Dear Father, we pray that by
your Spirit you would indeed show us the Lord Jesus Christ
from your Word today in our hearts. You alone can open our hearts. You alone can speak to us and
reveal your Son. We depend upon you. Without your
revelation of our Savior to our hearts, we will not be able to
believe Him. We won't understand and see Him.
and it won't mean anything to us, savingly. And so, Lord, we
pray that you would give us this grace to save us and to keep
us and to grow us in this grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We've been going through the
book of Matthew and we've come to the crucifixion. Jesus is
on the cross. Now He's spoken these things,
and this is the sixth thing that He has said. It's recorded in
John chapter 19, verse 30. I want to read verses 28 through
30 with you. John 19, verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now, there was said 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. And he
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." I know that you understand that
the Lord Jesus Christ did many things. And when he was on the
earth, he preached the gospel. When he preached, thousands could
hear him. So God gave him the ability to
speak as a man, without a microphone, so thousands of people at the
same time could hear him on the open hillsides. I don't know
how they did that. But here, the Lord, the same
one who preached then, it says here that He said this, it is
finished. In Matthew chapter 27, it says
he cried with a loud voice. Now, when you're dying, you're
not able to cry with a loud voice. But the Lord Jesus is dying and
he cried with a loud voice. He said, it is finished, and
he said it with a loud voice. The one who could be heard by
thousands now cries with his loud voice. And when He says
this, it is finished, everyone would have heard it. There's
no doubt in my mind that all those around the cross heard
Him. The thieves heard Him. The soldiers heard Him. I believe
that the people, the rulers of the Jews all heard Him. The disciples
who may have been at a distance watching and afraid heard Him. And I know that the angels in
heaven heard Him. I know that the devils in hell
heard him because the devil was cast out of heaven when the Lord
Jesus cried, it is finished. And so everyone heard this cry. If they didn't hear his voice
then, they hear it now, it is finished. What does this mean?
Without a doubt, Without a doubt, this is the most significant
event. This moment in history is the
most significant event of all things. The Lord Jesus crying,
it is finished. When the Lord Jesus cried this,
He's really saying that what was given Him to do is now complete. The work is finished. It's complete. All God gave Him to do is done.
And it's not only complete, but it's done as according to what
God wanted him to do. Every scripture is fulfilled. And more importantly, everything
that was given him to do in order to accomplish what he gave him
to accomplish was actually done. So he actually accomplished the
will of God. I worked for a long time in my
career on many projects. Some of them, professionally,
we never finished. One in particular I worked on
for years. And we made many revisions, but it was never actually done.
And I couldn't help but thinking in retrospect what we could have
done to save a lot of money. But God gave me a living that
way. Busying myself with things that never actually came to fruition.
But here, the Lord Jesus Christ, unlike us, and unlike all the
work that's done on the earth, because Solomon said in the book
of Ecclesiastes, vanity, vanity, all is vanity that's done under
the sun. Except this. What the Lord Jesus Christ did
was not vanity. It's the one thing that actually
got accomplished, that was actually finished. Now, I don't think that when
we read this just casually, we really understand the significance
of what is said here. First of all, what was finished?
What was finished? Well, we know from, because we've
talked about this many times at length, what was actually
finished was the will of God. Remember, Jesus came from heaven,
and he said when he came into the world, in Hebrews, in fact,
let's just look at a few verses together. Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to have you take a
look at several verses, so let's just open your Bible and look
at these together. Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 5. When He cometh into the world,
the Lord Jesus, when He's coming into the world, He saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
Me. The Lord, His God, His Father,
prepared Him a body. And with that body, He came. He says, God wasn't satisfied
with sacrifices and offerings, but in verse 6, "...in burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure."
