IT IS FINISHED
GENESIS 4:1-10
1. Adam knew his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
2. Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
3. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.
4. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5. but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
7. If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
8. Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
10. The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.
JOHN 19:28-30
• Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."
• A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
• When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
I. The Blood is against the workings of the enemy
A. There is so much blood from cover to cover in Scripture
1. Coats of skin that covered Adam
2. Abel’s sacrifice
3. Passover lambs blood applied to doorpost
4. Spotless lambs of Levitical priesthood
5. The life of the Gospel is in the blood
6. Passover precedes Pentecost (Pentecost instantaneously occurs 50 days after Passover)
B. Gospel does not need to be repaired or altered
1. One step program — get under the fountain
2. Charles Spurgeon said Christ, the Lion of Judah, does not need to be defended, He just needs to be let out of the cage
C. The Blood is the reason for all we do
II. Eve was expecting a promise because of a prophecy that came during her disgrace
A. When she went into labor she was expecting it to be the fulfillment of the prophecy
B. Throughout Scripture you see 2 sons and you always have to watch out for the second son
C. Inheritance went to the firstborn
D. Abel is the second son
E. God has a habit of blessing the unexpected
F. Esau & Jacob; Zerah (fought his way out to be firstborn) & Phares (marked by scarlet thread), Manasseh & Ephraim
G. God had 2 sons
1. Adam was first made son of God
2. Christ was only begotten Son of God (begotten at resurrection)
H. The second son reverses curse where the firstborn blew it
I. Power of 2nd Son -- What Adam got me into, Jesus got me out of
J. Manasseh & Ephraim — God is crossing His hands to bless the unexpected
K. Not the person groomed for the position
L. Least likely — the one nobody though would have any inheritance — the stone the builders rejected — look for someone overlooked and rejected
III. Their occupations
A. The Scripture doesn’t talk about trivialities but tells about their occupation (not their weight or skin color) — because it is relative to the revelation
1. First family conflict was over worship
a. All kinds of problems stemmed from worship problems
b. Paul tells us the foundational sin of man is a worship problem -- they knew Him as God but glorified Him not as God -- this is the cornerstone sin that leads to all others
2. How did they know to worship?
a. They had no Bible, but they had an understanding of worship
b. Worship is so inbred into the human DNA, that we are wired to worship & will worship something
3. All creation gives God glory
4. Even though man had rebelled against God and fell into sin, there was still a desire to worship -- though that worship was tainted
5. Cain's problem was not a failure to worship, but a "convenient worship"
6. Abel's worship was by faith
B. Abel — keeper of the sheep (Picture of Christ)
C. Cain — tiller of ground (cursed place)
1. Works that which God has cursed and rejected
2. Humanism, dead works, men trying to impress God with earthly natural things
3. Vain religion (form of godliness)
4. Cain brought what he worked up in his flesh
D. Abel caused the sheep to graze
1. Brings what God wants — blood sacrifice
2. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission
3. If it is not through the blood you have nothing
4. God is only impressed by the blood
5. The power of the blood
6. Raising up something he is not responsible for birthing or creating — (Just the life that came from God is given back to God)
7. To please God you must give Him what He wants
E. Cain’s sacrifice was rejected
F. God is not a respecter of persons (not prejudiced) but he is a respecter of principles
1. If you do what I do you can get what I got
2. People have a problem with you when you get blessed
3. When Abel won the favor of God, Cain got an attitude
4. Once you find out what God likes, give Him what He wants
G. Faith
1. By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice
2. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
3. God had caused these brothers to know what was an acceptable sacrifice
4. If it is by faith there must be a word that precedes faith
5. God asked Cain why are you mad, you act like it is impossible to be blessed. If you do what I said you can still have a blessing — He is a respecter of principles.
