Summary
Pastor Safrit walks through John 19:30, focusing on Jesus' declaration, "It is finished," as a victory cry for Christians. He emphasizes that Jesus completed His mission to defeat sin and Satan, offering practical encouragement to persevere through life's challenges. The sermon highlights the importance of recognizing that true satisfaction comes from finishing what God has called us to do, urging believers to seek strength from God to endure and not give up.
Welcome and Introduction
Thank you for listening to Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Sermon Audio. For more information, please visit our website, pgbcronda.com, or visit on all social media platforms. John chapter 19, verse 30.
I think I have been most excited about preaching this specific phrase since I began this study seven weeks ago.
This was the seventh week, and we had one where we had a visiting preacher. And so I put the last six weeks on your notes there as provided for you in your bulletin.
As a reminder to you, you may not save the notes, you may not keep them up, but this may be one where you tuck away in your Bible that you can go to in a time of need. And those six weeks, of course, are when you've been hurt, offer forgiveness.
That was week one when Jesus said, Father, forgive them.
He continued on into the next week where we talked about, today you'll be with me in paradise.
And the thought was, when you're in pain, ultimately look to others and give hope to others that are around you.
When we are at our wits end, surrender to God. Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.
A couple weeks ago, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when you feel alone,
don't turn to the world, don't turn to your neighbor, but turn to God and seek God for answers.
The thought of, I thirst, and this thought was, when your needs aren't met, look to God. And then last week on Mother's Day, we looked at, woman, here's your son, here's your mother. And when our family suffers, take time to love and offer love to them.
And so today, it is finished is the victory cry for the Christian.
It's the victory march of a Christian is, it is finished. And we've looked at the final words of several popular people, several famous historical people.
But today, we're going to look at someone maybe a little closer to home. And I've referenced this guy before. I enjoy reading after people. I enjoy biographies. This was probably the first biography that I read. It's a very lengthy biography, 600 and some pages.
But it's the biography of Steve Jobs. And someone shared this with me this past week.
And I felt it was appropriate to read his last words at age 56. This was a billionaire who died at age 56. And as any famous Steve Jobs quote or presentation, he didn't have just a couple of words.
He had a presentation of his last words. And so this was his presentation of last words. He said, I've reached the pinnacle of success in business. In other people's eyes, my life is a success.
However, aside from my work, I've had little joy. At the end of my day, wealth is just a fact that I've gotten used to.
Life Reflections in Suffering
Right now, lying in my hospital bed, reminiscing of all my life, I've realized all the recognition and wealth I took so much pride in has faded and become meaningless in the face of intimate death.
You can hire someone to drive your car and make money for you. But you cannot hire someone to stand sick and die for you.
Material things can be lost and be found again. But there's one thing that can never be found when it's lost. Life.
Whatever stage of life you're currently in, in the time that we face in the days of certain closes, love your family, your spouse, your children, and your friends.
Treat them right and cherish them. And then he went into this really cool discord. He says, as we get older and wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300 or $30 watch both give you the same time.
Whether you have $300 in your wallet or $30 in your wallet, I'm sorry, whether you have a $300 wallet or a $30 wallet, the amount inside is still the same. Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the road and the distance are the same, and we reach the same destination.
Whether we drink a $1,000 or a $10 bottle of wine, the hangover is still the same. Whether the house in which we live is a thousand square foot or 10,000 square foot, loneliness is the same.
And you will realize that your true inner happiness does not come from material things or the world, whether you travel first class or economy class. If the plane crashes,
you still go down with it. And therefore, in his last moments, he said, I hope you realize when you have friends, brothers and sisters with whom you discuss,
laugh, talk, sing, talk about north, south, east or west or heaven or on earth, this is real happiness.
And again, Steve Jobs was by no means a Christian. He did not profess Christianity. He tried every religion out there.
And yet, he still came to the end of his life and he said that the people that are around us oftentimes are what is true happiness.
