30th verse of the 19th chapter is these three words. It says, When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And
he bowed his head, and gave up the spirit. These three words are, it is
finished, the work that thou gavest me
to do. When our Lord created the heavens
and the earth, It took him six days to create
the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested. It was a great and magnificent
work that he called the heavens into
existence, the earth into existence, The sun and the moon and the
stars and the clouds. Six days. And on the seventh
day he rested. He rested because the work was
done. Nothing left to do. All that
was to be done in the matter of creation, he did. He finished it. And these three words say, It
is finished. Now, these three words get all of its importance. The value of these three words gets its importance from the
largeness of the work alluded to, it is
finished, the work that the Father gave me to do. And the glorious
individual who performed the work, the work and the agent, the work gets its value and importance
from he who performs that work. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's God himself, God who created all that there is, sustains it
and controls it, condescended, left heaven and become a man. And this man is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he finished the work,
the work that was given him to do by God the Father. And this work is the redemption
of his people. He came to save his people. He
came to honor and fulfill the law. bear the sins of his people. He came to be punished for the
sins in the place of his people. Tremendous work! A desperate
mission was the Lord Jesus Christ on. The dignity and the honor
of the justice of God was at stake. The redemption of his people was bound up and shut up and
tied up in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ finished. Here the Son of God is laying
a foundation for a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. And this new creation is the
people that God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem. All of those that the Father
gave Him, He came to lay a foundation of a new creation on Calvary's
cross. For 4,000 years He has been giving
notice of His intention to mankind. And for more than 30 years, our
Lord Jesus Christ was personally upon this earth preparing the
material. And now he lays the chief cornerstone
for his people that God gave him. exclaims here, it is finished. The work of the redemption of
the people that you gave me before the world ever was, the work
that you require is finished. That work is finished. Nothing
more to do. Nothing to add to it. Nothing
to take from it. It's a perfect work, just like
the work of God the Father in the creation. After six days and all was finished, he sat
down and rested and he said that he was well pleased with all
that he had made. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
said, It is finished, having said this, he bowed his head
and gave up the spirit. The terms of his death was in
fulfillment of the requirements and the demands of God. God's
law must be satisfied, justice must have its way, the Savior must offer himself,
the Savior must shed his blood, and the Savior must freely surrender
his soul to his Father. And all this was accomplished
and completed when he says, It is finished. Now, this is a tremendous,
important saying that he uttered, considering he said it while
he hung on this cross, dying in agony. What does it mean,
it is finished? Let's try to talk a little bit
about that here this morning. What does it mean to me? What does it mean to you when
he said, it is finished? Number one, I'll tell you a few
things that is finished. First off, the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus Christ is finished. His sufferings are ended. His
sufferings were, and his agonies cannot be told out in completeness. He suffered from the time he
came until the time he left. There was not a time in his life
that he did not suffer. But when he said, It is finished,
that was the end of his sufferings. The Lord Jesus Christ will never
suffer again. Who can tell out or describe
the sufferings of the Son of God? He suffered rejection, he
came to this world, and this world would not have
him. He came unto his own, and his
own would not claim him. He suffered their rejection. But he'll never suffer rejection
again. There'll be no more suffering
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Never again shall he be persecuted
from city to city, from town to town. suffer as an imposter. They said he's a servant of Satan. This was the whole world's attitude
concerning God's Christ. They said he's an imposter. He
said he was the Son of God. That's blasphemy, they said. Crucify him, crucify him. He's
an imposter. He says he's somebody that is
not. Never again will he be persecuted
from city to city as an imposter and a servant of Satan. Never
again will he have to say, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even
unto death." He won't say that no more. Never again shall he agonize
in Gethsemane and sweat great drops of blood. Never have to
do that again. Never again shall he be pounded
and disowned and criticized by the scribes and the Pharisees. Never again will he be insulted
by men in high places. Never again will he be crowned
with thorns. Never again will he wear that
purple robe. Never again will his side be
pierced with a Roman spear. It's finished. Sufferings are over. Who can tell out or even
imagine the suffering in those three hours on the tree that
our Lord suffered in the place instead of his people? All of their sins. sins known
and unknown, all their sins were laid on Him. And He suffered for every sin
that His people committed untold agony. Never again will
He be crowned with thorns and lacerated with a whip. No more than that. Never again
will he be nailed to a tree. It's finished! The personal sorrow
