Rick Warren - The Word of Victory - Part One

Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we

continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love.

There are seven words, in particular that Jesus spoke during

his final hours on the Cross that hold the keys

for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part one of a

message called the Word of Victory.

How many of you have ever used this phrase, I

just can't seem to get it all done.

Let me see your hands.

Okay, I just can't seem to get it all done.

How many you have ever said this, I need more time? Yeah, yeah, right, okay.

Because we live in a broken planet. Fortunately you don't

have to live here forever. You're not going to spend

eternity on this planet.

That's actually good news.

I don't want to live forever on a place where

there sorrow and suffering and sadness and sickness. I want

to go to a place where it's perfect. But because

you have a limited amount of time on this earth,

I hate to tell you this, but you're going to

die with unfinished business. People say if I could just

get it all done, You're not. You're not going to

get it all done. You just need to accept that fact.

You're not going to get it all done. You will

end your life having things that you wish you had done,

that you didn't, could have done, that you didn't, should

have done, whatever, because you just don't have enough time.

Only one person in all of history died with finished business,

with no unfinished business, and his name was Jesus, of course,

And the world is filled with unfinished projects and unfinished

buildings and unfinished dreams. I remember one time, years and

years ago, I took my kids to see Mount Rushmore

and they thought it was really cool. But I remember

Matthew saying to me, Dad, when are they gonna finish it? Because,

as you know, Rushmore is not finished. The guy ran

out of money, he died, it was left unfinished. His

son took over. The guy who built Mount Rushmore worked

on it four months.

And gave up. And it's one of our national monuments,

is unfinished.

And that's what That's what Matthew noticed, as I said,

you're going to die with some unfinished business. And only

one person who's ever died having completed everything he came

to do, and that was Jesus. Now, this was the

sole goal of his life. Notice there in your outline

for his entire life, Jesus had one overarching goal John

four thirty four.

I must finish. I must finish.

The work that God gave me to do. Now, fortunately

for you, fortunately for me, he did. He did finish.

And today we come to the sixth word of Jesus

from the cross. We've been looking at the seven last

sayings of Jesus that he said.

While he was dying on the cross. The last three

says them right in the row. I'm thirsty.

It is finished, and into your hands I commit my spirit.

We'll look at that next week. But we come to

the sixth one in John nineteen. This is a scene

on the cross knowing that all was now completed.

I have to come back to that in a minute.

He's hanging on the cross, Jesus, knowing that all was

now completed and so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.

Jesus said, I'm thirsty. And we talked about that a

couple of weeks ago, and after Jesus was given a drink,

he said, it is finished, and with that he bowed

his head and he gave up his spirit. I think

it's important he says he gave up. He voluntarily gave

it up. Now I call this sixth phrase, it is finished,

the word of victory, the word of victory. Now, throughout

history there have been a lot of victorious statements. When

you know, MacArthur says I will return, and he goes

back to the Philippines. And and when Neil Armstrong lands

on the moon and he says the eagle has landed.

That's a statement of victory.

Where any of you alive when when Neil Armstrong said

that the eagle has landed, Yeah, I was still a baby.

I was just in fact, I think it was in

my mother's womb at that time. But after a big battle,

after a great game, after a major contest, when a

war is concluded, there are great statements of victory. But

this statement, these three words it is finished, is the

greatest statement of all time. In fact, I want to

tell you that these three words are the three most

important words in your life. When Jesus said it is finished,

it determined your future. If Jesus had not said these

three words, you wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't be

headed to heaven, and the world would be a very,

very different place. These are the three most important words

in history. It is finished. What's he talking about?

What is this?

What are these three words? It is finished? The Bible

says that Jesus shouted it. In fact, it's the reason

he asked for some water because he was his parched throat.

He was thirsty, but he wanted to be able to

shout out this phrase. So after they had give him

a dream, he shouts out, it is finished.

Now.

The irony of this statement is that when Jesus said it,

nobody understood it at that moment. The Romans, the passer buyers,

the lookers, even the believers didn't get what was going on.

When Jesus shouted out it is finished, the Romans probably

were thinking, Yeah, that's right, We're finished with this rabble rouser,

this revolutionary. This guy's been causing all this commotion. Now

we're finished with a guy. Good riddance. And when when

Jesus said it is finished, I'm sure Pilot thought, well,

you know, my political headaches are finished. The guy's dead,

because there's been nothing but trouble for me since since

I've heard about him. When the religious leaders heard Jesus

say it is finished, they're thinking, our, our competition is finished.

