It is Finished!

Now, when you think about powerful statements throughout history, there are a few that seem to stand out.

Maybe you've read them on paper and you've kind of put your own voice in your head to those statements, or maybe you're old enough for certain statements that have held a lot of weight and power to remember hearing those or a recording of them.

Statements like, give me liberty or give me death.

Mr.

Gorbachev, tear down that wall.

Four score and seven years ago, I have a dream.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

That's one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.

And as some, as incredible as some of those statements are, and how much they meant to the people when they were originally spoken, at the end of the day, all of these statements really only impacted the people in that present situation.

But today, for us, they are just words.

But when we come to our passage today in John 19, 16 through 30, we have three of the most powerful words ever spoken.

It is finished.

When Jesus declared these words on the cross, these were not words of defeat, but words of victory.

They marked the completion of Jesus' mission.

And as we consider this phrase today, let's remember that it signifies more than just the end of suffering.

They were not just words.

It was the ultimate declaration that the debt of sin had been paid in full, that redemption had been secured, and that there was nothing more that was needed for us to be reconciled to the Father.

So this morning, I want to start with our main idea and then work from it throughout our message.

And this is what our main idea is as we begin.

Jesus completes his mission, providing redemption for his people.

Jesus completes his mission, providing redemption for his people.

And we see this in our passage today in the following three ways.

Jesus bears the cross, he fulfills Scripture, and He achieves redemption for His people.

And I've been praying as I've been preparing and walking through this passage that this will leave us in awe this morning of how good God is, that He would do this for you and me.

I hope that stirs a love back towards God because He first loved us.

Let me pray and then we'll jump in.

Father God, Lord, thank you that you loved us enough that when we were your enemies, that when we were dead in our sin, you sent your son, who was rejected by man, and who proclaimed and declared, it is finished, so that we could be brought back into a right relationship with you.

I pray that this would stir our hearts this morning to love you more deeply and more intimately, Lord.

That it would drive us to worship you more freely and to love you more passionately, so that others would see that in us and know the joy of your salvation as well.

So drive us to joy and help us to love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So let's jump into verses 16 through 22, where we see bearing the cross this morning, bearing the cross.

Now, when we jump into our passage this morning, right here in verses 16 through 22, we are thrust right into the crucifixion.

And then it kind of extrapolates out into kind of explaining how it got there.

And we read that he went out bearing his own cross.

Now, according to what we know about the Roman practice of crucifixion, the person being crucified, they would carry the cross.

They would bear the cross to the location that they were going to be crucified and hung on that cross.

What would take place is a beam, a horizontal beam, would be laid across their shoulders and they would carry that all the way to their death.

I love how many times this passage is connected to the Old Testament throughout today.

But here in this moment of Jesus bearing his cross and carrying that wood on his back, it drives us, it should point us back, if we've ever been in the book of Genesis, to Genesis 22, where Abraham takes the wood and lays it on his son, his only son's, back to be executed.

Isaac would carry this wood to the spot where he was planned to be sacrificed.

Listen to the parallel.

In Genesis 22, God says to Abraham in 22, 2, he said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

John 3 16, and talking about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, that he gave his only son.

Back in Genesis 22, take your son, your only son, Isaac.

Genesis 22, 6, and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac.

John 19, 17, talking about Jesus, and he went out bearing his own cross.

Isaac carries the wood that would be used, planned to be used for his death.

Jesus starts to carry the wooden cross that will be used for his death.

Except in Genesis 22, the son was spared.

In Genesis 19, the son would not be spared.

In Genesis 22, God does for Abraham what he would not do for himself.

In Genesis 22, God provides a sacrifice for Abraham in place of his only son.

In John 19, God provides a sacrifice for his bride, the church.

For you and me, for those who profess faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love how Abraham responds in Genesis 22, 14.

So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide.

And here in John 19, God once again provides.

What does God provide?

His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

How good is God?

That he would sacrifice his only son for you and me.

What he put his only son through for you and me.

Why?

Because he loves us, because he loves you.

Do you ever pause and consider God's love in your own life?

Really, think deeply about it.

