Please open your Bibles to John chapter 19 as we prepare our hearts to come to this table. John chapter 19. I love that song, The Power of the Cross. I mean, the crescendo on that just reaches your affections as you process what you've been singing. And as that song comes to an apex at the cross. Well, Michigan has her faults as a state. There's no perfect state. But I think that you and I would agree, even with her faults, Michigan is a great place to live. you'll be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful state with more to do than we have. We're close to Detroit, where we can travel to the wilderness if we want. We have lakes everywhere. As a matter of fact, from this building right now, you are 30 miles from Comerica Park, just that close to opening day coming up. From this building right now, you are 286 miles from the Mackinac Bridge, the very top of the Lower Peninsula. You say, well, what if I want to drive to the very top of the Upper Peninsula and see all the beauty on that drive and get to Copper Harbor? Well, from this building, that would be a 597-mile trip. Whether you're driving to the city or you're driving up north or to the tippy top. It's a beautiful state. But you got a trip. You have a trip in front of you. But when we sing that song, we have zero miles to travel to get to this table. That song sets the table of our hearts to come to communion. And as we prepare our hearts to come to communion this morning, I want to return to a series that we've been involved in. We are really leaning into what we call the final words of Jesus on the cross, his final sayings, if you will. And the cross lasted approximately from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon for our Lord. That's the time frame that he was hanging on that cross. And the name of our series is Six Final Hours, Seven Last Sayings. And we've so far learned that three of these last seven statements were before noon, and the final four will be afternoon until 3 p.m. on that dark day. We started this series on Good Friday communion service last year, and we will bring it, Lord willing, to conclusion at our next communion service after this one, which is Good Friday evening. It's been quite a journey as we've studied this. It's been interesting, we've noted, that of these seven last sayings, four of them are prayers speaking directly to His Father. You're listening to the second person of the Trinity in agony maintain this communication with the first person of the Trinity, his father. And we saw last time in this series a very short phrase. It's one word in the Greek. It's two in our English version. We saw him say, I thirst. Remember that? Look back here. We're in John chapter 19. Look at verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, In order to fulfill scripture, he said, I am thirsty, or I thirst. Two or three words in the English, one word in the Greek. And we found as we studied this that just prior to him saying this fifth statement, I thirst, we're told what he was thinking. He knew that everything except one final detail In his life before his death on the cross, everything, every prophecy had been fulfilled except one more. And that's why he said, I thirst. That was to fulfill what had been spoken about him in Psalms. But what's interesting, too, is the fact that this sixth saying is also one word in the Greek. and three words in the English. You see, what is the sixth saying? Well, let's pick up our reading in verse 29. He said, I'm thirsty and a jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received a sour wine, that last prophecy was fulfilled, he said, and here's the sixth saying, it is finished. It is finished. The Greek word here you've heard many times in sermons, totalistai. Its form is in the perfect passive. You say, is that important? It sure is. Because it's talking about bringing something to its end, to its completion, to its conclusion. Not just finishing it up for now. This tense is saying that it is done forever. It is finished. Now, if you're like me, there's a little frustration right now. You and I have a question when we hear him say that sixth statement. And here's the question. What is the it? What is the it? If it's finished, and it's finished not just for now, but forever, what is the it? In case you haven't realized it, there's a pretty popular sporting event tonight. And I plan on taking most of it in. Some of the commercials and none of the halftime, actually. That's the plan, right? But I like a good competition. But you might be like, nope, I don't want to watch football. It's just grown men hitting each other and it just makes no sense. I'm going to watch Hallmark, that's reality. Maybe that's you, right? That's your business. But let's say you're like, I'm not going to watch Super Bowl. And that's fine. That's your decision. But so what do you do to make better use of your time? You might choose to just scroll through social media instead of watch the football. Your protest is just scrolling. And what happens if, as you're scrolling, suddenly all of social media, all your friends explode with, wow, what a game. Did you see it? Did you see that play? I mean, even if you're not into football, you're going to be asking the question, wow, this has really gripped everyone. I want to know what the it is. What just happened in that game that was so profound the whole cyber universe exploded? What is the it? That's what I want to answer as we come to this table. And I believe that we will find the answer to what is the it that's finished. We'll find the answer in something Jesus said and in something Jesus did. Just two points. First of all, something he said. I know many of you prefer to follow a reading schedule in your regular reading through Scripture, and I think that's commendable. It keeps you accountable. It keeps you on a pace. And whenever that comes by, when your reading schedule takes you through the Gospels, at some point, obviously, you come to the Gospel of John. And as you do your read-through of John's Gospel, if you're looking for it, you're going to notice that Jesus has been talking about it the entire book. He really