Rick Warren - It Is Finished What Jesus Completed On The Cross (Part 2)

When Jesus died on the cross, he fulfilled every one

of the promises and every one of the predictions or

the prophecies that had been made for thousands of years.

You see, in the Old Testament we get a partial

glimpse of God. We kind of get partially the figure,

but it's not real clear. But when Jesus comes, he

fills in all the details. He paints the picture, He

completes the picture. He gives us what it's like.

And here's what.

Jesus told some people after he'd come back to life,

after he'd raised on Easter Sunday, he's talking to some people,

and here's what he says. In Luke, chapter twenty four,

verse forty four to forty seven. Jesus said, this is

what I told you when I was still with you.

This is before he died.

Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in

the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, that's

the Old Testament. He said, all the stuff that was

written about me for a thousand years had to be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand scriptures,

and he told them this is what is written. The

Christ will suffer and rise from the debt on the

third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sin will be

preached in his name to all nations. He's saying, I

just fulfilled all of the promises and all the predictions,

all of the prophecies that had been given for thousands

of years. So Jesus fulfilled God's promises on the cross,

and Jesus satisfied God's justice on the cross. Here's the

third thing that he completed on the cross. He paid

off the debt I owed God. He paid off the

debt that I owed God. You owe something to everybody

you've ever hurt or offended or of sinned against. You

owe something to them. But you're also in deeper debt

to God, and that's a debt you would never possibly

be able to repay on your own. But here's the

good news. Colossians, chapter two. The Bible says this verse fourteen,

we owe a debt because we've broken God's laws. That

debt listed all the rules we failed to follow. But

here's the good part. But God forgave our debt, and

he canceled our debt by nailing it to the cross.

Can you imagine if tonight you went home and all

of a sudden you got a call from Visa or MasterCard,

and they called up and said, we have decided to

cancel all your debt. We're just gonna wipe it out.

Your record is wipe clean. You are forgiven. It's all forgotten.

We're calling it our new Tetelesty program.

Paid in full. You're free. Would you like that? Oh yeah?

Would you feel free? Oh yeah, you'd.

Want to rejoice, because that's what happens when your debt

is forgiven. That's what Jesus Christ did on the Cross.

He paid off the debt that I owed God. Colossians,

chapter one, verse fourteen. God's son paid the price. God's

son paid the price to free us, which means that

our sins are forgiven. Which sins are forgiven, all of them,

all of them, every single one of them. Just to

have it all wiped off, to have your debt paid

off by somebody else, that's an amazing thing that Jesus

Christ did. Jesus wants to be your best friend. He's

just paid off all your debt that you owed to God.

Now the Bible says this in Hebrews chapter ten, verse eighteen.

Now that sins have been forgiven, there's no need to

offer any more sacrifices. You know what your problem is.

Your problem is you keep trying to pay for sins

that have already been paid for. You keep trying to

pay for sins in your life that have already been

paid for. Jesus Christ paid for every sin you have

ever committed and ever will. He's even paid for the

ones you haven't done yet, the ones you're gonna do

next week, next year, and in ten years. When he

paid on the cross for all the sins of humanity,

he died for every one of them. There's not any

that's left out. But so many people go around carrying

unnatural guilt because they don't realize their sin has been forgiven.

And in their mind, they're going, you know, maybe if

I just do this, then God will forgive me. Maybe

if I do that, then God will forgive me. Maybe

if I'm good in this area, God will forgive me.

You're trying to pay for sins that have already been

paid for.

They don't need to be paid for twice.

Jesus Christ paid for every stupid mistake I've made in life,

every stupid mistake you've made in life. Every sin, every error,

every fault, every weakness, you.

Don't need to pay for them. That's good news.

He paid off the debt that I owed God. There

is nothing more you can do. There's nothing more you

can do. It's not like, well, if I do this

thing now, God's going to smile at me and he'll

kind of even the score.

Here.

I did all this bad stuff. I gotta do this

good stuff to make it even. That's not in God's mind.

There's nothing more you can do. It's already been paid for.

To tell us die, it is finished, paid in full.

All your sins have been completely paid for, even the

future ones. All right, here's the fourth thing Jesus did

all right, fulfilled God's promises, satisfied God's justice, paid off

the debt I owed God. Number four, he defeated. This

is a big one. He defeated the fear of death

on the cross. Jesus defeated the fear of death. And

you know what, I've been in countries all around the world.

You know what I've discovered. It's a universal fear. Everybody

has a fear of death.

You ever want.

To kill a conversation, invite some friends over to your

house for our party and say, let's talk about death

and see how far that goes. This is a universal fear.

But when Jesus was on the cross, he broke the

fear of death and the power of death. The Bible

says this Romans five, verse seventeen. The sin of one

man Adam caused.

