Welcome to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church in Donaldson, Arkansas. As we turn our attention to the ministry of the word, I did have something I want to put in front of you today. You know, the Lord starts what I've described as the greatest discourse in human history, the Sermon on the Mount, with what is known as the Beatitudes. And it's a bunch of statements about blessed people. And we think this is a little window into the notion of grace. These are people who are already blessed. Blessed are. They that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. These people are already in a blessed state. See what I'm saying? You're not saying become meek and you'll become blessed. He's saying these people who are meek, they're already blessed. So there's an introduction here in Christ's words about there's a blessed people in this world. This harkens back to Psalm 32. It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Psalm 32, verses one and two, and it's really verse two. But it starts with, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Well, are you a sinner today? If you're a sinner and you've had your transgressions covered, you are in a blessed state. I would say you're in the same blessed state as those that Jesus Christ refers to in the Beatitudes. But look at this second verse. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Sins are not being charged on his account. You see that? Blessed is that man. That's a man whose transgressions are forgiven, is it not? So who is this man? Who is this man who is blessed, and unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no God? Well, is it Jesus? Well, Jesus, is not the man who hasn't had sin imputed to him. You see what I'm saying? Let me show you what I'm talking about. 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 19. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, You see, there's some folks that are referred to in Psalm 32 in verse two who are now being referred to here. These are people whose sins are not being imputed to their account. They're going somewhere else. You see that? Not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. In other words, gospel ministry is the practice of telling people about this imputational transaction where some people's sins were put on another. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. He's talking to a gospel converted church here, and he's saying, be reconciled, be what you are in Christ. There's been a transaction that took place here that you had nothing to do with, and I'm declaring to you, be reconciled on the basis of that gospel declaration. And what is that declaration? For he hath made him to be sin, For us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Those sins that were not imputed to those blessed people were put on Christ's account and he dealt with them at Calvary. That's why he could declare to them, be ye reconciled. This has been taken care of. That blessed man of Psalm 32 in verse two, to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity is God's covenant people because he imputed your sins to Christ and Christ dealt with them at Calvary. He was not a sinner. He didn't do anything to deserve that. He took it upon himself as part of a covenant to save his people from their sins. I pray that's a blessing to you. I'm gonna ask Brother Sonny Bonner to open us with a word of prayer. Good morning. Good to be in the Lord's house today. I appreciate Brother Sonny's prayer, Brother Dan's remarks. You had a beautiful psalm service. Very apostolic and I beg an interest in your prayers this morning. If you have your Bibles, let's turn to the Gospel of John chapter 19. John chapter 19. I'm after verse 30 this morning. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Recently I finished a book, Seven Words That Satan Hates. Well this morning I want to talk to you about three words that Satan hates. It is finished. This is one of the seven utterances of Christ upon the cross. And Satan hates these three words so much that he's been working very hard to try to alter the meaning of them in the minds and hearts of God's people. And though he's been very successful in doing that, it hasn't changed anything concerning what he finished. It remains to be finished. And I believe a misunderstanding of these three words can cause a great deal of confusion in the minds and hearts of God's people. It can rob them of the peace that they rightly deserve. It can even cause them to question their own salvation if they do not understand what these three words mean. Perhaps I've done so with you this morning. But it's only three words. Just three words. Actually, in the Greek, it's one word. Paleo. One word. It means to end, or to complete, or to discharge a debt. I was reading one commentator and he said, the ancient Greeks boasted of being able to say much in little. In other words, to give a sea of matter in a drop of language was considered the perfection of oratory. What they sought is here found, taleo. Consider everything that Jesus Christ did all through his ministry. One word, taleo. It is finished. But yet as few as these three words are, as the one word is, it's amazing how that people can get confused about what three words are. Now, I understand how it is to get confused about a lot of words. Like when you download the app on your phone and they want you to read the privacy thing. Do you want to read all of that? Or you get a new warranty on something and you're going to read