H. If we offer what God has required He will bless it
I. You have to be willing to receive blessing even if it brings criticism and contradiction
1. Don’t forfeit the bless, stick with what is working
2. I will offer a sacrifice of praise if I got to praise Him by myself
3. I’m blessed everywhere I go and I won’t stop praising the Lord
4. Somebody’s jealous but they don’t know what you went through to get what you got
5. You might be broke, busted and disgusted but you got to get up and praise the Lord
IV. Sin problem
A. If thou does not well, sin lies at the door — we were born into sin
B. Until Jesus died (type of second son) sin was still an issue
C. God was pacified with all the sacrifices of the Old Testament but not satisfied
D. Jesus is the only priest that was the offerer and the offering
1. He went into the holiest of all once and for all with His own blood and perfected forever them that are sanctified
2. He went by Himself with Himself
3. Only your God could be the priest, the offering and turn around and receive the offering
4. Alpha & Omega, Beginning & End
5. I AM THAT I AM
6. Can’t nobody do me like Jesus
7. When He went to the cross He:
a. Shook up the elements
b. Ripped through the ages of time and eternity
c. Tore through the dispensations
V. Death of Christ
A. Cain became so jealous he wanted to kill his brother which is a picture of the enemy wanting to kill the Lord of Glory
B. satan wanted to crucify Him because He was healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out legions of demons, speaking to storms until they were slain in the Spirit, and walking on water.
C. If the foolish enemy would have known what he was doing, he would have let Jesus go on healing, teaching, delivering and blessing people
D. Like Samson Jesus destroyed more enemies in His death than in His life
E. Cain was full of anger and confusion and hostility
F. Why did the enemy do it? he must not be the smartest one if he got kicked out of heaven.
G. Abel was on Cain’s territory (the field)
1. Fight broke out between God and lucifer in heaven and Jesus drove him out of heaven — Jesus said I beheld satan falling as lightning
2. Jesus fought the devil on neutral territory (in the wilderness) when Christ was weak after fasting but Jesus knew too much Word to be intimidated — IT IS WRITTEN
3. I know too much Word to let the devil whip me
4. Jesus ran him out of heave, drove him out of the wilderness and then met him on his own territory (the enemies camp). He had to die. He descended into hell and took the keys of death and hell from the devil.
H. Jesus chose when and where He would die
• I don’t think we fully understand the power of what Christ said “IT IS FINISHED”
• This was an end to an era that spanned 1500 years since Moses had conveyed the sacrificial system
• This system required priests to perform hundreds of daily sacrifices – burnt offering, peace offering, sin offering, guilt offering, trespass offering, remembrance offering, new moon offering, grain offering, meat offering, passover, day of atonement, and the list goes on and on
• Rabbi Kline estimated that there were over 290 sacrifices the priest was mandated to perform daily, he would not have had time to leave the altar if he performed all these
• That’s over 105,000 sacrifices that would have been made each year
• So from the time of Moses until Christ, over 153 Million sacrifices were commanded. From history, we know that most of these were never performed so there was never enough money, enough time, or enough blood to keep up with the righteousness that might come by the law
• But with 1 priest, who made only 1 sacrifice, with His one and only perfect blood, as this sacrifice was completed, He yelled across time and space the emancipation proclamation that the power of sin was forever defeated
• HE CRIED IT IS FINISHED UNTIL
The sun refused to shine
Earth shook
Veil rent
Law turned to grace
Curses turned to blessings
Centurion said this man is the Son of God
The thief said remember me
Graves opened in Jerusalem
Never has a man died like this
They lifted Him up and now all men are drawn to Him — rich, poor, black, white
o For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
• No man takes my life, I lay it down.
• The devil tried to kill him on the whipping post and halfway up the hill but He wasn’t ready to die until He was lifted up on the tree.
• They got a man to carry His cross (hold it until I get to the top of the mountain — He became a curse because cursed is every man that hangs on the tree)
J. They pierced His side and the ground opened up and received His blood
1. The enemy thought if he killed the body, he would kill the ministry
2. He killed the body but the life of the flesh is in the blood
3. The body might stop but the blood moved on
4. If I can’t speak out of the body, I will speak from the ground
5. Before he crucified the Lord he only had one Son to fight, but Now beloved we are the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be.
