It Is Finished

The title of our sermon this morning is “It is finished. These were Jesus last words before He gave up His spirit. Jesus earthly journey was an exciting one! It started with humble beginnings as Jesus was born in a stable. After being born into this world, His life was put into turmoil as His family moved to Egypt to get away from the pending peril. After several years of living in this foreign country, Jesus family returned to the little town of Nazareth which was in northern district of Galilee. From there we learned that at the age of 12 years old, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover. When the feast ended, Mary and Joseph were separated from Jesus and Jesus was then found in the Temple with the religious leaders at the time.

Jesus at the age of thirty then officially started His ministry. One of His first acts was to be baptized by John the Baptist. After being baptized, He was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. After this temptation, we see Jesus gather together His disciples and we see His ministry exploded from there with countless miracles that took place over the next three plus years.

The religious and political leaders took note of Jesus and falsely accused Him of being an anti-government and religious rebel. Because of these accusations, Jesus suffered an illegal trial and was persecuted and put on the cross. During this time period, there was no way of death more scandalous than one on a cross. Such a death was dreadful; it was designed to tarnish the memory of the person dying. It was designed to bring shame to the family. Yet, Jesus endured such a death, and as a result you and I have the opportunity to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father!

Our text this morning addresses Jesus death on the cross. The bible says in the gospel of John 19:28-30 (NKJV) 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Notice how Jesus did not say that I am finished, no He said “It is finished.” Jesus died voluntarily. These are the most important words in our lives “ It is finished”. This morning we are going to talk about what Jesus meant by saying it is finished, we are going to talk about how our lives have a purpose, and that we are called to live obediently to the Lord.

I. Finished?

A. Closure

a. As we read our text, there is one question that comes through that just screams for an answer and that question is: What is finished?

b. There have no doubt been a countless number of theologians that have studied countless hours to answer this question.

B. Jesus purpose

a. Just like you and I have a purpose. Jesus too had a purpose. Of course, His purpose was one of supernatural proportions.

b. Jesus was purposed to:

i. Preach the gospel to the poor

ii. To destroy the enemies work

iii. To testify of the truth

iv. To save mankind and free them from sin

C. A closer look

a. Looking at this particular text in the Greek, It gives us some additional insight into what Jesus was saying.

b. Once again, I draw your attention to the final three words of our text which said “It is finished”.

c. These words, It is finished actually comes from one Greek word, Teleo

d. During the days of Jesus, a servant would come to their superior and use these words when reporting everything that you have assigned to me has been completed.

e. In fact, when we look at the bible dictionary it gives us a greater insight of the word Teleo which means to

i. To bring to a close, to finish, to end.

ii. To perform, execute, complete, fulfill

iii. To pay

f. In essence, Jesus was reporting to His Father that I have completed the work that you had assigned to Me.

D. Old Testament

a. As we read the Old Testament, there was instituted a sacrificial system in place. This system was when the people would bring an animal sacrifice to the priest and he would then kill the animal as an offering to the Lord.

b. These sacrifices were done for a number of reasons. For instance, if a person had sinned against the Lord the person would bring a sin sacrifice. There were instances where people brought their sacrifice as a thanksgiving for God’s goodness.