In the 19th chapter of John's
Gospel we read the account of how Christ is tried before Pilate
and ultimately led away to be crucified. Pilate writes a title
and puts it above the cross of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, the
King of the Jews. He writes it in Hebrew, Greek
and Latin. The Jews object that Christ claimed
to be the King of the Jews. But Pilate answers them, what
I have written, I have written. And verse 23 continues, then
the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and
made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam.
woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend 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 by the cross
of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister married a wife
of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. And 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 unto his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I first. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled the 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. 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 COMPLETE ACCOMPLISHED
FINISHED This moment, this event is that
singular moment in time in all history which was foreseen from
the beginning of time which was purposed by God before ever mankind
fell in the garden and turned against his maker. Before ever
sin entered the perfect world which God had created. This moment
in time is that moment upon which all history falls. all time leading
up to it, and all the hundreds of years following on from it,
are all in relation to this event, when Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, was nailed to a cross and crucified for sinners. And when having completed the
work which his father gave him to do having completed that purpose
for which he came into this world having suffered unto death having
taken away the sins of his people having taken away the sin of
the world having brought in everlasting righteousness an eternal life
for a countless multitude. Having done all that was necessary
to save every single one for whom he came, Christ cries out
in victory, it is finished. This moment, this event, should
be at the forefront of all your thoughts and goals and ambitions
in this world. It should be the thing that comes
to your mind. It's more important, more vital,
more important to you. than your daily bread, than your
food or water, than your job, than your ambitions, than your
life itself. It's more vital and more vitally
important to you than anything else in this world. Anything
else you could consider, anything else you could desire. What happened
here? will determine where you will
be for eternity. What happened here will determine
whether you will live or die. It is finished. All history folds in on this
event. All creation had been waiting
for this day. this hour and this moment yearning
for it, longing for it waiting for the Saviour to come waiting
for the light to shine in the darkness waiting for the captives
to be released waiting for the generations and years of death to be undone with the bringing
in of life. Until Christ entered this world,
the world lay in darkness. All born of Adam are born sinners. All born of Adam are born sinners. You are born a sinner. And the
only possibility of you being delivered from your sins the
only possibility of that death which reigns in your mortal body
being undone and you being brought to live the only possibility
of your sins being wiped out and you being made to be righteous
before a holy God comes because there was a man upon a cross
crucified, who at the end of those hours of suffering cried
out, it is finished. Yes, all creation had yearned
for this moment, longed for this moment. Generations had been
born who had heard the Prophet speak of the Saviour's coming.
of Messiah's coming. Speak of that one who would be
pierced. Speak of that one who would suffer
for others. Speak of that one who would bring
in redemption, ransom, deliverance, salvation. Speak of this moment. Generations were born who looked
by faith for the coming of Messiah and who didn't see Him. Generation
after generation after generation heard the word of God by the
mouths of the prophets and looked and waited and longed and believed
and knew it would come and even if it didn't come in their lifetime
they believed what God said that God would send a saviour. to set his people free and here
at last, thousands of years after the day in which Adam plunged
all humanity into sin, at last Christ comes and sets his people
free. It is finished. All the expectation of heaven
itself had been looking on and awaiting for this event to come
about. when Christ was born in Bethlehem
when the heavenly host appeared unto the shepherds and the hillsides
and declared how peace on earth was come they spake not simply
of the moment at which the babe was born but their focus was
on that which he would accomplish they were looking to this moment
when peace would be wrought. When those who were at enmity
with God and their fellow man would be brought to union with
God because there was one who took their sins away. It is finished. Was it finished for you? When
he cried out, it is finished, was he speaking of your salvation? your damnation it is finished it is finished
it is what is what is this salvation
what is this of which Christ spake it is finished did he speak
simply of the suffering of Did he knowing that he was about
to be released from the pain and the anguish speak of the
pain coming to an end? Did he speak as a man might speak
who knows his time is over and knows his life is concluded and
knows his ministry, his work is no more Did Christ speak in
defeat as it were? That it's all over now? No. These aren't the words of defeat.
These aren't the words of resignation. Nor are these the words of escape
or release or relief that the pain and the suffering is over.