all that and you get through reading it. I don't know what I just read. What did it mean? But I would believe that three words would be something that everybody should or could understand. What is the it? It is finished. So this morning I want to clarify what it is. What the it is that Jesus Christ said was finished. Now if you listen to some people concerning what Jesus said with those three words, they'll tell you that Jesus Christ meant that he fulfilled all of the messianic prophecies of himself. The blind shall see, the deaf shall hear. He was sold for 30 pieces of silver. that he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, that he descended from the tribe of Judah. Isaiah said that he would make his grave with the wicked and with the rich, which he did with the Joseph's tomb and with the thief on the cross. Many of these things we look back and certainly he did do that, didn't he? He fulfilled every prophecy of himself. The amazing thing about it is while he was fulfilling all these prophecies, The Jews had their Bibles, and all of that was in there. And it's amazing that they didn't even know what was going on right in front of their eyes. They were fulfilling the very prophecies that were in their Bibles. He was betrayed by a familiar friend. But yet, if we think that's all that Jesus Christ finished, then we're really missing out on what He really said. I think in order for us to understand what taleo means, we must know what Jesus came to do in the first place. What is the yit? What did Jesus come down here to do? Just to fulfill some prophecies? Did Jesus come down here to make people savable or did He come down here to save people? Did He come down here to do part of the work in saving people and leave part of it up to us and the preachers? programs and money and schemes and all of that? Or did Jesus Christ really come down here to save people? If He lost one person, if He came down here to save people, and He lost one person, then Jesus Christ is a miserable failure. He said it is finished, what He came down here to do. So let's look at some of the scriptures in the Bible, and let's see ourselves what Jesus said he came down here to do, and then we'll draw some conclusions from that. In Matthew 1.18, here is a, Brother Dan mentioned this passage of scripture, very simple passage of scripture as well. I'm gonna read a little bit more, maybe four verses here, but I'm after a few words here. The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, appeared unto him in a dream, was minded to put away privilege, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Did they call his name Jesus? Yes. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now there's a very simple statement about what Jesus Christ came to do. He came to save His people from their sins. I believe that He did it. I believe that He saved His people from their sins." Well, the question is, who are His people anyway? If He did what He came to do and He saved His people from their sins, who are His people? Well, those people are the people that the Father chose before the foundation of the world and gave them to the Son to die for in the everlasting covenant. That's the elect family of God. That's where people get confused concerning what Jesus came to do. He came to save those that were given to Him by the Father. Another verse is in 1 John 3 and 5. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sins. So He was manifested to take away our sins. Did He take our sins away? Or are there some of the sins that are still on us that we need to pay for by ourselves? First Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying. I love this verse. And worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Did Jesus Christ save sinners? Well, if we weren't sinners, we wouldn't need to be saved, would we? We could save ourselves. I believe Jesus Christ saved sinners. He saved the Apostle Paul. He saved a lot of really bad sinners. Another verse is Galatians 4. Verse 4, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Did He redeem people, buy them back from the curse of the law? Certainly we believe that He did this morning. Now I'm giving you a lot of verses this morning because I want you to see that the Bible is very clear about what Jesus Christ came to do. He didn't come to make people savable. He didn't come to make a down payment on our sins. He didn't come to do some of the work and leave part of the work for us to do. He came to save people from their sins, and I believe this morning that He did it. He saved people from their sins. Isaiah 53 and 6, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Dan talked about that this morning, that our iniquity was laid upon him. It was laid upon him, and he suffered in my place for my sins. He paid the price. Now, if the Lord laid the iniquity on him, do I need to pay for some of my iniquity or some of my sins? Or can I pay for some of my sins this morning? Can you pay for some of your sins this morning? Well, you know, I've done a few good deeds in my life. Will that pay you a little bit? Good deeds I've done? Just a little bit? Well, what about going to church? I've gone to church quite a bit. Will that pay just a little bit? Just maybe a little bitty sin? Or I've read my Bible. I've read my Bible a bunch of times. Will that pay just a little bit? A little bit? I was baptized. Does that pay a little bit? So far nobody's said that it's paid anything. I don't know if y'all are going to buy this or not. I read the