Open with me now, if you would,
to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. And let's begin reading in verse
28. John 19, verse 28. It says, 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 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." This scripture came to my mind
because I sent a text to one of our ladies who was going to
bring lunch to us on Saturday. And after realizing that there
was nothing we could do, I wanted to let her know that there was
no need in her bringing lunch. We're not going to have a work
day. And her reply to me was, well, this is a first. This is a first Saturday of nothing
to do. We've been waiting on these,
and here they are. Nothing to do. I said, I know that's pretty
exciting, isn't it? She said, yes, it is. Yes, it
is. And for a minute there, we both
entered into the glory of what it means to say it is finished. It is finished. Now, here's the
reason why I want to look at John 19-30 tonight. It's because I believe I have
a very clear and important illustration and truth for us to see tonight. And this illustration of truth
is the difference in man's works and God's works. That's what
this will show us. It comes down to the difference
of false religion, which is idolatry, lies, error, a false hope of
salvation, and the truth of God's word, the truth of the gospel,
the only truth that actually saves people, the only one that
actually saves. And I'm going to go ahead and
show you what I mean. All right. I'm going to show you this illustration
so you can see what I mean right now. When our sister and I were
rejoicing together the other day over nothing to do, we're
done. It's great. We were sending all
these exclamation points and smiley faces to each other. This is what that means for us.
It means we're going to have to have an inspection. And I'm pretty sure they're going
to tell us we need to change something. And we're going to
have to fix it. And then we're going to have
to have another inspection. And when they finally give us a CO,
we're going to have to empty everything out of this building
and move it over to that building. And once we get into that building,
we're going to have to clean and maintain that much larger
building. And we're going to have to maintain
all that landscaping we just put in and that much bigger yard
that we will now have. As soon as possible, we need
to build a sign by the road. We don't have a sign out there
yet. We need a sign. Lord willing,
we're going to letter the back of the building on the interstate.
We need to put letters on the back of the building. We had a list of things that
needed to be done to get a certificate of occupancy. We had a list that
had to be done so that we could move into it. But there is another
list of things that just still need to be done. Down the road. And I want to
emphasize, down the road. Down the road, after we get some
stamina back. We need to put a staircase in
the building that goes from the upstairs to the downstairs. And we need to finish the whole
basement. But we're done. It's finished. Nothing else to do. We just have a lot more work
to do. It's done, but we just have a lot more work to do. All
right. That is false religion. That's what false religion is. It claims a finished work that's
not really done. It claims to rejoice in a finished
work that's not really finished. It claims a salvation that's
not really accomplished. Salvation? Aren't you so glad
for salvation? Now let's see to it that it happens. That's not a salvation at all.
If it's not really accomplished, that's not a salvation at all.
If it's not accomplished, it's not a salvation. If I have to work to maintain
my finished work, if I have to work to add to my
finished work, then it's not a finished work. With man, it's never going to
be a finished work. If it's not a finished work, there's no hope. Charles Spurgeon said, if I was
standing at the threshold of heaven, if Christ did everything
that needed to be done to get me to the threshold of heaven,
but that last step was up to me. He said, I would never make
it in. I'll never make it in. If Christ
did not finish the work, start to finish. Finish the work. There is no hope for us. None
whatsoever. It is impossible for man to finish
God's work. Man will try, and he will try,
and he will work, and he will work, and it will never be finished. Never. Thank God, God's ways
are not man's ways. When God says it is finished,
is finished. It is finished. Somebody will
say, well, now, wait a minute. Let's think about this. All right.
Christ said he finished the work of salvation. But let's make
a list. All right. We we have these lists. That's what we like to do. We
make lists. All right. So let's make a list. What else
really has to be done for us to truly enter into Rest. What else has to be done? Let's
make a list. It's finished. It is finished. It is finished. And to cry, salvation
is finished, but there's still work to be done. It's finished. But there's still work to be
done. That is to call God a liar. God said it's finished, and it
is. Now let's take notice of some
of the things that Christ finished when He said it's finished. Turn with me if you would to
Romans 10. This right here is such good
news. If the Lord will let us get a
hold of this, this is truly wonderful news. Romans 10. Verse 1 says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And that's the
problem for so many people. They have a zeal of God, but they're not truly worshiping
Him according to the truth of what He has said in His Word. And what has He said in His Word? It's finished. It is finished. Verse 2 says,
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. What does that mean? Righteousness.
What does that mean? That means rightness. It means correctness. It means obedience according
to the law. The law saying, yes, that's obedience. Verse 3 says, they being ignorant
of God's correctness. God's obedience according to
the law. And going about to establish
their own correctness. Their own obedience to the law.
They've not submitted themselves unto the correctness and the
obedience of God. Verse 4 says, For Christ. Let's ask this question here.
Why did Christ come? Why did Christ come? What did
Christ do? What is the good news concerning
Him? Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law for correctness and obedience to God. Christ is the fulfillment.
He's the end of it. We're always looking to this
flesh saying, if we know something of the flesh, if the truth has
been revealed to us, we look at this flesh and we say, God
is not going to be happy with me. God's not going to be happy
with me. I'm not even happy with me. I
don't even like what I see. How could God be happy with me? Well, as long as he's looking
at me, he can't be. But if I'm in Christ. He's not
looking at me. Isn't that glorious news? If
I'm in Christ, he's looking at Christ. He's looking at Christ's
correctness, Christ's obedience to the law. And when Christ said
it is finished, what he was saying was, I have fulfilled the law
for you. Everything that the law and the
prophets and I fulfilled it all. I have fulfilled and finished
correctness for you. I have fully, completely given
obedience to you. In me, God is happy with you. What a thing to realize. In me,
God is well pleased. Well pleased. Happy. Rest. You want to hear good news? In Christ, God is happy. God
is satisfied. Take a break. Rest. The work
is over. The work is over. Turn to Romans
8. Look at verse 3. It says, What the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. Now watch verse 4. That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. Who walk not after the flesh,
but after Christ. You say that says the spirit.
