Turn in your Bibles to the 19th chapter of John, John 19, verses 28 through 30. John 19, 28 through 30. The text reads this way. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. Father, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word this day. And Lord, there is so much more than this preacher could ever bring forth from this text. But I pray that you would take what is preached. Holy Spirit, you would apply it to our lives this day for the glory of Christ and for the good of your church. We pray these things by your spirit. In Christ's name, amen. In Greek, it's one word, tetelestai. In English, it's three. It is finished. As you think about the word finished, I recount to you from the Old Testament a reading in regards to the temple of the Lord. Now, I have squashed these together and left out many parts, but you will get the gist. I'm going to give it to you from Kings, I'm going to give it to you from Chronicles, and I'm going to give it to you from Ezra. So this is just the reading of God's Word condensed down briefly and for you to listen to the Word finished. It reads this way, Solomon sent word to Hiram. You know that David, my father, could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. As the Lord said to David, my father, your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name. In the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. So he built the house and finished it. So Solomon built the house and finished it. And he overlaid the house with gold until all the house was finished. In the fourth year, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts. And according to all its specifications, he was seven years in building it. Now Chronicles, now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord, a royal palace for himself. Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, 3,600 to oversee them. Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.' Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. Thus, all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. Then Ezra. Later, the temple was ruined, destroyed. It needed to be rebuilt. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through their prophesying of Haggai the prophet, Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and the house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth month of the reign of Darius the king. The temple was finished. The temple was destroyed. The temple was finished. But that's not the way we're talking about finished in this sermon. Remember that and we'll come back to it at the very end. So in my text today, my thesis statement is quite simply this. An infinite number of necessities for redemption and Christ fulfilled every single one of them. Now, this Greek word here, teleo, for to be finished, there's two different Greek words used. There's two in verse 28, there's one in verse 30, all carrying this idea of finishing something or completing something. Now, we live in a world where we don't know how to finish anything. As a matter of fact, I don't know that we ever finish anything. If you're a person who exercises, when you complete your exercise, you have to exercise tomorrow. When you get done with your chores, kids, you have chores the next day or the next week. Every single thing we do, every time we eat, if you know, ask my wife, she'll tell you, every time I eat, I'm already worried about the next meal. I just want to know when I'm eating again. Anytime you get a drink, you want to know when you're going to get the next drink. You go to work every week, year after year, year after year, and you're never done. Then some of you guys retire, and you find out you got to do more after you retire than when you worked. It's never over. It's never completed. We're always having to continue on. Public life is no different. City or government, changing laws every day, changing rules every day, everything's being corrected. There's no final law for America. Everything's under debate. But when we come to Christ, we find perfection. We find stability. We find faithfulness. We find consistency. Maybe I could put it this way. We find everything we are not. Now, back to the Greek word. I know it's a little redundant, but let me say it anyways. These are the phrases, the best way you can describe these Greek words. To carry out. To put in effect. To execute. To complete. To perfect or bring something to perfection. To fulfill. To bring to an end. To fulfill all obligations. To carry out a task. to be truly efficacious. Now, it may or may not be of interest to you, but let me let you in on a little secret about John. There's another word for to fulfill. This word here can be translated to finish or to fulfill or to complete, certainly that is true, but there's another word that means almost the same thing. And John uses the other word all the time through his writing. So all the way through John, you see this other Greek word, and it just keeps coming up, and keeps coming up, and keeps coming up. But then when you get here, he doesn't use that word anymore, and he puts this word here, and he does so for a reason. There's got to be a reason to take this word you've used 