sinner's prayer in front of the whole church. If I did that, would that have paid anything? What if I'd accepted Jesus as my personal Savior? No, that wouldn't. Would that pay anything? No. Wouldn't pay anything. What if I gave some money? I gave some money to the church. That should pay for something, shouldn't it? No. Do you notice all of those sentences started with the same word? I. I did this and I did that, did. Isn't that a work? How can it be grace if it's something that I did? I don't have anything that I can do. to pay for the least of my sins. And nobody here does, and nobody ever will pay for the least of their sins by anything that they have ever done. Shouldn't it all be about Him rather than I, I, I, I? Shouldn't it all be about Jesus Christ? I remember asking, I've told you this before, but I asked a girl one time that was working for me, I said, so how were you saved? She said, well, I went down to the front of the church and I read the sinner's prayer. And I said, so that saved you to heaven? Yeah. I said, well, what did Jesus do? Oh, well, he did die upon the cross. Oh, okay, well, that's kind of the second part of the equation. Shouldn't he be all the equation? Isn't that the it to Leo? It is finished. In Isaiah 64 and 6, I'm always reminded of this, when anybody tells me that they've done something to save themselves. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. And we do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. All of our righteous works Now, the Lord loves our righteous works. It's good that you support the church, you make your offerings. It's good that you go to church. It's good that you read your Bible. It's good that you confess your sins. All of those are righteous things that we should be doing as Christians. But when you hold any one of those up in the face of the Heavenly Father to pay for your sins, you've insulted Him and His Son. Because the only thing that God will receive As payment for any sin is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that will pay for any sin. And Peter said that we are not redeemed with corruptible things received from the vain conversations of your fathers, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As a lamb without spot, and without blemish. See, I've got spots and blemishes. I mean, even if I had something good to hand to God, my hand's so dirty, I can't hand it to him. Only the Son of God can pay for the sins of his people. Well, let's hear what Jesus said about it. We've heard, you know, what John said and what Peter said and everything. I wanna hear what Jesus said he came to do. From his own mouth and the red letters. John 6, 38. For I came down from heaven. Now this is Jesus speaking. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will. In other words, he was an independent worker here. He's working with the Father. But the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. That of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up, at the last day. Do you think that Jesus is going to lose anybody? Are there any that were given to him by the Father that are going to suffer in hell eternally? See, that's kind of the idea this day in modern Christianity, that if we don't get there in time, there's some people going to hell. No, my friends, it's not about me getting somewhere in time. I might have had a car wreck on the way here this morning, and that's not going to affect the eternal destiny of anybody. Jesus Christ paid for the sins of His people, and they are secure in the blood of the Lamb. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. This is the Father's will, all that He has given me. Now, if we understand what Jesus is saying here, we understand the everlasting covenant. I preach on that a lot. I love it. One of my favorite subjects. A lot of people in Christianity don't even know what the everlasting covenant is. Jesus just told you what it was. He came down from heaven and He's going to redeem all that the Father gave to Him. The everlasting covenant goes like this. We could go to Ephesians 1 and 4 and begin the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant was the covenant that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost entered into before the world was ever spoken in existence to redeem a people. God, in His mind, is going to save people before the world was ever spoken into existence. This didn't happen, you know, when Jesus appeared. Ephesians 1 and 4 says, Accordingeth He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. You see, the Father, His part, was to choose a people out of a fallen human race. Now why He chose those people and loved them, I do not know. If you asked me today if I thought God loved me, I would say yes, God loves me. I felt His love. I see His love in my life, the many things He's done. I feel His presence in my heart. But if you asked me why He loves me, I wouldn't have a clue. Why would God love me? But He did set His love upon me before the world began according to His Word. He chose me before the world began. and He gave me to His Son. That's what Jesus just said. All that the Father has given me. These are the elect family of God. The election is taught all through the Scriptures. You know, the Apostle Paul begins Ephesians with it, 1 and 4. Peter begins elect according to the foreknowledge of God. I mean, they begin their epistles with it. It's one of the primary themes of the Bible. Many don't preach on it anymore because it opposes their man-made schemes of