Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 19 – May 1990

 

It Is Finished!

 

Sermon by Rev. B. Gillard on John 19:30

Reading: John 19:1-6; John 19:17-37

Singing: 429; 381; (307 BoW); 439 (905 BoW)

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters.

The words that I would like to call to your attention this morning, are the words of the Lord Jesus as we find them in the Gospel of John, chapter 19 and verse 30:
“It Is Finished!”

How important these words are, for they tell us that our Lord’s life did not end in failure but it ended in glorious triumph.  It ended on a note of victory.

There is a detail that John has not recorded for us, but which we find in the other gospels.  We are told that Jesus towards the very end of his life uttered a loud cry, but we are not told what the loud cry was.  John gives us the answer to that in our text when he tells us that Jesus said, “It is finished!”  These are the words that he proclaimed, not with a whimper of a sigh of relief, but with a loud voice for all to hear.

But what exactly was he referring to when he uttered these words?  Well I suppose those who stood around the cross that day may very well have concluded that he was referring to his sufferings and agony.  They may very well have thought that he suddenly sensed that death was near and his time of humiliation and suffering was about to end, and in anticipation, he cried out with relief; “It is finished!”

There may be something of this in the cry of our Lord from the cross.  What a relief it must have been to him to pass from his state of humiliation into his state of glory.  To know that the awful agony that he had endured was about to end.  If we look for the answer to our question, however, solely in this, then we will miss the real significance of this cry of his.

For as we are reminded so often our Lord’s thoughts were not for himself, and he did not seek his own comfort, nor to do his own will.  He sought only the good of others, and to be obedient to God the Father in all things.

It was not so much a cry of personal relief, therefore, that he uttered from the cross, but a cry of accomplishment in having completed all that had to come to pass in him.

What then were the things that had to come to pass in Jesus?  I would like to suggest to you this morning that there were at least two things.

We shall consider them together, and then see what they have to say to us.

First of all there was all that the scriptures had to say about him.

Notice how conscious Jesus is of this.  We can see it there in verse 28, where we read, “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and, so that that the scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty!”  Here is what Jesus was thinking about.  Not his own personal comfort at the time, but that he might fulfil all that the scriptures had said about him.

How many hundreds and hundreds of things are said in the Old Testament about the Christ who was to come into the world.  I am sure if you stop and think about it, you can think of so many things.  Remember the promise that God first gave in the garden when man sinned and fell into ruin?  God said he would send one who would come and crush the head of the serpent, the devil.  On the cross and through his death Jesus is stamping upon the head of the serpent and destroying him who has the power of death.

Remember how the Bible gradually unfolds more and more about this one who was to come?  We are told what Nation he would come from and so his genealogy is traced back to Abraham.  But then we are told what tribe within Israel he would come, and so his genealogy is traced through the tribe of Judah.  We are told what family he would come from, and so his genealogy is traced though he family of David.  We are told what town he would be born in, that he would be born of a virgin and so on.  God told Moses he would raise up a prophet like unto him, and the people were continually saying of Jesus, is not this that prophet?  Then we can think of all the types and symbols in the O.T.  The sacrificial lamb to atone for the sins of the people, the Priest who made the sacrifices, the Passover celebration, the Exodus and deliverance of God’s people from bondage.  All of these things find their fulfilment in him.  Then there are all the details that are given surrounding the circumstances of his death.  He was numbered amongst the transgressors, his burial in the tomb of a rich man, then dividing up his clothes among themselves, their casting lots for his tunic, his betrayal by one who professes to be a friend.  There was not a detail of all that is said about God’s promised Saviour that does not find its fulfilment in him who hung upon the cross on that first Good Friday so long ago and cried out in triumph: It is finished!

Why was this so important?  Well because it is the very thing that shows us who Jesus is and proves him to be, beyond a shadow of doubt, the one God sent into the world to be the Saviour of men and the King of kings and Lord of lords.

This then is the first thing that we can see in this victorious affirmation of Jesus.  All that the scriptures say about the one who was to come finds its fulfilment in him.

Let us notice then the second thing we see in this statement.

Not only is all that the scriptures have to say about God’s promised Saviour fulfilled in him, but all the demands of God’s law are also fulfilled in Him.

What does the law of God demand from every person?  It demands two things.  First of all it demands perfection from us.  Now can any of us do that?  Can any of us say that we have lived a perfect life in all things?  Are we not all guilty of dishonesty and lustful thoughts, and self-centredness?  Do we not all know what it is to kill people with our thoughts and hate them in our hearts for something that has happened or out of pure jealousy?  Who can say we render to God perfect love and obedience?  You and I cannot.  All who have been born by ordinary generation cannot say that, but thank God there is one who can, and that is Jesus.  He came and he met all the demands of the law.  He coveted no man’s possessions.  He always uttered the truth; his motives were always perfect and sincere.  He showed nothing but love to his neighbour.  He never paid back evil for evil, and he lived this way in the most trying of circumstances.  He was tempted by the very devil himself, and that when he was hungry and tired.  He was sorely provoked by men.