Meditate on that.

I think for me, a struggle that has been probably from the beginning that I can remember I've always dealt with is I believe the lie that somehow I have to earn God's love.

Depending on my actions, God's love either increases or decreases.

So if I read my Bible more, if I pray more, if I give more, if I serve more, if I sin less, then God loves me more.

But if I read my Bible less, if I pray less, if I sin more, then God loves me less.

And in those moments, what am I turning God's love into?

Being about me.

God's love is no longer based on who God is and what He has done, it's based on what I have or have not done.

I have to constantly fight this lie with the truth of God's word.

Think about it like this.

How many of you are parents right now in this room?

You understand that the way you love your child is not based on their actions, but in the fact that they are your child.

I can remember the first time I held each one of my four children shortly after they were born.

It was a love that didn't have to be earned.

I wasn't thinking to myself, okay, here's my firstborn, here's my second, my third, my fourth.

All right, once they prove themselves to me, then I'll love them.

Once they check off these things and they do these things for me, then my love will increase or will be established for them based on their actions.

No, it's this is my child and I love them.

And if we are people who are not perfect love our children the way we do, how much more does God the Father love you and me?

How do we know God loves us?

Because he did not spare his own son.

Quite often when we read in the Gospels or in the New Testament about the New Testament about the cross, what we do is we we gloss over the horrific aspect of the cross and what Jesus went through the Father, what he went through when the Father did not spare him.

Have you ever noticed in the New Testament, a lot of times it's just the cross.

We don't get a lot of details about the what took place leading up to the cross or what took place on the cross, because at the time the Bible was written, everyone understood how horrific and tragic and terrible the cross really was.

How after being stripped naked, he was beaten relentlessly.

How hanging on the cross led to suffocation from his chest cavity collapsing from the weight of his body pulling down, that every time he would strain to pull himself up, it would put pressure on his wrist and feet from the nails that were through them.

When people were hung on crosses, this would go on for hours or even days.

And there the king hung as life drained from his body.

And above his head there was a sign.

Every person crucified always had a sign attached above their head to the cross, written out their crime.

It might read thief or murderer, but in Jesus' case, according to verse 19, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.

Now, this was extremely controversial for the Jewish people in this moment because they had what?

They had rejected Jesus as their king.

He was not their king.

The Jewish people wanted the sign changed to that Jesus said he was king of the Jews.

But Pilate stands firm as a dig at the people.

Here is your king.

Pilate not realizing that he was furthering God's plan of redemption.

And we saw the same take place with the high priest Caiaphas back in John 11, John 11, 49 through 52.

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

F.

F.

Bruce was a professor and theologian and was very influential in the second half of the twentieth century, said this in his commentary of John about this.

The crucified one is the true king, the kingliest king of all, because it is he who is stretched on the cross.

He turns an obscene instrument of torture into a throne of glory and reigns from the tree.

What man intends for evil, God uses for good.

And God does this through the fulfillment of Scripture.

Look at verses 23 through 29, where we see this, the fulfillment of Scripture.

The fulfillment of Scripture.

Now, what does it mean to fulfill something?

When you think about what it means to fulfill something, if in a retail situation or a work or a company, when you fulfill something, you are completing it or you're meeting the requirements of a task, promise, obligation, or expectation.

If you fulfill an order, you're delivering the goods or the services requested.

You are fulfilling a promise, meaning doing what you said you would do.

So here, when we come to John 19, 23 through 29 and we read to fulfill the scriptures, this should cause us to pause.

Why?

Because Jesus is on the cross.

This doesn't make sense.

This is not how things should happen.

If you're standing at the foot of the cross that day and you wanted Jesus crucified, then you are thinking he has been defeated.

All is well.

If you were standing at the foot of the cross that day and you were one of his followers, or someone who believed and thought that this man was supposed to be the leader who would free you from the oppression of Rome in that day, then you believe all is lost.

At the cross, you have two different perspectives as they watched Jesus hang there.

But today, when we read to fulfill the scriptures, we need to understand this that everything was going according to plan.

This was not throwing anyone off.

