Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86593/it-is-finished/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] John 19, verse 13.

[0:16] The Lord Jesus is at the cross. It is finished.

[0:33] What does it mean? It's done. It's accomplished. It's completed. It's in the perfect tense, I'm told.

[0:45] Now, don't ask me about grammar. I had enough trouble with English grammar, and then I tried German grammar when I was at school. But I can tell you this about the perfect tense. As I say, I'm no expert.

[0:56] But this is the tense of the word here, I'm told. It speaks of an action which has been completed in the past with results continuing in the present.

[1:11] It's different from the past tense, which looks back at an event and says, This happened. The perfect tense adds to the idea, This has happened, and it is still in effect today.

[1:23] It's the perfect tense. So when the Lord Jesus cried out, It is finished! He meant it was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present, and it will remain finished in the future.

[1:36] It was finished, and as a result, it is forever done. It stands finished. It is finished.

[1:48] The priests in the tabernacle always stood when ministering the sacrifices. The Lord Jesus, as the great high priest today, is seated. Why?

[1:59] Because his work has been done. The sacrifice was done, forever done, forever finished. And he never need arise and offer another sacrifice.

[2:11] We do not make another sacrifice today. He need never arise and make another sacrifice. Our great high priest is seated now, because full payment was done.

[2:24] It was done back then. It was done at Calvary's Hill. Done for you, for me. His sacrificial blood makes full effect, full payment, that will endure for eternity.

[2:39] It is finished! It was a declaration! It was a shout of victory! It was a declaration! That in one moment, and for all time, it is and was finished.

[2:54] Finished! Completed! The law of God! Completed! Done! Everything that was back there in the law, and in the prophets, done! The prophecies about the Messiah, done!

[3:07] Fulfilled! Sin was finished there! That day sin was finished! Sin and its power over you and me. Finished! Satan was finished there!

[3:18] Satan and his power and his enslavement. Finished! Broken! At the cross! Finished!

[3:29] It means the work of salvation was finished there! Completed! Done! Nothing more to add! Nothing more to add! Absolutely done!

[3:40] Sign sealed and delivered! Finished there at the cross! It is finished! It means payment! Paid in full! It means the price is all paid!

[3:55] Full stop! Paid! Done! Paid for! Jesus paid it all! It is finished! It is finished!

[4:07] Full satisfaction was made for the justice of God! I'm told that there's a sense of this word finished that you could understand by some pictures you could paint.

[4:21] In fact, just as an artist paints that perfect picture, that picture is perfectly painted on the wall.

[4:31] And the artist steps back and admires their work and picks the brush up again. No! No more!

[4:43] Nothing more needs to be added! It is done! It is done! It is done! It is as if you were to see the Mona Lisa on the wall in the Louvre in Paris. And you came along and thought, oh I think she needs a bit more red in the cheeks there.

[4:58] Or that nose needs a little bit of rounding. Or the ears need a little bit more colour or whatever it might be. As if you could add to the work of the artist. No! It is done!

[5:08] It is finished! The masterpiece is done! That is the picture here at Calvary. That the artist could add no more. He announces, it is finished!

[5:19] My masterpiece is completed! It is finished! It's the picture of a servant announcing to his master, what you've given me to do is completed!

[5:32] Finished! It's like a judge ruling a sentence. Justice has been served. The verdict is made. And he strikes the gavel.

[5:44] It is done. It is finished. The sentence has been completed. It's a like picture to the priest as he sees that unblemished perfect sacrifice acceptable to God.

[5:57] And he says, it is finished! This is the one. It's like a merchant signing a business document. A receipt or a bill.

[6:11] And striking it with the stamp. Pay in full. Pay. The debt has been paid. Cancelled. Gone. Finished. Done.

[6:21] Nothing more to pay. And like that too for our sin debt. For your sin debt and mine. At Calvary's Hill, Christ cancelled the record of our debts against us.

[6:32] Done. Finished. That is the picture. It's the same picture as a soldier would yell in his battle cry over a vanquished foe. You are finished! Jesus' cry was that light picture of a vanquished foe.

