Now if you will turn back in
your Bibles to John chapter 19, verse 30, John 19, 30. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, or he cried, It is finished. Now when our
Lord cried, It is finished, from that cross, he was not speaking
of his earthly existence, his earthly life. I don't believe
that when he cried, It is finished, that he was speaking of his cup
of suffering. I don't believe that when he
cried, It is finished, he was speaking only of his agony on
that cruel cross. There's much more in these words
than There's much more in these words in reference to physical
sufferings. Let's take a good, hard look
at these three words. It is finished. Our Lord had
suffered on that tree. He had suffered as no man suffered
before or since, for He suffered alone, deserted by man and deserted
by the Heavenly Father. His face was so marred that he
didn't even look like a man. And when this suffering was over,
when this agony had been exhausted, he cried, it is finished. It
is finished. He meant four things. First of
all, the whole will of the Father was accomplished. the whole will
of the Father regarding His incarnation. The Scripture prophesied back
years and years before our Lord came, a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Behold, the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child.
The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ was the will of the Heavenly
Father, that He should come into this world as our representative,
that He should come into this world as our federal head, that
He should be exposed to shame and sorrow and testings and trials
and temptations, that He should suffer and die for our sins. This was the will of the Father.
He said on many occasions, the words that I speak are not my
but the words of him that sent me. I come to do thy will, O
God, in the book it is written of me. I come to do thy will.
The works that I do, the words that I speak, the will that I
perform, it is the will of the Father. And when Christ cried,
it is finished. The whole of the will and purpose
of the Father in regard to the redemption to the work of redemption
was complete. And then secondly, our Lord cried,
It is finished, and He meant by that the work of redemption
was complete. Turn to the book of Galatians,
chapter 3 and chapter 4. Here are two scriptures that
I want you to read. When our Lord said, It is finished,
He was saying the whole work of redemption is finished. Nothing needs be added to it. It is complete. It is finished,
the whole work of redemption. In Galatians 4, verse 4, when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem. God sent His Son to
redeem. Christ came down here to redeem. He said, I came to seek and to
save the lost. And when he cried, it is finished,
he said the work of redemption was finished. I came to save
them, now they're saved. I came to redeem them, now they're
redeemed. The price is paid. It's all complete. Nothing needs to be added to
it. Christ was born of a woman. He obeyed the perfect law. He
was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He took
our sins in his body on the tree and paid for them. Now, he said,
it's finished. Look at Galatians 3, verse 13,
Christ hath redeemed us. It's not an installment plan.
Christ makes a down payment and you finish it up when you come
along. Christ hath redeemed us. God sent His Son to redeem those
that were born under the law. Christ hath redeemed us, and
when He said, It's finished, the price is paid, the ransom
is complete, redemption's work is done. It's finished. It's finished. And then the third
thing that He meant, and I want you to turn to the book of Hebrews.
Now, anyone who knows anything about the Bible, about the Old
Testament Scriptures, is familiar with the Atonement and the Day
of Atonement. The people were sinful, as we
are. The people were separated from
God by their sins, as we are. Once a year, on a certain month,
on a certain day, the high priest would take a lamb, a lamb without
spot or blemish, the firstling of the flock, and would slay
that lamb and catch the blood in a basin. And then, after having
washed and bathed himself and clothed himself in the spotless
white linen, he would take that blood under the veil in the temple
into the holiest of all, into the Holy of Holies, where God
dwells. and put that blood on the mercy
seat. The word mercy seat is propitiation. The mercy seat covered the law. The tables of stone were in that
ark, the tables of stone given by God to Moses, the law of God,
the holy character of God. The mercy seat covered that law,
and once a year this high priest would take the sacrificial lamb's
blood and put it on that mercy seat. covering the law, and an
atonement would be made for the sins of the people. And we know
something about that atonement, year after year after year after
year after year after year. Every year, the blood shed, the
atonement made, the blood on the mercy seat, the high priest
unto the Holy of Holies. When Christ cried, It is finished,
He is saying that that whole atonement The whole work of atonement
is once and for all complete. No other blood needs to be shed. No other sacrifice needs to be
made. Look at Hebrews 10 and 11 now.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, and they work, which can never take away
sin. These sacrifices can never take
away sin. Turn back to Hebrews 10, verse
4. Listen to this. It is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. So many
people are confused about how the Jews were saved in Old Testament
days. They were not saved by these
sacrifices of animals, by the blood of animals. They were not
saved by the law. They were not saved by their
obedience to the ceremonies. They were not saved because they
were circumcised. All of these things, the priesthood,
the tabernacle, the ark, the mercy seat, the blood sacrifices,
all of these things pointed to Christ, and were types of Christ,
and were symbols of Christ, and were examples of Christ, and
stood in Christ's stead till he came. Look now back at Hebrews
10 and 11, and every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin.
