Date: Good Friday April 2, 2021 Scripture: John 19:16-30
John chapter 19. The title of this message here tonight is It Is Finished. It is finished -- John chapter 19 starting in verse 16. Will you follow along as I read our passage for us tonight?
16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.” 25 Therefore the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:16-30
This past week I finished our taxes. And when you finish your taxes you say what Jesus said on the cross--It is finished. And there's this sense of relief that comes right? When you're done with those, as you submit them and get them off to the IRS. It is finished. There are many other tasks that you and I perform things that we do and we say this same phrase, It is finished. When we get done, there's this sense of relief. For us, because of all the work that we've done, all the things that we have accomplished up to that point and finally it is done. It is finished. It is complete.
But Jesus had this same reaction as He cried out on the cross, It is Finished. There on that Good Friday as He hung on the cross there at Golgotha. And as we can see in our passage here tonight in John chapter 19 and verse 30, it says, “therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said it is finished, and He bowed His head, and He gave up His spirit.” John 19:30
This morning I want us tonight I want us to talk about this phrase. It is finished. It is finished. This was the final shout that Christ gave on the cross before He gave up His spirit. And it was a shout, indeed a shout declaring to the world it is finished. That phrase there, it is finished, is actually one word in the Greek. The word is tetelestai…. tetelestai -- one word. A word means to complete an activity to bring to an end, to finish or to accomplish…. tetelestai. But what's interesting is this is not the first time that Jesus uses this word in His ministry. In fact, in John chapter 4 and verse 34, Jesus said,
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish” (or to finish) “His work.” (John 4:34)
Jesus said in John 17:4 in His high priestly prayer, He said…
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. (John 17:4)
And so Jesus has been sent by the Father. He was sent by the Father on a mission, and He came, and as we celebrate on Christmas, He took on flesh, He became like you and I. And He took on flesh, and He was on a mission, sent by the Father, to go and do exactly what the Father had tasked Him to do.
As Jesus lived His life, it was a perfect life. A perfect life that you and I could never live. But Jesus lived a perfect life and then He entered into to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which is what we celebrated this last Sunday. He entered into Jerusalem, where He was arrested. He was put on trial, He was mocked. He was spit on. He was ridiculed. He was yelled at. He was beaten, and then He carried His cross all the way to Golgotha, where He was lifted up in shame and humiliation as He hung there on that cross for all to see Him. He hung there on that cross to die, to give up His life as a ransom for you and I.
All of that was a part of the mission that He was sent on, that He was sent on to save sinners like you and I. But it wasn't until that last hour, at His final breath, as He breathed His last breath, that He could shout with a loud voice, it is finished. And it was at that moment that all was accomplished. Everything that He had come to do was accomplished. It was complete. It was finished. And tonight I want to specifically talk about what was accomplished on that cross.
What was it that Jesus accomplished on that cross as He shouted out with a loud shout, a loud voice tetelestai -- It is finished. Why did Jesus go to the cross? Why did He go there on that Friday? And what was it that He accomplished there as He was dying, and finally gave up His spirit and died upon that cross?
Tonight I want us to talk about five things. Five things that were accomplished there on that cross. The first one is that the wrath of God was satisfied.
1. The Wrath of God was Satisfied.
Listen to Romans chapter 3 verses 23 through 25. Famous verse. We know this.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” (Romans 3:23-25)
Or Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Now that sounds like a big theological word that you got to go to seminary to study, but you actually don't because it's right there in your Bible, right? Propitiation. Propitiation, what does this word propitiation mean? It simply means to satisfy. It means to satisfy, and thus to turn aside the wrath of God.
That's what happened when Jesus was hanging there on the cross. He satisfied the wrath of God, and therefore He turned aside the wrath of God that you and I deserve. And He did it through His death.
So one commentator says “Jesus’ sacrifice as the God-man satisfied God’s justice, so that instead of God justifiably demonstrating His wrath towards sinful man, He demonstrated His mercy.”
God now demonstrates His mercy to us as believers. And He has turned His wrath away from us, because Christ satisfied the wrath of God as He hung there on that cross. You see, you and I deserve God's wrath because of our sin. We deserve every bit of God's wrath, but God's wrath was satisfied as He poured out His wrath upon His only son, and He took it upon Himself. He took the wrath of God upon Himself, that you and I deserve.
