you All right, if you've got your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter 19. John 19, we'll be looking at verses 28 to 30. We come to the sixth of the seven sayings of Christ on the cross. We wanted to go to the cross and to study every single word that he said. There's seven sayings, eight sentences, 50 words that Jesus says from the cross. And we wanted to go and hear every word and know everything that he said and why he said it. Because I think it gives us a great picture of what he's doing on the cross. We'll come to the sixth today. And I would say, I think this is probably the most well-known. This is probably the most loved. This is my favorite. I sit down with my kids at the start of this and say, I want to preach all seven. I want you to pick your favorite when we get done. I didn't tell them that my favorite was the sixth, this one right here. And I've studied them. I thought it might change, but this is still my favorite. I want you to hear these words. This is three words in the English. It'll be one word in the Greek, and in the Greek it would be tetelesta. I'm going to say that a lot. You've got to get this word. And it's a word of victory. Charles Spurgeon says this, there's a sea of meaning in that one tiny drop of language. So I want to read to you, let's stand together, I'm going to read verses 28 to 30, and we'll look at that final phrase there in verse 30, it is finished, or tetelestai in the Greek. Starting there in verse 28, these are the victorious words of Christ, that's what we've titled the sermon, the victorious words of Christ. Verse 28, the word of God says, and after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and they put it upon Hissep, and they put it to His mouth. And when Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, He said, and here's the victorious words, It is finished. And He bowed His head, and He gave up the ghost. Those three words, again, have a sea of meaning in just a few little words. So we're going to look at this today and I want you to get the victorious words of Christ. This is not a cry of defeat. This is a cry of victory. We need to hear this today. So let's pray together and we'll study these few verses. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for these words here. It is finished. There is so much to be said in the words, it is finished. We need to hear this today as a church. We need to hear this as Christians. The world needs to hear that the most important thing in the entire world has been settled when Jesus said, it is finished. So let us hear these words. Let us learn these words. Let us take them to heart. Let us preach these words to ourselves today and every day. I don't think there's any more important or any greater words in all of the Bible than it is finished. So help me to teach these words today. And we ask and pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Can you imagine if you had the chance to hear Jesus speak? To actually sit down and listen to a sermon preached by Jesus? To hear the words coming out of His mouth? We can't hear Him speak, but I know that when people listened to Him, they were always amazed at how He spoke. They were astonished at the words that He said. It was said of Jesus that no man spoke like Jesus spoke. He said things that were amazing. He said things that no man could ever say. Some of the greatest statements that's ever been said were said by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to give you just a few of these things that Jesus said. These are amazing things that came out of the mouth of Jesus. Great words. He said things like, before Abraham was, I am. That's an astonishing statement. He said, I and the Father are one. He said, he that has seen Me has seen the Father. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man gets to God but by Me. He said, if I go away and I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, you may be also. These are amazing statements. He said this, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, he that believeth on Me will have everlasting life. Nobody else said words like that. Nobody else made statements like Jesus made statements. And I could go down a long list of all the things that He said, and we'd all be amazed or astonished at the words of Jesus. But of all the things that He said, all these are full of great theological truth. They're amazing things. But here at the end of His life, I think this is the greatest words Jesus ever said. All the other words that he said are laying on top of this one phrase. This phrase, and it's just one word, it speaks volumes. It is finished. In the English, it is tetelestai. In the Greek, this is the greatest word ever spoken by Jesus. Everything else stands or falls on it is finished. And these words, they may sound like a cry of defeat. It may sound like words of defeat. It sounds like I'm finished. That's what it sounds like. Like words of a dying man who's lost it all. Who tried and failed. It's all over. But this is not a cry of defeat. This is not a whisper of a defeated man. It's not the last gasp of a worn out life. It's not despairing cry of a helpless martyr. This is not a cry of defeat. This is a cry of victory. This is a mighty triumph. This is a shout. And if you read Matthew and Mark, it actually says he said this with a loud voice. This is not a cry of defeat. This is the cry of a runner who is finishing the last leg of the race and has got his chest out high, crossing the finish line as strong as he started. This is a cry of victory. It is finished. This single word is telling the whole wide world what He had done, what He had accomplished, what He had finished, what He had achieved. It's telling the whole wide world that the greatest matter of your life is now settled and