The Word of Victory

The sports world loves celebrating when champions retire. A great shock that inspired a Warner Bros cartoon movie happened when Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players ever, retired from professional basketball to play baseball. Jordan was on the heels of winning three consecutive championships and, just like that, stopped (spoiler alert for non-sports people: he would unretire and come back and win 3 more championships). You may have heard clips of New York Yankee ballplayer Lou Gehrig’s retirement speech on July 4, 1939. He had been diagnosed with a disease (which bears his name today), forcing him to retire. In 1984, Bjorn Borg retired from professional tennis at 26, citing burnout. Locally, Wichita native Barry Sanders spent 10 years in the NFL and retired at the top of his game. He would have broken the NFL career rushing record, but all those losing seasons in Detroit had taken their toll. 

Today is Palm Sunday. We’re celebrating Jesus our King and stepping into a week where we’ll remember His final week before Easter Sunday. In John 12, John recounts the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem for us: the large crowd that had come to the [Passover] feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and done to him. 17 The crowd with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The crowd went to meet him because they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

In just a few days, this crowd bearing witness to Him will be replaced by people ready to extinguish Him. And they will end up convincing the Romans to crucify Him. We’ve been looking at Jesus’s death on the cross since the start of March. We’ve examined the words that He’s spoken from the cross. A few weeks ago, we saw Jesus handing over His mother to John so she could be cared for. Last week, Jesus said, “I thirst,” to get a drink and prepare for what He says in John’s gospel today. So, this final cry, the cry of victory, comes in what we explore today. 

This season, we’ve longed and pled with you to consider what Jesus is doing for us. And, so I can be explicitly clear: Jesus is dying to atone the Father’s wrath towards sinners. We have committed treason against the High King of Heaven in our sins. We’ve gone our own way at the expense of God’s good and righteous ways. So, Jesus is laying down His life as an offering for sin. In our place, condemned, He is hanging on the cross. And, today, His cry of victory comes. I hope you repent (or turn from your sin) and believe in Jesus. That goes for all of us in this room. I want you to give up on other ways of salvation or righteousness to trust Jesus. Do you really believe (trust) Him? Do your actions reflect an abiding trust in Him? Today, Jesus calls us to Himself so that we can experience His salvation. Join me as we see 3 ways Jesus’s cry, “It is finished,” ropes us into His victory…

Read John 19:30 (This is God’s Word; thanks be to God)

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

3 ways Jesus’s cry, “It is finished,” ropes us into His victory…

We’re included in His victory as… I. Jesus fulfills.

Specifically, when Jesus says, “It is finished,” He is announcing that He has fulfilled all the plans the Father had sent Him to accomplish. In John’s Gospel, in particular, a great U has happened: Jesus has come down from heaven and is returning to the Father. In last week’s sermon, we saw this fulfilling when Jesus asked for a drink. He said, “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’” I’m dropping the spotlight on what the Father wanted Jesus to do because we’ve seen that consistently in John’s Gospel. When He was offered something to eat in John 4, He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” Later in John 9, when Jesus healed a blind man, He told His disciples: “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” So, Jesus, in announcing that “It is finished,” is saying that He has accomplished all that the Father has sent Him to do. Indeed, all the Father’s promises are “Yes and Amen” in Christ. 

In John’s Gospel, we can answer what the Father sent Jesus to do even more specifically. For instance, Jesus came to be the revelation of the Father to us: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (1:18). Jesus came on a specific mission as the Messiah. John the Baptist announced in John 1: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose, I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (1:29-34). Of course, Jesus also came to reconcile the world to God Himself: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). We also see reconciliation in chapter 12: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:32). Finally, what Jesus did was routing completely the devil’s work: “now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (12:31). All of this work showed the glory of God the Son in the work the Father gave Him to do. Jesus announcing, “It is finished,” points to His fulfilling this. The work is done, and it is a great victory for all God intended to accomplish by sending Jesus.

Secondly, we’re also included in Jesus’s victory as II. Jesus frees.

