This morning, we're going to look at the finished work of Christ, specifically found in verse 30, when Jesus says it is finished. I'll just back up to verse 25, read the verse 30, and then we'll pray. Now, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son.

Then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. And from that hour that that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now, a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they fill the spines with sour wine, put it on his hip and put it to his mouth.

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this, your word.

And we pray now for the ministry and the aid of your Holy Spirit. We pray, forgive us for our sin and anything that would darken our understanding. Cause us, Lord God, to receive the truth of this text. And may it be a great means of encouragement.

God, for sinners, I pray they would believe on the Lord Jesus. Believe on this one who finished the work the Father gave him to do. We just thank you so very much for this great plan of salvation. and pray that it would be preached all over the earth and that a great multitude would be saved. And we ask in Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

Introduction: Seven Sayings from the Cross

Well, we are mindful of the fact that when Jesus hung on the cross, he made seven statements. Each of the gospel writers record different ones just to remind us of those seven statements. The first was found in Luke 23. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

The second is found here in John 19. Woman, behold your son. Behold, your mother. The third is in Luke 23 as well, when he says to the man crucified on his side.

Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. The fourth is found in Matthew. My God. My God, why have you forsaken me?

The fifth is found here in John 19. I thirst the sixth. It is finished. And then the seventh is Luke 23.

Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. So those have been referred to as the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross. Of course, we're just taking up the sixth one this morning when Jesus says it is finished. It is important for us to understand what Carson reminds, or in his commentary states.

He says, this is no cry of defeat. I read the King of Glory Psalm in Psalm 24. Jesus is triumphant. Jesus is victorious.

Jesus is the champion. Jesus does all that the Father gives him to do. This isn't a meek, list out, I am finished sort of a sentiment, but rather he declares that it is finished. And we'll open that up in just a moment.

Carson says, this is no cry of defeat, nor is it merely an announcement of imminent death. The verb teleo, from which this form derives, denotes the carrying out of a task, and in religious contexts, bears the overtone of fulfilling one's religious obligations. So Jesus is fulfilling his religious obligations. Interesting thing about that particular verb as well.

Archaeology has uncovered several documents, as you well know, things that aren't necessarily religious in nature. And one of the things they have found repeatedly are receipts or bills of sale. And it's got this verb on it. It is finished.

And the form of the verb used here is something that happened in the past, but has abiding results for us today. So when Jesus says, it is finished, he accomplishes the work that his father gives him to do. He pays the debt. He fulfills the bill.

He satisfies divine justice. And that has blessed benefit for us in history. It has blessed effect for the people of God. So it's quite a wonderful statement that our Lord utters in this sixth saying on the cross.

Sermon Outline Announced

I want to do three things this morning. First, we'll look at how it is the fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus says it is finished. Prior to that, it says, knowing that all things were now accomplished, Jesus worked according to a specific plan.

Throughout his life, he obeyed the Father. Throughout his life, he fulfilled Scripture. Throughout his life, he did what was upon him to do. So we'll look at that briefly, the fulfillment of Scripture.

Secondly, we'll notice it's a statement concerning the glory of the Son. This short word or this brief word or this brief sentence tells us something about the glory of the Savior. And then thirdly, we'll notice something in terms of the comfort of the church. It is a wonderful statement to comfort and encourage the people of God in their pilgrimage here on earth.

Fulfillment of Scripture

But first, it is the fulfillment of Scripture. You know, when Jesus died on the cross, this wasn't an afterthought in the mind of God. This wasn't, wow, what are we going to do now in order to meet this particular situation? It was prophesied from of old that the Lord Jesus would come, the suffering servant of the Lord, according to Isaiah chapter 53.

He would be the one upon whom all of our transgressions would be laid. He would be the one that the Father would be pleased. According to the prophet Isaiah 5311, to bruise or to crush, not because of his own sin, but because of our sins, because all we like sheep have gone astray. But the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

That's what Isaiah prophesied concerning this coming one. As well, we see Daniel chapter 9, that prophecy of the 70 weeks. It concerns the redemptive events associated with Jesus Christ in the first century. Messiah is cut off.

