Open your Bibles with me this
morning, if you will, to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. Start reading together 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
Isaac, 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. The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day,
besought that Pilate that their legs might be broken and that
they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and broke
the legs of the first of the other which was crucified with
him. And when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already,
they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood
and water. And he that saw it bear record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that
ye might believe. For these things were done, that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
They shall look on him whom they pierced. And after this Joseph
of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of the Jews, besought Pilate, that he might take away the body
of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. He
came, therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came
also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night,
and brought a mixture of myrrh and alloys, about an hundred-pound
weight. Then they took the body of Jesus,
and wound it in linen clothes, with the spices as the manner
of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulcher
wherein was never man yet laid, there they laid Jesus. Therefore,
because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh
at hand." Well, look with me again in John's
Gospel, chapter 19. And look with me again in verse
28. 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 on 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 get the title of my message
there in verse 30 where it is finished. It is finished. And I want you to consider the
mind and look at the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior
in the last moments of his life. Right before he dies, he's just
right on the verge of dying. He said it is finished and he
bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. He's in just the last
few moments. Most people in the last moments
of their life, they're very troubled in their mind. Maybe they have
a lot of pain. Maybe they're afraid of death.
They can't collect their thoughts or speak to those that they could
be understood by others. But our blessed Redeemer here,
His mind is clear. His memory is perfect. Perfect. He said, knowing that the scriptures
were now accomplished. All things were now clear. He
knew that. His mind was crystal clear. His memory was perfect. His last acts were such full
of wisdom and prudence, even though his sufferings were without
measure. But when He declared, ìIt is
finished,î when He declared, ìIt is finished,î in His mind,
in His mind, His Fatherís glory, the salvation of His sheep, were
foremost in His mind, I believe that. Even though he was suffering,
his mind was clear when he said, it is finished. It is finished. When he said that, every purpose,
the purpose of God was carried out. The promises of God were
fulfilled in him. The prophecies were all fulfilled
in Him. Every ceremony, every sacrifice,
every covenant, and all the eternal glories were fixed clearly in
His mind at this awful hour when our Lord Jesus Christ was there.
And He knew that all of these things, the prophecies, the purpose,
the ceremonies, the sacrifices, the covenants were all comprehended
in Him. He knew that. And all of this,
when He is nailed to a cross, And while his enemies mocked
him, cursed him, spat at him, ridiculed him, cursed him, there
was a huge crowd around the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
his mind was so clear that he had a conversation with his mother
and John right before he said these things, had a conversation
with them. And at this moment of time on
the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ beheld all of God's revelation,
beheld all of God's revelation from the beginning to the ending,
and He cried, ìIt is finished.î And our blessed Savior, by the
worth of His person, how valuable How worthy, how glorious is our
Savior. By our blessed Savior, by the
worth of His person, endured in six hours, in six hours on
the cross, by His suffering and the agony He endured, He suffered
our everlasting punishment and our everlasting death. He suffered
everything that was against us in six hours on the cross. All
that God would have made us suffer for eternity, our Lord suffered
it in six hours. How can one man suffer so much
for so many in such a short space of time because of who it was
that suffered? Who He was. Who He was. Our Lord's sufferings cannot
be measured by finite minds, but there's a couple of things
I do know about His sufferings. I do know that when He was on
that cross and when He said it is finished, He took away what
causes our eternal punishment, and that's sin. He put that away. The thing that would have caused
us the second death and would cause God to damn us forever,
He took it away, and that was sin. I do know that. And I also
know this, that what He suffered on the cross was accepted by
God. for all whom he died for every
soul for whom christ died what he did on that cross was accepted
by god right so when he said it is finished what was comprehended
in this statement what was comprehended. And I hope that God will enable
us to grasp just a little of it and understand just a little
of it. But you know the Old Testament is full of types of our Lord
Jesus Christ, full of types of salvation. So all the types And
all the promises, and all the prophecies, now were fully accomplished
in Him. Look what He said in verse 28.
Now that's what I'm talking about. Why He said it is finished. After
this, look what He said, Jesus knowing. Jesus knowing. In John 18 and 1, He says this. In verse 4. John 18, verse 4. Now listen to this about what
our Lord knew. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto
them, Whom seek ye? Our Lord wasn't caught unaware.