it's settled by Jesus Christ. If you come in here with guilt today, if you come in here with sin today, if you come in here needing assurance of your salvation today, you need to hear Ted Lestop. It is finished. So we have to ask as we get into this. What is it? When He says here, it is finished, what is it? What did He finish? What did He accomplish? What did He do here? So I'm going to give you three things that Jesus finished here. I want to describe that it. What is the it that He finished? And I pray that it gives you joy. I pray that it gives you assurance. I pray that it gives you comfort. I pray that it helps you today to hear these words, it is finished. These are great words. Charles Spurgeon said this, he said, it would need all the other words that were ever spoken. Whatever can be spoken to explain this one word. It is altogether immeasurable. It is high. I cannot attain it. It is deep. I can't even fathom it. What it is finished means. So let's look at it. Three things that Jesus finished. Three things that Jesus accomplished. Number one, I want to show you the pain is finished. The pain is finished. He says in verse 28, and you follow along with me there in verse 28, he says, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished as a scripture might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. That is his final cry of pain. It's a cry of physical pain. And He is here on the cross. He's in the agony of unquenchable thirst. That is, His tongue is dry. His lips are dry. He's cleaving to the top of His mouth. He is suffering great dehydration. He is suffering physical pain in this moment. Maybe even the height of physical pain when He says, I thirst. Now thirst is just one way He suffered. added on top of all the other ways that He suffered. Let me just give you a list. And I think that when you hear about the suffering of Christ, and we have done it now for this is the sixth straight week, that it ought to melt our hearts and make us so thankful for what He did for us on the cross. I think there's a lot of cold hearts in churches today. There's a lot of hard hearts in churches today. And I think if they heard more about the suffering of Christ and the pain that he endured, that our hearts would melt. So what did he go through? I've got a list. He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, abandoned by the disciples, beaten by the soldiers, scourged, beaten with a cat of nine tails, lacerated back, spit upon, mocked, had his beard jerked off of his face. Then they made him carry his cross to Calvary. And every step that he took, that old wooden cross would rub up against his back. The lacerations that were on his back, opening up his back where you could see into his body. Then on top of all that, He was nailed to the cross. Having a long nail pierced through His wrists and a long nail pierced through His feet. Had a crown of thorns crushed down upon His head. These thorns would go into the skin and blood now pouring off of His face. He would be on that cross for six hours as crowds would walk by and mock Him and make fun of Him. It's not just pain, it's shame on the cross. He'd be under extreme heat for six hours. And on top of all that, the worst of his suffering was when his father turned his back and he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's been through what no man has ever been through. Jesus suffered like no man ever has suffered or will suffer. Hell came to Calvary. It's been said that there's no tongue or pen that could ever describe the sufferings of Christ on the cross. That even what I'm telling you today pales in comparison to what He actually went through. It was unutterable anguish. Suffering at the hands of angry men. Suffering at the hands of evil Satan and all of his demons. Suffering at the hands of His own Father. Pouring out the wrath upon Him. They say that the pain would soar above the Alps of agony. And he felt every last drop of it. Fully aware, they offered him pain relief and he wouldn't take it. They offered him an anesthetic and he wouldn't let it even go to his mouth. He felt every last drop of pain. Suffering as no man has ever suffered. Matthew Henry said to that everlasting pain, we would all have been condemned if Christ had not suffered on the cross. And it's here in verse 29. I want you to see that. I said that our thirst is at the height of His physical suffering. He's suffering dehydration. His body is without water. It's overheating on the inside and poisoning Him from the inside out. It's here in verse 29. as he had just said, I thirst, and it barely came out of his mouth. I thirst. Have you ever tried to talk when you're thirsty? Have you got cottonmouth, dry mouth? You can't get anything out and he's trying to get, I thirst, and maybe even only the soldiers really could hear what he's saying at the foot of the cross. And they heard this. And in verse 29, look, there was said a vessel full of vinegar. What's this vinegar? The actual in the Greek, it would say sour wine. This would be the drink of soldiers and slaves. This was not an expensive wine. This would be something that soldiers would carry around with them everywhere they went. It was just a diluted wine that had a lot of water in it and a little bit of vinegar in it. Just enough to quench someone's thirst. They'd get thirsty out there at the cross and they'd drink it. A slave would be out in the fields and he'd drink this. It didn't taste good. It wasn't good. But it would wet your lips. I said last week it was a Roman Gatorade. So they take it, a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge, put it on a hyssop, a little branch, and they take it, that little sponge, and just rub his lips with it. Just enough. And the Roman soldiers were so cruel, they would put this on their lips and