If you'd like to turn back with
me in your Bibles to John chapter 19. We're looking this morning at the last
words, the last words of the Lord Jesus Christ before he commended
his spirit unto the Father. In verse 30, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Have you ever thought about what
your last words may be? We're all going to speak them
one of these days. Our last words in this world
I think about David, the scripture says, this be the last words
of David, King David. Though my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation. I think
about Paul, though we're not told these were his last words,
but he said, I fought a good fight. I've finished my course,
I've kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge shall
give unto me in that day. And not to me only, but unto
all them that love the appearing of Jesus Christ. But there's
no words of any man, and I've read over the years many of the
last words of the martyrs when they were tied to the stake and
the fire was being lighted, that would burn their bodies to death,
their last words. And many of them are so moving,
so inspiring. But there's no words like these,
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is finished. Not only have
I thought this past week about what might be my last words,
But I've thought about what it must have meant to the Lord Jesus
Christ to say these words, it is finished. What it must have
meant to him to be able to say these words in truth, knowing
that he had finished, completed everything that he came into
this world to do. But then one of the main thoughts
I had, and this is the topic or the subject of the message
this morning, the Lord always finishes what
He begins. That's my main thought. The Lord always, always finishes
what He begins. I have four divisions to the
message. First, I thought of the contrast
between the Lord and men in this matter. Men begin many things
which they do not finish, but the Lord always finishes what
he begins. And I thought of several reasons.
There's many, but let me just give us these four reasons as
to why Men sometimes start something, but they don't finish it. First,
lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge may cause men
to not finish what they began. He begins something that makes
a lot of sense to him. His plans are made and in his
mind or on paper, they look so well, they look so good, but
as he begins to build, he realizes I was mistaken. I was mistaken. And I thought about the Panama
Canal. That was a big project, wasn't
it? The French had built the Suez
Canal, if my memory serves me right. And they had been successful
in building that canal, which has served for so many years. And so they got the right to
build the Panama Canal. But they realized after they
started building that their plans were not going to work. What
they had thought, and I assume it must have been somewhat like
the Suez Canal, it would not work in joining the two oceans,
the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. So they had to quit. They had to give up. And that's
how our country came on the scene and was able, by changing the
plans, to accomplish that great work. But it was lack of knowledge. It was lack of knowledge on their
part. They couldn't finish what they began. But that can never
be true of the Lord who has all knowledge. In fact, the scripture
says, known unto God are all his works from the beginning
of the world. God never learns anything. And
when he asked a question, as he does sometimes of men, it's
never for information. It's never for information. When
God asked a question, he asked men questions so men might think
and consider their ways. Like when he asked Adam, Adam,
where art thou? God knew where he was. Do you realize where you are?
Now estranged from your maker, hiding from God. Another reason
that comes to my mind, lack of funds may cause a man not to
finish what he begins. But that can never be true of
the Lord who owns all things. He is the creator of all things. And I thought about what the
Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians. In encouraging you and I, all
believers, to prayer. Encouraging us to pray. He said,
now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, now
listen, above all that we ask or think, he's able to do above. As great as our requests may
be, God's able to do more. All the cattle on a thousand
hills, they're all His. All the silver and the gold in
this world, they're all His because this world is His. He created
it. He rules it. It's His world and
everything in it. Men sometimes start a project
and they run out of money. They can't finish what they start. That will never and is never
true of the Lord. And then I thought about third,
lack of power may cause a man not to finish what he begins.
He may find out the project's just too big, too big for him. He doesn't have the power to
finish it. But that can never be true of the Lord who is all
powerful. Remember he asked this question
to a woman who was 90 years of age. None of us in here are that
old. She was 90 years old and she
had heard the Lord tell her husband about this time next year, your
wife is going to bring forth a son. And she laughed. She was behind the curtain door.
She overheard the conversation, the word, and she laughed and
she laughed in unbelief. And the angel of the Lord asked
her this question, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything,
is anything too hard for the Lord? And you know the answer,
absolutely not. So it cannot be lack of power.
We may begin something and not able to finish it because we
just don't have the power to do it. And then fourthly, opposition
may cause a man not to finish what he begins. Others may oppose
the person and he just has to shut it down. He starts something
and others oppose him in his work and he just has to give
up. He just has to shut the job down.
