It Is Finished

We're going to take the time
today to look at each of these seven sayings, and these seven
sayings will reveal to you and to me the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his redemption of his people. It will reveal to you his office
work, it will reveal to you his person. Now, the first one is
found, and this may not be the order in which they were spoken,
But these are the seven sayings of the Savior on the cross. The
first one is found in Luke 23, verse 34. Our Lord said, when
they nailed him to Calvary's cross, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. Now here you have the mediatorial
office of Christ. Christ in his work as our advocate,
as our mediator. The scripture says there is one
God and one mediator between God and me, the man, Christ Jesus. Sinners need a mediator. When God gave to Israel the law
over at Mount Sinai, we find it recorded in Exodus 20, verses
1 through 19. When God gave the law to Israel
at Mount Sinai, the scripture says the people saw the thundering,
they saw the lightning, they saw the smoke covering the mountain,
They saw the glory of God, and they backed away. And they said
to Moses, Moses, you speak to God for us, and you speak to
us for God, but don't let God speak to us lest we die. My friends, as sinners, guilty,
defiled, depraved sinners, we don't want any direct communication
with God Almighty apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't
want to deal with God apart from your High Priest, Christ Jesus.
You don't want to deal with God apart from your Mediator, Christ
Jesus. You don't want to deal with God
apart from the blood of the cross, the atoning blood, the redeeming
blood, the cleansing blood. For if you came to God in your
flesh as a natural man, you would be utterly consumed, utterly
destroyed. No man can look on God and live
because of God's holiness. and because of our guilt and
our sin. And here we have Christ between the Father and the sinner,
between the sinner and the Father, Christ the Mediator. What does
he plead? He doesn't plead our works, he
pleads his works. He doesn't plead our righteousness,
he pleads his righteousness. He doesn't plead our goodness,
he pleads his goodness. He represents us to the Father.
And when he goes to the Father, he says, by these stripes they
are healed. Through my blood they are cleansed. Christ is our mediator. So when
we pray, we pray in Christ's name. We pray for Christ's sake. We pray because Jesus Christ
has opened for us into the presence of God by a new and living way
through the veil that is to take its place. And we can now come
boldly into the presence of the Father through Christ the Son. He said, if you ask anything
in my name, it shall be done. Now, one time I asked a man this.
I said, why do you pray to the Virgin Mary? That's a good question,
isn't it? I'll tell you why I pray through
Christ. I pray to the Father. Now, when
the Lord was teaching the disciples to pray, they said, Lord, teach
us how to pray. He said, all right. When you
pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven. That's how you pray,
you address the Father. and you address the Father in
Christ's name. And we pray through Christ unto
the Father because he is our mediator. He is our lawyer. He pleads our case. He is our
advocate. He's our representative. And
he goes to the Father for us. And the Father receives us because
of Christ. We're accepted in the Beloved.
That's how we're accepted of God and the Father. Because Christ
was wounded for our transgressions and bodes for our iniquities
and the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, and by his
stripes we are healed." So we pray through Christ. I can answer
you that question. All right, let me ask you this.
Why do you pray to Mary? Well, a man replied. He said,
I'll tell you why. He said, if you want to get to
a fellow, get to his mother. Now, his mother is closer to
him. His mother means more to him. His mother, of course, he's
her son, and And she's his mother, and you remember down in Cana
of Galilee when those fellows gave out a wine at the marriage
feast? Well, they didn't come right to Jesus Christ, they came
to his mother. And his mother came to him, and
he did what she asked him to do. Therefore, we go to Mary
because she can get to Christ easier than we can. Let me give
you an illustration. Our lad was in a building preaching
one time. There was a crowd of people there,
just packed out. The building was full of people.
They were standing in the doors, they were standing in the windows,
they were standing around outside everywhere. And he was up preaching.
And someone came to him and they said, your mother is outside
and she wants to talk to you. Your mother, your brothers and
your sisters are outside and they want to talk to you. You
know what Christ said? He didn't say stop the meeting,
hold the meeting, everybody go home, my mother wants to talk
to me. He looked at the crowd and he said, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? Who are
my sisters? Who is my mother? These who do
the will of God, the same are my mother, my brothers, and my
sisters. Now Jesus Christ the Lord is
the one mediator. That's what the word of God declares.