But this man, the man Christ Jesus, the God-man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God. You say, what's the significance
of his sitting down? Well, the Old Testament priest
never sat down. There were seven pieces of furniture
in the tabernacle, but not one chair. No place to sit, because
the work of the priest in the Old Testament days and in that
tabernacle was never complete. It was never finished. He was
always going about his work. His work was never finished.
If he brought a sacrifice today, he'd have to bring one tomorrow.
If he brought an atonement this year, got to bring one next year.
If he burns incense today, he's got to burn it tomorrow. If he
slays a lamb today, he's got to slay one tomorrow, because
his work is never finished. But when Christ, look at it,
this man offered one sacrifice for sins forever, one sacrifice,
one effectual sacrifice, sat down on the right hand of God,
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering, by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." So when
our Lord cried, It is finished, the atonement, the whole work
of the atonement The one sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, the effectual
sacrifice, the one on which you depend, the one to which you
love, the one offered to the Father in your stead and on your
behalf, it was finished. Now the fourth thing that our
Lord meant when he cried, it is finished, look at verse 17
of Hebrews 10, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now under
the ceremonial law, the common people didn't come into the Holy
of Holies. They didn't come into the presence
of God. They were represented by a They
didn't come into the holiest. They didn't come into the holy
of holies. They didn't come into the courtyard of the tabernacle.
They stood on the outside, and they had the priest go into the
presence of God for them. The priest prayed for them. The
priest sacrificed for them. The priest confessed for them.
The priest obtained God's favor for them. They were always represented
by the priest. Now, there was one great high
priest. There were many other priests,
and then there were the people. We still have an high priest.
We have an high priest over the house of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we still go to the Father
through our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. But every
believer now is a priest. We are a royal priesthood. He has made us kings and priests
under our God. And we have now, verse 19, boldness
to enter Not just into the courtyard, bless your heart, not just into
the holy place, but into the holy of holies. Having boldness
to enter into the holiest, where is that? That's God the Father's
presence. Brethren, every one of you, brethren,
We are all brethren in Christ. Call no man father, one is your
father in heaven. Call no man master, one is your
master Jesus Christ. All ye are brethren, and brethren
we have boldness. Who does that fellow think he
is? Our Father who art in heaven. to come into the very presence
of Elohim, Jehovah, the Holy God, into the holiest of all,
and make his petition known. He'd done what God told him to
do, having boldness to come into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he had consecrated for us through
that veil. When he died, that veil was written
plain. And God said, come on, let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. It is finished. It is finished. Now Christ turned back to the
text, John 19. Christ cried, it is finished.
It is finished. And he bowed his head, and he
died. Now, when he died, I that most
of the people left that hill. They left the hill on which he
and the thieves were crucified. It was all over. They came to
see Jesus Christ crucified, and now He was dead. They came to
see Him cruelly treated and mangled and nailed to that cross, and
now He was dead. No more screams No more obscene
threats shouted into his ears. No more spittle upon him. The
victim's dead. No use hanging around here any
longer. The fun's over. His body ceased
to bleed. He was dead. And so they departed. But John stayed there. John stayed there. He didn't
leave. John was there. You remember
Here, back a few verses, when Christ, in verse 26, when Jesus
saw his mother and the disciple standing by
whom he loved, you know who that was, don't you? That was John.
That was John. And John was there. And everybody
began to leave. The victim was dead now. It's
all over. Excitement's over there. No use
standing around to watch a dead man. People are bloodthirsty,
they'll watch you kill a man, but they won't stand around long
after he's dead. And so they began to leave. But
John tarried at the cross, and that's what I want you to do. Now here, verse 31, the first
thing John noted after Christ died was the Jews, the religious
Jews. And when I use the word Jews,
I'm talking about the religious people of that day, for that
was the religion, Judaism. The religious people wanted his
body immediately removed from the cross. Now, you say, well,
what was the ordinary custom? Well, the custom among the Romans,
and this was a Roman tree on which he was nailed, the Roman
custom was to leave the crucified victim on the cross. They crucified
a man, they left him there. They left him there until his
body rotted. They left him there day after
day after day under that burning, burning sun until his body was
rotted and until the buzzards and the vultures came and picked
it to pieces. That was the custom. That was
part of the shame of crucifixion. But these religious people came
running to Pilate and they said, now we want his body taken down
from the tree. We don't want to stay up there."