20 times, and just do away with it, and then insert this Greek word only one time in all your gospel. Why does he do that? There's just one little caveat that's worth all its weight in gold. One Greek word, now this isn't quite full now, but one Greek word you could say, the glass is full, if it was up to the top, which is not for you technically minded people. We say the glass is full. All's we're doing is recognizing that the contents of the glass are all the way to the top. That's one Greek word. That's not the word John uses. John uses another word, and this word brings about everything that's necessary in order for the glass to be filled. Now we're talking about a whole new thing. In order for the glass to be full, it has to rain. It has to be collected. You have to have a water plant to process it. Somebody has to get a machine and dig a line. Somebody's got to put pipe in the ground. Somebody's got to get it to a location, and they've got to make it come up through concrete. Then they've got to build cabinets around it, and they've got to put a faucet on top. And then somebody has to put the glass under the faucet, and somebody has to turn the valve. And all of that has to happen in order for the glass to be full. That's what John is saying here. It's finished. Everything from eternity past that is demanded and necessary in order for the church to be redeemed. Every single little dot, every little T crossed, every little I dotted, every single thing has to be done and it's done to the full. That's what Christ is saying. Every single thing that has been ordained by my Father, think about this. Who do you know that could look into the eyes of the thrice holy God and say, I finished everything perfectly with a straight face? This is our Savior. It is finished. I've done it all perfectly. Not one thing has been overlooked. You get a sense of this. It's maybe a different word, but you get a sense of this in John and some other texts. Just briefly referring to these. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish The work, everything that has to happen, I came to accomplish that. Or in John 5, for the works the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works I am doing. Or in John 17, Jesus says, I glorified you on earth. How did he do that? Having accomplished the work, accomplished it all. Everything, Father, you gave me, I have accomplished. Jesus alone makes this type of statement. What level of perfection are we talking about? A perfection to this level. It's almost as if you imagine Christ hanging on the cross. all the beating, all the blood loss, the spear in the side, the crown of thorns upon the head, down to just the last ounce of life, right on the precipice of this thing coming to an end, and his body be burying it in the tomb. And it's like right there in that moment, you see him, and the Greek word implies this, he voluntarily, in control, bows his head. And it's like in that moment, just like a really super fast computer, boom, he scans the entire Old Testament. Every word, every dot, every tittle, scans the entire Old Testament. He goes, oh yeah, there's one word in Psalm 69, 21 I haven't said yet. I thirst. Just one word in Greek. And so he digs through the whole Old Testament, he lifts his head and says, I thirst. Every single piece is accomplished by Christ. Even Psalm 69, 21 is brought to the forefront and completed perfectly by Christ. He's an amazing Savior. Think about this, as you imagine him on the cross, and there he is saying, I thirst. Can you feel the weight of this? Do you know what this means? Look, at least before I tell you this next thing, understand that Jesus has lost nothing of his deity. He's fully God in human flesh. He's not giving up any deity. The one who made water come out of a rock The One who said, if you believe in Me, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. The One who created the Atlantic Ocean says in His humanity, I thirst. My lips are parched. Astounding meekness. Could He not make water come out of the cross and give Him a drink? Could He not make 10,000 angels come and serve Him gallons of water? But there in His humility, fulfilling everything required for your redemption, this Creator of all things says, I thirst. Astounding. had all the same abilities as before, but chooses to substitute in our place and in humanity to suffer for us." Here we find the one who began a good work completing it. In the Old Testament, crucifixion is the completion of these things. We know later the resurrection and all of this, but let me remind you of some prophecy. I've already alluded to some of this, but let me remind you of this prophecy written back in Genesis. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." These things are being accomplished through Christ on the cross. There's two passages in Psalms. I say Psalm 69, 21. Others say Psalm 22, 14, and 15. I'm not going to quibble over either one of them because I think it fulfills both of them. But in Psalm 22, it reads this way. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. All of these things are happening on the cross, for sure. But in Psalm 69, 21, maybe even more clearly, he says, quote, they gave me poison for food, and my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Astounding. So I think most likely he's referring to Psalm 69 21 and think about this in There was offered some wine earlier on the road to the cross and he would not partake of it It was kind of a wine that would be drank by these that are being crucified kinds of a pain number He wouldn't have none of that but this sour wine is a bitter taste to it it's almost as if he touches it to his lips and in order that he can have a liquidated mouth in order to make the proclamations that he's going to make up on the cross. Now, the question I have of my text is this. We understand, in a sense, it is finished, but we have to ask this question. What is finished? What is completed here? I want to know. Do you want to know what's finished? We could go on for days, I suppose, but let me at least give you something. I love these thoughts. The enemy has done all he can do. They can't do any more to Christ. Jesus is forever out of the reach of the hands of wicked men. You will not lay your hand on Him again. Never. He is the King of glory, and you'll fall on your face, but you'll never nail Him to a tree. It's over. It's finished. I'm happy about that. I'm happy that all the immoral darkness and the pagan society we have will never have the upper hand upon our Lord again. What else is finished? Everything the Father has decreed to be carried out by the hands of men is completed. You remember in the book of Acts, this Jesus delivered up by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. They can do no more. They've accomplished what he has bid them to do. type of prophecy in the Old Testament which points to the suffering Messiah is accomplished. Get this, I heard of a church, slash not church, I heard of a church that doesn't acknowledge the Old Testament. You've lost the entirety of the gospel. What are you doing? Everything in the Old Testament is glorifying of Christ who fulfills it all. By the way, when John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb in the New Testament in John chapter 1, if you don't have an Old Testament, what does that mean? Behold the lamb, lamb, what's significant about a lamb? If you don't have an Old Testament, you got no bearings for this verse. I need all the Old Testament where when that statement is made, I get it. This is the one who's going to be slaughtered and shed his blood for me. You gotta have both the old and the new because why the central character is Christ and all of it brings glory unto him And I love this I know man you go back and read the building of the temple you read about Solomon and look at how many Thousands of lambs that were sacrificed when they opened the temple that day and the glory of God and the fire fell upon the temple and the house was filled with smoke and blood ran everywhere. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. When Jesus says it's finished, you don't need to do nothing with any animals no more. Ain't no need of a temple. Ain't no need of a veil, of a curtain. We'll just rip that thing in half because this sacrifice has replaced them all. It's finished. I'm not waiting on the high priest. I'm not waiting on the turtle dove or a lamb or a ram or a sheep. I'm not waiting on any of that anymore because Christ has fulfilled it. Sin is finished. Transgressions are done. Everlasting righteousness is found in Christ. Do you hear these words? You think about the guilt in your own heart. You think about your own transgression. You think about all the sins you've committed. You think about the sins that you did in the dark nobody knows about, but it hurts your conscience and you come to the cross and you hear the Savior say, it is finished. Every one of those sins. eradicated forever and you are free are you kidding me you mean to tell me that this pagan totally depraved sinner gets righteousness clothed upon him and can enter into the glories of heaven you want to talk about adoption right I mean Christ has completed the adoption process and secured his family All Christ's sufferings have been terminated, whether in soul or body. It's over. His life on earth has been completed, and now He breathes His final breath in the work of redemption. And I'll say, as it was on one of the quotes on the rolling screen earlier, the work of redemption is complete. Nothing can be added or subtracted from it. Why? Because God is satisfied with what Christ has done. Satan has received a fatal blow, and a fountain of grace has been opened that will forever flow. A foundation has been established, and you know what we're going to do with this foundation? He's going to build his church on it, and the gates of hell will never prevail. proclamation, as they say in any commentary I suppose you pick up that's worth its salt. There's seven sayings from the cross, seven sayings of Christ on the cross, seven different quotes that we can take that He spoke while hanging on the cross. And as you ponder those statements, I have to sit back and say, does He have a word for the church? In all the words that are spoken, is there a word for his bride? Does he have anything to say to