Death to rule over us.

But all who received God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness,

that's the gift of grace, will live in triumph over

sin and death. Through this one man, Jesus Christ, How

did he break the sin, the power of sin and

death in our lives? Next verse Hebrews, Chapter two, verse

fourteen fifteen. Jesus became flesh and blood, became a human

being by being born in human form. For only a

human being, as a human being, could he die. God

can't die, so he had to come as a human being.

Only as a human being could he die. And only

by dying could he break the power of the devil

who had the power of death. Only in this way

could he deliver those who have lived all of their

lives as slaves to the fear of dying. The only

reason you know that there's life after death is because

Jesus Christ resurrected. If Jesus Christ had not resurrected, you'd

just be guessing. You'd have no proof, you'd have no

knowledge that there's.

Anything at death. That's the end. It's over, you're done.

The only reason you know today that there's life after

death is because Jesus Christ resurrected. Now, let me just

put this perspective. Nobody else is resurrected. Jesus Christ is

a lot of times you read these books about people

who die for a few hours and then they supposedly

go to heaven and then they come back and they

come back to life. That's not a resurrection. That's a resuscitation.

Okay.

Resurrection means you're buried in the ground for three days,

you've been dead for three days, and now you're a

that's a resurrection. Nobody else is resurrected. And all those

books about going to heave and I Saw this and

all that and the bright light, you can just throw

them all away. Okay, you just throw them all away.

Just trust this one right here, because there's only one

guy who's been resurrected. You can get resuscitated, you can

faint and I could resuscitate you. You can be in

a coma and people get resuscitated all the time. Resurrection

means you've been dead for days, and only Jesus did that. Now,

this is, by the way, this whole thing here of

defeating the fear of death. This is what Jesus, what

baptism illustrates. You know, it's saddleback. We don't sprink gold,

or we don't pour water on people. We actually put

people under the water and bring them back up.

Why.

Well, in first place, the word baptizo and Greek means

to immerse, that's what it means. But the second place,

it's the only way that you could picture a death

and a burial and a resurrection. And the baptism represents

Jesus dying, being buried in the ground and coming back

to life. And Jesus baptism represents that you are going

to die and be buried in ground and come back

to life because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Here's what the Bible says Romans six, verse four. By

our baptism, then we were buried with him and shared

in his death in order that just as Christ was

raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father.

Now there's the fifth reason that Jesus said it is finished,

and the fifth task that he finishes. This, this is

a big one. He destroyed Satan's power to control me

is a big one.

He destroyed Satan's power to control me. He did that

on the cross, in the death of the Son of God.

On the cross, there's a cosmic battle going on between

good and evil, and from a human standpoint, when you

look at Jesus on the cross, it looks like evil's winning.

It looks like evil is winning. It looked like Satan

had won.

And when Jesus gives up his spirit and dies, Satan

goes I did it, I won, I killed God.

I won. But three days later, surprise, he's back on

the cross. Jesus cries out, shouts out, it is finished.

Not I'm finished. It is finished. But three days later

Satan's going uh oh, I'm finished. I'm finished.

Every year, Christians from all over the world remember the

death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by traveling to Jerusalem,

where they walk the path that Jesus took on the

way to the cross. That path is called the Via

Dola Rosa. Now, since you may not be able to

ever travel to Jerusalem. I want to suggest a way

for you to celebrate and reflect on and pray about

what Jesus did for you on the Cross. So I've

created a brand new, one of a kind resource, Journey

with Jesus, a deluxe hardcover gift edition book that's illustrated

with really beautiful, high quality glossy photos of mosaic tile

artwork that reflect each of the stops that Jesus made on.

His journey to the Cross. You're not ever going to

forget this gift.

It's a great book to keep and to study over

and over again, and it make a great gift for

your family and your friends too.

This one of a kind resources only available through Daily Hope.

Quantities are limited, so be sure to get yours today.

Just call eight four four four six seven thirty nine

hundred or visit Daily Hope dot com to get yours today.

Now, let me be frank with you.

If you don't know Jesus Christ, if you don't have

his spirit in your life, you were flat out powerless

against Satan's traps and tricks. You don't have any power

at all. You have no power against Satan. You have

no power against evil if you don't have God's spirit

in your life. Now the Bible says, I you have

God's spirit, greater is he that is in you than

he that is in the world. But you don't have

any of that power unless you get God's spirit inside you.

How does Satan manipulate you. He manipulates you through thoughts.

He manipulates you through suggestions, and his two favorite ways

to manipulate you are by temptation and by condemnation. Temptation condemnation.

What he does is he tempts you. He goes, this

is no big deal, everybody's doing it. Go ahead and

do it, and he minimizes a sin of rebellion. Before

the moment you do it, he maximizes, go well, God's

never going to love you again.