and suffering and being despised and rejected, you'll not have
to go through that again. three years of suffering. Books have been written on the subject
about the suffering of the Lord Jesus. Never again shall he cry
out in anguish of his soul and the baptism of his blood. When
he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Never again will God forsake
the Lord Jesus Christ. Suffering is over. Now the predictions,
the prophecies of his death are all fulfilled. The whole of the
Old Testament, All the preaching of the prophets was concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And all these predictions and
prophecies have been fulfilled. There's no prophecy left to be
fulfilled. They all have been fulfilled,
every prophecy in all of the books of the Old Testament. from Genesis to Malachi have
been fulfilled. And these prophets, their chief
subject was the sufferings and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, they told that hundreds
and hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ consented
from heaven and become incarnate. They foresaw these prophets in
the Old Testament. They foresaw his death years
and years before it came to pass. They foresaw the governor who
was to come forth from Bethlehem. They knew the babe in the manger,
as he whose goings forth are of old, even from everlasting
to everlasting. And it was necessary also that
he should have somewhat to offer. So the Bible says that there
was a body prepared for him. And he said that, lo, in the
volume of the book, I come to do thy will. He assumed the seed
of Abraham and suffered in the flesh. And his sacrifice of himself
was of infinite value, being sanctified by the altar of deity
on which his offering was offered. All the ceremonial sacrifices
could not obtain the bond from the hand of the creditor. They
were only the acknowledgment of the death. But Jesus Christ,
who cried out, It is finished! But Jesus, by one offering, paid
the whole and took up the bond. The bond was that handwriting
that was written against us. Our Lord nailed that to the cross. And when they drove the last
nail in his hand, he cried out, It is finished. The work that
the Father has given me to do is finished. Nothing can be added
to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for His people. That is, satisfaction of divine
justice was made, was completed. The violated law must be vindicated. That law that demands that we
love God with all of our hearts and all of our strength, all
of our soul, that law must be vindicated. Justice must be satisfied. The deserved penalty do the sinner
must be endured. The law must be kept perfectly
and the penalty for violators of that law must be endured. If not by the sinner himself, then it must be by the undertaking
of the Son of God. himself alone on that tree. He came out of the bosom of the
Father on this desperate mission to satisfy justice and holiness
and to satisfy and magnify and glorify all of God's attributes,
and that he did, and completed his work when he bowed his head
and cried, It is finished. He bore our sins. Now, when it says he bore our
sins, it means the punishment of our sins. The wages of sin is death. He bore the punishment due us
against our sins by the shedding of His blood. He shed His blood. He died. The shedding of blood. The end result is that you die. And He shed His blood. and he
died and all of the agonies that awaits the second death, he bore
in his own body on the tree. Punishment for our sins in his
own body of flesh on the tree. He was made a curse for us. that we might be made, the Bible
says, the righteousness of God in him. There was no other way
by which the honor of God and the dignity of his law could
be sustained apart from the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Bible says that he died once unto sin, and he
dieth no more. The work is finished. And the Bible says in the book
of Acts, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and
to have entered into his glory? He must suffer if we are to be
delivered. from the wrath of Almighty God. This ought is an ought of mercy,
and it's an ought of covenant agreement that was agreed upon
before the world ever was. He's got to discharge this obligation
that he had voluntarily assumed there in the Council Hall of
Eternity, this agreement between the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. The Son agreed, obligated himself
to represent the people that God had sanctified and set up
for them. He obligated himself to provide
for them a righteousness that would meet the demands of God's
holy law. And he also obligated himself
voluntarily, freely, to discharge all the debts that his people
owed. And by paying the debt in full,
receiving their punishment in his own body and flesh, he fulfilled
all the requirements and obligations for his people. finish the work which he lovingly
began. And he finished it. He said,
It is finished. You can't add to it or take from
it. All that a sinner needs is the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. No work of his own. can be added
to it. This work of salvation has been
finished. There is no other Savior than
Him. It says His name shall be called Jesus for He will save
His people from their sins. There is no other Savior than
the Lord Jesus Christ, no other being in the universe. to undertake
this work, or if there's any willing to undertake this work,
he's not able to accomplish this work. Only the God-man, only
God becoming a man can accomplish this great work of complete salvation
through his obedience unto death. only the Son of God. Gabriel, the angel, can't do
it. All the angels put together can't
finish the work and accomplish salvation on behalf of the people
of God. It's no other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if a man's ever saved, it'll
be by the grace of God through the finished work of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation of one human soul