All the sacrifices that God required to be offered in the Old Testament,
none of those, not one, ever gave God satisfaction. Because
they all pointed to the one sacrifice, verse 7. Then, in the light of
this, in fact, in light of the fact that none of those sacrifices
ever did anything to put away sin, or satisfy God's justice,
or glorify God's name. He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. So that's what the Lord Jesus
said when he said, it is finished. He came to do the will of God. In Luke 2, 49, Jesus was 12 years
old. Mary, his mother, and Joseph,
Mary's husband, had left the temple and didn't know, but they
left Jesus there. And when they found that he was
gone three days later, they came back to get him. And they asked
him, Son, don't you know that we sought you sorrowing? And
he said to them, didn't you know I must be about my father's business? His father's business was what
he came to do. In John chapter 4, we've referred
to this often too. After he revealed himself as
the Christ to the woman at the well in John 4, 34. His disciples
come to him and say, Master, eat. And he said, I have meat
to eat that you know not of. Because he said in John 4, 34,
that my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. In John 4.34, Jesus said, "...My
meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His
work." That's the will that He spoke of in Hebrews when He was
coming into the world. That's the will He spoke about
to His mother and to Joseph in Luke 2.49. And here He has it
again. And then in John 5.36, He says
this, To the Pharisees I have 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 has sent me." God gave him works to do
to finish those works. He actually did that. Then look
at John 6 and verse 38. He says in John 6 38, I'm going to read verse 37. He says, "...all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I am come down from heaven, not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." And then
look carefully at verse 39. This is that will. And this is
the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. Now, we could look at even more
scriptures. John chapter 10, he says that
his father had given him a commandment to lay down his life for the
sheep. which he did. In John 17, in fact, turn to
John 17, because this one's very significant. He says in verse 1, "...these
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven." Just
before he goes to the cross, while he's with his disciples,
he had left the upper room walking to Gethsemane, and just before
he gets to Gethsemane, here he prays with his disciples hearing
him. He says, He lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son,
that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. 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 the
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. This is the will. He's speaking
about the will. And what is that will? First
he asks his father, glorify me that I might glorify you. And
what is that thing God gave him to do by which he would glorify
himself? The father would be glorified
in the son. Verse 2, to give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given me. That was the will God gave him
to fulfill. John 6.39, he says, this is the will of him that
sent me. that I should raise up again at the last day all
those the Father has given me." Now, all these things are comprehended. Those are the things referred
to when the Lord Jesus cried from the cross, it is finished.
God made Adam. God put him in a garden. God
gave him things to do. The world was created. He didn't
give him much to do, but he said have dominion over these things.
Dominion over the fish. Dominion over the animals. Dominion
over the earth. And subdue it. And what happened? Adam didn't do what he was given
to do. He did not fulfill. No man has ever done the will
of God except the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when we look
at this, we see here something so significant that it really,
it has to be the most significant statement in all of Scripture.
It is finished. When God created the world, in six days. It says in Genesis
1.31 that He looked upon everything that He had done. In fact, look
at that with me. Look at Genesis chapter 1. Because
this is significant. God wants us to understand the
correlation here. Genesis chapter 1. And the last
verse of chapter 1. He says, And God saw... Why does it say that God saw?
God doesn't have to tell us what He saw, does He? The only way
we know what is true is if God tells us what He sees. And so
it says, And God saw everything that He had made. And behold,
it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. That was the end of the six days
of creation. God made everything, and in making
everything, He looked at all that He did, and He saw, it's
all very good. And then in verse, in chapter
two of Genesis, he says this. In verse one he says, Thus the
heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, and
on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. He
stopped working. It was all done, and it was very
good. And it says, And he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had made. Think about it. God made everything
out of nothing. Nothing that is made was not
made by His Word. And yet the One whose Word, because
we know the Lord Jesus is the One who spoke all things into
existence by His Word, the One whose Word created the worlds
and finished them in six days, actually has to hang on the cross
in order to finish the work God gave Him to do in a human body
and soul. And so you see, the power of
God, as God Almighty, to be able to create the heavens and the
earth and all that's in them for His purpose by His spoken
word, that same power was small compared to the power it required
the Lord Jesus Christ to exert in order to save His people from
their sins and do the eternal will of God. The One who spoke
the world into existence by His Word could only save His people
by laying down His life and shedding His blood. That's the significance
of it. And it even is significant for
additional reasons. When we look at all of history,
if we were to survey all of history as God describes it in His Word,
we would see that at this point in history, when Jesus cried,
it is finished, It comprises the summation of everything that
came before. And tells us all that will come
after. It's the dividing point in history. Because it's really taking all
of the Old Testament and it's completing it. It's fulfilling
it. It's bringing it to it's intended
end. Christ. The one who said it is
finished is the end of the law for righteousness. It says in
Romans chapter 10 verse 4. That's what he's doing here.