has. It has different names in the Gospel of John. First of all, one name used for it is Jesus saying it this way. He referred to his time. His time. Remember the conversation he had with his brothers? Hold your finger here in John chapter 19, and go back with me to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. His brothers are trying to say, because they don't believe in him yet, they're saying, you need to go manifest yourself at Jerusalem for the feast. Remember that? Verse 1 of chapter 7, after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee for he was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of Booth, was near. Therefore his brother said to him, leave here in Galilee and go into Judea so that your disciples also may see your works which you are doing. No one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. And then we have the editorial comment in verse five, for not even his own brothers were believing in him, yet, yet. But listen to Jesus. He refers to it in verse six. Jesus said to his brothers, my time has come. It's not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves. I do not go up to the feast because my time has not yet fully come. You say, when Jesus uses that language, my time, what's he talking about? He's talking about it. Sometimes he uses this phrase, my time, but other times in the gospel, if you've been watching, he uses the phrase, my day. My day. Look at John chapter 8 as he talks to the Pharisees and the Jews who are reacting against his claim. In John chapter 8, verse 56. We'll start back at verse 52. The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also. And you say, If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste of death. Surely you are not greater than our father Abraham, who died. The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he's our God. And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that I don't know him, I'll be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. And watch verse 56. As for your father Abraham, he rejoiced to see my day. And his day is not just his birth. It's his birth and his life. and what's coming at the end of his life. That's the it. If you've been looking for it, sometimes Jesus would refer to it as my time or my day, but if you're also looking for it in the Gospel of John, sometimes he used this phrase, my hour. Remember that one? Go back to John chapter two. This first occasion, he's gonna say, listen, to his mother. John chapter two, verse one. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does that have to do with us? And look at this next phrase. My hour has not yet come. Something about the hour is pointing to the it. That's what he said to his earthly mother, but he's going to use the same phrase as he gets close to the cross and say it to his father, capital F. Look at John chapter 12. John chapter 12, just beyond John's account of the triumphal entry, We're just days from the cross. In John chapter 12, verse 27, Jesus sharing his heart, he says, now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say? And here's the prayer. Father, save me from this hour, but For this purpose I came to this hour. What is this hour? It's it. It's it. He says it to his earthly mother towards the beginning of his earthly ministry, and he says it to his heavenly father just prior to the cross. Whatever the hour is, it's it. And it's now. But then there's one more word, if you're looking for it in John, that Jesus uses to describe it. It's not just his time, not just his day, not just his hour, but it's his cup. His cup. As a matter of fact, Luke tells us that when Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, where he will be betrayed and arrested, the words he prays to his father, this is Luke 22, 42, is, I'm recoiling, I'm gonna give you a loose translation here. I'm recoiling from this cup and what it means and what it will cost. Nevertheless, I want your will to be done. It's referring to the cup and it's here in John chapter 18, verse 11, you hear him use the same language. Listen, at the arrest, a few moments later, Peter has just cut off a guy's ear And what does Jesus say to Peter? He wants to talk about the cup. He says in verse 11, Jesus said to Peter, put the sword into the sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? But here, the language is changing. It's no longer, A time yet future, or a day yet future, or an hour yet future, the cup is starting to happen. It's here in Gethsemane. It's here during the arrest. As you track with John, as he records our Lord's reference to it, it goes from a time, to a day, to an hour, to a cup. And you can tell that it's building towards a crescendo of it. It's building, it's heavy, it's dark, it's foreboding, it's ominous, whatever it is, it's unyielding, and it's final. Through his three-year public ministry, As Jesus talked, as we saw in John, to his mother, his brothers, his disciples, and even his enemies, it was something that was coming with an ever-increasing pace and an eternally impacting work. He's been telling us all along what it is. That's something he said. But I want you to notice something he did. You see, his hour that he spoke about in his gospel turned out to be six hours on the cross. And his cup, the it, is the cross. Hear me carefully right now. It wasn't merely his death that is the it. More so, the it, listen, was his dying. Because as it was happening, it caused him to cry out in prayer to his father in Mark 15, 32, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthanai, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was while he was on the cross that we see this break between the second and the first person of the Trinity. There is a holy father that has to turn his back on a righteous son who's being condemned as if he had sinned every sin by everyone who would ever be redeemed, when in fact he had committed none of those sins. And the full wrath of God was being squeezed out in his dying. I think John MacArthur is right in his book, Murder of Jesus, when he writes, all of mankind's worst fears about the horrors of hell were realized by Jesus as he received the