And now through faith in Christ, God shows us mercy instead of wrath. Because Christ on the cross was the propitiation for our sin. He's the satisfaction for our sin and His death satisfied God's wrath. That's why Jesus said in the garden when Peter drew his sword out to cut off the ear of Malchus, you guys remember that? Peter draws his sword, and he goes, and he cuts his ear off, and Jesus picks the guy’s ear up and heals him, right?
And when Peter does that, Jesus looks over at Peter and He says, put the sword into the sheath, the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not drink it Peter? I have to drink it. What was that cup that Jesus was talking about? It was a cup of wrath. It was the cup that overflowed full of the wrath of God. It was the wrath of the Father that Jesus would drink, and He would take it upon Himself so that all who believe in Him would be shown mercy. Mercy instead of wrath.
As Jerry Bridges says, it was not the physical agony that Jesus so dreaded, as horrible as that was. Rather, it was the spiritual agony He foresaw as He would drink to its last bitter dregs, the cup of God's wrath. The wrath that we actually deserve. So what was accomplished when Jesus said it is finished? The wrath of God was satisfied.
2. Second, The Sacrificial System was Fulfilled.
The sacrificial system was fulfilled. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 9 in your Bibles with me. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews tells us all about the sacrificial system as it points to Christ and Christ being the fulfillment of it and specifically in Hebrews chapter 9 in verse 23 it says this.
Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. (Hebrews 9:23-28)
Christ completely fulfilled the Old Testament sacrificial system. He's the fulfillment of it. All of those sacrifices that the Old Testament saints had to make to cover their sins…all of those were pointing forward to one ultimate sacrifice. One sacrifice that was made by Christ. All of those sacrifices covered sins, but the sacrifice of Christ didn't cover sins…it removes sins. It removes sins. We no longer need a sacrifice for our sins because the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to remove all of our past, all of our present, and all of our future sins. All of them. His death is sufficient to remove all of those sins, and therefore the sacrificial system was no longer needed. It was fulfilled. It was done.
In fact, in 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed the temple, all the sacrifices stopped. And since that day, there have been no more sacrifices in the temple. It doesn't happen. Because Christ fulfilled the sacrificial system. The whole purpose was to point to the sacrifice of Christ. But since the death of Christ has happened, since that sacrifice has happened, there doesn't need to be anymore sacrifices made.
He is the Lamb of God who came to die as a sacrifice for our sins, right?
Which is exactly what we read in Isaiah 53 tonight. Hebrews 10:18 says:
“Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
No longer…It's done. We don't have to go and make sacrifices anymore because the one sacrifice has been fulfilled. It has been made; it has been done for us. And we're forgiven. Not just having our sins covered, but forgiven, there is now forgiveness through the death of Christ. The sacrificial system has been fulfilled and Christ accomplished that when He died upon the cross.
#3 Christ also accomplished on that cross...what did He accomplish?
#3 The Power of Satan was Defeated
The power of Satan was defeated. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 2. Just hang a left a couple pages and go to Hebrews chapter 2 and look at verses 14 & 15. Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 14 says this.
“14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Heb 2:14-15)
What was Satan's weapon that he used to capture people? What was the weapon that Satan used? Death. It was death. That was his weapon. It came at the fall when he lied to Eve. Do you remember that? He lies to Eve and he told her in Genesis 3:4 he said, “you surely will not die.” Bold faced lie. She believed it. She believed his lie. And what happened? Death came. There was death. Satan knew the wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23)
And when he got the human race to fall, he knew that if men remained in that state, that they would be eternally damned in hell. He knew that that was his weapon was death. But what did Christ come to do? What did Christ come to do? To remove the weapon of death from Satan. That's what He did. And when his weapon is gone, what does that make Satan? Powerless. He no longer has power.
Which is exactly what the writer of Hebrews tells us…through Christ’s death, “He might render powerless him” (that is Satan) “who had the power of death.” (Heb 2:14)
Now, how did Jesus’ death destroy death? Well, what came after the death of Christ? His resurrection.