let them drink a little bit of it just to let them suffer a little bit longer. This isn't why Jesus is getting the vinegar or the sour wine on His lips. He's getting it on His lips so He can say this final statement. So that He can gather just enough energy to say this with a shout. He said, I thirst with almost a whisper, barely getting it out, but now they're going to put that wine on His lips and He's going to shout this next statement. So He receives it, it says in verse 30. And when he received this sour wine, he lifted himself up. Gathering one last breath. Lifts himself up. Head held high. And he says, Tetelesta. With a loud voice. So that it wasn't a whisper or barely coming out so only those at the foot of the cross could hear it. It would be a loud shout. Tetelesta! It shows that the pain, the shame, the suffering, the agony, the cruelty and the brutality, it's over. Jesus had endured every last bit of what all of the world could throw at Him. The worst that man can do. It was gruesome. It was ugly. It was bloody. It was dark. And after all that smoke cleared, they'd thrown their worst at Jesus. And when He should have said, I am finished, He said, it is finished. I could have just imagined it. All those things being thrown at Him and everybody, Satan and all his minions are throwing these things at Him. We'll end Him. We'll finish Him. Mankind throwing what they can at Him. God turning His back on Him. And after all the smoke clears, it's not I am finished. It is finished. A cry of victory. He lifts his head, he lifts his voice and he says, done! He will never experience the pain and suffering ever again. He will never again be at the hands of evil men. He will never again know the onslaught of Satan and all of hell. He will never again have his father turn his back on him ever again. It is finished. It is done. Blessed be God, it is finished. Our Savior will never suffer another drop. He suffered enough. And now He can bow His head and give up the ghost. I like that and I want to try to apply that to you just a little bit. Because He suffered. And He went through unimaginable torment and pain. If your faith is in Him one day when you bow your head and give up the ghost, all your pain and suffering will be over. There will be no more. And you'll get to heaven and you'll say, Telestai, it is over. No more pain. No more suffering. No more will I go through here. It is all finished because of what Jesus did on the cross. So what does it is finished mean? It means His pain is finished. Second, I'm just going to keep on going through this. The plan is finished. The mission is accomplished. The plan is finished. It sends you this word, tedolestai. There it is in those, it is finished. I keep saying that. It's a common word. They knew this word. It was used in so many different ways. But one of the most common ways was a master to a slave. The master would tell the slave, I've got these things for you to do today. Go and do them. And the slave would go and spend all day doing the job, the task that the master had sent him to do. And at the end of the day, he'd come home, the master would say, is it done? And the servant would look at him and say, Tedolestai, everything you have asked me to do today, master, I have done. I have left nothing undone. I want to make my kids start saying that. Son, go clean your room. Yes, sir. Don't play PlayStation. Clean your room. Yes, sir. And when they come back, is it done? I hope Isaiah and Christian will say, tetelesta. It is finished. I've cleaned everything. I've cleaned under the bed. I've cleaned above the bed. I've cleaned every area of my room. It is exactly how you want it to be, Dad. I have finished. I am done. It has been accomplished. That's what this word means. Tetelesta. It's done. And Jesus was called the servant of God. Are you with me on this? He was sent on a mission by God, unlike any mission anybody's ever been sent on ever before. And at age 12, when he was in the temple, his mom left and didn't see him. And he went back and said, what are you doing? He said, I must be about my father's business. He said, I came to do My Father's will. He said, it's my need to do the will of My Father. Even in the garden when He was praying with great drops of blood, He said, not My will, but Thy will be done. I came to do what You have sent Me to do and I'm only doing what You sent Me to do. Jesus had a job to do. He had a work to do that was more important than any other work in the history of the world. A long list of things to do from His birth in Bethlehem all the way to His crucifixion on Calvary. He had a long list of things that the Father had told Him to do and He had done every single one of them. Over and over, step by step, everything He said was in accordance with the will of the Father. Everything He did according to God's plan. Even when it didn't look like it. Judas was a part of God's plan. Pilate, a part of God's plan. Roman soldiers, a part of God's plan. Even his death, as hideous and ugly as it was, was a predetermined plan of God from the foundation of the world. Jesus was born for this death. I want you to see. I want you to turn with me, if you will, to the book of Acts. Just a few pages over. As the apostles are talking about Jesus' death on the cross, Acts 2.23, it says in verse 23 that Jesus was taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain. But in verse 23, it says, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. It was all according to the plan of God. I've got another one for you. Acts 4, verses 26 and 27. It says the same thing. This is their preaching of the early church. It says the kings of the earth, in verse 26, stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His cross. You see that? The rulers stood up. They're gathered against God