There is one mediator between God and men. And that's the man
Christ Jesus. And here in Luke 23, verse 34,
you have Christ revealed from the cross in his office as Mediator. Father, forgive them. Father,
forgive them. On the basis of my merit, on
the basis of my righteousness, on the basis of my blood, Father,
forgive them. Now the second statement, there
are seven statements from the cross, the second one is revealed
to us in Luke 23, verse 43. There were two thieves crucified
with the Master, and both of them, according to the scripture,
reviled him and mocked him and ridiculed him, both of them.
But suddenly one of them stopped mocking the Master, he stopped
ridiculing the Redeemer, and he looked at him and said, looked
at the other thief and said, don't you fear God? seeing we're
in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
amiss. And then turning to Christ, this thief said, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You're a Lord, you're
a King, you have a kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
You may die on this cross, and they may bury your body, but
you're not going to stay dead. This man believed he was a sinner.
This man believed that Jesus Christ was Lord. This man believed
that Jesus Christ was coming into a kingdom. And this man
asked for mercy. He said, Lord, like the publican
in the temple prayed, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And here we have Christ,
the King, the Sovereign King, answering this thief and saying,
Today shalt thou be with me. Now, my friends, Jesus Christ,
who died on Calvary's cross, Jesus Christ who was born in
Bethlehem's manger, Jesus Christ who walked the shores of Galilee
and the straits of Jerusalem and the plains of Judea, Jesus
Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is sovereign in
creation. The scripture says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and all things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him. The Word became 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. Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. He is Lord of lords, and he is
King of kings, and he is sovereign in creation. and he's sovereign
in providence. What do you mean by that, preacher?
I mean God worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. God works all things in heaven, earth, and hell as it
pleases him. He is a sovereign king, and he
reigns on the throne of providence. Can I not do with my own what
I will? I am the Lord. None can stay
my hand or say unto me, What doest thou? Jesus Christ is Lord
of creation and Lord of providence. and he's Lord of salvation. If
you are saved, if you are redeemed, if you are taken to glory when
you die, it'll be because Jesus Christ saved you. Not because
you helped him, or you aided him, or you assisted him, or
you saved yourself. He did it. God Almighty in the
person of Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. And you and
I are as helpless as Jonah in the belly of the fish. He said,
those sea weeds closed about my head, darkness surrounded
me, the iron bars were there forever, and I cried out unto
the Lord, salvation is of the Lord. And that's true, salvation
is of the Lord. And here Jesus Christ is with
the keys of hell and the keys of death and the keys of the
kingdom and the keys of glory and the keys of heaven, opening
that door to this pleading sinner. to this repentant thief, to this
dying believer, he's the sovereign Lord, and he saves sinners by
his power. Now, the third statement from
the cross is found in John 19, verse 26 and 27. Our Lord is
hanging on that cross and he looks down and he sees Mary,
his mother, standing down below the cross. Now, Christ had a
human He did not have a human father. Mulder was his mother. She was an unmarried virgin.
And God came to her, sent the angel to her, and said, You shall
have a child. And she said, How can that be?
I know not a man. And he said, That whole thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The
power of the Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power
of God shall overshadow you, and you'll burn forth a sun.
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The government shall
be upon his shoulder." He's the Redeemer of Israel. He's the
Messiah. He's that prophet. He's the Christ.
And then God sent an angel to Joseph, who was engaged to Mary,
but they were not yet married. And he said, now don't be afraid
to take Mary to be your wife. She's with child, but that child
is of the Holy Ghost. Now, it's necessary that Christ
be virgin-born, or he could not be our Redeemer. If he had been
born by an earthly father, sired or begotten by an earthly father,
he would be a partaker of Adam's sins. All who came from Adam
are partakers of Adam's sins. All who come from Adam's loins
come forth with sin not only imputed, but imparted to them. But Christ was born, not the
seed of man, but the seed of woman. He was born of a virgin,
and therefore born pure from Adam's transgression, pure from
Adam's sin. He was born of a virgin. Christ took on himself the likeness
of sinful flesh. He came into this world in the
fulness of time. God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, subject to all the laws of God,
the laws of the home, the laws of the nation, the laws of religion,
and the moral laws of God. And Christ was born as a helpless
infant, just like you. He was a child, an infant, held
in a mother's arms, nourished on a mother's breast, grew up
from childhood into young manhood, and then went out and preached.
He was tempted in all points, as we are, yet without sin. He
was a man. He is God Now what's this? He sees Mary, his mother, down
there, and standing by John, the disciple whom he loved. And
he said to Mary, Woman, behold your son, son, behold your mother. In other words, John, you take
her into your home and take care of her. Now what's he doing here?