He knew everything that was coming upon Him. And when it got down
to His last breath, got down to where He's going to die by
His own power, He says that knowing all things were now accomplished
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. He knew that all things
now were accomplished and the Scriptures were what? Fulfilled. Fulfilled. The whole book. The
whole book. I delight to do thy will. It's
written that I delight to do it. And He came and did everything
that God sent Him to do. The whole book. The Law and the
Prophets. The Psalms. were all fulfilled
in him and accomplished. From Genesis 3.15 when it says
he shall be the seed of the woman until you get all the way to
Malachi where it says you know that the messenger of the covenant
shall suddenly come to his temple and that the son of righteousness
shall arise with healing in his wings. Every bit of it was fulfilled
and accomplished in him. And he said, it's finished. It
is finished. All the types, from the first
lamb that was shed, blood was shed, to the red heifer, to the
turtle doves, and the hyssop that the blood was dipped in,
or the hyssop that was dipped in the blood and sprinkled. From
to Solomon's temple, everything was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Every prophecy, to him all the
prophets give, every prophecy was wrought out in our blessed
Savior. Now let me propose you a problem. Let me present to you a problem.
Let's take this book and let's take Christ away just for a moment.
The Old Testament, 66 books. Let's take Christ away for just
a moment. and you find the wisest man you can find on the face
of the earth and you give him that book and say, now this is
the problem I want you to try to solve here, if you can. Read
this book, and you construct in your imagination an ideal
character who shall fit exactly everything that's said about
him, everything that's prophesied about him, everything that's
promised of him, and every character, and every type, and every sacrifice. See if you can find who it is
that fits that book. Huh? See if you can find him.
Let me show you what I'm talking about. This is the problem. Look
over in Acts chapter 8. Look over here in Acts chapter
8. Acts is right after the book of John here. Look in Acts chapter
8. Here's a fellow that was faced
with that very problem. Here's a man who was faced with
that very problem. He was reading the Bible and
didn't have an understanding of what it said. It said in verse
26, And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise,
and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from
Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose, and he
went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia,
and a eunuch of great authority unto Candese, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had charge of all of her treasure, had come to Jerusalem
to worship." He was interested in worship. He was interested
in God. He was interested in finding
the truth. God was doing something for him. But he was going back
home, and he read in his chariot Isaiah the prophet. He was reading
Isaiah the prophet. And the Holy Ghost told John,
Philip said, Go near and join yourself to this chariot. And
so Philip caught up with that chariot and he got there and
he heard him reading. The man was reading out loud.
And he heard him read. The prophet Isaiah said unto
him, Do you understand what in the world you are reading? Do
you understand? How do any of you all understand
the Scriptures when you hear them? And that's what he's asking
here. And so he said, How can I except
some man should guide me? Somebody's got to tell me what
this means. And he said, Philip, come up
here and sit with me. Come up here and sit down beside
me. And this is the place of the scripture in Isaiah, which
he read was this. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
and like a lamb done before his shearer, so often openeth not
his mouth in his humiliation. He was taken away, and in his
judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. Now listen to what the eunuch
said. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee,
of whom is speaketh the prophet this? Who's this prophet talking
about? Who in the world is this prophet talking? Who's Isaiah
talking about? And that's what we said, that's
what it means when it is finished. Was Isaiah 53 finished when Christ
died on the cross? When he said it is finished.
And Philip, are you speaking of himself or some other man? Some other man. Then Philip opened
his mouth and began at the same place. And what did he do? He
preached unto him the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we are. Take
this book. Oh, wise man, take this book.