An indisputable fact of life, one person said it like this, is don't raise your children to be rich, but educate them to be happy. When they grow up, they will know the value of things, not the price.
And so, as we think through this thought and as we think through what we value in our life, we come to the last statement of Jesus.
John chapter 19, verse 30. We'll stand and read this one verse in honor of God's word.
Jesus' Victory Cry
The Bible says this, When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished.
And then bowed his head and gave up the spirit. I'm going to read a couple other verses that you don't have to turn to. They'll be on the screen. Matthew 27, 50.
But Jesus cried again with a loud voice, which would have been understood to say, It is finished. And he gave up his spirit. And Mark says it like this, Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for this opportunity to preach your amazing word.
God, I pray that you would help me this morning as I preach this simple three-word message of it is finished, that it will resonate in our heart that it was finished on the cross. You endured that pain for us and that we will be able to endure heaven with you.
Lord, I love you and I thank you for what you've done. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. When Jesus completed his work on Calvary, he shouted the victory cry. In the other language, in Greek Hebrew, it was testelestai, which is to mean it is finished.
I want you to imagine for a moment, Jesus on the cross, we've sort of taken this word picture every single week where we've put ourselves in this place of Mary, we've put ourselves in the place of Jesus, we've put ourselves in the place of the criminal. I want you to think for a moment of Jesus on the cross.
His suffering was finished. He had accomplished everything the Father sent him to do. His humiliation was finished. His pain was now finished. And his grief was now finished. Salvation and the payment for our sin was paid for on the cross.
And he was bought with a price and that price was Jesus. And he stands here at this moment and he says, it is finished.
Oftentimes we'll get to a moment in our life where this will be a cry of our life of it is finished. And I'll share some personal testimony here in a moment.
But it's reported that three faithful missionaries once went to Gandhi and began to minister to him while he was on an extended fast. And during their visit, Gandhi requested that they sing a hymn for him.
And so as these missionaries began to think and began to, what are we going to sing?
What are we going to portray at this moment? What are we going to give in this moment of time? It was this thought of one song that came to their mind. And the song was, when I survey the wondrous cross.
On which the prince of glory died. My richest gain I count, but loss. And poor content on all my pride. That was the song that they sang.
That was the hymn that they ministered to Gandhi. Because they realized that it was not about myself, but it was about Jesus and what he did on that cross. And in that moment they began to realize and they began to think this wondrous cross that Jesus was on Calvary.
And as Jesus was coming to his last moments on the cross of Calvary, he cried out these three words. It is finished. This phrase tells us that Jesus was completing something.
And so let's take a moment and let's peruse through history to see what Jesus came to finish by way of introduction. Jesus came to finish his father's work. Luke chapter 2 verse 49, I think I've got this on the screen.
Jesus is lost by his mom and dad. You can imagine parents, you lost your kid. This happened just a couple of years ago.
We were at Disney in California and Allie was pregnant with Hudson and we were coming off of a ride. And I told the kids, hey, the stroller's over here to the left. And we came out and we're trying to corral them and we all go left and Jade goes right.
And we get to the stroller and I start counting. There's Allie. There's the baby in the belly. There's Brody. There's not Jade. Where's she at?
What's going on? We start panicking. And I told Allie, I said, you go this way. I'll go this way. And we go for maybe three or four of what seemed to be an eternity. But I know it was only just a couple of seconds. And Jade comes running the other way crying.
She had lost her parents. And we found her. And so you can imagine Mary and Joseph. They're gone and they're separated from Jesus. They had heard the prophecies. They knew he was going to be the one to redeem the world. And they lost him.
And they came to him and Jesus said unto them, why do you seek me? Do you not know that I must be about my father's business?
He had a goal. He had a mission. He had a purpose in his life to be about the father's business. And so he came to accomplish this work, this thing that Jesus came, that he came into the world for.
John chapter 17, verses 3 and 4. He's teaching his disciples. And he says, and this is eternal life, that you may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And I have glorified you on this earth.