due penalty for the sins of all who would believe in him. The agony, listen, the agony Christ experienced in absorbing the Father's wrath was the full equivalent of hell. You say, well, didn't Jesus go to hell after he died? No, just to proclaim victory, But he kept his promise to the criminal. He says, this day we're going to be together in paradise. He had to suffer zero after his death. He would conquer the grave. You say, wow, that's heavy. That's the it. You say, OK, I see the big picture. Can we break it down a little bit? Can we make it a little more specific okay I'll give you seven specifics in rapid fire when he said it is finished he was saying first of all that Bible prophecy speaking to this event in this salvation is now fulfilled fully and he said it before he died The promise that was given in Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. A promise made to Satan himself that though Satan would bruise him, the coming promised Messiah would crush the enemy's head. That promise, that prophecy launched throughout the whole Old Testament. Prophecy after prophecy of the coming Messiah. And if you're listening and looking for it in passages like Psalm 22, Messiah would suffer. Isaiah 53, Messiah would suffer. And then you go to the very last two verses of the Old Testament. The forerunner of Messiah, Elijah, is promised. He's coming. And sandwiched between the first opening chapters of the Old Testament and the last two verses of the Old Testament are prophecies with great precision, and many of them prophesying Messiah would come and suffer. When he said it's finished, With that last prophecy of the wine on the hyssop branch, the prophecies had all been fulfilled fully. What's another specific of what was finished? Not just the Bible prophecy fulfilled, but the disciples' training is now complete. Really. Jesus didn't get taken prematurely on his schedule and he didn't get to finish everything he wanted to teach his disciples. They had exactly what they needed now. All of us lean into Peter's words in John 6, verse 68, when Peter says, everyone else is leaving you now, but where are we going to go? You have the words of life. The disciples knew that, and they drank these words in at every opportunity, hearing that Sermon on the Mount over and over and over. Even Jesus looked at his disciples and said in Matthew chapter 13 verse 11, to you, it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to my critics, it's not been granted. In John chapter 17, which is our Lord's prayer to his father in front of his disciples before he's betrayed. We get to hear him say these words to his father about how he's trained these disciples. Verses six through eight of John 17. I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you. For the words which you gave me, I have given them to them. I have given them to them, and they received those words, and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me. He says, the lesson is done, the teaching is done. Verse 17, Jesus will say in chapter 17, verse 17 of John, sanctify them, Father, through your truth I've given them. Your word is truth. And when Jesus is lifted out of sight, after his resurrection, as he ascends to his father's right hand, in Matthew chapter 28, verse 20, he says to his disciples, I want you to make disciples and teach them everything I've taught you. The curriculum was finished at the cross. We'll get epistles still in the New Testament, which explains the theology and the significance of what the disciples have preserved for us that they learned from Jesus. But his training of them, the curriculum has been delivered. What he has told them when he ascends, he says to them, I've given you all that you need to run a full on kingdom on slot. an expansion of the nations. You got it. It's finished. What else is finished? A third specific. Full temptation has been endured and conquered. Fully. As you read your Gospels, You know that Jesus was tempted by Satan himself in the wilderness at the beginning of his earthly ministry. And Jesus defeated him with the word of God. And then we find Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry, just prior to the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, and there's a fight going on. Satan is on the scene again, he's indwelt Judas, And he's doing everything he can to keep Jesus from his mission of salvation. And Jesus can stay on the cross when he could have called angels. And we're in the closing minutes on the cross. And Jesus is still able to say, I never gave in once to the temptations of the enemy. Not once. Not once. Hebrews 4.15 says, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. In 1 John 3.5, John will write, you know that Jesus appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him, in Him, there's no sin. He never gave in to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. And just so we're clear, it's not just that he tasted each one a little bit, he was tempted and pressed in all three areas beyond what you ever will be. Because he's God, he didn't give in. John 14, 30, Jesus said this. to his disciples, I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. It's finished. Satan has fired every chamber and he's missed. What's another specific that's finished? God's wrath has been absorbed. This is important to understand. When Jesus says it's, he didn't say it's gonna be finished three seconds after I die. He says it's finished while he's still alive. Moments, but it's while he's alive. God's wrath has been absorbed. He doesn't have to die to go absorb anymore. Dave Dietz read earlier in our service, Colossians 2 verses 13 and 14, Paul says to believers, when you were debting your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, with Jesus, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way and he's nailed it to the cross. Pastor Erwin Lutzer sits on this point with his full weight because it's so important. Listen to this. He writes, Jesus had to compress an eternity of hell into mere hours. As best we can, we must grasp that this was infinite suffering for the infinite Son of God. There was no way to transfer sin without