Messiah is cut off in order to bring forgiveness, in order to bring reconciliation. in order to bring about the benefit of God to his people. So in this statement, when Jesus says it is finished, all that was prophesied from the very beginning has come to fruition. It has come to pass again. It's a victory cry.

The Lord Jesus is triumphant here, but it's not just the spoken prophecies. It's the tides that were given in the Old Testament. Remember, in that promise in the Garden of Eden, God said to the serpent that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the seed of the serpent. He'll have his heel bruised in this event at Calvary, but he will deal the decisive death blow to the devil himself.

And then you remember that type at Mount Moriah when Abraham is told, take your son, your only son, the one whom you love. So it's just like John 3, 16, doesn't it? Abraham is told to take Isaac, this son of promise. He is to take him up on this mount.

He is to tie him down to an altar of sacrifice. He is to bring back the night and he is to bring it down into his son, the son he loves. Well, of course, we know the end of the story. The angel of the Lord stops him.

But even prior to that, The patriarch Abraham had assured Isaac that the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide a sacrifice to render satisfaction to God and forgiveness for men. So in this statement, it is finished. Jesus is highlighting the reality that all that was spoken prior to him has come to pass, has come to fruition, and we can bless God for that.

The Glory of the Son

Secondly, we see here the glory of the Son. Someone asked on a discussion list that I'm a part of, he had a bunch of questions that somebody was going to ask him, and he just wanted to get a bit of feedback. And one of the other brothers offered up an answer. The question was, for whom did Christ die?

It's a huge question, one that won't occupy us too much in this particular moment. But this man's answer was, in a sense, for God and for his elect. We certainly camp on that reality. We are reformed here, so we believe in particular redemption or limited atonement.

We believe that the gospel, we believe that the blood of Jesus extends to whom it was purposed to save. You know, we don't often think about that reality that when Jesus died, there was a God word reference there. In fact, when you study the gospel of John, you will see that Jesus was about doing the will of his father can turn to John chapter four for a moment. When he says here, it is finished.

He's not complaining. He's not grumbling. He's not suggesting that it's finished. Father, I've done what you've given me to do.

No, he is saying and he is stating and he is affirming and he is highlighting in terms of his glory as the surety, as the mediator of a better covenant that he has fully executed all that the father had given him to carry out. It is earthly ministry. John four thirty four. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Do not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest. That is a great statement here. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. You see, Jesus always lived in light of the Father.

Jesus always wanted to glorify the Father. Jesus always wanted to serve and obey the Father. He is a willing, submissive Savior. He does to the uttermost all that God had designed.

He doesn't reject it. He doesn't rebuff it. He doesn't refuse it. He welcomes it.

He embraces it. And He executes fully God's to save his people from their sins. We see this in John 6 and verse 38. John 6, verse 38.

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And again, this isn't the sort of way that you and I might speak. You're a child and your father tells you to go clean the garage. Okay, I'll clean the garage, but I'm not going to like it.

I'll clean the garage, but I'm not going to do the best job I can. I'll clean the garage, but in my heart and in my mind, I'm not playing ball or hockey in the street there. That's not the kind of obedience that Jesus offered up. In Psalm 40, quoted in Hebrews 10, Jesus says, It is my delight to do your will.

You see, as we start unpacking the significance of this statement at the cross, Jesus finished it because we could not. Jesus finished it because we sinned. Jesus finished it because we have brought down upon our own heads the wrath and fury of God Most High. There had to be one.

There had to be a champion. There had to be a victor. There had to be obedience rendered up to the Father. John 8, 28 and 29.

This is just a specimen sampling here. John 8, 28. And Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But as the Father taught me, I speak these things.

And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. Can you say that, Christian? Can you say that non-Christian?

I always do those things that please the Father. You might be thinking, I was doing a pretty good job this morning and then I got out of bed. God's called me to sleep. I'm obedient.

The moment your eyes open, the moment you start to have rational thoughts, you've got to realize I don't always do what the Father has called me to do. You see, Jesus on the cross, Jesus finishing the work of redemption that the father had entrusted to him, shows, demonstrates, affirms, validates, highlights, bold faces, underlines, italicizes the reality that he is bringing glory to his father. What a blessed scheme of redemption. God comes first.