Pilate said, why? Well, they said, tomorrow's the
Sabbath day. Tomorrow's the Sabbath day. Tomorrow
is a special preparation of the Passover, and we don't want his
body on the tree, on the cross out there, so that it will defile
our day of worship. This is the day when we all appear
before the Lord, and this is the day when we offer the sheaf
of firstfruits, and we don't want Him out there to defile
and corrupt our holy worship day. Oh, how blind is religion! Now, I want you to think of it.
These people had ignored the scriptural promises. They had
ignored the Word of God, promising a Messiah to be born in Bethlehem. to be born of a virgin, whose
disciples would be despised, rejected men, unlearned men.
They had ignored all of the scriptural prophecies that he would be born
of the family of David, and the tribe of Judah, and the family
of Jesse, and all of these things. They had ignored that. They had
rejected the Messiah. Christ said, I am He. I am the
one of whom Moses wrote. He proved beyond a shadow of
doubt, for one of their esteemed leaders, Nicodemus, said, We
know you come from God. We know you come from God. No man could do what you do except
God be with him. And they had crucified him. They
had nailed an innocent man to a crow tree. They had hounded
him to his death. They hired false witnesses to
come and testify against Him. These religious leaders hired
men to lie on Christ. And their hands were dripping
with His blood. They had stood out there and
blasphemed and mocked and made a holiday out of His death and
ate their sandwiches while He died in agony on a cross. And yet, they had to get him
off that cross so he wouldn't defile their worship service,
so that he wouldn't corrupt their worship day. Religious tradition, religious
ceremonies, and religious form, and religious rituals, these
things thrive on dead consciences. These religious traditions and
ceremonies then and now literally thrive on dead consciences and
dead hearts. Some of the most brutal crimes
known to man have been committed in the name of God and in the
name of religion. You want to know where your religious
tradition is held the strongest, and where your religious ceremonies
are obeyed to the letter, and where your religious rituals
and so many steps and your exact words and your exact program,
where these things are carried out to the exact letter, where
the hearts of men are the deadest. That's where they're carried
out. Christ said, you call me Lord with your lips? but your
hearts are far from me." It's man's nature to be all that God
is not, and yet go about his religious rituals and ceremonies
uninterrupted. Take that bloody body down from
the cross and hide it from our sight! We go now worship God. Six days a week our hands are
bathed in blood. Six days a week our hands are
bathed in evil. Six days a week our hands are
bathed in dishonesty. But we fold them ceremoniously
and piously on Sunday. That's our worship day. That's
the day when we come before God. Take Him down. Take him down. We're going to go worship now.
Notice another thing in verse 32. John noted something else after
Christ died. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. Why'd they do that? They took a—here's the way they
did it. They took an iron bar. Here was a man hanging on the
cross, and they'd come take an iron bar, and they'd reach up. These crosses weren't way up
high like most folks think they were. These crosses were—the
bodies were hanging almost on eye level. They weren't way up
in the air like some folks—these pictures, you know, that you
see. But they'd take an iron bar and they'd come to the victim,
there hanging on the cross, and they'd take that iron bar and
they'd literally crush his legs. Now this was performed for two
reasons. One was additional punishment. Additional punishment. An iron
bar would crush the legs of the person crucified, and it caused
such terrible pain and such an awful shock to the system that
it accomplished the second purpose, and that is the victim soon died. And the thief, now here's what
I want you to note in verse 32, the soldiers came and break the
legs of the first thief, and they break the legs of the second
thief. Now the thief who had repented and who had believed on Christ,
and who was to be with Christ in glory that same day, that
man who was a child of God, was not spared this terrible experience. It was a horrible experience,
but yet—and he belonged to the Lord. He was saved. He knew the Lord. God had giving
him eternal life. Christ said, Today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. And yet, just a few hours from
glory, he wasn't spared this horrible experience of having
his legs crushed with the iron bar. Now, we who are God's children,
saved by His grace and saved from eternal misery, and eternal
suffering, and saved from eternal judgment, who will soon, just
a few hours, be in the presence of our Lord. Yet while we're
here on this earth, we're not always delivered from pain and
suffering and sorrow. I've had people say to me, that
person, that man or woman or young person, is a child of Looks
like the Lord would spare them this particular experience through
which they're going, make their road to heaven a little easier,
make the road to heaven a little more comfortable. But here a
child of God who's saved, who knows the Lord, and yet lies
on a sickbed for months in pain and agony, or goes through some
shocking experience, God doesn't spare His children these things.