These are the words of victory and accomplishment and completion. It is finished, it is complete. I have accomplished that for
which I came. I have saved my people. I have set them free. it is. Salvation is finished. The justification of sinners
before a holy God that they should be declared just and holy and
righteous before God is finished. Righteousness has been wrought,
righteousness has been brought in on their behalf. Christ has
died. and through his suffering and
death the righteousness of God judged that people's sins and
was made to be theirs in him. Justification is finished, redemption
Redemption is finished. The setting free of that people
by the death of another, by the paying of a redemption price,
by the paying of a price that that people should be redeemed
and set free. It's finished. The ransom is
finished. That people held captive who
might be released only if a ransom price were paid were released
when Christ paid the price to set them free by laying down
his own life because the price to set you free is death you
have broken God's law you have rebelled against his righteousness
you have assaulted the very character and being of God with your rebellion
and hatred of him and you have earned yourself a penalty earned
yourself condemnation earned yourself judgment the price for
your willful disobedience and your apathy and your disinterest
and your unbelief and your scorn and your mockery of the gospel
and of the Christ and of God and his son you're living your
life for yourself for your own glory to further your own ambitions
Your disinterest in God and His Son has earned you condemnation. There is a price to be paid for
what you have done and what you have fought and what you have
sown and that price is death. And either you will pay that
price or you must hope that another should come in in your place
and pay the price for you. A ransom price. You are captive,
hostage to sin. And you cannot set yourself free,
no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you strive to
be. No matter how zealous in religion
you might become, you cannot set yourself free. You are a
hostage. You are bound. Bound fast. With chains that tie you to the
ground. With chains that pull you down. With chains that pull you down
to the depths of hell because of all that you have done and
all that you are. and the only way you will be
set free is if a price is paid well here at the cross for his
people Christ cried out it is finished because he paid the
price to the very last penny finished and because it was finished deliverance
for that people was wrought and was complete Christ Jesus came
into this world to save sinners. And here he cries out that that
salvation is complete. I have saved them. They are free. Free to go. Not guilty. until this moment if a sentence
was to be declared concerning you or I the sentence would be
guilty but at this moment and because of this moment and eternity
looked throughout unto this moment because of this moment in time
God can say of that people not guilty There is not one sin which
has not been paid for. There is not one thought, one
deed, one action, which I can see in them now, for which my
judgment, for which my justice, of which mine anger will burn.
I see no spot or blemish. They are perfect. They are just. They are righteous in my Son. There is nothing to add. Nothing
to be done. No more that needs to be added
to His righteousness. No more sin that needs to be
purged. No more price that needs to be
paid. No more work that needs to be
wrought. All is complete. Behold my beloved Son, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the Saviour, who cried
out, it is finished. all of it. He drunk the cup of
God's wrath to the dregs, he drank it for every sin, every
drop for every sin, none was without punishment, none was
spared. He drank every drop and this
is what's pictured here, when Christ cried out I thirst, And
there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the
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. There could be no crying out
that salvation was complete, except Christ drank the cup.
Except he drank the wine of God's wrath. That bitter wine, pictured
here by the vinegar. That bitter wine of God's wrath
that purges us from sin. Put it upon hyssop. They put
the vinegar upon hyssop and to his mouth. As pictured in the
Old Testament sacrifices purged with hyssop. How our sins were
purged. by the wrath of God, the wine
of God's wrath, the vinegar, the bitter wine upon hyssop that
Christ drank. And when he'd received it, received
every drop of it, he cried out, it is finished. Jesus knowing that all things
were now accomplished, said, I thirst. And he drank
the cup and said, it is finished. It is accomplished. It is complete. It is over. I have saved my people. from their sins. It is finished. It is finished. It is. When he said it's finished
there was no doubt about it. It is. It was and it is today. God saves. Salvation is of the
Lord. There's nothing to add to this. There's nothing to be done. There's
nothing left to do. There's no conditions left to
be met. When Christ died for his people,
when he drunk the cup, when he cried out, it is finished, he
had saved them. If he died for you, sinner, you
are saved. You may say, oh, I don't know
that yet. You may say, I've no assurance
of that yet. I've heard but I don't know.
