It Is Finished

April 18, 2003 Preacher: Randy Smith Series: Good Friday

Scripture: John 19:30

Transcript

It Is Finished

John 19:30
April 18, 2003, Good Friday Service  •  First Baptist, Asbury Park
Pastor Randy Smith



By His sovereignty the Lord has placed me in a wonderful country and a wonderful church and a wonderful family. I have so much to be thankful for, but God forever reminds me that I am not to be living for this world. My citizenship is in heaven and therefore I am to fix my mind on the things above and long for the day when all things will be even more wonderful. When sickness and disease will be abolished. When death will no longer have any sting. When the battle and consequences of sin will cease. When I will behold my Savior face-to-face

One aspect that helps me long for heaven is the absence of completion. While we toil in this fallen world nothing brings an ultimate sense of finality. We feed our bellies only to get hungry. We pull the weeds only to see them reappear. Does there ever come a time when we: Pay our last bill, shed our last tear, finish our last chore or swallow our last pill? To a degree there is a chasing after the wind. Therefore we long for the day when we can step into our eternal rest and cry, "It is finished."

2,000 years ago Jesus Christ uttered the same as He hung from a cruel Roman instrument of torture. As His sufferings were nearing completion our Savior cried, tetelestai! But what exactly did Jesus mean when He uttered from the cross that one word commonly translated in our English Bibles, "It is finished?"

Obviously we can make a good case that He fulfilled all the prophecies that pointed to His ministry on earth. Scholars estimate that He fulfilled over 200 prophecies, each one to exact specification even to the details of where He would live and how He would thirst on the cross. When these particular prophecies were fulfilled Jesus cried, "It is finished!"

Obviously we can make a good case for the end of Christ's appointed sufferings, another fulfilled prophecy in itself. The Savior experienced unspeakable affliction from the hands of man, Satan and even His heavenly Father. When we consider the disgrace and excruciating pain that Jesus experienced in His life culminated at the cross, we can only imagine the joy as He anticipated His return to glory at the Father's right hand. In speaking of Christ's present seat in glory, Charles Spurgeon wrote, "No Judas, come and betray Him a kiss! Come Pilate, and wash your hands in pretended innocence, and say now that you are guiltless of His blood! Come, ye scribes and Pharisees, and accuse Him; and oh, ye Jewish mob and Gentile rabble, newly-risen from the grave, show now, 'Away with Him! Crucify Him!' But see! They flee from Him; they cry to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide (from the presence of the Lamb who) sits on the throne! Yet that is the face that was more marred than any man's, the face of Him whom they once despised and rejected." Never again would God incarnate bear this shame. When His suffering were fulfilled Jesus cried, "It is finished!"

Obviously we can make a good case for His victory over wickedness. When the Son of Man hung on the cross no doubt Satan thought his battle was won. However, his apparent triumph spelled his ultimate defeat. Though He still prowls like a roaring lion seeking to devour God's children, he and his demonic forces are already defeated. The cross was the beginning of their end as they await their inevitable destruction in the lake of fire. As Martin Luther said, "The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him." So when Satan's sentence was passed Jesus cried, "It is finished."

As precious and accurate as all of these wonderful truths are, I believe all of them point to the best explanation for Christ's final words, which lies in the ultimate purpose of His mission.

Our saying is from the book of John and throughout the fourth gospel we hear of Jesus referring to a work that He has come to accomplish. In 4:34 Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Just before the cross Jesus prayed, "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do" (Jn. 17:4). What specifically was this work that Jesus accomplished or "finished" during His final seconds on the cross?

Well, lets set the stage. The Bible clearly declares that God is holy and man is sinful by nature, choice and divine declaration. Though all religions teach that man can reach a God by good deeds, moral conduct or religious affiliation, Christianity emphatically denies that any of these actions are sufficient. A holy God cannot and will not receive sinful man deserving of His justice and wrath.

The Old Testament pointed to this truth as spotless animals were killed and their blood was sprinkled on the altar to atone for sin. The Hebrews saw first-hand the gravity of sin against the backdrop of a holy God. They realized first-hand that the "wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Though these substitutionary sacrifices enabled God to pass over sin, Hebrews 10:4 says, "(It was) is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to (fully) take away sins.

These sacrifices pointed to the One who would put away sin once and for all. He would be "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). He would live the perfect life to be our perfect substitute. Then He would go to the cross, bearing all of our sin to die and bleed as the perfect sacrifice. That was the mission of Jesus. That was the work He sought to accomplish. It was always on the forefront of His mind. And when He had completed His work to reconcile God to man by atoning for sin, He cried, "It is finished!"

It was a declaration of victory! In regard to this declaration, A. W. Pink said, "It tells of the perfect work which meets sin in the place of judgment. All was completed just as God would have it, just as the prophets foretold, just as the Old Testament ceremonial had foreshadowed, just as Divine holiness demanded, and just as sinners needed. How strikingly appropriate is this sixth Cross-utterance of our Savior found in John's Gospel - the Gospel which displays the glory of Christ's Deity! He does not here commend His work to the approval of God, but seals it with His own imprimatur, attesting it as complete, and giving it the all-sufficient sanction of His own approval. None other than the Son of God says, 'It is finished!' - who then dare doubt it or question it."

On the brink of death, Christ knew that: His work was consummated, God's wrath was appeased, the Law was fulfilled, guilt was removed, condemned sinners were pardoned and salvation was brought to completion once and for all whereby Jesus finished His work, declared "it is finished," and sat down at the right hand of God in glory!

As we sung earlier, "Lifted up was he to die; 'It is finished!' was his cry; now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

Is it any wonder why the cross has been the symbol and the glory of our faith? Is it any wonder that the great Apostle said, "For I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). For what other event better displays the love, mercy and goodness of God? That an infinite God would be willing to send His innocent Son into this world and allow Him to be "pierced through for our transgressions (and) crushed for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5). He allowed His Son to be sin for us so we might receive His righteousness. Because of Christ's finished work on the cross, He made salvation available to desperate sinners like you and me.

Let me ask you beloved, do you believe that Jesus Christ died as a substitute? Do you believe that He finished the work appointed to Him to pay the debt of sin in full? Do you believe Christ met all of God's requirements to purchase the eternal covenant? Do you believe that salvation is now possible, not by your works or any righteous contributions, which would only mar His finished work? (You don't "touch up" or "add to" the Mona Lisa)! We simply receive the gift of salvation by believing with faith that "It is finished." His work is sufficient. Do you come to Him empty-handed like the thief on the cross, acknowledging your guilt and pleading for His mercy?

"Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to Thee for dress, helpless, look to Thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior, or I die."

The Christian man said to his neighbor, "There is a great difference between your religion and mine." "What is that?" asked the neighbor. "It is this: Yours has only two letters in it, while mine has four." "What do you mean?" he said. "Well, yours says 'DO.'" "Mine says 'DONE.'" Atonement is complete. Christ's work is finished!

As I mentioned in the introduction, our work on earth never reaches a sense of completion, but Christ's work on the cross did. Edith Bergman wrote:

The sculptor laid his tools aside;

Unfinished, though he was, he died.

The artist, with his work undone,

Laid down his brush at set of sun.

The writer, with his tale half told,

No longer to his life could hold.

The farmer put away his plough.

Sod still unturned, he's resting now.

God's Son alone, triumphant, died,

For 'It is finished!' Jesus cried.

The price is paid, the battle won,

The great work of salvation done.

Because He finished all for me,

Complete in Him, I know I'll be.