and said to him, where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. Then he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the man said, the woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are more cursed than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Now to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. We'll read verses 28 to 30. Verse 28 begins with the words, after this. This being the betrayal and arrest. The accusation of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, falsely. The accusation of Jesus before Pilate, falsely. Pilate who said, I find no fault in Him, again and again. The crucifixion of Jesus, that he was nailed to a cross between two thieves. And now we come to the after all these things, or after this, the very end of the narrative of the death of Jesus Christ. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, and they put it on Hyssop and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Turn to John chapter 19. Particularly this morning, the preaching of the Word, really focusing on verse 30. Just one verse in particular will be our focus. Next week we will be looking at verses 28 to 37. The fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is important to the apostle. In verse 35 he says, he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. John has written the narrative of the crucifixion that you would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he has written an eyewitness narrative. Anyone who would tell you otherwise is in league really with Satan, the evil one. John would have you know what he has seen that you would believe. One of the things John witnessed was the moment of the death of Jesus. That He really died. And that moment is summed up for us in verse 30. That after Jesus had taken the sour wine, He said, and the other Gospels say that He said it with a loud voice. It is finished. And then these really electrifying words, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. But when Jesus said, it is finished, what was finished? What did he finish? What did he actually finish? And to understand that, we need to have in our minds and hearts, again, a brief survey of the root cause of the present state of the world and the reason that we are sinners. There was a first Adam. The narrative of the first Adam reveals the root cause of the present state of the world. The world now is broken and sad and violent and blind and insane and confused and wretchedly sinful and in full bore rebellion against the God who made us. That reality is traced all the way back to the first Adam in the garden. Who was he? What was his identity? He was the son of God. Luke chapter three and verse 38. Seth was the son of Adam, who was the son of God. God was his father. God fashioned him. He was also the king. Now we don't often think of Adam as a king, but it is right to think of him as a king under God, given a commission to rule. God made Adam to have dominion over the creatures. God made Adam to be the representative head of humanity. And had Adam not fallen, he would be the king and head of the human race, and we would be princes in the kingdom under the king, Adam. He was God's appointed ruler, the leader, the representative of humanity. We would have honored him as the Ten Commandments say, honor your father at him. Again, all would be princes in his kingdom. By the way, the language of royalty is the language that the scriptures use to describe our salvation. Psalm 113, for example, when someone is is brought into a saving relationship with Yahweh, the God of Israel. God makes them to sit with the princes of his kingdom, that there's an elevation again to royalty, being part of the royal family of God. But the Bible narrates what then actually happened. Adam was given a test and he failed the test. He failed the test. After Satan entered, we just read the aftermath of that a moment ago in Genesis chapter three, that Satan entered, the deceiver, the tempter, and Adam was, the choice was placed before Adam. Will he by his own wits and wisdom seek to find a way through the deceptions of Satan, or will he live as God has said? by the revealed will of God, which was, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the king fell into sin, he ate. He was guilty, and we share his guilt as his children. And he was ashamed, and he and Eve, they hid themselves, running from God in shame in the garden. And an imposter then, as it were, seized the throne, Satan. An imposter. Satan, who is described to us in the scriptures, in even the Gospel of John, the ruler of this world. The prince of the power of the air, the prince of darkness, the ruler of darkness, the head of the kingdom of darkness. Satan entered into history, human history, into the world, tempted Adam, And now, and even now in a limited fashion, still, John would write later in 1 John chapter 5, the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one. Adam and his sons after him live in the prison house of sin under the harsh taskmaster, Satan, and are hypnotized by him. Those who crucified Jesus were in the service of Satan. Earlier in John chapter 8, Jesus said of the Jewish leaders, you are of your father the devil. Pilate was in the service of this evil prince and evil kingdom when he sent a righteous man to die. Satan continues to seek to hypnotize, to deceive the human race. He continues as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's still active today. What does he do? What is the nature of his activity? Like Adam before us, he seeks to deceive. We are in the world we live in where people, where Jesus, the Son of God has come to earth, and the world acts as if it's never happened, by and large. Millions. And you wonder, how could this possibly be? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. Because there is an evil kingdom and an evil power and a deceiver who has blinded the eyes of those who are in unbelief. And this is why there are atheists and why people reject Jesus Christ and why people do foolish things like love money. which you can't take with you to eternity. Or pleasure, which never satisfies. Or power, which in the day the king dies, the very day he dies, his plans will perish. And why we're entranced with idols and idolatry, because we by nature follow the rebellion of our father Adam and choose by nature the influence of Satan. And each new generation, as it were, is born into Satan's prison house. And even if by nature we were to glimpse a ray in our natural state of the glory of God, we turn away and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And there's an insanity of sin. The Bible says there's none righteous, no not one, there is none who seeks after God. Our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed innocent blood and there is no fear of God before our eyes. The way of peace we have not known. Now at the end of the gospel of John, two themes that run through the gospel begin to emerge in greater clarity. Jesus as the man and Jesus as the king. a new Adam. Jesus as the man and Jesus as the king. As a matter of fact, it's Pilate who says when Jesus comes out wearing the purple robe and the crown of thorns, a mockery of his kingship, he says those electrifying words, behold the man. As it were, like Caiaphas before him, unknowingly declaring the reality of who Jesus is. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 5 that there was a first Adam and a second Adam, a first man and a second man. And when you read the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, you need to think of him as the second Adam. The second thing you need to think of as the king of glory, the king, the new king. It's all through the text. They said to him, mocking again the soldiers in verse three, hail king of the Jews in verses 14 and 15. Away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? Then he delivered them. And what did he do? Verse 19, he wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. And if all of this was simply a game between the Israelites, between the Jews and Pilate mocking Jesus, in chapter 18, Jesus said when Pilate asked him, are you a king? He said, you say rightly that I am a king and my kingdom is not of this world. You have the man, the second man, the second Adam, and you have the king, the king of the Jews, the king of glory. You have the second Adam. Now, how does this all relate to chapter 19 and verse 30, and particularly the declaration, it is finished? What I want you to have in mind is the man, and the King, the first Adam, the second Adam. It is finished. What does it mean when Jesus says those words? Well, first let's look at the text and unpack what the Greek means or what the original, the meaning of the text itself. Jesus knows, verse 28, that all things were now accomplished. He has a clear sense and understanding that he's coming to the very end. He asks, He says, I thirst, fulfilling the scriptures. Again, we'll look at that more next week. And then having received the sour wine, which was a response to the phrase, I thirst, he said, it is finished. And then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. The sense of the original is a, when you take the gospel witnesses together, he said with a loud voice, we know from the other gospels, it is accomplished. that there was a sense in which the completion, the finishing of what He came to do at that moment when He declared it is finished, bowed His head and gave up His spirit, that this was the declaration of the Son of God concerning the finishing of the mission that the Father had sent Him to do. And so what was finished at the cross? We're gonna see two things, the acceptable offering of a consecrated life, and then the destruction of an evil kingdom, the evil kingdom. The offering of a consecrated life and the destruction of the evil kingdom. Again, the Adam-Christ parallel in the Gospels is of first importance. When you think about Jesus entering into his public ministry, particularly in the Synoptic Gospels, there's an emphasis on Jesus' temptation at the beginning of his ministry, that he's baptized and then he is tempted by the devil. But these temptations were particular. and powerful. We'll get more to them later as we look at the cross. You remember the first Adam was also tempted by the devil. And the first Adam had used his wits and his own wisdom instead of the revealed will of God. But Jesus instead, three times, responding to the temptations of the devil, said, it is written, it is written, it is written. And he lived by the revealed will of God. The beginning of his ministry in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil, and the end of his ministry, particularly the garden themes, which we're gonna look at more in the Gospel of John, all should bring our mind back to the original state. The first Adam, and now we see a second Adam. In the closing chapters here of the Gospel of John, we have the garden, and the garden narrative we're gonna see more as we look at the resurrection, but here the statement, behold the man, itself reminds us that Jesus is the man. Now to deepen our understanding of the cross, we think of Jesus now as the second Adam. What did he come to do? There's an Old Testament backdrop to the cross and that is a particular offering in the sacrificial system called the whole burnt offering. This was an offering that God had particularly instituted to be a picture of the cross. It's the offering that God commanded Abraham to offer up when he said, take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac. And offer him as a whole burnt offering in the place that I will show you. The Holburne Offering had in it the following ideas. That there would be someone who would bear the guilt, the transfer of guilt. This would be even brighter in the Day of Atonement, but it's also contained in the Holburne Offering. The transfer of guilt, the need for sin to be removed, the need for sin to be paid for, propitiated, the wrath of