Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

How we doing, ACC? We have made it to the sixth week of our series called Death By Love. We are spending a couple of months digging deep into the seven statements that Jesus made while He hung on the cross. And God has floored me with everything He has done in this series. And He’s not done yet.

We’re going to be in John 19 today. Let’s pray and then we’ll jump right into God’s Word.

John 19, starting in verse 28. “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” (John 19:28-30a, NIV)

Last week we listened as Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” The next statement from the cross came just seconds later. Remember that we are now in the last few seconds, of Jesus’ life.

After Jesus had received a drink of wine vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” Actually, this statement was one word. It reads as a sentence in English, but it was one word in Greek.

The ancient Greek language was a much more descriptive language than modern-day English. They could pack an ocean of meaning into a drop of language. This word that Jesus spoke from the cross was no different.

The word was tetelestai. The word can be translated, “It is finished. It stands finished. It will always be finished.” There is a completeness, a finality in this word.

This word left no room for wavering. No room for doubt. When something was tetelestai, then it was unquestionably finished. It was fully completed. There was absolutely nothing left to do. It was and it always would be finished.

If it is that definitive…if Jesus was that sure about this…then we need to know what He was talking about. Jesus is seconds away from death. And as He is ready to take His last breath, He proclaims tetelestai. It is finished.

What was finished? What had been so totally and completely finished?

First of all, sin is finished. When Jesus died on the cross, it was the killshot for the power of sin. Sin was disarmed. Sin was defeated.

In Romans 6, the Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23a, NIV)

In other words, because of God’s justice, sin must be punished. And the punishment that is required is bloodshed. When sin occurs, death is the penalty.

Jesus was our perfect sacrifice. His death is the perfect death for our sin.

Earlier in Romans 6, the Bible says, “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:10-11, NIV)

The death of Jesus was THE death for sin. It was THE payment for all sin, once and for all. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant that the perfect sacrifice was finished. The sin payment was finished. And that is amazing news for us.

Your sin debt has been paid. The perfect sacrifice has been offered.

Jesus’ death broke the back of sin because it broke the back of Satan.

There is an absolutely amazing scene in the book of Revelation. It tells about the time when Satan was kicked out of heaven. We usually think of that as some land-before-time episode. But Revelation 12 tells us differently.

“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb… (Revelation 12:7-11, NIV)

The war in heaven was won because of the blood of the Lamb. This is an incredible behind-the-scenes glimpse of what was happening while Jesus was on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross, war exploded in heaven. Satan saw Jesus on the cross and he saw his opportunity to launch a full-on assault against the God that he hated.

The battle raged, but ultimately Satan and his forces were defeated. They were kicked out of heaven. And it happened when Jesus died on the cross.

What Satan viewed as his moment of victory turned out to be his ultimate defeat.

That’s why in 1 John, the Bible says, “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8, NIV)

The devil’s work is sin. His work is to make sure that sin always has a death grip on your life. That’s his mission. Jesus came to destroy that mission. Not to hamper it. Not to hinder it. He came to destroy it. He came to be the killshot for Satan and his work. And that killshot was the cross.

In 1 Peter 2, the Bible says, “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, NIV)

Jesus took our sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. The punishment for sin is death, but Jesus voluntarily took that punishment for us.

He died FOR our sin so we can die TO our sin. In other words, Jesus’ death breaks the power of sin in our lives. The guilt of past sin is finished. The power of present sin is finished.

If you have given your life to Christ, sin no longer has power over your life. You will still struggle. In fact, you will still sin. But the price of that sin has been paid, which means the power of sin has been broken.

You are no longer defined by your sin. Your past sin doesn’t define you. Your present sin does not define you. You are defined by the power of Jesus’ blood. Blood that He gave for you. Blood that paid the price for your sin.

You are not defined by your sin. You are defined by Jesus. That’s why we live for Him. That’s why we serve Him. That’s why we glorify Him. That’s why we reject sin’s power and it’s why we repent when we fall back into sin.

Your sin is not who you are. You are not your abortion. You are not your addiction. You are not your anger.

You are not your sexual sin. You are not pornography. You are not pre-marital sex. You are not homosexual sex.

You are not gossip. You are not gluttony. You are not greed.

Your sin is not who you are. That’s why God calls us to not live in it anymore, because it’s not who we are. Your sin is not who you are. It doesn’t define who you are.

