I will be reading from John 19,
beginning at verse 28. We have twice this week in our
scripture reading read of the suffering and death of our Lord
Jesus Christ. My mind has been on it, as I'm
sure yours has been much of the week. Let's look again at John
19, verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things We're accomplished. I love those words. We're accomplished. Whatever has been up until now
has been accomplished. Did you get that? Accomplished. On purpose. By God. No accidents. Nothing left to
chance. No hurt adventures. Accomplished. And whatever comes tomorrow,
no matter how it comes or by whom, will be but the accomplishing
of God's purpose. Accomplished. Jesus, knowing
that all things were accomplished, that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled, saith, I thirst. People sometimes talk as though,
and preachers, so scared somebody might get the wrong idea from
what God says, I want you to not misunderstand Jesus as God. They paint this thing as though
it wasn't real. He was burning with fever in
the scorching sun, hanging on a cursed tree, covered with human
spit, after being brutally bitten. And he cried, I thirst, because
he thirsted. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar. If you're thirsty, we'll give
you something to drink. They filled a sponge with vinegar.
put it upon Hyssop and shoved 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, religious men will cling to their religion
and their righteousness while they behave like hell itself,
and keep their ordinances. They cried, crucify him, crucify
him, and mocked him. They spit in his face. They concocted
lies to have him crucified. Pilate knew that for envy they
delivered him to death. Even Pilate, that godless, reprobate
man, knew that they had no charges against him. But it's getting
to be close to Sunday, so let's not let him hang on the tree.
because it's the preparation of the Sabbath, that the bodies
should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day. For the Sabbath
day was a high day. They besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Then came
the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other,
which were crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus,
and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs. I wonder
how come they didn't take that mallet and crush his legs? Well,
he was dead already, they didn't see any point in doing that.
No, that ain't it. That ain't it. But one of the
soldiers with a spear pierced his side. It wasn't an act of
sympathy that he break his legs. No. The same fellow who would
not take the mallet and crush his legs shoved a spear in his
heart. Why didn't they break his legs?
because God said they won't break his legs. That's all. That's
all. So that it may be made manifest
that God's in control of this, and that he was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. So that it may be made
manifest that this man is indeed he of whom the prophet spoke.
Let's see. 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 you might believe. I saw these
things. You know I'm telling you the
truth, and I'm writing them down here now for you, that you may
believe. These things are written in the
book that you may believe. Oh, God help you to believe.
For these things were done That is to say, this is the reason
why they didn't break his legs. This is the reason why, instead
of breaking his legs with that mallet they shoved a spear in
his side. These things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. That's the text you have to read
this other night. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again,
another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. The Son of God has taken on himself
human flesh. He lived a life of perfect righteousness
as a man, as a real man, but not as a private man. His humanity is real, but he
does nothing as a private individual. He lived in this flesh as a representative
man, the last Adam, just as the first man, Adam, walked on this
earth as a representative man. The Lord Jesus represents all
his people whom he has come to redeem and save. He lives as
the representative of his covenant people in perfect righteousness
all the days of his life, but all the days of his life he is
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. His enemies were countless. This perfect man. I can understand
you having enemies and me having enemies. And we just have a few. And we deserve a bunch. This
man lived in perfection. And about everybody despised
him. About everybody despised him. People talk a great deal,
religious folks do, like these Pharisees that we read up wanting
to keep their Sabbath day, even while they're crucifying the
Son of God, about, well, I want the world to see Jesus in me.
