MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 11, 2010 MESSAGE 5 OF 5: The Road to Calvary Sermon Series CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, minister The Greatest Thing Jesus Ever Said Message 5 of 5: The Road to Calvary Series JOHN 19:25-30 The message I want to share with you this morning is like an exclamation point on our Road to Calvary Series. I have entitled today s message: The Greatest Thing Jesus Ever Said. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 19, and let s read VERSES 25-30. Prayer ************ John 19:25-30 Introduction Some people just seem to have a way with words. Certainly this was true of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. JESUS WAS THE GREATEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED WHO SPOKE THE GREATEST WORDS EVER SPOKEN.
Jesus spoke many COMFORTING words. Come unto Me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. (John 14:1) I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. (John 11:25) Jesus also spoke many CHALLENGING words. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7) I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move. NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU. (Matthew 17:20) Jesus also spoke many CHILLING words. Remember these chilling words Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:21? Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. And remember that chilling warning Jesus gave to those who cause little children who believe in Him to stumble? It would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)
Jesus spoke many comforting words. He spoke many challenging words. And He spoke many chilling words. Every word JESUS spoke while here on earth was important. All of His words were TRUTHFUL WEIGHTY and AUTHORITATIVE. Jesus never spoke just to be speaking. He never said something just to be saying something. JESUS words were powerful and life-changing! But out of all the words JESUS spoke while here on earth, perhaps the words that tie all of his LIFE and all of HIS MINISTRY together are those three powerful words He spoke just before He drew His final breath on the cross. It is finished! For years, LIBERALS and UNBELIEVING SKEPTICS have declared this was JESUS CRY OF DEFEAT. It is finished! I have been defeated! I have lost everything! Nothing could be further from the truth! When Christ said, It is finished It was a cry of VICTORY, rather than a cry of DEFEAT!
Those three words It is finished come from one Greek word, tetelestai (tet-uh-lest-eye) This expression was commonly used in Christ s time:.a SERVANT would use this expression when reporting to his or her master, I have COMPLETED the work you assigned to me. IT IS FINISHED!.A PRIEST would use this expression when pronouncing a animal worthy to be used for a sacrifice..an ARTIST used this expression after putting the final touch on a masterpiece. TETELESTAI There, it is finished! A MERCHANT would use this expression when a deal had been struck and both parties were satisfied. TESTELESTAI It is finished, the deal has been completed. So when Christ cried out It is finished it was certainly no cry of defeat, it was a cry of V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!! The Gospels tell us that while Jesus was dying on the cross He made seven statements or spoke seven words. The first three statements He made were cries of SYMPATHY. To His Heavenly Father He cried, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Jesus next statement was to the repentant thief, Today you shall be with Me in paradise.
The third statement was to His mother, Mary, and to the apostle John, Dear woman, here is your son, and to John, Here is your mother. Each of these were cries of SYMPATHY. The fourth and fifth cries were cries of SUFFERING. My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? I am thirsty. And the sixth and seventh cries were cries of SATISFACTION. It is finished! Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. So what was it about that statement It is finished that distinguished it from all the others? Both Matthew and Luke indicate this statement was uttered with a LOUD voice, implying it was said with force and intensity. Now why is that significant? Keep in mind one aspect of the physical suffering Christ endured on the cross was intense thirst. He even said so in VERSE 28 of our text. The fact that Jesus lips and tongue were so dry means some of the statements He made on the cross were barely audible. But as we learn in VERSE 29 Jesus was given a drink of wine vinegar. That refreshing drink moistened His dry throat, tongue and lips enabling Him to shout with clarity and power for all to hear, It is finished!