and against His cross. For in truth, even against or standing against the Holy Child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod upon his pilot, along with the Gentiles, the people of Israel, were gathered together. But they're all there to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. He's accomplishing the plan of God, even at the hands of evil men. Even when it doesn't look like it, even when it looks like it's going bad, it's still going according to the plan of Almighty God. Every last bit of it. How many times in your life has God, you looked at your life and said, this can't be right. This can't be the way it's supposed to be. But when you get done and you look back on it, you say, that's exactly how God planned it. That's what's going on here. Every last part of his life, even the things that looked bad and looked like it wasn't going right, was all going according to the plan of God. Back to John 19. It says in v. 28, it's almost like John wants us to get this Word because he says in v. 28, in Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished. That's the same Word accomplished and it is finished. Tetelestai. That the Scripture might be fulfilled. Even our thirst on the cross, Jesus is following the plan of Almighty God. The vinegar is a part of the plan of Almighty God. Verse 36, I showed you last week, for these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And Jesus said, is dead on the cross and them not breaking His legs is a part of the plan of Almighty God. And here He is in verse 30. Now at the end of His life, Knowing it's all done, Jesus can say to the Father, and I believe this is speaking to the Father, it is finished. I've done every single thing you've sent me to do. Nothing is left undone. From Jerusalem, Bethlehem at the beginning to on the cross today, I have done everything that You have sent Me to do. Nothing left out. Every jot, every tittle, every demand made, every law upheld. It's over. The task is done. Nothing left for Him to do. It is finished. Mission accomplished. I remember George W. Bush flying into a aircraft carrier right after the Iraq war, not even after the Iraq war. He flew in on that jet. I remember watching it on TV. It was a great occasion. The war was over. There was a banner on the ship that said, mission accomplished. He came in. He gave a speech. Everybody cheered. It was wonderful. But there was still some things left to be done in Iraq. The mission wasn't accomplished. We spent years there. Still things going on there. But when Jesus said mission accomplished, there was nothing left to be done. Everything was done. The plan was carried out. Jesus was in the driver's seat the whole time. He knew it. He finished it. This is a statement of divine sovereignty. When He said, tetelestai, He's saying I have done it all. Nothing left to be done. This is his first appearing. And everything he was sent to do was done exactly how the father wanted it done. I want you to understand he's coming back again a second time. And it may not look like it, but there are still things in the world today that have to be done according to the plan of Almighty God. And no matter how dark it is, or how bad it looks, everything today is going according to the plan of Almighty God. Today, just like it was then. We may not see it now, but one day when we look back and we're all in heaven, we'll be able to say, Tetelestai. His plan was accomplished exactly how he had planned it from before the foundation of the world is finished. So that's number two. Not just that his pain was finished, but the plan was finished. I've got one more for you. The payment was finished. It's all building to this one. The word here, and I'm going to keep telling you, it's a common word. It was a banker's term, tetelestai. A merchant would use it. You'd go out into the market and you'd buy something or you'd charge something. They even charged things back then. You give me that and I'll pay you back. And they give you a statement and you had to pay it all off. And when you finally paid off whatever it was you bought, you'd get a stamp. And that stamp would say, Tetelista. Paid in full. Paid in full. Wouldn't you love to have that on some of your bills right now? House, paid in full. Car, paid in full. Gallon of milk, paid in full. Paid in full. Tetelestai. That's what that word is. Tetelestai. It has been paid. There's nothing left to be paid. It's a stamp of approval. It's over. It's done. You have nothing left. Not a cent left to be paid. You take the note and burn it. It's over. It's done. That's what this is. It's a merchant term. A banker's term. It's paid in full. And I want you to know that every single one of us, we have a greater debt than we could ever imagine. I'm not talking about a house payment. Those can be high. Car payments. Our debt is a sin debt. Romans says the wages of sin is death. The payment for our sin is death. Eternal death. What we owe deserves eternal death. For all the sin that we've ever committed. That's everybody in this room. We have a greater debt than we could ever imagine. Because from the day that we became responsible and understanding of the things that we do that are right and that are wrong, we have been adding on to our sin day after day after day after day. One of my favorite songs is, The Old Account Was Settled. I can't imagine how long my sin debt was. All the things that I've done. All the things that I've forgotten that I've done. All the things that I do today. You know there's things that I did as a kid that I don't even remember today. But it's on that sin debt that I owe. And my payment is eternal death in hell. The wrath of Almighty God. Even for one single sin. The soul that sins shall die. One sin. But none of us here have just one sin. Anybody