Be Assured ... "It is finished!"

Intro: Ebenezer Wooten was an Englishman and an earnest but eccentric evangelist.  Many years go he held meetings in a tent on the village green at Lidford Brook.  The last service had been conducted, the crowd was leaving, and the evangelist was busy taking down the tent.  A young fellow approached the preacher and rather casually asked, “Mr. Wooten, what must I do to be saved?”

“Too late!” said the evangelist, in a matter of fact way, as he glanced up at the inquirer.  “Too late, my friend, too late!”

This startled the young man, driving away every vestige of indifference.  “Oh, don’t say that, Mr. Wooten!  Surely it isn’t too late just because the meetings are over?”

“Yes, my friend,” answered the evangelist, looking his questioner straight in the eye, “it’s too late!  You want to know what you must DO to be saved, and I tell you that you’re hundreds of years too late!  The work of salvation is done, completed, finished!  It was finished on the cross; Jesus said so with the last breath that He drew!  What more do you want?”

Then and there the truth dawned upon the young man.  There was nothing for him to do to finish the work that the Lord Jesus had perfected at the cross.  That is, there was nothing for him to do but to fall upon his knees and accept the Saviour and His finished work of grace.

Have you done it?  Will you do it?

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. [i].

These words, “It is finished” speak of both a prophecy and fulfillment.  The prophets foretold of this coming day … and now the Son was voicing its fulfillment.

Hebrews 1:1-2  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;[ii]

Of all the words Christ spoke, it is the words … “It is finished” … that  speak of the greatest impact to our lives as they speak to salvation.  To misunderstand them, or even ignore them is the greatest tragedy known to our existence.

1. These words, “It is finished” were spoken by our Christ on three occasions.

• The Creator finished His work perfectly … nothing can be added to improve it, nothing can be taken away without marring it.

Genesis 2:1-2  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.[iii] (cf: Col 1:16 ... everything created by, for, through Christ)

• The Savior finished His work perfectly … nothing need be or can be done to improve it.

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost

• The Sovereign Lord finished the eternal work perfectly … all things completed.

Revelation 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.[iv]

In each instance “finished” speaks to the completion of the work of Christ … as Creator, Savior and the End.

Be assured … of the finished work and resulting freedom from sins penalty that comes from the cross.

   In the late summer of 1989 one million people in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia linked arms and formed a human chain that was 360 miles long. When the chain was completed, one word was passed along the line. Each one spoke to the next until that one word had been passed along all those 360 miles. The word was "freedom!" When our Lord Jesus Christ cried from the cross "It is finished," he might as well have said "freedom!" Our freedom from sin, our freedom from ourselves, our freedom from death and the grave were all won on the cross and celebrated in the resurrection.

2. Be Assured of the Finished Work

So what was finished? When Christ spoke these words they were not a reference to his life, his plans, his influence, his opportunity to change the world, He spoke of His work.

• Jesus came to do the work of God.

John 9:4  " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.[v].

• Jesus came to finish the work of God.

John 17:4  " I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.[vi]

Jesus said “It” … is finished (not I).  “It” can only be one thing.   The payment of suffering for the full punishment and penalty of sin. 

1 Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. [vii]

Jesus knew where he had come from, why he was here, and what he was supposed to accomplish. He came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of the Father. That determination controlled every decision he made.

   As a result, he was not distracted with trivia. He was never in a hurry, for he knew his Father would not give a task without the time to do it. Christ was not driven by crises, feeling he must heal everyone in Israel. He could say, "It is finished, " even when many people were still bound by demons and twisted by disease. What mattered ultimately was not the number of people healed or fed, but whether the Father's will was being done. His clearly defined goals simplified his decisions.      Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )

a.  Sin Defeated … Power of Sin Broken

Jesus on the Cross became sin for us; died for our sins; defeated sin (past, present, future) for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

·         Power of sin broken.

Romans 6:9-10 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. [viii]

“He vanquished Satan: He broke open the grave; He led the captive; He closed the gates of hell and opened the gates of heaven for all the redeemed.”  - RL Moyer

b. Separation Ended … Isolation of Sin Removed

·         Part of sin’s cost was to be separated from God.

·         Sin isolates man from God.

·         Hell is the state where the soul is lost and separated from God.

·         Christ’s finished work ends the separation.

Ephesians 2:14  For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition,

c. Sacrifice Completed … Obstacle of Sin Removed

Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.[ix].

·         “It is finished” … every obstacle between man and God removed.

·         “It is finished” … every demand of the law satisfied.