But if Christ died, your salvation is certain. All that's left to
be done in time is for the reality of that salvation to be brought
to your understanding, to be brought to your knowledge by
the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. All that is left to be done is
for the Holy Ghost to go forth throughout this world, taking
the news of this event by the Gospel, by the preaching of that
Gospel, to the ears of those for whom Christ died, and bringing
them by His mighty power to be brought to life, to have faith
into the heart that they might see and believe. But the reason
they are brought to faith, the reason that they are brought
to see, the reason that they are brought to believe, the reason
that you will be brought to believe if you ever do, is because Christ
made it certain when he died and cried out, it is finished. All for whom he died. will hear and will believe and
will go into glory in the end because it is finished. There is nothing to do, nothing
to add, nothing that Christ left undone. There are no works that
man must perform in order to be saved. Christ has completed
the work. There is no decision or act of
the will of man that must be made to bring about salvation. God has determined who will be
saved. God determined for whom Christ
should die. And God will determine who will
hear that gospel and receive the knowledge of this truth.
If God purposed your salvation, He purposed it from before the
foundation of this earth, before this world was made, before you
were born, before you went astray, before you came to here, before
you sat here this day, God said this one will be saved. And He sacrificed His Son that
you should be saved if you're His. and he offered up that son. Christ the priest took himself
and offered up himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, a sweet-smelling savour
unto God, and God smelt that sacrifice and was well pleased. well pleased in his son. All
that his justice demanded, all that he required to have a people
saved and delivered from their sins was wrought and complete.
God said I am well pleased in him, well pleased in his son,
well pleased with that people in his son. They're perfect in
him. He did it all. Your will, your
decision has nothing to do with it. You're born unwilling. You're born raging against these
things. You may sit here today still
unwilling, set against God, set against His Son, set against
the Christ, set against the Gospel, set against this preacher, set
against any who come with this message. You may rage against
it and that's your will by nature. But in the day of God's power,
if God determines to save you, your will will be turned. And
it won't be you that turns your will. It won't be you that turns
your way. God will change your will. God
will make you willing. God will turn you. God will make
you hear. God will open your eyes to see.
God will put a love for His truth in your heart. And if He says
you will be saved, it will come about. Your will. Your natural will. Your decision has nothing to
do with it. It's a consequence of the will
of God. All whom God wills to be saved
will be made willing, will choose, will follow, will believe. As many as received him to them
gave he power, John says in chapter one of his gospel, to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. God wills it. God wills it. There's nothing to add. You don't
have to add your works to God's works, your works to Christ's
death. You don't have to add your decision
or your will or your choice. Christ wrought salvation completely. It's all done. He did it all. And he will either do it all,
he will either do it all for you, or he will do nothing at
all he will either bring about your salvation in its entirety
or he will leave you in the blood of your own sin he will leave
you in darkness he will leave you to fall into the hells of
fire to come he will do all to save or he will do nothing there
is no mixing No mixture. No mixture of your will with
God's will, your works with God's works, your righteousness with
God's righteousness. It's all of God. Or it's all
of man, and if it's all of man it will bring you into death.
There's no mixture. He will not share his glory with
man. He will save and save to the
uttermost. He will bring in for His people
an everlasting righteousness without beginning and without
end, without seam, no mixture, no mixture of your good works
with His righteousness, but entirely His. Which is why the garment,
the coat which Christ wore, which the soldiers here parted and
divided between them, had no seam. Verse 23, Then the soldiers,
when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four
parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat
was without seam, woven from the top throughout. It had no
seam. It was made like a circle, round
and round and round. without beginning and without
end. The coat, a picture of righteousness. That which covers the nakedness. We are naked before God. Our
sins are exposed before him. And we need a cover. We need
to be covered in righteousness. We need that sin to be covered
and put out of sight. We need to be clothed in righteousness. And our covering, our righteousness
won't do it. It is but the fig leaves that
Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with. Full of seams, full of
gaps, ready to fall off. You can't sew fig leaves together
and produce a seamless coat. No matter how well you live,
no matter how righteous you may think you are, God's righteousness,
God's sight, God's holiness will see through and your sin will
be found flowing out from every gap and corner. It defiles it
all. You have no righteousness. Even
your righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Even those fig leaves of
righteousness that you try to sow to present to God, something
in which you may glory, are as filthy rags before Him, stained
by your sin. And it's full of seams, full
of joins, full of gaps. But Christ has a coat with which
he clothes his people. He has a righteousness. which
is without seam, woven from the top throughout. It's without. It has no beginning and no end
because it is the very righteousness of God. It's eternal. It has no beginning. It is as
righteous as He has ever been righteous. It's the same righteousness
He had before He ever entered this world, the same righteousness
He has after He has entered this world. It's the righteousness
of God. But it's that righteousness,
that righteousness which he brought in, that everlasting eternal
righteousness which he brought in for his people at the cross. It was ever his but it was never
theirs. Until he cried out, it is finished. And it will ever be his and never
yours. Unless he for you cried out. It is finished. And you need
that righteousness if you're ever to stand before Him. No
mixture. No mixture of yours with His.