We've gotten rid of him because.

He was far more popular than we were, and we didn't.

They envied Jesus and they said he's finished. I mean,

even the disciples, when they heard Jesus say it his finished,

were thinking, Yep, the kingdom's finished. Our dream of a

new kingdom, our dream of the kingdom of God is finished.

It's gone.

And even I think the devil misunderstood this. I think

when Jesus said it is finished, Satan thought I've won one.

I have killed God. I won, and the Son of

God is finished. But here's the thing. Jesus did not

say I am finished, because he wasn't. He rose three

days later he said it is finished. These are the

three most important words in history. Nothing will ever be

more important to you in your life than these three words.

It is finished. What was Jesus saying on the cross

when he gave the word of victory? What was finished?

His suffering?

Yeah?

Uh, his humiliation yeah, his pain yes, But much much

much more. What I want to do this weekend is

explain to you the five things that Jesus accomplished. This

is Christianity one oh one. This is the basic gospel

in a nutshell. If you've ever wondered what are we

all about? What is church all about? Maybe you have

another religious background, no religious background, what is Christianity about?

I'm gonna explain it to you in.

This session because when Jesus said it is finished, he

was talking about five very specific benefits to your life

and to my life, and we're going to look at

them this weekend. Now, first thing I want to explain

to you is that this phrase it has finished. These

three words in the Bible, which was originally the New Testament,

was written in Greek, is only one word. It's one word.

We translate it it is finished. But when Jesus shouted

it is finished, he actually said the word to tell

u sty, to tell us sty, and he cried out

at the top of his voice, to tell a sty. Now,

in ancient Greek, to tell a sty was a beautiful word.

It was a well known word.

It was a common word, and it had a lot

of different usages. In fact, there were five major uses.

And when Jesus talks and says and shouts out of

his finished he's implying all five of these are finished

in his work here on earth. And he said, I've

got to finish the work that the father sent me

to do. Now, one of the ways that to tell

us I was used as a servant would use it.

A servant would come in having completed all of his assignments,

done all of his tasks, finished his jobs, and he'd

come in and he'd say to his master, to his

employer master, to tell us sty, which means, I've finished

all the work he gave me to do. That's what

it meant to tell us. I meant, Boss, I got

it all done. Okay, I got it all done. It's

all finished. The job you gave me is completed. And

that's how a servant would use this. A judge, actually

this is a judicial term too. A judge would use

this in a courtroom and a judge would bang the

gavel down and say to tell us sty, meeting, the

sentence has been served and paid for.

Justice has been served.

And so, for instance, if you had gone to prison

for a crime and you had done the time, and

you were coming back before the judge and he's now

going to release you because you have paid for your crime.

You have done your time.

He would say, and he would stamp on your prison

document to tell us sty, which means justice has been served,

You have done the time, You've paid the penalty.

Okay.

And that's what the word meant to in an accountant,

I mean in a.

Judicial setting.

Now accountants, which would be a third way, use this

in another way. It was a business term and it

actually meant paid in full. And they actually would make

stamps that said to tell us sty. And when you

paid off a bill they stamp it to teleisti. In fact,

even today they have found archaeologists have found many many

old papyri that's old, you know, old paper made out

of plants, old papyri of tax records with the word

to tell usty stamped on it. It meant paid in full.

You have no more debt anymore. It's been paid off.

The debt has been canceled. Interestingly enough, this word was

also used by artists to tell usty. And an artist

when they were painting with either pastels or watercolor or

whatever they're using charcoal, as they had finished a painting

and they made the final brushstroke on that painting, the

artists would say to teleisty, which means the painting is finished.

The picture is done, all the details are there, It's

been completed. There's nothing more to add to this picture,

as an artists would use it. Finally, this word would

also be used by priests in the temple, in the

Jewish Temple, and when they offered a sacrifice, which had

to be a perfect sacrifice, could not be a blemished lamb.