For just a few moments let s consider what JESUS FINISHED AT CALVARY. First of all.. I. The Pain of Redemption Was Finished 1. Everyone of us here this morning knows that one day we will die. But none of us knows exactly when or how we will die. 2. Jesus knew before He ever came to earth that He was going to die a very painful, agonizing death on a Roman cross. 3. Some of the most descriptive words concerning the actual pain Christ went through on the cross are found, not in the Gospels, but rather in the Old Testament book of Psalms. Please turn with me to the PSALM 22. Read: Psalm 22:1-18 4. The Gospel writers tell us: JESUS was scourged or beaten mercilessly with the cat of nine tails. (Matthew 27:26) HE was spit upon. (Matthew 27:30) HE was mocked. (Matthew 27:26-29) HE was nailed through His hands and feet. (Matthew 27:38; John 20:25) HE had a crown of thorns pushed deeply into His brow. (Matthew 27:27-30) And HE was forced to carry His own cross. (Matthew 27:31,32)
5. For SIX solid hours JESUS endured the most agonizing death anyone has ever been through. And at 3:00 o clock on that Friday afternoon, JESUS shouted in a loud voice, It is finished! THE PAIN OF REDEMPTION IS FINISHED! But not only was the PAIN of redemption finished, II. The PLAN of Redemption Was Finished 1. When JESUS bowed His head and died on that cross HE FINISHED the PLAN God had put into place before the very foundations of the world were laid. 2. Remember when God created man, He gave man the freedom to choose between obedience and disobedience.he gave man the freedom to choose between LIFE and DEATH. 3. The Book of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God rather than obey. By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve brought the curse of death upon all of humanity. 4. Did God put His hands on the sides of head and say, Oh no, now what am I going to do? I hadn t counted on this? NO! Even before man sinned in the Garden of Eden, God already had a PLAN OF REDEMPTION in place to save man s soul. And that wonderful PLAN OF REDEMPTION meant God was going to have to sacrifice the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
5. Throughout the Old Testament men offered blood sacrifices to GOD as temporary atonement for sin. -In Genesis 4 Abel offered a sacrificial lamb to God. -In Genesis 8 Noah offered a blood sacrifice to God after he and his family were saved from the flood. -In Exodus 12 we read that on the night God sent the death angel to claim the lives of all the firstborn of Egypt that firstborn of the Israelites were all saved because of the sacrificial blood around their doorframes. 6. But GOD S PLAN was not to save the soul of man through animal sacrifices, HIS PLAN was to save the soul of man through the SACRIFICE of HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. 7. When Christ cried out from the cross, It is finished He was announcing to all Heaven and Earth, GOD S PLAN OF REDEMPTION IS NOW FINISHED..THE MISSION HAS NOW BEEN COMPLETED! The PAIN of Redemption was FINISHED! The PLAN of Redemption was FINISHED! And thirdly.
III. The PAYMENT of Redemption Was Finished Romans 3:23-25a For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the REDEMPTION that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through FAITH in HIS BLOOD. Hebrews 9:22 without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. I John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1. Those of you who were with us in our Wednesday night study of the Life of Christ last year may remember the term propitiation. Propitiation means to appease. To appease means to offer something as a gift to turn away the wrath of another. 2. The only thing that could appease God s wrath toward sinful man was the precious blood of His only begotten Son. *GOD would not accept the blood of a MILLION sacrificial lambs as payment for our sins. *GOD would not accept A MILLION GOOD DEEDS on our part as payment for our sins. There was only ONE THING ONLY ONE THING that could satisfy the wrath of GOD and that was the BLOOD OF JESUS!
3. When Jesus cried out It is finished He was saying.the blood has been poured...the sacrifice has been made. IT IS FINISHED! THE DEBT HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL! --------------------------------------------- CONCLUSION There's a line that is drawn through the ages On that line stands an old rugged cross On that cross, a battle is raging To gain a man's soul or it's loss On one side, march the forces of evil All the demons, all the devils of hell On the other, the angels of glory And they meet on Golgotha's hill The earth shakes with the force of the conflict And the sun refuses to shine For there hangs God's son, in the balance And then through the darkness he cries It is finished, the battle is over It is finished, there'll be no more war It is finished, the end of the conflict It is finished and Jesus is Lord Yet in my heart, the battle was still raging Not all prisoners of war had come home These were battlefields of my own making I didn't know that the war had been won Oh, but then I heard the king of the ages Had fought all the battles for me And that victory was mine for the claiming And now praise his name, I am free.