God to be appeased. But the Holburne Offering doesn't stop just with that. The Holburne Offering was a picture of the consecrated offering of a whole life to God. And God was pleased with it. When Noah comes off of the ark and he builds an altar and he burns the whole burnt offering on the altar The aroma rises to God, we read in Genesis chapter eight, and God was pleased. When we read about the institution of the whole burnt offering in Exodus chapter 29, in verse 18, the whole burnt offering was offered on the altar, and the smell of the aroma of the offering would rise to God as a sweet smelling aroma. In other words, there was not only the idea of the transfer of guilt and the payment for that guilt but there was in the Holburne offering the idea of a holy consecrated sacrifice well pleasing to God. That he was pleased with the offering. This is why it was important that the animals that were chosen for example the Passover lamb would be without blemish. Now In the New Covenant, we see that this language is attached to the cross. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul says that we're to walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, an offering, a sacrifice, with an aroma. He adds the idea of an aroma, the aroma that rose to God. It was well-pleasing to God. Paul describes his ministry in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 as, interesting, the preaching of the gospel wherever he goes, as the fragrance or the aroma of Christ, that wherever he goes to preach the cross. That there is the aroma of the whole burnt offering, consecrated life, offered up to God, being declared in the nations, and that fragrance comes out in the preaching of the Word, and God is pleased, and people come to faith in Jesus Christ. The New Testament significance of the cross is, yes, the removal of guilt, the satisfaction of the wrath of God, but how was that accomplished? It was accomplished by the sacrifice of one wholly consecrated to God, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The cross was the offering of Jesus, Jesus offering His life to God. What kind of life was it? a wholly submitted to God, consecrated sacrifice. He was the one who was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He was the one who was described by the writer of the Hebrews as wholly harmless and undefiled. In 1 Peter chapter two and verse 22, he had no sin. There was no deceit in his mouth. In 1 John three and verse five, John, who writes this narrative, tells us he had no sin. The one on the cross who died in our place died as the lamb without spot or blemish. He became sin for us by imputation. Our sins reckon to his account but the one who dies is a perfect man. Behold the man should cause us to think now about the Adam Christ parallel. that we have one here who under all the suggestions of Satan on the cross, all the opposition of the world accomplishes, finishes. A holy consecrated life offered to God in perfect obedience to the very last moment where he lays down his life. He gives up his spirit because the Father had given him the power to lay down his life and to take it up again. When he said it is finished, the pleasing aroma of the perfect consecrated life of the second Adam rose to God in our place and God was well pleased. The Father. By implication, what else was finished? The entire sacrificial system. That means there's no longer any need for sacrifice for sins. Christ offered himself once on the cross to satisfy divine justice. One life was offered in the place of sinners and that life was a perfect life, a righteous life, a finished life, a completed life. The lamb without spot or blemish was offered. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The reality pictured in all the types and shadows of the Old Testament that we needed desperately that of a second Adam, a new representative to fulfill all righteousness is fulfilled and Jesus says, it is finished. The father here sees the son in whom he is well pleased. And the gospel is this, the second Adam has triumphed. Jesus, in John chapter 17, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work you gave me to do. That's the bracket on the one side of the cross. It is finished on the other side of the cross as the consecrated life is offered to the Father. Now, there's an important connection here that you need to think about because we're putting together the glory of the second Adam and what he has done. You see that he did what the first Adam failed to do. He fulfilled all righteousness, lived that perfect life. What is the connection then between the resurrection and the cross? The New Testament proclaims the fact of the resurrection. We're gonna study that in the coming weeks. John chapter 20, the end of all the synoptic gospels, 1 Corinthians 15, the eyewitness testimony to a living, risen Jesus is incontestable in the New Testament. But how about the theology of the resurrection? When Jesus says, it is finished, then he dies. And there's a limp body on the cross. Is it finished? Because he hasn't risen again. Peter says in Acts chapter two when he preaches the gospel, that by virtue, of the consecrated life offered to God, and the finishing of the sin bearing, being the propitiatory sacrifice, it was not possible that death should hold Him. In other words, the triumph of the cross inevitably means the seal of the resurrection. The finishing of the offering of a consecrated perfect holy life by one who did not deserve death but rather took to himself our sins and stood in our place and did what the first Adam didn't do meant that death had no power over Jesus Christ. And the resurrection is assured by the accomplishment of the cross. which is why Paul writes in Romans that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead through the power of the Spirit. In other words, this is the declaration of the Father of the finished work and glory of his Son in whom he is well pleased. As a matter of fact, Jesus knew that he