here? The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are sinners. All of us are great sinners. Your list may be longer than mine. Mine may be longer than yours. But all of us are under an incredible debt of sin. Can you imagine? I thought about it this week. Johnny just went through a list of flowers and grass and trees. It lasted for a good 20 minutes. There was Joshua trees and coffee nut trees, my two favorite. He's listing and he said thousands upon thousands upon thousands of trees and types of grass and flowers. And this week I was thinking about lists. But my list wasn't flowers and trees and grass. Mine was sin. And what if I just wrote down the sin that I know of? That I'm conscious of? What if I just wrote down the sins that I committed this week? Anybody want to do that as a homework assignment? Just from today until next week, write down your sins and it's just the ones you know of. The sins of your thoughts. The sins of your motives. We usually don't even know that. The sins deep within our hearts. The sins of omission. The things that I don't do that I ought to. The sins of commission that I actually do that I shouldn't do. Just for a week, it would be a list that would fill this stage. Just for a week. Nobody here perfect. There's none good. No, not one. Our sin debt is so long And that's just a week. You say, well not a week. How about today? How about today? I started doing that this morning. So I'm not going to sin today. And not add anything to the list. I've added to the list today. I'll add to the list tomorrow. You will too. Can you imagine 41 years of sin? If we live to 80, can you imagine 80 years of sin? It's a huge debt we're under. And there's nothing we can do to get rid of it. The list just keeps getting longer. That old song says, for I am always sinning and never trying to pay. We don't pay off one sin. You know, you do that with your student loans. I'm going to pay a little bit more this month and try to get it down. And it's almost like you can't get it down. But we're not paying anything on our sin. None of it's going away. It's all on us. What a weight. We can't pay it. It's impossible. There's nothing we can do. We can't pay off one sin. One sin sends us to eternal death. We owe a debt that we cannot pay. It's an enormous amount. And the only hope that we have is that someone who has no sin debt of their own can pay for my sin debt. Someone needs to take that list of all my sin and write Ted Lestine over it. paid in full. And unless somebody does that, I'm going to go to hell and suffer for all eternity for the things I've done. I need somebody to say, Tadalestai. And nobody ever had. Do you understand that you go into the Old Testament and this has never been said before? They would make sacrifices in the Old Testament. You know this, I know this. A bull, a goat, a heifer. A pigeon. And over and over and over, it was as bloody as it could get. They'd take them into the temple and they would sacrifice these animals and the blood would be poured out just for a sacrifice. And it was never finished! Never done! Year after year after year! And no sin was paid off! I can imagine the saints in heaven watching from above saying, when will it be paid? When will it be finished? When will it be done? That bull didn't do it. That goat didn't do it. That dove didn't do it. That pigeon didn't do it. That lamb didn't do it. But then Jesus was sent on a mission from the Father. And when He showed up, John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. Jesus on a mission from God. What was that mission? Matthew 1.21, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Was it 1 Timothy 1.15? That Jesus came into the world to save sinners, as such I am the chief? Over and over, Jesus came with one thing on His mind. To pay our sin debt. That's why He came. And in this moment right here, as Jesus is breathing His last breath, He spent six hours on the cross, and He says, Tetelesta. He has taken the cup of God's wrath. And He's drunk it dry. One commentator said this week He drank it dry so that not one drop would even splash on us. I've got another one for you. I found this quote this morning. I went back there and got it printed off before I came up here. Alexander McLaren, a great Scottish preacher, probably said it much better in a Scottish accent than I could ever say it. But he said this, having drained the cup, he held it up inverted like this. Are you with me? That the Father had given Him the cup of His wrath that belonged to me and belonged to you. The cup that He was so repulsed by in the garden. Let this pass from me. But it has now been given to Jesus. He took it out of the hands of the Father that represented all the wrath of all our sins deserved. And He drank it dry to the point where Alexander McLaren says, having drained the cup, He held it inverted. And he said, Tetelestai, it is finished. And get this, he said, and not a single drop trickled down the edge. He drank it all that we might never drink a drop. Tetelestai, it is finished. The payment for our sins has been paid by Jesus. So then in Colossians 2.14, I put my handkerchief in Colossians. I didn't want to lose my place. I've been sweating like crazy. I can finally wipe it. I've been waiting for Colossians 2. Listen to Colossians 2. Verse 13, in you, being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, have ye quickened together with Him having forgiven you all your trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances." I'm going to stop there. You know what a handwriting of ordinance was? It was a certificate of death or a certificate of deit. And when somebody committed a crime, they'd put them in a jail cell. And on the jail cell, they'd put their certificate of debt with all their crimes listed of everything that they had