Mission Accomplished

So, can you imagine? The sky around Calvary packed with the demons of hell, and suddenly With this declaration, Satan and the demons recognize that his death was part of redemptions. But they no doubt had the clues. They might have wondered. They didn't know the future.

Satan is not omniscient. They saw darkness descend. They assumed this was the end of Jesus' plans for a kingdom and a crown. He failed. God the Son can be defeated.

They assumed they had won and he had lost. What did Jesus mean when he said, It is finished? Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Today, Stephen will help you uncover the depth of a single Greek word. and its implications for your life.

You'll learn how Jesus fulfilled prophecy. Canceled sin's debt. and crushed Satan's power at the cross. If you've ever wondered how your sins can be truly forgiven, or how Christ's victory impacts your daily struggles, Stephen's message holds the answers. Keep listening to explore the ultimate completion of God's redemptive plan.

By way of quick review, we've observed these incredible statements thus far, the last words of the Lamb. We come to the sixth today of seven statements. We've combined the gospel accounts to cover all seven of them, so I've gone outside of Luke. We've worked through our way through Luke. I guess it's Luke-ish.

It's Luke and other Gospels. Jesus is nailed to the cross at 9 a.m. They'll hang there for six hours. We've Been watching this scene of mystery and And majesty. Unfold.

Jesus walked up that hill called the skull. I mentioned before the Greek word is cranian, which gives us our word for skull. The Aramaic word for skull is golgatha. You might be familiar with that. The Latin word Calvaria gives us our word Calvary.

One author wrote that Jesus is going to deliver seven sermons from this wooden pulpit. The cross, and they are sermons indeed. John's Gospel account gives us the details of this sixth statement.

So let me invite your attention to John chapter 19. John 19. And verse. 28 would begin there. After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, and we'll fill the scripture.

I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they Put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received that sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. That'll be the seventh statement he actually makes recorded in another gospel account.

Scholars believe that Jesus said, It is finished in the Greek language in order to be understood. By everyone. This was the language of the world, that known world. He's communicating in that language. It's really quite an amazing word.

The Greeks were somewhat proud of the fact that they were able to communicate so much with so little or few words. As one author wrote, to communicate an ocean of matter, they would put it, in one drop. of language. And what a drop this This is. It is finished.

is only one Greek word. In the text. It's the word telesty. One author said, and I would agree that this is the greatest single word ever uttered in human history. In one word, it sweeps us into the enormity and the glory and the majesty of the gospel.

of Christ. Let me tell you, if you ever wanted to know how to be right with God, If you want to know how to have your sins forgiven, if you want to know that you're actually on your way to heaven, and that's guaranteed, all of that is bound up in this one Greek word. to tell a sty. It is Finished. By the way, Jesus delivers this word grammatically in the third person, not the first person.

It's important. He didn't say, I am finished. I'm finished. No. There's a vast difference between saying I am finished and it.

It's finished. It is in the the indicative which which assumes it implies certainty. Jesus didn't say, Well, I hope it's finished. I gave it my best shot. I'll have to wait to see what happens.

No, it. Is Finished.

Now this word to tell us I was common. Was known in this world. It's been found in numerous archaeology. uh finds, digs, transcripts. And as I studied these, they all add one nuance upon another.

of the gospel, the grace, the beauty. Of the Lord's sacrifice. The word was used by servants. A master would tell a servant to go do something. When the servant completed the task, he'd come back and he'd say, to tell us, I finished it.

So Jesus, the faithful servant. The suffering servant finishes the work and the will. of God the Father. The word was used by Jewish priests who inspected an animal prior to sacrifice to make sure that it was without blemish. It could be offered to the Lord.

And after examining the sacrificial animal, if there was indeed no blemish, no disqualifying mark, he would pronounce it perfect. using a Hebrew or Aramaic phrase or word equivalent to telesty.

So Jesus is the perfect lamb without blemish, qualified to be sacrificed for our sin. When an artist Completed A painting, they would step back and they would lay down their brush and they would announce to Telesty. It's finished. My work of art is completed. Likewise, when you think about the beauty of salvation as a masterpiece of divine skill, it's painted with the beautiful colors of grace and mercy.