·         “It is finished” … salvation completed with nothing for man to do.

Nothing can be added to the work of Christ for the redemption He and He alone has secured … be assured it is finished.

3. Be Assured of the Finished Results

It is too easy to state … “Jesus died on the Cross for us.”  Though true, we must go on to see and live in the results of the work of Christ on the Cross.

With the finished work of Christ on the Cross … all barriers are gone … and all people are offered a new beginning.

a. Access to God Resulted

At the time of Christ’s death the veil in the Temple was torn in two.

Mark 15:38  ⁸And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. [x].

·         The torn veil indicated that the way was open for all to enter.

·         God now offered free access to Himself … no earthly priest … no altar … no sacrifice is necessary.

·         Christ as a result of His finished work became the new and living way to God.

Hebrews 10:19-22  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  ²⁰By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  ²¹And having an high priest over the house of God; ²²Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.[xi]2b.

b. Acceptance with God Resulted

·         Access says we are accepted by God through Christ.

·         Sin caused us to be unacceptable, but the finished work of Christ makes us acceptable.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.[xii].

1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. [xiii]

c. Approach to God

·         Accepted by God means He is approachable.

·         Christ has made us known to God the Father.

·         Christ as our Mediator has reconciled us to God.

1 Timothy 2:5  For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Romans 5:10  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

·         With God being approachable through the finished work of Christ … 

• We never have to face the onslaught of flesh, devil or personal weakness alone.
• We can invite God’s presence to enter and invade our circumstances to release His grace.

Conclusion: “It is finished” is the cry not of a victim but a Victor.  The war is won!  The victory is ours! “The heavenly Father is now free to love lost men into His eternal Kingdom without violating His holy justice.  Man, by his sin, had put himself outside the realm of God’s saving love but inside the jurisdiction of His condemning justice.  But now, the eternal Son, by His substitution, had carried God’s love into man’s realm of rebellion, satisfied the demands of God’s justice, and invited man to come back home to God and love.  Since Jesus paid the price of human redemption with His own precious blood, God can now receive the repenting, returning sinner both as a loving Father and a just God.”  - Russell Jones, “Gold from Golgotha”

The work of God atoning … justifying … saving man through the work of Christ on the Cross stands forever finished!

Be Assured ... "It is finished!"

Intro: Ebenezer Wooten was an Englishman and an earnest but eccentric evangelist.  Many years go he held meetings in a tent on the village green at Lidford Brook.  The last service had been conducted, the crowd was leaving, and the evangelist was busy taking down the tent.  A young fellow approached the preacher and rather casually asked, “Mr. Wooten, what must I do to be saved?”

“Too late!” said the evangelist, in a matter of fact way, as he glanced up at the inquirer.  “Too late, my friend, too late!”

This startled the young man, driving away every vestige of indifference.  “Oh, don’t say that, Mr. Wooten!  Surely it isn’t too late just because the meetings are over?”

“Yes, my friend,” answered the evangelist, looking his questioner straight in the eye, “it’s too late!  You want to know what you must DO to be saved, and I tell you that you’re hundreds of years too late!  The work of salvation is done, completed, finished!  It was finished on the cross; Jesus said so with the last breath that He drew!  What more do you want?”

Then and there the truth dawned upon the young man.  There was nothing for him to do to finish the work that the Lord Jesus had perfected at the cross.  That is, there was nothing for him to do but to fall upon his knees and accept the Saviour and His finished work of grace.

Have you done it?  Will you do it?

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. [i].

These words, “It is finished” speak of both a prophecy and fulfillment.  The prophets foretold of this coming day … and now the Son was voicing its fulfillment.

Hebrews 1:1-2  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;[ii]

Of all the words Christ spoke, it is the words … “It is finished” … that  speak of the greatest impact to our lives as they speak to salvation.  To misunderstand them, or even ignore them is the greatest tragedy known to our existence.

1. These words, “It is finished” were spoken by our Christ on three occasions.

• The Creator finished His work perfectly … nothing can be added to improve it, nothing can be taken away without marring it.

Genesis 2:1-2  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.[iii] (cf: Col 1:16 ... everything created by, for, through Christ)

• The Savior finished His work perfectly … nothing need be or can be done to improve it.

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost

• The Sovereign Lord finished the eternal work perfectly … all things completed.

Revelation 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.[iv]

In each instance “finished” speaks to the completion of the work of Christ … as Creator, Savior and the End.

Be assured … of the finished work and resulting freedom from sins penalty that comes from the cross.

