If you would, go ahead and be
turning to your Bibles in John 19, verses 26 through 30. I know we don't have a slideshow
today, so if you'll go ahead and turn there while I get started. Good morning. The title of today's
message is going to be Christ the Finisher. Now, the scripture
I'm going to read from today has to do with Christ and his
finished work at the cross. I want to point you directly
to Christ and his finished work through this message. The message,
like I said, comes from John 19, verses 26 through 30. Now, as I read through this scripture,
please realize that it's my belief that this passage contains three
of the most powerful words in all of scripture. Look at John
19, starting in 26. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her into his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon
his sop, 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. Those three powerful words, it
is finished. Christ said, it's finished. It completely baffles a true
believer of the gospel to hear people say that there is more
to do in regards to the salvation of a sinner. The believer, the
true believer, rests on Christ alone for salvation. We call
it grace. The non-believer argues that
salvation comes some other way, saying a sinner's prayer, joining
a church, walking an aisle, doing good deeds, or making their own
decision to accept Christ. Those are some of the ways that
people seek salvation, but not only from Christ alone. When
I talk about this with others, I always like to go back to the
statement made by Christ just before he died on the cross.
What did he say, I ask? What were his last words? It
is finished. What exactly does that mean?
What it means to the believer, to one of Christ's sheep, is
that he accomplished his work. He finished the job. What was
his work, you may ask? What was his job? It was to be
a redeemer, to be a savior, not just to make an attempt at saving
his sheep, not to just take a stab at it, not to just reach his
hand out so that the sinner could choose their own destiny. That
would not be descriptive of a Redeemer. And that would not be descriptive
of a Savior. A Redeemer redeems and a Savior
actually saves. I'm gonna read through some scripture
here that will describe what Christ was sent here to do. It'll describe what his job was.
Look at John 10, verses 11 through 15. Starts by saying, I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the
father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep. He came to lay his life down
for the sheep that his father gave him. Let's look at John
17, verse nine. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. Even though verse nine here is
speaking about the disciples of Christ, it can also be applied
to all of God's sheep, all that the Father give to Christ, all
that Christ represented. I say this because later on in
John 17, 20, Christ says, neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which believe on me through their word. The sheep
Christ died for, the sheep that Christ is leading, were given
to him by God the Father. Also, look at Acts 20, 28. It reads, Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood. So we can all see here that Christ
was sent to save his sheep. He is known as the Good Shepherd,
and the Good Shepherd will take care of his sheep and lead them
home. The sheep don't choose their
shepherd. The shepherd chooses the sheep. So that's what Christ
came to do. He came to lead his sheep home.
And these are the sheep that God the Father gave him. And
in this case, home is heaven. But Satan will do everything
he can do to take our minds and attention from Christ. He will
have us look into some other form of salvation in an attempt
to diminish Christ's effective work on the cross down to nothing. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
11 in verse 3. But I fear, lest by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. What this
is saying right here is that the true gospel is simple, but
Satan will make every attempt to complicate it and completely
draw you away from the simple gospel message of Christ and
him crucified. Okay, now I'm going to go back
to John 19, 30, where it said, when Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. It is finished. And what I'm
about to say is very important here, so listen to me carefully.
I'm going to summarize those three words in scripture. Those
three words, it is finished, This is God's plan and God's
promise completely fulfilled. This is the plan that God set
out to complete in eternity, all the way from before the beginning
of the world, beginning of time. Christ himself spoke these words. These are the last words he spoke
before his human body died. Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed
before the cross in John 17, 4, where he said, I have glorified
thee on earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Christ just said it right there
in this verse. He said, I have finished the
work. Why do people doubt that? What could there possibly be
to add to Christ's finished work? God the Father from all eternity,
according to the scripture, determined to have a new heaven and a new
earth. He said in 2 Peter 3.10, But
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the
which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. The earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Sin must
be totally eradicated. Sin must be done away with. And
it goes on in 2 Peter 3, 13, where it says, nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Christ's death, his doing, and
his dying is what washes away sin. Nothing else. All of Christ's
sheep will be made righteous based on his finished work. As the last part of that verse
13 of 2 Peter says, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The Bible says
in Revelation 5, 9 that Christ was slain and has redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. Christ has sheep in every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. His sheep are not only located
in the nation of Israel or here in this country. They're all
over the place. God the Father determined to
redeem a group of people. Christ's sheep. He will populate
heaven and earth from Adam's fallen race. They'll be a holy
people with the holiness and righteousness that is based solely
and entirely on Christ's finished work at the cross. They'll be
changed and transformed and made new. Christ's finished work makes
it possible to restore Adam's fallen race. There will not be
one word or one thought in them about them or from them that
won't be in perfect harmony with God's holy nature. We're gonna
lay aside this body of flesh, this man of sin, and that's his
promise. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
verses 54 through 57, so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. From all of eternity,
there are two important things that everyone should know. First,
it says in Jeremiah 13, 23, that men cannot do this work. Contrary
to what most people believe, it says in Jeremiah 13, 23, can
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change his spots?
Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. The
answer is no. The Ethiopian cannot change his
skin, and the leopard cannot change his spots, and man cannot
save himself. Man cannot do this work. Only
God can do it. God is the creator. God is the
judge, and Christ is the redeemer. He is the savior. Man can't do
it. Man can't satisfy God's law and
justice without a substitute in his place. Man will only suffer
an eternal death as a result of his best efforts to satisfy
the law, based on our character and our conduct and what we have
done. We all deserve God's wrath. We
all deserve his punishment. A second, All of the redemptive
work will be carried out in perfect harmony and agreement with God's
plan. God will not deviate from his plan. God is not going to
change his mind and start this thing all over again. Listen,
God did not have to save anyone, but when he did determine and
plan to restore Adam's fallen race. When he did decide to save
them, it made it necessary for all of his requirements to be
met. Once God determined to save sinners,
it became necessary because of who God is. That righteousness
has to be established and imputed to his elect in order for law
and justice to be satisfied. God must be just when he saves
a sinner. In order for God to accomplish
this, Christ had to take on the office of surety of his people.
The sin debt of God's elect must be satisfied and paid. Therefore,
Christ's surety for the sin debt of God's elect came in time and
paid the debt in full. We had to have a surety. We had
to have a representative. a Redeemer, and we had to have
a Savior. God redeemed or brought back
some people out of Adam's fallen race. That could only be done
by Christ coming to this earth and walking in human flesh. And
God, in the person of Jesus Christ, became a man. And God put all
of this work, all of the plans for eternal life, in the hands
of Jesus. Christ became totally responsible
for all that the Father gave him in the everlasting covenant
of grace made before time and established by Christ in time. That's who Christ is. Christ
is man and God all in one. It says in the scripture in Revelation
7, 9, after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude which no
man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues.
And then further down in verse 14, it says, and I said unto
him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. These
are the people redeemed from Adam's fallen race. God has made
them acceptable in Christ, and he has put all this work in the
hands of his son. God cannot change. He will not
compromise his character, and his holiness must be satisfied. His justice must be satisfied.
So he put all of this redemptive work, the work of restoration,
in the hands of Christ. Listen to these scriptures here.
Colossians 2 9, for in him Christ dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. And in Isaiah 53 10, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And it says
in John 5.22 that God hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And Christ in John 14.6 said,
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. This is what the whole Old Testament
says. It says that someone is coming
to do a work of redemption to perform a work, a job that no
man born of Adam can do. So the Old Testament says he's
coming. The Redeemer is coming. The Son of God is coming. The
Messiah is coming. Christ is coming. The New Testament
says he has come. In Luke 2.10 and 11 it says,
and the angel said unto them, fear not, For behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior,
which is Christ the Lord. In Matthew 3, 16 and 17, it says,
and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven
sang, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. John
called Christ in John 129 the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world. And make sure you understand
here that the world being referred to right here means both Jews
and Gentiles out of the world. It doesn't mean that he died
for everyone in the world without exception. All the miracles and
works that he did while he was here, every picture of redemption
in the Old Testament scripture is fulfilled in Christ. In order
to redeem a people, he had to honor his law. He had to stick
to his guns. You can say that God is a judge
who has a law. His law is that if you sin, someone
has to die. He says the penalty of sin is
death. He will not depart from this
rule, this law. He cannot change. He will not
change. It is his law. in his court,
his world, and he will not budge on it. The Bible says in Exodus
34, verses six and seven, and the Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. Justice must be satisfied. Christ said in Matthew 5, 17,
think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. God has to honor his justice.
So God came down here in the person of Jesus Christ as a man
Jesus of Nazareth is God. He came down to stand in our
place and finish the work. He did the job. John 1.14 says,
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. And Christ said in John 10, 27
through 30, My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me,
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Christ is God in human
flesh. Jesus of Nazareth, when he died
on that cross, satisfied God's wrath for every believer, for
all of God's sheep. It says in Isaiah 53.5 that he
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. Now, God's law has been honored. His justice has been satisfied. Jesus Christ, when he died on
that cross, bought the world. It is his world, his heaven,
and it is his earth. It is his kingdom, and his sheep
are his people. Romans 14.9 says, that Christ
both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the living and dead. And John 17 verses two and four
says, 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 earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do." Now, when Jesus Christ died on
the cross, and I'm going to start wrapping this up, God's entire
plan for maternity, God's entire purpose was to send a perfect
substitute from heaven to earth to save a group of sinners out
of Adam's fallen race. He came down here as a man. All
of the plan was put in the hands of Christ. He wasn't just an
ordinary man, but he was God in human flesh. He came down
here and finished all that God's law and justice demanded. He
did it all. When he finished the work on
Calvary's cross, he spoke those three words. When he bore all
of those sins, charged to his account, and fulfilled the requirements
set forth by God, he cried, it is finished. It's all of God's
purpose. Those three words sum everything
up. Every promise is fulfilled. Every
debt owed by God's elect is paid. Their sin is canceled and every
enemy is defeated. Sin is completely washed away
to them that rest on Christ alone for their salvation and nothing
else. For a follower of Christ, those
are the three most powerful words that I can think of coming straight
from Christ himself on the cross. It is finished. These three words
make the true believer rest easy knowing that all the work required
for salvation was completed by Christ, the finisher.