in your Bibles tonight to John
chapter 19. John chapter 19. And I thought it would be well
for us this evening before we remember the Lord's death in
observing the bread and the wine, the bread broken and the wine
poured out, which of course is a symbol of his broken body and
his blood which was shed. Before we see the message, because
this is a sermon we can see, when we see the bread broken
and separate from the blood, the blood separate from the bread,
it speaks of his death, of course. But I thought it would be well
maybe if we consider three very simple words. Three very simple
words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke from the cross. Two words are one-syllable words
and one word is a two-syllable word. It is finished. Wouldn't it be wonderful tonight
if God would enable us to, in spirit at least, just imagine
ourselves there around the cross of our Savior when he spoke those
words. To look up to him upon the cross
and hear him in our heart and our conscience and our soul speak
those three words. It is finished. Look with me,
if you will, in verses 28 through 30. After this, Jesus, knowing
that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was said a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and put 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. He bowed his head and dismissed
his spirit. Do you remember the story? I
believe that Charles Spurgeon told this years ago in a message,
but the man Told another man who supposedly was preaching,
he said, your message lacks two letters. You're missing two letters. Two letters of the alphabet you're
missing in your message. Because your message is due. But the gospel message is done. Done. It is finished. And I have four things for us
this evening that I want to mention that are certainly included in
the word it. It is finished. Four things that
I'll mention to us tonight that must be included in that little
word it. What did our Lord mean when he
said it is finished? Now I know you probably could
name many more things than what I'm going to name tonight. but
I believe this will be sufficient. But first, it is finished. His suffering was now finished. His suffering was now finished. You know, in Isaiah chapter 53,
which is one of the greatest chapters in the Old Testament
that speaks to us of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I remember Henry Mahan told us one time, he said, if you ever
find yourself in a bind and you're called upon to preach, just get
up and read Isaiah 53. And what a message, what a message.
But in that chapter, we read, he was wounded, wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. No one, Let this register on
our mind or in our mind tonight that no one has ever suffered
as the Lord Jesus Christ did because no one has ever had the
capacity to suffer as he has. The fact that he was wounded
means much more than the wounds that were inflicted upon his
body. Remember, first of all, he was
crowned with thorns. There's a bush, I think it would
be called, that grows a long fence rose. And it grows a long
fence rose around this property here. And I've been part of clearing
that rose. I think it's called a wild rose.
But it has thorns on it. I'm telling you, it has thorns.
And you can't hardly cut that bush away without getting pricked
sometime, somewhere in your arm or your hands with one of those
thorns. And it hurts. It really does. Can you imagine? I don't know
what that crown was made out of, other than it was made out
of thorns. What kind of thorns? I don't know. But can you imagine?
how that must have hurt, how he must have suffered when that
crown was put down upon his head. And then when he was carried
out to the hill Golgotha to be crucified, when they nailed his
hands and his feet to the cross, the sufferings that he experienced
there. And then hanging there on that
tree for three hours, I believe the psalmist, speaking
of his death, spoke about his tongue cleaving to his mouth,
the mouth just drying up and the pain that he experienced
on that cross. And I don't speak about this
that often, maybe I should more than I do, but I want to say
this tonight. Those physical sufferings were
not the real sufferings of the Lord Jesus. As hurtful as they no doubt were,
his suffering was in his soul. his soul. And in that same chapter
of Isaiah 53, we read, when thou makest his soul an offering for
sin. He suffered alone. In Isaiah,
another chapter in Isaiah, we read that he trod the winepress
alone. He had to. He could have no one
to help him in this work. All the glory Well, no one could
help him, first of all, but all the glory and all the praise
of God's work of salvation goes to him. No one shares in his
work, his work of redemption. He suffered alone. He, as that
scripture says, trod the winepress alone as the grapes are put into
the vat and they're pressed to get the juice out. of the great,
so the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross in a similar way was
pressed in his very soul. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
2, the writer said he endured. He endured the cross. It wasn't
a Sunday picnic. He endured the cross, despising
the shame. Who for the joy that was set
before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. What was
that joy that was set before Him? Doing His Father's will. Perfectly doing His Father's
will. Look with me in Psalm 80, or
let me read this to you. Psalm 80 and verse 17. As I said, no one ever suffered
like He did because no one ever had the capacity to suffer as
He did. And no one ever had the weight
of the sins of His people laid upon Him like the Lord Jesus
Christ did. Again, in Isaiah 53, remember
it says, He, that is God, hath made to meet on Him the iniquity
of us all. Actually, literally, He hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. But here in Psalm 80 and
verse 17, the psalmist is praying and he says, let thy hand, let
thy hand, the hand that administered the suffering that his sins deserve,
that our sins deserve. Father, let thy hand be upon
the man of thy right hand. Who is that? That's Christ. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, the man at His right hand, upon the Son of Man, whom,
now notice, thou madest strong for thyself. He had to be strong
to bear the sufferings that were laid upon Him, and we know that
His sufferings were now finished. It is finished. You know, the
writer of the letter of Romans, the Apostle Paul, when he comes
to what people say begins the practical part, the doctrinal
part for the first 11 chapters of that epistle, the very first
thing he says is, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that You present your bodies a living sacrifice. That's what our Lord did. He
presented His body a sacrifice, a living sacrifice. But we are
admonished to, if we are brothers, because of the mercies of God. And if you would just start thinking
about the mercies of God that you have experienced, that I
have experienced, that God's church has experienced, the mercies
of God. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, the first mercy on the list would have
to be giving your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, sending him into
this world to save sinners. The mercies of God. I was reading
this past week in one of Robert Hawker's devotionals, his daily
devotionals, but I like this. It really got my attention, and
it's so true. But he said something like this.
