And I want to direct your attention
to one little statement, and it is found in verse 30. This will be our subject for
this morning. John 19, 30, when Jesus, therefore,
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And then he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. It is said that the ancient Greeks
took a lot of pride in being able to say much with just a
few words. In fact, one writer that I had
the occasion to read, he said, They were able to give an ocean
of substance, an ocean of matter, an ocean of information, an ocean
of teaching in one drop of language. An ocean of matter in one drop
of language. Well, I would say this. that
which they ever endeavored to do is really done by our Savior. In these three words, it is finished. And I've often counseled preachers
and teachers about don't go into the Greek language. don't need that, they can't remember
it. So I'm going to break that rule
just a little bit. To say this, these three words,
it is finished, in the Greek, and of course the New Testament
was written in Greek, it's just one word. Teleo, T-E-L-E-O, teleo,
teleo. It is finished, it is finished,
and that's it. So he really said one word. One word which comes out to us,
it is finished. One word, but oh how gracious
was that word. One word, my what an ocean of
doctrine is in this word. What an ocean of mercy is in
this word. What an ocean of truth is in
this one drop, in this one word that fell from
the Savior's lips just before He died. Because you see in this
one word is well really summed up all of the gospel, all of
the good news of reconciliation and redemption, the gospel of
the grace of God. It is finished. One word is the
declaration of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Here it is. Here it is. And this one word is the answer
to the riddle that Job asked, how can he that is born of a
woman be clean? In this one word is contained
the only ground of hope for heaven and everlasting life. In this
one word is the very basis of us having any kind of confidence
that we're going to dwell with God someday, that we're going
to dwell with Christ Jesus someday in heaven's eternal abode. In
this one word is the very root of our salvation. It is finished. It is finished. In this one drop
is found an ocean of grace for those who deserve nothing but
death and judgment and everlasting condemnation. In this one drop is the purpose
of God in salvation, to have one die in the stead of all of
his people, and by that death, redeem them from bondage to justice
and law. There is an eternity of promise
in this one word to those of us who are made to rejoice in
Christ Jesus. There is indeed an eternity of
happiness and bliss and joy in this one drop of language, which
is translated here, it is finished. It is finished. Really, this
is a statement that is immeasurable. It is so full. It is so glorious. All that is in it is incomprehensible. In fact, here it is. It is finished. And all of the rest of the words
of our vocabulary are not sufficient to tell us to the fullest extent
all that is involved in these three words in our Bible. It is finished. But there's a
depth that cannot be fathomed in these words. There's a height
that cannot be reached. There's a glory about this, a
magnificence about this that leaves us in awe. that leaves
us searching for additional words to try to describe it. It is finished. Here's the Son
of God, the Son of Man, and He's suffered, He is bled, He is dying,
and with nearly His last breath, He says, it is finished, taleo,
it is finished. And then He bowed His head. You
know, other men dying on crosses, their heads would hang limp upon
their, their chin would hang, their head would hang against
their chest. But our Lord Jesus, He has the
strength still. He's already manifested the strength
to save a sinner. He saved the thief on the cross.
He has quickened him, he has regenerated him, he has brought
him by effectual grace to faith in himself, and he says to him,
today you will be with me in paradise. And our Lord has suffered
all of the wrath of God, and now having finished all of the
work that God gave him to do, and realizing that this is the
moment when He will expire. This is the moment for Him to
die because He said back in John 8, no man takes my life from
me. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to
take it again. It's the time to lay it down
now. It's the time to pay the penalty
for our sins, which is death. And he now says, it is finished.
Fully anticipating, knowing that he's going to die, the work is
done. And he says, it is finished.
This is not a tragic cropping. It's amazing how preachers who
don't understand the gospel, how they read into this, well,
he said, it is finished because he was so thankful his pain is
over. that he dreaded this and finally
it's going to end and he won't be in any kind of agony anymore.
That's not what this is about. This is about the fullness of
God's eternal purpose of redemption coming to pass. It is finished,
it's over, it's accomplished. It is all fulfilled by the Lord
Jesus. Now as we think about these words,
it is finished. Keep those in the back of your
mind, because I've laid that as a foundation. Let me say this. I've got some other things I
want to say, and then I'll go back to this. Do you know what
God, before the foundation of the world, determined to do? Well, before the foundation of
the world, He determined to have a new heaven and a new earth. Did you know that? Well, why
was that? Because he would see what would
happen, and he knew what was going to happen to the heaven
and earth. Sin is going to enter in. And
so the Lord, before the world began, He determined the first
creation, and He determined the second creation, the restoration
of the first creation. The Lord determined, He ordained
a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible teaches that. Nevertheless,
Peter said in 2 Peter 3 and 13, we according to his promise look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
That'll be wonderful. New heavens and a new earth.