Purpose and Fulfillment
And Jesus is saying here, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Jesus knew that he was coming for a purpose and he was going to do the things, the works that God had called him to do. And then in John chapter 19,
we looked at this just a couple of weeks ago. And after this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled. He made that statement, I'm thirsty.
And the jar of sour wine was sitting there and they filled it with a sponge and they gave him with hyssop. And they offered it to his mouth. And when Jesus had received it, he said, it is finished. And bowed his head and gave up the spirit.
You see, what we learned from the final cry this morning is that the cross is that which you want to quit, but don't.
Look beyond it. Look beyond the now and continue to go forward. This cry teaches us that we can overcome things. This cry teaches us that we can defeat the enemy and that we can survive the trials that we're in. And when we feel like quitting,
remember Jesus and remember that he endured the cross for you and for me. And he thought of you and me when he was on the cross. And he said, I'm not going to give up. I'm going to continue forward because I'm not going to quit.
And so how can we keep on going when we feel like quitting? Three simple things this morning. The first is this. Remind yourself that Satan is defeated.
You see, Jesus came for a purpose. He came for a reason to defeat Satan, to defeat what he had destroyed, to defeat what he had perverted in the garden.
You see, Satan came and his goal was to pervert and destroy everything that God created.
And Jesus said, I'm coming to defeat that and restore perfection to humanity through my sacrifice.
You see, the Roman soldiers were here and you can imagine them around the cross. And when he said it is finished, this is what their thought was. We've finally gotten rid of the radical insurrectionist. He's finished. We're done with him.
I want you to imagine the religious leaders that just moments before this were crying, crucify him. And they said, we're finished with our competition.
We don't have to be envious of the crowds, these attractions, because he is done. We've taken care of him. We've taken care of him. But also, for a moment here, put yourself in the disciples' picture.
They looked at Jesus on the cross. They thought, the dream of our kingdom, it's over.
I gave up everything, Jesus. I stopped fishing. I stopped collecting money. I gave up my job. I gave up my everything for you, Jesus. And now you're done.
And you can imagine the guilt of those disciples where they thought, we followed this man. We gave up everything.
Oh, but when Jesus says it is finished, he's not saying I am finished. He's saying it is finished. And it was a big difference because when Satan was thinking the Son of God is now finished, oh, no. Jesus said my death was the sound of eternal sentence upon Satan.
An eternal sentence upon the death of the one that came to cause death upon the world. And he came to cry this cry of it is finished because he came to deliver us from our sins.
Look at what 1 John verse 3 and verse 8 says. The Son of God was revealed for a purpose to destroy the devil's works.
Not to reveal anything, but to destroy what the devil came to build. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, it says, Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these. And through his death, he might destroy the one holding the power of death. That is the devil.
And what did he do? He freed those who were held in slavery and their lives by the fear of death. He eradicated death.
And he said, I'm going to destroy death. I'm going to take the keys of death and hell in the grave. And I'm going to take them from Satan and they're now mine. And that's what Jesus says, it is finished. He is saying this is what is finished.
Colossians 2, 15, and he says this, And he disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly. Why? Because he triumphed over them in him.
In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11 and 12, it says this, Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and against authorities and against cosmic powers of darkness, against evil and spiritual forces in heaven.
You see, the devil cannot hurt us, but he wants to get you to hurt yourself. And so we must be on guard. We must resist the devil.
We must flee from the devil, as James says, and we must turn from the evil schemes of the devil by putting on the armor of God and by reminding ourselves that we have been, we have a defeated foe. And Satan has no power over us.
Satan has no, no, no, no scheme over us because Christ is within us. And he is the one that gives us the power in our life.
Overcoming Trials with Faith
And when we go through these hard times, we go through these difficult times, we can remind ourselves that Satan has come. And he is defeated. And he has no hold on us.
So not only do we remind ourselves this, but we must remember that satisfaction comes from finishing.
