The sermon titled 'Complete in Thee' by Jason Dohm focuses on the biblical text from John 19:28-30, emphasizing the completion and fulfillment of Jesus' work on the cross. The speaker highlights the significance of the phrase 'It is finished,' underscoring that Jesus' death represents the culmination of His mission to save sinners. Dohm explains that Jesus' work is complete and sufficient for salvation, needing no additions from human effort, as anything added would detract from His work. The sermon touches on the fulfillment of prophecy, referencing Greek linguistic nuances that tie together the concepts of accomplishment, fulfillment, and completion. The speaker further elaborates on the necessity of Jesus' suffering and His role as a substitute for humanity, emphasizing the need for believers to rest in the finished work of Christ. The sermon concludes with a call for gratitude and reliance on Jesus' perfect work for salvation, urging listeners to rest in Him alone.

Our sermon text today is John 19 28 through 30 for context. I will back up to verse 17, please read along and He Jesus bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the King of the Jews, but he said, I am the King of the Jews.

Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to each soldier apart, and also the tunic. Now, the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, let us not tear it but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. That scripture might be fulfilled which says, they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.

Therefore the soldiers did these things. Now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished! And bowing his head he gave up his spirit. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the finished work of Jesus who is Christ, by which we have salvation, the promise of glory, a future and a hope. Speak clearly through our preacher, soften our hearts to receive the message you have prepared for us today. We commit ourselves to you in that precious name of all names, Jesus who is Christ. Amen. We'll be in John as usual today, and we'll be out of John for two weeks.

Next week I'll just have gotten back from the conference probably after midnight, And so I'm actually going to be preaching on the regulative principle of worship next week. I'm really looking forward to that. Such a foundational doctrine explains a lot about us. And what we think we should do in the meeting of the church and what we think is not appropriate to do in the meeting of the church. It really serves as a basis for all of that.

Then the week after that is our joint service hosted at Hope Baptist. So November 3rd, please don't come here, you won't find us here. And Mala, our dear friend from Malawi, is actually going to be preaching that service on a missionary text. I know what it is but I'm not telling. And then after that we'll return, the week after that we'll return to John.

That week where we're meeting together at Hope Baptist in the afternoon after we eat lunch together we'll be having a commissioning service for the Templetons and for the Carrington's to physically lay hands on them and to commission them for their work in Turkey, Lord willing. So that's what's coming. The title of the sermon is the title of a song that we sang just a few minutes ago, complete in thee. Between complete in thee and his robes for mine, there's really nothing missing. I am going to continue to preach the sermon.

But the theology of our text is in those songs that The work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is what is required to save sinners and is all that is required to save sinners. And if the sinners were to try to add anything to it, they would pollute his work. They would not actually add to his work. Anything added to his work actually detracts and can actually ruin his work. So that people who want to add work to his work, their defiled work to his work, can actually ruin any hope of being saved because they are not really resting on Him.

They are not really trusting in Him. Colossians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. Paul writes this in Colossians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. For in Him, in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is God.

And you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. There it is. Jesus is God in Him. If you are in Him, you are complete in Him because of Him, Because of His work. This is what it takes to save sinners.

It takes nothing less than that and it certainly takes nothing more than that. You cannot add to the work of Jesus Christ and you dare not subtract from it. Not working, working, working. Save that for the other religions on planet Earth. This is not our faith.

But the Son of God, God, who is God, Jesus is God, coming from heaven to take my place on the cross. I should hang on the cross. To bear my curse, I should bear my curse. It takes a complete work to save sinners, A work without any lack to be supplied by the sinner. A finished work with nothing left undone and everything accomplished.

That's what we see on the cross. Nothing left undone and everything accomplished. As Jonathan Edwards said, you contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. That is such a perfect line to fix our thinking. Listen to Jonathan Edwards again.

You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. That's all you have in this equation is sin that has to be cleansed. And you have nothing with which to cleanse these stains of sin. But Christ has all that you need. He leaves nothing left undone and he accomplishes everything so that there is a finished work for you to rest on.

In last week's text, Jesus was crucified. In this week's text, Jesus dies on the cross. As we come to the text, let's ask the Lord for help. God, I thank you for mercy in your Son, for withholding from me what I deserve for my sins. God, I thank you for grace in your son, giving to me all that I never deserved.

Thank you for a finished work. God, hold me back from any trace of a mentality, thinking that I add anything that I ought to, that I could add anything to this precious, perfect, and complete work of your Son. Let me exhale and rest in Him. I Pray that would be the great result of looking at your word today that we would rest in your son In Jesus name Amen Well, let's begin by looking at verses 28 and 29 John chapter 19 verses 28 and 29. I'll reread it follow along After this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst.

Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. And they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. In these verses we have all things accomplished, if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks. Accomplished fills in the blank. All things accomplished.

Jesus has just seen to the ongoing care of his mother by placing her in the household of John, his beloved disciple. After that, knowing that everything has been accomplished, Jesus says, I'm thirsty. I really appreciated the way that Gary read it actually. He read it not as a man reading from a pulpit on a comfortable Sunday morning, but as a man suffering with his mouth dry and his tongue clinging to the flesh. Now I want to point out something that is lost in translation.

We miss it because we don't know Greek, but it's significant and it adds depth and texture to the text. There are three words in our text that have exactly the same root in Greek. Two of the three are the exact same word, the other one is just a different part of speech but it has the identical Greek root to the word. Here they are. In verse 28 It says, all things were now accomplished.

There is the Greek word behind what has been translated accomplished that has this Greek word. Also, later in the same verse, later in verse 28, it says that the scripture might be fulfilled. The Greek word behind, the word that is translated fulfilled, it's a different part of speech but has the identical Greek root to it. And John has gone out of his way to use that Greek word. In other words, there are dozens and dozens of places in the New Testament where the author says that prophecy has been fulfilled and overwhelmingly there is one word used and it is not this word.

John passed over the Greek word that is normally used in speaking of the fulfillment of prophecy. He passed over that in order to use this unusual Greek word to say that in order to tie it together with having said that all things were accomplished. So John went out of his way to pick a different word that almost all the other New Testament writers used to say the same thing in order to make the tie. All things were accomplished and then that the scripture might be fulfilled. And then in verse 30 when Jesus says it is finished, All of that, we have three English words, but it's a single Greek word.

And it's exactly the same Greek word that is rendered accomplished up in verse 28. So it's three words in our translation, accomplished and fulfilled and finished. But it's an identical Greek root. John wants to tie these things together. The sense of the Greek is to bring to a close, to bring to an end, to complete so that you're finished.

The idea is this, there's nothing left to do so you're done. That's the idea in all things accomplished. There's nothing left to do so Jesus is done. That is the same idea behind that the scripture might be fulfilled. All the scriptures about Jesus' incarnation are done, are complete.

There is nothing left to do so He is finished. And When He says, it is finished, that's what He's saying. There's nothing left to do so I'm done. All things are accomplished. In John chapter 4, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.

After his disciples come back, after he's spoken to her, and he tells them that he has food they didn't know about and they don't know that he's speaking figuratively, but he says this in John 4.34, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." Like our bodies need food three times a day, we might think maybe more than three times a day, like our bodies crave food, Jesus craved obedience to his father to finish every last task that his father would have him to do, he is pronouncing now, John the Gospel writer, all things are accomplished. Jesus is pronouncing the finishing of his work. His food was to do the will of his father and to finish his work. Jesus has not only fulfilled another prophecy, he has fulfilled the final prophecy about the incarnation. Nothing left to do, so He is done.

No other prophecies about the incarnation to fulfill and so they have all been fulfilled. I have been calling these throughout the Gospel of John, what, the signs of the Messiah. Meaning, God told us by foretelling things that would be accomplished in the life of Jesus Christ, works that he would do, circumstances that were out of his control having to do with his life, words that he would say, he put them in the mouths of the prophets so we would know the Messiah is here. They are the marks of the Messiah. He was going to mark out a man and you wouldn't have to wonder, is this the Messiah or not?

Because He said things about the circumstances of his life that the Messiah wouldn't be able to control. And works that he would do that no one could do unless they were sent from heaven. And words that he would say. These are the signs of the Messiah. Jesus is now announcing, I've done all the marks of the Messiah I bear now.

All the signs of the Messiah have been accomplished in my life, in my works, in my words. And Jesus' death was the culmination and completion of his mission to save sinners. I'm going to return to this in a minute. His death being the culmination and completion. I'm choosing words carefully and I don't want to say it all now but I'll say this now.

Don't think of the death alone save sinners. The death is the culmination, it does save, his blood saves sinners, but it is the culmination, it is the ending of a long line of things present in the life and person of Jesus that makes his death saving for sinners. It is the culmination and completion, not the alpha and omega, it's the omega, it's the end of his work on behalf of sinners. In verse 28, Jesus references fulfillment of a prophecy, but no prophecy is specifically quoted. In verse 24, just a few verses earlier, John the Gospel writer specifically quotes the prophecy about the casting lots for Jesus' garments.