And when you read this book, I want you to remember something,
that when you read this book, he must be a prophet, this man
that he's talking about. He must be a prophet like Moses
and be one to speak to God for the people and come back and
speak to the people from God. He must be a prophet like Moses. He must be the captain of the
Lord of hosts, like Joshua, and fight the Lord's battles. He
must be Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God who has
no beginning of days and no ending of days, has no descent, and
he must be a priest forever after that order. He must be David,
who was a shepherd and also the king after God's own heart. He must be Solomon, who is all-wise,
and he had Solomon's glory. He must be Noah, whose very name
means comforter. And he must be a comforter to
his people. He must be the prophet Jonah,
who was thrown overboard so somebody else could be saved. And then
he must spend three days and three nights down in the belly. And then when he comes forth,
he's got to say, salvation is of the Lord. And he must be the
lamb slain and the blood that's supplied. He must be the goat
on whom the sins are confessed. He must be the scapegoat on whom
the fit man takes him into the wilderness and bears the sin
away. He must be the turtle dove dipped in blood, and he must
be the priest who slew the bird, and he must be the priest who
also, beloved, is the altar on whom the blood was applied. And
this man, this man, this character that you need to find that will
fit this book, He must also be the altar. He must be the brazen
altar on which all the sacrifices were laid and the fire consumed
them. He must be the altar of incense,
which was a sweet smelling savor that went up to God. He must
be the tabernacle where God dwelt with men and men met with God. He must be that tabernacle. And
then he must be that mercy seat behind the veil, and it has to
be the veil by which the high priest passed behind him. He
must be the mercy seat where God meets men, where the law's
been fulfilled and the blood's been applied. And then when you
go in, he's got to be the light. And then he's got to be that
table of showbread that only the priest could eat. Oh my,
you reckon he can find out who this fellow is? Who this man
is? And all prophecies, not only
the types, but all prophecies, all prophecies in these 66 books
got to meet in this one man. And though they may contradict,
it says, you know, that all nations and all kings and all nations
shall serve him. And yet it turns right around
and say he's despised and rejected and hated without a cause. He must be born of a virgin and
be the seed of the woman and he must be a man without spot
and without blemish. His mind has to be pure, his
heart has to be pure, his life has to be pure. In motive, in
thought, he cannot have a blemish on him anywhere whatsoever. not a spot. He must be holy and
pure and yet this holy, sinless, pure man, this seal of the woman,
God's got to take all the sin of all of his people and put
them on that holy man, that sinless man, that pure man. Oh my, where
are you going to find this man at? Where's this man? Can you
figure out who this is? He must be a glorious king like
the son of David and yet be a root out of dry ground. Now wise man,
now wise man, you've had this book and you've read it. You've
read it. Where's the man? What is the
key to unlock this book and tell you what it says and who it's
talking about and what he would do? Huh? Well, He says there's
only one. There's only one King. There's
only one man. There's only one person. It has
to be the God-man. It has to be the Son of God.
It has to be the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to be the cross of Christ.
It has to be the Son of God incarnate. You see, beloved, in Him, in
Him, we see all things accomplished, accomplished. When our Lord Jesus
Christ said it is finished, everything is summed up in this God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You take every typical sacrifice
of the old Jewish law. How many? The day Solomon was
made king, they slew over 20,000 lambs that day. Just that day. Not counting the oxen. and the
bullies. Did any of those sacrifices ever
put away a sin? Did that Passover lamb that they
put the blood on the lintels of the door? And God said, when
I see it, I'll pass over you. Did that put away sin? No, no. All the typical sacrifices. of
all the old Jewish law, they're now every single one of them
is abolished. And not only are they abolished,
but now they're explained why they were there for, what they
accomplished, and what they didn't accomplish. Now they're explained.
When he talked about the lamb, we find the lamb over here. We
talk about The Thanksgiving offering, we find him here. You talk about
the peace offering, we find him here. Talk about the sin offering,
we find him over here. And all those are explained.
All those are explained. Oh my, they're abolished, they're
gone. And they were all finished in
him. He was that one sacrifice, the only sacrifice. that ever
put away sin, and he did that once, once for all, for all time
and for all whom he died. And when he did that, he satisfied
God. And not only did he satisfy God,
but he satisfied the consciences for all whom he died. The conscience
is not looking for nothing else. And like that song they sang,
I ain't looking for nothing else. I'm looking for nothing else.
And all you know when Isaac, Abraham took Isaac up on that
mountain, and he had him strapped to the altar, was fixing the
slave, and then he was going to light the fire, and God stayed
his hand. You know why that happened because
Abraham already said I'm the latter going to go up yonder
and worship and we will return Because he knew that if he did
do that son that way that God was going to raise him from the
dead and he's gonna come off that mountain with that land
because all of the promises that God has made Abraham was in the
sun. And all the promises God makes
us is in the sun. Is that not right? And so what
happened was, he looked around, there was a ram caught in a thicket.
