Let us turn to God's Word in
the portion that we read, John 19. And I want to direct you
this evening to the words that we find in verse 30. John 19.30, When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. earlier we were looking at the
previous chapter and there we considered in particular the
passage from verse 4 chapter 18 verse 4 Jesus therefore knowing
all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto
them whom seek ye they answered him Jesus of Nazareth Jesus said
unto them I am he And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then
asked he them again, Who seek you? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which
ye speak, of them which thou gavest me I have lost none. And I spoke this morning of the
authority of the Lord Jesus and His authority to death. Here
we have in many ways the beginnings of those final sufferings of
the Lord Jesus. Having prayed in the 17th chapter
He then goes forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron into the
garden of Gethsemane. We don't have the detail concerning
the agonies of his soul there in the garden, but that is the
context that John is describing. We have the detail, of course,
of those sufferings in the other previous three synoptic Gospels. But now they come to arrest the
Lord Jesus. And now we see His authority. As I said this morning, what
is He doing? He is declaring and He is demonstrating that
day. We're told that He knew all things,
knowing all things that should come upon Him. Why then does
He ask the question, Whom seek ye? He knew it. but he draws
them out because he wants to show to them something of who
he is. And we remarked out there in
verses 5, 6 and 8 that pronoun he has been introduced in the
translation. Literally, remember what he says
on that occasion when they say they're seeking Jesus of Nazareth,
he simply declares in verse 5, I am. Verse 6, as soon as he
had said unto them, I am, they went backwards and fell to the
ground. And then again in verse 8, I
have told you that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. Well, having considered that
portion this morning and I feel when we come to these parts of
the word of God we seem to only scratch the surface here such
profundity of truth in the record that we have here in the in the
fourfold gospel but I want us to turn now from that chapter
to what we have here in chapter 19, and particularly this 30th
verse, and to say something of Christ's authority in dying. Previously His authority to death,
and now His authority in dying. And again, we see how He is very
much aware of the situation, verse 28. After this, Jesus,
knowing Knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst. There there was
set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with
vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. Oh, his death, you see, it's
a voluntary death. And that's what I really want
us to consider something of tonight. It's a voluntary death. And then
also what we have here is a finished work. His death is the accomplishment
of the great work that he came to fulfill. First of all, to
observe the truth of the voluntary nature of his death. And in that sense we're going
to look at the verse in reverse order. I want to look at the
end of the verse and then secondly to come more particularly to
the first part. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar he said it is finished. There's the finished work. and
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. There is the voluntary
nature of his dying. His death was altogether a voluntary
laying down of his life, and he does it by the power of his
Godhead. Isn't that what we saw this morning,
those great I Am statements that he makes? If ye believe not that
I am He, He says to the Jews, ye shall perish in your sins. He is the Great I Am, He is Jehovah. And He has power, He has authority
to give His own life. In chapter 10 verse 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down,
he says, I have power to take it again. He both gives his life,
and then he takes that life back. There is that sense in which
he raises himself from the dead. The demonstration of his deity,
this was the commandment that the Lord Jesus had received of
his father. And The voluntary nature of the
dying of the Lord Jesus is brought out in the vocabulary that we
find being used here in the Word of God, the very words that are
used in reference to the way in which he dies. We believe
in that verbal inspiration of Scripture and so we do well to
take account of the very words. The vocabulary, not the the words
that we have in our English version. This is a faithful version. We
thank God for that. But this is not inspired as was
the case with the original autographs. But those very words that are
used there in the original Greek version, they are inspired words,
every one of them. Now it's interesting to observe
the different language, the vocabulary that is used in each of the Gospels,
because as you know, each of the Gospels goes into some detail
concerning this event, the dying of the Lord Jesus. Now, when
we come to consider the language that is employed in Mark, Mark
15 37, it says, Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up
the ghost. What did Jesus do? He gave up
the ghost. Now, the word that is used there
and rendered giving up, giving up the ghost, is the same word
that is also used in Luke's account, Luke 23, 46, And we read these words there,
Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus
he gave up the ghost. It's the same expression that
we have both in Mark and also in Luke. But when we come to
the other two Gospels, when we come to the first Gospel, Matthew,
and the fourth gospel, John, we discover that they use different
words to what's employed by the other two evangelists. In fact,
both Matthew and John use words that are distinctive to themselves,
each of them. In Matthew 27 verse 5, We read
that Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded
up the ghost. He yielded up the ghost. And
the particular word, it's a stronger verb than we have in either Mark
or in Luke, and it literally means to dismiss, to send out. to send forth, to let go. Here
is the Lord Jesus, you see, and the word suggests that He is
very much the one who is in control of the situation. His life is
not being taken from Him. He is dismissing the life from
Him. He is sending that life forth.