That's what we celebrate on Sunday, right? The resurrection of Christ. The resurrection came. And so it is through the death of Christ, which resulted in the resurrection of Christ, that Satan has become powerless, and he no longer has power over us who believe in Christ.
And now through faith in Christ, death no longer has a grip on us, because Christ came to destroy the power of death. And He did it through His death, and through His resurrection, which is why John tells us in first John 3:8,
“…the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose” (You ready?) “to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
To destroy them. And that's exactly what He did. And now all of those who place their faith in Christ are no longer slaves of sin and death but are free in Christ. We're free in Christ, and we have eternal life because of the death and the resurrection of Christ our Savior. So it was on that cross, through his death, that Christ defeated Satan and he rendered him powerless.
#4 What else did Christ accomplish?
#4 The Debt for Sin was Paid.
The debt for sin was paid. Now, as we read in John chapter 19. What was it that Pilate nailed to the cross above the head of Jesus? What was it there? It was a sign that he'd nailed there, right? He put a sign above the head of Jesus that said, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” (Jn 19:19)
But did you know that there was something else that was nailed on that cross with Jesus as well? Listen to Colossians chapter 2 verses 13 through 14.
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions” (ready for this?) “14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Heb 2:13-14)
He nailed it to the cross. You see, in those days when criminals were crucified on a cross, the charges against that criminal were written down and nailed to his cross as well. They were nailed to the cross.
But on the cross of Christ there was no certificate…there was no certificate of debt that was nailed there because he did nothing wrong, right? Which is exactly what Pilate said I find nothing wrong with this man. (John 18:38-39) But they continue to yell out, “crucify Him, crucify Him” (Matt 27:22-23) But Christ didn't have a certificate of debt on His cross, for His sins, because He's a perfect Lamb of God. He never sinned.
But there was a certificate of debt that was nailed there with Him, and it was our certificate. It was your certificate of debt with all of your sins and all of your crimes…they were all nailed there on that cross with Christ. Every sin that you have ever committed, every sin that you will commit, were all nailed there on the cross with Christ. It was a certificate of debt that you and I could never pay. We couldn't pay that certificate.
An article a couple years ago in the Atlantic speaks of a man named Jerome Kerviel, who, in 2007 and 2008 was involved in fraudulent trades and cost a French bank billions of dollars. A judge ordered him to pay (you ready for this?) $6.3 billion in restitution. $6.3 billion in restitution for all of the fraudulent trades that he was involved in. And he was to pay all of those after his three-year sentence in prison.
The article goes on and it asked this question. How does a $6 billion fine even work? Will they garnish his wages for life? Here's the answer they give…intelligent…(you ready for this?)…he's obviously not going to be able to pay the fine. That's right, $6.3 billion. This guy can't pay the fine. But the article goes on to say this: “…one of the things this shows is the sword of Damocles will be hanging over you forever if you're convicted of this sort of offense.” The sword of Damocles, a sword that would be dangling by a string over your head if you commit something like this.
And here's the reality though, unbelievers don't realize this, but the sword of God's wrath is hanging over them every single moment. God's wrath is hanging over them because of their certificate of debt, their sins that they cannot pay for. God's wrath is hanging over them every moment of every day.
But what did the death of Christ accomplish for us who believe? It cancelled out that certificate of debt that we owed because of our sin. And that certificate of debt, that you and I could never pay, a certificate of debt that continually, line after line, read guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. That certificate was nailed to the cross with Christ. And Christ took the sword for us. He took the wrath of God upon Himself for us. He stood there in our place, and now there's a stamp, inked with blood, on that certificate of debt that says “paid in full.” Tetelestai. Paid in full. It is finished.
Warren Wiersbe tells us of this Greek word tetelestai. He says this “the word was a common one and was used by merchants to mean the price is all paid. Shepherds and priests used it when they found a perfect sheep. Ready for sacrifice. Tetelestai.”
Christ is the perfect Lamb of God who went to the cross for you and I, to pay a debt that we could not pay. Tetelestai. It is finished. It is accomplished. The price for our sin has been paid in full.
Finally, #5 what else did Christ accomplish?