He said it would tire, it would tire the arm of an angel. There's an angel. It would tire
the arm of an angel to write all the mercies that we have
experienced through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? It would tire the arm. Angels
are strong beings, I know that, but it would tire their arm. It would tax their strength to
record all the mercies. I'll say this about myself, all
the mercies that I have received. Amen? I beseech you, Paul said,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." Our reasonable service, saying that He suffered for us
in our stead. But when He said, it is finished,
that's the first thing that I point out to us tonight. His suffering
was finished. He drained the cup dry. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? And he did, and he drank all
the dregs of that cup. The second thing that was now
finished, his binding Satan was now finished. I want you to look
with me in Mark chapter three. In Mark chapter 3. And beginning with verse 22. Mark chapter 3 and verse 22. And the scribes which came down
from Jerusalem said, he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, he
hath Beelzebub. Beelzebub, of course, was the
prince of the devils, as it says. He hath Beelzebub, and by the
prince of the devils casteth he out devils. And he called
them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan
cast out Satan? You say, I cast out Satan, this
foul spirit, this demon spirit, by the power of the devil. How
does Satan cast out Satan? And if Satan rise up against
himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. Now notice this in verse 27. No man can enter into a strong
man's house. Now the strong man here is Satan. No man can enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods. And that
was you, and that was me. We were all children of wrath,
even as others. And the apostle in, I think it's
1st Timothy or 2nd Timothy tells us that we were all taken captive
by him at his will. That is, we were taken captive
by Satan. Ephesians chapter two. tells
us the same thing, that we walked according to the prince of the
power of the air. All men, natural men, apart from
the saving grace of God, we are under his authority, that is
Satan's authority. And our Lord said the only way
that someone, one of his spoils, may be taken from his control
is for someone to bind the strong man. That's what he says. No man can enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the
strong man, and then he will spoil his house. The Pharisees accused the Lord
Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince
of the devils. But the Lord Jesus, we know,
He cast out devils by the Spirit of God. He did this because He
bound the strong man. First, He had to bind the strong
man. And literally, the binding of
the strong man took place when he upon the cross crushed his
head. Remember that was the first promise
concerning the Messiah, the needed Savior. When the Lord in the
Garden of Eden, just after Adam had disobeyed God in sin, he
said, the seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, speaking to
Satan. Thou shalt bruise his heel. His
heel was bruised, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, his body,
but Satan, his head was crushed. The strong man was bound. The strong man armed, our Lord
said, was bound. Now, remember he gave to his
apostles, to preachers, the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And
he has sent us out into all the world to preach the gospel. And
there's deliverance. There's deliverance. That's what
the word salvation literally means. There's deliverance. For
those who are captives to Satan, captives to sin, there's deliverance
through the Lord Jesus Christ because He bound the strong man. He bruised his head. You know,
we live in a time, and I'm thankful that we do, when we don't know
much about Indebtedness to the point where people would put
you in prison Remember there was a debtor's prison In England
they had debtor's prisons and not only that but in the in the
scriptures among the Hebrews the Jews the Israelites a man
could sell himself into a type of slavery but In the sixth year,
he was set free. And in the jubilee year, this
is a point I want to make. Remember, let me read this. When
the Lord first, his first message, after he was baptized and returned
to Nazareth where he had lived for so many years, he took the
scripture, they handed him the scripture, and he found the place
where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives. The jubilee year had come. Now there were special trumpets,
silver trumpets, and you better know If you were in debt, you
were a slave of some other man, and you knew that it was getting
close to hearing those trumpets blow, you would have your ears
perked up. Blessed is he, blessed is the
man that knoweth the joyful sound. The joyful sound, the blowing
of those trumpets, there's deliverance. There's freedom. And when a man
was granted freedom, his debt was erased and he was restored
to his own property. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
said it is finished, the strong man armed was bound, was bound. A third thing that I want to
mention tonight, when he said it is finished, his ratifying
the covenant was now finished. He said the night before, the
night before he was crucified, when he gave his disciples this
ordinance. See, the Lord is the king of
saints. And he gave his church this ordinance
of the Lord's table. And he did so the very night
before he was crucified. And this is what he said, and
this is what I'll say, the Lord willing, in a few minutes when
we drink the wine, this is the blood of the everlasting covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. He ratified
the covenant when he died. Now we know, you and I at least,
we know in the New Testament, the translation that we use,
the same Greek word is sometimes translated covenant, sometimes
translated testament. And we think of a testament,
a man's last will and testament. A man has his testament written
out and when he dies, that testament is ratified by his death. Nothing
can be changed. All of his property goes to the
