Let's turn to the Gospel of John
tonight. Gospel of John chapter 19 John 19 then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate, therefore, went forth
again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that
you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And you have
to remember that he had been beaten to where he was unrecognizable
when he was brought forth. And Pilate said unto them, Behold
the man. When the chief priests, therefore,
and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him,
crucify him. And Pilate saith unto them, Take
ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered
him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because
he made himself the son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the judgment
hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him
no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Beacons
are not under me. No it's not not that I have power
to crucify the and have power to release the. Jesus answered. Thou couldest have no power at
all against me except it were given me from above. Therefore
he that delivered me under the half the greater sin. And from
thenceforth Pilate sought to release him but the Jews cried
out saying If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king
speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew
tongue, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover in about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews,
behold your king, And they cried out, Away with him, away with
him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall
I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew Golgotha. where they crucified him and
two other with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on a cross. And the writing was Jesus of
Nazareth the king of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
to the city and it was written in Hebrew and Greek in Latin. Then said the chief priest of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without
seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rent it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things,
therefore, the soldiers did. Now there stood at the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his
mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her unto his 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 full, a vessel
full of vinegar. And they filled a sponge with
vinegar and put it on his upon his hip and put it to his mouth.
When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished
and bowed his head and gave up the ghost. I want to concentrate on these
three little words found in verse 30. It is finished. Three little
words, three simple words that carry more meaning than we can
possibly begin to imagine. They are describing the conclusion
of both the most cursed event and also the most blessed event
in the history of planet Earth. That being the murder of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God came to earth in human flesh
made like his brethren, he came for one purpose, to redeem those
brethren, those chosen, before the foundation of the world,
to redeem them from the curse of the law. And what did men
do? They exercised their free will,
they despised him, they lied, they brought false charges, and
the religious leaders of that day convinced Pilate to put him
to death But that death, which was so
much more than just the death of a man, was done exactly according
to the purpose of God the Father and the purpose of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Where are you, John? Flip over
to chapter 10. What did our Lord say in John
10, 18? Therefore, doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my father. Now in describing the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, many times we say that wicked men took his
life. But what we just read tells us
otherwise. Men did not take his life. He
laid it down of his own free will. Everything that was done
that day was long ago foretold in the Old Testament scriptures,
how the Lord Jesus gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. The very manner that we
read about that the soldiers divided his clothing They didn't
do that because they were flipping through the scriptures Don used
to tell us it's like what what do we do now? No, they did it
because God had purposed it in eternity past. Peter told the
Jews this on the day of Pentecost when he said in Acts 2 23 speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and for knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. This was not something that happened
because things spiraled out of God's control. No, every single
event that we read of here from the mob taking Jesus in the garden
to the time he was laid in the tomb, everything that we read
was exactly according to the purpose of God. Our God said
in Isaiah 14, 24, I quote this verse often. I love this verse.
The Lord of hosts has sworn saying surely as I have thought so shall
it come to pass as I have purposed so shall it stand. It would determine
in the mind of the triune God in the far ages of eternity past
that on this day in this place called Golgotha that the Lord
Jesus Christ would become that eternal Lamb of God. Seemingly
slain by men, but in fact slain by God the Father. According to his determinant
counsel, it was determined that this must come to pass. Every single event was predetermined
by God, if you will, according to his purpose, which was to
redeem a number of wretched sinners that no man can number, and to
make them the adopted children of God Almighty. Join heirs with
Christ, heirs of God the Father. So the first word that we read
of these three, it, indicating a single task, not they, which
would indicate multiple tasks, but it, indicating a single task
that is now completed. So we have to ask, what is this
it that our Lord is referring to here? Exactly what is the
it that he said is finished? We read these words from our
Savior in John 17. If you want to flip over there,
you're already in John. John 17, four, in his prayer
to the Father, John 17, four, our Lord Jesus said this, I have
glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Now Christ proclaims here that
he already finished the work that the father gave him to do
and yet he cries out from the cross again. It is finished. Is there a contradiction here?
There is no contradiction. There is no contradiction to
be found in the entire word of God. Our Savior here is talking
about two completely different things. When he says in John
17 in his prayer to the Father that he had finished the work
that he had given him to do, he's referring to the things
spoken of in Matthew 11 when those two disciples of John the
Baptist came to him and asked, Are thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? And our Lord replied to them,
Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, The lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor
have the gospel preached unto them. Now, there's numerous accounts
throughout the four gospels of our Lord doing all these things.
