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1:10We see behind that the good work of God, the goodness of Christ laying down his life. And so tonight what we want to do is reflect on that evening, take a few moments and think through, relive portion of that evening, and cause our Minds to go back and to reflect. It's a good reminder each year. I know some of you all celebrated a Passover Seder last night, and tonight we will be looking at that very occasion when he instituted that Passover and connected it to the Lord's table, the Lord's Supper, which we'll be celebrating here in a moment. But tonight, I want to reflect on a verse, really one statement within the verse, in John chapter 19, verse 30. John chapter 19 and verse 30.

2:12Jesus is on the cross. And in verse 28, he says, After this, after making sure his mother was taken care of, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, said, I am thirsty. 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. Therefore, verse 30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It is finished. It's the same word that he says in verse 28.

3:00Jesus had known, came to know, that all things had already been accomplished, it's the same word, been completed. Therefore, he said, it is finished. It is finished. And that is what I want to focus our attention on tonight. Jesus, the night that he instituted the Lord's Supper, He had in mind, He knew what He was doing, laying down His life, and instituted a memorial that would forever remind the church of this reality. It is finished. Something was completed and finished there upon the cross. Now it's interesting to note what John leaves out in his gospel record.

4:06In Mark 15, 36, someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, gave him a drink, saying, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now, John doesn't record the volume of the cry, but he describes the content. It is finished. John doesn't mention the tearing of the veil, but he gives us the reason why it was torn. It is finished.

4:52So, what does it mean this word finished? It is finished. It's a word that is lots of different nuances, and all of these nuances are true of what happens on the cross. The meaning of the word finished can take on the idea of concluding something. Eventually, this service is going to be ended, come to its conclusion. It's like crossing a finish line in a race, a conclusion. You know, when I was growing up, I had a reputation as being a quitter. My siblings, my parents, I was somebody who just had a reputation for quitting. If I didn't like the way a course was going, and I mean, whatever that was, whether it was football, whatever it was, or whether it was a race, if I just got tired, you know, I quit. This hurts, I'm done. In fact, I had a reputation for that. It's something that God had to really deal with me and did deal with. With me once I got saved.

6:05But Jesus finished his course. And when he said that he didn't, when it got really tough, he didn't quit. He saw it to its end. He finished it. And when he finished his course, he said, it is finished. What was finished? Well, several things. Many things came to an end, such as the suffering of the suffering servant was over. It came to an end. As Isaiah 52, 14, his appearance was marred more than any other man, and his form more than the sons of men. When you can look down and count your bones, you are marred. And you can listen to the description of Isaiah. He was marred. His appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. But it was finished. It came to an end.

7:13When he said, It is finished, sin had been condemned in the flesh. Sin had been condemned in the flesh. Romans 8:3 says that God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Flesh as an offering for sin. And in doing so, he condemned sin in the flesh. There was a point in which that condemnation was complete. It is finished. God's wrath absorbed. The curse absorbed. It is finished. It came to an end. And when it came to an end, Jesus let us know. It came to an end. It is finished.

8:02So it means to conclude something. It is finished. When he said it is finished, the Old Testament shadows and types gave way to the reality. Now, all that had been prefigured about this substitutionary death that had overshadowed all of human history, and it still overshadows all human history. His substitutionary death. But when Christ died on the cross, and when he said it is finished, the Old Testament shadows and the Old Testament types gave way to the reality. It is finished. There it is. That is what it has all been pointing to.

8:44It is finished. John 1:29, John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God, there he is, who takes away the sins of the world. When he said it is finished, The pain and the humiliation was over. It came to an end. It is finished. He demonstrated his own teaching in Matthew 10:28. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in heaven. I mean, in hell, destroy both soul and body in hell.

9:35He demonstrated to us, he showed us. He was not afraid of them all. He was not afraid of those who could merely just kill the body. The whole idea of propitiation, a word we hear a lot, even showing up in songs more and more, propitiation speaks of something that absorbed God's wrath. We needed something to absorb that wrath, that sin offering. Pain and humiliation over. Propitiation, complete wrath absorbed. So the meaning of finished. Carries the idea of to conclude something. And so, certainly on the cross, several things were concluded.