What was happening here was not by chance.

This was not an accident.

The father was not caught off guard when this happened.

Oh man, I gotta change my course and I gotta figure out a different plan.

God was in complete control.

This is God's providence in real time taking place.

Which just basically means how God's plan and how he interacts with creation.

Every world event, every nation's rise and fall, every natural disaster, every election, each new life and every passing, every job promotion or job loss, every medical diagnosis, every hardship you face, every conversation you have with a friend or stranger, it's all for God's purpose and God's plan for his glory and for our good.

I believe that's a great reminder that probably a lot of us need to have this morning.

Whatever you are facing today is not a surprise to God.

Nothing has or will catch God off guard.

So what does that mean for us when we go through something that does catch us off guard or surprise us?

Whether it's good or bad, whether it's a moment of celebration and joy, maybe it's a moment of hardship, grief, sadness, or terrible news, God is still in control.

So when we come to John 19, 23 and we read, When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, all is not lost.

Everything is going according to plan.

We see scripture being fulfilled.

Here in verse 24, John tells us that there were four soldiers who decided to divide Jesus' garments.

And then John says this was to fulfill scripture by quoting Psalm 22, 18.

What's interesting about this is that the soldiers were playing a part in God's plan that they didn't even know they were participating in.

Why is this the case?

Because if if they really think about it like this, if they really believed that Jesus was God, if they really believed that he was the true king, do you think they would have taken part in crucifying Jesus?

No.

This helps us understand this moment was not an accident.

It was not God losing control, and these soldiers are doing something out of God's control, and God is sitting there going, Well, these guys are pretty strong.

I'm gonna let them go and then I'll figure something else.

No.

R.C.

Sprawl was a pastor and author who passed away a few years ago, and he said this regarding this very moment in John.

John does not say the Roman soldiers got together and said, We should gamble for his garments, because it says in the Jewish scriptures that someone is going to cast lots for his clothes, and we want to make sure that the scriptures are fulfilled down to the last detail.

No.

This is John's editorial comment pointing out that the soldiers, when they went through this act of gambling for the garments of the Christ, unknowingly and involuntarily were fulfilling the precise details of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the death of the Messiah.

John is zealous to help his reader understand that what happened on the cross was not an accident of history, but it came to pass through the invisible hand of a sovereign providence.

The soldiers were fulfilling God's plan.

What man intends for evil, God intends for good.

Look at the contrast between the soldiers and the women.

Four soldiers, four women.

Soldiers are at the foot of the cross, mocking Jesus by gambling for his garments.

These four women are at the foot of the cross and loss.

And John specifically mentions Jesus' mother and himself.

In the midst of Jesus' suffering and dying, Jesus passes the care of his mother from himself to John, the disciple he loved.

And then we can continue on to see how Jesus fulfills scripture again when he says, I thirst.

What was Jesus referring to here?

Psalm 69.

This is an incredible moment that I think if we don't understand what's taking place in Psalm 69, we don't grasp how Jesus is fulfilling something incredible here.

In Psalm 69, David is looking for God's salvation and deliverance from his enemies.

Don't miss this.

David is calling out to God, looking for salvation and deliverance from his enemies.

And in Psalm 69, 21, David says, They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst, they gave me sour wine to drink.

In Psalm 69, David needs God to rescue him.

David can't save himself.

He needs someone greater.

The king needed someone greater.

And here in John 19, when Jesus says, I thirst, what do they give him?

The same that David mentioned in Psalm 69, sour wine.

It's interesting.

Sour wine was not something to medicate, it was bitter.

It would actually alert you more.

A lot of times, what they would offer people going to the cross was a more medicinal wine, so it would ease some of their pain.

But in this situation, what do they give him?

They give him sour wine, which alerts him, wakes him up, and keeps him going.

That's what he wanted.

This is why Jesus could say, as he's being arrested in John 18, 11, so Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath.

Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?

I love what D.A.

Carson, who is a theologian and author, says about this moment in his commentary.

John wants to make his readers understand that every part of Jesus' passion was not only in the Father's plan of redemption, but a consequence of the Son's direct obedience to it.