There's no seam in His righteousness. There's no entrance in. There's
no union with your good works. Yours would be violet. But praise
God for His people. He brought in a righteousness.
perfection which is everlasting it is finished it is finished
finished complete accomplished without anything more to do it's
over As Christ said in John chapter
17, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. John 17, Jesus says, these words
spake Jesus and 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. I'm finished. He came. He came into this world, born
a perfect man, taking humanity into union with his divinity. Like us, we are having flesh,
having a human soul and body and flesh as we do, yet without
sin. He was the only man that walked
upon this world, upon this earth without sin. He shone forth the
righteousness of God. He shone forth the light and
the glory of God in the midst of the darkness. He came speaking
of the kingdom of God, speaking of his father, speaking of salvation. He came preaching the gospel
unto those who were in captivity. he came to those locked as it
were in the prison cells and came preaching of deliverance
and he led them by his gospel to that place where he would
deliver them all his lifetime was set upon that day when he
would go to a place called Golgotha the place of a skull the place
where the head should die The head of the church should be
crucified and where all his people should be crucified in him. The
place of the skull, the head. He came and his face was set
like a flint to go to Jerusalem to be crucified for his people. He did all that the father asked
of him. I have finished the work. which
thou gavest me to do. Made under the law, the law could
find no fault in him. The law measured him and tested
him. But because he was God, because
of the righteousness of God which shone forth from him, there was
no fault found in him. The law could not condemn him,
he was an innocent man under it. But as a substitute of sinners,
crucified in the place of others God took the condemnation of
that law meant for them and laid it upon his head and put his
hand upon the head of his own son as the priest took the hand
and put it upon the head of the sacrifice and took the knife
the blade of God's justice and thrust it into the side of his
own son He crucified the Son of Glory. And the reason He was
crucified was because of the sins of people like you and I. We crucified the Prince of Glory. We put Him to death. Our sins
brought about His death. But when He died, When all was
done, he could cry out with a certainty, it is finished, for it was. If Christ died for you, he saved
you. If Christ died for you, he saved
you. Your salvation is wrought. It is complete. It is certain. There is nothing that can stand
in its way. There is nothing that can prevent
it. There is nothing that you or anyone else can do, say or
think which will prevent you entering into glory on the last
day. If Christ died for you, you are
saved. You will be saved. You will believe. It's complete. It's wrought. It's accomplished. It's finished.
It's certain. And if certain, then you will
be saved. You will go to glory. You will. And if certain, then
you will believe. You will. Kick against it all
you like. Fight it all you like with all
your might and all your strength. Shut your ears to these truths
all you like, to this gospel. Turn away from it, ignore it. Question it, dispute it, argue
against it all you like. In the end, you will believe
because God has determined it. And because it is finished. It is finished. Are you finished? Have you finished? Have you finished running away
from God? Running away from the truth?
Running away from reality? Running away from the gospel?
running away from life and death, running away from the Saviour. Have you finished? Have you finished
turning your back? Have you finished fighting against
the truth? Have you finished seeking your
own glory and your own ways and your own wealth and your own
ambitions? Have you finished Have you finished
reasoning with the scriptures? Have you finished with false
religion? Have you finished with your works
of righteousness and your will and your glory? Have you finished
with the deceptions and foolishness of men? Have you finished? Are you finished? Are you finished? Because if it is finished, if
what Christ did is finished, if it is finished, and if God
finished it for you, then one day, perhaps this day, you will
be finished with your foolishness. you will be finished with your
mad career towards hell you will be finished with your unbelief
you will be finished with your sin you will be finished with
the world you will be finished with self and self-glory you
will be finished with unbelief if it is finished if it is finished
for you then one day perhaps this day By the grace of God. By the grace of God which brings
salvation. One day, perhaps this day, you
will believe. You will believe. Because all
for whom Christ died will hear. They will hear that gospel. which is the power of God under
salvation, they will hear, and hearing, they will believe. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. One day, all for whom Christ
died will hear, and will believe. and if he died for you one day
by the grace of God you will hear and you will believe for
it is finished it is finished is it finished for you? is it? When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Amen.