Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
Today we continue our series on Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross, titled Christ speaks from the cross.
Today we are talking about God’s Plan Is Now Complete.
Text
John 19:30 (AMP)
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] gave up His spirit.
Scripture Reading
John 19:25-30 (AMP)
25 So the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, His mother’s sister [Salome], Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 So Jesus, seeing His mother, and the disciple whom He loved (esteemed) standing near, said to His mother, “[Dear] woman, look, [here is] your son!”
27 Then He said to the disciple (John), “Look! [here is] your mother [protect and provide for her]!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.”
29 A jar full of sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] gave up His spirit.
Prayer
Father, You have told us that to whom much is given, much is required.
We are indeed a favoured people!
Millions of people went to bed hungry last night.
Millions more are barely able to scratch out an existence.
But the worst thing is that there are even more millions of people who do not know Jesus Christ as Saviour.
Some of them live in lands of poverty, but others live in places of affluence.
We bring our gifts to you this morning.
Use them to support your work at this church and in all the places they will be sent.
As we have entered into the works of others, we pray that others will enter into our works as we give our money to tell the story of Jesus.
We give for our local church field and for all people everywhere who need to hear the good news.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
At least twice in Jesus ministry He must have cried wildly with happiness.
One occasion came at the beginning of His ministry and the other at the close.
When He finished with the third temptation in the wilderness, He shouted, “Get behind me, satan”, indicating that He was through listening to the tempter.
Now at the close of His ministry, Jesus once more shouted.
This time the cry was likewise wild and with happiness, “It is finished!”
Both cries followed prolonged periods of distress.
The first cry followed forty days of hunger and temptation.
The other followed many hours of haunting misery and excruciating suffering.
Both times Jesus proclaimed His identity with something and somebody.
Both times He testified in the presence of God that He could withstand all the assault that the satanic forces of evil might bring against Him.
No pressure was great enough to make Jesus surrender His determination to be God’s suffering servant and sinless sin bearer.
Few people can finish a job completely.
At best we are but stutterers when we try to speak about God and weaklings when we try to do anything in His name.
But Jesus was different!
He never stumbled, mumbled, or grumbled.
He kept His eye on God His Father.
He would not turn back, or be turned back, He was determined to complete the task God brought Him into the world to perform.
His victorious cry, “It is finished!” Reveals three things worth taking to heart.
- The sufferings of Jesus are now finished.
Many years before Jesus’ crucifixion, one of Israel’s great prophets had said in anticipation of Calvary, Isaiah 53:10 (AMP)
10 Yet the Lord was willing
To crush Him, causing Him to suffer;
If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],
He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,
He shall prolong His days,
And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.
The suffering of God’s Son was in full accordance with God’s eternal purpose.
Because we are human, we cannot fathom the divine mind.
We only know that God chose the substitutionary atonement of His Son as the way of redeeming humankind from sin.
When Jesus hung on the cross for six hours, He bore in His own body all that we deserve to suffer for our sins throughout eternity.
The thought is too profound for us to comprehend!
It is the Lord’s doing, and it must remain wonderful in our eyes!
Jesus’ sufferings did not begin on Calvary, He was persecuted at every stage of His life.
The Pharisees constantly harassed Him, seeking every opportunity to find Him guilty of violating some small part of Mosaic law.
Often the worst suffering is not physical torture but mental anguish.
Jesus was stalked by the religious leaders of His day.
He was too orthodox for the liberal Sadducees, and He was too liberated from the technical demands of the law for the over bearing Pharisees.
Though this latter group resided chiefly in Jerusalem, they followed Him to Galilee during his eighteen month ministry there when He was so popular.
They tried to make His life miserable by constantly nit picking everything He did to meet the human need of the under privileged people in that area.
The greatest suffering was, however, in Gethsemane and on Calvary.
So intensely did He feel the weight of the world on Him as He prayed that He cried out to God, Matthew 26:39 (AMP)
39 And after going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible [that is, consistent with Your will], let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Jesus’ sufferings in Pilate’s hall were both physical and mental.
He was handed over to cruel executioners who beat Him with whips laced with pieces of bone or lead.
This was physical suffering to the utmost!
Then they placed a crown of thorns on His head and a purple robe around Him.
In some ways this must have hurt more than the scourging.
Finally, Jesus endured indescribable suffering as He was nailed to the cross.
Matthew merely said, “And they crucified Him.”
But what depth is contained in that simple phrase!
Now all the suffering was over.
Jesus was beyond the reach of His enemies.
No longer could they taunt Him or throw insults at Him.
He had paid the price for our sins and no one could hurt Him anymore.
2. The prophecies of Jesus’ life and death are finished.
Beginning in the garden of Eden and continuing until the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, we have what has been called the “messianic strain.”
God made Himself known in many ways through revelation and inspiration, but the Old Testament is primarily a “story of redemption.”
Every book has something to say of God’s eternal purpose in the world.
Some of the prophecies are direct statements clearly predicting the coming of certain events that became realities in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Others are symbols, but they are, nonetheless, God’s divine word of assurance to Old Testament people that His redemptive purpose would not be defeated.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them in Matthew 5:17.
Christians in the first century had no New Testament.
They found Jesus in the Jewish Scriptures.
Philip was asked by the Ethiopian eunich the meaning of an Old Testament prophesy (Isaiah 53:7-8).
The New Testament says that he “began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus”
In the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus reached back into the Old Testament for a beautiful parallel between the history of Israel and His own ministry, saying that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)
The symbolic teaching of the Passover, Day of Atonement, and all guilt offerings were fulfilled when Jesus died.
The curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn in two when Jesus died.
No longer does the high priest go behind the curtain.
Jesus is our High Priest, and every believer has unlimited access to come boldly before the throne of grace to find help in time of need.
Every prophecy, every ceremony, every ritual, every foreshadowing of the coming Messiah’s life and death for our sin has been fulfilled.
It is finished!
3. The plan of salvation is now finished.
All that was necessary for the atonement of humankind’s sin had now been accomplished.
Of course, the resurrection had to follow, but the price had been paid.
The raising up of Jesus was the Father’s work.
The Son had paid the price.
When Jesus shouted “It is finished!” He meant it.
People could now have access from earth into heaven through the Saviour, who gave His life as a ransom for sin.
Conclusion.
This was perhaps the greatest shout from the cross, for Jesus had completed the work God had sent Him to do.
From now on the responsibility is on us.
Have you received the atonement and applied it personally to your life?
Jesus died for all, but not all will be saved, only those that come to Him by faith.
Have you come?
If not, will you come today?
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2021 IS A YEAR OF REFORMATION
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