If you have your Bibles, turn with me this morning to John's Gospel, chapter 19 and verse 30.
And I'm going to preach just a single verse this morning.
In fact, I'm not even going to preach all that verse, just three words within that verse.
And I'm going to be preaching this morning on the cross.
The title of the message is, It is Finished.
Jesus, I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not,
but he was a man of exceptionally few words.
When I read James and he tells us we ought to be slow to speak and quick to listen and slow to anger,
I get it that Jesus was such a man of very, very few words.
The more words we speak, the more we get ourselves in trouble.
His longest sermon is found in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount, obviously.
You can read that in less than 15 minutes.
And the truth of the matter is, his longest message was shorter than most of our shortest messages.
Right?
Jesus just didn't use a lot of words in saying what he ever said.
Interestingly, when he hung on the cross for six hours from 9 in the morning to about 3 in the afternoon,
he only spoke 44 words that are recorded in English.
He had seven statements he made.
And just before he died, I mean just seconds before he died, the sixth saying he made,
and it's one word in the Greek and three words in the English, and it's that expression, it is finished.
And that's going to be the subject of our discussion this morning.
And as I said a moment ago, it was one word in the Greek, tedlestai, and those who heard it,
if they understood what he said and thought about it, they should have grasped the meaning of what he was saying.
But when we read it in English, there's little ambivalence about that.
We read that and we just wonder what was he in fact saying.
Coming at the very end of his life, in fact, he's going to say this in just a moment or two,
less than probably 60 seconds or two minutes, Jesus passes from this life until the next.
And so in that context, I can understand how some would read the English words
and would wonder what in the world was he in fact saying.
You would think at face value in the English, he's certainly saying to us,
well, it has come to an end.
My life is over.
I'm getting ready to die.
I'm going to exist no longer.
You could even have a fatalistic view of what he said, that this is it.
There's nothing more after this.
Many have read these words and they've tried to say,
well, what he's saying, and maybe even some in the crowd interpret it this way,
he's telling us that this plan, this scheme he's had to become the Messiah has failed.
Make no mistake about it, Jesus was a revolutionary.
In the very beginning of his ministry, he does a radical thing.
He has John the Baptist baptize him.
And then suddenly he calls these 12 men who come to his side
and they walk with him and live with him each day of his life
for the three and a half years that he's engaged in ministry.
He has campaigns, a preaching campaign in Galilee and in Judea.
There's a period of time where he's very, very popular.
And then the second year, he begins to be rejected
and people begin to abandon him.
By the third year, there's even a lesser crowd
that are following the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so as he says,
Ted Lestai, it is finished.
Many probably thought, or some might have thought,
he's admitting defeat.
He's saying to us,
this plan to revise Judaism has failed.
This plan to reform how we worship God,
it has gone up in smoke
because after all,
one had sold him out for 30 pieces of silver,
one less than 24 hours earlier
had denied even knowing him three times,
and all the disciples initially had fled
in the garden as he was arrested.
So what in the world was Jesus saying
when he said, it is finished?
I wanna briefly tell you three things
I think he was saying.
Can I tell you something?
It was not at all a cry of defeat.
In fact, it was probably the most victorious statement
Jesus had ever made.
What he was saying to begin with is this,
Father, I have completed everything you've sent me to do.
It is, in sense of the work,
it is finished.
It is completed.
Everything you ever said regarding my life,
I have fulfilled in my birth, life,
and now even in my death.
I don't know if you know it or not,
but there are over 300 prophecies
regarding the life, the birth, the death,
and the subsequent resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And everything that God ever predicted about Jesus,
Jesus fulfilled in his lifetime.
How many of you have ever been out west to the Badlands?
Can I see a hand?
If you've ever visited the Badlands, raise your hand.
If you've been to the Badlands,
and that's not a lot of you, I'm surprised,
you need to go to the Badlands sometime.
Go to Yellowstone.
How many of you have ever been to Yellowstone?
A lot more of you.
On the way to Yellowstone, go to the Badlands.
When you go to the Badlands,
you'll find about six miles from the Badlands,
a drugstore known as Wall's Drugstore.