They can't. They're blind. They didn't see
Him in him. He was despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. His friends were few, and those
few fickle and faithless. At last, he's in Gethsemane. as he anticipates what lay before
him, that for which he has come into the world. In anticipation
of what was about to happen, he says, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, crushed even to death. And he goes in the garden and
cries three times until at last He sweats blood oozing from his
pores and falling to the ground. And he cries, Oh, my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Spirit of God,
let me not pry into secret things. I have a hunch based upon what
I know of this word, what our Lord was talking about. He was
not asking the Father to let him off the hook. He was not
asking the Father that he should escape death. He set his face
like a flint to go to Jerusalem. No, sir. He was not asking the
Father that he should escape all the terror and suffering
and horror of hell in his heart, body and soul. No, sir. No, sir. But this holy man, who did no
sin, who knew no sin, who could not sin. The only man who ever
has been in the universe who knows what sin is, in anticipation
of being made sin, shook in his soul before God. But being the
faithful servant he is, He says, nevertheless, not my will, thy
will be done. And the soldiers came, led by
one of his friends, a disciple named Judas, a preacher, who
had gone to the priest because of his malice and envy at that
dear redeemed harlot the Lord had saved. who had wasted 300
pence worth of precious perfume on the feet of the Son of God. And Judas said, I won't tolerate
this. He's not going to honor her and
pass me by. What will you give me? I'll fix
it so you can arrest him. They gave him 30 pieces of silver.
He said, give me some soldiers. And when I kiss him, you grab
him. And Judas walked up to him in the garden, cocksure. Straightforward. He said, Hail,
Master! He hugged him and kissed him
on the cheek. And the soldiers took him and
led him away to the judgment hall. The priest sought counselors
against him. They couldn't find any witnesses,
so they hired some to give a false report. And then they persuaded
Pilate, and Pilate had a custom every year About that time, just
to placate the Jews, he would take somebody, whoever they wanted,
and he would set them free. He would grant them amnesty,
kind of like a president going out of office. Just grant them
amnesty. And Supilot, knowing that they
were just mad at the Lord Jesus, didn't have a case against him,
and he didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble for himself
because he was a good politician. He said, I'll tell you what,
if you want me to, I'll release Jesus to you on this day and
we'll forget the whole matter. And the priest said, don't let
him talk you into that. We want the blood of this man.
Ask him to give you Barabbas instead, a murderer, a thief,
an insurrectionist, a well-known terrorist. Ask him to give you
Osama Bin Laden instead. And Pilate stepped out and he
said, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Jesus or Barabbas? Give us Barabbas. What do you want me to do with
this man who is the king of Israel? Let him be crucified. Let him be crucified. Let his
blood be on us and our children. Release unto us Barabbas! And
so the Lord Jesus took the place of a man who was condemned and
about to be executed and died on the cross that was prepared
for him by the hands of men, but was prepared for Christ himself
by the purpose of God. And the scripture tells us that
Pilate delivered Jesus unto their will. I cannot think of a more
dogmatic, clear denunciation of what men boast of in their
mighty will than this. This is what the will of man
has always done and will always do to God Almighty if it can. Pilate delivered Jesus to their
will. to be crucified, and the soldiers
took him. And they decided to have some
fun. They made a, took a piece of purple, just an old purple
rug, maybe a purple blanket, threw it over his shoulders after
they sticked him naked and beat him. They put a bamboo stick
in his hand and took a crown of thorns and put it on his head.
They beat him. Kneeled down in front of him
and worshipped him. Hail, King of the Jews. They put a hood over his face
and smacked him on the face with a stick. And they said, you're
a prophet? You're the son of God prophesied
to us. Tell us who hit you. They beat him with their fists
in the palms of their hands and plucked off the hair of his face
and spit at his face. And they took the purple off
of him and put it on cold back on him. dragged him through the
streets of Jerusalem, nailed him to that cross, dropped it
in its socket, sat down and watched him. Everybody passed by. You talk about a unifying spectacle. Priest and Roman soldiers who
despised each other, publicans and Pharisees, harlots and housewives,
Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Samaritans, streetwalkers, politicians, everybody
got together and ran the cross of Christ and said, And that man, more than any man
who ever lived, deserved to die, because he was made sin for us. And justice drew forth its sword,
and the Father cried, Awake, O sword, against one that is
my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd, and the sheep will
be scattered. And then I will stretch out my
arm, and I will gather them again unto Him. And so the Lord Jesus
endures all this agony. He cries, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And the veil of the temple was
split from top to bottom. And then He said, It is finished. Done. What is? Everything I came here to do,
finished. Everything finished. Everything
written in the book, accomplished. Everything prophesied, done. All the will of my Father which
I determined with Him to perform before the world was, when I
said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of
Me to do Thy will. Oh, my God, done! Everything. The Father has made my soul an
offering for sin. And the sacrifice is finished. It is finished. Let me show you three or four
things about this. Now here is the blessed fact
revealed in scripture. All the Old Testament types and
promises, all of them, were finished when Christ died. All the prophecies
accomplished. Come back to Daniel, Daniel chapter
9, verse 24. This is one of those Old Testament
passages that is greatly, perversely twisted. by this generation of
prophecy mania nuts, and all they can see in it is what's
not there, and they can't see what is there. Daniel 9, verse
24. It's a text with which we need
to be familiar. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon the holy city. Now, I have a notion
of what those seventy weeks represent, but I'll be honest with you,
it really doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. That's
not the issue. It doesn't matter whether you're
talking about 70 literal weeks, 70 prophetic weeks, 70 years
of weeks. It's really insignificant. Other
folks, they write volumes of books on Daniel's 70 weeks. This is the important thing.