her from the cross? Because I look at these texts, and he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That's a word for sinners. Okay? It's a good word, but that's a word for sinners. Then I look at this other statement, and it says, You will be with me in paradise. Well, that's a word for a thief that's hanging beside him. Then I look at a word we just preached the other day. He says, woman, behold your son. Well, this is a word for Mary. Then I look and he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's a word for himself. Then I look, and another word for himself, I thirst. Another word for himself. Then I look, and he says, Father, unto your hands I commit my spirit. This is a word to the father. Does not the groom have a word to give to his beloved bride? Well, sure he does. Tetelestai, it is finished. The bride, I get so sick of people bashing the church. This church, that church, all this stuff. Look, here's what I know from scripture. Here's what I know from Christ. The church is beautiful. She's been washed with the blood of Christ. She's robed with white righteousness. She's pure. She's unspotted. She has no wrinkles. She's the most beautiful thing on the globe. And one day the groom is gonna come. and carry her unto himself, and wherever he is, she's gonna be always present with him. You say, well, I saw this and I saw this. You can see all you wanna see, but I see the church washed in the blood of Christ. Well, these people did and these people did. That's on them, but the church, the church has been washed, and she's the only institution on the face of the globe that Christ will return to gather unto himself. What a glorious, glorious word. Finished for sure, verse 28, all was now finished. Scripture fulfilled, the word fulfilled is another Greek word for the same type of connotation. All the scripture is going to be accomplished, even Psalm 69, 21, I thirst. And then in verse 30, see it one more time, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Intentionally, fully in control, voluntarily, he is even in control of his death. He bows his head and gives up his spirit, knowing that everything has been accomplished. You say, is there any confirmation? I've told this story before, but I was in northern Peru with this couple and Ryan, it's his name, and we went to this little store. Back then I didn't know any Spanish, but I was watching him share the gospel with this man at this little hut thing that we were, I don't know, buying a drink or something, whatever. I see the interaction going. I'm just reading faces because I can't understand what they're saying. And all of a sudden this guy's face changes and it seems to light up. And I'm like, what in the world is happening here? I'm waiting for the explanation. This guy, being steeped and raised in Catholicism, seeing crucifixes by the hundreds, no one had ever told him that Jesus had been resurrected. And there was Ryan telling him, no, no, no, he died, yes. But on the third day, he rose from the dead and he's very much alive. And the guys, I don't know whether the guy got converted or not, but it was a newsflash. This is the vindication of Christ's work. This is all the glory wrapped together of the Father's approval by raising him from the dead. Remember, Acts 2.22, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified, you killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up. Raised him up, loosing the pains of death. Look, everybody in the room that's Christian, we can now face death with confidence. Bless me the Lord, I hope I die today. Why? Because if I die today, I live forever in the presence of glory without sin. I can have this kind of hope and this kind of confidence. Death is not negative. Death is the gateway to life because Christ already went through and he's broken that wall and he's defeated death. Or maybe we should just say it like Paul said it, because I don't know how you can say it any better, so I'll just repeat to you what you already know. Paul says it like this, he says, I have delivered to you of first importance what I also received. Christ, he died for our sins. Amen, but that's not the end. He died for our sins. He did it in perfect accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, to the Twelve. He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. The resurrection indisputably has happened in their era. 500 people at one time see Jesus in bodily form walking in their midst. The disciples see Him eating fish and drinking water beside the Sea of Galilee. They participate with Him. They touch Him. 1 John says they touched Him with their own hands. He's the bodily resurrected Savior. You say, how is this possible? Because every single thing required for your redemption has been done. God raised him from the dead. Think about it for a moment. How many in this room have kept the Ten Commandments? For one day. Everybody in this room has failed, including the preacher. There's nobody in here who's maintained perfection for 24 hours. As a matter of fact, we start off with sin. We can't even get out of this thing because there's always a blot on our name. There is only one person. God in human flesh