Mark Batterson wrote, “Don’t play the victim. Be the victor. After all, that is who you are in Christ. You are not defined by what you have done wrong. You are redefined by what Christ has done right.”

That means it’s time for you to stop focusing on what you can’t do and who you can’t be. It’s time to stop wallowing in the past. It’s time to stop worrying about who you used to be and start focusing on who God has called you to be.

You are not your sin. You are not worthless. You are not defeated. You are not powerless. You are not who you say you are. You are who Jesus says you are.

Jesus defines you. And He proclaimed that sin is finished. The power of sin is finished. The guilt of sin is finished.

It’s time for His church to start walking in victory. Living in victory. Leading in victory. Because we are not the victims. We are the victors!

Now, let’s do a little reality check. Most of us don’t feel that way. We can get pumped up about it at church today, but tomorrow, a lot of us won’t feel like victors. Instead, we’ll feel completely defeated.

That happens, doesn’t it? You come to church on Sunday. You get absolutely fired up. You’re ready to charge the gates of hell with a water pistol! You’re ready to rock and roll!

And then Monday hits. Not only is the emotional high of Sunday gone, but so is any thought of victory in your life. Instead of having victory over sin, you go right back to same sins that have dominated your life for longer than you can remember.

I’m never going to go to the porn site again…but you do.

I’m never going to destroy someone with my words again…but you do.

I’m never going to doubt God again…but you do.

I’m never going to gossip about that person again…but you do.

I’m never going to withhold forgiveness again…but you do.

I’m never going to act harshly toward my family again…but you do.

I’m never going to lust again…but you do.

I’m never going to lie again…but you do.

I’m speaking your language, aren’t I? Don’t even tell me that you don’t have these struggles. You just promised that you wouldn’t lie anymore.

So what do we do with this? How do we reconcile this? On the one hand, we hear Jesus proclaiming from the cross, “It is finished. Sin is finished. The guilt of sin is finished. The power of sin is finished.” And we love Jesus and we believe Jesus.

But on the other hand, when we look at the reality of our lives, it doesn’t seem like sin is finished. Far from it. It looks like sin is alive and well. It looks like sin is winning the war.

And it makes us feel schizophrenic. We love Jesus. We want to serve and honor Jesus. And yet there is this chronic sin problem in our lives. And when that happens to you, you feel defeated. You tell yourself, “I have got to be the most pathetic Christian that has ever lived. Maybe I’m not even a real Christian at all. No one who really loves Jesus would struggle with this.”

And right there is the problem. You’re playing right into Satan’s hand when you go there.

Here’s what you have to understand. You’re normal. What you are struggling with is normal. Every other believer on the planet has the same struggles. The Apostle Paul had the same struggles.

In Romans 7, Paul wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:15-24, 25b, ESV)

The Apostle Paul…the man who wrote a lot of the New Testament…the greatest missionary to ever live…had the same struggles that you do. He wanted to do the right thing, but he still wound up doing the wrong thing.

Why in the world do we have these kinds of struggles? Here it is. When you come to Christ, you are given a new mind. But you are not yet given a new body.

When you submit your life to Jesus, God begins a work in your mind. Your desires become His desires. You want what He wants. You want to please Him. You want to live a life that honors Him.

In 1 Corinthians 2, the Bible simply says, “But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16b, NIV)

God transforms our minds. We are given a new mind. But our bodies have trouble keeping up. In a very real way, our bodies are programmed to sin. And that sets off a war inside of us. In our minds, we desperately want to please God. But our bodies pull us in the exact opposite direction.

Here’s the good news. One day, this struggle won’t be a struggle anymore. You want to know why there will be no sin in heaven? Because we will be given new bodies to match our new minds.

In Philippians 3, the Bible tells us, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21, NIV)

You will be given a new body. Some of you looked in the mirror this morning and you can’t wait for this day! In eternity, we’ll be given a new body to match our new mind.

In the meantime, what do we do? Do we just throw up our hands and say, “Oh well. Nothing I can do about it, so why even fight it?”

If you’re saying things like that, then you don’t even have a new mind. You don’t know Jesus at all. And you need to repent and come to Christ.

What we do is learn to live in the tension. We pray for God to help us navigate the struggle. We have a God who celebrates when we get it right and who gives grace when we get it wrong.

Earlier we read about Paul’s struggle with all this. You know where he landed on the whole deal? He landed with Jesus.

