Savior: It Is Finished | Part 6

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Welcome.

If you're new, my name's Ryan.

Absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

And down through the centuries, Christians have had this call and response if you're new to it.

When the caller says he has risen, the responder says he's risen indeed.

Why don't we try that?

He's risen.

Amen.

Amen.

Now I don't mean to brag or flex on you this morning.

But here I go.

On Friday, I submitted all of my tax documents to our CPA.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At least most of them.

Not quite all of them, but most of them.

Most of them.

And some of you are like, is that even a big deal?

I did that like a month ago, two months ago.

Yes, it's a big deal.

Taxes stress me out.

Anybody else just stress me out?

I hate them.

And so as a result, I put it off as long as I possibly can.

Last year, uh, when the tax deadline got extended to October 15th, you can bet your little heart that I waited until October 15th to do it.

And it just kind of hangs there.

When my taxes are done, there's this feeling.

Rivaled only to the bliss I experienced at the birth of my kids.

And then there's next year, and I have to do it all over again.

In life, we rarely, you know, find things finished.

We're always working, uh striving.

We live not in the done, but in the doing, don't we?

Ever striving, but rarely arriving when it comes to relationships.

They could always be better.

Our work, careers, we're striving.

Hoping, longing, and that feeling of finish.

What do you wish you could be completely finished with?

Maybe you're a high school student, you're like, I'm ready to be done with high school and on to college.

Maybe you're in college, you're like, I'm so ready to step into the career.

Maybe you just started your career and you can't wait for retirement.

You're like, hello, thank you very much.

Or maybe you're single and you're ready to step and be married, or maybe you're ready to start a family, or maybe you're ready for your kids to be out of the house.

Is there something you're longing to put behind you for good?

Something that you just wish, gosh, maybe it's um that addiction you're wrestling with and you just battled with your entire life.

Maybe it's um, you know, that sense of loneliness that you wish you could put behind you.

Maybe it's the guilt and shame that we carry with us.

What's on your mind that you wish could be fully resolved?

Maybe it's anxiety or depression, that constant need for others' approval just to feel good about yourself or to achieve or the healing from the trauma you incurred.

We live not in the done, but in the doing.

And we feel this spiritually, don't we?

I need to do blank to experience purpose or peace or fulfillment or life.

And Jesus utters from the cross some of humanity's most significant words.

It is finished.

What if?

What if purpose and peace aren't found in what you do but in what God has already done for you?

And I know it's resurrection Sunday, but can I take us back to the cross?

Well, I'm gonna do it anyways, you didn't respond, so here we go.

Listen to how John, one of Jesus' disciples, an eyewitness to the events of his crucifixion, records Jesus' final moments before he died.

In John chapter 19, verse 28, it says this later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty.

John 19:28

A jar of wine, vinegar was there, and so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, Say this with me, it is finished.

With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus' final word on the cross, it is finished.

Now, I would have thought hanging on the cross, you might have said, I am finished.

Like that victim, like I am the victim of brutal uh like pain and crucifixion.

I'm finished, I'm done.

He doesn't say that.

And he doesn't say this is if I was the son of God, by the way, this is what I probably would have said.

Good thing I'm not the savior of the world.

Instead of I am finished, I would have said, you are finished.

I have a strong justice gene, vengeance, right?

You did this, you're finished.

Jesus says, it is finished.

But what?

What exactly was finished?

What was happening on the cross?

And this is incredible because when he says it is finished, the cross is not happening to Jesus.

Jesus is happening to the cross.

And he is actually actively accomplishing something in that moment.

Those three words, it is finished, is actually just one word in the Greek, to telestai.

To telesty means this: to complete or bring to an end, to finish, to accomplish, to be perfected, or to pay what's due.

Now notice this, it's always used as a happy word, a word of achievement, a word of victory.

Jesus hanging in agony in the brutal shame of the cross speaks a happy word.

It is finished, to telesti.

To telesti.

It is finished.

To teleste is what sociologists tell us is a condensed symbol.

A condensed symbol is this idea, it's a word or an image or phrase, and it's layered with significance and meaning, rich and deep, multiple meanings that lay within this symbol.