How many of you ever heard of Wall's Drugstore?
Because a lot more of you heard of Wall's Drugstore, right?
If you get within 200 or 300 miles
of the Badlands in South Dakota,
you're gonna know about Wall's Drugstore.
I've actually researched this.
They have over 300 billboards advertising Wall's Drugstore.
They're more than 200 miles away from their location.
You know why they do that?
Whether you're coming from the west or the north
or the south or the east,
they want you to come visit them at Wall's Drugstore.
And so they put signs up beginning over 200 miles away
and then every 50 miles or so away
and then every 25 miles away
and then 10 miles and 8 miles and 7 miles and 6 miles
and there are barrages of signs
so that you've gotta be blind not to know
that Wall's Drugstore is right here close to the Badlands.
Now think of this for a moment.
You're God and you're going to send your son
into the world.
God is going to leave heaven.
He's gonna take on human flesh
and he's gonna walk among men.
And he's gonna convince men
that he is God in human flesh
and he's come to save them from their sins.
How do you pull that off?
Imagine today you're out at lunch
and you turn to someone and say,
hi, I'm Ralph Carter and who are you?
Well, I'm the son of God.
Can you imagine how difficult it is
to get anybody to believe that you're who you claim to be?
So God in his infinite wisdom,
hundreds and hundreds of years
before he ever sent his son,
begins to put up billboards.
Hey, here's a bit of information about my son
that only he will be able to fulfill.
And then there's another sign and another sign
and another sign until ultimately there are 300 in all.
Listen for just a moment to these following prophecies.
Did you know in Micah chapter five and verse two,
hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born,
God predicted the very town
in which Jesus would be given birth,
the city of Bethlehem.
In Isaiah chapter seven and verse 14,
again, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years
before Jesus was born,
God said he's going to be born of a virgin.
The scripture said in Isaiah 53 and verse 12
that he would die among criminals.
In Psalm 22 and verse 18,
that soldiers would cast lots for his garments.
Now I want you to see
what all these prophecies have in common.
There's no way a person even aware of these prophecies
can orchestrate these on his own.
You can't control where you're born.
You can't control to whom you're born.
You can't control what happens after you die
or what will happen to your clothes
by those who are persecuting you.
In Isaiah 53, nine, the scripture says,
he would be buried in a rich man's tomb.
And of course, in the New Testament,
we find that comes to pass in Joseph of Arimathea.
In Psalm 22, 16, it was predicted
they would drive nails through his hands
and through his feet.
And then finally in Isaiah 50 and verse six,
he would be beaten and spit upon.
Can I tell you something?
Everything that God ever said would mark his son,
not to mention the hundreds of miracles
that he performed, all said one thing.
This is without question the son of God.
So Jesus was saying,
Father, every word of prophecy regarding my life
has now been fulfilled.
But there's a second thing Jesus was saying.
It was also a cry that indicated
that all the anguish and suffering
was now completely over.
Now, I hope I can drive this point home
so that you get it perhaps better
than ever you have in your life
if you don't understand this.
Jesus, you need to know,
was fully God,
but he was also fully, completely man.
If you had this notion in your mind
that he was God veiled in human flesh,
you have a wrong impression of who Jesus was.
It's not like God donned a man suit
and that here in his essence,
he is really and truly God,
but he's just dressed up like a man.
That's a wrong idea altogether.
He is completely and fully 100% man.
He is completely, fully, 100% God.
It baffles our mind,
but I'll tell you something.
If you think of him as anything less
than completely a man
like every one of us in this room,
you have the wrong impression of who Jesus is.
Real flesh adorned his bones.
Real blood coursed through his veins.
The nerve endings for Jesus
were exactly like the nerve endings in your body.
He had real DNA just like you have real DNA.
He experienced real thoughts and emotions
just like you have thoughts and emotions.
He knew everything that we endure as human beings.
In fact, the writer of Hebrews says that.
He was a high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
but he was a high priest
because he could identify with every single one of us,
a man in every sense just like we are.
Can I tell you something?
When he walked in the rain, he got wet.
When he was in the elements that were cold,
he felt cold.
When he was in blazing hot sunshine,
he felt heat.