had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again, John chapter 10. And the whole triune God glory of the triune God. The Father, God raised him up. Peter preaches in Acts chapter two, Paul would say again, the spirit of God, the spirit of holiness raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And Jesus himself had the power to take up his life again, the whole triune God, the power of the triune God in the resurrection, which is inevitably and inextricably linked to the triumph of the cross. Now what does this mean for you as a believer? It means immeasurable gospel comfort. Jesus Christ as the second Adam offered himself a perfect consecrated sacrifice to the Father, fulfilling all righteousness. And he did so as the perfect man, And here's the staggering power of the cross. He did so while simultaneously bearing the burden of our sins. Paul says, when he died, we died. Union with Christ, by faith. When you think about the death of Jesus, And you hear the declaration of Jesus at the very end of his life, the perfect like offer to God, the consecrated sacrifice, the propitiation for our sins. It is finished. When Paul says in Romans chapter six that we died with him, that means that by faith, the placard, the title over our life to God is it is finished. That means you have nothing left to offer. That means in the great double grace of justification, which is received by faith alone, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. The perfect consecrated life, that righteousness imputed to you, your guilt taken by Christ on the cross. And by faith, there is one title over the Christian life, it is finished. And there is not one thing that you need to add to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Now let me expand that a little bit more. It's even your sanctification. What are you being conformed to? The image of Christ, the perfect consecrated man who fulfilled all righteousness, declared it is finished, and then gave up his spirit. You're being conformed to this Jesus who accomplished all righteousness, And it's this pattern to which the Spirit by the Word is conforming you. And it is all found in Christ. Nothing that you need, not one thing that you need to make it to glory is not finished in Jesus Christ. So when you believe in Him, His death made an end to the guilt of sin. It redeems us from the power of sin. It gives us the power for sanctification and the template for sanctification. So Paul going on in Romans chapter 6 talking about our union with Christ can say that we We bear these benefits. Likewise, rather, for the death that he died, Romans 6 and verse 10, he died to sin once and for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. That there's an identification with Jesus and when he says it is finished, it is finished. There's an absolute triumph in the cross for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul in 2 Timothy, this is a faithful saying. If we died with him, we shall also live with him. There's nothing to be added. When he died, I died. And the Father sees me in Christ. And he sees the sweet smelling aroma of a consecrated life. Now could there be yet more to the cross than this? The provision of righteousness and the taking away of the guilt of the power of sin. Yes. The second thing is the destruction of the evil kingdom. The it is finished that finishes the narrative of the cross includes not only freeing us from the guilt and power of sin, providing for us a righteousness, but it also includes the cutting off and the destroying of the source of evil, Satan himself and his kingdom. You need to hear this. The cross is the victory over all evil. There is a reality of a kingdom of darkness. There is a Satan. It's called the ruler of this world, the prince of darkness, the prince of the power of the air. There is an evil kingdom and we sometimes have fears. Could it overcome me? Could evil triumph in human history? Will one day an evil ruler reign over me and destroy me and the church and the hope of the gospel for the future? Will evil triumph in the world? And will one day maybe Satan come to me in my unguarded moment and steal away my salvation? Could he? In other words, if I have this personal faith in Jesus Christ and this relationship with Him, but is there not still yet, there's this inward renovation, there's the work of the Holy Spirit, is there not still lurking in the shadows, the possibility of an evil kingdom to take it all away? In Jesus, there is the in-breaking of the kingdom of heaven. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The climax of the warfare between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light happens at the cross. And this was prophesied in Genesis 3, verse 15. We just read it. There would be this titanic battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and the seed of the woman, though bruised in heel, would rise victorious by crushing the head of the serpent. The gospel of John is about the kingdom and the king. You remember what Nathanael said about Jesus when he first saw him. First chapter of John, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. Language, it brings us back to Adam. Language brings us to the need for a king and the promise of a king. You keep reading and in chapter six, they are going to crown Jesus as king and in chapter 12, there's language of kingship In chapter 18, Jesus himself says that he has a kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world. Then he's asked, are you a king? Verse 37, you say rightly that I am a king. Jesus came to rule. To rule over what? Humanity and the kingdom of darkness in its totality. He came to rule. Born a ruler, a king. And in John chapter 19, this theme is again and again, particularly again, Pilate's action in verse 19. He wrote a title and put it on the cross. You have to have this in your mind. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The Jews dispute it. They say, take that down. He says, what I have written, I have written. And so the one who dies on the cross who is there bleeding and dying as the second Adam, the representative of his people, is also the one who is dying under the title Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, which he is. He is the king. What happened at the cross is that the man who died there was revealed to be the king of glory. In John 8 and verse 44, I said earlier, Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, you are your father, the devil. In John chapter 12, he warned that the ruler of this world was coming. In John chapter 14 and verse 30, he said the ruler of this world is coming for me. The language in the gospel of John say that the cross was also a war between Satan and Christ. The world is under the dominion of Satan. This is, he blinds and he deceives, he infects our thinking. There's an insanity to sin. You know, you think about this. Satan says, okay, use cocaine and you'll be happy. If you're in your right mind, you know that that will kill you. Somehow, millions believe him. Satan says, look at porn and you'll be satisfied. And millions do, and their lives are wretched. Satan says, fraud will give you more money. If you cheat on your taxes, you can have more money in your pocket. Millions do. There's this insanity. Deception, again and again. He says if you get angry, you can get your way with people and you'll destroy all your relationships and everything that he promises actually ends up in death and destruction. And millions and billions follow him, his dominion. He came after Jesus early, we saw that earlier. But on the cross, I want you to think about his original temptations. Think of this, what were they? Turn these stones into bread. You're hungry. You're deprived. You have the power to rectify that situation. Satan maybe now at the cross said you're thirsty. You're dying. Think of the second temptation. Throw yourself from the pinnacle of the temple. Didn't God promise the angels would take you? What were the people saying at the cross? If you're the son of God, come down and save yourself. How about this? If you come down, don't you remember what I promised you at the beginning? I will give you all the kingdoms of this world. Come down and save yourself. You don't have to offer your life in consecrated sacrifice to your Father. You just have to give it to me. While bearing the infinite wrath of God against sin and crying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Here's the test. What will he do? On the cross, he drinks the cup and then he declares, it is finished. And then he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. He died a quiet death submitted to God. And when He said it is finished, He destroyed the powers of darkness. Paul says in Colossians 2 and verse 15 that He put them to open shame, triumphing over them at the cross. that when he drank the cup to the very, very end and offered the perfect consecrated life as the king, he was the conquering king. The dark kingdom was gone. What Jesus saw in Luke chapter 11, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have come to bind this strong man and plunder his house. What John would write later in his first letter, Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. He did it. Completely. It is finished. Now for you, believer, that means the power of darkness is broken. Satan remains a real and desperate enemy, but he's vanquished and no accusation, no charge leveled against you, you heard Mr. Boyer preach this last week, can stand. Your worst fears about what he might do are unfounded if you're in the one who said it is finished, the conquering king. My son, little son woke up the other night terrified. In one of his dreams, thinking that something had moved without human hands. Strange dream. Some sense of some power. It was terrifying. Sometimes we think that there's yet a power in the universe like that. In the shadows that can take away everything that Christ has done. No one can. It is finished. And he gave up his spirit. These are the evidences of the power of the cross. Jesus Christ offering up a consecrated life. The power of the cross offering up a consecrated life while bearing the guilt of sinners fully and completely. and the power of the cross while offering up a consecrated life and bearing the weight of God, the wrath of God against sin under the attacks of the evil one saying through his henchmen, come down from the cross and save yourself. Instead, he said, it is finished. I want you to think about that last scene as we close. Again, what is it? There is the dead, lifeless, limp body of Jesus of Nazareth on a cross. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, for the message of the cross is what? Foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, what is it? It is the power of God. The difference is faith. The faith to see the one, the second Adam, the conquering king. And to see that when he said it is finished and gave his life to God, it is finished for you. This is the power of the cross for all those who believe, a provision of righteousness, a canceling of the handwriting of the debts that were against us, the handwriting of the law that was against us, and then the provision of total victory. Again, when he says it is finished, Paul writes, we are more, more than conquerors through him who loved us. Let's pray. Lord God, we pray that you would impress on us the power of the cross, the staggering power of our Lord Jesus Christ to save. Under the withering attacks of the kingdom of darkness, to never waver in temptation, but to offer a consecrated life. to bear the infinite wrath, the penalty for sin in our place, and at the same time, to crush the head of the evil one in the conquering at the cross. We pray for grace to see the cross also as the throne of our Savior Jesus, as the place of victory and of vanquishing. all His and our enemies. But we praise You for our Savior who gave Himself for us. And we pray in the name of Jesus, now at Your right hand, exalted. Amen.