So once again, the Lord's help. I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read, 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, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. We sat around the Lord's table last week. This is the verse that was on my mind to bring before those who were partaking of the that ordinance of the Lord's Supper as we came to remember all that the Lord Jesus Christ had done as our minds are cast back on that occasion to remember that it is not by works of righteousness that we have done but it is by the grace of God that God had to give his son as an offering for sin, that he had to give his son to pay the ransom for sinners, the price that Christ had to pay, the price that they owed to God. It is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he closes his earthly life, as he cries out, it is finished and he bows his head and gives up the ghost, he offers up his spirit. Body and soul is separated and Christ goes to be with the Father as he says to the thief, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise and his body left there upon the cross. But it is though just a few words, it is finished. It marks a turning point in the history of the world. It alters the eternal destiny of millions of people. For though the covenant was made before the foundation of the world that Christ should be the Lamb of God, that Christ should be the one who would make himself a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that Christ would be the one to come and live that perfect and upright life and to die upon the cross, yet that had to take place. It was not just a thought in the mind of the Trinity, but it had to be worked out in time that the Lord Jesus Christ had to be born into this world so that he could physically live, so that he could walk in complete obedience to the law of God and his Father and to shed blood upon the cross to pay that that offering to be that substitutionary lamb for his people and so the words that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks upon the cross have a great significance. because they alter the history of the world and the destiny, the internal destiny of millions and millions of people for the work that Christ came to do was finished. His physical work, the work of his human body, the work of that human nature, that work of that God manifest in the flesh, that God and that Christ and his divinity united was finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. He didn't say, I am finished. He didn't say, I am finished, because he was not finished. Even when we die we are not finished. It is not the end of us. Although our bodies fall to the ground and although our bodies are placed in caskets and whatever they will do with them yet that is not the end of us. Our spirits live on. They go into the presence of God. They are either housed in heaven or they're housed in hell waiting for that final judgment. And it was not the end of the Lord Jesus Christ but it was the end of the work that the Lord had given him to do in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17. From verse 3 it says, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And so we see as Christ testifies that he was there with the Father before the world was, before the world came into existence. All things were created by the Lord Jesus Christ and without the Lord Jesus Christ nothing was made. He did not begin at birth but his physical human body began at birth. A body hast thou prepared for me. And he came to do a work and he says I have now finished the work that thou gavest me to do. And on the cross we see there the Lord Jesus Christ finishing that work that the Lord gave him to do. What was that work that the Lord gave him to do? The Lord Jesus Christ had a multitude of works to do but his ultimate work was to seek and to save those that were lost. to seek and to save those that were lost. If you remember that when Adam sinned, he caused the whole of the human race or all that would be born after him to be lost, to be lost in trespasses and sins, to be separated from God, to be alienated from the Godhead. And so Christ came to do a work and that work was to seek and to save those who were lost to bring about a way by which they could be reconciled to God that they could find their way back to God as Jesus in Luke chapter 19 he is dealing there with Zacchaeus Zacchaeus was a man who had heard of the Lord Jesus Christ and he heard that Jesus was passing his way. He was a tax collector. He was an extremely wealthy man and had made his money by swindling people. And yet he heard that the Lord Jesus Christ was passing by and because he was a small man he climbed up into a sycamore tree. And as Jesus passed by, Jesus looks up and sees him and says to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, he was gone to be the guest of a man that was a sinner. What is interesting is this, is that Zacchaeus out of curiosity climbs up a tree unbeknown to him that that act of curiosity was an act of faith that he climbed the tree, that he saw something in the Lord Jesus Christ that other people hadn't seen. And the Lord Jesus Christ notices that and as Zacchaeus, unaware to him that he is using faith to climb the tree, to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ knew exactly where Zacchaeus was. He knew his name. He knew why he'd climbed up the tree. because he had come to seek and to save him. Everybody else was rejecting him. He's a sinner. He doesn't deserve to be in the presence of this prophet. Jesus shouldn't be dealing and associating with such people as this sinful Zacchaeus. But Jesus says, make haste and come down for today I must abide at your house. And so he came down and received him joyfully. And we see that the effect that the Lord Jesus Christ had upon Zacchaeus, we see that he was truly transformed. We think of the man this morning, the lame man, who Jesus says that, I have healed you. Go and sin no more. And he runs to the Jews and he tells them, it's Jesus who healed me. we see a complete transformation in Zacchaeus, a wealthy man willing to give back all the goods that he had taken by thievery and by corruption. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, behold Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him this day is salvation come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And so we see there the reason why this is the work that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do. As we read in the gospel God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He gave his only begotten son to do a work to seek and to save that which was lost and Zacchaeus was one of those who were lost. He was known as a sinful corrupt man yet when he met with the Lord Jesus Christ he was changed. His heart was softened. How had he obtained all that money? by greed and deception. You know it's very difficult isn't it to get something from a greedy person, a miser. But when salvation entered into Zacchaeus's house his heart was changed and he realized that he had obtained this money by falsehood. And so he distributes it to the poor and then he restores those people fourfold that he had done corruption with. And so he comes to seek and to save that which is lost. And today the Lord Jesus Christ is still seeking and saving those who are lost. This is the work, he says, this is the work that the Father has given me to do. As the Lord Jesus Christ ascended he gave to the church the Holy Spirit of God. And it's the Holy Spirit of God who enables the church to continue preaching and proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we saw this morning, with those who are sick and those who are lame, they are invited to come to the Lord Jesus. Mufibisheth is invited to eat at the king's table. So those who are sick with sin are invited to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who understand their need, those who see their sin and realise that they're unable to save themselves, those that are lost, who cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he goes to them as the good shepherd of his sheep. And so the work that the father had given him to do was to seek and to save those who were lost, but not only to seek and to save, but also to lay down his life for them. And Jesus says, doesn't he? In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, the thief, cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.' And so the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was to seek and save those lost sheep but also to die on behalf of those lost sheep. And this is how we see him here upon the cross. He's not dying for anything that he had done himself. But even Pilate says that he finds no fault in him. That he was not guilty of any breaking of the government law. He was not guilty of doing anything wrong. He was the righteous son of God. and yet delivered by the predetermined counsel of God that Christ he said nothing and he offered himself up as a sacrifice for sin. And so he says it is finished. His physical suffering came to an end. but also the spiritual suffering that he endured upon the cross as God the Father poured out his wrath upon the Son was finished. The Bible tells us that there was darkness over the whole land for three hours. During this time the Lord Jesus Christ was hid from view. would seem that nobody was able to see him, the whole area was shrouded in darkness. We sing, don't we, what he endured no tongue can tell. We only know what took place by what the Lord Jesus Christ says upon the cross. As he quotes from Psalm 22, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And if we look at what the Lord Jesus Christ has to endure upon the cross at Calvary for the sins of his people, we have to understand what the debt that the sinner owed to God is. And so the Bible tells us that those who sinned against God must die. The wages of sin is death. not just the physical death of the body, the curse that has been placed upon our physical bodies, but the separation of the soul and God. The second death. The outpouring of the wrath of God for the sins, for our sin. so for the Lord Jesus Christ to declare it is finished he had to have experienced the wrath of God that would have fell upon each individual believer for an eternity. If you think of what Jesus describes hell as, a place of weeping, a place of gnashing of teeth, a place of darkness, a place of fire, a place of torment and eternal suffering. no grace and no mercy a weeping and gnashing of teeth and so Christ had to experience the full wrath of God but that wrath of God contracted to a three-hour period and we know that no man humanly could undergo such an intense outpouring of the wrath of God for it would take an eternity And so it's only there that we see why Christ had to be both God and man, first to be the perfect sacrifice and representative of his people, but also to be able to absorb the wrath of God in three hours for a multitude of people. And so he cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The debt is paid when Jesus says it is finished. When God's wrath is quenched. When the cup is emptied. Jesus says if it be possible let this cup pass from me. In Revelation it speaks about the foaming cup of God's wrath And it's like Christ upon the cross experienced the pouring out of this foaming cup of the wrath of God. And when it is emptied, he says, it is finished. And he bows his head and gives up the ghost. And not only was the life the physical life of the Lord Jesus Christ finished as he died and as he gives up the ghost but also multitudes of other things finished. The book of Hebrews tells us of the Lord Jesus being the perfect sacrifice We read through the Old Testament and the ceremonial sacrificial laws, continued bloodshed, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ offered only one sacrifice for sin. In Hebrews 10 from verse 4 it says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he says, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. And so we see with the Lord Jesus Christ, everything is prepared. God designed this specific way of salvation because it was the only way by which sinners could be redeemed, the only way sinners could escape the wrath of God by trusting in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, a body hast thou prepared for me. And from verse 10 it says, or from verse 9, then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, He take it away the first that he may establish the second. The first covenant is completed. It is dealt with in the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled all of the law of God. That the believer is able to rest solely in the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he establishes a second covenant. A covenant in his blood. by the which we are all sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. We're all made holy, we're all set apart for the favour, set apart for God through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And every high priest standing daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God and from henceforth expecting to his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. And so we see here with the Lord Jesus Christ when he says, it is finished. The sacrifice of God, the Lamb of God is dead. And it is seen by the shedding of his blood. And that is a perfect sacrifice. There is no need for any more. It is complete with the perfect body of the Lord Jesus. It