It evokes deep emotional response.

It can transcend cultures and continents.

The cross is a condensed symbol.

In Jesus' day, it actually spoke of the naked, unrestrained power of Rome, their dominance, and the unspeakable shame.

And today we wear it as jewelry because it speaks of the naked love and justice of God on display, his sacrifice.

What was a symbol of death is now a symbol of hope and life.

To telesti is a condensed symbol, rich with vivid imagery that speaks to what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

The first picture that comes to mind in the original audience when they heard Jesus say, to telesti is the picture of priest and sheep.

Now Jesus was executed and it was Passover.

He came into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, right?

But Jesus, think about this, he's stepping into the scene, it heads into Jerusalem.

Jerusalem's about 25,000 people at that time.

It swells up to well over two million people converge on the city for this great festival and feast.

And on Palm Sunday, when Jesus comes in victorious, uh in that day, it was known as the Day of the Lamb.

And shepherds would bring large herds into the city of Jerusalem by way of the sheep gate.

And before they were able to pass into the city, all of these sheep were here to be sacrificed over Passover for the sake of the sins of the people.

Before they were able to come into the city, the priests stood at the gate and they examined every single sheep or lamb that came through.

And they'd look for it.

It had to be perfect, it had to be spotless, it had to be unblemished.

And as they examined it, they would sit back and say, to telestai.

Perfect.

And that lamb would come over.

Josephus tells us, he's an ancient historian, that well over 250,000 lambs were sacrificed over Passover.

To Telestai.

Perfect.

Spotless.

You know, we all try to cover up our imperfections, don't we?

I actually wear a bigger thing to cover up a few imperfections.

Maybe we put up make on makeup, maybe we inject some things to cover up our imperfections.

And here's the reason why we actually believe if we were actually fully examined, we would be rejected, don't we?

If you could see me, if you could really see who I am, what I'm all about, if you could see the inner of me, you wouldn't like me or want me.

We have to cover up, we have to somehow augment our present itself to be worthy or lovable or likable.

We present a pres this filter persona to the world.

We try to cover up all of our imperfections.

And the gospel declares this.

The gospel declares that in the shadow of the cross you are perfectly accepted.

On the cross, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world declares to telesti.

It is finished.

It's perfect.

That right now you are perfectly accepted, not partially accepted.

And that's how we feel most of the time, isn't it?

Like you like part of me, but you wouldn't like all of me.

You're perfectly accepted.

You're not potentially accepted.

If I somehow work my way or do better and I'm gonna fake it till I make it.

No, no, no.

You're perfectly accepted.

The God of the universe sees you, knows you, understands, and has examined all of you to tell us die.

In fact, uh the scripture says it this way that he who knew no sin became sin for you and me, that we might be the very righteousness of God.

So that when God looks at you, Jesus said, On the cross, I took all of the sin, all of the imperfections, all the things that you've been hiding, I've been hiding, that we just cover up.

Because if you saw them, you wouldn't like me.

He says, I place that on my son Jesus.

And so when I see you, I don't see your imperfections, I see Jesus.

You are perfectly accepted.

The first picture that comes to mind were priests and sheep.

The second picture that came to mind was of purchases and prisoners.

Um in the ancient day uh when you were to purchase something, in fact, something really uh big like land.

Well, let's start here.

Um, what's your biggest debt that you have?

Go ahead, tell your neighbor.

I'm just kidding.

Um you're like, wait a second.

Um maybe it's student loans.

Uh, on average, people will carry about$40,000 of student loans.

Maybe it's credit card debt.

You maybe you carry on average about$8,000, maybe it's a mortgage.

Um my wife and I we rented for 17 years.

A year and a half ago, we were able to buy a house.

So excited.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you, two of you.

We love that.

Over there, over there.

This not so much.

Okay, just kidding.

You're loved.

You're accept you're perfectly accepted.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so, so sorry.

Uh while I was doing my taxes on Friday and getting all those documents, I decided to look at when will I finally actually really own the home?

Because I don't actually really own the home.

The bank owns the home, and I give them money every single month because they lent money and they own the home, right?