people that he wanted it to go to if the executor does what
he's supposed to do. The will, the stipulations cannot
be changed. And the Lord Jesus Christ, by
his death, ratified that everlasting covenant, that testament, his
testament, and all the benefits and all the blessings are made
sure to all who are named in that covenant. Just like your
covenant, just like your testament. Some Joe blow down the street,
he's not going to inherit anything from you, is he? No, you don't
even know who he is. But your heirs, whoever you name
as your heirs, they're going to receive what you want them
to receive when you die. Now until you die, you can change
that. The Lord Jesus, when he died, it is finished. That covenant was sealed, it's
ratified, it can never be changed. Look with me in Hebrews 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Beginning with verse 13. It's really difficult to decide. Couldn't
read this whole chapter. But for time's sake, let's begin
with verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctify to the purifying of the flesh. What that simply means
is there were things that would defile an Israelite. And he could
not come inside the camp until he was sprinkled with this water,
or he offered a sacrifice of an animal. The blood was sprinkled.
And it satisfied, as it says here, to the purifying of the
flesh. He was, he was cleansed ceremonially. He was cleansed and allowed back
into the camp. into the congregation of Israel. That was that old covenant that
God gave to Israel at Sinai. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament.
You see, there's only one fountain. If you lived under that Old Testament,
if you were to be cleansed, it would be the same way that those
of us who live under this New Testament are cleansed. There's
only one Savior, only one fountain, only one Precious blood that
cleanses from sin if you lived in Noah's day Are you live until
the Lord comes again and all in between? He's Alpha and Omega
and all in between There's only one cleansing fountain. I The
blood of bulls and goats could not really take away sin, but
it served as a pitcher and it did serve to ceremonially cleanse
people so that they were allowed back in the camp. For where testimony is, verse
16, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. The testator is the person whose
will is ratified, and it is ratified by his death. For a testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. I'm tempted to say something
about some unworthy children that I've known or heard of over
the years. I had a friend over in Louisiana,
fine Christian couple, and one of their children came to him
and said, said, we're just like our inheritance now, we want
to buy a boat. To me, that's kind of unworthy,
don't you think? We want our inheritance now.
Well, they weren't dead now. And, of course, you don't have
to have known this brother, but he said, listen, we're going
to be spending your inheritance to the day we leave this world. Oh, man. Like I said, I probably shouldn't
have said that, but I have. Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both the book and all the people. The book was the
covenant. He sprinkled the book, the covenant,
and he sprinkled the people saying, this is the blood of the testament
which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with
blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,
and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and
without shedding of blood is no remission. Now notice, it
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the
heavens should be purified with ease. The patterns were the things
in the tabernacle, patterns of things in heaven. They should
be purified with the blood of those animals. But the heavenly
things, the heavenly things, themselves with better sacrifices
than these, for Christ has not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but he has
entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of
God for us. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with blood of others, for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for Him... I'm going to change that a little
bit too. Unto them that look to Him. Look
for Him. Yeah, we look for Him coming,
but we look to Him too, don't we? as our Lord and as our Savior. Unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He came the
first time in relation to sin. He came to put away the sins
of his people. But when he comes next time,
his second coming, it won't be in relation to sin. It will be
to receive his own. Now the fourth thing that he
finished, when he said it is finished, his finishing the Father's
work was now finished. He had said the night before
in his prayer, Father, I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. You see, God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, they can say things before they're actually done because
no one's going to hinder them and keep them from doing what
they have purposed to do. He said, the night before I finished
the work, in anticipation to this time, this day upon the
cross, when he said, it is finished. And what was that work which
the father gave him to do? Well, that's another message,
isn't it? But let me just say this. He glorified God on the
earth. That was the work that Adam failed
to do. The first Adam failed to glorify
God. He disobeyed God. He sinned. Oh, but the second Adam, the
last Adam, and both are representative men, he glorified the Father. He finished the work which the
Father gave him to do. No one dare add anything to his
work. That would be the height of iniquity,
wouldn't it? After he said it's finished for
some man, say, well, now this is what you've got to do. This
is what I've got to do. This is what the church has to
do for you. No, no, no. It is finished. Salvation is
accomplished. All that the Father God, all
that He demanded, the Lord Jesus Christ has finished, has accomplished. And we look to Him for all our
salvation. May the Lord bless His word with
us tonight. We will observe the Lord's table
at this time. I'll ask our deacons, if you
will, to come.