10:38But the meaning of finished also carries the idea to pay a debt. To pay a debt. In Matthew 17, 24, Jesus told his disciples basically to go pay this two drachma tax. This two drachma tax. There's a tax that do your disciples not pay? Is your master not going to pay the tax? The idea, a debt that is owed. And so the idea is to finish. It is paid in full. When he says it is finished, it's paid. The ransom price for humanity is paid, paid in full. It is finished.

11:30Mark 10, 45, Jesus said, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. A debt for the many that couldn't be paid. That was his expression of love, his expression of service. And when he said, it is finished, the price has been paid in full. It is finished. And when he said it is finished, our kinsman Redeemer had redeemed his people from the curse of the law in order to restore their inheritance. Wow, what a beautiful concept: a kinsman redeemer redeeming his people. And what is it about? To make sure they come into possession of the inheritance that had been lost.

12:35Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. So when he said it is finished, ransom paid, redemption price paid. A third, final one that we will look at tonight. What is the meaning of the word finished? It means to complete something, to complete something, more than just conclude something. Concluding is to bring something to an end, but to complete something is to put the finishing touches, like upon a masterpiece, the finishing touches of a work that to add one more detail would mess it up, to take away one detail. Detail would diminish it. So when he said it is finished, he said, it is complete. The work is complete.

13:40Jesus's work was a masterpiece. Jesus Himself was a masterpiece. And when you look at what Jesus did that day in his life, and you put it all together, Jesus will restore your faith not only in God, but in humanity. A perfect humanity. A humanity to come. When he said, it is finished, Jesus is saying, the whole law has been kept. Nothing has been omitted. Nothing has been lacking, left out, completed. Luther said it like this: In this word, it is finished, will I comfort myself? I am forced to confess that all my finishing of the will of God is imperfect, piecemeal work, while yet the law urges on me that not so much as one tittle of it must remain unaccomplished. Christ is the end of the law. What it requires, Christ has performed. It is. Finished, the whole law kept.

15:06When he said it is finished, he was saying a perfect sacrifice has been made. Past tense, it's done. The perfect sacrifice is now a matter of history. It is finished. Hebrews 9:26 says, Now, once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested, speaking of Christ, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. There it is, it is finished. The perfect sacrifice has been completed. Perfection. Completed masterpiece. Hebrews 10, 12 says, He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, after that sat down at the right hand of God. One sacrifice for sins of all time.

16:05Wow. Now, think about this masterpiece. Let's put it in the negative. Think about the horror of all the demerits of the sins in human history. Think about all the demerits in your own life where you have wrecked, ruined, served yourself, caused catastrophe. On earth, relations with others. Now, multiply that by all the wrongdoings of every single human being in all of history. And imagine one sacrifice that is so perfect that all the demerits, the combined demerits of all the sins of humanity, past, present, and future, are not enough to overwhelm the righteous merits of the humanity in Jesus Christ.

17:03Think about that. His righteousness is what God is pleased in humanity. Oh, yeah, you can read through several places in Scripture and you can see where God is very disappointed with, why did I even make them? It's enough to destroy your confidence in humanity, but then you see Jesus Christ. And God says, Here, here is my confidence in humanity. Here is the beauty of humanity, and here he is, and there's going to be a whole world full of men just like him. Men and women from every tribe and tongue and nation like him. Perfect humanity.

17:51Incredible. One sacrifice, so perfect. And when he said, It is finished. And the veil was torn apart. Jesus was saying, access is open to all people, those far and those near. As Paul would say in Ephesians 2:17, for through him we both, those far and near, Jew and Gentile, have access in one spirit to the Father, access open to all. Now that's a masterpiece. That's a work that dwarfs anything you can imagine. It is finished. The greatest expression of trust in God is finished. There he is upon the cross. Do you trust God? Look at your king and look how he trusts in God. Take your cues from him. Luke 23:46.

18:54Jesus crying out with a loud voice, saying, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. There he is. The greatest expression of trust in God finished. Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. Can you say that? Let us endeavor to be like him by his help, because we ain't getting there on our own. It is finished. The greatest expression of God's love for his people is finished. Now, also a matter of history. Look upon it. Look upon it with faith.

19:38John 10, 14, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. The greatest expression of God's love for his people finished. The laying down of the good shepherd. But also, when he said it is finished, the greatest expression of what it means to love somebody else is also finished. John 15, 13, Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this, than one laid down his life for his friends. Not only is the greatest expression of God's love for his people finished, but also the greatest standard for what it means to love somebody is finished.