would be too great, the work would be too mighty for all the
angels put together had not the Only Begotten of
the Father willingly and gladly and volunteered and obligated
himself to be our substitute while we would have lain in the
cold grave of hell. If he hadn't undertook for us,
if he hadn't have said, I'll provide all that's needed, to
satisfy justice, I'll pay the penalty to them. I'll bear all
of their sins. If he hadn't willingly, gladly,
voluntarily came and laid down his life in our stead and place
and room, we would have lain forever and ever and ever and
ever under the unmitigated wrath of Almighty God and we would
have joined with those that are weeping and wailing and gnashing
their teeth. None but the line of the tribe
of Judah could unloose the seals and break the seals of that mysterious
book. None but God himself, manifest
in the flesh, could deliver us from the second death. None but
Jesus, none but Jesus. The dying cry, it is finished,
of the Son of God indicates the dignity of his nature and the
power of that life That was in him, which remained in him. None but him. Don't even think
of anything else. He bowed his head. They'd given him vinegar to either quench his thirst or
to wet his tongue. And when he had taken the vinegar,
he bowed his head and gave up the spirit. Now listen to me. All men die of weakness and inability to
resist death. No one volunteers to die. No one wants to die. Men want
to live until they can't live any longer. They don't volunteer. They die. Men die. Women die. Because they can't
live any longer, that's the reason they die. We're all going to
die. Right now, I don't want to die.
It'd be far better for me to die, but I don't want to die. I'm not willingly going to take
a gun and blow my brains out. I'm not going to do that. I'm
going to resist death until the very end. But our Lord Jesus
Christ, he didn't die of weakness. He still had a strong voice. He bowed his head and cried with
a loud voice to show that crowd that the pain and agony and separation
from his Father could not conquer him. And he bowed his head and
cried with a loud voice, It's finished! All the Father
that giveth me shall come to me. The work's been done and
men die because They cannot live any longer, but that was not
the case of the Son of God. He laid down his life. He said, I lay down my life. No man taketh my life. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it out. He died gladly and he died willingly
for his people. And the only salvation that we'll
ever know or experience is the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ that he died. The Bible says He died in our
city, in our place, and in our room. And that's the testimony
of God concerning his Son. That's the testimony of the prophets
for thousands of years. They prophesied that he was going
to come. They prophesied that he must
suffer. They prophesied he must die. And they prophesied that death
would not hold him. And our God gave his witness, such as the
witness of John the Baptist. When they asked John the Baptist
about it, he said, well, over there he is. He said, I see him
now. He said, behold, the Lamb of
God that taketh away, makes an end
of men's sins. And we're called upon and commanded
by God to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe on
Him. You trust Him as your Lord and
your Redeemer, that who He is and what He's done is your salvation. It says, when Jesus therefore
received the vinegar, he said, It's finished. He bowed his head
and gave up the spirit. That is, death couldn't come
to him, being God and man in one person. Death couldn't come
to him, but he went to death. yielded himself to death and
exercised power over himself and rose from the dead and went
to heaven and is seated there right now, making intercession
for those for whom he died. Never suffer again. He'll never
have to repeat it. What he did is last forever. What he did is
eternal. What he did has no end. What
he did is binding. There won't be any other. So it says he bowed his head
and gave up the goat. The Jews, therefore, because
it was the preparations that the body should not remain upon
the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high
day, and besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and
they might be taken away. And so then came the soldiers
and break the legs of the first. and the other which was crucified
with him. They broke the legs of these
two thieves. But when they came to Jesus,
they saw that he was dead already, and they break not his legs. And one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, for with him came thereout blood
and water. And he that saw it bear record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith it is true,
that ye might believe. For these things were done, that
the Scripture, all the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,
and a bone of him shall not be broken. didn't break his legs,
he already did, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. And again,
another scripture saith, They shall look upon him whom they
pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus,
and Pilate gave him leave. And he came, therefore, and took
the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus,
which at first came to Jesus by night. And he brought a mixture
of myrrh and loaves, about a hundred pound weight, Then took they
the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the
spices, as the manner of the Jews to bury. Now in the place
where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden
a new sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they
Jesus. because of the Jews' preparation
day, for the sepulcher was not had. He finished the work. No work left for you to do. The work's already been done.
The work was done 2,000 years ago by this man that they call
Jesus. And he'll save any man. that desires to be saved. He'll
save him from his sins. All right. That stand will be dismissed.