Where'd that ram come from? And that ram was taken, Isaac
was taken up and that ram was put in Isaac's stand. Christ
We're just on the altar. The knife of God's justice is
going to pierce us. And the fire is going to consume.
The fire is going to destroy. We're going to go to an everlasting
fire. And then what happened? The Lord Jesus Christ put in
our stead, and God said, let him go free. and we come down
off that mountain, and we come down off of Calvary, when we've
seen the Lamb slain for us, and the sin put away for us, we come
down off that mountain, and beloved, we worship there, and we're still
worshiping the same God and the same Christ that we came off
that mountain. Ain't that right? Oh, my, bless His name. And our
Lord Jesus Christ, He entered this man, this our blessed Savior,
when He said it is finished, When it got three hours of darkness
on the earth, there was something took place. Something took place
after God forsook him. It tells us over Hebrews, it
said, he entered not into the holy place made with hands, that
tabernacle or that temple in Jerusalem, behind that veil,
he entered not into the holy place made with hands, and he
didn't enter into that holy place with the robes of the high priest
clothed upon him in his human flesh. No, no, he went there
as the man, Christ Jesus, and as the one whose blood had just
been shed. And he entered in there, not
with the blood of bulls and goats, he entered in with his own blood. I believe in that three-eyed.
This is my belief. And you know, if you can prove
me wrong, I'd love for you to do it. But he went in there with
his own blood. Now it tells us that. When did
He go in there with His own blood? He couldn't have went in after
His resurrection because He didn't have no blood in His body. He
said, Touch me, fill me, flesh and bones. And so what did He
do with that blood when He was dead already? soldier pierced
his side and forthwith came blood and water. So there was a time
that he entered in once into that holy place and he put his
blood on the altar of God himself. And when he came back out of
there, he came back out of there with eternal redemption, eternal
redemption, not just a redemption for just a little while, not
just a redemption until we get to glory, it's an eternal redemption. It redeemed us from the foundation
of the world to the foundation when we spend eternity with God. It's redemption forever. He paid
every debt. The uttermost farthing was paid. He paid every debt. And when
he came forth from the presence of God, he said, it's finished. It's finished. It's finished.
If you ever learn it's finished, you'll finish too. You know what
you'll finish? You'll finish working. You'll
finish fretting. You'll finish trying to find
your own way, you'll finish your works, you'll finish everything,
you'll finish your own righteousness, you'll say, it's finished, I'm
done with everything but Christ. And oh, listen, our Lord finished
this redemption. His perfect obedience is finished
when He cried, it is finished. And listen to me, for sinful
man, sinful man, and that's what we are, sinful man, whether you
know it or not, you're a sinner, and I hope God teaches you that
you're a sinner, because only God can do that. But I do know
this, for a sinful man to be saved, God's law, ceremonies,
and sacrifices must be fulfilled, must be. The Ten Commandments,
that moral law must be fulfilled. and must be kept. And a man,
if he's going to be saved, he has to have a righteousness equal
with God's, and he's got to be as good as God. How good you
got to be? Good as God. What kind of rights
you have to have? The righteousness of God. God
won't accept any less. He won't do it. Well, guess what? He's got it. And we've got it
in Him. It's finished in Him. Our Lord
Jesus finished the keeping of the law for us. And you know
what He did? Not only did He bring in eternal
redemption, but He brought in an everlasting righteousness. Jehovah's akin you, the Lord,
our righteousness. And Romans 10.4 says this, Christ
is the end of the law. For who? For somebody that does
something? Somebody that doesn't work? No,
no. That's why He said He's finished.