In Romans 7, he said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25a, NIV)

The answer is Jesus. It’s not in us. We’ll get it right sometimes, which is awesome. We’ll get it wrong sometimes, which is awful. But aren’t you glad that everything doesn’t ride on your ability to get it right? Everything rides on Jesus’ ability to get it right. And in His sinless life, His death, and His resurrection, He got it right.

On the cross, Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished!” Sin is finished. And that means that salvation is finished.

Jesus cried out, “Tetelestai” from the cross. This word is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional word. Not only does it mean, “It is finished,” but it is also an economic word.

Archaeologists have found ancient invoices that have this word written across them in big, bold letters. In the economic sense, the word means, “Paid In Full.”

So let’s put all of this together. Tetelestai means it is finished and it always will be finished. It also means paid in full. When Jesus cried out this word from the cross, he was telling us that the price for our sin had been paid in full, and that this payment will never be rescinded. It will never have to be paid again because the payment is forever finished.

The cross means tetelestai for us. Because we chose to sin, there was a ransom that God demanded; a ransom price too high for us to ever pay. But when Jesus chose to die for us, He took our punishment and paid our debt. And the payment was total. It was complete. The signature was on the dotted line. When Jesus died for your sin, there was a stamp on your life that said, “Paid in Full Forever!”

Salvation is finished. And it is finished by grace. And it is amazing how offensive that grace is to some people.

Jesus told a parable known as The Prodigal Son. You can make the case that this is the most well-known, most beloved story ever told in the history of the world. Believers and non-believers, Christians and non-Christians know this story.

In the story, a young son goes to his dad and says, “I want my inheritance now.” His father gives it to him, and the young son hits the road. He squanders his entire inheritance in wild living. Parties, drugs, prostitutes, you name it. He makes Charlie Sheen’s lifestyle look minor league.

But when the son finally hits rock bottom, out of money, strung out, health failing, and completely abandoned, he comes to his senses and returns home. He is hoping that his dad would simply allow him to be a servant. But his dad throws his arms around him and kisses him. He welcomes him home and fully reinstates him into the family.

But one person is not happy about that. This kids’ older brother. He has never left home. He has never been disobedient. He has never rebelled. And he is disgusted that his dad is throwing a party for his brother.

That’s where we pick up the story in Luke 15:28. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:28-32, NIV)

The older son is completely incensed…absolutely furious about how his dad is treating his brother. Under the law, the father could have disowned the son. There is even a provision in the law where the father could have had him killed because he had dishonored the family name.

That’s what the older brother wanted. Live by the letter of the law! Give him what’s coming to him, dad! Do anything you want, except this: don’t you dare give him grace.

It is amazing how many older sons are in the church today. We focus on the younger sons. The rebels. Those whose lives have blown up like an atomic bomb. They’re easy to spot. You can pick them out of any lineup.

But the older sons are much more subtle…and much more insidious. The older sons are the ones who never miss church. They read their Bible every single day. They pray. They tithe. They check all the boxes that say they have done their religious duty.

But when the younger sons come into the church…when the rebels come home…they want no part of it.

How do you know if you’re an older son? Let me give you a few questions. How would you feel if you were sitting next to a prostitute right now? Or an addict? Or a homosexual?

Would you be with the father, throwing the party? Or would you be throwing a hissyfit with the older brother?

Our church will be a church that parties with the father. Our church will be a church that throws our doors and our arms wide open. When the younger son returns home, we’ll hug him. We’ll fire up the barbecue. And we’ll have a party.

Now, in the story, notice that the father never excuses what the younger son did. He never once makes an excuse for his sin. When the older son made all these accusations, the father didn’t try to refute them. He knew it was all true.

But grace is the ability to look past what a person has done and see who a person is and to see what they need. What they don’t need is someone to tell them how badly they’ve messed it up. What they need is for someone to tell them that there is a way out of their mess. There is a way out of their sin. There is a way out of their lost state. And His Name is Jesus.

That’s what our church is all about. We are all about grace. And that is offensive to some. But it is healing to many. It is life to many. It is salvation to many.

We haven’t even scratched the surface of how many people God wants to bring in His Kingdom through our church. We haven’t even gotten started yet. But the whole reason it’s going to happen is because we’re listening to Jesus.

Jesus said, “It is finished. Salvation is finished. It is finished by my blood through my grace. And it is for all. No exceptions. No exclusions.”

Mike Edmisten

Tags: cross, Death By Love, grace, Jesus, John 19, salvation, sin,