Forget that, You're going to hell. Forget that, and on

and on and.

So he maximizes the consequences He minimizes up before you

do it, temptation and condemnation. Now, notice what Jesus did

in these verses. Jesus destroyed first the power of temptation

Colaussians one thirteen. God has freed us from the power

of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his

dear son. He destroys that power. Second, he destroys satan

power to accuse you. Satan can't condemn you anymore. Why,

because you're completely forgiven. If God's forgiven you, God likes you,

and you like you. Satan's got a problem Calausians two fifteen.

God took away Satan's power to accuse you of sin.

He can't accuse you anymore, and he openly displays the

whole world christ triumph at the Cross, where your sins

were all taken away. The Cross was God's fatal blow

to evil. The Cross was God's fatal blow to Satan.

He didn't even know what was going on. He lost

his power.

You say, it seems to me that Satan's got a

lot of power today. Satan is living on borrowed time.

His days are numbered. You know, if you got the

desert and you see a rattlesnake or any kind of stay,

and you cut off the head of a snake, the

snake will still wiggle for a while. He's dead and

doesn't know it. Satan is dead and doesn't know it.

He was fatally wounded at the Cross. His days are numbered.

He's dead and no, no, no, he's cooked. And if you

have accepted God's spirit into your life inside you, Satan

only has power that you yield to him. He don't

have any power over you if you don't yield it.

But if you yield him power, how do you yield.

Him aout through fear.

That yields power to say, through bitterness, through anxiety to

give it into temptation. Yeah, you can yield power to say,

but he doesn't have any power over you unless you yield.

It to him.

Because Jesus destroyed his power to control me on the cross. Okay,

let me summarize this. When Jesus dies on the cross

and he says to tell us die, it is finished,

she's saying, I fulfilled all of God's promises. I satisfied

God's judgment, so you don't have to pay, you know,

go to prison. I paid off the debt that you

owed God. I defeated the fear of death. You don't

have to be afraid. I'm not afraid to die. I

know where I'm going. He destroyed Satan's power to control you.

All five of these benefits are potentially yours. They're not

yours yet they're potentially yours. You just need to accept them.

You need to accept these five benefits. Now, you know,

I've been a pastor a long time, and I've actually

talked to a lot of people who hesitate to accept

God's gift of what Jesus did on the Cross out

of fear. And the fear is well, I'm afraid that

if I accept the Lord into my life. I won't

be able to keep myself saved. Let me tell you can't.

You can't keep yourself safe. But it's not your job.

That's his job too. There's nothing left for you to do.

It's not your job. It's job God's job to keep

you saved. Look at what the Bible says this verse Philippians,

Chapter one, verse six. You can be certain this is

not a wish. This is a certainty. You can be

certain of this. God who began his good work within you,

will continue his work in you until it is finally finished.

To tell us, diy finally finished. On that day when

Christ comes back again, God finishes every single thing he starts,

including your salvation. That's included too. Now let me just

say this, The fact of life is you're gonna die

with some unfinished business. There's gonna be some things you

wish you'd done with your life that you didn't get done.

You're gonna have some regrets, some remorse. Not everything's gonna

get done. But there's one thing in your life, and

it's the most important thing that has already been finished.

It is your salvation, because it was done two thousand

years ago. Ephesians two, verse eight says this saving being

saved is all his idea, God's idea, and it's all

his work. You don't work for it. It's all God's work.

Jesus did it on the cross. Saving is all his idea,

all his work. All we do is trust him. All

we do is trust him enough to.

Let him do it.

It's God's gift from start to finish. Do you see

now why I call this bessies. There's nothing more for

you to do. There's nothing more for you to do.

I mean, what if I took a paint brush and

I tried to improve the Mona Lisa, It'd be stupid.

But what if I took a chisel and tried to

improve Michelangelo's statue of David?

It'd be stupid.

What if I try to add to my salvation and

make myself saved by all the good things I do.

It would be stupid.

It's the same thing. You can add anything to it.

See what I'm saying is the difference between Christianity and

every other faith, every other faith, is the difference between

do and done. All the other religions have a list

of dues, and they've all got their list of dues

and don'ts, and even their secular religions that their dues

and don'ts in political correctness. And you do all these things,

and you don't do all these things.

But when it comes.

To a relationship with Christ, it's all been done, all

been done, And never forget. Many years ago, a guy

up here on the patio after service came up to

me and he goes, Pastor Rick, tell me what do

I need to do to go to heaven? What do

I need to do to go to heaven? And I

looked at him and I just wanted to shock him,

and I said, you're too late. He wasn't expecting this

from a pastor. Okay, I know you're too late. Oh

come on, tell me what I gotta do. You're too late?