how man's going to get to heaven by his own works. according to His chosen us before the foundation of the world. He gave us to the Son. The Son agreed to die for those very people. He's going to lose nothing. That's the end He came to do. He came to redeem a people that were given to Him by the Father before the world began. And the Holy Ghost made an agreement as well. The Holy Ghost agreed to regenerate every one of those that were given to the Son. In other words, you will be born again at some point in your life by the immediate work of the Holy Spirit, not because you did anything. Don't put an eye in front of that either. You didn't do anything when you were born naturally, did you? Did you put an eye in front of that? I got myself born. Nothing to make any sense. You were born again by the immediate work of the Holy Spirit through the work of the everlasting covenant. Every one of God's children will be born again sometime between conception and death. John the Baptist was born again in his mother's womb. He leapt for joy when he was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. He was born again before he ever saw the light of day. You see others in the Bible that you can see that God has touched their hearts. If you love the Lord today, I can tell you, you're one of God's children. You've been born again, but the question is what you're doing about it. What are you doing about it? That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to do something about it. I've told you all this story before, but we've got some visitors today and I've got to tell this story again because it's kind of humorous. But when I was about eight or nine years old, I was going to a church and I went to the Sunday school program. The Sunday school teacher told me if I left that church that day and I wasn't baptized into their church and I died, that I was going to go to hell. Well, I was young and very impressionable, of course. I went home and I was laying on my bed that night and, you know, I don't know about you, but sometimes when you're young, you want to try to stay awake so you won't quit breathing. You know, you think, I got to keep breathing. And I thought, well, what if I keep breathing and I die in my sleep? I'm going to hell. And you know, even at that young age, I knew I was a sinner. You don't have to be an adult to know you're a sinner. That's right. I was pretty mean to my little brother. He's not here today, but I used to torture him with spiders and things he was afraid of and all the other neighbors. I was pretty mean as a kid. And so I knew I was a sinner. I'd already been convicted in my heart about it. You know, I love Jesus already. But she said, if you go home and you die, you're going to hell. Well, I laid there on my back thinking, if I go to hell, my mom and dad and all my family members, they're going to be in heaven. and I'm gonna be over there in hell. And I couldn't sleep. And so my mother was in the next room and she was in there and she's reading, I think she's reading her Bibles, matter of fact. So I walked in the next room and I was crying. And my mother sat up in bed and she said, Sonny, why are you crying? I said, well, I'm afraid if I die tonight, I'm gonna go to hell. And she just, those tears were coming down her cheek. She's crying and I thought she knows it's the truth. She knows where I'm going. But I had to ask her, I said, Mom, why are you crying? She said, These aren't tears of sorrow. These are tears of joy. If you weren't a child of God, you wouldn't even be worried about it. I was already born again child of God. I didn't want to go to hell. And I went back and I laid down in my bed. And I thought she's right. I love God. I love Jesus. He wouldn't let me go to hell. Now, I had never read my Bible. I'd never gone that much to church. I didn't know anything about doctrine or election or the everlasting covenant. or anything about the imputed righteousness. I didn't know anything. All I knew was what God had taught me in my heart. But you know, that's a great thing, what God teaches us in our hearts. A lot of times we got more truth in our heart than what you're going to hear in Christianity today. You get out there and you get all mixed up. So many of God's children get out in Christianity today, they're all mixed up. They hear all this stuff and they want to do what? They're good people. They want to do good things for God. They love God. But they get mixed up on how they got saved. And they're trying to save themselves and save other people. And they're caught up in all the schemes and programs. They want to do something. I had a friend that said he started going to a church. It wasn't even a Baptist or anything like that. But they just started putting him to work. He wanted to do something. So they started building a building. He never found out any theology or how he was a child of God. I believe he was, because he was trying to do something, but he just quit going to church. I believe there's a lot of people today that quit going to church because they're just tired of it. They're just tired of seeing everything that goes on in churches. The Father chose a people before the world began and gave them to the Son. The Son died for them. It is finished. Taleo, it is finished. He did it. He did it. Well, somebody might say, well, if God saved us, why are you up there preaching anyway? I had one person tell me that. Why are you up there preaching if you think that God has already saved people? I like what one church member said. This guy was a preacher. She said, well, if all y'all are saved at church, why are you going to church? Oh, we're here to worship is what we're here for. We're here to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We're here to be taught and instructed from the Word of God. We're here to fellowship together as God's people. But why do we preach the gospel? Well, Timothy tells us. Paul gave Timothy a lot of good information. In 2 Timothy 1 and 8 through 10, I think Paul knew this was going to be one of his last epistles to Timothy. He wanted to make sure Timothy stayed on track with what he preached. And here's what he told him. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. See, Paul was a prisoner. He was in jail. You know, a lot of people didn't think much of it. He's just in jail. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God who hath saved us. Did you get that? Is that a done deal? Is it finished? I think that's past tense, isn't it? Who hath saved us? Who is us? That's the elect family of God. Who has saved us? And called us with a holy calling. That's your regeneration. That's when you were born again, when God calls you from death to life in Christ. And called us with a holy calling. That's not the gospel call, that's the voice of God. I'm a sinner. I can't give you a holy calling, but God can. Not according to our works. Well, the I's not in there, is it? I confessed, I did this. Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ. When was that? before the world began. But now is made manifest, and here we go with what the gospel is for, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. The gospel gives light, not life. I always use this illustration on this verse that When I was in high school, played basketball, we won a lot of trophies. I went over to the gym. I asked the coach where the trophies were. He said, they're over there under those bleachers, which were closed in. And I crawled around under those bleachers, and I couldn't see anything. I came back out, and I said, there's no trophies under there. He said, yeah, they're under there. He gave me a flashlight. I went in there and turned that flashlight on and all the gold and silver just came to light. That's what the gospel does for us. You shine that gospel in your heart and all the treasures of Christ come to light. The light didn't make them appear or cause them to be anything. It didn't create them. It just shed the light on what was already there. And that's what the gospel does. Taleo, it is finished. The salvation of the elect is finished. I'm gonna use a little illustration this morning about Taleo. So we're doing this remodeling in our house right now. We're remodeling the kitchen. We didn't realize what we were really getting into, because there's dust everywhere. There's not a room in our house that doesn't look like a bomb went off in it. I mean, you walk around and all that sheetrock dust is everywhere. It's in every room. The other day, Marilyn went somewhere, and I think to play tennis, she said, if you see sheetrock dust in my hair, it's sheetrock dust. That's what it is. But anyway, this project. The main part of this project was to build some cabinets. We wanted some new cabinets. Our old cabinets were pretty well shot. So we got Danny. This guy, Danny, he's a really good cabinet maker. So he came out and he measured all the walls, measured where the dishwasher would go and where the microwave would go and where the refrigerator would go and where the bar in the middle or the thing in the middle of the kitchen was going to be, measured it all. He goes back to his shop and The day came and he said, the cabinets are finished. Finished. So he brought them and he installed them, very beautiful cabinets. Let me ask you a question. When he said the cabinets are finished, should there be anything left for me to do? Should I have gone and maybe cut a few boards? paint it a little bit or caulk something up. Matter of fact, no, you would not want me to do that. I would mess them up, mess them up. I asked him while he was building them, I said, you want me to come over and do a little measuring for you? He said, no, don't come over here. But you see what we do when we try to rob Christ of his glory? It's finished. Well, let me ask you something else about being finished. Do I have to accept Danny as my personal cabinet maker for my cabinets to be made? You see what people are telling you? You've got to accept Jesus as your personal Savior to be saved when He's already done it. Taleo, it's finished. I've got to accept Him as my personal cabinet maker or my cabinets aren't really made. People don't know what Jesus came down here to do in the first place. He came down here to save sinners from their sins and He did it. Those that were given to Him by the Father. He finished the work. And it was a work. It was a work that He came to do. Well, you know, what should we do anyway? I mean, somebody says, you people over there, you believe in grace. You know, you really don't believe you're supposed to do anything. Well, they're right concerning our eternal salvation because taleo, it's finished. That's right. They're over there trying to do that. That's right. Amen. We're to rest from the labors of Christ. We can rest in His finished works. There's a rest there. There's a peace to be found there. I remember the first time I heard about grace, came to this church and heard about grace, there was a peace in my heart. I had forgotten what my mother