I know that offends us in 21st century North America, because after all, we should come first. We should be the center of the universe. God must be the center. God must be, because he is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand.

Notice, secondly, in terms of the glory of the sun,

Redemption of His People

when he says, it is finished, this secures the redemption of his people. We'll get into that in more detail with reference to this comfort for the church. But the redemption of his people. It all makes sense when you jump into John chapter one.

You read this prologue concerning who Jesus is in John 1 1 through John 1 18. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. It highlights the fact that he made all things. It highlights the fact that he lightens every man.

It highlights the fact that it's him the word that was became flesh and tabernacled among us. It highlights the reality in verse 18 that no one has seen God at any time, but the Son, the One from His bosom, He has come to exegete Him. He has come to declare Him. That's the foundation for the rest of the Gospel of John.

Notice when Jesus appears on the scene, John the Baptist sees Him, and he makes this grand declaration in John 1, 29. He says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of His people, the sin of the world. Well, the rest of the Bible, the rest of the gospel demonstrates how Jesus does that. He obeys his father.

He serves his father. He keeps the law of his father. He doesn't say the law is bad. He says that sinners are bad and that the law is good and that someone must keep it.

And Jesus does that. But as well, he's offered up as a sacrifice as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. This is what is going on here at the apex of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the highlight of his crucifixion. He says, I thirst.

And then he says it is finished. It is a triumph cry. It is a victory declaration. And then

Defeat of the Enemy

thirdly, in terms of the glory of his son, again, we'll unpack this a little bit more in a few moments. The defeat of his enemy. Turn back to John 12 for a moment. John, chapter 12.

I hope you're enjoying this. It's about Jesus Christ and his finished work on behalf of sinners. How to make us joyful. Some of you might be wondering what this what this wire is here.

They're going to put a camera on there so that we can do live video streaming. Currently it's back there up on the balcony there. What if that camera was turned the other way? Someone saw you on the Internet, live video streaming.

Would they see you rolling your eyes, checking your watch, leaning over, asking what's for lunch? We are looking at the most significant statement. I can't say the most. The Bible is filled with significant statements.

One of the most significant statements in the history of the world. You ought not to care what's for lunch. You ought not to care what's going on around you. You ought to be consumed with the glory of this savior. who glorifies and honors his father, who goes to the uttermost depths for our sin, and who crushes the head of the seed of the serpent.

John 12, 31 and 32. Just picking up in verse thirty, Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. The casting out of Satan is not connected with the second coming of Jesus. The casting out of Satan is connected with the first Advent, the first coming, this particular scene, when Jesus dies at Calvary, when Jesus rises from the tomb, the devil is cast out, the devil is bound. He's not rendered completely ineffective, but he is under submission.

He is under control. As Luther said, he's like a dog on a leash. He'll still bark at you. He'll still nip at you.

He'll still try and attack you. But he's on a leash. He can go thus far and no further. That's what Christ is signaling in this statement.

It is finished.

Comfort of the Church

Now, let's move thirdly to the comfort of the church to broad categories here. First, a word fitly spoken, and here I quote Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He says, I am persuaded that it was so intended to be used for none of the words of our Lord on the cross are addressed to the church, but this one. He says it's a word fitly spoken for the church.

OK. I am persuaded that it was so intended to be used as a word fitly, a word fitly spoken for the church, for none of the words of our Lord on the cross are addressed to his church. But this one, I cannot believe that when he was dying, he left his people for whom he died without a word. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do is for sinners, not for saints.

I first is for himself. And so is that bitter cry. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Woman, behold, your son is for Mary.

Today you shall be with me in paradise is for the penitent thief into thy hands. I commend my spirit is for the father. Jesus must have had something to say in the hour of death. for his church, and surely this is his dying word for her. It is finished.

Worship, praise, rejoice, celebrate, honor, glorify, tremble. It is finished church. There are four things Jesus accomplishes here in terms of the church.