This is the important thing. When those 70 weeks are done,
and they're done, These 70 weeks are determined to finish the
transgression and to make an end. Isn't that a good word? An end. There's the end. You can't get past it. To make an end. Oh my God. To make an end of sins. So when it says to finish the
transgression, He's not talking about bringing transgression
to its completion. Oh, no. He's not talking about
increasing it. He's talking about doing away
with it to make transgressions to be finished forever and sin
to be ended forever. And when transgression is finished,
when sin is ended, to make reconciliation for iniquity. God was in Christ. Reconciling the world of His
elect unto Himself. Not imputing our trespasses unto
us, but unto Him. To bring in everlasting righteousness. To bring in righteousness that
can never be finished. Righteousness that can never
be ended. And to seal up the vision. That is, to wrap up all this. that we've
been looking at and talking about in all the years of the Old Testament
prophets, to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the
most holy. That which Daniel prophesied,
the Son of God declares as finished by his sacrificial death as our
substitute. All that was typical of him and
prophesied of him and promised concerning him in the Old Testament,
he's finished. There is not a single promise,
there is not a single type, there is not a single prophecy in all
the Old Testament scriptures that does not find its perfect,
complete, absolute fulfillment in Jesus Christ the Lord. He
is that prophet like unto Moses. He's the priest like Aaron the
high priest, but more he's the priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's a king like David. a mighty
conqueror, and a king like David's son Solomon, the Prince of Peace. He is the Sacrificer and the
altar. He is the bird that was slain,
and the turtle dove dipped in the blood of the slain dove,
and the priest who set the dove dipped free. He is both the Paschal
Lamb and the scapegoat. Everything spoken of in the Old
Testament. He's the tabernacle. He's the
showbread. He's the mercy seat. He's the
ark of the covenant. He is the light. He's everything. All those things in the Old Testament
scriptures, all the events in history, they all point like
a great, mighty laser beam to one man, Jesus the Christ. who now hangs on the tree and
says, you see, this is what it was all about. It's finished. All the sacrifices and ceremonies
of that typical dispensation are now finished, forever done
away. For the law had in the shadow
of good things to come. And not the very image of those
things can never with those sacrifices, which are offered year by year,
continually make the comers there unto perfect. What on earth does
that mean? It means God never accepted any
animal's blood for anybody's atonement. Not really. Only typically. Only typically. You mean, preacher, do you mean
to tell us that the children of Israel, going through all
their history and the meticulous observance of all those ceremonies,
and all their sacrifices, and all their religion, and all their
rights, and all their services, those things for which they sometimes
died, you mean that didn't make them right before God? No. No. No. Well, if it didn't have anything
to do with their salvation, how come when they were having a
value off a strange fire, God killed them? If those things
had no saving value, how come when others touched that ark,
God killed him? I didn't say they had nothing to do with salvation.
