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It Is Finished

Good Friday

Apr 14, 2017


by: Jack Lash Series: Good Friday | Category: Atonement | Scripture: John 19:28–30

I. Introduction
A. John 19:28–30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
1. Jesus' last words on the cross that are recorded here in the gospel of John are appropriately, "It is finished."
B. At the very end of His life, this is not what you would expect Him to say.
1. He has had virtually the whole world against Him.
2. All the powers of the religious leaders of Israel had been marshaled against Him.
3. The powers of the Roman Empire had been turned against Him to destroy Him.
4. Even the few supporters He had had scattered in fear and were gone to the winds.
5. All the extreme efforts to put this man down had finally been successful. And now they have Him exactly where they wanted Him.
6. He's nailed to a tree, guarded by heavily armed soldiers, He's very close to death, He's only got a few gasps left before He's finished.
7. If ever there was a man down for the count, this was it. If ever there was a time to admit defeat, this was it. The thing that you would expect a realistic man to say is, " I am finished" not "It is finished." At the very moment all seems lost, Jesus declares that something has been accomplished, not that something is being lost.
C. “It is finished.” What does He mean and why does He say it?
II. What is finished? What was He talking about?
A. His earthly life, His pain, His death.
B. His humiliation (I've hit bottom)
1. The humiliation of the Son of God is finished.
2. In theology we speak of the humiliation of the Son of God & then the glorification of the Son of God.
3. The upsilon vector
4. The moment Jesus said, “It is finished” is the moment of the very bottom of the upsilon vector, the bottom point of Christ’s humiliation and the beginning of His glorification.
5. But though it involved His humiliation, that is not enough to explain what is finished.
C. It is clear from the build-up to “It is finished” in the gospel of John that it refers to His work, the mission He was sent to accomplish.
1. John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (Cf. John 9:4)
a. He was sent by God to accomplish some great work.
2. John 12:20–33 The Greeks who wanted to see Jesus: Among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit... 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
a. This great work included His glorification.
b. It also involved His death and would accomplish much.
c. This work was something extremely intimidating and frightful, such that Jesus was troubled as He faced it.
d. This work involved the judgment of this world and the casting out of the devil.
e. His death would involve being lifted up from the earth, and as a result, all people would be drawn to Him.
3. John 13:1, 3 “Before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end... 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
a. This event involved Jesus leaving the earth and returning to the Father in heaven.
4. See also John 17:4 & 18:4.
D. The build-up in John makes it clear that His great work is what is finished. But what is this great work?
1. It’s His atoning work upon the cross, His victory over sin.
a. Hebrews 10:12–14 Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins...by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Cf. Hebrews 7:26–27)
b. He offered Himself as our substitutionary sacrifice so that we might be counted as perfect by God.
E. There are a lot of valid ways to explain or describe what happened at the cross. And really you need all of them. But time will not allow that. So, let’s look at one, one which is rarely discussed in the church.
1. One of the cardinal doctrines of the Bible and the Christianity church is the Judgment Day, when God’s just judgment will be dispensed upon guilty mankind.
2. Well, when Christ died on the cross, a piece of the judgment day was taken from the end of history and intruded into the middle of history.
3. Analogies
a. Eating dinner before dinner time
b. Opening your Christmas gifts before Christmas
4. Good Friday was the judgment day for Christians when the wrath of God was poured out for our sins — upon Jesus .
5. For those who are in Christ Jesus, this means our guilt is finished. Because of what Jesus did there is no more wrath, no more condemnation, no more judgment, no more anger, no more vengeance, no more punishment for .
6. For those who put their trust in Christ, the judgment of the judgment day is finished!
F. (Cup of wine)
1. In the Bible God’s judgment is often symbolized by a cup of wine.
a. Rev.14:9-10 “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” (Also, Ps.75:8; Is.51:17; Jer.25:15; Rev.16:19)
2. On the cross Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath that was stored up for us, a cup so full of the terror of God's wrath, that the most courageous man who ever lived shuddered in terror in anticipation of drinking it down, and cried out to God to take the cup away from Him.
3. That’s why Jesus said to Peter, “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” Jn.18:11
4. The cup of God's wrath for you is empty if you are in Christ Jesus. It is stone dry.
5. The cup of God's anger toward His people has been drunk by Jesus. It is finished.
III. Application
A. Jesus is not our accuser.
1. The problem with Christians who feel like God is against them is not that they wrongly think of God as a God of wrath.
2. The problem is that they have not come to grips with the fact that God's anger has been appeased toward them, through what Jesus did on the cross.
3. It's not a distortion of God's nature, but a distortion of the meaning and significance of the cross. It is a failure to take the cross into consideration.
4. They say: "But I still feel the anger." This is what faith is all about! God says that if I love Jesus, then His anger toward me is done, it’s gone. “But what if my feelings say that He is still angry?” Which am I going to believe?
5. “Purge me and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” – Ps.51:7
B. Jesus is not a quitter. He will not waver. He will not fall short.
1. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deut.31:16)
2. There is no shadow of turning with Him. (James 1:17)
3. Christ came to rescue the damsel in distress, held captive by the most oppressive fiend. And He will stop at nothing to gain His prize.
4. This is not just the Christ. He is your Christ. This is how committed He is to your welfare.
5. It was your salvation that was driving Christ to follow through to the finish line. He was determined to make You His own.
6. Part of what’s going on here is the contrast between mere men and the God-man.
a. Peter, though he feels strong and is very confident, when he is put under pressure, caves in. He denies the Lord three times.
b. But Christ, when put under infinitely greater pressure, pressure that causes Him to sweat great drops of blood and to cry out for relief, still will not yield to the temptation to cave in. He stands firm and yields only to the will of God.
7. Men will break. Men will fail you.
8. Christ will never buckle under the pressure. He will never bend in His commitment. He will never turn His back on you. And we need to know that.
9. Do you know that there are more ‘It Is Finished’ moments up ahead for believers?
a. He has other works which he is doing
(1) He is preparing a home for us.
(2) He is conforming us into His image.
(3) He is preparing His people as His bride for the great wedding day, removing every spot/blemish.
b. In the meantime, there is a construction project going on. Things are messy. Things seem out of sorts.
c. But there’s coming a day when Jesus will say about those, “It is finished.”
(1) A time when all the struggle is finished. A time when all the suffering is finished.
(2) A time when all the testing is finished. A time when all the temptation is finished.
(3) A time when all the loneliness is finished. A time when all the confusion is finished.
d. But Jesus has already finished His greatest work — securing our salvation upon the cross.
e. This “It is finished!” guarantees all of the other “It is finished”s.
IV. Conclusion
A. I’m sorry if you came this evening brokenhearted or bearing heavy burdens. I can’t take away your troubles. But I can tell you this:
1. There’s something big enough to give you strength to wade through all the muck of this world.
2. There is something bright enough to give you joy in the midst of suffering.
B. The crucifixion didn’t take away all the darkness in the world. But no matter how dark it gets, no matter how much life doesn’t seem to make sense, we know that that life in this age is short and death is conquered. We know that our Savior has come and taken away our sin. IT IS FINISHED!
C. We know that a great day of light is dawning. We know that an end is coming, an end to all tears, and all pain, and all darkness, and all loneliness, and all depression.
1. No matter how dark it gets, no matter how much it doesn’t make sense, we know that IT IS FINISHED!
2. We know that our sin is forgiven and death is conquered. We know that a great day of light is dawning. We know that an end is coming, an end to all tears, and all confusion, and all darkness, and all loneliness, and all sorrow, and all brokenness.
3. For the people of Christ, that destiny is certain. That salvation is accomplished. That inheritance is imperishable.