How the Finished Work Transforms Lives

[0:00] Mission accomplished. Don't you just love it when you finish something?! There's a satisfaction there isn't there?! There's a satisfaction when we see that.

[0:11] But it's been said there's only one person in history who will never leave behind any unfinished business. Because the fact is you might have things in your diary that you're planning but you may never see those days.

[0:25] You might have projects at home you're going to leave half finished when you go. But there's only one person in history who will never leave behind any unfinished business and that's the Lord.

[0:36] So consider the mission accomplished that is the work of the cross today. The finished work of the cross. So we're going to go to John chapter 19 and really just one verse. It reads, When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar he said, It is finished.

[0:53] And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Our Lord cried out, It is finished! He didn't say, I am finished. He says, It is finished.

[1:04] It was a cry of victory. Mission accomplished. As he finished the work of the cross. It is finished was his shout. Once and for all.

[1:15] What is finished? We could think about the things that Christ finished at the cross. For one, my debt is paid. The great transaction is done. It is finished.

[1:26] My debt is cancelled. They would stamp this word, finished. They would stamp this word, cancelled, on debts that were paid.

[1:40] And when you think about it, He paid for our salvation, didn't He? He paid my salvation. He has cancelled the record of debt of my sin that stood against me.

[1:52] And we read that, for example, in Colossians 2.14. It reads, Blotting out the handwriting of ordinance that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.

[2:05] It talks about some handwriting. It talks about laws that were against us, contrary to us. And it says that He took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.

[2:16] So when you think of it, all of your sins are there. Nailed there. Nailed there. At the cross. All of the sins that we could think of.

[2:27] We could maybe think, What are my sins that were paid in full there? Disobedience, pride, lust, hatred, lying, blasphemy, selfishness.

[2:40] I did a search for how many sins there are in the Bible. And one list had 667 of them. Not to mention sins of omission.

[2:51] So I'm sure there's lots of sins, really. And there's manifold sins. If you had to reckon them all up, as some try to do, and then go to a priest to confess them, really, they couldn't get the full list because it's more than we can even remember, isn't it?

[3:07] Our sins. And of course we don't go to a man to tell him our sins. We go straight to the one mediator between God and men. And so we can't even reckon up the list of our sins.

[3:18] There'd be too many. But thank God He knows our sin. He knows the ones we can't even remember. And He gives forgiveness. He has paid the debt. He bore my sin in His own body, it says, on the tree.

[3:31] And He broke the power of sin against me. And He has taken it, taken it away. As John the Baptist cried, as he pointed, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

[3:44] He's paid that full redemption price for me, for you. It's been paid. Paid. In full. Canceled. Yep. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 20 says, Ye are bought with a price.

[3:58] The payment has been made. I'm purchased. I've been bought with a price. I've been set free. The Bible says that it is finished. It's paid. It says that He has made peace.

[4:11] He's made a complete work of peace. In Colossians 1 verse 20 it says, And having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile all things unto Himself.

[4:23] Think of it. At the cross He extends these generous terms of surrender, such that we who were His enemies can know a sure peace, a full peace, a complete peace with God.

[4:37] It is finished. Peace. He's released me from my judgment and He's granted me full pardon. As the judge, He has authorised pardon.

[4:50] He's fulfilled the law. All of its ceremonies and sacrifices, all of the priesthood, all of the types and pictures that previewed His coming, He's finished with them.

[5:01] They're done. Never to be needed again. No more lambs to be slain because He has been slain. He has finished. He has fulfilled the law.

[5:13] He's replaced my condemnation with His overflowing grace. It is finished. My condemnation is gone. He has declared my justification. In Romans 3 verse 24 it reads, Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

[5:30] Pardon is finished. He's granted my full and free forgiveness. 1 John 4 verse 10 it says, Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us.

[5:44] And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So He's effected propitiation. Now this word, it means that He's removed the wrath of God from us.

[5:55] Not only has He taken our sin, He's taken away the wrath of God against our sin, against us. He's taken that. That's propitiation. He's taken that. That wrath of God.