But here, John the Gospel writer references the fulfillment of a prophecy but he doesn't quote the prophecy. It is almost certainly either Psalm 22 verse 15, it's a Psalm of David, that's significant. It was what was quoted last week, so in verse 24 that I just referenced, it was Psalm 22 that was quoted. It's probably Psalm 22, another verse, verse 15, where David the Psalmist says, my tongue clings to my jaws. It is the description of a person dehydrated and their mouth is dry and so their tongue sticks to their jaw.

Or it's possible that it's Psalm 69 verse 21. Psalm 69 verse 21, also a Psalm of David. Listen to this Psalm, 69, 21. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The ESV actually translates that spot, sour wine, just like in our text.

So vinegar is a fine translation but sour wine is within the range of meaning there. That same Psalm, Psalm 69, where David says, they gave me vinegar or sour wine to drink, that same Psalm contains this, zeal for your house has eaten me up. That's already been quoted in the Gospel of John as a fulfillment of a prophecy about the Messiah. So we already know from earlier in John that that's a messianic psalm, a psalm about the Messiah. In both of these psalms, it doesn't really matter whether it's Psalm 62 or Psalm 69, in both of those psalms King David serves as a type of the son of David.

Jesus has many titles, but one of them is the son of David. David, as the mightiest king of Israel, is a shadow of the Messiah that was promised to be sent. He is a type of it. So that the mistreatment of David serves as a prophetic foreshadowing of the mistreatment of the Son of David, the greater David that would come to be the eternal king of the Lord's people. That Jesus was actually thirsty was not a response to prophecy.

So just understand, I'm coming to the point here of what is the cause and what is the effect. The prophecy doesn't cause Jesus to be thirsty. Jesus was actually thirsty And because of who God is, prophecy is a response to what will happen later. You say, well how can that be? How can the thing that happens afterwards be a response to the thing that happens because of who God is.

Because of who God is, He is eternal. There's never been a time, nor will there ever be a time, when He wasn't. Eternity past, you'll find Him. You go back in time and go back in time and go back in time, you find God. You go back further in time, you find God.

You go back further in time, you find God. And it will be the same into all eternity. You can't go further into time and find a time when God isn't. He is eternal. He has always been.

He will always be. He's all-knowing. He's all-powerful. The Bible says He accomplishes all of His own pleasure. Everything he wants to do, he does.

No one can keep him from doing it. He doesn't allow anything to keep him from doing it. In this case, The prophecy comes a thousand years before the fulfillment. And yet the prophecy is a response a thousand years earlier to the circumstances a thousand years later. Well that doesn't make sense to me.

It's because of God and who God is. It's because a prophecy, like I said last week, a prophecy is as good as a news report after the fact. Because of who God is. That's amazing. That's wonderful.

Just behold our God. Behold our God. He can say something today that is as good as a news report of something that will happen a thousand years from now. That's the God you want to serve. That's the God you want to serve.

You don't want to trust your own thoughts. You don't want to trust your own ways. You want to serve and trust and follow a God who can say something today and it's as good as a news report of something a thousand years from now. Know this, Jesus was really thirsty. This wasn't drummed up to fulfill a prophecy.

Jesus was really thirsty. Well, who cares? Because Jesus suffered for his people as a person. He can only be my substitute as a person. He must be fully man.

Yes, he is fully God. That makes him blameless, but he is fully man, which means he can take my place on the cross. He suffered for his people as a person. The taking on of human flesh was real with its limitation of hunger and thirst and exhaustion. We see that in all of the gospels.

Jesus hungry. The taking on of human flesh was real. Jesus is thirsty. The taking on of human flesh was real. Jesus is exhausted and his body is craving sleep.

Jesus' taking on of human flesh was real. Real suffering on the cross as a real substitute for people who get hungry and thirsty and whose bodies crave sleep. This is what makes Jesus such an ideal and sympathetic high priest. You should be glad that he thirsted on the cross. Because it tells you he understands me.

I get thirsty, understands me. I get thirsty. He's been thirsty. I get hungry. He's been hungry.

My body craves sleep. His body has craved sleep. He knows what that's like. Listen to the author of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 4 verses 15 and 16. Hebrews chapter 4 verses 15 and 16.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." We're intended to actually draw comfort from the fact that Jesus thirsted on the cross. It means that he's fit to be a sympathetic high priest for you. It means that you can come boldly to the throne of grace because he knows. He really took on human flesh.