said. But when I heard it again as an adult, And I saw my Savior, and what He had done for me. You know, it's amazing how different people's eyes are open to this. When I came here that one night, Elder Bradley was preaching. And so he said, let's say we've got a ship going over to this island, and all these missionaries and preachers are on there, and they're going to save those people over there that's never heard the gospel. And on the way to that island, the boat sank. Do you think all those people are going to hell? A light came on, no. People aren't going to go to hell because of a boat, or a bad mechanic, or anything else. And then I saw grace. I saw that what Jesus Christ did upon the cross was sufficient work for my sins. That's amazing all the loopholes that people can come up with in that. They'll say, well, if the boat doesn't get there, they're saved by grace. Well, if that's true, wouldn't it be better to not even preach? Let's throw the Bibles away and burn them and not have any churches. Everybody will be saved by grace, right? You see, being saved by grace is being saved by Jesus by His blood upon the cross. Elder Cecil Dougherty told me a story one time that was very similar to my own. He said that he and his wife were concerned about their salvation. Elder Dougherty was a professional musician. He had his own band, and they were going to Nashville. They were going to do very well. He said he was up on the stage and they were performing one night, and all of a sudden he just felt like a dirty sinner. He said he had to quit. The band members didn't understand it. You know, a lot of people won't understand when you start feeling like a guilty sinner. They don't understand it. But when God deals with you, you feel that way, and there may not be anybody else in your family that understands it. That's okay. God's dealing with you. He deals with people one at a time. So anyway, he told his wife, he said, I can't do this anymore. I've got to find a church or something. So they go to this one church, and they're sitting in the pastor's study. And the pastor's sitting there, and he looked at Elder Darg, or Brother Darg at that time. He wasn't even a member of the church, or any church. And he said, now, if you and your wife walk out this door today, and you walk across that street over there and somebody runs over you, you're going to split hell wide open." Brother Dardy sat there and they got up and walked out. He looked at his wife and he said, you know, I'm not really sure what I believe, but I know what I don't believe, and I don't believe that. And then he came to one of our churches and somebody preached grace. And he said when they preached grace, He looked around and he said, who told that preacher up there about me? Who told that preacher about me? They said, we didn't tell him anything about you. That's the Lord dealing with you. The Lord singles people out and sometimes they think, you know, we got your number. No, we don't got your number. This is what we preach every Sunday. Oh, so what are we supposed to do anyway? Let's go to the book of Ephesians right quick. I'm not gonna spend much time here. But you know, the way the Apostle Paul laid out the book of Ephesians is wonderful because he lays out the book of Ephesians. The first four chapters is all about what I'm preaching this morning. It is finished. Talleo. But the last four chapters are all about what we should do. Okay? Notice it says, Paul, an apostle, grace be to you, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Well, what are those spiritual blessings that we've already been blessed with, Paul? According that He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He chose you in love. He predestinated us. He predetermined to save you. Some people don't like the word predestinated. Marilyn was on a trip recently, and they were going on this guided tour. And this person in the bus said, those people over there, and it was up north where the pilgrims came over, and she was talking about some of the early churches. She said, those people over there, they believed in predestination. They just believe a real small number of people are going to heaven. And those people over there, they believed everybody's going to heaven. Does predestination mean that a small people are going to heaven? No! It means that a great majority of people are going to heaven. As numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand in the sea, the Old Testament says. And if it weren't for that, nobody would go. If God didn't predetermine to save a people before the world was ever spoken into existence. But anyway, to the praise of the glorious of His grace in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. And on and on he talks about receiving an inheritance. In chapter 2, you hath He quickened, or made alive, or even born again, who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Verse 8, by grace you are saved. Verse 9, not of works, lest any man should boast. Going down through chapter 3, and he talks about which in other ages was not known. And then we get to chapter 4. The first three chapters are grace, then we get to chapter four. I beseech you, therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. See? Now we're getting to what we ought to do. This is what we should do. We should walk worthy of the vocation in which we're called with all lowliness and meekness, longsuffering, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And you go on over here, verse 