But in John, the very last verse of John's gospel, he tells us
this. And there are also many other things which Jesus did,
the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose
that even the world itself could not contain the books that should
be written. The events recorded in the four
gospels are just a small sample of all our Lord Jesus Christ
did in the three and a half years that he dwelt among men. He is
also talking about when he tells the father, I finished the work
that thou gave us me to do. What we find in Luke 1910, it
says, for the son of man is come to seek and save that which was
lost. All of the acts that he performed
while walking as a man on this earth are those things that the
father gave him to do, which he spoke of in John chapter 17. Those are the things that he
finished before he ever went to the cross to become a bloody
sacrifice. But chief among those things
was him perfectly keeping the law in order for him to be the
perfect spotless lamb of God. It was absolutely essential that
he kept every commandment found in God's law. When speaking of
the sacrifice that was to be offered to the Lord, we read
in Leviticus 22, 21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. And Peter tells us that our Lord
Jesus Christ met that standard when he writes in first Peter
1 18 verses were so familiar with for as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot the perfect sacrifice to God. Now, Christ himself made this
promise concerning his keeping of the law that we read of in
Matthew 5, 17 and 18. He said, Think not that I have
come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law till all be Fulfilled. Fulfilled by who? The lost sinner? Certainly not. Fulfilled by the
spotless, perfect Lamb of God himself. So then these are the
things that were finished by our Savior before he went to
the cross. So what then is the it that he
finished on Golgotha's tree when he cried out these three words?
It is finished. It can only be one thing. He
is referring here to him enduring the wrath of God that was due
on his people's behalf. The pouring out of his blood,
the laying down of his life to pay the demanded price for our
sin. This is spoken of in Hebrews
chapter nine, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. It also reads, And as it is appointed
unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. Now there was no
work done by a lamb when it was made to be a sacrifice. That
lamb simply submitted itself to the one doing the sacrificing.
So it was with our Lord Jesus Christ. We just read what he
said about finishing the work that the father gave him to do.
But there was no work that was done by him when he became that
eternal sacrifice. He simply submitted to the will
of the father. He said this in Luke 22 42 father,
if I'll be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. Now scientists tell us that there
are over 3 million pain receptors in a human body. Now these pain
receptors signal the brain anytime there's an injury. We burn ourself,
we break a bone, we fall and bump our head. Those pain receptors
send a signal to the brain registering something has occurred in that
part of the body. And the worse the injury, the
more pain receptors that are activated. Thankfully, Even in
a trauma such as a car wreck, only a small percentage of our
total pain receptors come into play. And when that pain is severe
enough, there is a checkpoint, a safety switch, if you will,
in the human body that causes that person to pass out when
that pain becomes too excruciating to bear. I did a little bit of
research on the science behind why this happens. And what I
found out was that your blood pressure and your heart rate
are monitored by something called the autonomic nervous system.
And when pain becomes unbearable, your blood pressure and heart
rate drop enough to cut off blood flow to the brain and you pass
out. This is also what happens when
a chokehold is applied to both sides of the neck. The blood
flow to the brain is cut off and you pass out. But this human pain defense mechanism did not occur. When our savior hung on that
Roman tree. It could not be he had to be
conscious. Every second of those three hours.
We do not read anywhere anything in the gospel that would indicate
our Lord passing out from the excruciating pain that he was
suffering. He had to be conscious that entire
time from the first beating of the soldiers to when they laid
him in the tomb. But worse than all that, he suffered
the equivalent of an eternity in hell that should have been
suffered by us, by you and me, by his elect people. In the three
hours that he hung on that cross between heaven and earth, between
God and man, Only one who is God Almighty could endure such
agony. Lost men and women cannot begin to imagine the terror,
the suffering, the agony that awaits them in the pit of the
damned. If they did, they would surely lose their mind. But we need to remember that
our Savior, before he ever came to this earth, to be born of
a virgin, knew that he would one day suffer
at the hand of the Father. He knew what the sufferings of
hell were. He is the one who created it.
