At Todd's Road Grace Church,
we'd like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In John chapter 19, verse 30,
we read, when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, it is finished. Now, those are his words from
the cross. It is finished. What was finished? What did the
Lord mean when he said it is finished? Now, the Lord made
seven statements from the cross, all of which are so precious. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. That gives us the Lord's purpose
in going to the cross, to forgive his people from their sins. He said to his mother, woman,
behold thy son. That reminds us of the real humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his concern for his mother after
the flesh. And then he said, I thirst. And there was no thirst like
his thirst. This lets us know something of
his sufferings on the cross. And he said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken by his father
because he bore the sins of his people as their substitute. That lets us know something about
his substitutionary death on the cross, being forsaken by
his father. And then he said to the thief,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That lets us know of
His kingly authority. And then He said, Father, into
Thy hands I commend my spirit. That demonstrates to us His complete
faith in His Father. He never quit believing. He said,
though He slay me, Yet will I trust him, and he entrusted himself
completely to his father." And then we have these precious words,
it is finished. Now his first words, I must be
about my father's business. He made that statement when he
was 12 years old. And here are his last words.
It is finished. My father's business has been
finished. Now, this word, it is finished,
is one word in the Greek spoken of in the perfect tense. That means it is a work perfectly
completed. never to be repeated. It is finished. Now this cry from the cross,
it is finished, lets us know that whatever his intentions
were in going to the cross, he did what he intended to do. It's finished. It is done. He said in Luke chapter four,
verse, I mean, John chapter four, verse 34, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and finish his work. That was said early in his ministry,
my meat, that which I live for, that which I feed on, my food,
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work."
And we know from his own testimony what his father's will was for
him to do. He said in John 6, verses 38
and 39, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me."
Now don't miss that. What did he say? This is the
will of Him that sent me, that of all which He hath given me. Who are they? Those the Father
gave Him before the foundation of the world. This is the will
of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. Now, he finished what the Father
gave him to do perfectly. When he said it is finished,
The salvation of everyone that he represented was accomplished. Somebody says to me, when were
you saved? And they're looking for a date.
My reply, when he said, it is finished. That's when I was saved,
when he said, it is finished. finished. Now he came to glorify
his Father. He said in John chapter 17 verse
4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work
that thou gavest me to do. the work of saving his people
from their sins. He came to fulfill the law. Not
only did he come to glorify his Father, he came to fulfill the
law. He said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law and
the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to
fulfill. He fulfilled the entire Old Testament. He fulfilled every type. He fulfilled
every sacrifice. He fulfilled every ceremony.
They were all given to point to him, he said with regard to
the scriptures, they are they which testify of me, every single
one of them. And he is the fulfillment of
every single scripture. And I love the way he said to
John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He completely fulfilled and finished
all righteousness. He kept God's law perfectly. The very first chapter in the
New Testament, Matthew 1, verse 21, the angel said to Joseph,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's exactly what he did.
When he said it is finished, his people were completely saved
from their sins. What makes you think you're saved?
Somebody says. Well, let me answer that because
he said it is finished. That's what makes me think I'm
saved. It is finished. He said in Luke chapter 12, I
have a baptism to be baptized with. And he had already gone
through water baptism, but he was to be immersed under the
wrath of God on the Calvary's tree, submerged, completely drowned
in the wrath of God. and he was going to emerge from
the wrath of God in the resurrection. Now, with regard to what he did
when he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how straightened
I am till it be accomplished, when he said it is finished,
it was accomplished. It said of him in Hebrews 1.3,
when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high." Now, notice the language.