Christ Fulfills God's Law

First, he has fulfilled the righteousness of God's law. Again, we approach the law unlawfully. We look at the law as something bad, but Paul says, no, the something bad is our heart. The something bad is our response to God's law.

Jesus came to obey the law because we do not. Now, you cannot argue, well, since he's obeyed, we have no recourse at this particular time. Remember those lawful uses of the law we studied in our Wednesday night Bible study. There is the civil use, where God restrains evil among His creatures.

There is the pedagogue, where the law serves to show us our sinfulness and our need for the Redeemer. And then there is that normative use, when Christ saves us and justifies us freely by the grace of God. He then points us to the law as a pattern or a rule of our lives. The law is not bad, brethren.

We are bad. In what moral universe could it be wrong to give devotion to God. And what moral universe would it be wrong to not violate your neighbor's wife? And what moral universe would it be wrong to go out and not murder people?

The law is good. It's holy. It's just. The problem with sinners is that we have rejected it.

We have transgressed it. We have taken every one of those ten words and we have thrown it into the dirt. So Jesus comes and in his fulfillment, or in his particular hour, he shows us and demonstrates he fulfills the righteousness of God's law. He doesn't set it aside, he doesn't avert it, he doesn't send it away, but rather he does it in his own person and word.

This was announced at his baptism in Matthew 3.15. John the Baptist doesn't want to baptize Jesus. Jesus says, permit it to be so now, for we must fulfill all righteousness. That's problematic of Jesus' active obedience to the law.

Barney alluded to Hebrews chapter 10 verses 5 to 7. You can turn there because this is said concerning our Savior with reference to his work on behalf of his people. It's a quote from Psalm 40. Notice in Hebrews 10 at verse 5.

Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. You have no pleasure. Then I said, praise God, our Savior says this. Then I said, behold, I have come in the volume of the book.

It is written of me to do your will. See, our confession, the reformers, the Puritans, good theologians prior to that era of the Reformation period, saw that we as sinners need a righteousness. They saw that we need to be accepted with God. They realize that Jesus' life of obedience satisfies that blessed requirement of God.

It's called the active obedience of Jesus, and it's imputed to us. Not neglecting, not rejecting, not leaving off the passive, the dying obedience of Jesus. We'll look at that in just a moment. But we need both facets.

We need both parts. Justification is an act of God's free grace where He pardons all our sins. blessed forgiveness through blood, and also accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. You see, the glory of the cross is that Jesus not only satisfies God's wrath and fury and vengeance and anger towards sinful people who deserve hell, but Jesus also secures righteousness that is imputed to his people so that we can stand before God clothed in righteousness, not our own, but fit for heaven. Luther put it in very beautiful terms.

He called it the joyous exchange, the rich, noble, pious bridegroom, Christ takes this poor, despised, wicked little whore in marriage, redeems her of all evil and adorns her with all his goods. That's what we see in Joshua, the high priest, and Zechariah, the prophet. The high priest is standing there on behalf of Israel and he's filthy. He's dirty, disgusting.

Just in case you've forgotten, let me rehearse the language there. The word filth used in Zechariah chapter three concerning Joshua, the high priest, is the word translated elsewhere as vomit. It's translated as feces. You see, Joshua wasn't standing before the Lord with his tie a little bit crooked.

He didn't have a few hairs sticking out. Joshua was undone because of his sin and depravity. The devil's right there to accuse him. God doesn't even let him open his mouth.

God says, take those clothes off of him and put these clothes on him. Put this turban on him. Fit him for glory. That's what we have in our Savior.

He fulfills the righteousness of God's law. As Christians, we look at that law and say, oh, what a burden. No, my victor, my savior, my head, my Lord, He's satisfied, He's fulfilled, He engaged in perfect righteousness. He has saved me by grace alone, through faith alone, in Him alone.

He has given me His Spirit. And he's called me with this statement in John 14, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. We don't say the commandments are burdensome. We imitate the psalmist.

Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation day and night. Jesus doesn't relegate. Jesus doesn't reject.

Jesus doesn't refuse. Jesus fulfills the righteousness of God's law.

Christ Exhausts God's Wrath

Secondly, Jesus exhausts the wrath of God. I've already alluded to that. Jesus exhausts the wrath of God. That means he takes it to the end of the drink.

