My notes from a sermon on 24 April 2011
John 19 verses 28 – 37
Once again Easter brings us into focus on the betrayal of the Lord, on the suffering of Christ, of the death of Christ, that Christ is no longer dead but is risen again and is seated at his Father’s right hand and has now entered into a different ministry of interceding and praying for you and I today. The Lord took your place on the cross and now he is at his Father’s side praying for you today. There is one little phrase in verse 30 “it is finished.” Jesus spoke some 7 times on the cross when he broke the stillness of that scene on Calvary’s hill. The Bible tells us they took a sponge and filled it with hyssop and put it to his mouth. It is then that he speaks these words. His earthly life was finished on the cross but what a finish. In John 17 verse 4 we read of the Lord praying “I have finished the work that thou hast given me to do.” That takes us back to the question – what was the work he had finished? What does that work mean for me this Easter Sunday morning?
Jesus finished a specific work. There was no other person or place where this work could be accomplished. It was the work of redemption. Paul writing to the Corinthian church wrote “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” (2 Corinthians 5 verse 19) It is only through the Lord on the cross of Calvary. He came to undo the work Satan had done in the Garden of Eden. Way back then God had created the world. He put his seal to it all by saying “it is very good” after everything was created. The Lord formed Adam of the dust of the ground and then he took a rib from Adam and created a wife for him. He set before him every tree that he might freely eat of except one - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was warned “in that day you eat of it you shall surely die.” The devil was the fallen angel. He brought about a rebellion in heaven. He came to Eve and said “hath God really said.” The devil does that still today – he will say “are you sure that God has said that.” He will continually do it. The devil pointed to this tree and told her to eat of it because the moment you do you shall be like God himself. Eve took of the fruit, she ate and gave some to her husband. What happened as a result of their action – separation from God. Adam and Eve were banned from the garden of Eden because of what the devil had done. Every part of humanity was separated from God. You and I are separated from God not only in time but for all eternity. God in his mercy saw the dilemma you and I were in. He took his only son and sent him into this world to die on the cross. There he was making a pathway into his presence just for you and I. That is why Peter preached “neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4 verse 12) If we are to be saved we have to come through the Lord Jesus Christ. A young German in the 1700’s was gazing upon a painting. It was the scene of Calvary’s cross. His heart was drawn out after the Lord. He could see the suffering of Jesus going through the pain. The German’s eyes moved to a little caption below the painting “all this I have done for you, what will you do for me?” Isn’t that a sobering thought as we look on the Lord dying for our sin? When we come to him he has done all things for us, what have we done for him today? It is finished. That young man gave his life to the Lord that day. He touched the world through his missionary organisations including John and Charles Wesley.
A sufficient work. Luke 23 verse 46. On the cross the Lord is dying. Luke’s account says when he cried with a loud voice he said “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit” and having said this he gave up the ghost. Remember the suffering he had at the hands of the evil men. They took him and beat him to beyond recognition. From there he went to the cross to hang for some 6 hours. Naturally speaking strength should have been ebbing out of him yet we read “with a loud voice he cried out.” This is not the voice of a loser but one who is victorious. He did something that no-one else could do. He pardoned me. He opened up heavens door. That was the victorious call of the Saviour. This was a sufficient work. Writing to the Corinthians Paul said “having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it.“ (Colossians 2 verse 15) When the Lord gave up the ghost it was a triumph over every demon and hell. It is the devil who keeps me in subjection. Jesus sets us free today. The word “spoils” is a military term. When an enemy is defeated they can take the spoils of the army that is defeated. Jesus broke the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free. We need not be in subjection to the devils power one more minute. It is only through the power of Jesus’ blood we can be set free. You are on your way to a Christless eternity but when Jesus died on Calvary he was regaining the power to set you gloriously free. Jesus told his disciples “thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26 verse 53) Do you not think he could have cried out to his father that day, that maybe it was the nails keeping him there, that it was Pontius Pilates condemnation that was keeping him there – no it was God’s plan to free a lost mankind on the cross of Calvary. He could have called for a legion of angels and they would have taken him back into glory and we would be lost for all mankind. The sufficiency of it all today. The last great enemy has been defeated, death itself. When it comes to the end of our life that is the greatest enemy but he has taken the power from it. When you come to the end of your life you are taken through the shadow of death and brought out into victory of heaven itself. There is not a sin that Jesus cannot forgive today. All manner of sin shall be forgiven. Remember the woman who came in weeping to wash Jesus’ feet. Jesus told her “her sins which are many are all forgiven”. (Luke 7 verse 47)
A substitutionary work. That word substitution means to stand in the place of someone else. Jesus died in my place. I should have died for my sins but the Lord said I love you with all my heart and I am going to take your place on the cross. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus Christ finished the substitutionary work and you have no sin to answer for if you come and trust him today.