You don't add one splash of paint. He finished it. to tell a style. Merchants in the marketplace would Write on receipts. For people who paid in full for their items, this same word to Telesta.

So, also the payment price. for the just demands. of God were paid In full It was a word used in the criminal system. Should you be caught for stealing something from that marketplace, put in jail for, let's say, six months, the jailer would write on a scrap of parchment your name, your crime, and the amount of time you'd serve behind bars, so to speak, and he'd tack it to the door and you'd be in there with other people who are suffering, and there'd be all these little scraps. And you'd come by any check regularly, and when six months was up, you were finished.

He would write the word. To tell a start. On that little piece of parchment. Give it to you as your confirmation of your release. You served your time, you paid for your crime.

You're free to go.

So Jesus Yeah. for your crimes. And mine. The crimes against the righteous commands of a holy God, and he can say, You're free to go. I paid for your crimes.

You can't add your works to this finished work. Nothing goes beyond it is finished. It's not a comma. And then you Do your little thing. You can't get out your checkbook and pay for it.

You can't get out your rule book. And earn it. The greatness Of the gospel is not. Do this. But Done.

It's done.

Now he still has to die. The wages of sin is what? He sells to rise again. That'll all ratify this.

So what exactly did he finish?

Well, let me give you some goals that Jesus accomplished. And the list, by the way, could be very long. I figured I'd have time for two or three. First, Jesus completed the prophecies of Messianic scripture. We've alluded to this.

And we could go on and on, but we'll just start with the beginning, the proto-evangelium. That's the Genesis 3:15 promise that the Messiah, the deliverer, would be born as a member of the human race. That his mother would conceive him miraculously as a virgin. Isaiah 7, that he would be a descendant of King David, 2 Samuel 7, that he would be born in Bethlehem, Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, that his birth would ultimately result in great weeping and sorrow, and that would take place as Herod tries to wipe out this little toddler born king of the Jews. Every baby boy, every toddler under the age of two is slaughtered and great weeping.

And that which had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet is fulfilled. Matthew records. The prophecies of the Old Testament specified that the Messiah's parents would run for their lives, as it were, to Egypt and then return later to their homeland. That's exactly what they did until Herod died, Hosea chapter 11. That there would be a forerunner of the Messiah announcing, here comes the king.

And that's exactly who John the Baptizer was, prophesied in Malachi chapter 3, that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, and the lame will leap as a deer, like they do on Penny Road. At dusk. The Old Testament prophesied that he would be poor. And he was. He had to borrow everything.

He owned nothing. He had to borrow the boat to sail across the sea and he had to Had to borrow a home to Eden, he had to Borrow a donkey to ride on? You had to borrow a tomb? To be buried in? Psalm 40 said he would be poor.

Psalm 78 prophesied that his favorite form of preaching would be parables, stories. David prophesied in Psalm 107 that he will cause the storm to be stilled and the waves of the sea to be hushed. He did that. Twice. Zechariah prophesied that he would ride into Jerusalem on that unbroken colt.

You don't ride on an unbroken colt, he did. Zachariah chapter 9, that he would be despised and rejected. Isaiah 53, that he would be hated without a cause. Psalm 69, that his hands and feet would be pierced, that he would hang next to criminals, that the crowd would surround him and mock him, that his garments would be gambled for by the casting of lots. All of that in Psalm 22.

Jesus literally completed The goal of all Old Testament prophecies related to the Messiah's first coming. His sacrificial atoning Death by crucifixion. as the final Passover lamb. He also is the fulfillment of all the pictures and the types. Beginning with a willing son, Isaac, willing to be sacrificed to every article in the temple, and we could go on and on and on.

It's completed. in him. Secondly, Jesus canceled the record of the believer's sins. Peter said that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree. The cross, 1 Peter 2, verse 24.

Dang on a cross, the trees to be accursed. From God. He was willing to be a curse.