He, by himself, purged our sins. There was no participation from
me. There was no participation from
you. He did this by himself. You added
nothing, I added nothing. He did this by himself and then
the scripture says he sat down. Now why did he sit down? Because his work was finished. There was nothing left for him
to do. He sat down having finished the
work. Now here's something that is
just Well, to be believed but not understood. Hebrews 4, verse
3 says, "...all the works were finished from the foundation
of the world." Before there was a creation, all the works were
finished, were completed. Before time ever began, Christ
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and he's also the
lamb raised from the foundation of the world, and it's been finished
from the foundation of the world. That's how complete his eternal
salvation is. It is finished. Now, the message of false religion
is due. There's something you need to
do to complete what he did. There's not a message of it's
done, it's finished, it's completed, but do, do. You need to accept
Him as your personal Savior, as an act of your free will,
in order for what He did to be effective for you. You have to
do something to make it finished. And then there are those who
say you need to do something in order to make yourself more
pleasing to God by what you do, by your works, by your prayer,
by your Bible reading, by your putting down the flesh, by your
resistance of sin. You can become more holy and
less sinful by what you do. And some even Look at the end
of salvation and say, your position in glory will be determined by
what you have done. If you've been extra good and
extra committed and done what you should, you'll have a bigger
place in glory than someone who was not committed, as committed
to you. In other words, it's your works
that will determine your position in glory. Do, do, do. In the beginning, in the middle,
in the end, do. That's a false message. It's
done. It is finished. Now it is impossible to understand
what it is to rest in Christ if I don't understand that He
completely finished the work. Now there are 12 words in the
King James Version of this one word, it is finished, that are
used to translate this one word, 12 different words. I love the
King James Version. That's the version I preach from.
I believe it to be the best translation in English that's available.
There are other translations and I don't believe them to be
as good as the King James Version. And let me tell you why. If you
look at the King James Version, whenever you see a word in italics,
Do you know it wasn't in the original? The translators are
letting us know it wasn't in the original. And they're trying
to make it make sense, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't,
but they are at least on enough to let you know this was not
in the original, this is our attempt at translation. No other
version does that. That's why I love the King James
Version. I believe it to be the best version. Do I believe that
the King James Version is inspired? No, I believe the original language
is inspired. but the King James Version, I
believe, to be the best translation. And in the King James Version,
there are 12 different words that are used to translate this
one word, it is finished. I would like to give them to
you, and I think that it'll give us some idea as to what the Lord
meant when he said, it is finished. The first word is accomplished. It is accomplished. As a matter of fact, in our text,
it's translated in verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that
all things were now accomplished. Same words. All things are now
accomplished. I love it in Luke chapter nine,
verse 31, where Moses and Elijah spake of the decease which he
should accomplish. Now, I've already quoted this
verse, Matthew 121, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. Mission accomplished. The Son
of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Mission
accomplished. He sought and He saved. He found and He saved that which
was lost. 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Mission accomplished. He saved
everybody that He died for. My dear friends, Christ wasn't
making salvation a possibility or potential if you just do your
part. No, it is finished. He actually saved. Now, the second
word is the word continual. Luke 18, verse 5, "...lest by
her continual coming she weary me." Continual. What that means
is the message is always in effect. Continually, at all times, throughout
eternity, there is no intermission. Always, it is finished. Well, what if his people sin?
It's finished. That doesn't change that. What
if they sin greatly? It's finished. What if they sin
and fall like Peter? It's finished. What if they sin
like David? It's finished. Or what if they
stray like Solomon? It is finished. You see, this
message is in continual effect, and there's nothing that anybody
can do to take away from that. It is finished. And then in Revelation 20, verse
7, the word is translated, expired. What happens after he made this
cry? The veil in the temple was rent
in two to let us know the Old Testament economy has expired. It's done away with. That veil
was rent as soon as he said it is finished to let us know the
whole Old Testament economy is over. He has fulfilled everything
in it. Finished. No longer valid. And then the word is translated
several times, the end. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. Now, when a book closes, what
are the last words? The end. That means the story's
over. Not to be continued, but the
end. The story is over. Christ, according to Daniel 9,
verse 24, made an end of sin. The end. Now, because of that,
every single believer has a new history. My history is one without
sin. I'm justified by what He did. When it said the end, every moment
of my life is perfect without sin. He made an end of sins. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. And the word is translated
in Revelation 15, one, filled, filled. Now, when a glass is
filled to the brim and it actually has the tension on the water
that makes it almost come over the top. And if you added one
more drop, It couldn't be added to it. It's totally filled. That
is the work of Christ. His salvation is completely filled. Nothing can be added to it. That's
how saved I am. Colossians 2, verse 10 says,
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete. You are filled. You can't get
any more saved. When He said it is finished,
if you're one of His, you can't get any more saved. You can't
get any more accepted. You can't get any more loved.