He is making the sacrifice voluntarily. Now Interestingly, when we come
to the words that we have here in John, it says, he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. In our English version, the expression
is the same as we would find, as we've already said, back in
Mark and in Luke, but it's not the same word. It's not the same
words. This particular word, again,
it's a stronger verb than we have either in Mark or in Luke. And literally it means to deliver
up or to resign. He delivered up the ghost. That is, the soul. He is making
his soul an offering for sin. And what is the Lord experiencing? He is experiencing a real death. Because death is the separation
of the body from the soul. And we know that when the Lord
God made the man, Adam, He forms his body out of the dust of the
earth. He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. He becomes
a living soul. He is body and soul. And when
a person comes to die, what happens is there's a separation between
body and soul. The spirit returns to God who
gave it. And the body returns to the earth
as it was. And what the Lord Jesus is experiencing
here is that awful final separation of body and soul. But what does
it say? What is the force of the Word that we have here in
John? He delivered up. He resigned
his spirit. It has been said that there is
something very peculiar in the expressions of Matthew and John
indicative of the voluntary nature of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a voluntary sacrifice. You think of how each and every
one of us, we're mortal. And every mortal man, every mortal
woman must, of necessity, die a natural death. We will die
because we're mortal. But Christ's death was not necessary. He didn't have to die. And he
didn't have to die because he was not like us. Mortal is human
nature in a sense was immortal or un-mortal, if we might coin
a word. There was no real cause of death
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was without any sin, the soul
that sinneth it shall die. But He was without sin, He was
in a remarkable way without sin even in the way in which He was
conceived. We are the natural children of
our parents and we can trace the generations back to the first
couple, Adam and Eve, and we've all partaken of fallen nature,
sin has come down the generations. who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean, not one. Do you know the miracle of what
happens at the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ? We've
quoted the word so often from Luke 1. The angel says to Mary,
the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
All that holy thing that shall be born of the earth, that's
the human nature. That holy thing shall be called
the Son of God. That holy thing, that human nature
in the mystery of the incarnation joins to the eternal Son of God. All the mystery of it, God's
manifest in the flesh. There was no cause of death in
Him. because he was sinless in his
birth, he was sinless in his life, he was holy, he was harmless,
he was undefiled, he was separate from sinners, he was made higher
than the heavens, so what does he do? He is the one who gives
himself, he dismisses his soul as it were. He sends forth, he
sends out his soul. He deliberately resigns his spirit
into the hands of his father. This is the voluntary nature
then of the dying of the Lord Jesus. And surely in this we
see something of his authority. No man taketh my life from me,
he says. I have power, the word is exousia. Literally, I have authority.
I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it again.
this commandment have I received of my father that's what he had
agreed to in the eternal covenant and he would do the will of his
father he would obey that command and so what do we have here in
the second place we see that the work is a finished work and
this tremendous statement he said it is finished and he bowed
his head and gave up the ghost, yielded up his spirit, his soul
into the hands of God. Now, it's not the first time
that we have the use of this word to finish. We have it, of course, in that
great prayer, that prayer of chapter 17. Verse 4, I have glorified thee
on the earth, he says to his father. I have glorified thee
on the earth, I have finished the work that thou gavest me
to do. He's speaking in the prayer there
very much in terms of the eternal covenant. We can only understand
that prayer of the Lord Jesus rightly when we take account
of the covenant. in that covenant he who is the
eternal son of God equal to the father in the covenant he becomes
the servant of God remember and God says behold my servant he can say my father is greater
than I when he speaks as a servant of God behold my servant God
says whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delights. I have
put my spirit upon him, O the Father, O the Father delights
in him. There at his baptising this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. I have put my spirit
upon him, O the Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove.