So that we could be cleansed. Isaiah put it this way. All we like sheep. have gone astray Does that include you and me? Yeah, it does.

We have turned everyone. to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah is speaking of the crossword of Christ, the suffering servant. He says earlier in verse 5, he's pierced through for our transgressions, he's crushed for our iniquities, this record.

In other words, the triune God. partnered together in perfect unity. In eternity past, Calvary is not plan B, it's plan A. to supernaturally Mysteriously place upon God the Son the iniquities. The Sims Of us all.

Your record of sin was placed on him. Imagine it this way. Suppose my Bible represents. Every sin you've ever committed in your life. It also includes every good thing that you should have done that you didn't do.

James 4 says that's also sin.

So imagine this opening page is your birth certificate. You've got a date on there. And then this last page is your. death certificate you don't have that date yet but it's It's going to come unless the rapture of the church occurs first, which would really be a great way. To go to heaven.

Well, Isaiah said that it pleased the Father to take that record of sin that's on you, that long list, everything in between here is a list of every sin, every deed, every thought. It pleased the Father to bruise him. And he placed on him The iniquity of us all. Your record. of sin.

Past, present, and future. The sin yesterday, the sin today, the sin tomorrow. Already placed on him.

Now, if God the Father laid upon God the Son all your iniquities, then when you trust His work on your behalf alone to forgive you, to pay for the crimes, the sins. This record of sin is immediately and eternally no longer on you. If it's on him. It can't be on you. And because sin is no longer on you, you are no longer under condemnation.

And that's what Paul meant when he gives a testimony of his battle with sin and his struggles and his failures in chapter seven. And then he moves into chapter eight and he says, there is, therefore, now. Not later.

Now No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus. Then paid for. died for. ahead of time.

For all of eternity. Your sins. And mine, the record of it all, the guilt of it all. And let me tell you: your hope for getting into heaven isn't that tomorrow you won't sin. In fact, when Paul preached the gospel, they said, well, you're just telling people they ain't going to sin.

You know, if grace abounds, because sin abounds, well, you're giving everybody a free pass. No, no, you miss the point. We strive for holy living to please him, not to be accepted by him. All the sin, that record is gone. I used to hear when I was growing up.

You know, an evangelist would come to town and he'd preach about this movie reel. And when you died, you know, Jesus is going to hook that thing up and he's going to play every th every sin you ever did. It scared the dickens out of us all. The things my parents would see. No, that real is is wiped clean.

There's no movie screen. The record has been placed. Upon him, and you judicially have been announced as justified, which means without, as it were, sin to your record. And the righteousness of Christ has been granted. to you.

The truth is, as long as you are alive. You will continue adding to the record of sin. for which Jesus atoned. The record of our iniquities. I mean, this book's just not...

It's just not big enough. Is that big enough for you? It's not big enough for me. We're just adding. Page after page.

That's why the blood of Jesus never stops cleansing us, 1 John 1:7. It's ongoing. The fountain never stops. Ever Stops. In fact, if it depended on you getting on your knees tonight and remembering every sin you committed in order to be in good standing with God, you and I would be in trouble.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians this way. God made us alive together with Him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses.

Now notice this, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

So this means that the cross is the grave of your sins. The death of Christ is the death of your guilt. The cross Is this Grand Eraser. of your criminal record. How did this happen?

When did this happen? Spurgeon preached in the 1800s like only he could preach, and he said it this way, Jesus Christ lifted the cup of our sin and guilt to his lips, and he drank our damnation. Dry. Cup is drain dry. to tell a story.

Now third. Jesus crushed the power. and plans of the serpent. It is finished, it's not the cry of a victim. But a victor.

Over Satan, death, hell. Sin, it it announced, it declared. Victory.

Now, to every human observer, the cross looked anything like it. It looked like the devil's greatest triumph. Gods greatest failure But in reality The cross was the crushing of Satan's head. promised back in Genesis. You want to kill a snake.