As Murray says, he takes that cup of God's wrath and he drinks it right down to the dregs. That's the cry of dereliction. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God the Father giving over God the Son.

Remember, we noted that Jesus before Pilate always understood who was in control, right? He doesn't cry out to the audience or to the crowd or to the people saying, why did you reject me? Why did you put me on this cross? Why did you hang me here?

Why didn't you want to receive me unto your own? No, he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus exhausts the wrath of God. He doesn't do it again by deflection or by removal.

He does it by it coming upon himself. We see that Romans 3, 25 and 26. Again, passages I hope you're all very familiar with, passages that I hope are part of the ebb and flow of your Christian life, that you reflect upon these things. When you have those Sundays or those Mondays or those Tuesdays or those Wednesdays, you say, God, how could you ever accept me?

How could you ever receive me into your presence? How could you ever look favorably upon me? Christ has died. Christ has risen.

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect, according to Paul in Romans chapter 8? You rebuff the devil. You rebuff that remaining tendency. You rebuff that and realize God shouldn't accept you.

God should never receive you, save for the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus. I am cleansed in his blood. I am clothed with his righteousness. I have received a righteousness not my own, which is from the law, but that which is from God through faith.

That's how you deal, brethren. When you have a melancholy Wednesday, the antidote isn't Joel Osteen. The antidote is the cross of Christ. The antidote is propitiation.

And God set forth his son as a propitiation for our sins. Not to teach us better lessons, not to show us some moral governmental theory of the atonement, but to set his son forth and to bruise him and to crush him for our sins. That's the stuff of Christian comfort. That's going to help you persevere to the end.

Fifteen little rules on how to beat the Blue Mondays ain't going to get it. You need the blood. Raymond says, the Bible plainly teaches the doctrine of the wrath of God. You can't miss that, right?

As soon as Adam and Eve sins, what does God do? He drives them out of the garden. These people want to make a tower that reaches up into heaven. They want to make a name for themselves.

What does God do? He confounds their lips so they can't communicate and engage in this treason. We get to the time of Noah and we see the earth is filled with violence and exceedingly corrupt. What does God do?

He sends a flood. He judges the known world. He spares eight people. The doctrine of God's wrath should never cause you any surprise.

We are sinners. We raise our fist at God. We reject God. We violate his law.

We transgress it. We do not conform. That he would visit us with judgment is perfectly natural in a moral universe. You stumble with the wrath of God.

Let me just encourage you to read the Bible. Raymond says the Bible plainly teaches the doctrine of the wrath of God. It teaches that God is angry with the sinner, doesn't it? Psalm 7, God is angry with the wicked every day.

You know that smile, God loves you? If you're in His Son, He does. If you're not in His Son, don't smile. God is angry with you.

You know, Paul speaks of us being at enmity with God in Romans 5. where he says that this redemptive work of Christ removed the enmity. There are times in the Bible where it highlights man's enmity against God. Romans 8, for instance. The carnal mind is enmity against God.

That means we are actively, hostilely predisposed to despise God and his law. But I think the import of Romans 5, when Paul speaks about the enmity being dealt with there, is God's enmity with us. You see, we're reconciled. When do you need reconciliation with your spouse?

When you're at odds with each other. We are at odds with God. God is at odds with us. The divine reconciliation takes place when Jesus says, it is finished.

When he sheds his blood on our behalf, when he bolts forth on that third day from the tomb, when he ascends on high, that whole complex of events associated with the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus deals with this wrath. He says it teaches, this is Raymond again, that God is angry with the sinner and that his holy outrage against the sinner must be assuaged. It must be spent, it must be dealt with if the sinner is to escape his due punishment.

It is for this reason that a death occurred at Calvary. God didn't just wave his magic wand and remove our sin. What is the wages of sin? It is death.

Hebrews 9.22 says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. The wrath of God necessitates death. He says, when we look at Calvary and behold the Savior dying for us, we should see in his death, not first our salvation, but our damnation being born and carried away by him. Jesus exhausts the wrath of God.