David needed a savior to rescue him, and so do you and I.

Whereas David and all of us could never be obedient enough to save ourselves, Jesus was.

Where you and I could never redeem ourselves, Jesus can.

So if we pull scripture out of the Old Testament and try to make a case for it without understanding how the New Testament authors interpreted it, we miss the point.

And Jesus comes along and he fulfills it.

And this is where we see redemption accomplished by Jesus in verse 30.

Redemption accomplished, verse 30.

We are reminded here in verse 30 of what Jesus said in John 10, 18.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

This change I have received, this charge I have received from my Father.

We have to remember that no one took Jesus' life as if he was willing not to die.

He gave his life even to the end.

He declared it is finished.

He bowed his head and he gave up his spirit.

When Jesus had received the source.

Wine, he said, it is finished.

It doesn't say with his last breath, in the sense of it's he's squeezing this out, he has nothing left to give.

He declares, he says, it is finished, bows his head, gives up his spirit.

Even when mankind believe they are in control and crucified Jesus, God is still in control.

When we come to the to all of the Gospels, and we see in the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, during this time there was darkness over the whole land.

But when Jesus uttered the words, it is finished, something incredible took place.

What was finished?

John 17, 4.

When Jesus is praying the high priestly prayer, he says, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

And what was the work that Jesus came to do?

John the Baptist tells us in John 1.29.

The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The work was to take away the sin of the world.

And when Jesus declared, It is finished, that's what was accomplished.

When we come to the end of the Gospel of John, we read that the purpose of this gospel in John 20, 31, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The only reason that you and I have the ability to believe and have our sins forgiven is because of the cross.

That's it.

We have to understand the cross more deeply to understand why the cross is such an important aspect for redemption of followers of Jesus Christ.

If we just take the cross at face value from a historical point of view at the time Jesus was crucified, we'll only grasp it and understand it from the point of the Romans.

Which is good, but it doesn't give us the totality of the significance of the cross.

I love how the Heidelberg Catechism asks and answers the question of the cross being the form of death Jesus had to die.

Under the second part of man's deliverance, Lord's Day 15, question 39, very lot of details there.

Question, is there anything more in his being crucified than if he had died some other death?

Answer, yes, there is.

For thereby I am assured that he took on him the curse which lay upon me, for the death of the cross was a curse of God.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

The Apostle Paul here in Galatians 3.13, what he's doing there, he's quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 21, 23, where Moses says, from God, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

It's incredible how the New Testament explains, clarifies, and helps us understand the Old Testament.

So why would Jesus need to become a curse for you and me?

This goes all the way back to Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve.

They reject God.

When Adam and Eve had sinned against God, God uh placed them under a curse of death.

Listen to Romans 5, 12 through 14.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was the type of the one who was to come.

You and I, and every other person who has ever lived in this world, apart from Jesus Christ, are under the curse of death.

There is nothing, nothing that you and I can do on our own apart from Jesus.

This is why Paul continues in Romans 5, 18 and 19.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

What Paul is saying is that when Adam sinned, that sin was passed down to every single one of us.

Doesn't matter how cute your child is when they come out of the womb, they are sinful.

Doesn't matter how much you love them, how much you'll protect them, they are sinful.

But through Jesus' life and death, those who are in Christ will be justified, meaning they will be declared righteous before God, which essentially basically just means forgiven.

I think it's interesting.

If if we are no longer cursed, then what is the opposite of being cursed?

Blessed.

Being blessed.

What does that mean for you and me to be blessed?

I love how Psalm 1 talks about the blessed man.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers or stand in the way of sinners, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The blessed man, because of Jesus, meditates on his law day and night.

We are thrust into that.

I think it's interesting, is a lot of times if you struggle with anxiety, depression, or stress, like I can sometimes, with anxiety or the fear of what am I gonna, oh, what am I gonna encompass tomorrow?

What's gonna happen?

It's because I've taken my focus off of Christ and I've put it on myself.

I'm living under the curse of death.

Once again, I'm not living that blessed life.

It's fascinating.

In the book of Job, what happens?