transferring its penalty. To put it plainly, He was receiving what was due us. The wrath of the Father burned towards the Son once the reckoning was made. Indescribable sin was in contact with infinite holiness and infinite justice." God's wrath was absorbed fully. when it happened. Another specific, Satan's plan was defeated. That's part of it. And his plan was defeated fully. Colossians 2.15, Dave Dietz read this as well. This is where the scripture reading ended this morning. When Jesus had disarmed the rulers and authorities, the spiritual wickedness, When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself, Jesus, likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. And in 1 John chapter 3 verse 8, The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning, and the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. When he says it's finished, he's saying, start the death dirge. Oh, he's going to fight my people, my children, but I'm going to instill my Holy Spirit, my very presence in them, and give them my word, and my strength, and my grace, and they can endure to the point of death. which only ushers them into my presence. Satan's still working his evil, and my goodness will he in the end times, but he's already defeated. Why? Because Jesus said, it's finished. You say, do you have any more specifics? Yeah, perfect righteousness was provided. Perfect righteousness is now provided. Romans 5.19, through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, talking of the first Adam. Even so, through the obedience of the one, the second Adam, Jesus, many will be made righteous. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1.30, by his doing, because he did this, you are in Christ. who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Everything that was standing between you and a holy God has been fully satisfied, fully judged in the person of Christ. And if you place your faith in Jesus Christ alone and turn from your sins, you get credit for his perfect life. That's possible, why? Because it is finished. By the way, have you come to Christ? I'm not gonna put a sugar-coated, salesman approach to you right now. If what you've heard so far is amazing, and God himself is opening your eyes to see it in HD this morning, the fact that the enemy is defeated, the fact that the wrath of God against your sin has already been absorbed by another one, Jesus. The fact that you can be perfect in your righteousness that's accredited to you, that's imputed to you, because of Jesus, why would you not place your faith in Him? Come to Him this morning. Embrace Him as your Savior and as your Lord. Benefit eternally from the fact that it is finished. What else is finished? One more specific. All this talk that we've seen in John, his time, his day, his hour, his cup, are now concluded. And he says, before he dies, it is finished. It's brought to its conclusion. I see the conclusion and it's passing us by now. He says it's over. That's what it is. By the way, have you ever wondered or even imagined what life would be like if it was not finished at the cross? You would have no confidence that he's the Messiah if there were prophecies he didn't fulfill. You would have lack of faith in his word as sufficient for the kingdom mission in front of you. you would fear an unchained, unrestrained, undefeated enemy. If it was not finished, you would find then an excuse for your sin, the possibility of an exception that, though Jesus suffered a lot, he didn't suffer what I did, and I'm the exception. If it is not finished, You still have future and eternal death and punishment awaiting you from a holy wrath. You still are expelled from the presence of a holy God if you can't have perfect righteousness. And pretty much God can't even have a mission success, it's a total mission failure if it is not finished. But what did Jesus say on the cross? It's finished. The old baseball player turned evangelist Billy Sunday said, you know, there are 256 names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I suppose this was because he was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express. He's right. He's the infinite God-man. And when he says it is finished, and he still has another statement coming after this, I'm going to tell you something. It's finished. It's finished. Like I said, we don't have far to travel at all. We have no distance to travel from that song we sang till we come to this table. Oh, to see the pain written on your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin, every bitter thought, every evil deed, crowning your blood-stained brow. Oh, to see my name written in the wounds, for through your suffering I am free. Death is crushed to death. Life is mine to live, one through your selfless love. So we come to this table, but I gotta say one thing to you. He says it's finished here, but he's gonna say something really close to that one more time. It's gonna be a different Greek word, ginomai, but he's gonna say this in Revelation chapter 21 someday. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and we will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, There will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain, and the first things have passed away. And he who sits on the throne says, listen to this, behold, I'm making all things new. Right, these words are faithful and true. And then he said to me, the one on the throne, the one who's on the cross in our study this morning, in that future scene when he sits on the throne and the new heaven and the new earth are here, he said, it is done. As well as he kept that first promise, I guarantee he'll keep that second promise. Lord Jesus, thank you that we can come to this study and hear these words It is finished. You've been telling us all along what this is. You've been telling us about your day and your hour, your time and your cup. And thank you, Lord, that you not only told us about it, but you showed us what it is, your finished work on the cross. And so as we come to this table now, I pray that you'll continue to still our hearts and keep this phrase in the front of our minds. In Jesus' name, amen.