And we're kind of co-owners together.

My wife and I, the bank, we're buddies.

Um, it will be, and hang on, I I forgot the year already because I put it out of my mind.

The year, here we go, will be 2052.

I'll be 71 years old.

And at that point in time, I will receive the full deed to the property.

And in the ancient day, when you got the full deed or you paid off at debt, written on the deed to tell us to die.

Paid in full.

Paid in full.

And it was of prisoners as well.

And so when you served your sentence, you served your time, you would come with a a deed or a written note that described all of the offenses for why you were in jail, and then underneath it it would say to telesti, and you were to take that, because if anyone accused you, said you didn't do this or you did this, you'd have a written document paid in full.

And in that day there was what was known as a debtor's uh prison.

And so if I loan, if I borrowed money from you, but I wasn't able to pay it back upon the greed amount time, you could put me in prison until I could pay it back.

And when it was finally paid, to telestai.

Paid in fool.

Just imagine the debt that you have that you're carrying right now.

If someone just paid it all, what would you feel?

You know, we've all done things that we cannot undo.

We've all done things that we cannot undo.

We we uh, you know, said things that we wish we could take back.

We wish we could go back and redo, uh undo, change, edit out, hit the delete button on life, don't we?

The problem is no amount of good that we do in the future can undo what has already been done.

This is the great irreversibility of life, isn't it?

The story that so ill best illustrates this, I've told this many times, but it I it bears repeating to help us understand this.

Uh, my youngest son just celebrated his 14th birthday this last week.

Happy birthday, Miles.

He's 14, yeah.

When he was about three or four, uh Jenny was dropping the kids off at school and then ran into the parking lot to a bunch of other moms and was talking uh to them.

And Miles, the three or four-year-old, and by the way, he's always been really strong.

He came out of the womb with pecs, you know.

I mean, he was strong.

And so he is in the parking lot, three, four-year-old boy trying to figure out what to do, and he finds a big old rock.

And then he takes that rock and he throws it as high as he can into the air.

I remember asking him, I said, son, what were you thinking?

Not a good parenting move, by the way, that's kind of a shaming question.

What were you thinking?

But I did it anyways.

And he's like, I was trying to hit the moon.

Well, you missed.

The rock came down and thudded onto a brand new Audi.

Yeah.

And then it bounced and like made its lodge within the Audi's like windshield and um uh what's the hood, thank you.

I'm real good with cars, by the way.

My wife, amazingly so.

She uh, you know, just a woman full of integrity, writes a note, puts my number on it.

Um later that night I get a call from the guy, and he was the sweetest guy, by the way.

He's like, hey, you he was apologizing to me, you know.

I'm so sorry.

You know, I wish it wasn't.

I just bought that car last week.

Oh.

He's like, if it was my other car, it's beat up, it wouldn't matter.

It's got it, it would match the other dents, but this is a brand new honey.

I'm like, I get it, I get it.

You just take it to the auto body shop and tell me how much that it cost.

And he comes back and tells me it's$722.46.

Ow.

$722.46.

Miles.

I would like$722.46.

And here's the problem, and we get this, we know this, at three and four.

There is no ability at all for him to come up with$722.46.

Right?

Now just imagine the next week.

He says, Dad, I feel real bad about that.

And I'm gonna clean my room every single day.

Which would be fantastic, by the way, son.

You can go ahead and do that anytime you want.

And it's a good thing, isn't it?

It's a really good thing.

It just doesn't pay for the Audi, does it?

It still costs$722.46.

The queen in the room was wonderful, but I need cash in my hand.

I need money in the bank account.

He goes, you know what?

I'll wash your car, which is dirty too, by the way, and that would be fantastic.

It still doesn't pay for the Audi.

In and of himself, he has done something that he cannot undo, that he cannot pay.

He has a debt that he is carrying, that he is unable to pay, and this is the human condition.

We have done something upon which we cannot undo.

In fact, Romans 5.8 says, uh, you see, at just the right time when we were powerless, and it's hard for our souls to hear that, that we're actually powerless.

There's things we have no power to change.

Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his love for us in this.