If someone struck him, he felt pain.
His nerve endings felt those nails
just like your nerve endings would have felt the nails.
He knew sadness just like you know sadness.
He knew joy and elation
just like you know joy and elation.
He knew what it was to be tired.
He knew what it was to be energetic.
Everything you've ever experienced in your life,
Jesus experienced as well.
And so I've heard some folks foolishly say at times,
the suffering he endured on the cross
wasn't such a big thing to him.
That's utter foolishness.
Listen to what Mark says in Mark 14, 34.
This is the night before he died.
He's on the rock of agony praying
and he says,
my soul is swallowed up in sorrow
to the point of death.
Jesus did not look forward to the cross at all.
In fact, he prayed,
Father, if there is any other way,
let this pass from me.
Can I tell you,
I believe all the demons of hell were unleashed
that day that Jesus died on the cross
and that men did things
they would never have thought about doing
any other time in their life.
They absolutely brutalized our Lord.
It began at that first trial
in the high priest's home.
They took their fist.
The King James Version says they buffeted him.
Not a good word for us
because it's not one we're familiar with.
You know what that literally means?
They took their fist
and they pummeled his face.
You ever seen a man hit around the eyes
or nose or mouth?
Instantly, blood begins to flow.
The eyes swell shut.
Isaiah says this,
He has no form or comeliness
that we should behold him and desire him.
Isaiah goes on to talk about the fact
that he has no comeliness
that we should even recognize him.
You know what I think he's saying?
They beat Jesus to such a bloody pulp
that had you known him well,
you could have stood at the foot of the cross
and looked and you would not have recognized him.
They took a crown of thorns
and meshed it into his brow.
They didn't gingerly set that on his head
as you see in the movies.
They no doubt in their anger and meanness
poured it into his brow
and you know how facial cuts bleed?
The blood must have flowed from his face
into his eyes and his mouth.
It stained his clothes.
It was in his hair.
He was a bloody beaten mess.
Finally, when they sentenced him to die,
they scourged him.
They took a cat of nine tails
and they tied up his arms
and hit him around the waist
and when they would pull it back,
it would literally pull away the skin.
Many people died from disembowelment
through scourging.
He makes his way to Calvary.
They lay him on the ground.
They take those spikes
and they place them in his hands
and they drive those through his hands.
Can you imagine the pain he felt?
His nerve endings are the same as yours.
Can you imagine how it would feel to you?
And they drove them through his hands
and through his feet
and then they hoisted him up on that cross
and dropped it into a hole.
His skin must have torn.
I can hear him screaming now.
Can you?
The pain must have been agonizing.
And so Jesus, when he cried,
it is finished,
I think we're saying this,
Father, I paid the price for man's sins.
The suffering is finally coming to an end.
He endured suffering on the cross
like we cannot imagine.
But I want to tell you something,
the suffering wasn't just physical.
It was emotional.
It was spiritual.
It was mental as well.
Now, there is a painting that has been done
of Jesus standing in his father's carpentry shop
as a little 11, 12-year-old boy.
And the painting depicts Jesus standing there
with his hands on each side of the door frame.
And the son is coming through the door of the shop.
And as the son hits his body,
it casts a shadow on the far wall of the carpentry shop.
And the shadow it casts is the shadow of the cross.
Can I tell you something?
For six hours, he hung on the cross in physical agony.
But for 33 and a half years,
he lived in the shadow of the cross.
While others were laughing at the wedding
in Cana of Galilee,
Jesus is living in the shadow of the cross.
When the disciples are bantering over
who will be greatest in the kingdom,
he's living in the shadow of the cross.
For 33 years, he lives knowing
there's a death sentence on his head
and that the noose is getting tighter
day by day by day.
And the time will quickly come
when he will be called forth
to pay for humanity's sins.
When Jesus died on the cross
and when he uttered, it is finished,
I think he was saying,
all the physical mental anguish is over.
I'm gonna tell you,
everything they could do to humiliate Jesus,
they did on the cross.
The scripture says when he was being questioned
by some of the political leaders,
some of the soldiers,
they had their way with him.
They placed a crown mocking him on his head.