done, and how long they'd have to stay in jail until they paid off all their crimes. That's what this is, this handwriting of ordinances. And they would stay in jail to pay for all their crimes. And when they'd finally done their time, somebody would walk off, and they'd say, tell you what, let's stop. They paid for their crimes. So he says blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which is contrary to us. He took it out of the way and he nailed it to the cross. He took our certificate of death or debt with all the crimes that we had committed. And he took it and by the hands of the father nailed it to the cross. And he wrote on it, Tetelestai, paid in full. Every sin that I've ever committed, paid in full. Took all of our crimes, all of our sins, and he nailed it to the cross. If you've had an abortion, which we've heard a lot about this week, and your faith is in Christ, tetelesta, paid in full. If you've committed adultery, and we live in an adulterous generation, and your faith is in Christ, that adultery was nailed to the tree, tetelesta. If you live a life of disobedience and rebellion, and that can be a long list of things, It was nailed to the cross, and Jesus paid it all. If you've had homosexual relationships, or you are a homosexual, and you've put your faith in Christ, that sin can be wiped away because Jesus said it is finished. Tetelestai. If you've committed murder, He said, no Joshua, you're going too far. You're going to sins that cannot be forgiven. There are no sins that cannot be said. Tell her, let's stop. He paid for it all. Murder, hatred, pride, greed, hypocrisy. I'm just going down a list. Jesus said tenelesta to that sin. It has been paid for. It is done. And a sin that you're sitting in your mind and you're thinking of, whatever that is, whether it's from the time you were a child until today, the ones from today, the ones for next week, the ones for your entire life, Jesus said it has been paid. It's gone. Our sin debt is fully paid. It is finished. It's what He came to do. And now He said, it is done. Jesus shows us here with these words. Redemption is complete. The sacrifice has been accepted. Can you imagine the souls in heaven looking down and finally they hear that word tetelestai? after watching generations after generations after generations of sacrifices being made, and now they hear Jesus say it is finished. What a celebration. This is not words of defeat. This is words of victory. Jesus is our victor. He is our conqueror. He is our Savior. He has paid it all. Reconciliation is accomplished. The Father is satisfied. The Father has been propitiated. The head of the serpent has been crushed. Our debt of sin has been paid in full. What great news! Wow! You say, how do you know it was paid in full? I don't have time to tell you, but I will. I'll probably preach it in a few weeks. Matthew 27 gives us proof. I've got to put my sweat rag up again. We'll get back to it. Matthew 27, verse 50. I said this statement was the foundation upon all other words that he said rest on. It says in verse 50, when Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, he yielded up the ghost. How do we know it was accepted? Behold, the veil of the temple was rent entwined from top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. There came out of the graves, after his resurrection, one of the holy city, and appeared unto many. There's supernatural things going on as if God in heaven is saying, I accept your sacrifice. That curtain that separated man from God and said God stays here, you stay there. And the only way any man could ever walk into the Holy of Holies where God was, was with a pure and spotless blood of a lamb. And even then it was scary. Even then they didn't know. And they would run out and say, oh, did He accept it or did He not? Now the spotless Lamb of God has shed His blood and God the Father says it is accepted and the curtain is torn and the place where God is, the place where man is has been opened up and now any of us can go to God if we go by the blood of Jesus. I'll give you another one. You know how we know He's accepted? The miracles that happened right after He died. There's earthquakes. There's supernatural people rising from the dead. There's the dividing of the curtain. It's an amazing thing. This never happened when anybody else died. And then, on the third day, He rose again. Is that not proof enough that the Father is saying, accept it. Payment accepted. Paid in full. I'll give you another one. He ascended into heaven. And He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God on high right now. If it wasn't accepted, He wouldn't be sitting there. I'll give you another one. He sent the Holy Spirit to us. He wouldn't have sent the Holy Spirit. These are divine proofs that it has been accepted. Everything... I've got to get back to my sweat rag. John 19. Everything God demanded. Everything God required. is done. Nothing left for us to do. Nothing left for us to add. Jesus didn't say, I did my part. Now you do yours. That's not what He said. He didn't ascend into heaven and say, alright, I've done half. You do your half. Because we couldn't do a half. He didn't say I did 99.9%. Now you do .1. We couldn't do point one. He said 100%, all of it, every last drop of it has been done, finished, accomplished, and achieved. There's nothing left for you to do. It's all been done! Get this. It's finished. Nothing we can add to the, and I love this phrase, finished work of Jesus Christ. Nothing we can do to earn it. Nothing we can do. Nothing to accomplish. No list to follow. No demand. No payment. When we preach the Gospel, we don't preach do. We preach done. When we preach the Gospel, we don't preach human achievement, what you've done. We preach divine accomplishment, what Jesus did. That's