Christ died for you and for me.

You see, in the death of Jesus, you are fully and finally forgiven.

And Christians, you need to hear this, by the way.

We all need to hear it, but you think you're not fully and finally forgiven, and you think somehow the death of Jesus was good enough.

To get you in, but it wasn't good enough to keep you in.

And we live with this guilt and the shame of the things we've done that we wish we could undo.

And he says, At the cross, I took it for you.

At the cross, it was paid in full.

While we own the debt, only God can afford to pay it.

You can't pay your way back into perfection.

And God will not credit your account until you declare bankruptcy, by the way.

Until you finally give up and go, I can't earn my way back, I can't good my way back, I can't do anything.

God, you alone can pay it.

And when you say that, he says, paid in full to telesty, paid in full.

And by the way, you can't undo what he has already done.

Isn't that good news?

Picture number one, priest and sheep.

Picture number two, that is prisoners and purchases.

The final picture that would have come to mind was that of artists and workers.

Artists and workers.

When someone would complete their work, when they'd finish a project, they would say, to telestai.

Complete it.

In fact, there's these ancient uh papyri, this interaction between the father and son we have recorded, and this father sent the son uh on this errand uh for the family, uh, and it was it was you know a journey, and the son kept wanting to come back early before it was completed, and the father goes, No, stay, complete it.

And eventually the son sent back a resp a one-word response to telesti.

Completed.

It is completed, and an artist, when they finish the final sculpting, that brush stroke, and they stand back and they look at it, they take it in, and when it's done, when there's nothing more left to do, to tell us die.

When it's no longer a work in progress, but a work of art to tell us die.

And the truth is, we all feel like we're a work in progress, don't we?

We all feel like we're a work in progress.

And I think the reason is because we've done things we can't undo, and then we keep doing things we can't undo, and so we just keep covering up and hiding all of our imperfections.

We feel like a work in progress, and it feels like it'll never be finished, and some of us shoot, maybe all of us, at least many of us.

And we talked about when will it be finished?

You're like, I don't know, but I'm so tired of this.

I'm so tired of this.

There's a picture that came to mind, a story I heard a long time ago.

It happened in this small um Spanish village.

In the Spanish village, they were gifted, the church was gifted, this uh this uh 19th-century fresco of Jesus.

You can see it right here.

Uh and so this was in the church, and you can notice that it that is kind of deteriorating and lost its luster.

Well, there's a sweet old lady in her 80s that lived across the street from the church, had been a member of the church her whole life.

She loved this painting too, and she took it upon herself to do the, you know, what do you call it when you restoration of a of the painting?

And and so she secretly did this unbeknownst to anybody.

She took a paintbrush and paint to restore the painting, and this is what came out.

And if we're honest, isn't that how we feel?

Like we don't feel like a masterpiece, we feel like a mess.

I mean, she destroyed a work of art.

Where we just keep trying, we keep adding, we keep putting strokes on it, but it doesn't get better, it feels like sometimes it just gets worse.

Listen, in the shadow of the cross, you're perfectly accepted.

In the death of Jesus, you're fully forgiven, and in the resurrection of Jesus, you are beautifully made new.

You are beautifully made new.

Don't let anybody tell you difference.

You are a masterpiece in Christ Jesus.

In fact, that's what the apostle Paul said is for it is by grace you have been saved.

How do you get in?

Tell me.

Grace.

Try it again.

How do you get in?

Tell me.

Grace.

God's unearned, unmerited favor towards you.

Nothing you or I could do.

He has done it all.

It is grace deposited, grace displayed on the cross.

Grace.

Through faith, this not of yourself.

It's a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

And then it says, For we are God's handiwork.

The Greek word is that poema.

Masterpiece.

Now listen, listen, listen.

How are we the masterpiece?

Because we miss this.

For you are God's handiwork, you are his masterpiece.

Created how?

In Christ.

Your masterpiece is not in you, it's in Jesus.

Because go back to that picture for me, Orion, if you wouldn't mind.

Because I think this is what we do.

We're created in Christ Jesus.

And we get this image of Jesus, and we get into the Christian life, and we're like, okay, we're saved.