He's telling us that all that God comprehended in His Word
up to this point that looked forward as Peter says in 1 Peter
chapter 1 verse 11 where he says the Old Testament prophets searched
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them spoke when it said spoke of the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. And here we have it. It is finished.
The sufferings of Christ accomplished. And all those Old Testament prophets,
the law, the prophets, the ceremonies in the law, the events in time
that occurred, that pictured and portrayed the coming and
suffering and doing and dying of Christ, those are all fulfilled
when Jesus said, it is finished. He did the will of God. He fulfilled
the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. And so, when saying this, He
also instituted the New Covenant. This is amazing. Look at Hebrews
chapter 1. It's so significant, what happened
here, that it will take eternity to realize the significance of
it. The accomplishments of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What God gave Him to do, He actually
accomplished. It is finished. He who spoke
the worlds into existence did complete the work God gave him
to do. But Hebrews chapter 1, he says,
God, who at sundry times, that means various times, and in divers
manners, different manners, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, this was scripture, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory, and the expressed image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high." What happened when Jesus cried, it is finished?
All that God gave him to do was done. And he sat down. He sat down. It was done. God
surveyed creation and found nothing wrong. Everything was in order.
It was perfect. Christ surveyed the work God
gave him to do. He had finished it all and he
looked at it. And he said, it is finished. He was satisfied. Why was the Lord Jesus satisfied?
Because God was satisfied with what He did. Because He knew
He had fulfilled the will of God completely. Nothing left
out. And perfectly. Exactly according
to God's perfect holiness. There was no... Nothing fell
short. Nothing was done imperfectly.
It was all perfect. Now... The book of Hebrews really
is a summary of all that's meant when Jesus said, it is finished.
Because the book of Hebrews is the unfolding of the Old Testament. We often say, I wonder what that
conversation was on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus walked
with those two disciples. When they were walking along
the way, and he opened to them the Scriptures, I believe that
the book of Hebrews is that conversation, in a sense. Because the book
of Hebrews tells us all the Old Testament Scriptures are fulfilled
and pointed to Christ. First, as we see here in chapter
1, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son through whom God has spoken.
All the Old Testament scriptures given by the prophets, it says
that God spoke to the fathers by these prophets, but in these
last days God spoke by His Son. That means that everything God
spoke in the Old Testament, was actually fulfilled and came to
its full revelation in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. It's consistent. The Word of the Old Testament
is consistent with the New. And yet, when the Lord Jesus
spoke it, He's the Son of God. Not just a man, but the Son Himself. And that's why it says in the
next part, all He is is the Son of God. It describes His glory. He's the one who is the heir
of all things. The heir of all things. What
is the heir of all things? Well, think about this. Everything
that God the Father has is given to Christ. Everything. Everything that is God the Father's.
Can you imagine what that is? It doesn't just mean His created
universe. It means, which it does include
that, but it includes all of His honor. All of His authority. All of His right to judge. All
of His will. All of His glory. Everything.
All of His wisdom is in His Son. Revelation chapter 13 says as
much. that in heaven they all are around the throne praising
the Lamb and they say blessing and honor and power and glory
and strength to the Lamb and to Him who sits on the throne.
This is what God is speaking about here. He's the heir of
all things. When men want to reward someone, kings on earth
want to reward someone, they'll say, I'm going to give you If
you do this, remember Herod did this, I'm going to give you half
my kingdom because of that dance that girl did. Half of his kingdom. But hear the Lord, the God of
eternity. He gives to Christ everything.
He entrusts everything to Him. His people especially. And so
He's the heir of all things. Now the book of Hebrews goes
through this. He says Christ is better than
the prophets. He's the Son. The prophets spoke
about who would come. He is that one. They spoke about
what He would do. He did it. And so he goes on
in the book of Hebrews. He says Christ is better than
the angels. As much better than the angels
as the one who is worshipped is better than those who worship
him. As much better as the one who is the creator is better
than those who are created. He's better than the angels because
they were the servants. And He's the Master, the Lord
of Glory. And then, in Hebrews, He goes
on. He says He's better than Adam.
