It is finished

We've been going through a series called Encounters with

Jesus out of the book of John and I have the privilege of

looking at one of the two most significant encounters with

Jesus. We'll look at the second on

Sunday, but it's found in John chapter 19.

John 19 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible with you, it'd be lovely for you to turn

there because I want you to see it for yourself.

We will have it up on the screens, but beginning in verse

one of John 19, it says then Pilate took Jesus and had him

flogged. The soldiers twisted together

crown of thorns and put it on his head.

They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again

and again saying hail King of the Jews and they struck him in

the face once more. Pilot came out and said to the

Jews gathered they look, I'm bringing him out to you to let

you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.

When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple

robe, Pilate said to them, here is the man.

Soon as the chief priests and the official saw him, they

shouted, crucify, crucify, the Pilate answered, you crucify

him. As for me, I find no basis for a

charge against him. The Jewish leaders insisted we

have a law and according to that law he must die because he

claimed to be the Son of God. And Pilate heard this.

He was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace.

Where do you come from? He asked Jesus, but Jesus gave

him no answer. Do you refuse to speak to me?

Pilate said. Don't you realize I have power

either to free you or to crucify you?

Jesus answered, You would have no power over me if it were not

given to you from above. Verse 16.

Finally Pilate handed them over to them to be crucified and the

soldiers took charge of Jesus carrying his own cross.

He went out to the place of the skull.

There they crucified him and with him two others, one on each

side, Jesus in the middle. Verse 28.

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished and so

that scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I'm

thirsty. And a jar of wine vinegar was

there, and they soaked a sponge in it with the sponge in the

stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus lips.

When he'd received the drink, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.

It is finished, It is finished. And with that he bowed his head

and gave up his spirit. It is finished.

You know, there's so much hope in those three little words if

you understand the context, if you understand what's going on

behind the scene. When Jesus says it's these 3

words and in Greek it's Tetalesti to us, it is finished.

So Jesus is hanging on the cross.

They've stripped him bare, they've slogged his back.

They put on that crossbeam weighing about 40 KGS.

He's had to carry his own cross now he's crucified nails through

his hands and feet, and he raises himself up one last time

and he declares it is finished. What is finished?

What is it that is finished? I want to look at that today

because when you see the rich meaning and the weightiness of

that one word in the Greek Tetalesti, I'm hoping it will

change your life and your eternity forever.

So Tita Lesta in the Greek, it was a common word.

It wasn't unique to Jesus on the cross.

It popped up in many contexts in the most basic of context and

their business context. Essentially, if you and I are

doing business and you owe me some money, I'm your creditor

and then I essentially open up an active receipt of all the

money that you owe me and we Add all the bits and pieces to that.

But while you are in my debt and you are busy paying this thing

off, once you have settled that debt completely, not in

installments, not in agreements, but everything that you owe me,

once that is settled, I would take that active receipt and I

would write over it. Tetalesta, it is finished, paid

in full. Very simple, very basic, all

debts owed, completely paid for. But when Jesus is on the cross,

now you notice. I don't know if you saw it said

when he saw that everything that he had done was completed, not

when what you had done, when he had done all these things.

He then says over you, it is finished, Teta, lest I paid in

full, which means you don't have to fix yourself first.

You don't have to wonder if you've done enough.

You have not gone too far. You're not too late.

You are not too much paid in full Tetalester.

It is finished. Wait, there's more.

See, because in the ancient Near East, business wasn't business

like we know today. See, because a debt to us is

sometimes finance. A debt to someone in the ancient

Near East meant freedom because if you couldn't pay your debt,

you would be sold to slavery. We just came back from the

Middle East and it was something that I heard on numerous

occasions. There's still the sediments of

that now in the Middle East that that was saying that if you skip

one instalment, you know, you don't pay rent one month or your

car loan or whatever the case might be, it goes straight to

jail. Do not pass begin, do not

collect 200. And now it sounds melodramatic,

but I actually during the week, I quickly Googled and I said,

like, is it in said country true that if you miss a payment, you

can go to jail? And it pulled up.

The first article it pulled up was a lady in the country that

we came back from who had missed a payment.

She was pregnant. Her marriage was a little bit on

the rocks. She was wanting to start her own

business. And so she had got a loan from

the bank to start this business. And she thought, you know, it's

going to be perfect. She's going to have a baby and

then she's going to resign and she's going to start this

company. She can work from home, look

after a child, but there were complications with the pregnancy

and she went into labor a few weeks early and spent those

weeks in hospital having had the child missing a payment.

This was back in 2012. She's still in prison.

Because in the ancient Near East and now in the Middle East, it's

not just cash dollar, it's your freedom.

Essentially in engineering, you were sold into slavery until

you'd paid your debt. How is she going to pay that

debt behind prison bars? But what would happen is if you

had a family member, a kinsman Redeemer, someone who would look

on you with favor. Problem is, she's not.