Grace got us in, but grace won't keep us in.

We got to keep adding our strokes.

And somehow, if we can kind of add to it, we'll be better.

And we just keep becoming, oh, well, you know.

By grace, we're saved.

You can take it off now, it's distracting.

Grace got you in, grace keeps you in, grace takes you the whole way.

Grace is the Christian life.

Your identity as perfectly accepted, fully forgiven, beautifully made new.

Beautifully made new.

You're beautifully made new.

In Christ Jesus.

The resurrection tells us death does not have the final say.

Your mess does not have the final say.

Your worst moment does not have the final say.

The dark night does not have the final say.

That thing that you said yesterday doesn't have the final say.

I was trying to see if I had time.

Yeah, that story came to mind.

We won't do this probably second service.

You get this for free.

So Friday was, or Monday was Miles' actual birthday.

Yeah.

And then, and then we don't have to, that's fine.

But um, and then Jenny and I drive to go get him um uh a birthday meal.

He wanted uh a burgers at I forget where uh the habit.

We're driving there.

I get pulled over by a cop.

There's joy in my heart, a song on my lips, and then and you know how I got pulled over?

It wasn't quite the time for gospel keys on this one.

I I went out of the thing, but that's where I keep going, keep playing.

This is this is keep playing.

I'm I'm when I'm I'm when I'm on a tangent.

I'm having a little extra time.

I pulled too.

This is sounds way more meaningful than um.

I pulled in, I'm totally lost now.

But I pulled in the bike lane ten feet before I should have.

I apparently 200 feet is the mount, ten feet.

I'm like, huh?

Pulls me over.

I'm mad.

And I apparently did not respond very kindly to the officer.

You know how I know that?

My wife told me so.

And then we're sitting in the parking lot and we get in a fight.

And it's all my fault.

I got pulled over, I didn't respond well, I didn't respond well to her, and then I'm sitting there and we're in a fight.

Been there, and your stupidity and my stupidity, and your errant word, and my errant word, and all of those little things don't have the final word and say in your life.

Resurrection has the final say, the grave is defeated, Jesus has the final say, He is not dead, friends, he is what alive, and because he is alive, you are made new.

Don't you ever forget it, and you don't need to add to it.

So today.

If you're a follower of Jesus, where have you been adding the brush strokes, trying to somehow still fix up your life, add to grace?

Would you just come to him and just imagine, imagine what would change in your life if you said, I am perfectly accepted right now.

There's no more hiding.

I am fully forgiven, and you have paid for everything I've ever done.

I'm beautifully made new.

I'll rest in that.

Because it's not anything but Christ in me, the hope of glory.

The risen, victorious Savior.

And if you're here and you're searching, you're seeking, you're like, I'm a mess.

Well, you're in a good company, we're all a mess.

And I'm tired.

And the big questions, the aching of my soul, I long for that purpose, that peace.

I long for that newness, that forgiveness, that acceptance.

Today, right?

This moment is your moment.

It's this simple.

He said in the verse, faith.

Jesus, I trust you, not me.

That's it.

Jesus, I trust you, not me.

Jesus, I believe you rose from the grave, you defeated death.

I believe you did all those things.

I put the full weight of my trust in you, not me.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And he does.

And he will.

In fact, as we close, would you just pray with me?

And if that's where you're at, you've never said yes to the grand invitation, the Telestai of Jesus.

Would you pray after me?

Oh Jesus.

I'm tired of trying and working.

I'm tired of hiding.

I believe you came for me.

That you died for me.

That you rose again, that you defeated the grave.

And in you I am perfectly accepted.

Accepted.

Fully forgiven.

Accepted.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And if that's where you're at, would we just keep our eyes closed?

And if you prayed that prayer, would you mind just raising your hands?

I'd love to pray for you and know.

Amen.

Go ahead, raise them high.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Jesus, I thank you for my brothers and sisters in this space who, for the very first time, stepped into freedom, stepped into acceptance, that you have paid the debt that we could not pay.

I ask that in this moment, as we continue to worship, would you overwhelm us with your love, your kindness, your grace.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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