Satisfaction comes from finishing. Next week, we're going to honor our graduates and we're going to recognize their awesome time of completing their high school and college education. And Proverbs 13 verse 19 says this, A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul. A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul.
There's nothing like complete satisfaction when you've been working for something and that sense of satisfaction has came to be.
It may have been a project, maybe you're working on a cabinet or maybe working on a building or something that was in your life. And when you finish it and you install it, you just sort of look back and you say,
I created that. I made that into being from nothing and I made something good. And oftentimes in our life, we get this fulfilled satisfaction from just completing a work. I love how John puts it in John 16 verse 21.
As Jesus is talking, he says this, When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. Now, I've never experienced this. I've never been in labor. So I don't understand the pain and the suffering. But Jesus says, But when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that is the person that has been born into the world.
Now, moms, you can relate to this. You can say, yeah, I've been through that suffering. I've been through that heartache. I've been through the delivery table. And yes, it was pain, but I wouldn't sacrifice that pain for anything because I've got this child that's in my arms.
And Jesus says, yeah, there is this time where there's going to be suffering. But through that suffering, look at the joy that's after it. Look at the satisfaction that comes from after it. Acts chapter 20, 24 says this, Thirteen years ago,
on this day, right today, the 19th of May, was our bachelor party for me and my wife. No, not me and my wife. Me and my friends, my boys, okay? We were getting married and in two days, we'll celebrate 13 years.
And two weeks prior to this, I had gotten ordained and then I graduated college.
I was the first college graduate in my family, on my side of the family. And I had graduated four years and we came to this moment where I was going to walk across the stage and my mom had flown out there for the three weeks, the week I was going to be ordained
and going to graduate and then the week in between our wedding and then the week of our wedding. And she told me, she said, I'm excited about you graduating. I can't wait.
I can remember this. She said, I can't wait for when you walk across that stage, my baby is going to have a graduation diploma. And I said, Mom, I said, there's one hiccup to that. I said, I'm on a payment plan.
I've got to pay off my college and then they'll give me my diploma. And she said, I didn't fly all the way out here for three weeks to see you with a piece of paper with just your name on it. Where's the registrar's office?
So I drove her to the registrar's office and we got there and she said, I'm going to pay his bill in full. So she paid the last three months of my bill because it was a 12-month plan and went all the way to the summer.
And she said, I'm going to complete that bill and pay it in full so that when my son walks across that stage, he can have a diploma.
And it was an awesome time and I'm grateful for my mom and I paid her back most of that. I always forget about it at times, but she'll remind me, hey, you remember when I paid you back that? I need a little extra money back.
And so we go back and forth and, but I can remember walking across that stage and getting to that moment and understanding I completed something.
I finished the course. My joy is set before me and the pictures that come every year on my memories of those things. But then immediately after that, my mind went to, I'm about to get married.
I'm about to start a new journey. And so we get to this day where we're with our boys and we're out golfing and one of the guys goes, hey, are you sure you want to get married?
Are you sure you want to give up this freedom, right? You're going to be chained up for life.
We get to this moment where our wedding day came and we completed that event and we sat back as we're driving to Tennessee for our honeymoon and we said, we looked at each other and we said, it's done, like it's over. We're married.
No turning back now. Right? 13 years later, there's still no turning back because when Christ goes back, I want you to understand at this moment, when Christ says it is finished, he's saying, don't think about the past of suffering. Move on.
Move on to the next phase. And let's not dwell on these things that sometimes can hold us back, like a weight, a sin that can hold us back from moving forward. He's saying, give up those things, turn it over to me, and let's move on.
And so often as Christians and myself included, we can get bogged down by the weight and the sins. The Bible says this so easily beset us and hold us back. And Christ says, no, I've redeemed those things. I've taken them away.
I've removed them as far as the east is from the west for you to now move on and say, it is finished in my life. And so Christ is saying here, when he says it is finished, remember to remind yourself that Satan is defeated, to understand their satisfaction from finishing.
But also there comes a point in time where we must request God to strengthen you to finish.