Just like this thief hanging there. He was God's child. He was redeemed, but He wasn't
spared this experience. They didn't do this to the Lord
Jesus, but they did it to Him. They crushed His legs. Now turn
to John 16. Let me show you something. Verse 33. This is important.
You ought to mark it in your Bible. You ought to read it frequently. John 16, 33. These things. I have spoken unto you, that
in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. In me, peace. In the world, tribulation. In me you have peace, but in
this world you're going to have suffering. But be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world. The thief went to glory that
day. But that day he suffered some horrible experiences, some
terrible experiences. I want to read you one over in
2 Samuel, chapter 18. I want you to turn over here,
2 Samuel, chapter 18. David was a child of God. He
knew the Lord. He was saved. God was his Father. Christ was his Redeemer. And
yet David was not spared many unhappy experiences. He was a
man after God's own heart. He was the leader of Israel.
He was the king of God's people. He was their overseer. And yet
he wasn't spared much agony and suffering on the road to glory.
His son Absalom led a rebellion against his father in the kingdom.
And Absalom was much beloved by David. And then Absalom was
killed. And David said in 2 Samuel 18,
verse 32, look at it, 2 Samuel 18, 32, And the king said to
Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? The rebellion had been
put down. The enemies had been routed. The kingdom had been
restored. What was David's concern? He
worried about Absalom, who had led the rebellion. He said, Is
Absalom all right? And Crucian answered, The enemies
of my lord the king, and all that rise up against thee to
do thee hurt, be as that young man is. May all the enemies of
the king be like he is, dead, dead. And the king, watch it,
was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and
wept. And I won't listen to the pathos. and the agony of these words. And as he went, he said, O my
son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for you. O Absalom, my son. That's grief,
my son. That's grief. This man is a child
of God. This man is a redeemed of Christ
Jesus, and yet he wasn't spared. He wasn't spared the deepest,
deepest, deepest sorrow through which he could possibly go. Oh,
I wish I'd have died instead of you. Now notice the third
thing, verse 32 again. They break the legs of the first
and of the other, but when they came to Jesus, verse 33, and
saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs." Now this is so strange. He was
crucified in the center, and these thieves on either side.
And these soldiers came to the first one and broke his legs,
walked right around the Lord, and broke the legs of the other
thieves. And then they came to Christ, and they didn't break
his legs. Now why? Well, you'll notice
in verse 28, I want you to follow me here, verse 28 said, Jesus
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that is, all
things written in the Scripture. Verse 29, it's not verse 29,
it's verse 28, and then verse 36. For these things were done that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled." All things were accomplished
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 36, These things were done
that the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall
not be broken. Our Lord died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. Now if you'll turn to the book
of Exodus, chapter 12, In Exodus 12, verse 46, there is a description
of the Passover lamb. You remember when God led Israel
out of Egypt and they slew the Passover lamb, put the blood
on the doorpost, and ate the lamb? God said, When I pass over
you and I see the blood, when I see the blood I will pass over
and death shall not come. In Exodus 12, verse 46, it is
said of that lamb, in one house shall it be eaten. Thou shalt
not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house,
neither shalt thou break a bone thereof." Not one bone of that
lamb should be broken. Numbers, in the book of Numbers,
chapter 12. Listen to this. Now this is talking
about the sacrificial lamb. Numbers, chapter 9, verse 12. Now watch this, Numbers 9.12,
"...they shall leave none of it unto the morning," Numbers
9.12, "...nor break any bone of it." Our Lord was born of
David's house, according to the Scripture. He was born of the
Virgin, according to the Scriptures. He was born in Bethlehem, according
to the Scriptures. He was betrayed and sold according
to the scriptures. He was spit upon and his beard
plucked out according to the scriptures. He was nailed to
a cross according to the scriptures. He was the Passover lamb slain
according to the scriptures. He cried, I thirst according
to the scriptures, and not a bone of his body shall be broken according
to the scriptures." And John said, And I saw it, and I know
what I'm talking about. When those cruel soldiers, and
they didn't have a Bible to go by, they weren't out there to
fulfill the will of God. They were out there to do what
they wanted to do. And they came with that iron
bar to the first thief, and they broke his legs. And they went
to the other one, bypassing the Lord Jesus, and broke his legs. And they came to Christ. And for some reason, they didn't
break his legs. But they did something else,
according to the Scriptures. Read on. But one of the soldiers,
one of the soldiers with a spear, pierced his side, drove that
spear up into the side of our Lord, and forthwith came thereout
blood and water. Now then, there has been a great
deal of speculation and even disagreement on the significance
of the blood and the water that flowed from the side of our Lord
when He was pierced. These things I know. Now let
me lay down, and I did a little research on this this week, this
I know. Number one, water and blood came
out of the side of Christ. I know that. That's what the
Bible says. John says in John 19, I saw it! I saw it! And I bear record that you might
believe. John said it was unusual. I heard
somebody say if somebody was dead, their body wouldn't bleed.