They had no saving value, no efficacy, no power. They all
pointed to Him who alone accomplishes redemption. He looks around,
abandoned by His Father. The holy angels themselves now
do not appear before Him. His disciples have forsaken Him,
and when there was none to help, He cries, My old arm, it brought
salvation to me, and my fury it upheld me, so that he who
suffers upon the cursed tree suffers his own holy fury against
sin. For he who suffers, the man who
dies, is himself God Almighty, our God, Man, Omnipotent Savior. And he takes away the first,
that he may establish the second. He takes away all those carnal
services, all those carnal sacrifices, to establish the second. And
now, we don't have religious emblems. And we won't have them, because
they're all idolatry. They're pieces of witchcraft
in Baptist churches, that's all. A few weeks ago I was preaching
up in Great Falls, Montana, and the folks there bought a church
building from an old Methodist group that moved out of it. Nice
building. And it's obvious that right behind
the pulpit they, at one time, had a real pretty cross. The
whole background was made for it. And the night or two after
I was there preaching, I think it was on Wednesday night, I
met another preacher there, a young black man who was pastor of the,
what do they call it, African Methodist Episcopal Church, I
think that's what it's called. It's just been called that. It's
in the same motel I was. He came to hear me preach. He
sat down and asked one of the ladies, why did y'all take the
cross down? Well, there's good reason. Because
we don't worship a cross. We don't have any use for a cross. If I could find the piece of
wood on which the Son of God died, I'm not talking about those
scraps that Catholics have all over the world they call relics,
and they call that a piece of the cross. They've got enough
wood in relic chambers around the world to make a thousand
crosses. No, I'm not talking about that.
But I could find the real thing. I'd burn it to ashes, and I'd go
out by myself where nobody could see me and scatter the ashes
so nobody could get it. We don't worship a cross. We
worship the Savior through hanging upon that cursed thing. finished
religious ritualism, brought it all to its culmination, fulfilling
it, and accomplished it by the sacrifice of himself. And now,
those sacrifices are over and they that worship God, worship
him in spirit and in truth. When our Savior said it is finished,
he declares to us that all the law is ended. This is what the book says. Christ
is the end of the law. Remember, that's the end. You can't get past it. He's the
fulfilling of it. He's the termination of it. I
know, I hear this all the time. Well, folks don't say it to me.
Most folks don't have much saying. They say it to other folks. It's
important to say it to no man. Don't listen to him. He tells
you not to live by the law. Oh, we can't do that. That makes
sinners out of everybody. Oh, no. No, that makes willing
servants out of loving disciples full of gratitude. Christ is
the end of the law. Now, sometimes fellas see the
folly of their argument, but they won't give it up. Like the
Jews keeping the Sabbath day while they cry, crucify Him,
crucify Him. They still want to Keep him on
the cross and say, no, we've got to have the law. Oh, no,
it's not a form of bondage. No, no, no. Oh, we can't tell people not
to live by the law because it's just to show our love and gratitude
to God. So we keep the Sabbath and we
sit down and figure out whether we ought to tithe on the gross
or the net. And we watch our pops to see when the Sabbath
day starts. When is it all right for us to
go out and eat at Burger King? Or should we just have the wife
make sandwiches at home on Saturday morning so we won't break the
Sabbath? You say, preachers folks don't really do that. I can give
you names and numbers. Oh, yes, they do. Oh, yes, they
do. Don't talk to God's people about
such nonsense. I get plum angry with it. Just
suppose. Just suppose. Every time I went
out of town, or just once would do it, I said to Shelby, honey,
I'd like for you to wear this chastity belt for me while I'm
gone. What? Oh, now, it's not that
I don't trust you. It's not that I have any question
at all about your faithfulness, no. But just wear it to show
everybody that you love me. Either she'd call folks to come
take me away in a padded wagon, or she'd take the chastity belt
and beat the fool out of me with it. And rightfully so. That's
nonsense. That's nonsense. Believers don't
need a law to tell them to tithe. That's a legal tax. You've got
to do it like it or not. Oh no, not believers. Believers
give because they want to. They give what they want to,
because they love Christ. Believers don't need a law telling
them to keep the Sabbath day. Oh, you've got to worship God
now. You've got to read so much Bible. You've got to do this,
got to do that, got to, got to, got to, got to, got to, got to. I hope you're here because you
get to be here. I hope you'll be here tonight
because you get to be here. I hope you'll be here Tuesday