[6:47] Of a conqueror crying with a loud voice. You're finished! That's what Jesus said at the cross. That's what Jesus said over your enemy and mine.

[6:58] Over sin, death, hell, Satan. He says, you're finished! It was a cry of victory. From the conqueror. It is completed. Friends, at the cross, it is finished.

[7:12] It is finished there. When we think of the completed work of the cross. The finished work of the cross. Nothing more to add. Think of what was finished there.

[7:24] I'm told in Numbers 19 there was a seven-fold sprinkling that had to occur. A seven-fold sprinkling of the blood of the Old Testament sacrifice.

[7:37] Numbers 19, 1 through 10. Likewise, too, there was a seven-fold sprinkling of the blood in Christ. A seven-fold sprinkling happened.

[7:50] His scourging. His thorns. His hands. His feet. And the spear thrust.

[8:01] His scourging, 1. His thorns. His hands pierced. 3 and 4. 5 and 6. His feet pierced. And 7. The spear thrust.

[8:12] The seven-fold sprinkling of the blood. A complete work. A complete finished work. 7 speaks of completion. Crucifixion.

[8:24] It was reserved for the worst of criminals. Think of it, friends, today as we reflect back just briefly. Just think back. This morning, think back about the cross. What it means for you, for me.

[8:35] Reserved for the worst of criminals. Our Lord was beaten. His face torn. Marred more than any man. As the prophet said. Micah 5, it says, They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

[8:51] That was finished there. That prophecy was finished there. As David cried, The plowers ploughed upon my back. They made long their furrows. Psalm 129, verse 3.

[9:02] As Isaiah cried, I gave my back to the smiters. This work was finished there. The prophecies were completed there. Our Lord was whipped and beaten. Some have said, If he received 39 stripes with a cat of nine tails, They added it all up.

[9:18] Likely it was much more than that. Because the Romans did not have a limit to the number. But some have said, Even if it was the minimal number of the Jewish scourging, There was 351 gashes on his lacerated back.

[9:37] What a picture. What a gruesome thought. 351 gashes on his back. Most men would not have survived even that torture. Then our Lord was crowned with thorns.

[9:49] Those thorns. Those thorns would have been driven into his scalp. Cutting even more deeply. And the scalp is amongst the most vain part of the human body.

[10:03] What was completed there? The curse. The curse in Genesis 3. The thorns were a part of the curse. Cursed is the ground.

[10:15] Thorns also and thistles shall be brought forth unto thee. At the cross, the curse was finished for you. For me. The curse of our sin. He bore that cross.

[10:25] Some 30 kilos in weight. Some 2 kilometres. He carried that cross. As they spat upon him. And perhaps through stones and curses upon him.

[10:38] The shame. The humiliation. Friends, think of that today. The sin. So shameful. It's completed today. It's paid for today. They took the nails and they nailed him.

[10:50] Psalm 22, 16. They pierced my hands and my feet. That prophecy was fulfilled there. Finished there. When David penned that in Psalm 22. They didn't know about crucifixion.

[11:03] It was not a custom. The Hebrews would stone people to death. Not crucify them. And our Lord was pierced. With these spikes. Some 6 to 8 inches long.

[11:14] He would have endured agonising shots of pain. In both arms and through his body. And every breath would have been agony. As he breathed.

[11:25] As he lay on that piece of word. As every breath would have to be sought. As he heaved up on those feet.

[11:35] As they were impaled. For over 3 hours. For you. For me. Friends, when he cried out at 3 o'clock that Friday afternoon. It is finished.

[11:46] It was not a cry of defeat. Or of exhaustion. So much as a cry of victory. Amen. He said, it is finished for you.

[11:57] Wounded for me. Wounded for me. For you. He says, it is finished for you. At that moment. And for all time. It is finished. It is finished.

[12:07] I will call the ushers now. As we share the bread and cup. And remind ourselves of that. We have got Bob, Roy, Mick and Peter. If you come forward.

[12:19] Let's hold together. And partake together. We do this in remembrance of him. As he has commanded us to. Let us join in.

[12:29] As we can today. If you love the Lord. And in good conscience you can partake. Please do so as we join together. Let's hold together.