You can't become any more holy. You are complete. in him because
he said it is finished. Nothing can be added perfectly,
perpetually, successfully filled in him. Never lacking a thing. And then in 1 Peter 3, verse
8, Peter uses the word finally. Finally. It is final. Now, I have had a recurring dream,
probably had this dream 500 times, more than that, if anything.
And in this dream, I dream that it's finals week. And there is
a class that I'm totally unprepared for. I had forgotten about it. I just pushed it back in my mind.
And now it's going to prevent me from graduating because I
have not been ready for that final exam. And I know there's
no way I can pass it. I don't know anything about it.
I'm going to fail. Now that's what's called a stress
dream. I've had that dream so many times. And I am so relieved
Every time I wake up, because I realize I've already graduated.
That was just a dream. I have already graduated. I passed my final exam 100%. Now that's what it is. Finished
means it is final. And then in our text, John 19,
30, I just love the plain old, it's finished. There's absolutely
nothing left that needs to be done. As I said, human religion
always gives you something to do. The gospel says, it's done. It is finished. There's nothing
you need to do. Nothing you can add to the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply rest. And then the word
is translated fulfilled. It is fulfilled. The scriptures
are fulfilled. Every one of them are fulfilled
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice fulfilled. Every ceremony fulfilled. He's the fulfillment. He said, with regard to the year
of Jubilee, I love this, in Luke chapter four, and if you know
what the year of Jubilee is, it's spoken of in Leviticus chapter
25, I can't remember what chapter it is, but at any rate, in the
year of Jubilee, when that silver trumpet sounded, if you were
in debt, your debt was erased. Whatever you lost was restored
to you. If you are a slave, you are set
free. And the year was given, or the
land was given a year's rest. No crops, no work. Let the land rest. And that was
supposed to happen every 50 years, the year of Jubilee. And do you
know we don't have any record of it ever taking place? And
I can understand that the people who thought they would lose by
it, the people who had money owed to them, the people, they
don't want to see that happen. And I can understand why they
prevented it from happening. It was wrong, but they prevented
it. But you want, the Lord said with regard to the year of Jubilee
this day. Is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears? The year of jubilee is fulfilled
by it is finished. Every debt of sin canceled. What we lost was restored, set
free, given permanent rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
fulfilled. And then Matthew 10, 23 says,
go. go. This word finish is go. Now what does that mean? Go. The light has switched from being
red to green. There's nothing to hold me back
My sin is no prevention. My inability is no prevention. Nothing is holding me back. Come
and welcome to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is finished. Come
and welcome. Come to Christ just as you are. Do not linger. Do not wait for
something to happen. Do not do something, go. Just
as I am, without one plea, but the shed blood of Calvary, and
that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. And then the word is translated
paid. The debt has been paid, paid
in full. You owe nothing. We don't sing, Jesus paid a half,
the other half I owe. We sing, Jesus paid it all, all
the dead I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. And then the word is translated,
performed. It is performed. Luke 2, verse
39, it's performed. Now, we stress over performance
in our marriage, as parents, in our jobs, in just about everything. We want to perform well, and
our performance never measures up. My performance in anything
never measures up. always lacking. But here, His
words, it is performed, a perfect performance. And then finally,
in I Thessalonians 2.16, this word is translated uttermost.
It is uttermost. It can't be anything added to
uttermost. You can't become any more saved.
You can't become any more holy. You can't become any more righteous.
You can't become any more successful. Hebrews 7.25 says, wherefore
he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession. It is finished. It's accomplished. It's continual.
It's expired. It is ended. It's filled up. It's final. It's fulfilled. It's go. It's paid. It's performed. It's uttermost. It is finished. Do you hear those words? Sinner. I'm addressing you as a sinner
and I'm addressing myself as a sinner. Sinner. There's nothing
for you to do. It's already been done. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because He has said, it is finished. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. The only fitness He requires
is to have a need of Him. Now this one thing I have, I
desperately need Him. And for everybody who needs Him,
it is finished. I trust this has been a blessing.
May God bless you. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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