O the Father, giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. or
what an anointing of the Spirit is upon the Lord Jesus as God's
Servant as the Anointed One, the Messiah of God and as He
comes into the world as the Servant of God in terms of the Eternal
Covenant so He is always about his father's business. My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. David is a guy. He has a work
and that work must be completed, must be finished, finalized.
And the Lord Jesus, it seems, is ever conscious of this fact
and now we see John bringing this forth to us. Time and again look at what he says in chapter
8 we were looking at verses in chapter 8 earlier those great
I am statements that we find in the 8th chapter but look at
what he says here verse 26 I have many things to
say and to judge of you But he that sent me is true, and I speak
to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood
not that he spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto
them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then ye shall
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things." What a verse! Because here we see again the
reality of His deity, He is Jehovah. That pronoun again, He, is italicized. It's been introduced in the translation. What He says is, when you have
lifted up the Son of Man, then you shall know that I am. In His crucifixion, crucified through
weakness. And yet in the mystery of it
all, his deity being demonstrated as we said earlier but then he
says and that I do nothing of myself but as my father hath
taught me he is God and yet he is God's servant and he is concerned
only to do the will of the father and though the father is pleased
Oh, the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He
will magnify the law and make it honorable. He is made of a woman. He is
that one who is the fulfillment of the ancient promise concerning
the seed of the woman. But He is not only made of a
woman, He is made under the law. And He will submit to that Lord
of God and He will obey that Lord of God. and he does so throughout his
life every precept, every commandment oh what a righteous life he lives
and then he is obedient even in dying and that same law is
honoured in his death as it was honoured in his life in his life
it was honoured in terms of precepts and commandment in death it's
honoured now in terms of penalty and punishment. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we think of Christ in his offices, think of Christ,
I know in a sense we're thinking of Christ in his priestly office,
making a great sacrifice. But even when we think of him
in the prophetic office, he is prophet as well as priest, and
of course also he is king. but in his prophetic office what
does he do? He speaks the words of God. That's what he comes to do, he
comes to speak God's words. Those only men of God in the
Old Testament they spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God
and this man has such an unction of the Spirit of God as no man
has ever known as a man he is ever dependent upon that gracious
ministry of the Holy Spirit and as the Spirit is moving those
prophets of the Old Testament so the Spirit is here moving
the Lord Jesus Christ in all that he says. Remember what he says in that
prayer, chapter 17, verse 8, I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known
surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou
didst send me he has given them God's words chapter 7 and verse
16 he says my doctrine literally my teaching is not mine but is
that sent me Again, look at what John says
here in the 12th chapter, and there at verse 49, the end of
the chapter, I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which
sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I
should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. He is the very mouthpiece of
God. This is the Lord Jesus in His
prophetic office, the fulfillment of what we see in the Old Testament,
the office of the prophets. He is the last and the greatest
of all the prophets and that wicked Muhammad is a false prophet. He's a false prophet. No more
prophets. In these last days God has spoken
unto us by His Son. And that's the finish of prophecy.