And when they offered the sacrifice, the priest would then

say in Greek, to tell ustye, which means the sacrifice

has been made. Every one of those five things, five

ways the word was used. Jesus was using it in

the same way when he says and shouts on the

cross after dying on the cross, to tell ustye. So

what did Jesus finish on the cross? As I said,

this is the single most important phrase in your life.

If Jesus hadn't said this, there is no hope for

your life none, no hope of heaven, no hope of

God's power in your life, no hope of the promises

being fulfilled. None of that's going to happen. But Jesus

did say it. This is Christianity in a nutshell. So

what did Jesus finish. When he says it's finished, what

did he complete? What did he accomplish? Write these down?

Five things? Number one. The first thing Jesus accomplished was this,

He fulfilled what God had promised us. He fulfilled what

God had promised us. Now, last week or a couple

weeks ago, I talked to you about that in the

Old Testament for thousands of years, God had been predicting

that he was going to send a savior. And there

are over three hundred and eighty of these predictions. They're

called prophecies, three hundred and eighty of these predictions over

thousands of years. He said, here's how you're going to

know when it's me coming to earth. And he has

all these conditions, And we went through that a couple

of weeks ago, three hundred and eighty prophecies about the

coming Savior, the coming Messiah. But there are not only

prophecies or predictions in the Bible. There are promises, and

there are many, many promises. And Jesus, when he dies

on the cross, fulfills every promise that God has made

to you. Let me show you a couple verses Luke,

chapter twenty four Jesus said, this. By the way, this

story that I'm reading happens after the cross. He's resurrected,

and he's actually walking down the street a few days later,

the week after he's died on the cross. So Jesus said,

this is on the road to Amis. Jesus said, this

is what I told you while I was still with.

You, in other words, before I died on the cross.

Now he's back to life, and he's telling us to

some people, everything must be fulfilled that is written about me.

In the Law of Moses.

That's the first five books of the Bible, in the Prophets,

and in the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so

they could understand the scriptures, and he told them this

is what was written, that Christ will suffer and rise

from the dead on the third day, and repentance and

forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to

all nations. Jesus, and this was predicted, and this was promised,

and I just fulfilled it a few days ago.

He said, I'm fulfilling. Now.

You're never going to find Jesus' name in the Old Testament.

But all of the predictions and all the prophecies of

what he would do, what he would say, where we

would be born, how he would die, and all of

those things.

We looked back a couple weeks ago.

Are there He fulfilled the promises that God had given

to us. Look at the next verse there, Second Corinthians

one twenty. All of God's promises, all of God's promises

have been fulfilled in him. Who that's Jesus. And he says,

that's why we say amen when we give glory to

God through Christ.

When Jesus died.

On the cross, and he said these three words, it

is finished. He was announcing five benefits to you. The

first one, he fulfilled what God had promised us. He

fulfilled all the scripture, all the prophecies, all of the promises.

Number two, this is a big one. Satisfied what God's

justice required. He satisfied what God's justice required.

Now let me explain this to you.

God is a God of justice. He is imminently fair.

God cannot be unfair. God is a god of justice

and truth and righteousness and holiness and always does what's

right and can never do what's wrong. So God is

a god of justice, and God is a God of

order and God is a god of laws, and God

is a god of fairness. Now, the only reason the

universe works is because that's God's nature. God wired the

universe to run on certain laws. There are laws of physics.

God designed them all their laws in astronomy, there are

laws in chemistry. There are laws in the environment, physical laws.

There's the law of gravity. How about if the law

gravity just worked every other day and it was totally unreliable.

God's laws always work all the time, and so God

designed the entire universe so that rotations work, and gravity's work,

and the laws of thermodynamics work. All of God's laws

are immutable. Now there are physical laws, laws of physics.

Has said they are physical laws. There are spiritual laws.

There are moral laws, and there are relational laws. God

is a god of justice and law. Now, God gave

the moral laws to Moses and to the nation of Israel,

to the Jews, and the Jews were to take the

moral laws and share them.

With everybody else.

You've heard the phrase that the Jews are God's chosen people.

It's true. What were they chosen to do? They were

chosen to.

Be the purveyors, are the ambassadors of God's moral law

to everybody else, those of us who are not Jews.

That's what they were chosen to do, to take the

word of God and to take the truth of God,

and to pass on the laws of God to everybody else. Now,

human beings, we you and I, we have two problems

with the laws of God. Number one, we are completely

unable to keep them all. We just can't keep them all.