So what do you mean you're too late. There's nothing

left you can do. It was all done for you

two thousand years ago to tell us die. It is finished.

It's finished. There's nothing left for you to do. You

can't add anything to it. You can't make the Mona

Lisa look better. If you've ever bought an insurance policy,

you know there's a section called death benefits, and in

that section it lists this is what's gonna happen when

the person dies, the benefits that you get out of

this policy. I have just given you the death benefits

of the death of Jesus Christ past forgiven purpose for

living home in heaven. Ask forgiven purpose for living home

in heaven. Where are you gonna get that from anybody else?

There is no other place. There's no other place. You

need to stop trying to pay for sins that have

already been paid for. You need to stop beating yourself

up trying to atone for your own sins. You can

stop hanging yourself on a cross, because Jesus was hung

on across for you.

He was hung up for your hang ups. All you

gotta do is just accepted there is nothing more for

you to do.

Let's bower heads, would you pray this simple prayer in

humility and in honesty and authenticity to God. It actually

doesn't even matter the words you say as much as

your attitude of humility and authenticity. But just say something

that say, Jesus Christ, thank you for dying for me.

Say it in your mind. Jesus Christ, thank you for

dying for me. Thank you that you paid off the

debt that I owed God. Thank you that you satisfied justice.

It's not fair for me to go free. I should

have to pay for my sins, but you paid for them.

You satisfied God's justice. Thank you for keeping your promise.

God.

Thank you for sending a savior to earth because I

certainly can't save myself. Thank you for defeating the fear

of death that I can know there's life after death

because Jesus resurrected. And thank you that you destroyed Satan's

power to control me. I don't want to be controlled

by evil. I want to be controlled by good. So

as much as I know how, I humbly say I

believe in you. I accept your gift, and I want

to spend the rest of my life just.

Getting to know you and learning to love you.

And being grateful for what you did for me that

I could not do for myself. Thank you that you

love me that much. I humbly pray this in your name.

Amen.

One of the greatest joys of my days reading letters

from our listeners. It truly is inspiring to see how

God is working in your lives, and it encourages me

just as much as I hope to encourage you. So

today I want to share a note from Heather, who

has been discovering the incredible benefits of studying God's Word

every day. Heather wrote to me, she said, Hi, Pastor Rick,

a friend of mine recently sent me your podcast, and

I've been feeling lost and helpless and I didn't I

wasn't sure what to pray, or how to pray, or

when to pray. And it's like I hit a wall

and I haven't been sure how to get back on track. Well,

your message really spoke truth to me, and it made

me realize the missing pieces I had in my life.

Because I was not in God's Word daily. I was

basically living my life without God and I was trying

to do everything on my own.

Well, Pastor Rick.

It goes without saying that doing life without God has

been miserable failure. So thank you for stirring the Holy

Spirit in my heart with the words that I needed

to hear. I have now made the commitment to read

God's Word every day and to pray daily, and I

even started praying in the cars I go about my day.

Just like you, it's hard for me to close my

eyes and not fall asleep. You were listening. Please keep

doing what you're doing and reaching people who really need

to hear about Jesus and God's love. Well, Heather, I

am so glad to hear that you're back in God's

word and that you're making it a part of your

daily life. There really isn't anything more important than deepening

your relationship with Him, and I love the fact that

you are praying every day, especially keeping your eyes open

while you're driving. Do you or somebody know or even

feel lost yourself like Heather once did? Well, the best

way to find hope and strength is by staying connected

to God every day. That's the purpose of Daily Hope,

and that's why I started it, to help people like

Heather dive into God's word and experience his encouragement on

a daily basis. Now our Daily Hope devotionals and our

pot cats are completely free and they're delivered straight to

your inbox every morning. So if you're not getting these,

sign up today and start each day with biblical wisdom

and encouragement from God's Word. Every year, Christians from all

over the world remember the death and resurrection of Jesus

Christ by traveling to Jerusalem, where they walk the path

that Jesus took on the way to the Cross. That

path is called the Via dol Rosa. Now, since you

may not be able to ever travel to Jerusalem, I

want to suggest a way for you to celebrate and

reflect on and pray about what Jesus did for you

on the Cross. So I've created a brand new, one

of a kind resource, Journey with Jesus, a deluxe hardcover

gift edition book that's illustrated with really beautiful, high quality,

glossy photos of mosaic tile artwork that reflect each of

the stops that Jesus made on his journey to the Cross.

You're not ever going to forget this gift. It's a

great book to keep and to study over and over again,

and it'd make a great gift for your family and

your friends too.

This one of a kind resources only available through Daily Hope.

Quantities are limited, so be sure to get yours today.

Just call eight four four four six seven thirty nine

hundred or visit Dailyhope tv dot com to get yours today.