[6:06] He's taken that venting of God's anger against us for our sin. It says that in Christ, God has taken our sin. It says that He's laid on Christ the iniquity or the guilt of us all.

[6:21] In Isaiah 53 verse 6, All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord have laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

[6:32] Think of that. That our sin was laid on Him of us all. And He became a curse for us. In Galatians 3 verse 13, it says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

[6:43] Being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So the Lord Jesus, He was made a curse for us. For you, for me.

[6:54] That we would receive blessing. He bore the shame for us that we can share His glory. And He's undone the fall of Adam. The very curse. And all that that means.

[7:05] All that that meant in the garden. All of the curse of Adam. All that that means. It is finished now. It's finished now. Forgiveness is extended now. Full, free, complete.

[7:17] Finished. He set us truly free. And He's given us a freedom. In Galatians 5 verse 1, it says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

[7:31] And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. He's taken that yoke, that encumbrance that tied us and snared us.

[7:42] And He's broken that yoke. He's broken those chains. Those chains of sin. It is finished now. You've got complete freedom because of the finished work of the cross. Now we have true liberty.

[7:54] The glorious liberty of the sons of God. Freedom is finished. That work to bring our freedom, to affect our freedom is complete. He's made us also His very own family.

[8:07] Then He's granted my adoption. To think of that, that you're adopted by the Father God who so wants you to be His. He's taken you out of the family of the devil because we were children of the devil and He's made us children of God.

[8:23] He's granted your adoption. The papers have been signed. They've been finished. It's been declared that you are His and He is yours. And He's granted my full citizenship in the kingdom of heaven with the full privileges of the Son of the Most High God.

[8:40] Everything has been granted. It is finished. To think that you're a citizen of heaven. And He's brought us to life. He's tasted death for us.

[8:51] He's defeated death. Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And He's effected that.

[9:02] He's effected eternal life in me. It is finished. And the veil is torn wide open now. He's opened wide the way for my free access into the very presence of God Almighty.

[9:17] And it says, I am accepted in the beloved. Think of that. Think of that this morning. It says Ephesians 2.18 For through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

[9:30] You've got access today because it's finished now. The access has been made wide open for you. It is finished for you. That you can have full access. Full acceptation.

[9:41] And He's brought about reconciliation to fellowship with God. And think of it too. He's given us a great exchange. Our rags.

[9:52] Our unrighteousness. For His full righteousness and holiness. There's been a great exchange made. That we can exchange our rags with His robe of righteousness.

[10:04] A great exchange has been made such that He's traded places with us. In 2 Corinthians 5.21 For He had made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

[10:16] That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Think of that. That He's traded places with us and He's exchanged our sin with His righteousness.

[10:28] And all of that has been finished. It's been completed. That you can have access today. What's more, He's accomplished victory. And put the devil to open shame.

[10:39] In Colossians 2.15 it talks about how He's delivered the fatal blow to Satan. And He's crushed his head as it tells us He word in Genesis 3. And we can say with Paul, But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:55] 1 Corinthians 15.57 Think of it this morning, saints, that the victory has been accomplished. The mission has been accomplished. Really everything has been completed.

[11:08] Think of these things that we've talked about. When He cried out, it is finished in that victory cry of the cross. Mission accomplished. Everything has been completed for your salvation.

[11:19] He's paid. He's paid your sin debt. He's made the way for you to know peace with God. He extends pardon for all our guilt and shame and condemnation.

[11:31] He extends forgiveness to you such that you can know that you're forgiven. That you can know that you have freedom. You've got glorious liberty. You can know that you are His family.

[11:44] Made sons of the living God. Children of God. By faith. You're adopted. That He's chosen you to be His. That there's an adoption that He has effected.

[11:56] And that you have life. Life eternal. Eternal life. Life forever. Abundant life. Everlasting life. And you have a present sense possession. That you can know that you have everlasting life.

[12:09] You have eternal life. You that believe in His name. And you are such that you are accepted in the beloved. You've got a wonderful access. A wide open door to enter His presence at any time.

[12:23] By faith. In prayer. In trusting Him. And you have victory. Over sin, death and hell. Sin, death and hell.

[12:34] To ending sin, death and hell.