You could have poked that spear and it wouldn't bleed. I don't
know. But John, for some reason, said it was unusual. I know that. And thirdly, John says it was
a sign. It meant something. He said in
verse 35, I saw it, and I bear record of it, and I know it's
true that you might believe. And then it's referred to again.
Let's go to 1 John chapter 5. It's referred to again in the
Word of God in 1 John 5. Now stay with me. 1 John 5, verse
6 through 8. 1 John 5, 6 through 8. Now let's look at it. This is
He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water
only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. And there are three that
bear witness in the earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three agree in one. If
we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
This is the witness of God which he testified of his Son. Now then, the earliest writers,
and I'm talking about the men of the first century, Tertullian
and Cyrus and all of these men, way back yonder, I'm talking
about the writers of seventeen, eighteen hundred years ago, the
men who knew the apostles personally. Some of them expressed a different
opinion, different opinions about this water and blood that came
from the side of Christ. One said it expressed the Word
and the Spirit, the Word, the written Word, and the Spirit.
Another said that these are the two baptisms, baptism of blood
and the baptism of water. Another said out of the side
of Christ comes the two ordinances, The Lord's Supper, this is my
blood shed for you, and baptism, the two ordinances given to the
church. The Lord's Supper represented
by the blood that flowed from his side, and baptism represented
by the water that flowed from his side. Another one of those
old writers saw an allusion to the side of Adam from which Eve
was taken, Eve the source of evil. She was taken from the
side of Adam, his side God put him to sleep, and cut his side
and removed a rib and made Eve. The second Adam, Jesus Christ,
was dead, and the soldier pierced his side, and from his side came
the means of salvation. That's beautiful, and he may
have something there, but this is what I believe is signified
right here. This is what I believe. When
our Lord died and was hanging on that cross, and this soldier
came and took that spear and pierced his side, and out of
his side came water and blood, I believe the water and the blood
represent sanctification and justification, both of which
come from Christ. Now, sanctification is always
represented by water, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way." Water represents sanctification, cleansing, purifying, making
holy. And justification is always represented
by blood. We are justified by the blood
of His cross. In other words, the blood of
Christ was shed And by that blood we are redeemed. The water represents
sanctification. Christ is our redemption, and
Christ is our sanctification. And when Augustus Toplady wrote
that old hymn, Rock of Ages, listen to what he said, referring
to the water and blood that came from the side of Christ. Let
the water and the blood explode. Be of sin the double cure. And that's what we must have,
a double cure. Save me from its guilt and from
its power. I not only need to be saved by
Christ from the guilt of sin, legally, justified, but I need
to be saved and bathed and cleansed daily by Christ from the power
of sin. from the ruling power of sin,
I need to be sanctified, I need to be set apart, I need to be
made holy. And from the side of Christ in
that hour came forth the justifying blood and the sanctifying, purifying,
cleansing water that gives me that double cure from its guilt
and from its power. Our Father, bless the word to
our prophet. Thank thee for thy presence.
We feel that the Holy Spirit has spoken, that Christ our Lord
has been exalted, that the eye and mind and heart of our listeners
has been turned to Christ, not to a man, not to an ordinance,
not to a ceremony, not to an organization, but to the living
Lord. Oh, that we might win Christ
and be found in him. In His name we pray, Amen.