God's wrath, Douglas Moos says, is the inevitable and necessary reaction of absolute holiness to sin. Romans 3, 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his what? through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Officiation is a beautiful biblical word that we mustn't throw off. It speaks of Jesus taking God's wrath for us.

Each statement, each word, each word employed in this gospel vocabulary has a world of meaning. Reconciliation speaks to that enmity that exists between God and us. Jesus reconciles us. Justification speaks to that legal declaration of God made for the sinner based on the objective work of Christ's doing and dying.

Redemption speaks of us being in bondage to sin and Jesus redeeming us, buying us back from it. And this idea of propitiation is rich with biblical import. It means that Jesus took the wrath and fury of God that you and I deserved. It's beautiful.

Christ Defeats the Devil

A third word fitly spoken to comfort the church or a third idea conveyed is that he defeated the devil. I already mentioned that, I just want to read two verses that highlight that with reality to us. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death.

That is the devil. and release those who through fear of death were in there are all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels or he does not take on angels, but rather he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren. that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. He destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Now the ruler is cast out. Him lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. Christ dealt the death blow to the devil at Calvary. His heel was bruised in that death, but he crushes the head of the seed of the serpent.

He does triumph over him. And then 1 John 3.8 is another passage that highlights this reality. You ask the question, why did Jesus come into this world? Well, John answers this.

John answers this first, John three, eight, he who sins is of the devil for the devil is sin from the beginning. For this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. So he fulfills the righteousness of God's law. He exhausts the wrath of God.

He defeats the devil and

Christ Triumphs Over Death

he triumphs fourthly over death. He triumphs over death. It is finished. Paul tells us in Romans six, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies.

No more death, no longer has dominion over him. First Corinthians chapter 15. The apostle highlights this reality. The remaining or the final enemy of God's people is defeated through the work of Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians 15. When Jesus comes the second time, this is associated with and connected to this second advent. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Read verse 21 in 1 Corinthians 15.

For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's that is coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for he has put all things under his feet. It's a blessed statement. Look at how Paul celebrates it in chapter 15, specifically beginning in verse 54.

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory?

The specter of death no longer has the fangs. I'm sure we're not pleased with the prospect of dying physically, but we need to understand as believers it is the pathway to eternal blessedness. A blessed inheritance that God has secured for us because Jesus finished the work the Father gave him to do. I would call those sort of the macro-cosmic effects.

The big picture effects of Christ's cross work.

Application: Personal Comfort

In conclusion, let's consider when he says it is finished, what that means for you and I. At the individual and church level.

Forgiveness of Sins

First, he has provided forgiveness of sins. I could hear sermons on this or preach sermons on this until Jesus comes back. What's your favorite thing about being a Christian? We're cool.

People love us. We're the life of the party. What's your favorite thing about being a Christian? My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought.

My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Do you ever just ponder the forgiveness of sins?

And smile? And get happy? Rejoice? Not because of some perverse logic, well I can go out and send more of that.

No, that's not gospel forgiveness. That's not the power and the penalty broken. This is what Jesus did. That's the point.

Why did he go to that cross? Because God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Well, he has made sin for us, not in terms of practice, not in terms of actuality, but in terms of imputation. It's like when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, you don't go out and just do holy things.

It is a legal transaction. Our sin is heaped upon the Savior, and God is pleased to bruise him, putting him to grief. We have forgiveness. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

To him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And John begins the book of Revelation by highlighting the work of the triune God and then shows us specifically what Jesus does. He says to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests to his God and father.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. If the forgiveness of sins that you enjoy does not promote the worship of God, one thing or another is out of balance there. You gather here on the Lord's Day.

When we sing these particular hymns and psalms, there is a design in this. There is a purpose behind this. It's not just what Christians do. It's what Christians are privileged to do, to come in and praise their God for the fact that they have been forgiven of their sins.

To thank their God, to adore their God, to stand amazed at their God, to realize the fact that he has not dealt with us according to our transgressions, nor has he rewarded us according to our iniquity. Psalm 103. But as far as the East is from the West, what's he done? He's removed our iniquity.