She hasn't got anyone in that country who is willing to do

that. Things are rocky between her

husband. Her husband left the country,

left her in that place. But if by one small chance you

had a family member who maybe liked you, and I don't know

about you, but if some, if one of my family members end up in

prison, I'm thinking like, yeah, yeah.

Hey, Vilmos, Life choices. Yeah.

Now what? You, you want me to take money

out of my bond to pay for your stupid Kate, Right.

But if you were lucky enough to have a family member who'd go

and pay all your debts, Pay all her debts, all the accrued

interests since 2012, they would unlock their prison door and

they would write on her account, tetalestar paid in full.

It's finished. You're not going to hold this

against you anymore. Now Jesus is on the cross and

he's doing exactly the same. You see, He's not just speaking

forgiveness over your life, He's speaking freedom over your life.

It is finished. That thing that pass is not your

master anymore. It is finished.

I will not hold that against you anymore.

Paid in full, tetalester. But wait, there's more.

It's because there's a judicial context to this word as well.

Because if you ended up in prison in the Roman world, if

you committed a crime, you'd go straight to jail.

And what they would do is they'd write all your crimes up on this

big board for the world to see and why you're serving the

sentence. I don't know if you've got any

friends or family who've been to prison.

We had a heart wrenching moment, a lady in three CR, I think she

was in her 60s when she was sentenced to something like 8 to

10 years in prison. And if you ask me, it was like a

proper misdemeanor. She was actually trying to help,

but it was a bit of a Gray area to me and to her, but to the

law, it was black and white. And she crossed the line.

And I remember sitting there, she asked if we could, a few of

us would go and just sit when the sentence was given and

sitting at the back there and it was all Afrikaans.

I didn't really know what was going on.

I mean, gasps, Afrikaans is already over my head.

Now judicial Afrikaans, I'm just, but I could tell from the

room it was not going well. And the crazy thing is, she did

one thing wrong, one little transfer that shouldn't have

happened but on that judge's desk with piles and piles and

piles of documentation and accusations against her.

And when that gavel fell and she had to go to prison, that just

got dark. And this would happen in the

ancient Near East as well. And this would happen under the

rule and reign of the Romans. And once that gavel fell and you

went straight to prison, there was no getting out of it until

you served your sentence. But once you had served that

sentence, not a getting off, you know, for good behavior, but

once you've served all those years and you came out, they

would take that thing off the wall and they would write on it.

Teta Lestar, it is finished. And you were actually given that

board, a piece of paper or whatever it was to carry around.

Because, you know, I don't know if you've ever had this, but God

can forgive you. But your friends don't, you

know, Rome could forgive you. But you, they're going.

No, no, no. Look, painful, painful, painful.

And if Jesus is on the cross, he is essentially looking at your

charges and your sheet. And he's saying your count is

closed. You haven't gone too far.

You cannot go too far. You can't ask forgiveness too

late. You aren't too much.

He's saying there's nothing left to pay.

There's nothing left to prove. But he's also saying you're not

just forgiven. I want to set you free, that

past that sin, that addiction is not your master anymore.

Instead, Tetalesti, this finished.

It can be finished today, this very morning.

But wait, there's more. See?

Because I wanted to impress my English teacher that I've never

managed to impress. And so I was digging around

looking at this Greek word, and I came across something I didn't

know. Tetalesti is written in the

perfect tense. I don't know what that means,

but according to the article that I was reading, it says with

Teta Lestar in the perfect tense means it has been finished and

it will always remain finished. But wait, there's more.

There's more. I want you to see with your own

eyes. Ephesians 2 verse 8, it says for

Ephesians 2:8

it is by grace you have been saved.

Now grace, for those who don't know the Bible language, grace

essentially is something that's unmerited, undeserved, it's 1

sided and we're not talking about your side.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It's grace.

This is a gift of God. Everything that He did is not of

your doing. It is a gift.

He says it is finished, It has been finished.

It will remain finished. Teta list are paid in full.

And he gives it to you as a gift this morning, not because you

decided, well, I need to go to church at least once a year

otherwise he's going to block me.

No, he gives it to you as a gift, but I don't know if you've

ever noticed this. A gift needs to be received.

You know what drives me nuts is Rory never receives gifts.

You give him a gift, he's like, thanks, Laca.

And then you'll put you'll see it in the corner of his office

for like weeks. A true story.

Yeah. And if and if you come to church

and say, listen, I want you to give this to Rory, then you are

wondering, did he give it to Rory?

Yeah. I said he has a beautiful gift.

Why don't you give it to Rory? But Rory hasn't opened it.

And so he hasn't replied to you. So you're thinking, flip back.

He's like such a bluff oak. He took it home and he opened it

himself. You know what Rory doesn't know,

doesn't know him. It is by grace you have been

saved through faith. This is not your own doing.

It is a gift. If you have never received the

gift, none of this applies to you.

It is not finished, it hasn't been paid and you will have to

pay it with your life. Brilliant.