But that can never be true of the Lord, whose purpose, whose
purpose cannot be shut down by anyone. And God works all things
according to his purpose. Both in the prophecy of Isaiah
and the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Lord declares this. In Isaiah,
he said, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it, I will also do it. And in Jeremiah, I have
spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent. I will not
change my mind, in other words. Neither will I turn back from
it. And I know there's many other
reasons, many other things we could name this morning, But
none of them can be true of the Lord, none of them. The Lord
always finishes what he begins. And as I was thinking about this,
I thought about some examples I might give us this morning,
and examples from the Old Testament. Go back with me to Genesis, the
first book in the Bible and the first chapter in the book. God always finishes what he begins. In Genesis chapter one, in verse
one, he began the work of creation in the beginning. God created
the heaven and the earth. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. God divided
the light from the darkness, and God called the light day,
and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning
were the first day. He began his work of creation,
and he finished his work of creation. No one could hinder him, no one
could stop him. He purposed to create, and he
created all things. You look down to the last verse
of Genesis chapter one, verse 31. And God saw, on the sixth day, He finished
His work of creation. God could have created everything
in the first second of the first day, but He chose to create over
six days. He started the work on the first
day, And nothing could hinder him, nothing could stop him.
And on the sixth day he had finished his work and God saw everything
that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. The Lord always finishes what
he begins. Look in chapter six of Genesis. Chapter 6, verse 13, we read,
And God said unto Noah, The end, the end of all flesh is come
before me. For the earth is filled with
violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them
with the earth. That's his purpose declared.
He would destroy all flesh, all living creatures outside the
ark. And so he begins that work. Look
in chapter seven. And I know I'm not telling you
anything that you do not know, but I'm reminding us, and I'm
showing us by examples in the word of God, that God always
finishes everything he begins. In chapter 7, now he said that
in chapter 6, that the end of all flesh had come. In chapter
7, verse 16, and they that went in, that is the animals, went
in, male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and
the Lord shut him, that is Noah, shut him, his three sons, and
their wives in the ark. Now notice, it began to rain. When he went into the ark, it
rained 40 days. God had begun his work, the work
of destruction. And they are being destroyed
because of their sinfulness, because of their wickedness,
because of man's evil. Look down further in that chapter,
verse 23. And every living substance was
destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man
and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven. And
they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained
alive and they that were with him in the ark. The Lord finished
what he began. He began the destruction of all
flesh because of man's evil. And he finished that work. Look
with me in the next book, Exodus chapter three. This will be the
last example I'll give us from the Old Testament, but in Exodus
chapter three, we've all heard of Moses. At the burning bush,
the bush that burned but was not consumed, the Lord appeared
unto him. Chapter three of Exodus, verses
seven and eight. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk
and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and
the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
God said, I've come down to deliver them. Well, looking over in Exodus
chapter 12, And this is after 10 miracles. We all know the
story of God delivering Israel out of Egypt after 10 miracles. And listen, after the death of
the firstborn in every house where the blood was not sprinkled
upon the doorpost. After all of that, the destruction
of Egypt. Chapter 12 and verse 41. It came to pass at the end of
430 years, even the self same day it came to pass. That was
430 years from the time that God told Abraham what was going
to take place. Several generations, the generation
of Isaac and the generation of Jacob and his sons and all of
that transpired. God had begun his work. He came
down to deliver his people. And it came to pass at the end
of the 430 years, even the selfsame day, it came to pass that all,
not one, was left behind. Not one was left behind. Aren't
you thankful that when the Lord came to save his people, and
he did, that's the reason he came into this world, There's
not one who will be left behind. There's not one who's not going
to be taken into glory with him. What a number of examples we
could go on giving it through the Old Testament and also in
the New Testament, which show us the Lord always finishing
what he begins. But thirdly, I thought about
the consolation that these three words that the Lord spoke gives
to guilty sinners. It is finished. Now he spoke
these words in anticipation of his death, which he would accomplish
because our text tells us He said, it is finished, and he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He spoke those words,
it is finished, in anticipation of his death. He had said the
same thing the night before. When he prayed and said, I have
glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work, speaking
to his father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. What comfort. Dear child of God,
hear this warning. What comfort, what consolation
comes to you and I through these words? It is finished. And there are two thoughts. First,
Christ's making an end of sin was finished. Let me say that
again. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who spoke these words from the cross, His making and end of
sin. It is finished. It is finished. You know, in the Greek, we see
there's three words here. It is finished. But in the Greek,
there's only one word. And it's spelled in English,
T-E-L-E-O. and I would pronounce that T'Leo,
T'Leo. But it's translated various ways
in the New Testament. And I want to give us a few examples.