And there'll be no sin, no hatred, no malice, no rebellion, no divisions,
no spite, No sickness, no death, no grave, none of those things
in the new heaven and the new earth. John said in Revelation
21.1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away. It's all going to
pass away and God determined, I'm going to make a new heaven
and a new earth. God has ordained that this new
heaven and this new earth will be populated with people. It's gonna have people be a population
of people in the new heaven and the new earth. He has ordained
a multitude which no man can number to dwell in the new heaven,
to dwell in the new earth. this new heaven and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. That means the people who will
be there will be righteous themselves. They'll be righteous in the Lord
our righteousness. And it'd be a bunch of people.
You remember, God told Abraham, I can just see the Lord speaking
to Abraham, says, Abraham, come outside your tent. He come outside
his tent, and the Lord said, look there by the seashore, you
see all that sand? I'm gonna give you a seed more
numerous than the sands on the seashore. Lift up your head to
the heavens. You see all those stars? I'm
gonna give you a seed more numerous than the stars of the heavens. And of course, this seed is in
Christ Jesus, all of the people that God would save in, through,
and by the Lord Jesus. You see, God has, he's ordained
a people unto salvation. These people were chosen unto
salvation before the foundation of the world. These are called
God's elect, God's special people. You mean God distinguishes some
people above others? Well, not on account of anything
they've done, but yes, God does distinguish some above others
because he chose some to save and others he bypassed. That's
just the Bible. There's some vessels of mercy
prepared unto glory. There's some vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction. That's God's sovereign prerogative. But he chose a people unto salvation. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And he loves all of his Jacobs. In fact, we're called the sons
of Jacob. We're a vile people, we're an
ungodly people just like Jacob was, but we're the people of
God. If you're a believer this morning,
if you trust the Lord Jesus, the reason you believe Him is
because you're one of the elect of God. You're one of the chosen
one of God. And you're one of the ones that
God has ordained will populate the new heaven and the new earth.
There'll be a bunch of people with you. Better get used to us down here
because we're going together. Don't be too upset with us down
here and refuse to speak with us down here because we're going
to fellowship together forever in glory at the feet of Christ
Jesus. That's right, isn't it? What's the Lord ordained to do?
Number one, make a new heaven and a new earth. Number two,
He's going to make sure there's people there. There's people
there. As you've heard before, because
I've heard Brother Mahan say this many times, lots of room
in heaven, but no empty seats. Everybody who's supposed to be
there is going to be there. All of the elect of God. John
saw in the book of Revelation, he saw 24 thrones. And those
that sat on them, 12 from the Old Testament, 12 representing
the Old Testament, 12 representing the New Testament saints. All
of the saints of God. He didn't see any empty chairs. All of God's people will be there
because God's ordained that His people populate the new heaven
and the new earth. And thirdly, where are these
people going, where are they going to come from? What is to be their origin? God,
before He made anything, now He ordained. From the beginning,
He ordained the end. That's what Isaiah says. From
the beginning, He ordained the end. And in the end, He's gonna
make a new heaven and a new earth, and He's ordained that that new
heaven and new earth be populated. Well, here's the third thing.
Where are these people gonna come from? They're gonna come
from one man, Adam. who was a representative man,
the federal head of the human race. And in him, we all fell,
and in him, we were all defiled. The scripture says, for by one
man, that which we call sin, and we know sin, we know it personally,
don't we? It entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned
in Adam. All are spiritually polluted. All are unrighteous. We're declared
to be so by God himself. Read at your leisure Psalm 14. Psalm 14 verse two says, the
Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. God looked down.
Anybody understand? Do you understand your dilemma?
Do you understand the mess you're in? Do you understand the death
you've got to die? Do you understand the seriousness
of your offenses against Me? God said, nobody understands.
That's what fall has done for us. That's what sin has done
for us. We don't understand. Is there anybody who understands
the necessity of salvation by grace alone? Is there anybody
who understands the necessity of redemption by the blood of
Christ Jesus alone? No. We just don't understand. We're without understanding of
the things of God. Is there anybody who understands
how God can be just and righteous and holy and yet embrace in love
a foul people, a defiled people? No. No. Is there anybody who
seeks God? Is anybody seeking me? You think
about it. God Almighty looked down from
heaven upon all the human race. Is there anybody seeking me?
Of the billions of people who were ever lived, God investigated,
God looked, and nothing can be hidden from His sight. And God
says, none of them, none of them understand and none of them seek
me. You think of that. You can say
what you want to about the goodness of man and the freedom of his
will and all that other trash that people say about men. God
Almighty says differently. Because He looked and He said,
there are none that understand. He said, there are none that
seek Me. He looked to see if any met His
approval. He looked down from heaven to
see, does anybody meet my demands of perfection and holiness and
righteousness? And here's his conclusion. He
says, they're all gone aside. They're all gone astray. Every
last one of them. They're all together become filthy. And you read this passage in
Psalm 14 verse three, and in the middle of the column, you'll
see that word filthy means stinking. Stinking. They're all become
filthy. They're all become stinking.