They treated him with injustice, they mocked him, ridiculed him, spat upon him, but he was without sin.  He fulfilled all the law’s demands.  Who did he do it for?  He did it for us, and he offers to give the credit for it to everyone who believes in him.

But there is something else, beloved, that the law demands, and that is, the law demands justice and satisfaction when you break it, or go against it.  There is no mercy with the law; the law says if you don’t do what I say, or do what I tell you not to do then I will have your life and your blood.  What satisfaction does the law of God demand from us?  The wages of sin is death.  It is to experience the eternal weight of Gods wrath.  This is what the law demands and it demands it from each and every law-breaker.

What can we do?  We must pay, or find someone who can pay for us.  Is there one who can do that?  The answer is yes, there is one, but only one, and that is Jesus.  Because the one who does this must be perfect, and only Jesus was.  But would he do it?  It’s one thing to fulfil the active obedience the law demands, but will he also fulfil the passive obedience the law demands for us?  Would he submit himself to death, the wrath of God, and all the miseries of hell for us?  The answer, congregation, is not only ‘yes’, but he did.  And not only did he do it, but he did it fully and finally and once for all.

How important it is to notice the tense of a word in the Greek language.  When Jesus cried out, it is finished, that word is in the perfect tense.  That means a situation now exists that is based upon an action that is past, and because of that past action, the new situation will abide continually.  When Jesus said, it is finished, he was proclaiming that all the demands of the law upon us have been met, both actively and passively once for all and forever.  The law can never come and say, “You have transgressed in this particular way, or you have still to pay for that.”  No.  It is finished!  The full demands of the law have been forever met in the work of Jesus.  That is the good news; that is why we proclaim this day, Good Friday.  It is not a black day, it is not a day to mourn and grieve over.  No it is the greatest day that there ever was in the history of the world.  It was the day in which our Lord proclaimed that he had finished the work he came to do.  He has destroyed the work of the devil, he has overcome death; he has defeated the power of sin, and rescued us from the wrath and Judgement to come.  That was a glorious day for mankind.  The greatest day that has ever been.

What then are we to do on such a day as this?  What are we to do with such an event as this?  Let me suggest in closing that there are three things we must do with it.

First of all we must celebrate it.  That is the proper Christian response to the death and sufferings of our Lord.  It is not part of true Christianity to dwell upon the morbid, and the agony of the cross.  That is past.  Jesus himself ended his life in this world with a shout of triumph.  That is what his death means.  It means victory.  Neither John nor the apostles dwell in a morbid way upon the events of the cross.  They do not paint vivid details of all the horror that was there.  Neither should we.  Our note must ever be one of celebration and the song of victory.  That is the way the N.T. dwells upon it.  The apostle Paul boasted and gloried in the cross.  The hymn writers have done the same:
            In the cross of Christ I glory,
            towering over the wrecks of time,
            all the light of sacred story
            gathers round its head sublime.

Secondly the death of Christ is something to rest in.  “It is finished!”, was the cry.  Every sinner must come to the cross.  Every sinner must rest now in this finished work.  There is nothing we can add; there is nothing we can do; there is nothing we can contribute.  Jesus has done it all.  One may feel he is unworthy.  It doesn’t matter, Jesus said, “It is finished!”  “I have done it all.”  One may feel, I have sinned against grace, Jesus said, “It is finished!”  One may think they can add to what he has done.  You cannot.  Jesus said, “It is finished!”

One may feel he has no need of it.  They are wrong.  Jesus never would have come if that were the case.  If we would have the benefits that come from this death; if we would know sins forgiven, peace with God, a new nature, and the hope of eternal life, if we would escape personal accountability to the law of God then we must rest our faith and trust in Jesus alone who did it all, who did it single-handedly, who proclaimed victoriously: It is finished.

Finally let me say that here is a death and message we must proclaim.

Let us go out and find those who struggle with a sense of their guilt, and tell them that Jesus said: It is finished.  Let us go out and find those who are struggling to save themselves, through their own efforts, and tell them that Jesus said: It is finished.  Let us go out and find those who are struggling with the fear of death, and let us tell them that Jesus said: It is finished.

Death and hell are overcome.  Let us go and proclaim the good news to one and all, that God sent Jesus to rescue us, and Jesus was successful.  The work he came to do is finished; all that remains is to rest in him.

Let us bow together in prayer.

Let us pray…

AMEN