the Gospel. And we have to always remind ourselves of that. Always remind ourselves of that. There's an old farmer. Said he went to church one night. Preacher got done preaching. He come running to the front. Looked at that preacher and said, what must I do? Preacher says, too late. There's nothing you can do. He said, what do you mean there's nothing I can do? He said, it's already been done. And all you have to do is receive it by faith. What must I do to be saved? The jailer asked Paul. He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's it. Remind yourselves of that. It's not what you do. It's not who you are. It's not the deeds. It's not a to-do list. It's not that you went to church or got baptized. It's not all these long lists of things that we try to say. I did, I did, I did, I did. It has to be He did. It is finished. Remind yourself of that. I like it. It is finished. This word means it is finished. It stands finished. And it will always be finished. And there's nothing that we need to add to it or take away from it. It is finished. When Jesus says it's done, it's done. And it's done very well. You know who else used the word tetelestai? And I'll close with this. Still got my sweat rag. Artists use the word. This is my favorite one. I might give you another one in a minute. An artist would paint. I like to think of myself as a painter. I don't paint. I doodle. I like to draw little things in my notes. And an artist would sit and paint. Picasso would paint. Michelangelo would paint. Raphael would paint. All the Ninja Turtles. would paint, and when they'd get done, they'd step back. They'd say, Tadalestan, look at it, how beautiful. It's done. Or you'd have someone who'd sculpt. And a lot of sculptors in those days, Romans, in the Roman day, they would sculpt. And they would sit and make it just perfect. And then chisel things. And it's just the lines. And you can even go to the Roman culture today. And you see all those old statues. And they're beautiful. And they're intricate. And it's just exactly right. And a sculptor would sit back. And they'd say, look at this. It is finished. It is done. Let's stop. Look how beautiful. I'll say the same thing over my doodles in my notes. Look at that. Now watch this. Genesis 2. You got to turn there with me. I've got to put my sweat rag up again. Genesis 2. Genesis 2, verse 1. You guys ready for this? I hope you are. You guys know what happened in chapter one of Genesis? He created all things. He created by the word of his mouth. And John said he created the trees and the flowers and the grass in one day. All of it. And watch what he says in verse one. You could go down to six days of creation and look what he says. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. Have you heard that before? And all the hosts of them. Every last bit of it. Everything in the earth. Everything that you see, it is done. It's almost like God was an artist and stepped back after creation and said, look what I've made! Johnny said this morning that the creation we live in today is beautiful and wonderful and amazing, but it's nothing compared to what it was before sin entered the world. So when God finished it, He said it is finished. Let's keep going. And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made and He rested on the seventh from all His work which He made. Do you see that? It's finished. It's completed. It's done. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed. On the seventh day, God completed the work which He had done and He rested on the seventh from all the work that He was doing. I like that. He looked over creation and it was good and it was wonderful and it was beautiful. And that was on the sixth day he did that work. And on the seventh, which would be a Saturday, he rested. He did that in six days, rested on the seventh. Jesus went to the cross and accomplished something even greater than creation. And He did it not in six days, He did it in six hours. And on the cross, He accomplished what no man could ever do. The Bible says that in creation, God extended His... He's done it with the work of His fingers. But in salvation, it was the work of His arm extended. And He said it's finished. It's done. The greatest work that's ever been done is finished. Even greater than the six days of creation and resting on the seventh. You want to know what happened on the seventh day for Jesus? Turn back to my sweat rack in John 19. I'm going to close here. John 19 verse 30. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, Let me just add this. Jesus doesn't need our help in saving us. He did it all. And then after he said that, he bowed his head and he bowed his head. It's a phrase that's almost like laying your head on a pillow. He bowed his head. And he gave up the ghost. He rested. He rested. And he rested so that one day when we bow our head and give up the ghost, we don't have to go in fear. We don't have to go and worry. We don't have to wonder what's going to happen to us. Why? Because it's finished. If your faith is in Jesus, I don't have a fear in the world when I die. I can just lay my head, like I'm laying it down on a pillow, and I can say, Tetelestai. It's done. Not I did it. He did it. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain and Jesus washed it white as snow. Tetelestai. So that now we can rest in it. You need to preach Tetelestai to yourself every single day. It is not your good works. It is not your morals. It is not who you are. It's not your church attendance. It's not your baptism. It's not how much scripture you know. It's not your theology. Everything about your salvation is Tedalesta. Jesus did it all. On your best day, Tedalesta. On your worst day, Tedalesta. Every single day, Tedalesta. It's what He did, not what I do. We need to preach that to ourselves. That's my assurance. How do I know I'm saved? Ted Lestop. We spend way too much time in our assurance thinking, well, I've done this, and I've done that, and I said this prayer, and I went to this place, and I did this, and I was in Bible school, and this, and all these things, and looking back to the past. Yeah, salvation needs to be looking back to the past, but it's past my past, into where Jesus said, Ted Lestop. How do I know that I'm saved? Because my faith is in what Jesus did, on the cross. That's my assurance. That's my comfort. That's my joy. There's no more joyous words in all of vocabulary than it is finished. And I'll say this, there's no more hated words by Satan than it is finished. He wants to take that away. Don't let him. I saw a shirt the other day. I almost bought it. You know what it said? Black shirt, white letters. You know what it said? Tell the lifestyle. That might be the next shirt we have here. People walk around saying, what does that mean? Let me tell you the good news. We're talking about an open door. You know what? That needs to be the message that we go and tell. The old Christmas song says, go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. What? Not that Jesus Christ is born. But it is finished. What He was born to do has been done. That's what people need to hear. People torture themselves. Torture themselves trying to do enough to get right with God. It's not do, it's done. They're in the Catholic churches trying to do. I've got to confess. I've got to go. I've got to take the Lord's Supper. I've got to do. I've got to do. I've got to do. And even then, I don't know if I've done enough. They torture themselves. You know what Catholics need to hear? Ted Alesta. Mormons, they don't get it. Jehovah's Witnesses don't get it. People in Christian churches, Baptist churches, they don't get it. Maybe somebody in here that you're just all the time trying to do enough to be right with God. You don't have to do. It's been done. It's finished. It's the best news you'll ever hear. Done. Free gift. Paid for. Bought. Here it is. If you want it, all you have to do is receive it. The punishment for our sin is death. The wages of our sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Where do we've gone away from that? It's just a free gift. All you have to do is by faith receive it. And you can say it's finished. Paid for. Done. Completed. It's not my achievement. You can never pat yourself on the back for it. It's by grace that we're saved. Through faith. Not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. Lest any man should ever boast. I don't boast in who I am. The only boasting that I have is in Christ and Him crucified. I hear people say that all the time. Some people get saved and say, I'm so proud of you. What did you do? What did you do? What did you do? That was the best thing you've ever done. You didn't do nothing. I'm sorry. I know that may offend some. You didn't do nothing. I'm so proud of what Jesus did. He saved you. Don't you ever pat yourself on the back for it. Paul said that. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am the chief of them all. All you have to do is accept it. And if you don't, I've got to say this. I said it was going to be done like 30 minutes ago, didn't I? If you don't accept it, you'll die. And it won't be just laying your head over on a pillow. You're going to go and there's going to be a cup of divine wrath waiting for you from the hands of the Father. And you're going to drink it. And you won't be able to drain it dry. Because there will be at no point in hell where you'll hear the terms, it is finished. You've paid it all. You'll be suffering for all eternity. So if you want to be saved today, all you have to do is come and accept the free gift of salvation. And you come the way of nothing in my hands. I bring simply to that cross. I cling. I need to be saved. I'm trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ for me on the cross. John Flaville, an old Puritan, said, oh, and when you read a Puritan, you've got to say it that way. Oh, what a complete, finished, perfect thing is a cross of Christ. The searching eye of the holy, jealous God cannot find the least flaw or defect in what Jesus did. I'll close with the lyrics of a song, and I'm done. I'm finished. The old song says, lifted up was he to die. It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven lifted high. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a Savior is our Savior. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the finished work of Jesus Christ. If there's anyone in this room today who has not put their full faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus, May they do that today before they leave this room. Please. Work in people's hearts. I have no doubt there's people here mostly that believe, but if their faith is half in them and half in Christ, it's not real faith. So I pray God today, if there's anybody who's put even a little bit of a faith in something they've done, that today they put their full faith and trust in Christ and what he did. And for us that are believers here, God, we have a tendency, I know I do, to be very legalistic. To look at my life and say, look what I've done, and to look at it as proof of my salvation. Or to look at my life and say, look what I've not done, and I lose assurance. God help me to always, all of us as Christians, always to look to what Christ did on the cross. And to always preach to ourselves, Tetelesta, it is finished. That is the ground of our assurance, the ground of our comfort, the ground of our joy. That is the dying hope. That it is finished. So thank you for this word that we preach today. May it not return void. We ask and pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.