Offensive to God. That's what that means. There's
none that doeth good, no, not one. Well, This presents a problem. Well, you say, what's the problem,
preacher? God has purposed to make a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. God has
determined that this new creation will be populated by chosen people. But These people fell in the
fall of Adam. They've become sinful, they've
become corrupt, polluted by sin, and being in that state, being
in that condition, they cannot enter into, they can't populate
the new heaven and the new earth. You see that? That's the problem.
I know God ordained to make a new heaven and a new earth, and I
know that God purposed to save a people, but these people fell
into sin. And in that state, they cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven. That's impossible. Because in the kingdom of heaven,
in the new heaven and the new earth, there only dwells righteousness. That's what it says. And these
people are not righteous, they are unrighteous. In fact, Romans
3 says, there is none righteous, no, not one. Well, so then, what
is the solution to the problem? Well, first of all, let me say
this. God is holy and pure. He can't allow anything to enter
into His new heaven and new earth that will defile it. You see, if the Lord made a new
heaven and a new earth, but He didn't do something about us,
we ruin this just like we ruined it the first time. Right? That
make sense to you? And you see, even heaven, it's
got to be purged with fire. There has to be a restoration
of heaven because Satan has entered in there to accuse the brethren. But we're not going into the
new heaven and the new earth like this. We're not going in
sinful and polluted. You see, there are a lot of people,
I really believe there are a lot of people who, of course, they
don't see the necessity of the death of Christ Jesus. They just
kind of think like this. Well, I don't know why God can't
just wave His hand and say, let's go back and start over. And I'm
just gonna let you all in to my new heavenly world. Well,
they don't have an understanding of God, the purity of God, the
holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the perfections of God,
the justice of God. God's own character demands that
he punish all sin wherever he finds it. That's in the character
of God. That's in the very being of God. Sin is treason against him. He's
going to deal with it. He's got to deal with it because
of who he is. So how's this going to be dealt
with? Well, I know this. Angels, they
cannot effect this great work of salvation, of restoring us
to favor with God. Angels are magnificent creatures.
I don't doubt that, but they have no power, they have no ability
to do anything as far as making us acceptable to God. And I also
know this, we can't save ourselves. We can't make ourselves fit for
the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
While we can't pay the debt we owe to the justice of God, as
we say, we're head over heels in debt to God. Well, how then can God receive
us? Well, here's the way things will
have to be made right. God will have to make them right. Yes, sir. The salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. God's
going to have to make it right. But wait a minute. While angels can't do anything
about this issue. And while we can't do anything
about this issue, God can't even do it himself if he remains invisible
as he is, because God is spirit. Even he can't do it. Even he can't do it. Well, couldn't
God just say the word? After all, He made all things.
He said, let there be light, or literally, light be. Lights came on throughout the
universe. Well, how come He can't save
sinners that way? He can't do it because of His
justice and because of His holiness, because of who He is. Even the
invisible God can't do that because that would be to go against His
own nature. Well, why is this? Because God can't suffer and
bleed and die. That's why. And that's what sin
deserves and that's what the justice of God demands. The soul
that sinneth shall die. Then how can God, how could God
ever settle the issue when God can't die? So you see, angels
couldn't do this, man couldn't do this, and the invisible God
couldn't even do this. But the invisible God had his
own purpose of grace, and he found the means whereby he could
save the sinful and still remain holy and just through the man
Christ Jesus. That's why Christ came. That's
why he took flesh and blood into union with his deity. And he
was handled. People saw him, they heard him,
they embraced him. They knew he was a real man.
Even after his resurrection, he told Thomas, he said, touch
me and see. A spirit doesn't have flesh and
bones as you see me have. I'm a real man. He had to be
a real man because the invisible God cannot endure the wrath of
God. That's impossible. Because of
the necessity of death, the sin. God can't die, but the God-man
can. That's why He came. That's why
He came. He said when He came into the
world, sacrifice and offerings, thou wouldest not a body thou
hast prepared me. Well, why did you have to have
that body? To suffer, to bleed, to die. I've got to be made just like
those in whose stead I come into the world, except I won't have
any sin. And in that body, The Son of
God met all the statutes of man, all the statutes of God, all
the laws, and He obeyed them all, and then He died for our
transgressions upon the cross of Calvary. He was a real man. And in that body, He then said,
after suffering body and soul, He said, It is finished. It is finished. This is not the
cry of a helpless victim. This is the cry of the victor.
