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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The focus of our Lenten services this year at St. Paul has been the seven words of Jesus
as he was on the cross. They are words of life even in his death. Tonight we conclude fittingly
with his words, it is finished. But what is finished? Yes, the terrible suffering
of Jesus is finished. His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest, his
trial, beatings, his being unjustly sentenced to death, having to carry a
cross and then nailed to it and to hang on it for six hours, all of that now
is finished. His suffering, pain, and darkness, and death are finished. And I
think we can kind of relate to that, that when we experience suffering, pain, or
darkness, we like when it’s over, when we get through it, when it is finished. And
And it may even be good when death finally comes to a person who’s suffering pain.
That’s certainly the case as we look at Jesus on the cross tonight.
And that’s what we gather around tonight, the cross, an instrument of suffering, pain
and darkness, a place of death.
place where we hear words of death from Jesus saying that his life is finished
but something else is finished along with Jesus’s suffering his pain darkness
and death also being finished is a payment a payment is finished besides
the cross being a place of death Jesus speaks words of life from it and it is
finished is a word of life for us it’s a word of life that we really need to hear
because we are dead yes my friends we are dead in the
brokenness of this world we’re dead in the suffering pain and darkness and
death of this world and we’re dead in our own brokenness, our own pain and
suffering and darkness. We’re dead in our sin, sin. In fact that’s the very thing
that even causes death. Romans chapter 6 says the wages of sin is death. Basically
death is what we earn for our sins. That is our wage. It’s what you and I get for
breaking God’s laws. When we think, say, or do terrible things to other people,
death is that price, and death awaits. You can’t get away from it.
Sin and death are our it, because sin and death, our lives are like unfinished
payments. I think we can relate to that too, having payments to make. Sometimes
they take years, maybe decades to finish. That’s frustrating and draining to even
have to think about payments. But in his suffering and death and darkness and
pain, Jesus finishes what you can’t finish because of your sins.
Jesus pays what you can’t. You can’t finish what’s required for your sins. So
why does Jesus have to finish it? Because the payment is too overwhelming for us
to pay, because we have too much of it that needs to be paid. Basically, we can’t
finish it because we’re too full of it. We’re full of ignoring God, rebelling
against Him. We’re full of evil actions, hurtful words, detestable thoughts,
vindictive desires and impure intentions. We’re full of brokenness, full of
selfishness, full of sin. We are full of it. And if Jesus is the sinless Son of
God who committed no crime or no sin, who’s been wrongly arrested, falsely
tried, and sentenced to death by crucifixion, then he’s not dying on the
cross, finishing something, finishing it for Himself. It’s not a payment for His
benefit, it is for your benefit. His death is for you, and He finished it for you,
paying for it with His life. Yes, Jesus dies to finish what’s required of your
sin. He dies to pay that price. He dies to forgive you of what needs to be paid.
He finishes it. Yeah, the wages of sin is death, like I said, but hear these verses
too from Colossians chapter 2. When you were dead in your sins, God made you
alive with Christ. He forgives us all of our sins, having canceled the charge of
our debt which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross.” Do you hear that? Hear that? Jesus has taken it away,
taken away the debt of your sin by nailing it to a cross. That payment is
completely finished. Again, the cross is a place of execution, it’s a place of
death where Jesus dies, but in it he’s finishing that payment and it gives us
life. The cross becomes a place of life. It became a place of life for Christ
because just a few days later and we look forward to it on Easter he rises
again from the dead so the words it is finished it’s a word of life for us and
it is life that’s ongoing you see because in the Greek language the words
it is finished in the Bible is said in a tense that indicates an ongoing effect
of a present action. In other words, something happens now and the effect of
it, the result, is always valid after the fact. We have that with Jesus’s finishing
death. It’s always valid. It is always finished. What God did in Jesus Christ
back then is in effect right now. What his death and resurrection finished then
is is still finished now you may be struggling with sins past sins or
present ones struggling with feeling that they can be forgiven and I know
that that can be hard sometimes you can doubt it and that’s because Satan loves
to bring up the past and loves to accuse you of your sin and your
brokenness he loves to remind you of your it and make you forget the
finishing work of Jesus when Satan does that you tell him no it is finished I am
forgiven tell him it is finished because Jesus says so the perfect sinless son of
God who died on the cross says so. It is finished. Don’t let Satan fill you full
of it. It’s forgiven. It’s finished. Your sins are paid for and you’re still paid
for, still forgiven. It doesn’t take years or decades to finish. It’s now. On the
another word that Jesus said was, he said I thirst and then he was given some
sour wine vinegar to drink and it’s not exactly clear in Scripture why he asked
you know that said he was thirsty and wanted something to drink I think a
reason why that Jesus drank that was was basically to kind of wet his whistle so
so that He could say something very important
that He had to say from the cross
and wanted it to be heard loud and clear
that the whole world would hear,
it is finished.
No doubt.
No wondering.
It is finished.
For His relief and for ours.
I want you to hear these words
loud and clear tonight.
To cut through the suffering and pain
and darkness and death of Good Friday and to cut through the suffering pain
darkness and death of your life I want you to hear loud and clear from Jesus
himself it is finished this is what my death did for you I paid for it
completely the suffering pain and darkness and death caused by your sin
caused by your it is finished I want you to hear loud and clear the words of
life that Jesus has for you as he dies on the cross and may those words be
true for you now and forever amen now may the peace of God which passes all
understanding. Keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