Because Jesus’s work is notoriously completed, we can see that our work is done away with. Josh Moody says, “It is worth lingering on these words. “It is finished.” We must never add anything to the completed work of Christ on the cross. It is easy to start with grace but then continue with works; the devil loves to turn a Christian into a legalist when he can and bind them with chains of unnecessary guilt, pride, or habitual sin. In an ideal devilish world, the Christian would have their confidence cut off at the knees by legalism, only then to fall into the Slough of Despond and, in despair, give in to habitual sins. We need to remember: it is finished. No work of ours can add to it; no sin of ours can detract from it. There is nothing more to be done for all eternity for our salvation than has already been done at the cross. A Christian is never much good for anything until they are sure that their eternal destiny is sealed in the work of Christ that was finished at the cross. That taken care of, the Christian can focus on serving Christ out of an overflow of passion for him, no longer anxiously digging up the roots of their behavior to see if it is sufficient.” Another way we could put it would be to say that because Jesus has done the Father’s will, we are free to view this as completed in Jesus. Because Jesus has accomplished our redemption, we don’t have to drum up enough good to get to heaven; the Perfect One, Jesus Christ our Lord, has done it. Jesus’s announcing it is finished frees us from our works.

Third and finally, we’re roped into Jesus’s victory as III. Jesus finalizes.

In Psalm 22:31, coming generations proclaim the Lord’s work to future generations. What they share is that Jesus has done it. As we continue to think about what He’s done, He has finalized, completed, accomplished His saving work. In Hebrews 1:3, we are told that “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” which connects Jesus's work to the reality that we are freed from sin. Making purification for sins speaks of the stain that sin creates or the separation that it makes between us and God being removed. 

You could illustrate this by seeing that the bill has been paid. Imagine your thrill at the end of a meal where you’ve lavishly celebrated and spent all kinds of money. But the waiter says you can go because the bill has been paid. This redemption is what Jesus did for sinners. One hundred years ago, when I was in youth group, we sang a song that reflected this: “He paid the debt he did not own, I own the debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, "Amazing grace," Christ Jesus paid the debt I could never pay.” It is finished. Our salvation is fully completed in all that Jesus did, dying on the cross for us.

Let me share one more summary from Jim Hamilton: “Having accomplished the fulfillment of Psalm 69:21 [saying, ‘I thirst,’], Jesus makes the sweetest, most triumphant, most comforting declaration human ears could ever hear: “It is finished” (John 19:30)—in Greek, tetelestai. The righteous life has been lived. The greatest demonstration of humility and love has been accomplished. Exact obedience to every righteous requirement of the Father has been maintained. The full measure of the Father’s wrath has been poured out. The cup has been drained to the dregs. The penalty for sin has been paid. The substitute has taken the place of his people. Atonement has been made for every one of their innumerable transgressions. The stains have been made clean, the Father’s wrath propitiated, the law’s demand fulfilled, the pains of the people taken, guilt forgiven, old made new, salvation accomplished, love demonstrated, truth upheld, mercy lavished, brokenness healed, evil unplugged, Satan defeated, the promise of life made. It is finished.” And we respond, “Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” 

In conclusion, today we’ve seen 3 ways Jesus’s cry, “It is finished,” ropes us into His victory…

I. Jesus fulfills.

II. Jesus frees.

III. Jesus finalizes.

After a big reminder about Jesus’s work as our great High Priest, the writer of Hebrews says, “Consequently, [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Today, then, will you draw near to God through Jesus? Some of you have never benefitted from Jesus’s saving work because you haven’t turned from your sins in repentance and trusted in Jesus. Today, it’s that simple. Jesus’s saving work is finished; will you trust Him? And, believer, you know great confidence because of what Jesus has done. How does this fire your worship? How does Jesus’s finished work help you love others? How does it work practically to change you? Draw near to God and, united to Christ, live out His life. Know Jesus and make Him known as people who glorify God and enjoy Him forever.