because you get to be here. But if you choose not to, if
you've got something more important to you to do, I'm not going to
beat you over the head and try to get you to come. And I'm not
going to chase you down. Believers worship God all the
days of their lives, resting in Him. And we delight to worship
Him. It's that simple. Believers,
those who love Christ, don't need a ball and chain of legalism
to make them do what's right for the glory of God. Don't need
something to force them to do what they really don't want to
do. Oh, no. Legalists. need those things. Folks who would not worship,
who would not serve, who would not do, except they know if they
don't, God's going to get you. Those are mercenaries. Those
are Pharisees. Those are work mongers. Believers
do what they do for the glory of God. Acknowledging the love
of Christ constrains us. He died for us, that we should
no longer live for ourselves, but to Him that loved us and
gave Himself for us. God forgive me for my lack of
devotion, my lack of consecration, my lack of gratitude. But believers,
recognizing the filth of their cleanness and the evil of their
goodness, do what they do. for the glory of God, because
that's what they want to do. Rejoicing to know that Christ
is the E-N-D of the law for righteousness of every kind there is to everyone
that believeth. When our Lord said, It is finished,
He said, Redemption is accomplished. What did the angel tell Mary
when she found out she was going to have this baby? Or tell Joseph
when he found out Mary was going to have this baby? He said, Thou
shalt call His name Jesus. Joshua. Call Him. Call this little boy here. Jehovah
who saves! For He shall save His people
from their sins. And now, the Son of God, having
suffered all the horror of God's holy, unmitigated, unrestrained
fury and anger and wrath, the whip of the law having worn itself
out on His back, the bitter cup having been drunk to its last
bitter dregs, the law stored, being swallowed up in His holy
side, the Lord Jesus says, Father, I've redeemed them. I've saved
them. I've put away their sins. I've
finished the transgression. I've made an E.N.D. of sins. I've made reconciliation
for iniquity. And now, O Father, glorify thy
Son with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. And the Father set him at his
own right hand. The Lord Jesus hath him died
in our stead. Three days later rose again,
and forty days later ascended up to heaven. And this is how
God has placed it. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name. that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things under the earth and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus is the Christ to the glory
of God, and that forever. Finished. It's finished. He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. It's finished. He has with His own blood obtained
eternal redemption. It's finished. He has satisfied
all the claims of justice, holiness, and truth, glorifying God in
the totality of His being, and now He shall see of the travail
of His soul and shall be satisfied. It's finished. The debt is paid. Our sins, our sins that were
made to be here, our sins, Our sins He annihilated. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're free. They're all taken away. Justice is satisfied. Righteousness is established,
and God smiles on the sacrifice, and smiles on His Son, and smiles
forever on every sinner who trusts His Son. Brother Don, all that's
well and good, but what is that for me? The Lord Jesus puts it
this way. This is my Father's will. that
the Father giveth me, all he giveth me shall come to me."
Because it's finished. And him that cometh to me, the
word means believe. Him that comes to me, not walking
with his feet down to the front of a church. You don't come to
Christ at a Baptist altar anymore than you come to Christ at a
Roman Catholic confessional booth. That just ain't so. You don't
come to Christ by moving your feet. You don't come to Christ
by saying repeated words. You don't come to Christ by lifting
your hand and saying with a whole crowd of folks, I believe in
Jesus. How do you say that? You come to Him driving a truck
down the middle of the road, can't you? How do you come to
Him? In your heart. You believe Him. Now listen to
what He says. Him that cometh unto me. Brother Don, can I come? If you can, you can. If you can,
you can. But I don't feel. But I haven't. You don't know how black I am.
Listen to me. Listen to me. Come to Christ just like you
are with no improvements, with no preparations, with no qualifications,
with no goodness, with no merit, with no worth. I don't care if
you're persecuting Saul or if you're a harlot. Or if you hire
out harlots by the dozen, or if you're a dope head, or a dope
pusher, or a murderer, or an insurrectionist, without any
improvement at all in yourself, the Son of God says, Him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Not now, not ever,
because it is finished. have made an end of sin for you. God give you grace now to come
to Him. Amen.