He did the work. Huh? No, He that believes. And that was... You see, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He finished the end of the law for transgressors,
for sinners, for lawbreakers. And you know what the end of
the law for a transgressor is? Death. And He went all the way
to death for us. He became obedient unto death,
to death. And He went to the end of the
law in three other ways. He went to the end of the law
for obedience, He obeyed it. He went to the end of the law
and bore its curse. And He went to the end of the
law as a covenant. And we're not under it in no
way, shape, form or fashion. I tell you what, if I was trying
to be saved by the law, I'd have a nervous breakdown. Couldn't
bear the pressure. Couldn't bear the pressure. Couldn't
bear it then, couldn't bear it now. That's why our Lord said
it's finished. You know, after God, after Christ
did this, God can ask no more. Can God ask any more than what
His Son did when He said it is finished? Can He ask any more? The royals received His claim,
obedience, death, curse, and fulfillment as a covenant. Justice
can't ask for another moment's obedience from him or anyone
else for whom he died it is finished It's complete look over with
me in Romans 8. That's what I'm saying That's
what I'm saying. Look in Romans 8 Look over here in Romans 8 and
all is finished. It's complete Are you saying
preacher? There ain't nothing for me to
do. That's what I'm telling you. That's what I'm telling That's
what I'm telling you. But what about my sin? It's put
away. If you're Christ, you belong
to Him. What about law? It's fulfilled. What about God's justice? He
satisfied it. What about all the things that's
wrong with me? He took care of everything. When
He said it's finished, He took care of every thought you ever
thought, every sin you ever sinned, every impure motive you've ever
done. He took care of everything that
was against us, everything. When he said it was finished,
everything. You say, boy, I tell you what, you just don't know
what I am. Oh, I do too. I know exactly what you are. I got up there at Paul's the
other day, and Darwin was there, and Paul was there, and Larry
was there, and Bruce Crabtree was there. I said, boy, I know
every one of these fellas. I know everything there is to
know about them. You know why? Because they're all just like
me. I know everything there is to know about you as far as God's
concerned. Ain't that right? We ain't never going to say what
about. People say, well, what about this? There ain't no what
abouts. It's finished. What about this? And what about
that? We ain't worried about what abouts. We're telling what
has been done. What is finished? There ain't
no whatabouts. Oh, look what he said in Romans
8, 32. He that spared not his own son. Did not spare him. That's what we're talking about
now. He's on that cross. He said it's finished. He spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Well, then
since he did that, how shall he not turn around and also freely,
freely give us all things? What's all things? All things,
all things that he has, all things he did, all that he is, he gives
us all those things. And watch this now. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect then? Law can't. Justice can't. Sin can't. Satan
can't. God can't. Listen to what it
says. It's God that justified them. Huh? And who in the world is
He going to condemn us? Who in the world is going to
come and condemn us? You know why nobody's going to
condemn us? Because it's Christ that died.
And when He died, right before He took His last breath, He said,
It's finished. And look what it says now. It
is Christ that died, yea rather, he's risen again. Oh my goodness,
after he said it's finished? You mean he went to the grave
and he rose again? Yep, he rose again. Well where's
he at now? He's at the right hand of God.
What's he doing there for us? Making intercession for us. Oh, the other folks parted farther
than he's been paid. Let the debtor go free. The whip
of God's law was wore out on the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it cannot never be lifted
up against those for whom he suffered. Men die and then they
face the judgment. Our Lord Jesus Christ faced the
judgment and then he died. And let me finish with this.
When our Lord Jesus Christ said it is finished, He totally, totally,
absolutely abolished and destroyed the enemies of our souls. And
you know what the greatest enemy of our soul was? Sin. He put
that away, bore it away. Satan put his foot on his head
and then he put him in chains. You know what he said to death?
Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? And you know who has the keys
to it? The Lord Jesus Christ. You know what he said he gave
us? Eternal life. Oh, my. No wonder. No wonder. Paul said, I have a desire to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Far better. Far
better. It's finished. It's complete. It's done. I believe that with all every
ounce of my being. Not because I'm anything special. You know why I believe? God made
me to believe. Grace made me believe. Grace
made me to differ. Grace taught me those blessed
truths. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of Christ our Lord, Thank you for your abundant mercy.
Thank you for the truth. Thank you for the accomplished
salvation. Thank you that it's all finished.
It's all done. It's complete. It's perfect.
And Lord, we'll leave our hands off of it. We'll leave our works
off of it. We'll leave our motives off of
it. We'll leave our obedience off of it. We'll leave everything
that we are Everything we ever thought we were, we'll leave
it off of what, we will not add anything to what you did. Nothing. It's finished. Thank you. Bless
you. Praise you. Bless this truth
to the hearts today by the Holy Spirit, who's the only one that
can make it true, make it real, make it effectual. In Christ's
blessed name, I bless you. Amen. Amen.