They put a robe of scarlet on his shoulders.
They shoved a scepter into his hand.
They bowed and they mocked him in worship.
They took their open hand
and they slapped him across the face.
Can I tell you something?
You do more damage
when you punch someone in the face with your fist.
But the open hand slap
is far more humiliating.
It leaves a stain,
an imprint of a man's hand.
Can you imagine they slapped God
in the person of Jesus in the face?
But not only that,
they got up closer
and they spit
in the face of the creator.
But worst of all,
and we don't talk about this much in church.
We never see it depicted.
When he hung on the cross,
crosses like this one,
you've seen them in the baptistry.
We'll put someone on a cross.
They have that little towel,
apron across their lower section.
They didn't treat Jesus that way.
They stripped him of all of his clothes
and there before his mother,
he hung naked before the world
as he paid for our sins.
They did everything they could possibly do
to humiliate the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's one final thing I want you to see
that I think he was saying
when he said,
it is finished.
He was signaling that his mission was complete,
that payment for man's sins
had finally been successfully made.
Now listen carefully.
That single word,
tetelestai,
that I told you about earlier,
that's a commercial word.
It was a word that was used by merchants,
by traders,
by bankers.
It meant that a business transaction
had been completed,
that a debt had been paid.
I don't know about you,
how you pay your bills,
but my wife and I,
we didn't start out this way,
but about 30 years ago,
we came to the place,
we started not using money anymore.
And so everything we buy,
virtually everything I buy,
99.9% of everything I buy,
I put on a credit card.
We pay it off at the end of every month
so we don't ever have to pay interest on it,
but at the end of every month,
that bill comes and we pay it.
You know why I do that?
Because it gives me the opportunity
to track everything I spend
in a number of areas
and my credit card company
even categorizes it for me.
So I can look at the end of the year
and I can say,
here's to the penny
how much I spent in gas.
I've got all those receipts
right there before me.
And so it's convenient for doing taxes
and things like that.
In Jesus' day,
in biblical times,
they didn't have printed receipts.
When you borrowed money from someone,
the one who was loaning the money
would write on a parchment,
this person,
the one who is going to pay the debt,
is going to pay so many payments
on this basis,
at this price,
and here's the ultimate note.
And the one who was loaning the money
held the note
until the debt had been paid.
And when the debt had been paid in full,
the one who owed the money
would come and make that last payment
and he would get the signature
of the person
to whom he'd owed the debt
on that sheet of parchment.
You know what he did
with that parchment then?
He would take it sometimes
if it was something of public interest
and he would nail it
to the doorpost of his home
so that folks coming by his house
could look and say,
well, you know what?
He paid off that piece of land.
He paid that debt he owed.
His credit is still intact.
I want you to listen
to what the Apostle Paul says.
If you have your Bibles,
I want you to turn with me
and actually see this for yourself.
Look with me to Colossians chapter 2.
It's one of the most incredible verses
in Scripture.
Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.
I'm going to give you a chance to find that.
You need to mark this in your Bibles.
Mark 2, or excuse me,
Colossians 2, 13.
And when you were dead in trespasses
and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he, speaking of Jesus,
made you alive with him
and forgave us all our trespasses.
Now look up for just a minute.
Isn't that a wonderful thing?
He says, Jesus came when you were dead
in your trespasses and sins.
He made you alive.
He talks about that in Ephesians.
And he did so by forgiving all of your sins.
But wait a second.
How can you prove your sins have been forgiven?
You ever thought about that?
What proof do you have
that God has forgiven your sins?
Well, look at verse 14.
He erased the certificate of debt
with its obligations that were against us
and opposed to us
and has taken it out of the way
by nailing it to the cross.
Jesus' lifeless body on the cross
is God's receipt
for man's sins
having been paid in full.
I want to show you
one other passage of scripture.
Go with me quickly
just a few pages to the right
to the book of Hebrews
chapter 1
and verse 1.
Have you found that?
Hebrews chapter 1
and verse 1.
Long ago
God spoke to the fathers
by the prophets
at different times
and in different ways.
In these last days
he has spoken to us
by his son
whom he has appointed
heir of all things
and through whom
he made the universe.