says once and for all and he has perfected all of those that were in him for he cleansed them from all of their sin and in cleansing them from all of their sin he sanctifies them, he makes them holy and he rises again for their justification. So the sacrifice system is complete there is no need for another one to begin or to start as the Jews are hoping to do as they hope to build their temple and they hope to begin the sacrificial system all again but it would be pointless because Christ is the one sacrifice that completed all of the other sacrifices and no more shedding of blood will do anything. And we were in Kenya, the bus drivers who were Muslims, before they went on journeys they would slaughter a goat and they would ask the favour of Allah to protect them and they believed that just because this goat had been slain they could drive as fast as they could and be as reckless as possible because the goat had died and they had gained the favour of Allah and he was going to protect them. And so they trusted in the death of this goat for their protection. But it can do nothing. It may appease the spirits of Satan but it can't appease the one holy, holy, holy God. There's only one sacrifice that God was well pleased with and that is his son. the Lord Jesus Christ the spotless Lamb of God who lived in complete obedience to the Father. A body has thou prepared for him. And this body was laid down upon the cross at Calvary and the voice cried out it is finished. That's the end. No need for any more. But also Christ became that perfect high priest. A high priest we have, a true living high priest at the right hand of the Father. At Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is to say not this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. You see, by his blood, as the high priest took with him the blood of an animal into the Holy of Holies, the Lord Jesus Christ presented himself. The shepherd died for the sheep. The high priest died for his people, that he ever lives to intercede for them. what a favour it is to have a high priest at the right hand of the father who loves his people unconditionally who loves them because he loved them before the foundation of the world and he ever lives to intercede for them Hebrews 7 verse 24 it says but this man because he continues forever has an unchangeable priesthood. As the early priests fought they continued to live and to die, live and to die, live and to die. But this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, he ever lives to intercede for his people. Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost. that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest become us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who need not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices for his own sins, for then the people and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself. You see the high priest had to offer a sacrifice for his own sin and then for the sins of the people but not the Lord Jesus Christ because he had no sin. He was made sin for his people but he offered up a sacrifice once and for all and it dealt with all of the sins of his people from the beginning of time to the end of time. And now he ever lives at the right hand of God being a great high priest who is able to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities and we're tried and tempted at all points as we are yet without sin. And so when we come to God in prayer and when we come to commune with our Creator we come through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he understands our frame. He's given to us, given to the believer, his comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. But also the temple of worship is finished. The Bible tells us that the believers have become the temple of God. Do you not know that your body is the temple of God and the Holy Spirit dwells within you? We look at the Old Testament and we see the tabernacle and we see the temple, we see the Holy of Holies and we see that separation and the distance by which the people of God had to keep themselves from God. But when the Lord Jesus Christ died he opened up this new and living way. He opened up the new covenant by which we can enter into the holy of holies by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The temple curtain was ripped from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. to that curtain which separated the holy of holies which symbolised the presence of God that God dwelt there with the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat there in the darkness was now ripped open so that sinners can approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ for we are priests in Christ we are able to come freely to God through the Lord Jesus. And so as we look at the Jews again seeking to build, their desire is to build a new temple, to begin all of this ceremonial worship all again, yet they don't realise that the Lord Jesus Christ has done away with it. He is the perfect high priest. He is the perfect sacrifice. He's there right at the right hand of God, not in a temple made with hands, but in the spiritual temple in heaven itself. And he will never die. And so when he cried, it is finished. All of that was finished. And when he cried, it is finished. The enmity between God and man was also finished. You see, the sins of his people which separated them from God were dealt with. He brought about reconciliation. As their mediator, he takes the hand of God and the hand of man and he brings about reconciliation. As Job says, as Job looked for that mediator, is there anybody who can stand between us and reason these things out? For the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the one who stood between, the one who dealt with it all. and he says that it is finished and he does it by nailing our sins as Colossians says to the cross. But also every prophecy regarding the living life of the Lord Jesus Christ was also finished, was completed even down to the vinegar. Jesus says And Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, says, I thirst. So every prophecy regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are hundreds of them, that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled them all, right down to just a little saying, I thirst. I think it's on some 22. But in Psalm 22 is the other one, I tell my bones, they look and stare upon me, they parted my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. Those were prophecies that were fulfilled after the Lord Jesus Christ had died. You see the word of the Lord does not fall to the ground. It is not an empty word, it is a living word. It is the truth And therefore every prophecy that was spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ must be fulfilled right down to a little comment like, I thirst. And they give him vinegar to drink and after he had received it he says, it is finished. Also the cup that the father had given him to drink It was finished. It was emptied. There was no more for him to experience. It was enough now for him to give up the ghost and to die. His earthly life had finished. Heaven and earth would never be the same again. Earth would never be the same again because as the Lord Jesus rises again from the grave and the gospel now spreads out over the whole earth, people's lives are changed, countries are changed, but heaven also changes. The Bible tells us when one sinner comes to repentance there's joy in heaven. We know that sinners come to repentance by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. He brings them to a knowledge of their sin. And as they come to a knowledge of their sin they turn from their sin and they say goodbye to their old life. They say it is finished to their old life and they walk in newness of life. And they look to the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope. And heaven sounds for joy. And so it was a plan planned out in eternity. It was acted out in time but it is experienced for believers both in time and in eternity. The moment you believe, the moment the transaction takes place with Father, Son and Spirit and you're born again, you immediately die to self and are given eternal life. The Apostle says we will never die but we will live. Though our bodies fall to the ground, just like the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave up the ghost. So the believers give up the ghost. They fall asleep in Christ Jesus. Their bodies and souls separate. But they ever live. They never die. Because the Lord Jesus Christ said it is finished. And so because the Lord Jesus Christ said it is finished there is nothing more for you and I to do. You might say except to believe. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He doesn't want you to come with add-ons. He just wants you to come like Zacchaeus with your sin and to lay it before him. and to realise that Christ has done absolutely everything. That our salvation rests solely upon this foundation, a foundation that no other man can lay, that has been laid, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's to rest and trust in Him and Him alone. As I was thinking of this about how, can we give an example, you know we put our money in banks because we we're afraid to keep it ourselves we're worried that it will be stolen we're worried that we will lose it or maybe we're worried that we will spend it and so we put it into the bank for safe keeping we believe that it's better there And so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't work out our own salvation. We can't look and sort out our salvation. We can't look and keep our salvation. It all must rest completely in the bank of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must give our souls to the Lord Jesus. We must give our life to the Lord Jesus Christ because we will lose it. How many times a day do we sin? How many times a day are we filled with doubt and fear, anger, lust? And if it was resting upon us, we would lose our salvation. But our salvation is secured in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says it is finished. I have done it. Just trust in me and in me alone. And so the believer rests in this statement. As the Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished, he put an end to all of the types and shadows of the Old Testament law and ceremonies. But the believer now rests under this shadow of it is finished. we rest and that's where we can sleep that's where we can take comfort that Christ has done it all that the father was well satisfied with the son and although he is satisfied with us in him although we fail although we fall short a thousand times a day yet because of the Lord Jesus Christ because he has done it, he's paid it in full, he's justified us, we are in the sight of the law holy. And because he said it is finished, our salvation is guaranteed, nothing rests upon us. Faith he gives us to believe it and strength he gives us to walk it out by his Spirit. May he give us then that faith as Zacchaeus as though he didn't understand as he climbed a tree he was acting in faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had moved him up there so that he could call him down. go and have dinner at his house for this man receives sinners. So may the Lord work in our hearts, show us our need of the Lord Jesus Christ, help us to shed any good works that we are resting in and help us to trust squarely in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For he said, it is finished. He bowed his head. He gave up the ghost. And on the third day, he rose again, for he is not here. And then ascended up to be with the Father, to be our great high priest. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen. May the Lord help us in closing this service by singing hymn number 105 from Hymns of Worship. Jesus, sovereign Lord of all, at thy feet we humbly fall. Lift our hearts and eyes to thee, send, O Lord, prosperity. Hymn number 105 from Hymns of Worship to tune 494. Jesus, Son and Lord of all, at Thy feet we humbly fall. Lift our hearts and eyes to Thee, send our Lord prosperity. Where thy name is on record, There, O bless thee, is thy word, Tis thy promise great and free, Send, O sent, prosperity ? All thy church thy spirit bring ? ? Say the Holy Ghost receive ? ? Void of this we now shall see ? ? Days of sweet prosperity ? in thy name. In this place, our spotless land, raise the dead, the captive free. Send, O Lord, prosperity. Hear thy temple, Levinster's Place our daughters and our sons Through this earth thy grace to me Send all of prosperity Come and bless us, as Thine own. Thine the power and praise shall be. Send, O Lord, prosperity. Almighty God, we do pray for that living faith to trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do thank Thee for the wonderful Gospel and we thank Thee that this is the way that sinners may be reconciled unto Thee. We would ask, Lord, that Thou bless Thine own Word, that it may do us good and that we may know what it is to trust in the finished work. of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask, Lord, that Thou dismiss us with Thy blessing. Do be with us as we are apart for a little while. Lord, we pray for Mr Tyler and David as they preach in the next two Lord's Days. Do uphold them and bless them with freedom and liberty in the Word. Do feed the saints and draw sinners to Thyself. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with you now and forevermore. Amen.