Now we could close and pray right there and I could face the

consequences of my Rory illustration if it wasn't for

one word in the English and I want to talk to the Christians

here today. You see, Jesus says it is

finished. Jesus, the one who died on the

cross, the one who paid with his life says it is finished.

Why Sir? Why ma'am, do you then live as

if he said it was finished? Now I was there, That's that's

Easter weekend and I was moved and got reached in.

They got behind all my defenses and all my argument.

And I remember that moment. I remember when Jesus came into

my life and it changed everything until I screwed

things up. Now I'm in the dog box.

Actually, I think it was finished, but it's not finished

no more. I think if he had his way, he

would kick me out. You know that 70% of us live

like that. There's a called imposter

syndrome where you, you know, there was a moment when God got

a hold of your life, but you've royally blown it so badly.

There's he's taking it back. Remember perfect tense.

It is finished and it remains finished.

There's no taking it back. He didn't say it was finished,

He said it is finished. He also didn't say nails through

his hands and feet, lifting himself up with a loud voice

saying it's kind of finished and died.

So why do you live like that? Why do you live like Jesus said?

You know, I've done my part. It's kind of finished.

You just just don't blow it. Make sure you you hit that mark.

Just don't click on that link. This is fragile, people.

I need you to do your part. I've kind of finished it now.

You got to see this through. If you can just make it without

blowing it before you die, there might be hope.

He didn't say that. He said it is finished.

It is the scandal of grace, not of your own works.

You didn't earn it. You can't blow it.

It is a gift. So some of us, we say it was

finished. Galatians 216, we say it's kind

of finished. The Galatians says no, that a

person is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in

Jesus Christ. And if we're not saying it was

finished or it's kind of finished, sometimes we say it

will be finished. He'll love me if, if I can just

get my act together, if I need all my ducks in the row, I'm

going to stop swearing all the time.

If I can just go to church a little bit more.

And if I can read my Bible through, you know, sometime in

the next 10 years. And if I can quit smoking and

drinking, it will be finished. I'm here to tell you it is

finished. You're not your addiction.

You're not your successors. You're not your failures.

You're not your past. You are not your orientation.

You're not your affair. You are not your abortion.

You are not your divorce. You are the one that was on his

mind when he was weighing up. Is the cross worth it?

Beautiful Stephen. If I can have him, if I can have

her, it is worth it. I will do it a million times

over. It is finished.

I'm going to close by reading you a letter as was written to

Winston Churchill. I don't know how much you know

of Winston Churchill, but I discovered in a biography by

Andrew Robert that Winston didn't have the best of

relationships with his father, Lord Randolph Churchill.

And there's one occasion that he highlights that shows the

dissonance between Winston and his father.

And there's the fact that when he went to boarding school, he

was at boarding school for 11 years and his dad never visited

him, never phoned him and never wrote a single letter.

It was as if he was often away and forgotten.

And the first time his dad wrote him a letter, he was in the

army. So he was a young man.

And this, and this is the preamble that's the guy gives

before I read you the letter. It says in June 9th, 1893,

Winston Churchill took the exam for the Royal Military College

at Sandhurst. And he only passed on his third

attempt. And he passed so poorly that he

failed to get into the cavalry, sorry, into the infantry.

And so he had to join the cavalry.

So essentially, after three times you didn't get into at

least the lowest of the lowest, so you got into the B team.

And then he receives this message from his dad, this

letter. I'll pop it up because I want

you to see it. The first extremely

discreditable failure of your performance was missing out on

getting into the infantry for. In that failure is demonstrated

beyond refutation, your slovenly happy go lucky style of work,

but that you have distinguished yourself at school.

Never have I received a really good report of your conduct and

your work from any master. Always you're behind, never

advancing in your class incessant complaints of total

want of application. Do not think that I'm going to

take the trouble of writing you long letters after every failure

and folly that you commit and undergo, because I no longer

attach the slightest weight to anything you say.

Make this position indelibly impressed on your mind that if

you if your conduct and action is similar to what it has been

up until now, then my responsibility to you is over

and I shall leave you to depend on yourself.

I'm certain that if you cannot prevent yourself from leading

the idle, useless, unprofitable life that you have had during

your school days in recent months, you will become a mere

social waste and you will degenerate into a shabby,

unhappy and futile existence. Thanks, Dad.

And if that is so, you'll have to bear all the blame of this

misfortune yourself. Signed your affectionate father

Randolph Churchill. If 70% of us who have

encountered our Heavenly Father are still saying kind of was

finished, then what we are saying is that this letter is

the same as Lord Randolph's letter.

God has never written a letter like that.

Written in blood on the cross is a love letter to you.

A father yearning for your heart, longing to draw you

close. A Father who wants to hide your

shame, to pay for your sin, to release you from prison, break

that addiction and adopt you into his family.

A father who has done everything that you could not do and then

he's written it in his blood and he slid it across the table.

He said, this is my gift to you. This is what makes today a Good

Friday. But could I ask you in Jesus

name to receive that gift and let him in and let him change

you today, tomorrow and for eternity?

Thank you.