He's better than all the promises that God spoke in the garden.
When He says He gave all things to be under the dominion of man. Christ is that man to whom all
things were subjected. And then in Hebrews chapter 3,
He says He's better than Moses. In Hebrews chapter 4, He's better
than Joshua. In Hebrews chapter 5 and following,
he's better than Aaron and all the Levitical priests. And then
in Hebrews chapters 8-10 he says, not only that, but the old covenant,
he is the mediator of the new covenant. That's done away. He's
better, he brings in a new covenant because he's the Lord. He's an
everlasting covenant and he fulfilled it too. So all these things are spoken
of about what Christ would do. This is the point in time. It's
the dividing point. If you look at the globe, it's
got this line that divides the vertical axis and the horizontal
axis. This is the point in history.
It divides everything from the old and the new. It ushers in
the last days. In these last days, God has fulfilled
His word in His Son. And so, it's phenomenal. I mean, you go through the book
of Hebrews. I was going through this book yesterday as I was
studying for the sermon. It's amazing what God has said
there. Look at Hebrews chapter, just a little snapshot here.
Look at Hebrews. Remember what happened there
in verse 3 of Hebrews 1. What did God say? He who is the
Son of God, He who is the Son of God, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down. That was the climactic thing
in Hebrews chapter 1. When the Son purged our sins. And look at Hebrews chapter 9.
In verse 11 of Hebrews chapter 9,
Christ, being come in high priest of good things to come, That
was because in the Old Testament they were always something to
come, good things to come, "...by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
which is heaven itself, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of 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 this? This is describing
the words, it is finished. He entered into heaven itself
once and he actually obtained eternal redemption for us. And
then he gives the contrast in verse 13, "...for if the blood
of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling
the unclean, sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh," those
things, sanctified, set apart, made holy on the outward way,
because God said to do it. But verse 14, "...how much more,
infinitely more, shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself, Without spot to God. Purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. That's what sanctification
is. God purging our conscience with the blood of Christ. That
we go out of ourselves and lay hold on Christ and seeing Him. We serve God, the Living God. Not with dead works. Not with
works trying to achieve something. But in faith, seeing what Christ
has done. This is the testimony of God.
It's all done. It's done once. It's done forever.
And look at verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. Which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as
the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with
blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many." So here you see this one-time
offering. One offering by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is both God and man, made eternal, obtained eternal redemption,
forever put away sins. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
actually accomplish? Well, he says here, eternal redemption.
He obtained it. Look at verse 15 of chapter 9.
What else did he accomplish? He says, in verse 15, "...for
this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by
means of death," his death, "...for the redemption of the transgressions,
the payment of ransom to God in justice, and the setting free,
that were under the First Testament," because that's where our transgressions,
we were under the law, "...that that they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Eternal inheritance. That's also what he obtained.
He obtained eternal redemption, eternal inheritance, and we know
from other places he established everlasting righteousness. He, look at chapter 10 in verse
17 and 18. Now we're remission of the, it
says, their sins, this is God's promise, let me back up to verse
14. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. One offering, His offering, forever
He perfected them that are sanctified. Set apart by God, sanctified
by His blood, perfected. Can you get any better than that?
Can you go beyond that? Is there something to add to
that? And how did He do it? By one offering, In verse 15,
whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that
he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, he's
spoken of new covenant, of a time when God will remember their
sins no more. This is that time. Christ perfected
forever them that are sanctified by His one offering, therefore
God doesn't remember their sins anymore. The work is done. He obtained eternal redemption,
established everlasting righteousness, obtained eternal inheritance,
and here it says He made the remission of our sins. God remembers
them no more. What is it that we need? What
is it that we want? Don't we want all of God's promises
in the New Covenant fulfilled? And how is it going to be fulfilled? How is it going to be done? Not
by something we do. Not by something that we do in
cooperation with God. But entirely by what Christ did.