You you don't grab its tail, you crush its Head. Psalm chapter 22, where the crucifixion, and I've alluded to it. It's prophesied with so many incredible details. It opens with verse 1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It ends in verse 31, it is finished.

He finished it. Well, in the middle is a verse that's Olvin overlooked verse 12. It says, Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me, they open wide their mouth at me like a ravening and roaring lion.

Well, this is a reference. to the attack on Christ. while hanging on the cross, It it is the jeering of the underworld. It is the raging of the demonic kingdom. Bashan is considered by scholars to represent the Old Testament version of the gates of hell.

When the church has promised the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The church is going to succeed.

Well, here they are representing the gates of hell. And they're doing everything they can to mock him. We can't imagine this. In fact, outside of biblical records, Bashan is considered. The home of the serpent.

Now, while you and I tend to focus On the The religious leaders sneering at Jesus and spitting on Jesus, and the crowd mocking Jesus, and the soldiers, and the mockery, and all that, and that's true. We can't really imagine the greater scene. That Jesus could see. Imagine the sky. filled with raging Demons.

including Satan, the lion, Jeering and mocking the Son of God. They're mocking his defeat. They're magnifying the separation. Between God the Father and God the Son. They're assuming the helplessness of Christ.

They're cheering. And they're sneering with evidently the disgraceful end of his life. He's dying accursed. from God. He's going to die as a man.

They're essentially saying you have failed. They're urging him, no doubt, to To question this plan, to doubt The outcome to admit defeat We can't imagine that. And then Jesus shouts. He shouts. to tell a style.

It is finished. So can you imagine The sky around Calvary packed with the demons of hell, and suddenly. With this declaration, Satan and the demons recognize That his death was part of redemption's plan. They no doubt had the clues. They might have wondered.

They didn't know the future. Satan is not omniscient. He is the greatest student of the Bible. But here they they know Jesus was God the Son. They know he's saturated with our sin.

They know he's separated from God the Father. They heard him cry out. to that fact. They saw the sun high. They saw darkness descend.

They assumed this was the end of Jesus' plans for a kingdom and a crowd. He failed. God the Son can be defeated. They assumed they had won. And he had lost.

And then he says to Telestai, And suddenly They realize it all backfires. The shout of Jesus, it is finished, effectively said to them, You didn't know? This is Aslan's table. You didn't know. This transaction between me And Father and Spirit was planned.

We didn't tell you. It was a mystery held. This was the plan all along. And Hebrews chapter 2 says, through death Christ destroys the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. He's crushed here.

To tell us thy means Check. Mate. You ever played chess with somebody that knows how to play better than you? My grandmother taught me when I was little. Chess really meant chase.

She would chase me until finally she'd look at me. Checkmate. I hated my grandmother at those times when she did that.

Well, this is times ten trillion Checkmate, now the demonic world is howling. In their defeat, Paul writes: They are now at the site of the crucifixion, openly shamed. Whose idea was this? Shamed. He has triumphed.

Their leader is crushed. Their plans are destroyed. Their kingdom is doomed. One word. To tell us that.

I love the way Martin Luther, the reformer, put it. One little word shall fell them. This is the word. to tell us that. Jesus didn't die.

Arthur Pink writes, crying like a martyr, or this being a gasp of a worn-out life. Oh no. He didn't die with a whisper. At the age of 33, There was so much to do. And so little done.

Oh, no, this is the declaration on the part of our Redeemer that everything for which he came from heaven to earth to do was now finished. It was mission impossible, but then he came, and now he shouts: mission accomplished, Jesus Christ happened. Yeah. One. Yes, there are still skirmishes.

And we still fail. Our commander.

Okay.

So add to the record. for which he's already died. But our victory Our status. are standing. Is already and forever secure.

We're already safe. This word, Tetelestai, declares that eternal victory. And listen, listen. It is It's his victory, but it can be yours. For the asking.

Just ask. That was Stephen. Davian. This is wisdom for the heart. Today's message is called Mission Accomplished.

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So explore it today at wisdomonline.org forward slash ask. Thanks again for listening. Stephen will have the next message in this series tomorrow.

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