Job is crushed.

His kids are killed, his property is plundered, everything is blessed.

He has his focus on himself.

He is frustrated.

And what does God do?

He comes onto the scene and says, What?

He doesn't start saying, Job, look internally, look at your heart.

No, he tells him about himself.

And Job, after hearing God talk for two chapters, Job goes, I'm so sorry.

And God says, Let's go again, and goes again and tells him how great he really is.

And then everything changes.

Isaiah comes into the throne room of God, doesn't even see God fully.

He sees the hem of his robe.

And he says, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.

When we continually focus on ourselves, when I focus on myself, I go back to living under that cursed life.

I don't live that blessed life that Psalm 1 tells us about that drives me to what?

Meditate on the Word of God.

Why?

Because the Word of God is not about me, it's about Him.

It draws my focus and attention to Him.

Because if you go to the Word of God and you're not driven to awe and worship of God, then you're missing the point.

It's not about you.

But guess what?

It drives you to love God more and it does the blessed life, does make you feel better.

Brings peace, brings you out of anxiety, brings you out of stress.

And the reason we can live under this blessed life is because Jesus drank the sour wine of God's judgment, so you and I don't have to.

So we can be blessed.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1, 19 through 22.

And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

Can we just pause and consider how incredible God really is?

When you and I were hostile in mind towards God, when we were doing evil deeds, when we were his enemies, what did God do?

Jesus, through his death, made us holy and blameless before God.

We go from being his enemies to being his children.

This is what Jesus did when he declared it is finished.

George Smeaton was a 19th-century Scottish theologian and Greek scholar, and I love what he says about this moment in John 19.

It's a long quote, hang with me.

After these hours of inconceivable sorrow and desertion on the cross, under a darkness which just resembled the blackness awaiting the lost, the Lord felt that his work was accomplished, and he gave utterance to that saying which has brought light, rest, and liberty to so many minds.

It is finished.

He meant that the expiatory sufferings had reached their climax and were sufficient, that the guilt of mankind was fully atoned for, that there was nothing left undone, that God and man were reunited and reconciled, and now he had but to resign his spirit into his father's hands.

As priest and victim, he had now only one act to perform, to lay down his life by the priestly act of commending his spirit to God.

Nature was not exhausted, nor did life ooze away, for he still had power over his own life, and no man took it from him.

After having done all and endured all, he deemed it fitting, without more delay, to resign his life or spirit into his father's hand at an acceptable sacrifice.

It was the high priest offering up his soul to God and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

And he uttered it with a loud voice to show that strength still remained in him, and that by his own authority he released the spirit from the lacerated and wounded body.

The curse was, Thou shalt die, and now it was exhausted and sin annihilated.

Now heaven and earth were reunited, God and man were at one again.

What a powerful reflection on Christ's final words and the profound meaning they hold.

It is finished.

Wasn't simply a statement of ending, it was a declaration of victory, love, and total freedom for each and every one of us.

We need to grab this truth and let it reshape our lives every single day, knowing that every struggle, every burden we carry has already been met by the ultimate sacrifice.

Jesus accomplished the work.

Jesus bridged the gap.

This assurance of unity with God invites us to live in hope and freedom each and every day.

This should encourage our faith in Christ.

Think about it this way.

If redemption was not accomplished through Jesus Christ, then I now have to do something to earn my faith or complete my faith.

But when we understand that redemption was accomplished through Jesus Christ, then we can fully grasp that there is nothing that you and I can do to earn it, keep it, or even maintain it.

When we stop believing that Jesus accomplished redemption is the moment you and I will begin working for it.

When difficult moments start to happen in our lives, you'll wonder why or if something you've done and start to question whether God really loves you.

Does he really care about me?

Your relationship with God becomes a checklist of do this and don't do that.

It will become a relationship based on your performance and what you can accomplish to please God.

But thank God we don't have to earn his love.

How do you know God loves you today?

Look to the cross and listen to Jesus' declaration.

It is finished.

So today rest in the finished work of Christ and remember why the Gospel of John was written, John 20, 31.

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

A truly blessed life.