And when was it done? When did the Lord Jesus Christ
finish the work? When He cried from the cross,
it is finished. And because he actually finished
it, he sat down. Look at Hebrews 10 and verse
10 and 12. He says, "...by the which will,"
the will God gave him to do, that he finished, "...we are
sanctified through the offering," we're made holy, "...through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." For perpetuity. Forever. For 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." It's done. And what would we think, what
would it mean if we were to say, Well, I know that Jesus has done
all this, that He's obtained these things, He finished God's
work. What would it have meant for Adam to say, well, you know,
there's just something here about creation that's not quite right.
I need to add one thing. When God said it's very good,
that would be foolishness, wouldn't it? And how much more foolish
is it if Because Christ laid down His life and shed His blood
to fulfill the eternal will of God, we think in our minds we
have to now do something to make His salvation work. So in the
book of Hebrews, what you see is that Christ actually, by His
blood, met every condition of the new covenant, the covenant
of grace, the everlasting covenant. It was established before time,
and He fulfilled it at the cross. So that every blessing promised
in that covenant is given to those to whom it was promised.
That's what He meant in chapter 9, verse 15. By His blood, He
brought in this eternal inheritance. The one who made the will died
to put the will into force, as a testament. And that's what
Christ did when He shed His blood. He actually finished it. Now,
that's what Christ did. What did He ask His Father to
do? Because of what He did. He said, glorify Thy Son, that
Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Glorify me. What did he want
his father to do? Give me, in the accomplishment
of your will, give me glory, give me the power and the authority
and all of the rule so that I can subdue all enemies and bring
my people to myself. That's what he's asking for.
That I may give eternal life to as many as you have given
me. And here's something that we see in what Christ did that's
almost unbelievable. The Lord gave the Lord Jesus,
God the Father gave Christ, Jesus the Son, He gave Him everything,
didn't He? All things are put into His hand.
But what was the one thing, above all things, that the Lord Jesus
actually laid down His life to have? Was it the world? He had that. He was the Son of
God. But what was it? Look at Ephesians
chapter 5. He says in verse 25, Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
do all the will of God? Well, it was to glorify His Father.
That was it. But what was it that would bring
glory to His Father? To bring His many sons to glory. And why did the Lord Jesus want
to do that? Besides the fact that it was His Father's will,
which is the totality of the reason. But here, He shows us,
within that will, He shows us His own heart. The heart of the
Lord Jesus Christ is to have His people. What was the treasure
in all that God gave him that he prized above everything? The
church of God. The people of God. He laid down
his life for the church. Look at Ephesians chapter 1. That he might give eternal life
to as many as God had given him. They were his. And he wanted
to save them. And have them. Hebrews 1 verse
17. Verse 16, Paul says, "...I cease
not to give thanks for you, you Ephesians, and for all those
like you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of
our..." This is what he prays. "...that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that you might
know Christ..." That's what he's praying for. "...that the Spirit
of God would give you understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
just head knowledge, but a knowledge that's convincing you in your
conscience. Like he said in Hebrews 9, 14,
and 15. The blood of Christ sprinkled
on your heart knowing Him. The gospel written on your heart
by the Spirit of God. He says in verse 18, "...that
the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power to us were to believe according
to the working of His mighty power." What power it took for
the Lord Jesus Christ to save one sinner from his sins and
to give him his own spirit, raise him from spiritual death, join
him to himself, and seat him in heaven with himself. That's power. Verse 20. which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. And he has put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church. which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." What is he saying here at the
end? He's saying that God gave him all things, put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over the church.
And that church, his people, is his body. For whom he gave
himself. This is amazing. I've mentioned
this several times before, but think about it. When the thief
hung on the cross and he said, Lord, remember me. He was expressing, by the Spirit
of God, a prayer. And in that prayer, He was asking
the Lord Jesus Christ to do what was in His heart. To think on
Him. In love and favor. And to think
on Him because He was dying. He was shedding His blood to
have His people. To bring them to glory. That
was the fulfillment of God's will. And so, the same thing. We mentioned, I think last week,
the woman at the well. He says, give me to drink. God
says, don't drink water except out of your own cistern. Don't
find satisfaction in any but your own wife. This woman, He
comes to her and He says, give me to drink. He's seeking water
from her. And that water that He received, that drink He received
from her is Himself saving her, making Himself known. He's satisfied
when He gives to His people His Spirit and they see Him. There
is this intimate communion between a needy sinner who sees his Savior
and finds in his Savior all that he ever needed or wanted. And
he comes to Him for life and for everything. Remember, look
at John 6. I want to bring this out because
this is phenomenal. To me, it's just phenomenal.