He is the radiance
of his glory
the exact expression
of his nature
and he sustains all things
by his powerful word
and after making
purification for sins
he sat down
at the right hand
of the majesty
on high.
Did you hear that?
Do you understand
what he's saying there?
You know what
high priest never did
in the Old Testament era?
They never sat down
when they were going
about their most
important task
which occurred
on the day
of Yom Kippur
they would go
into the Holy of Holies.
Many priests
went in the Holy Place
but only one
on the day of
Yom Kippur
the Day of Atonement
he would open
that veil
and he would pass
through that veil
leaving behind
the Holy Place
and he would go
into the Holy of Holies
and there he would
atone for men's sins
for a period
of one year.
He wore little bells
around the bottom
of his garment
and they tied a rope
to his leg
because he was fearful
that while he was in there
he might do something
he shouldn't have done
and would have been
struck down
dead
and so they listened
for those bells
to constantly ring
and if the bells
ever stopped ringing
they knew that he'd
stop moving
he'd fallen dead
and they would be
prepared to pull him out.
Jesus does something
no high priest
has ever done.
He's seated
at the right hand
of the Father
and you know why?
Because he made
a one time sacrifice
that paid for our sins
for the balance
of eternity.
His work is done
it's completed
and there's nothing
left to be done
for you to be forgiven
but for you to receive
him as your Savior
and Lord.
And the English
of Angelus
was preaching
in London
he'd had a crusade
under this big tent
for a week.
People had come
and many had been saved
this one young man
had come night
after night
and every night
he fell under conviction
knew he needed
to make a decision.
Well the last night
came he really
was in an internal
battle
but he let the invitation
come and go
without ever having
stepped out.
He left and went
to his home
and he'd been gone
about two hours
from when the Spirit
of God so got a hold
of his heart
he couldn't stand it
and he jumped up
and he ran out the door
and he ran back
to the side
of that revival.
They were already
taking down the tent
in fact all that
remained to be done
was to pull up
a couple of tent pegs.
The evangelist
who had preached
the meeting
was there
and he changed clothes
and he was pulling up
the tent pegs
to leave and go
to the next city.
When the young man
came to him
standing behind him
he said
sir I came to this
revival every night
for the last seven nights
and I know I need
to be saved.
Tell me
what can I do
in order to
get my salvation
and the evangelist
didn't even look up
from his work.
He just said
still with his back
to the young man
it's too late
I'm sorry.
The young man
couldn't believe
what he heard.
He thought
man the meeting
has only been over
two hours
and so he
appealed to the evangelist
again this time
walking in front
of the evangelist
he said
sir it's only been
two hours
since the meeting
has ended
surely it's not
too late.
He says
yes you're too late
you're not two hours
too late
you're two thousand
years too late.
You see everything
that could ever be done
for you to be saved
has already happened.
Jesus paid for your sins
I want to tell you
today in this world
we live in
people have this
crazy notion
that because I'm a sinner
the only way I can
have my sins
for you is for me
to rectify my sins
by doing something good.
I'll go join the church
I'll be baptized
I'll start giving my money
I'll be regular
and faithful
in my attendance
I'll be a good person
can I tell you something
you'll never be good
enough for God
you just never will
and the only way
you come to have
salvation
is to come to the place
that you recognize
man I'm just a sinner
and there's nothing
I can do about that
I can't change my stripes
I'm who I am
I'm a sinner
but God loved me enough
that he sent his own son
to die for me
and his death
on the cross
is payment
for my sin
and all I need to do
is to claim that gift
God has given to me
by coming to him
and saying
I have sinned against you
I repent of my sin
I turn my life
over to you
from this day
going forward
I want you
to be my savior
and that can belong
to anyone in this room
I don't care
how bad you've lived
how sinful you are
if today
you would trust Christ
as your savior
and Lord
he would give you
eternal life
beginning this very moment
today
wouldn't you like
to have that
I'm telling you
Jesus paid it all
all to him
I owe
sin had left
its crimson stain
but he'd washed it
white as snow
amen
you come as we stand
and sing our hymn
of invitation
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