You see, not all the time are we going to have this moment where it's always going to be up and up. Even as we look at Christ, we understand that he suffered. We understand that Christ was humiliated.
We understand that Christ went through pain and grief. And so there are times where we need to say, God, I need you to help me. I need you to strengthen me. And as Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, he says it like this in verses 6 through 8.
For I am already been poured out as a drink offering. And the time of my departure is close. I have fought a good fight.
I have finished the race and I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, and will give me on that day. And not only to me, but those who loved his appearing.
And then he continues on in verse 16 and he says that, My first offense, no one stood with me. Everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them, but the Lord stood with me.
And what did the Lord do? The Lord strengthened me so that I might fully preach the word to all the Gentiles that may hear, so that I rescued them from the lion's mouth, and that the Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom to give him glory forever and ever.
Amen. See, Paul said here, I have finished my course.
I have finished what I have set out to do. And even in those moments, the Lord stood with me and the Lord strengthened me.
It's so much of an encouragement to know that we are not alone. We're not on this journey all by ourself, but we have Christ with us.
We have neighbors and friends and family with us that get to strengthen us and get to encourage us and get to come by our way. And when the Lord was on the cross and the future enabled him to finish his course, and when he did this, he cried, It is finished.
I quote this verse so often because it's one of my life cries.
As Jesus is on the cross and he says it is finished, the writer of Hebrews says this, We should look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him. Imagine this, the joy that was set before him, the cross was set before him,
and that was joyful for him. Oftentimes we'll get a glimpse of a pain that's about to happen. A loved one that maybe is on the death door, and we see them suffering, and we see the pain and the heartache and the hurt there. And Jesus saw the cross before him, and he counted it as joy.
I don't look at pain like that. I don't look at suffering the way Jesus did. My prayer is God, take it away. God, get rid of this in my life.
I don't want to go through this. I don't want to go through this pain or heartache. I want joy, but I don't want pain. And Christ says that there was joy set before him, and what did he just do? He despised the shame,
and because he despised the shame, he is now sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, there's times in your life where you're going to feel like throwing everything in,
and you're going to feel like saying, I'm done with all of this. There's going to be times where you're going to feel like walking out on your marriage, and you're going to say, God, I've stood up with this woman. I've put up with her. She's stubborn.
She's done all these things, and there's going to be times where you're going to feel like giving up on your children.
You're going to raise them, and you're going to say, God, did I not raise them in your nurture and your admonition, and I took them to church, and I took them to everything they needed to do, and now look at what they're doing. I just, I can't deal with this anymore, God.
There's going to be times when you feel like throwing in the towel, but I want you to think that the Christian life is not just too hard.
It's what Christ has called us to do, and to remember it's always too soon to quit. Imagine if Jesus was at that sixth phrase.
When he looked at John, and he said, John, take care of my mom. Mom, this is now your son, and Jesus said, you know what? I'm just going to go ahead and give up now. I can't go all the way. The pain's too much.
The suffering's too much. The heartache's too much. I know I'm thinking of James 2,000 years later, and I'm thinking of his kids, and I'm thinking of this church, but they're just not worth it.
I'm going to go ahead and give up and call down 1,000 angels, 10,000 angels to come and deliver me from this cross. You see, it would have destroyed humanity.
We would not be where we're at today, but Christ said, it's always too soon to quit, and I'm going to continue on, and I'm going to push forward one more time, and I'm going to push forward one more day, and I'm not going to give up.
Oftentimes, we need to be reminded as Psalm 62, verse 7 says,
my salvation and glory don't depend on myself, don't depend on my family, but they depend on God. My strong rock and my refuge is in him.
Perseverance in Faith
If Christ didn't quit, neither should we. If Christ went all the way to the cross and went all the way to death, hell, and the grave and paid our punishment, then what gives us the right to quit? Nothing.
And it's a hard thought. It's a hard thought for me to even think. It's a hard thought for me to even say. But Christ says it is finished, and he's speaking of the perseverance of himself.