He cried, it is finished. It was a victory cry. It was
a cry that shook hell. It was a cry of victory and triumph. And it was a cry from the heart
of the one who betrothed his wife to himself. Now he has her. John 6 and verse 56. He says, "...he that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him." What is
he saying here? He's saying that when we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's eating His flesh and drinking
His blood. When we take the sacrifice that He offered Himself to make
propitiation to God for our sins, putting our sins away, establishing
our righteousness before God. When we believe Him for that,
we're taking of Him. And taking of Him, he says, we
dwell in Him. And He dwells in us. That's communion
at the deepest level. Look at the Song of Solomon.
I want you to see these beautiful, beautiful verses. Song of Solomon.
It's just before the book of Isaiah, if you have trouble finding
it. I think it is. Yes. Song of Solomon,
chapter 4. He says in verse 7, This is what
the Lord Jesus Christ says about His people. Because of His work,
remember, He gave Himself for His church, that He might have
her, and that she might be spotless before Him. He says in verse
7, When he looks on his church, because of his finished work,
just like God looked on creation. What did he say about creation?
Very good. Here, listen to what Christ says
about his people, because of his work. He says, Thou art all
fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. And
then look at verse 9. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thine neck." The Lord Jesus
Christ so takes satisfaction in the beauty that He has put
on His people. He finds it perfect. It's glorious
in His eyes. They are glorious. He loved them
from eternity because He saw them. He saw them and desired
them, and they ravaged his heart because of his love for them.
And he wanted to present them to himself a chaste virgin. Not having any spot or wrinkle
or any such thing. Holy. And how did he do that? He shed his own blood and perfected
them. Sanctified them to God. Redeemed
them. Washed them from their sins with
his own blood. And there he says, Thou art all
fair my love. There is no spot in thee. That's
what he cried. Look at Isaiah chapter 54. No spot in thee, my love. You've ravished my heart with
your love. He says in Isaiah 54 verse 4,
Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded,
for thou shalt not be put to shame. I'm looking at Isaiah
54 verse 4. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
anymore, Verse 5. Why? For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved
in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith
thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment. When Jesus hung on the cross
and cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer. Here the Lord Jesus Christ glories
over His work and glorifies His Father because He finished the
work perfected it, fulfilled the old covenant, established
the new. He's made us holy before God.
What a work. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. The Lord
Jesus, what a Savior. What are we to do? What are we
to do with this? Well, first let's read Hebrews
chapter 12 before we try to answer that question. He says, Verse 18 says, "...you are not
come to the mount that might be touched," that was Sinai,
"...and that burned with fire, nor into blackness, and darkness,
and tempest." The children of Israel in the wilderness, they
were led to Mount Sinai. Moses went up to the mountain,
and the mountain was on fire. It shook and quaked. Moses said,
before he went up, he says, "...I exceedingly fear." Which we're
going to read. Verse 19. You're not come to these things.
You're not come to the sound of a trumpet and the voice of
words, which voice they heard entreated that the word should
not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. But you are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."
All those terms, Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, they're just synonyms for the redeemed church
of God, in whom God dwells, and who will be with Him in glory.