15, speaking the truth in love. Verse 17, that you walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Verse 22, put off concerning the former conversation of the old man. Chapter 5, be ye followers of dear children who walk in love. And you go through the rest of Ephesians, it's telling you how that we ought to live. There's a lot of stuff in there. If you read that, you're going to probably find something in there that's going to convict you of something that you may be doing or you should be doing. So anyway, that's what we should be doing. There's a difference between trying to live a life honoring to God the Father than trying to become one of His children. There's a big difference in that. Talao, it is finished. That one word means it was the proclamation of a job well done. The announcement of a victory. The battle cry of a warrior who was destroyed his enemy. The announcement of the good news that the prisoners have been set free. The announcement of Satan's sad and humiliating defeat by Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. I appreciate your attention this morning to Leo. It is finished. Amen. I like coming on the first Sunday because I know I'm going to hear some preaching. The Sundays I preach, I'm not nearly so sure about it, but I was very blessed by that. It's often been said some of the simple ways to express this, it is finished, which it's hard to get more simple than that. We did all the sinning, Christ did all the saving. That's a common way to put it. I often have my discussions in this regard centered around one question, and I think it's the question that separates me and Christendom. And if you can get straight on this, you can enter into that rest that you were talking about. What did Jesus Christ accomplish at Calvary? It's the same question of what is the it when you say it is finished. What did Jesus Christ accomplish? Well, the Bible says he shall save his people from their sins. Well, did he accomplish that? That's what he accomplished, but let me, when he's talking about his people from their sins, he's talking about a set-apart group of people, a sanctified by covenant group of people. These are people who were set apart by election, Ephesians 1, 4 through 6, his people. What did he do for these people? What did Jesus Christ accomplish? If we can get centered around that notion, we'll understand something more about the joy of entering into the rest of Christ. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 9 says, then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, thy will, O God. That's God's will, his will. There's a lot made in Christianity about the notion of being saved by your free will. It's just talking about being saved by he will, by what God will do. Thy will, O God, he taketh away the first that he may establish the second. By the which will, that's the will of God, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's one and done. That's what Jesus Christ accomplished. the salvation of his people. Goes on to say, and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. There's a whole lot in Christianity today that's out there saying, well, you gotta do this and that and the other thing, for your sins to have been taken away, In other words, Jesus Christ didn't get it done. He got it started. And under that sort of gospel, you shouldn't say it is finished. Jesus should have said it is started. Now it's up to you. I got it started. You got to keep the ball rolling though if you want to get into glory. But Jesus said it is finished. And there's not these other sacrifices that can be done to pay for the remaining sins that Jesus Christ didn't quite pick up on the tab. He paid it all. These things can never take away sins, it says. But this man, that's Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sound like anything's gonna be left on the table? Right? Is Jesus picking up the whole tab here or is he saying, I'll pick up the check, you leave the tip. Leave the tip. He's paying it all. One sacrifice, four sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. That signifies he had completed the work. It signifies it is finished. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. He is utterly victorious and he's waiting for the full revelation of that before the entire universe and it's forthcoming. And he closes with this, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jesus Christ, what did he accomplish? He perfected forever. them that are sanctified, his people. He saved them from their sins. What a blessed truth. Now, you enter into that truth, you've got a hold of something that can give you some rest. Now you can understand something about what the purpose of the gospel is. The gospel brings in you to service, comfort, and understanding. You understand doctrine, reproof. You understand all these things that would encourage you. It's light unto your path. It's all these things that can help you in this life, but you have to hear the gospel and understand that to enter into that rest. because it's a finished work. There's nothing left to do in that regard, but we can follow Him as is our reasonable service. Thank you for listening to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. Come and join us as we worship God in the simplicity of Christ every Sunday morning at 416 North Hall Street in Donaldson, Arkansas. At Harmony, we don't have many things that are so common in the religion of our day, but we do have a successful Savior. We invite you to come and see.