20:30And when he said, it is finished, a new standard for humanity was raised. John 13, 34, Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. That dwarfs anything we've read about in the law. There he is, about on the verge, going to the cross. And then he utters those words to the disciples. This is how I want you to love one another. And in John 13, 1, this is up in the upper room, just hours before the crucifixion. He says this, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Same words associated with it is finished. He loved them to the finish line, to the finish point. But it's more than just that he loved them to the end of their lives or to the end of the, he loved them in the most extreme degree. He loved them to the end, duration, but he loved them completely, thoroughly, to the most extreme degree. And that's how he wants us to love one another. Love each other to the duration to the highest degree.

22:00That's our standard. And we're not getting there on our own, are we? That's why we must continue to walk in his grace and rely upon his spirit. But that's where his spirit takes us. When he said, it is finished, the greatest gift was granted. The greatest gift that he could give was given. What is that? A right standing with God. That's what he wanted to give you and me and his people. A right standing with God. It is finished. Now, Thomas Baber has a right standing.

22:45We can go through all of us here. Fill in your name. This was something the law couldn't do. In Romans 8:3, he said, For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin offering, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The requirement of the law has been met in Christ's people by virtue of his work and our union with him.

23:32So, Christ's accomplishment is finished. It met the thirst of the law for justice. It provided pardon for sinners. It appeased the anger of an infinite, holy God. It granted perfect righteousness to those who want to commune with their heavenly Father. It provided a living stream that satisfies the deepest longing. Of humanity. It is finished. That is the work that we celebrate and why we call it good. It is finished. Christ's duty was complete. Christ's suffering was done. His humiliation was over. The ceremonial law was fulfilled. The pardon that he gives his people is now just.

24:24It is finished. Sinners freed, evil crushed, Satan bankrupt, death conquered, righteousness granted, life given, the way to heaven open, resurrection secured, reward settled, exaltation guaranteed, obedience in his people empowered, glory displayed for all the world to see. Love demonstrated, and communion with his people realized. It is finished. You see, what Adam did was so ugly. And what Christ did was so beautiful. Think about it. Adam showed us what was not good in humanity. Jesus showed us what was very good in humanity.

25:23And I say this with respect because I resonate with Adam. But Adam was a very sorry. Sort. And let me tell you why. Think about what God had given him. Paradise. Everything anyone could ever imagine. Abundance. Everything. And yet he didn't trust God. He lived for himself. You talk about a spoiled brat. That's what we'd call him today. Give a child everything. And then they have not the wherewithal to give thanks or even respect to the one who gave it to them. We call that a spoiled brat today.

26:10We see that in Adam. And it's not about Adam. It's about us. We see that in us, don't we? Adam is what is wrong in humanity. There is no hope in that kind of humanity. God sees no hope in that humanity. That's why death comes into the human race. Listen, you pay attention to Adam, somebody that off, somebody that ungrateful, something missing, something to that degree. Yes, he was deceived. Yes, it was sin. Yes, there's layers upon layers that are touched upon in that first sin.

26:48But if you just look at Adam and what happened after all that God had given them and that he still turned against God, that will destroy your. Hope in humanity. Ah, I see so much of myself in Adam. What about you? Where's your gratitude? Are you like, how much has He God given you, and how much time do you spend in rebellion and in wanting more, wanting to cross the boundaries? There's no hope in that kind of humanity. I mean, what's wrong with you? I'll tell you what's wrong with you. Sin's wrong with you.

27:36Ah, but then there's Jesus. He will restore your hope in God. And he will also restore your hope in humanity. Ah, that's what God had in mind. That's what he was thinking. That is what is good. That is what is truly human. We've been lied to. Let me tell you what humanity is about. It's about God's glory. All his life, Jesus did everything necessary. He obeyed every precept. He performed every duty. He paid every price. He suffered everything needed to save sinners, to satisfy. The righteousness of God and to fit us for fellowship with Him. He laid down His life. He gave Himself completely as one who completely loved the Father, as one who completely loved His friends and laid down His life for His friends. And when all was said and done, you know what He said? It is finished. He let us know it is finished.

28:54He'd already said it in verse 28, knowing that already everything had been accomplished. Everything was already accomplished before He said those words. Everything was finished. Only one thing was needed to finish what was already finished, and that was to let us know it is finished.