And to an innumerable company of angels. They're secondary
to the church because God has exalted His people above everything
in Christ. Verse 23, to the General Assembly,
not the Jews only, the General Assembly, and the Church of the
Firstborn, which are written in heaven. Written in heaven
means they've been written there from eternity. Their names are
written in heaven. And to God, the Judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men, made perfect by the blood of
Jesus. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, not the old. The old has been done away. I
read commentaries, they say, well when Jesus went to the cross,
he fulfilled the Old Testament, put away the ceremonies, but
the law is still with us, it's still binding on us. What? Think
about it. Do you really want a law on tables
of stone, or do you want a law written on your heart? Do you
want the law that says do this and live, or do you want a law
that says Christ has done it all? Do you want the news that
makes my salvation and favor with God dependent upon me and
my personal obedience, or entirely based on what Christ did? And
he wrote that on my heart, so that I see God remembers my sins
no more, and therefore my conscience is purged from dead works, and
I can now serve the living God in love and truth. A truth that's
fulfilled in His Son. What do we want? How silly it
is to want to be under that old covenant when Christ has established
the new in His blood. You come to the meat-eater of
the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling. That speaks better
things than that of Abel. One more verse. Look at 2 Samuel
23. 2 Samuel chapter 23. The everlasting
covenant is a synonym for the gospel itself. In Malachi 3,
God says that Jesus is the messenger of the covenant. And we know
what Jesus came preaching, don't we? He came to preach the gospel.
He's the messenger of the covenant. And so we know that that's true,
but look at this in 2 Samuel chapter 23. This is David speaking. He says
in verse 5, although my house be not so with God. He's speaking
about his physical family, his own heart, his own physical life,
and his own kingdom. Although my house be not so with
God. Which he described in the verses. Let's read those. Verse
1. Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse
said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God, of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The
Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock
of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God. And then he goes on in verse
4 and he speaks in metaphorical language. He says, "...he shall
be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after the rain." He's describing Christ who would
fulfill the law and take away the clouds of wrath against us
and we would spring up to God, fruit to God. Verse 5. In thinking
about this glory that he spoke about in verse 4, in his own
position on earth, he says, "...although my house be not so with God."
I'm not the one who fulfills those words. Yet He, Christ,
hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now mark carefully
these next words. He describes that everlasting
covenant. He says it's ordered in all things and sure, it's
certain. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although He make it not to grow." Not in
my own family. But He has fulfilled the everlasting
covenant. And what is that? It's all my
salvation. And it's all my desire. What
is my salvation? It's what Christ accomplished.
It's what He obtained for us. Believers in the book of Hebrews
are exhorted to look with faith to what Christ has done and rest
in Him. Cease from your own works and
enter into His rest. That's what faith does. We stop
working because the work is done. We don't add. We don't attempt
to add. We don't think we can come to God because He finds
something good in us. We say, Lord be merciful to me,
the sinner, and we look to Christ alone. So what do we do? How do we take
this information? What do we do with it? We look
and we rest. We stop working and we look to
Christ and we come to God by Him. Hebrews, the book of Hebrews
sums it up this way. He says, after he said, now where
remission of these things is, there is no more offering for
sin. And then he said this, having
therefore, brethren, boldness To enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus. What's the object of our faith?
What do we believe? Who do we look to? We look to
Christ crucified. The one who cried, it is finished. The one in the Old Testament
who created the world is the one who in the New Testament
created the church by his blood. In the old, He spoke. In the
new, He fulfilled all that He spoke with His own blood. Brought
it into reality. He fulfilled it. He created His
people in Himself when He fulfilled that new covenant. And we're
to sit and look and rest and marvel at what He's done. And to worship God. We are to
believe Him, hope in Him, love Him, desire Him. because he's
done it all. And he says, because of what
he's done, he looks at his people and he says, thou art all fair. My love, I see no spot in thee.
You've ravished me with your love. It's amazing, isn't it? That Christ would so desire his
people that he would do this for us. Let's pray. Father, we
pray that we would know something of the truth of what Jesus said
when he cried, it is finished. That we would be as those newly
created, looking at a creation that's perfect in every way,
and we would just stand in awe as we stand in the garden of
your love for us. And we look about all in every
direction, it's all done. And we would rest in you, and
we would worship you, And we would serve you gladly, not to
get, but because you're worthy. And we do it out of a heart of
worship. And help us, dear Lord, to walk in this life, the wilderness
of this life, by faith, looking to our heavenly Joshua, who obtained
for us eternal redemption, eternal inheritance. And even though
we struggle in this life through all the difficulties, and have
these enemies, our sin and the world, we know they're conquered.
And we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Help
us to see that He's done it all, even subduing our iniquities
from His throne on glory now, and to stand and rest in Him.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.