We know this from what we read in the first chapter of John,
when it tells us that all things were created by him and without
him was not anything made that was made, including the pit of
the damned. So is it any wonder that he prayed, O Father, If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. He was about to be made the very
thing that is most repulsive to a holy, righteous God. He was about to be made sin. And I thought about trying to
give some examples that would turn our stomachs of things that
would make us sick if we were subjected to him to try to demonstrate
how our Lord must have felt when he was made sin. But I decided
first that it would be much too disgusting of a conversation
to have in polite company. And second, that no matter what
effort I made, no matter how vomit inducing it might be, would
not even begin to scratch the surface in comparison to what
our blessed Lord experienced when he was made to be sin. We have no idea, none whatsoever,
how very holy our God is. We have no idea how repulsive
sin is to him. Nor do we have any idea of how
furious God is when it comes to the punishment of sin. When
the scriptures tell us that God is angry with the wicked every
day, we cannot begin to comprehend what that means. But you can
be sure of one thing. God Almighty has never been as
angry as he was that day. When the wrath that was due to
an unnumberable number of sinners, lost men and women who were redeemed
by the Savior. When the punishment for their
sins were poured out upon it, blessed son, I reason I say that
there has never been such a concentration of sin in one place upon one
person as there was that day. that day that we read of in Isaiah
53 when it says the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all. So we see that what our blessed
Lord meant when he said it is finished. And as I thought about
the sufferings of our Lord, I was reminded of that story of Lazarus
and the rich man, how that Lazarus laid his gate and the dog licked
his sores. And it turned out that they both
died and were told that Lazarus was taken into the bosom of Abraham
and the rich man went to hell. And I thought about the agonies
of hell, how that this rich man begged Father Abraham to send
Lazarus, quote, that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water and cool my tongue. for I am tormented
in this flame. Try to imagine the degree of
suffering that is experienced by the damned if they begged just for a single
drop of water, not a glass of water, but a single drop, anything
to give a brief split second of relief, but it is not to be. So is it any wonder that our
Lord, when he was enduring the equivalent of an eternity in
hell, cried out, I thirst. He was experiencing the same
agony as this rich man, but multiplied 10 million times 10 million as
he bore the punishment of the multitude of the sins of his
people. He cried out, it is finished, our second word, is present tense
done right now. The price has been paid. It is finished. Not it is begun,
but there's more that will be required for the center when
he decides to give his heart to Jesus. Not I've done my part. Now it's up to the center to
make my work effectual. No, it is finished. There's nothing more required.
Hebrews tells us that after our Lord had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
You do not sit down until all the work is finished. We just
read that how by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He laid hold
on redemption. He secured it. It's already done. It is finished. Verse 28 of our
text in John 19. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished. The last word of the three. Finished. Brought to a state of completion,
fully accomplished, complete. This is what Paul wrote of when
he wrote to the Colossians and said, ye are complete in him,
nothing lacking, all that is required to stand justified before
a holy and righteous God had been accomplished. I like this
word accomplished. Established beyond any doubt
or dispute, completely settled. This is why our Lord proclaimed,
come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. One can only rest when all the
work is done, not just finished, but finished to perfection. Then and only then can you sit
down as did our master when he finished his last task as a man
on earth. In Luke 22, starting in verse
34, we find our Lord talking to Peter. And he said, I tell
thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt
thrice deny that thou knowest me. And he said unto them, speaking
to his disciples, when I sent you without purse and script
and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. Then
he said unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take
it, and likewise a script. And he that hath no sword, let
him sell his garment and buy one. For I say unto you that
this that is written must be accomplished in me. He then quotes
Isaiah 53. What must be accomplished? And
he was reckoned among the transgressors. And Christ said, for the things
concerning me. Have an end. And that end was
just a few hours away after he said this. In Luke 1831, we find
our Lord again for telling of the things that were about to
come to pass. Then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them,
behold, We go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. They shall be finished. In Luke 9, when the Lord was
transfigured on the Mount, verse 30 says this, And behold, they
talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared
in glory and spake of the deceased, which he should accomplish in
Jerusalem. His death was not the result
of him failing to do what the father had given him to do. It
was the final accomplishment of his work. All the things that
he was sent to accomplish, including his death, he completed to perfection. Every single minute detail of
the work that the father sent him to do was now complete, which
is how he was able to cry out not in failure, but in triumph,
it is finished. Isaiah 53 11 tells us that the
father is content with the accomplished work of his blessed son. He speaking of the father, he
shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He could only be satisfied If
the work of redemption was completed to perfection, we already read
in any sacrifice to the Lord had to be perfect to be accepted. And Jesus Christ certainly met
that standard. He was perfection personified. And even though the work of blood
bought redemption is finished, he's not yet finished doing his
people good because we read in Hebrew 725 that he ever liveth
to make intercession for us. But when the last elect sets
foot on heaven's shore, even that work will be finished and
our savior will then enjoy the praise and admiration of his
chosen people for eternity as we sing worthy is the lamb that
was slain. Worthy is the lamb who finished
the required task of bringing all those who the father gave
to him to saving faith in himself. finished by the only one in this
entire universe who could accomplish such a task. It is finished. Nothing lacking,
nothing else to do. So for those who might hear this
message in the future via the Internet, and you have not yet
bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I would encourage you,
as Paul did, the keeper of the prison in Acts 16 31, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You dare
not wait to try to make yourself better, to try to improve your
standing before God. That is impossible. We're told
that man in his best state is altogether vanity, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Christ did all that he
was required of him by God's strict holy law and justice to
present sinners faultless before his throne. Thank God for the
assurance that is given us in these three little words. Blessed
assurance. It is finished. I pray the Lord would bless that
to your heart.