It is a satisfactory work. God looked on it with his approval. In a little village there was a farmer and he was friendly with a local carpenter. The farmer talked to him about his need to be saved. Somehow the carpenter could never grasp the significance of being saved, he felt something had to be done to get into heaven. One day the farmer asked him to make him a gate. The carpenter came and measured it all up. Then came the day when he hung the gate and it had been made to perfection. The farmer looked at it, got out a saw and a hatchet. He began to hag bits off the gate and before very long it was lying in shreds. The carpenter said “what are you doing, it is perfect for the job you want.” Just as he said that he realised he was trying to add to the work needed to get into heaven but there was only one thing needed – to repent of his sin, invite Christ into his life and he would be saved.
Jesus finished a specific work. There was no other person or place where this work could be accomplished. It was the work of redemption. Paul writing to the Corinthian church wrote “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” (2 Corinthians 5 verse 19) It is only through the Lord on the cross of Calvary. He came to undo the work Satan had done in the Garden of Eden. Way back then God had created the world. He put his seal to it all by saying “it is very good” after everything was created. The Lord formed Adam of the dust of the ground and then he took a rib from Adam and created a wife for him. He set before him every tree that he might freely eat of except one - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was warned “in that day you eat of it you shall surely die.” The devil was the fallen angel. He brought about a rebellion in heaven. He came to Eve and said “hath God really said.” The devil does that still today – he will say “are you sure that God has said that.” He will continually do it. The devil pointed to this tree and told her to eat of it because the moment you do you shall be like God himself. Eve took of the fruit, she ate and gave some to her husband. What happened as a result of their action – separation from God. Adam and Eve were banned from the garden of Eden because of what the devil had done. Every part of humanity was separated from God. You and I are separated from God not only in time but for all eternity. God in his mercy saw the dilemma you and I were in. He took his only son and sent him into this world to die on the cross. There he was making a pathway into his presence just for you and I. That is why Peter preached “neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4 verse 12) If we are to be saved we have to come through the Lord Jesus Christ. A young German in the 1700’s was gazing upon a painting. It was the scene of Calvary’s cross. His heart was drawn out after the Lord. He could see the suffering of Jesus going through the pain. The German’s eyes moved to a little caption below the painting “all this I have done for you, what will you do for me?” Isn’t that a sobering thought as we look on the Lord dying for our sin? When we come to him he has done all things for us, what have we done for him today? It is finished. That young man gave his life to the Lord that day. He touched the world through his missionary organisations including John and Charles Wesley.
A sufficient work. Luke 23 verse 46. On the cross the Lord is dying. Luke’s account says when he cried with a loud voice he said “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit” and having said this he gave up the ghost. Remember the suffering he had at the hands of the evil men. They took him and beat him to beyond recognition. From there he went to the cross to hang for some 6 hours. Naturally speaking strength should have been ebbing out of him yet we read “with a loud voice he cried out.” This is not the voice of a loser but one who is victorious. He did something that no-one else could do. He pardoned me. He opened up heavens door. That was the victorious call of the Saviour. This was a sufficient work. Writing to the Corinthians Paul said “having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it.“ (Colossians 2 verse 15) When the Lord gave up the ghost it was a triumph over every demon and hell. It is the devil who keeps me in subjection. Jesus sets us free today. The word “spoils” is a military term. When an enemy is defeated they can take the spoils of the army that is defeated. Jesus broke the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free. We need not be in subjection to the devils power one more minute. It is only through the power of Jesus’ blood we can be set free. You are on your way to a Christless eternity but when Jesus died on Calvary he was regaining the power to set you gloriously free. Jesus told his disciples “thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26 verse 53) Do you not think he could have cried out to his father that day, that maybe it was the nails keeping him there, that it was Pontius Pilates condemnation that was keeping him there – no it was God’s plan to free a lost mankind on the cross of Calvary. He could have called for a legion of angels and they would have taken him back into glory and we would be lost for all mankind. The sufficiency of it all today. The last great enemy has been defeated, death itself. When it comes to the end of our life that is the greatest enemy but he has taken the power from it. When you come to the end of your life you are taken through the shadow of death and brought out into victory of heaven itself. There is not a sin that Jesus cannot forgive today. All manner of sin shall be forgiven. Remember the woman who came in weeping to wash Jesus’ feet. Jesus told her “her sins which are many are all forgiven”. (Luke 7 verse 47)
A substitutionary work. That word substitution means to stand in the place of someone else. Jesus died in my place. I should have died for my sins but the Lord said I love you with all my heart and I am going to take your place on the cross. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus Christ finished the substitutionary work and you have no sin to answer for if you come and trust him today.
It is a satisfactory work. God looked on it with his approval. In a little village there was a farmer and he was friendly with a local carpenter. The farmer talked to him about his need to be saved. Somehow the carpenter could never grasp the significance of being saved, he felt something had to be done to get into heaven. One day the farmer asked him to make him a gate. The carpenter came and measured it all up. Then came the day when he hung the gate and it had been made to perfection. The farmer looked at it, got out a saw and a hatchet. He began to hag bits off the gate and before very long it was lying in shreds. The carpenter said “what are you doing, it is perfect for the job you want.” Just as he said that he realised he was trying to add to the work needed to get into heaven but there was only one thing needed – to repent of his sin, invite Christ into his life and he would be saved.
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