This same word, which is here translated, it is finished, in
Matthew chapter 11 and verse one, we read, and it came to
pass when Jesus, T'Leo, when Jesus had made an end of commanding
his 12 disciples. In Matthew 17, 24, this word
is translated, and when they were come to Capernaum, they
that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your
master teleo? Does not your master pay tribute? And in Luke chapter two and verse
39, And when they, that is Mary, the mother of Christ, and her
husband Joseph, when they had teleo, when they had performed
all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to
Galilee. And one other in Luke chapter
18 and verse 13, all things that are written by the prophets concerning
the Son shall be fulfilled. to Lael shall be accomplished."
Now listen as I substitute these translations, for it is finished. He cried, it is made and end
of. He cried, it is paid. He cried, it is performed. He cried, It is accomplished. One writer put this all together
like this. What was made an end of? Our
sins and guilt. Our sins and our guilt. Christ
made an end. It is finished. He made an end
of the sins and guilt of his people. In fact, there's a scripture
in in Isaiah, I believe it is, that tells us that when search
shall be made for the sins of God's people, they will not be
found. Why? Because He made an end of
sins. What was performed, or what was
paid, rather, the price of our redemption? What was performed? the utmost requirements of the
law. What was accomplished? The making
and atonement. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin. He is the propitiation that God
required to put away the sins of all his people. A second thing. that is meant
when he said it is finished, not only making an end of sin,
but Christ fulfilling the law was finished. He said, think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. The law of God is like its author. It's holy, he's holy. It's just,
he's just. It's good, he's good. I'm not
come to destroy the law, he said, or the prophets, but to fulfill. The law required absolute, perfect
obedience. Every thought, every word, and
every deed, that's what the law required. Every thought that
you have, every word that you speak, every deed that you ever,
do must be perfect, and it must spring from a perfect motive,
that is, love to God. All of us, we've all broken God's
law. That's obvious, isn't it? We
don't have to labor that point. We've all broken God's law hundreds,
yay, thousands of times. But the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He said, It is finished, He as a man had obeyed God's law perfectly
and thought and word and deed, loving God with all His heart,
all His soul, all His mind, and loving His neighbor as Himself.
It's finished! He did that for His people. And
remember, the scripture teaches us that God's people, we are
in union with Him. We know this. It's a mystical
union. I understand that. He's the head. What my head does, my feet do. Right? They're not separated. And in Christ, We fulfilled the
law perfectly, absolutely, in thought, in word, and in deed. It's finished. Now my fourth
thought, what assurance this truth gives to every child of
God. Look with me in Philippians,
this last place, Philippians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul was able to
write this, inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Verse six, being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you, what does that say? That the Lord always finishes
what he begins. He always finishes what he begins. Nothing can hinder him, nothing
can stay his hand. No one can say, what doest thou?
Because he is the Lord. And the Lord always finishes
what he begins. And Paul says, being confident.
And you and I, we receive confidence from this truth, from this word
of Christ when he said, it is finished. Being confident of
this very thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you will, will. He's not gonna quit. He's not
going to be defeated in his purpose. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The Lord always finishes what
he begins. You might say, well, I know that's
true, Preacher, but many times I have doubts. Many times it seems like if I
have faith, it's so feeble. Don't look at your faith. Look
at his faithfulness. He always finishes what he begins. He's not gonna give up. He's
not gonna throw up his hands and say, I quit! Whatever he's begun, wherever
he's begun a good work and in your heart, he's going to finish
that work. And as we go through this world,
I know we're all the same. We have our ups and we have our
downs. We have our doubts and we have
our fears. We have our questions. It's only
natural that we do so because our faith is not perfect. Our
love is not perfect. We're still in this body that
has an old nature, and we'll only leave that old nature when
we leave this world, not before. And as long as we have that old
nature, we're going to have troubles, doubts, and fears. But remember
this, the Lord always finishes what He begins. Many times we
question our love for Christ, but You know that verse in 1
John says, perfect love casteth out fear. Someone says, well,
I'm not sure I have love because I still have fears. Did you hear
what he said? Perfect love. Perfect love casteth
out fear. None of us have perfect love.
Only Christ had perfect love. He always finishes what he begins.
And I'd close this morning with Solomon's words. He wrote this
in Ecclesiastes. He said, I know that, and you
and I, we know this. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing, nada, nada, nothing
can be put to it. nor anything taken from it, and
God doeth it, that men should fear before him." That fear is
not that slavish fear, but that reverential fear, that phileo
fear that every child of God has. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. If you have this fear, God has
given it to you. He's begun a good work in you,
and He always finishes what He begins. May the Lord bless His
word to us here this morning.