We don't look for any more revelation. We have now God's words in all
its entirety, all its perfection, here in the Scriptures of the
Old and the New Testament. And when we think of that ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking the words of God, how very different
that is to the ministry of the scribes and Pharisees. And the
Lord Jesus recognized the scribes and Pharisees and what thereof
He should have been. He speaks, remember, in Matthew
23 concerning those men, and what does He say? The beginning
of Matthew 23, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples,
saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. They say and do not what does
the Lord Jesus do in his ministry he speaks the words of God and
he does the works of God that's the difference he doesn't just
speak God's words he also does all the works of God so different
you see I must work the works of him that sent me while it
is day the night cometh when no man can work we read there
in John 9 verse 4 again those words in the prayer of chapter
17 I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work
I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do oh we see
it so much time after time after time these things are recorded
and they're recorded of course for our learning he says in chapter
5 verse 36 I have a greater witness than that of John he's speaking
of the ministry of John the Baptist the burning, the shining light
he calls him in verse 35 but I have a greater witness than
that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish
the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father
hath sent me." Here is the vindication of his ministry, his preachings,
his teachings, because unlike the scribes and Pharisees, he
doesn't just say, he does. He does the works of God. He
is obedient to every precept of the Word of God, how important
it is. His honouring, his magnifying
of the Lord of God has to do as much with the precept as it
does with the penalty. And that's the importance of
his life, you see. That obedience, that righteousness. Is that not the righteousness
that justifies the sinner? and Paul says his desire was
to be found in Christ not having mine own righteousness which
is of the Lord but that which is with the faith of Christ the
righteousness which is of God by faith, it's by faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord's our righteousness and He has wrought a robe of
righteousness garments of salvation and that's what He clothes His
people with. Always obedient, actively obedient
to all the holy precepts. And then He endures all the penal
punishment as well. Being found in fashion as a man,
He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And this is what He is finishing
now. He is finishing the great sacrifice. It is finished. He
bows his head. He yields up the Holy Ghost.
He yields up the Ghost. The reference not to the Holy
Ghost but to his own soul, his own spirit. Making his soul an
offering. And of course what he's doing
in all of this is he's bearing the punishment of the broken
law. how clear the Lord is the soul that sinneth it shall
die that's what the law says the wages of sin is death Adam
is told in the day that thou eatest thereof eating that forbidden
fruit you disobey the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die how can there be then any remission
any forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood there is
no remission of sins and the Lord Jesus has shed that precious
blood He has poured out His soul unto death in order to redeem His people. He has paid
the penalty that the Holy Lord of God demands and the sinner
now must be released. Oh, we remarked this morning
on the significance of what the Lord is saying there when he
demands that the mob lets his disciples
go. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way. You have no claim on this. If
you seek me, he is the one you see who comes to die that great
substitutionary death the great doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We sang it just now in that remarkable
hymn of Toplady 227. Oh, what a hymn it is. I don't know if we really appreciate
what we sing sometimes. We can sing the words and not
really grasp the significance of the words. I often think of
those words in the third verse payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding shortest hand and then again at mine. That's what Christ has done.
He has paid the price for the sins of all those that the Father
had given to Him in the eternal covenant. The debt has been paid. The law is satisfied. The law
has no demand anymore. And if God was to require now
a payment from those that Christ was representing, that would
be most unjust. And you know, the language of
Toplady is right, payment God cannot. There's nothing foolish
or presumptuous in that, God cannot. twice demand that would
be an injustice and God is a holy God and a righteous God and a
just God payment God cannot twice demand first at my bleeding short
his hand and then again at mine or the dying of the Lord Jesus
and this is what we have here the work completed He bows his head. He gives up
the ghost. Why? It is finished. The work
now is finished. Brought to an end. Completed. That's what he's saying. It's
a perfect work. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing needs to be added to
it. He has come, as we have in the language of prophecy, Daniel
9, 24, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision and the prophecy. It's all finished in
the Lord Jesus Christ. All Christ's work, you see, comes
to its full fruition in what we read in this chapter tonight.