K. The ground opened its mouth and received the blood — the blood can speak — the Lord heard Abel’s voice
1. You don’t have to fight for yourself — let the blood speak
2. The blood testifies
3. The blood leaves a stain you can’t get out — the power of the blood
VI. Typology
A. Crops
B. God
C. Cain — enemy / flesh
D. Abel — preferred Son / Christ
E. Ground
1. Couldn’t speak until the blood hit it
2. God couldn’t hear it or help it until the blood hit it
3. When the blood hit the ground it turned nature around and that which could not talk or help itself began to speak
4. I opened up and received the blood and the blood spoke
5. The enemy is not fighting you, He is fighting the blood
6. A dose of the blood will make you speak up
7. You won’t be what you used to be
8. The blood will make you . . .
9. It is in the blood
10. I thank God for the blood
11. Better than confucius, 900 #s . . .
12. You ain’t what you used to be
13. When I see the Blood I will pass over
14. There is power, wonder working power in the blood
F. The voice is the brother’s
1. It is His voice coming from a dirty place of clay
G. The Lord said to Cain the Ground will never yield its strength to you no matter what you do to it because of the blood it has received
1. The blood not only kills what is growing but it kills the unborn seed
2. Blood forgave what you used to be and what you did
3. Blood also killed what you were about to do
a. What you would have been
b. What you almost did
c. What you thought about doing
4. The ground won’t yield its strength to the enemy because of the blood — IT WON’T WORK
5. Can’t stop the devil from trying it, but it won’t work anymore
6. Doesn’t mean he won’t try but there’s too much blood applied
7. No weapon formed against you shall prosper
A preacher was endeavoring to describe Jesus, & I want to quote his description this morning. I know that I’ll never be able to convey the spirit of his words because you almost need to have a sense of rhythm to do it adequately. But if you’ll just use your imagination & listen to his description, then I hope in some way this will help you understand who Jesus really is.
"The Bible says my king is a 7-way king. He is the king of the Jews - that’s a racial king. He is the king of Israel - that’s a national king. He is the king of righteousness. He is the king of the ages. He is the king of heaven. He is the king of glory. He is the king of kings, & He is lord of lords. That’s my king.
"Well, I wonder. Do you know Him? David said, `The heavens declare the glory of God & the firmament shows His handiwork.’ My king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can define His limitless love. No far reaching telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shoreless supplies.
"No barrier can hinder His blessings. He is everlastingly strong. He is entirely sincere. He is eternally steadfast. He is empirically powerful. He is impartially merciful.
"Do you know him? I wonder if you know Him. He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of the world. He’s God’s Son. He’s the sinners savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He stands in the solitude of Himself.
"He is august & unique. He is unparalleled & unprecedented. He is the loftiest ideal of literature. He is the highest personality of philosophy. He is the miracle of the ages. Yes He is, yes He is.
"I wonder if you know Him today? He sympathizes & He saves. He strategizes & sustains. He guards & guides. He heals the sick & cleanses the leper. He forgives the sinner.
"He delivers the captive. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged, & He rewards the diligent.
"I wonder if you know Him today? Well, this is my King. He is the King. He is the king of knowledge. He is the well-spring of wisdom. He is the doorway to deliverance. He is the pathway to peace. He is the roadway to righteousness. He is the highway to holiness. He is the gateway to glory.
"Do you know Him? Well, I want you to know Him today. His office is manifold. His promise is sure. His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His Word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteousness. His yoke is easy. His burden is light.
"I wish I could describe Him to you but He is indescribable. He is incomprehensible. He is invincible. He is irresistible. Well, you can’t get Him out of your mind, & you can’t get Him off of your hands, & you can’t outlive Him, & you can’t live without Him.
"The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find fault in Him, & Herod couldn’t kill Him, & death couldn’t handle Him, & the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my King.
"And thine is the kingdom & the power & the glory forever & ever & ever & ever. And how long is that? Forever & ever & ever & ever & ever & after all the forevers, amen & amen & amen. That’s my King!