That's right. It's the spirit of Christ. Verse five says they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but
they that are after Christ, the things of Christ. To be carnally
minded is death, but to be Christ minded is life and peace. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God. Neither indeed can be. So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in
the flesh. You're in Christ. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ.
He's none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body's dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of
righteousness. Righteousness. Somebody will
say, well, now you've got to have a righteousness to stand
before God. That's right. And Christ said, it's finished.
It is finished. Your goodness, He said, I've
taken care of it. It's finished. Turn with me to
Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 11, it says, Every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." When Christ said, it is finished,
what he was saying was, in my blood, by the one sacrifice of
myself to God on your behalf, you are forgiven. You are completely
forgiven. Your sins are purged. They're gone. Verse 17 right
here says, Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. How can God say that? How can
God say that? The only way God can say that
is for them to not exist. They do not exist. They are gone. You say, well, I don't even see
how that could be so when I still commit them. If God looks on
me at all, I just still commit them. Well, I don't see how God
could see me to be faultless in Christ as I stand in this
flesh right here. I don't see how God could have
anything to do with me outside of Christ. Christ said, cradle
to the grave in me. Your sins have been washed away.
Washed away in my soul-cleansing blood. By my blood, remission
has been made. Remission means release from
the bondage of it. If you hear about going into
remission, they said, I'm in remission. That means release
from the bondage of it. And our Lord said, in my blood,
you've been released from the bondage of your sin. You've been given liberty. It's
not on you anymore. It was on Him, but He said, I
put it away. Put it all away. Look at chapter
9 here, Hebrews 9 verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, But by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Having obtained. He obtained it. Eternal redemption. Verse 28 right here says, So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He took them away. He put them
away and when He comes back, they will not be there. They're
gone. When our Lord cried, it is finished,
what He was saying was, your correctness is finished. It's accomplished. Your forgiveness
is finished. It's accomplished. Turn with
me over to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 6, it says,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. I love all of the past tense
words. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Your acceptance is finished. By the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we already have acceptance with God. If you look at Ephesians
2 verse 6, it says, And hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. He already has raised
us up and made us sit together with Him. He's already done it. We're already seated with Him. Christ said, and again, that's
something you say, how can that be? Well, Christ said we are,
so we are. Again, how can I be sinless when
I see all this sin on me? Christ said we are, so we are.
In His blood, we are. In Christ, our righteousness,
our goodness, our obedience is finished. Our forgiveness is finished. Our holiness, our acceptance
is finished. I wish so badly that men and
women could understand that. I'm telling you, if we understand
that, we take it for granted. Men and women go through this
life trying to satisfy God. Trying to satisfy God when Christ has already done
it for His people. It is finished. The battle is
over. It is finished, there'll be no more war. It's finished,
the end of all conflict. Jesus Christ is Lord. It's finished. He finished it. All right, so
what does that leave for us to do? What does that leave for
us to do? Concerning us, what did Christ
leave undone? Nothing. Nothing. He came down here, He did the
work, and He left nothing undone. Rest. Rest. I pray the Lord will give us
rest. How many scriptures are there
in this word that say, it's not by our works, it was by His works. Rest. He said, Father, I finished the
work you gave me to do. He finished all the works the
Father gave him to do. Rest. Just rest. Go with me to Hebrews 4. Our
brother just read this to us. Hebrews 4, and our Lord said,
I'll point this out to us, but our Lord said that if the truth
of the finished work of Christ was revealed to a man or a woman,
that truth would set them free. It would set them free from the
bondage of the law and the bondage of sin. And He said, they'll
rest in the freeing liberty that's in Christ. That's my prayer. Lord, set us free. Set us free. Reveal the truth to us. Give
us rest. Set us free. Verse 9, Hebrews
4, verse 9, it says, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people
of God. Don't you want that? We want
it so badly. We think of all the turmoil and
all the trials and all the troubles down here. And all we want is rest. All
we want is rest in glory with him. There's nothing to do. But rest in him, there's nothing
to do but worship him. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into His
rest, if we ever enter into His rest, what it means to say He
sat down. He that is entered into His rest,
He also hath ceased from His own works as God did from His. Our Lord Jesus Christ said it
is finished because He accomplished for His people everything that
had to be done. And we look at ourselves and
we just moan and groan and see how just incomplete we see ourselves
to be. In Christ, we are complete. We
are complete in Him. Verse 11 says, Let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest. Let's labor any time that any
work or any lack or anything pops into our mind. Let's remember
Christ took care of it. Christ finished it. Christ paid
it. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. How do we enter into that rest? How do we enter into that rest?
Look at verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. What is our profession? He finished
the work. Everything that needed to be
done, He did it. Everything I needed to please God, He did it. Everything
I needed for forgiveness, He did it. Let us hold fast our
profession, verse 15 says, for we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. Come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Honestly, may God give
us rest. May God give us rest in these
three little words. It is finished. How glorious
that our Lord, such small words, such small words. What a inconceivable Vastness, he said in three words. We'll never know the depths of
everything he finished, but he said it's finished. Lord, give
us rest. Give us rest in that. All right,
let's all stand together.