my purpose and
will. God had determined Everlastingly,
there had never been a time that God had not determined that His
people would come to Himself, that He would redeem them from
the bondage of sin and the penalty of the law. This is the reason
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, to seek and
to save that which was lost. And He did it. In John 17, verse
4, this is what the Scripture says, have glorified Thee on
the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do." There he was speaking in the
present term. I finished it. It's done. Not very long. It's going to be at Calvary. He said, I've done it. This is the account in John 19,
starting in verse 25. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. And after this, Jesus, knowing
that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a spun with vinegar, and put it upon
Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed
his head and gave up the ghost. There were many that stood around
that day. Many of them had watched the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I just thought on that today. I thought about those that were
there. There were those that were there
that I'm sure knew something in regenerating grace. They knew
something about what the Lord had done for them. There were
some of His own and some of His disciples that were there. There was Mary and there was
Mary Magdalene, the mother of the Lord Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Different ones. And actually, seeing, watching. And I thought to myself, those that stood there and actually
looked and physically saw what Almighty God had eternally purposed
to do. Here it was consummated right
before their eyes. They were seeing God's Lamb Actually
putting away the guilt of his people. Actually redeeming. Though
they could not see the fullness of what he was doing. They actually
saw. Thankful. No doubt. There were some there that I'm
absolutely convinced had mocked him. Scripture says there were
some that says he saved others. Himself, He cannot save. Boy,
that was a true statement. Not in redeem His own. He couldn't
save Himself. And of those that mocked Him
that day, without a doubt, I'm convinced that in that group
was some of His elect. Here's what the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Now I can tell you, he never
prayed anything that the Father didn't give him. And I don't
doubt that maybe at Pentecost there were 5,000 saved one day.
Not long after the crucifixion, 3,000 another. And he was not
flippantly just praying. He knew his own. But there were
some that knew Him that day. There were some, maybe, that
didn't know Him that day, that mocked Him that day, just like
all of us did before He called us out of darkness. Psalm 22,
12 says, Many bulls have conquered me. Strong bulls of Bashan have
beset me round. Reading that Scripture, I don't
know if that Scripture right there refers to the physical
foes that stood by him, the people, the Pharisees, the ones that
mocked him and laughed at him and ridiculed him, or whether
or not it was spiritual foes. I don't know. The demons, I don't
know. But he said that there were many bulls that accomplished
strong bull's ovations that beset him. Many saw him die. when he made that statement right
there. It is finished. But the one that saw him die
and saw the travail of his soul, the one that was satisfied, was God the Father of all the
ones that saw him. The One that bruised Him, the One that wounded Him for
our transgressions was the One that chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world. And there the Father looked upon
His precious Son in absolute justice, forsook Him. because he was made sin. He is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity, look upon iniquity. And he forsook the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I thought when he said, it's
finished, bowed his head, gave up the ghost,
I thought about those that stood there watched Him, saw Him. Some loved Him at that moment. Some didn't and would. But I
thought about that Scripture when the Lord said, When I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. I know that the Father saw. He saw eternally. this day. The Son who was slain
from the foundation of the world, this is what the Father saw right
here. He everlastingly looked. And with this blessed sacrifice
ever before Him, He freely justified His people
by His grace. when he saw the blood, redemption
work was finished. It's finished. What's finished?
Redemption is accomplished. All of the prophecies and the
visions and the types and the shadows of good things to come
that were only pictured in the Old Testament in that tabernacle. That golden candlestick and that
table of showbread and that golden labor, just that ark, the covenant,
that mercy seat, all of those types. Here it is right here. All of the shadows now accomplished. The Father saw that the law was
honored. and all that Christ died for.
Redemption. Redemption. It is finished. The surety of no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit, is openly manifest. It's finished by that one sacrifice. Not like
the ones before in the wilderness. 1,500 years they sacrificed. I'm talking about thousands and
thousands and thousands of animals by one sacrifice. He hath perfected
forever them that are set apart, sanctified, set apart for God,
set apart by God. redeemed by God. He, by His death, made a full restitution for sin. Sin was paid for. As I've said
before, God did not just sweep it under the rock. God is just. He redeems His people. He redeemed
them justly. The price was going to be the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him laying down His life
for the sheep. All of His sheep secure. Bearing in His own body their
iniquities. I just, I'm lost. at the wonder that Almighty God
has done something for me that I could not do for myself. With Him satisfying God's demand
for justice. Now, think about this. Here is
His people, and they're born in sin, conceived in sin, come
forth from their mother's womb speaking lies. We do nothing
but sin. We're rebels against God. Can't
possibly, can't possibly do anything to satisfy Him. And here in the
person of His blessed Son, He has made Him what they are and
dealt with them, dealt with us in a substitute. What was due
to me, He took. He bore. And put it away. It's typified in the wilderness. A scapegoat. Put your hands on
that. He led that scapegoat away into
the wilderness. As far as the east is from the
west. Now let me ask you this. Who shall lay anything? to the
charge of God's elect. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. But I thought one more time on
His words. It is finished. What else is
there to do? It's finished. What are you going
to do? It's finished. Salvation wrought
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and Almighty God in time
will, under the preaching of the gospel, He'll tell His people
about it. That's what He's going to do.
He's just going to reveal it to you. The evidence, you'll
believe Him. That's the evidence of salvation.
belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, and counting all of your righteousnesses
as done, forsaking all your former trust, oh, the wondrous grace
of redemption from the bondage of sin and death. God, that saw the travail of
His soul. God that saw the blood everlastingly,
God that saw that blood the day it was shed physically, sees
that blood even now. That blood ever answers. This is what He set forth as
He ate and drank at the supper on that last night, on the very
night in which He was betrayed. This is what He set forth. They
ate that Passover for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
years, saying, the Lamb, the Lamb is coming. When God sees the blood, He'll
pass over and here's the last supper that He's going to eat. And that's what we want to do
tonight. As Almighty God set forth for us in obedience to
do as He did that night. May we remember Him who on that
night, 2,000 plus years ago, cried from the
cross, It's finished. One of these days for everyone
that He's called out of darkness, everyone that He's redeemed,
everyone that He's ever purposed to save. We're going to understand
that perfectly. And we'll see in that day the
glorious truth of redemption is finished. I'll ask the men
to come forward at this time.