In fact, here's what the Bible says Romans chapter eight.

The law of Moses could not save us because our

sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan.

This is like a plan be God put into effect

a different plan to save us. He sent his own

son in a human body like ours, except that ours

are sinful, and God destroyed sins control over us by

giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins.

That's what he was doing on the cross.

He did this so that the requirement of the law

would be fully accomplished, finished, satisfied, completed for us, who

no longer follow our own sinful nature but instead follow

the spirits. What the rest of that verse says, now,

Jesus is the only person in human history who ever

kept all of God's law perfectly.

Because he was the son of God.

Now, the first problem we have is that we're completely

unable to keep all of God's laws. The second problem

with God is this, justice demands that lawbreakers pay the consequences.

You don't have laws, and then if you break it them,

nothing happens. There are certain laws. There are laws of sleep.

If you don't get enough sleep, your body pays for it.

There are laws. If you don't exercise, your body pays

for But if you eat the wrong foods, your body

paid for it. You are free on this planet to

do anything you want to. God gives you that freedom,

but you are not free from the consequences. I'm free

to go out, get drunk, cause accidents, blow up buildings,

steal things, live a totally licentious, self centered life.

And I'm free to do that.

God gives me that freedom, he does not give me

the freedom from the consequences of it. And every kick

has a kick back, and there is a payoff, and

justice demands that law breakers pay a penalty. So God

is a just God, but he's also a loving God.

And Jesus did for us what God's justice and God's

law required. Look at the next verses. Look at this

verse on the screen. After Jesus had finished his work.

What's the work he's talking about? That work on the cross,

dying for our sins. After Jesus had finished his work

on the cross, he became the source of eternal salvation

for who, for everybody, everybody who obeys him.

It doesn't matter what.

Your background is, doesn't matter, what your culture is, doesn't matter,

what your religion is, doesn't matter, what your personality is,

your sex is, doesn't matter, he says, it's for salvations

for everybody who obeys him, who accepts what he did

for him. Look at the next person in your outline

Romans ten four. Christ ended the law so that everyone

who believes in him may be right with God. Now

circle that phrase, ended the law. Did you know That's

what God did when he let Jesus down the cross.

He ended the law.

Now he said, wait, amen, does that mean to keep

the tak commandments anymore?

No, that's not what that means. Let me explain it now.

I want you to listen really closely, because the world

gets this wrong all the time. There are three kinds

of law in the Bible. There's legal law for the

nation of Israel. There's ceremonial law for the worship of Israel,

and there's moral law for everybody in the whole world. Okay,

there are legal laws in the book, in the Old

Testament books that are for the nation of Israel. You're

not obligated to fulfill those laws. You're not a Jew,

you don't live in Israel, and you weren't living in

the time where there is the theocracy of God being

the King of Israel.

You're not obligated.

And then there's ceremonial rules in the Book of Leviticus.

Anybody ever read that book. Okay, there's some strange rules

in there. Okay, rules of hygiene, rules of health, rules

of the kind of clothes you're supposed to wear, rules

the way you're supposed to do worship in the temple,

and all that. That was the ceremonial law for the

nation of Israel. You're not obligated to keep those. You're

not at ISRAELI and you're not under that system. God

ended that system, endo that system. Now, the moral laws

are still an effect. You can't murder, you can't lie,

you can't commit adultery. Those are the big ones, and

those are always an effect. And what happens is is

people will come up to you and say, what about

the law that says da da da da da dad?

And he said, well, that's a ceremonial law. Well that's

a national law. It's not a moral law, and it

doesn't have the same effect as the laws that are.

To keep on.

Jesus ended the old system. He just says it right there.

He ended the law, so everyone who believes in him

may be right with God.

Pastor Rick Warren says that every word Jesus spoke was

important and has life changing power. The words that Jesus

spoke during his final hours on the cross hold the

key to finding fulfillment in your life, career, and relationships.

That's why Rick put together a powerful seven Essian study

kit called the Seven Greatest Words of Love. Get it

now and unlock the full meaning and amazing blessings of

Jesus' last words before his resurrection words of forgiveness, assurance, love, trust,

and more. And this is a life changing Bible study

with seven video sessions and a workbook. Request your copy

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