As Terry comes and begins to play for our time of invitation, I've just got a couple of thoughts to wrap this up. Galatians chapter 6, verse 9 says this, let us not get tired in doing good,
for we will reap in the proper time if we do not give up. You see, part of this reaping and sowing is continuing on and persevering and allowing God to have his full work and his full time.
But oftentimes we give up before we ever reap what we have sown.
And God says, you don't go into a field where the corn hasn't quite came all the way up and you just bring your chart through and you just plow the whole thing down. No, you wait.
You let another storm come. You let another wind cloud come. You let another rain cloud come and you give it this nourishment and the perseverance for it to come through before you destroy it. Because we don't give up. A German author, Dag Hammershjad, I'm sure I butchered his name,
once wrote this, when the morning's freshness has been replaced by the weariness of the midday, when the leg muscles quiver under the strain, the climb seems endless and suddenly nothing will go quite as you wished.
It is then that you must not hesitate. He was unwilling to give up and he refused to quit and a successful life as prescribed by Christ requires faithfulness unto death.
Because that's what Christ's prescription for us was and that is the prescription for us. I like how one author said it like this, a hand to the plow with no looking back, steadfast perseverance, racing hard for the tape, fighting the good fight of faith. This is what it's called to be a Christian.
It's not getting on the races going on, it's not racing today in the all-star race and getting that last lap and saying, you know what, I'm done. I'm not going to go the last lap.
I know I'm in first place, but I'm just going to pull it into the pit crew and just park it on my last lap. No, it's continuing on.
It's going as fast as you can, as hard as you can, until you can't go any longer unto death. One author said it like this, there are temptations to overcome,
disappointments to handle, personal sins that beset us, burdens that will depress us, and Satan is standing by urging that we quit.
Think of Job's wife, who looked at him and said, just curse God and die and give up. But wait, Christ is present.
Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you might not grow weary and lose heart. Someone once asked James Corbett,
the all-time heavyweight champion of the world, what was the most important thing that a man must do to become a champion? This is his reply. Fight one more round.
The Duke of Wellington, that said that the British soldiers at the Battle of the Waterloo were not any braver than Napoleon's soldiers, but they braved the fight for five more minutes.
And because they stayed for five more minutes, because he had one more round, the secret sauce you could say for the Christianity is fight one more round.
It's be brave for five more minutes. The difference is between life and death and defeat and victory.
And I know when I stand before Christ, I want to say, Christ, I fought to my very last breath. I didn't give up in the last hour.
I didn't give up when the things were getting tough, but I stuck it through and I continued on because God has never called us to quit. He wants us to have the same shout of victory, to tell us die. It is finished.
And he wants us to stand before him and say, I finished my course with joy. I may not have that one day.
Things may get too tough. I may give up. I pray to God that I don't. And I pray to God that I never give up on my family. I never give up on my children. I never give up on ministry, but I continue on even when it's tough.
Endurance in the Christian Life
Because we're not guaranteed good times in the Christian life. But we are guaranteed to endure.
We're guaranteed that Christ says, if I can do it, so can you. And so in this journey this morning, where are you at? Are you at the moment where you said, I'm seconds away from throwing in the towel?
Or are you here and you're saying, Pastor James, I've never experienced what Christ did for me on the cross. The glorious thing is, is Jesus is saying, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, for I will give you rest.
Rest for the persecuted. Rest for those who are suffering. If only we come to him.
So whatever it may be this morning, however you want to respond, the altars will be open. Lord, we love you. Lord, I can't say that enough, that we love you. God, I pray that you would have your will this morning done.
Lord, if there's one here that doesn't know you, if there's one here that doesn't have an assurance of salvation, that today would be the day they come to eternally trust you. God, I pray that you would help us this morning for this to be our battle cry. It is finished.
And as we come to the end of our life, we will be able to say, I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course.
So God, I pray that you would give us perseverance, you'd give us strength, you'd give us integrity to finish what you've called us to do. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
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