Prophet Micah tells us at the end of his prophecy, in chapter 7, God casts our sins into the depths of the sea. That doesn't promote faithfulness and praise and adoration. Next time you're on a Sunday morning and you don't feel like going to church, or those Monday blues have infected your Sunday, all that, just think about this reality. I'm forgiven for my sins.

I don't care how old you are. There's a world of grace in that. I'm only ten. Ten years of sin.

I'm 70. 70 years of sin. Wow. I'm not picking on my 70 year old brother here. There's a lot right in 45 years too.

We're forgiven. We're cleansed. I shared this last year at the death of George Sims. I'll share it now.

You may have remembered this. A man that I met when I became a Christian. He was an older brother at the time, a godly man. When we first started at the Palmdale Reformed Baptist Church, we met in the living room, and we sang 580.

And I stood right next to Mr. Sins. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I never had an experience like that, having been recently converted. And I'm not the experiential, hopefully mystical sort of guy, but that was just a blessed foretaste for me of heaven itself.

To stand next to an older brother who was redeemed by the same blood and to be able to sing unto our God and Father. Last year, he had a heart attack. He had some medical issues. He ended up in the hospital.

Stroke, heart attack, just lots of things happened. I was able to get a hold of him. That day, on that Sunday, again, not mystical, this isn't subjective. Wow, look at this.

Fortune cookie theology at Free Grace Baptist. That's not what I'm suggesting. But I think we did sing 580 that day at our church. forgot a hold of George on the phone in the hospital where he was. He remembered who I was and I said, brother, we sang 580 today and together we recited, my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Brother George passed away and he's in the presence of the Lamb of God because of that blood. shed for sinners, washing, cleansing, purifying us. I just don't get this mindset that we have to entertain people to promote worship. That we have to have a band to get you in the mood. We've got to put our Bible to the side and put an easy chair here and me tell stories so that you can feel the sort of, you know, worshipful edge.

If the reality that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed you from all your sin does not provoke worship, I don't care what band you have. I don't care what you have in terms of, let's try to help people worship. If the reality of Jesus' blood and righteousness availing for us doesn't get you singing praises to God, I certainly can't help you. He has provided forgiveness.

Imputed Righteousness

He has provided us with a perfect righteousness. We already alighted on that briefly. Joshua, the high priest in Zechariah chapter 3. How do we see the saints decked, clothed in the book of Revelation?

White robes. Where did they get those white robes? Walmart have a sale? No, they got the white robes through the blood of Jesus Christ.

It's interesting, it says their robes were washed in the blood and therefore are white. Amazing image, isn't it? You don't wash robes in blood and they turn out white. Generally, they turn out red or pink.

He has provided for us a righteousness, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Not made again in terms of practicality, in terms of application, but constituted. Imputation is the idea behind this. John Gill says so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous, not by their own obedience, nor by their own obedience in Christ together.

It's not a mixture. It's not a mingling together. Jesus gets us 80 percent of the way. We'll throw in the 20 percent and then God will receive us.

It is fully of Christ. Completely from first to last. This is why Jonah confessed. Salvation is of the Lord.

This is why the saints in heaven confessed. Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne. We are not contributors. The only thing we contribute to this transaction is the sin that we need to be saved from.

It's not our works. It's not our moral reform. It's not our righteousness. It's not what we do.

It's not even our faith. God gives us the faith as the instrument by which we are connected to the Lord of glory. It is all of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the imputation of righteousness. Dill goes on to say, but by his soul and single obedience to the law of God and the persons made righteous by it are not all the posterity of Adam and yet not a few of them, but many, even all the elect of God and seed of Christ.

These are all made righteous in the sight of God are justified from all their sins and entitled to eternal life and happiness. So he has secured forgiveness. He has provided righteousness. Thirdly, for us, in terms of our personal benefit and comfort,

Peace With God

he has secured peace with God. Romans 5.1. This is why we say here, theology matters. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

The doctrine of sola fide brings peace with God. The declaration of not guilty. The forgiveness or pardon of sin. The imputation of righteousness.

That construct called justification brings peace with God. You may have turmoil. You may have difficulty. You may have trial.

