CRCF””3/21/10
VIDEO Clip
Introduction
Leonard Ravenhill: “Just three words – IT IS FINISHED. The Greatest Words Ever Uttered By the Greatest Man That Ever Lived . . . I don’t believe that ever in history, anywhere, at any time, by anybody, were three words more pregnant with meaning than these three words given by one Man at the end of His life – It is finished.
The Heart of the Cross:
Jesus Speaks from the Cross
Part 4: “It is Finished.”
John 19:30
The heart of the Cross is that . . .
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
John 19:30 (NIV)
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”
John 19:30 (CEV)
30After Jesus drank the wine, he said, “Everything is done!”
The translation that captures His meaning the best is The Message:
John 19:30 (The Message)
29-30A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, “It’s done . . . complete.”
The heart of the Cross is that . . .
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
A Cry of Victory
by Max Lucado
“It is finished.”
What was finished?
The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The job was finished. The song had been sung. The blood had been poured. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over.
A cry of defeat? Hardly. Had his hands not been fastened down I dare say that a triumphant fist would have punched the dark sky. No, this is no cry of despair. It is a cry of completion. A cry of victory. A cry of fulfillment.
Isaiah 53:10-11 (NLT)
10 But it was the Lord”™s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord”™s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
Mark 10:45
The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people.
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
The Message
God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
In Colossians 2:13-14,, Paul says God took our spiritual “certificates of debt”–God’s record of our sins against him–and “nailed it to the cross.” Because Jesus paid the price, God has cancelled our debt out, taken it away. Through Jesus’ death, God has completely dealt with the only barrier that ever separated him from us.
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
Conclusion
Leonard Ravenhill: “To a world that is groping in darkness we ought to proclaim with a trumpet voice, “It is FINISHED, you can’t buy salvation, you can’t crawl on your knees through the holy city, you can’t go on a pilgrimage, you can’t offer your righteousness, there is nothing you can do, but bow in humility and confess and accept it.”
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
Romans 8:34-39 (New Living Translation)
34 Who then will condemn us? No one””for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God”™s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ”™s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God”™s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow””not even the powers of hell can separate us from God”™s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below””indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rev. Bill Versteeg
The work has been accomplished, the synonym for Calvary is Victory!
Jesus fully paid for your sins so that you can know God as your Father forever.
The issue then, is not how much we have sinned, but rather we are willing to respond to God’s solution for our sins.
John 3:16-18 (The Message)
16-18“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Jesus said, “It is finished.”
Will YOU trust Him?