Jesus Christ the Lord, as a man, like you and me, had earthly
responsibilities. He had a responsibility to his
mother. He had a responsibility to his
parents. Evidently his father was dead.
And so it was his position as the son of Mary, the oldest son,
to provide for her well-being, to provide for her being taken
care of after his death, to fulfill God's law. And Jesus Christ provided
for his household. Truly man, truly God. And here we have in this statement,
Woman, behold your son. son to hold your mother, we have
the true manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have him speaking
to the thief as the king, as the king of the universe, as
the Lord of Lords. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. And then we have him turning
truly as man, a human being, God in the flesh, the God man.
Woman, go live with John. John, you take care of her all
the rest of your life. And then in Mark 15, we have
our Lord Jesus Christ crying out. The scripture says he cried
out. Darkness covered the whole land,
3 o'clock and from 12 noon to 3 in the afternoon. And we have
Christ crying out in Mark 15.34, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Now, my friends, this is Christ
the sin offering. We've seen Christ the Mediator
praying for his people. We've seen Christ the King saving
a sinner, taking him to glory. We see Christ the man providing
for his mother, his family, his earthly responsibilities, even
on a cross. And here we see Christ the sin
offering. When he walked down to the River
Jordan that day and John saw him, John said, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John saw three
and a half years later, Christ on the cross. John beheld him
in a vision, in a revelation from the Father, Christ somehow
as God's Lamb to bear away our sins, as the scapegoat to bear
away our transgressions in his body on the tree. And here, as
he was hanging between heaven and earth on that cruel tree,
bearing our sins in his body. Now, Jesus Christ had no sins
of his own. but he was the greatest sinner
who ever lived. Now, if you're not careful, you're
going to miss what I'm saying. Jesus Christ was the greatest
sinner who ever lived. You say, Preacher, I thought
he was perfect. He was, but he bore my sins and your sins and
the sins of every believer, of every tribe, nation, kindred,
tongue, of every generation, of every year, from Adam's transgression
to the last one. At that hour, in that moment,
he who knew no sin was made sin. a conglomeration of all the evil
words, evil thoughts, evil deeds, the murders, the killings, the
rapes, the hatred, the jealousy, the envy, the lies, the gossip,
the slander, the scandal, all of the sins of all believers
at that moment were laid on Christ. He became sin. He was wounded
for our transgressions. And when this The holy, spotless,
immutable, immaculate Heavenly Father turned his back because
God cannot look upon sin. Now the Apostle Creed says this,
we believe that Christ died and was buried and went to hell for
us. Well now, Christ didn't go to
Gehenna, to the lake of fire, that's not possible. Hell is
separation from God. God can't be in hell. Hell is
darkness and God's light. Hell is hate and God's love.
Hell is sin and God's holiness. But that is saying, and there's
an element of truth in it, Christ endured our hell in that moment. For hell is to be separated from
God. And when Christ became sin, was
made sin for us, actually all of the sins of all believers
were heaped in one pound. with the wrath of God descending
on it, and the wrath of God's justice descending on it. On
whom? Is it any wonder that he cried,
Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me? Is it
any wonder that he said, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even
unto death? He knew what was ahead. He knew
that awful, agonizing moment of horror when he would be separated
from his Father, and that's the only time he ever cried out.
The only time, from the time of his birth to the time of his
death, he never cried out. He never lifted his voice. Isaiah
53 tells us that. He never lifted his voice nor
cried out. But one time, and that was when
he was bearing our hail, that's when the Father turned his back
and Christ said, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? But that's
what hail will be, my friend. Preachers can go around talking
about literal fire and hail all they want to. But it's hell enough
to be separated from God. Darkness, hate, evil, sin. And then the fourth saying, the
fifth saying from the cross is found in John 19 verse 28. Our Lord said, I thirst. I thirst. Now here we have Christ the sufferer. Christ the sufferer bearing the
consequences of human sin. When Adam and Eve lived in the
garden, there was no hunger. There was no thirst, there was
no burning fever, there was no pain, there was no shedding of
blood, there was no death, no disease, none of these things.