You may have issues. You may have severe, severe affliction from time to time. But there is no one who can take from you that peace that has been secured by the doing and dying of Jesus Christ, our Lord. No matter what your state, no matter what your affliction, no matter how bad things are, things haven't changed between you and God.

We have peace, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And

Eternal Inheritance

he has forthly purchased our eternal inheritance. That means he's going to see us all the way into heaven. It's a blessed thought, but I saw no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it.

This is Revelation 21 for the Lamb is its light. I'm sorry, Revelation 21, 23. The Lamb is its light, and the nations of those who are safe shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day.

There shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. Isn't that amazing? There'll be no night there.

What is that bespeak? Joy. Happiness. It's not that you can never have joy and happiness at night.

You can even have joy and happiness on a cloudy, rainy day. But there's something about that sunshine, isn't there? It just bestates joy. It's radiant, it's beautiful, it's lovely, it warms you.

That's the imagery that John is portraying as he's depicting for us this garden temple that comes out of heaven into an established place of new heavens and new earth. The garden temple that Adam forfeits in the garden of Eden is brought to fruition through the second Adam. Revelation visits or revisits or completes Genesis chapters one to three. They shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

There shall by no means enter at anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun.

For the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. I know that people in this church have trials. I know that we all have trials. We all have our struggles.

We all have our difficulties. We all have our issues. We all have things that sort of weigh in on us daily. Jesus acknowledged this in John 16.

In this world, you will have tribulation. I think an understanding of our Lord's triumphant statement, it is finished, will help promote what Jesus goes on to say. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

Believer, when you are down, when you are depressed, when you have melancholy, when things look bleak, when you're in the 65th day of rain and clouds, think about these truths. Think about the pardon of sin. Think about the imputation of righteousness. Think about the peace that pervasively influences your heart and life when you stop to think in terms of God.

And think about what the Lord God Almighty has laid up for us. It is an eternal weight of glory. This is momentary light affliction, the Apostle Paul tells us. 80 years in the grand scheme of things isn't a whole lot. When we enter into heaven, when we enter into eternal life, there's just no comparison.

So my dear brothers and sisters, be of good cheer, be worshippers, be contemplators, be thinking in terms of gospel, be thinking in terms of truth, be thinking in terms of cross, be thinking in terms of Jesus. And for those who have not believed, hope it's been conspicuous this morning. The way to salvation is through Christ the Lord. The way to salvation is not through your works.

Don't leave here saying, I've got to try harder. I've got to go to church more. I've got to do this more. I've got to stop this more.

That's not the way of salvation. The way of salvation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. to believe what the Bible says concerning him, that he lived in obedience to God's law, that he died as a sacrifice at Calvary, that he rose again. Look and live is what the scriptures testify. Believe and you shall be saved.

And then you can revel in forgiveness, righteousness, peace, and that eternal inheritance that the Lord has in store for his people. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for your word and thank you for these truths that we see in our in our Bibles. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and these statements from the cross. Thank you for this one. It is finished.

God, thank you that you have indeed undertaken to save your people from their sins, that you sent your son and he was victorious. God, how we thank you that he ever lives to make intercession for us now, that he is our advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the righteous. I pray that you would encourage and comfort and build up each of your people here. And God, for those who have not believed, I pray that you would stir them up, should open their hearts, that you would cause them to see the glory of Jesus Christ, to believe and be saved.

And we ask in his most blessed name. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 1-3; 3:15
• Daniel 9
• Psalms 7:11; 24; 40:7-8; 103:12
• Isaiah 53; 53:11
• Zechariah 3:3-4
• Micah 7:19
• Matthew 3:15; 27:46
• Luke 23:34; 23:43; 23:46
• John 1:1-18; 1:29; 3:16; 4:34; 6:38; 8:28-29; 12:31-32; 14:15; 16:33; 19:26-28; 19:30
• Romans 3:25-26; 5:1; 5:10; 6:9; 8:7; 8:33
• 1 Corinthians 15:21; 15:54-55
• Hebrews 2:14; 9:22; 10:5-7
• 1 John 3:8
• Revelation 21:23-27; 22:1-5