the full fruition of all that work that the Father had given
Him to do. He was made perfect through sufferings. The perfection of His work, perfect
now through sufferings. Or do we appreciate the significance
then of these words, it is finished? It is finished, said the Lord
in His dying minute. Holy Ghost, repeat that word,
full salvation is in it or do we want the Holy Ghost to come
and to repeat that word in our souls time and again we sin or
have we sinned to die? have you sinned to die? we examine
ourselves we're honest can we say we've not sinned to die? we've not had one sinful thought
to die? And we need the Spirit of God
to come to us and to repeat that word over and over again. That's
our full salvation. It's all together in the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having loved His own, which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. And you know, that word
end in chapter 13 and verse 1 is the same word that we have here
ended finish he loves his own to the finish
to the end that's why he dies that cruel death oh he loves
the father always rejoicing before him he
says in Proverbs 8 and my delights were with the sons of men He
loves the Father, He will do the Father's will. But how He
loves those that the Father has given to Him. He delights in
them. Oh, this is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you know, the wondrous thing
is this, if God begins to work in us, or if God has begun to
work in your heart, be encouraged. because that work that God has
begun he will complete. He doesn't act by half measures
that God do we have to do with. In his song doesn't Moses declare
his work is perfect. The perfection of this work of
salvation, this work of redemption, we have it here In this simple
expression it is finished but that is true of all the works
of God. And if God has begun with us. Shall I bring to the birth, he
says, and not cause to bring forth? Shall I cause to bring
forth and shut up the womb, saith thy God? Why when the apostle
is writing to that church of the Philippians he tells them
of His confidence, confident of this very thing that He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ when the Lord begins with us. Oh, and it might
be a small beginning. Thy beginning was small, yet
thy latter end shall greatly increase. This is the way, this
is the work of God. What are we to do then? We are
to look to this Jesus. All you say to me, you know,
my faith is so weak, my faith is so small. What can I do? I'm not sure I
have any faith at all. I don't want to be presumptive
with God. What can I do? Look to Jesus. Isn't that what the apostle says,
looking on to Jesus? the author and finisher of our
faith. If he's the author of it, if
he starts it, he'll finish it. But we have to look to him. And as we look to him, so we
are to be those who would follow him. And with the follow him,
even here in the text, when Jesus therefore received the vinegar,
he said it is finished, and he bowed his head, and gave up the
ghost. He gives himself. He makes his soul an offering
for sin. It's a voluntary death and we
have to follow him in that. And we have to follow him both
experimentally and practically. How do we follow him experimentally?
If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall
live we have to mortify we have to put to death crucify the deeds
of the flesh I am crucified with Christ says Paul that's the union
you see I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I
but Christ liveth in me And the life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. What do we know of crucifixion?
What do we know of mortifying the deeds of the flesh, the old
nature? We are to resist unto blood,
says Paul, striving against sin. Do we strive against sin? That's
the calling of the Christian. If we're followers of the Lord
Jesus, if there's a real union. All we know there's a union with
Christ in his resurrection. Thy dead men shall live, he says.
Together with my dead body shall they arise, because I live, ye
shall live also. But we can only know him in the
resurrection as we also know him in the crucifixion. you have to be crucified with
him or it's that that experience of the grace
of God if we know it we'll be followers of Christ and we will resist unto blood
sin the sin that is within us only desiring to crucify the
deeds of the body but then we're also to We're also to follow
in a practical way. What does John say? It's one
of those 316 verses. It's remarkable, you know, some
of the 316 verses that we find in scripture. We know what John
316 is, I'm sure. But I'm thinking of the first
epistle of John. First John 316. Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. He is the love of God. This person
who died, this is God, manifest in the flesh. He is the love
of God, He laid down His life for us. And what does John say? And we ought also to lay down
our lives for the brethren. That's how far we have to go,
you see. it's not I, it's my brother,
my sister we don't put ourselves first, others must come before
us and we are to be those who are willing to give of ourselves
because the Lord has given us a pattern and we are to follow
Him and as His work was a perfect work so that is our high calling
in Christ Jesus He finishes the work. O God, have mercy upon
us. God, grant us that grace that
we might be those who are truly, truly the followers of this man,
even the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, knowing that all
things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
ever wanting to see the accomplishment of the Word of God, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled, He says, I thirst. Now there
was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with
vinegar, and put it upon his hip, and put it to his mouth.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head, and gave
up the ghost. Amen.