But when sin came into this world, God says over here in Genesis
chapter 3, when sin came, he said to Adam, he said, Cursing
will be the earth because of you, because of your sin. Thorns and thistles shall the
earth bring forth. in the sweat of your face, you
shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it
you were taken, and unto dust shalt thou return." Yes, our
Lord Jesus Christ in that hour on the cross was suffering because
of Adam's sin, thirsting. His tongue was cleaving to the
roof of his mouth, his lips were parched and broken open, a burning his brow, and our Lord cried
out in that agonizing hour, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, that the
scripture might be fulfilled. Well, I'll tell you this, when
sin shall be no more, suffering shall be no more. When sin is
finally put away, the last enemy to be destroyed will be death,
and when death is destroyed, that's the end of sin, that's
the end of being no more suffering. But here you have Christ the
sufferer. He suffered, and no man has ever
suffered or ever shall suffer. And he suffered that we might
not suffer. And then the next saying, the
sixth saying, is found in Luke 23, verse 46. This is Christ
the victor. Christ the conqueror. He cried
out, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Here the conqueror
returns home from the battle. with the conqueror's spalls.
The scripture says he led captivity captive. What's that talking
about? That means he conquered Satan, defeated Satan, and Satan
became his captive. Our Lord took us with him also,
and seated us with him at the right hand of the Heavenly Father.
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. The King is coming
home. He came down here on an errand. He came down here to
accomplish a work. He came down here to fight a
battle. He came down here to conquer an enemy. And he came
down here and got the job done. And when he finished that work,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And the
angels cry, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted
up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come
in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Here we have Christ the Conqueror
going back home to the Father. And then the last statement,
and I want to spend a few minutes on this, is found in John 19,
verse 30. And that's the text I read just
a few moments ago. And it said in John 19, 30, when
Christ received the vinegar, he cried, it is finished, and
gave up the ghost. Now, what is finished? Our Lord
said it's finished. What was finished? Well, first
of all, the glorious work of redemption was complete. the
work which he began in eternity. You know when Christ began his
work of redeeming his people? When did he begin this work?
What did he say when he announced his ministry, when he began to
preach and cry, repent for the kingdom of heaven? Before that.
Well, when he was born in Bethlehem's manger, before that. Christ began
his work of redemption before the foundations of the world.
That's right, that's what the Word of God says. The Word of
God says he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The scripture says that his blood is the blood of an eternal covenant.
He is the surety of an everlasting covenant, the work which he undertook
in eternity. For we were chosen in him, we
were loved in him, We were regarded in him, and that work which he
began in eternity, see the importance of this statement, it's finished.
That work which he began in eternity, which he undertook in Bethlehem's
manger when he took human flesh, all of the types and sacrifices
and ceremonies of the Old Testament according to the cross, that
work which he performed in living obedience, day by day, walking
on this earth, tempted in all points as we are, yet without
sin. That work which he died on Calvary to perform, that is
the work of redemption. Lamb of God, thy death hath given
pardon, peace, and hope of heaven. It is finished. Let us raise
shouts of thanksgiving and shouts of praise. Now let me ask this
question. What was finished? His redemptive work, which he
began in eternity, which he continued on earth, which he perfected
on Calvary. But to whom was he speaking?
speaking to the Father. Now I know he was speaking to
all who are concerned with this. His voice could be heard in heaven,
earth, and hell. It's finished! Redemption is
finished! No more sacrifices need to be
offered. By one offering he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. But you know to whom he was speaking?
The Heavenly Father. For just before that he said
this, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. And on
Calvary's cross, when that redemptive work was complete, Christ cried,
It is finished. Now let me tell you something,
my friend. Christ came into this world that
the Father might be just and justifier of the ungodly. Christ
Jesus came into this world to obey God's law and to satisfy
God's justice. He didn't buy us from Satan.
Satan didn't own us. Satan's bankrupt. He doesn't
own anything. Jesus Christ bought us from the
broken law. He redeemed us from the justice
of God. We were prisoners of God's broken
law. We were prisoners of the justice
of God. And he satisfied all of this
on our behalf. And he cried, it is finished. The work of redemption is finished.
My righteousness is complete. Finished. Not a sin remains.
Finished. Not another payment due. Finished. The penalty of sin is gone. Finish! The curse of sin is removed.
Finish! Satan's power and sin's power
is broken. It is finished. If you'd like
to have these messages on tapes, cassette tapes, and other messages
which I have preached in the past, if you'll write to me,
I'll send you one of our tape lists. I'll be glad to hear from
you. Until next Sunday, at this same time, Henry Mahan bidding
you a very pleasant, good day.

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