#5 The Way to the Father was Provided.
The way to the Father was provided. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 and 20
“19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:19-20)
Look, it is impossible for anyone to get into the presence of the Father on their own. You can't make it to heaven on your own. You cannot do it. Your good works are not enough. And sadly, there's a lot of people today who think that if they just have enough good works, that somehow that's going to get them into heaven that they will be with the Father. That's a lie from hell. Your good works cannot save you. They will not save you.
You even have religious people who think that because of their religious works, or their religious sacrifices, that that somehow earns them favor with God and will get them into heaven. But that won't get you there either.
In fact, it's not even your own religious confessions that will get you in. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. He says:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Matt 7:21)
What is Jesus saying here? He's saying your lip service won't get you into heaven. Your lip service won't get you into heaven.
Many people will say Lord, Lord, and He will say ‘I never knew you.’ (Matt 7:22)
You can call Jesus Lord all day long, but if you are not obedient to Him, if you have not submitted your life to the Lordship of Christ and lived to please Him and to be obedient to Him, you are not a believer and you can cry out, ‘Lord, Lord’ all day long, and He will say ‘I never knew you.’ (Matt 7:22)
All that is, is a bunch of lip service. But all those who declare Jesus as Lord, who believe in His death, His burial, and His resurrection, and who obey God's word, those are the ones who will enter in.
The author of Hebrews is clear that the only way into the presence of God is through the blood of Jesus.
That is the only way. He has made the way for us. It is His death on the cross that has opened the veil for us.
In the Old Testament, only the priests could enter in, through the veil, into the Holy of Holies, once a year on the Day of Atonement. That was it. One day out of the entire year, could they go into the Holy of Holies. But, through the blood of Christ, we have access to the Holy of Holies, the Throne Room of Heaven, where we can commune with the Lord of all Creation. Because Christ made the way. He made the way for you and I.
In closing, there's one more truth about this Greek word tetelestai that I think is important for us to know. For all of the grammar nerds that are out there, this word tetelestai is in the perfect tense. It's in the perfect tense. Ace, what is the perfect tense mean? It means this…it identifies a past, completed action, with continuing effects or results.
When Jesus said “it is finished” it was completed, then on the cross at that moment, with continuing effects and results…which means that all that was accomplished on that cross, was accomplished there, and it still applies to you and I today. It applies to us.
What was accomplished? And what is applied?
- First, that God's wrath is satisfied. God's wrath is satisfied.
- Second, that the sacrificial system is fulfilled.
- Third, that the power of Satan is defeated.
- Fourth, that the debt of our sin is fully paid for.
- Finally, #5, we have access to the Father today.
But some of you are here tonight and you don't have access, because you have not repented of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, and God's wrath still remains upon you. But I call you tonight I plead with you, I beg with you, come to Christ today, come to Christ this moment, repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, who came to accomplish all of this for you.
If you haven't done that, I urge you -- do that now! You don't know if you will make it home tonight. Come to Christ today at this moment and put your faith in Him and receive the free gift of salvation that He offers to you. He accomplished it that day on that cross. And all of this that we have just talked about…all of this is applied to us today, through faith in Christ alone because of what Christ accomplished on that cross when He shouted out with a loud voice tetelestai “It is finished.”
Father, we thank You for this amazing, amazing truth. We thank You for the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who bore Your wrath upon Himself so that all who believe in Him would never have to bear that wrath. Father, we thank You that in Christ our sins are forgiven and that we have eternal life, and that we can come to you with boldness into Your throne room and commune with You. Father, we know that this is only possible because of the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we celebrate tonight, and we thank You. We give praise and adoration and glory to Your name, and to Your name alone, for what You have accomplished for us. We pray that we would leave here tonight with hearts full of gratitude and thankfulness, realizing and recognizing that it is finished -- that Christ accomplished it all for us.
Father we know that it didn't end there. We know that three days later -- that Christ rose from the grave, that He is victorious, and that He is alive today. We're grateful for what You have done. We thank You for our time in Your word. Thank You for how it speaks to our hearts. We love You. We praise You. We give You all glory and all honor that is due Your name. In Christ name. Amen.