   In the late summer of 1989 one million people in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia linked arms and formed a human chain that was 360 miles long. When the chain was completed, one word was passed along the line. Each one spoke to the next until that one word had been passed along all those 360 miles. The word was "freedom!" When our Lord Jesus Christ cried from the cross "It is finished," he might as well have said "freedom!" Our freedom from sin, our freedom from ourselves, our freedom from death and the grave were all won on the cross and celebrated in the resurrection.

2. Be Assured of the Finished Work

So what was finished? When Christ spoke these words they were not a reference to his life, his plans, his influence, his opportunity to change the world, He spoke of His work.

• Jesus came to do the work of God.

John 9:4  " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.[v].

• Jesus came to finish the work of God.

John 17:4  " I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.[vi]

Jesus said “It” … is finished (not I).  “It” can only be one thing.   The payment of suffering for the full punishment and penalty of sin. 

1 Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. [vii]

Jesus knew where he had come from, why he was here, and what he was supposed to accomplish. He came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of the Father. That determination controlled every decision he made.

   As a result, he was not distracted with trivia. He was never in a hurry, for he knew his Father would not give a task without the time to do it. Christ was not driven by crises, feeling he must heal everyone in Israel. He could say, "It is finished, " even when many people were still bound by demons and twisted by disease. What mattered ultimately was not the number of people healed or fed, but whether the Father's will was being done. His clearly defined goals simplified his decisions.      Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )

a.  Sin Defeated … Power of Sin Broken

Jesus on the Cross became sin for us; died for our sins; defeated sin (past, present, future) for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

·         Power of sin broken.

Romans 6:9-10 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. [viii]

“He vanquished Satan: He broke open the grave; He led the captive; He closed the gates of hell and opened the gates of heaven for all the redeemed.”  - RL Moyer

b. Separation Ended … Isolation of Sin Removed

·         Part of sin’s cost was to be separated from God.

·         Sin isolates man from God.

·         Hell is the state where the soul is lost and separated from God.

·         Christ’s finished work ends the separation.

Ephesians 2:14  For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition,

c. Sacrifice Completed … Obstacle of Sin Removed

Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.[ix].

·         “It is finished” … every obstacle between man and God removed.

·         “It is finished” … every demand of the law satisfied.

·         “It is finished” … salvation completed with nothing for man to do.

Nothing can be added to the work of Christ for the redemption He and He alone has secured … be assured it is finished.

3. Be Assured of the Finished Results

It is too easy to state … “Jesus died on the Cross for us.”  Though true, we must go on to see and live in the results of the work of Christ on the Cross.

With the finished work of Christ on the Cross … all barriers are gone … and all people are offered a new beginning.

a. Access to God Resulted

At the time of Christ’s death the veil in the Temple was torn in two.

Mark 15:38  ⁸And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. [x].

·         The torn veil indicated that the way was open for all to enter.

·         God now offered free access to Himself … no earthly priest … no altar … no sacrifice is necessary.

·         Christ as a result of His finished work became the new and living way to God.

Hebrews 10:19-22  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  ²⁰By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  ²¹And having an high priest over the house of God; ²²Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.[xi]2b.

b. Acceptance with God Resulted

·         Access says we are accepted by God through Christ.

·         Sin caused us to be unacceptable, but the finished work of Christ makes us acceptable.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.[xii].

1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. [xiii]

c. Approach to God

·         Accepted by God means He is approachable.

·         Christ has made us known to God the Father.

·         Christ as our Mediator has reconciled us to God.

1 Timothy 2:5  For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Romans 5:10  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

·         With God being approachable through the finished work of Christ … 

• We never have to face the onslaught of flesh, devil or personal weakness alone.
• We can invite God’s presence to enter and invade our circumstances to release His grace.

Conclusion: “It is finished” is the cry not of a victim but a Victor.  The war is won!  The victory is ours! “The heavenly Father is now free to love lost men into His eternal Kingdom without violating His holy justice.  Man, by his sin, had put himself outside the realm of God’s saving love but inside the jurisdiction of His condemning justice.  But now, the eternal Son, by His substitution, had carried God’s love into man’s realm of rebellion, satisfied the demands of God’s justice, and invited man to come back home to God and love.  Since Jesus paid the price of human redemption with His own precious blood, God can now receive the repenting, returning sinner both as a loving Father and a just God.”  - Russell Jones, “Gold from Golgotha”

The work of God atoning … justifying … saving man through the work of Christ on the Cross stands forever finished!