This is not a great tragedy. This is a great triumph. Our
Lord Jesus, he died on that cross because he was willing to die.
His very life was filled with the knowledge of going to the
cross of Calvary. from old eternity when He volunteered
to be our surety, to be our representative, to be our Savior, when God the
Father appointed Him to be our suffering Redeemer. He looked
forward to the cross of Calvary, and there He would lay down His
life in the stead of His people and save His people from their
sins. Therefore, He now cries out to
Laod. It is finished. That new heavens
and new earth, oh, they'll come into existence. And the new heaven
and the new earth, it will be populated. And it will be populated
with men and women who came forth from the loins of Adam, sinful
people, but who were washed in the blood of the Lamb of God
and robed in the garments of salvation and made the very righteousness
of God in Him. So they are fit. to abide and
dwell in the new heaven and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now, let me say two things, and I'll
stop. What was finished? And I'll tell
you, I'm going to go back to this passage next Lord's Day.
Suffice to say at this point, his life's work was finished
and his sacrifice on our behalf was finished. He had intervened
between the guilty and a holy God. He had stood in our stead
and in our place. He suffered and died on our behalf. He persevered in his holy obedience
for 33, 34 years. And that obedience, it cost him
many a pain and many a sorrow. Now it's about to cost him his
life. And he gives his life away. They
didn't take it from him. He laid it down. He laid it down
because this was the Father's will. And He said, I delight
to do Thy will, O God. And He laid it down of His own
will because He was thankful to do it. He was grateful to
do it. Because He saw the seed that would come forth as a result
of His triumphant death upon the cross of Calvary. He rejoiced
to see us with Him forever and ever. That's the reason it says
in Hebrews chapter 12, as He looked toward the cross of Calvary,
He despised the shame of it. He looked beyond that. He saw
us in His perfections, in His beauties, accompanying Him in
everlasting glory, worshiping Him forever and ever. He saw
that. He rejoiced in His soul. This was the work He had set
out to do. To save His people. You remember David said in Psalm
23, He restoreth my soul. That's what He did at the cross.
That's exactly what He did. He restored our souls to God. Now, here's the second thing. For whom? Was this work finished? It was finished for all those
the Father gave Him in covenant grace. And nothing need be or can be
added to the work that Christ did upon the cross of Calvary. Don't ever think that your repentance,
as necessary as repentance is, don't ever think it adds to the
price of redemption. It doesn't. Don't ever think
that faith in the Lord Jesus and faith is necessary, but don't
ever think that adds to the price of putting sin away. We sing,
what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Do you believe that? Or do you think there's something
you do to add to it? If you think there's something
you do to add to it, you don't understand the gospel. You see,
everything necessary to satisfy a holy God was satisfied in the
man Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. That's why He said,
it's finished. His name is Jesus. Thou shalt
save His people from their sins. And He now dies upon the cross
of Calvary. His dying breath is in His finish. You know what that means? They're
saved. They're saved. There is no way that a holy God,
a righteous God, a just God would ever condemn to everlasting torment
those whose debt has been paid. Of all the heretical things set forth in this world
by false prophets, I suppose the one I despise the most is
the idea that Jesus died to try to save everybody, but his death
only means something that's only good if you believe him. That
is just a lie come forth from the father of lies, Satan himself. What an insult to the son of
God. You want to get my dander up
and the dander of those who believe the true gospel of full, accomplished
redemption. You start talking about universal
redemption. I believe everybody has a chance.
Salvation's not by chance. Where'd you get that from? Salvation's
by grace. Salvation is by God's election
unto salvation, and salvation is due to the fact that the Son
of God, in our stead, suffered the wrath of God. You tell me
He suffered the wrath of God for everybody? If He did, nobody
else is going to suffer the wrath of God because there's no wrath
left. Does that make any sense? If He paid the debt for everybody,
everybody's out of debt. If I said to you this morning,
bring me your mortgage note and bring me whatever payment you
owe on your car, I won the lottery and I'm going to pay it all off.
And I'll settle up with all your creditors. Can they come after
you? Why, of course not. What kind
of justice would that be? Listen, our Lord Jesus, He paid
the debt for all of His people. We are debt free. There is no
debt. And where there is no debt, there
can be no wrath. And you see, that gives great
comfort and peace to our hearts. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment, no damnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
I'll tell you, our Savior, He hung on that cross. He did everything
God required. And He said, well, to Leo, it is finished. And then He said,
Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit because the work's
been done. Bowed His head, gave up the ghost. That's glorious gospel. And He
didn't stay dead. He arose again. That's the Father
attesting to the fact the work the Son of God came to do, He
did to the Father's full satisfaction. Well, let's get our songbooks. We'll turn to 215, please. 215.