who could fulfill all these demands perfectly and substitute in our place. And the response of the church is what? Well, it's not legalism. And it's not some type of libertine living that lets you live loose in vices. It's not that. It must be a deep-seated love and appreciation for the greatest Savior that will ever be known. And that we would worship, we would read, we would serve, we would do missions, we would have fellowship, we'd do all of this. Why? Because we have received the love of God and we're responding to that love of God in being obedient to what He has told us to do. It's a joy, it's a delight, and there's no commands in here that are a burden anymore. Because Christ has completed. And every single time somebody lays some guilt on you, what you did, what you said, what you did, you said, I just say, yep, you're right. A whole lot more. But I've been washed. And I've been cleansed. I have the righteousness of Christ. And God sees you in Christ. In Christ. If He don't see you in Christ, you're in trouble. But if you're in Christ, oh what a glory! Oh what a joy! Think of the words. Saint. Forgiven, redeemed, adopted. All these words are true for you. I'm a part of the redeemed. Christ redeemed me. What a joyful word it is. Well, I hope that you see my text this morning and I hope that you can rejoice and glory in it. I hope I can find the last page of my notes because it might be important. They're somewhere and I don't know where they went. Okay, we need this last page. I'm telling you, we need it. So back at the beginning of the message, right, I told you about Solomon. I told you about Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the temple. You see, as soon as something is finished, it's already deteriorating. It already needs repairs. Then, of course, if the Babylonians come and tear it all down, you've got to rebuild the thing, right? It's always incomplete, even when it's complete. Then I read in my Bible about those finishings of the temple. Then I came to the Gospel of John. This is what I read. The Jews said to Jesus, what sign do you show us for doing these things? What gives you the right? Jesus answered them, tell you what you do, buddy. You destroy this temple and in three days, I'll just raise it up. That's what he tells them. The Jews says, look, it took us 46 years to build this temple, to finish it, and you're going to raise it up in three days? Yes. But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from this dead, his disciples remembered, he had said this, they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. The temple that Jesus raised will never deteriorate, and it will never be torn down, and it will never be rebuilt. This temple is an eternal temple, and everyone in this temple will live forever. Now, you came to this church this morning, and you haven't repented, you haven't believed, you haven't been baptized by immersion. You know who you are. You know good and well you've not stood before the church and given your testimony. You know you've not been put under the water to symbolize you died to an old way of life. You know you've not been lifted up to say, I'm living a new way of life. I'm talking to you. Today, I'm telling you, you need Christ. Right now, this very moment, you need to repent of your sins, you need to believe upon Christ, you need to come and say, Pastor, I need to be baptized in order that Jesus would get glory out of my life. That's more important right now than anything in the whole world for your soul. And I'm pleading with you, I'm beseeching you, I'm begging you, look unto Jesus Christ and be saved. all the ends of the earth, for He alone is God, and there is no one else that can help you. Only Christ completed everything that's necessary. You are required to believe Christ. And for the church, man, don't ever let it grow old. Every day be head over heels in love with Christ. May it be a joy to serve such a Savior who has done a perfect work on your behalf. May the church learn to live in great thanksgiving and glory to such an awesome Savior. Let us pray as Brother Jeff comes to close this in song. Father in heaven, we love you. What a great, grand and glorious work Christ hath forever done. Pray today for every man and woman and boy and girl in this room who knows not Christ. Holy Spirit that you would work upon them and draw them to by faith come and believe in Christ. Lord, I pray for this church body. I pray that we will glory in the gospel, have comfort in the gospel, hope in the gospel, everything our soul needs. We just keep coming to church as much as we can because we need to be reminded of the gospel every week. Your church tonight, Lord, Your Word says, that if you know that which is right and you do not do it, it is sin. Every Christian in this room knows it's right to honor the Lord's body broken and his blood shed at the time of communion. And I pray that we all come back this night with joy-filled hearts to, in remembrance, remember what you've done and proclaim your death until you come. Lord, thank you for these words this morning. May they help us tremendously. We pray these things by your Spirit. In Christ's name, amen.