He knows. He sympathizes. Sour wine is cheap wine, usually mixed with water. And probably what the soldiers had on hand to have something to drink themselves, although they clearly have things on hand to be able to also give a little to those who have been crucified. They have a sponge on hand.

They have a hyssop stalk on hand. Jesus has been scourged. His back has been opened up by a flesh tearing instrument. We talked a little bit about scourging last week. A scourge is a whip that is a flesh tearing instrument.

His back has been opened up. Jesus has been struck on a crown of thorns on his head. You know what any wound on the head does. Jesus has been nailed to the cross and now he is hanging from these open wounds. These open wounds are supporting the bulk of his weight.

Jesus literally and figuratively shed his blood for sinners. He himself said without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Without bloodshed there is no forgiving sins. So he is literally shedding his blood on the cross. So it's not surprising to learn that burning thirst is one of the historically attested agonies of crucifixion.

In other words, You can go to the history books outside the Bible and read about crucifixion and the agonies of crucifixion. And one of those agonies that they will all mention is tremendous burning thirst. Now John's account is very abbreviated. When you read an account, if you have nothing to compare it to, you don't know whether it's abbreviated or not. John's account, If you assume that John's account is comprehensive, that he said everything that there is to say about the cross, you could go away thinking this happened in a matter of minutes.

The things that happened in John 19 could happen in a matter of minutes. But when you go and lay it side by side with Matthew's account and Mark's account and Luke's account, you find out that this is ours. This is ours. John has given us an abbreviated account which fits with what we know about John. John is a very special, a very different gospel account than Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

So that many of the things found in those three Gospels are missing in John. Many of the things found in John are missing in those Gospels. It's like he's filling in the blanks. I think he's filling in the blanks. Jesus has been hanging on the cross for hours, bleeding for hours, and he suffers a common agony of the cross, which is a burning thirst.

Now John the Gospel writer makes no theological connection at this point, so I won't spend much time here or put much weight here, but it is stunning that Hyssop was the plant that God prescribed to be used to strike the doorposts with blood in Exodus 12. You go to Exodus 12 and you look at the very first Passover and what God instructed his people to do in order that the angel of death would pass over them and only render judgment in Egyptian homes. They were to take a lamb and slay it and put a bunch of hyssop. The termination, the end of a hyssop plant was perfect for dipping in blood and then striking the door post to sprinkle the door post with blood. That's what they were using in Exodus 12.

According to God's prescription, God said, you use this plant to sprinkle the blood on the door post. So John the Gospel writer just says a sponge on hyssop and makes no connection, But hyssop is used in the Passover. Verse 30. Hopefully you're back in John 19. Follow along as I reread verse 30.

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Jesus did receive the sour wine, then he said these words. Actually this word, it's one Greek word that is rendered, it is finished. And that's a good translation.

But just know this is a Greek word that is rendered here with three English words. It is finished. Now what is it? What is finished? I think we have a deep well here.

I'm not sure I've got enough rope to send something all the way to the bottom of this well. But let's begin by consulting Daniel. Turn to Daniel chapter 9. I'm not going to belabor Daniel chapter 9. There's historical precedent for me belaboring Daniel chapter 9.

People laughing know exactly what I mean. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. How appropriate to quote a prophet about the bringing to an end of the prophecies about the incarnation. Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through the beginning of 26.

70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city To finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince. There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.

Now we can read this back through the lenses of Jesus' accomplishment and see the beginning of verse 26 here that Messiah is cut off in our text but not for himself he's not dying for his own sins he's dying as a substitute he is cut off he does die but not for himself It's not for his own sins that he hangs on the cross. It's for my sins. He dies for me. Look again to verse 20, back at verse 24. To finish transgression.

To make an end of sins. To make reconciliation for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. Now look to the cross and hear Him say, it is finished. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the culmination and completion of His saving work.

It is the end of His saving work, but not all of his saving work. Jesus was actively obedient throughout his entire lifetime. By actively obedient, I mean there are things that are righteous, they are right to do, they please God. Jesus always did those things. He always chose to do those things.

It's active obedience. There are things that are wicked that are displeasing to God that God wants to withhold His creatures from. He chose to actively stand back from that wickedness for the entire period of his lifetime. He actively chose to do the things that please his father and not do those things that displease his father. And he was passively obedient in patiently submitting himself to suffering and death as a substitute.

He wasn't doing anything there but he was allowing the wicked to act upon him. He was passively obeying his father. By allowing himself, patiently submitting himself to suffering and death in the place of another. As the place of another. As the line in Rock of Ages says, that we just sung, be of sin the double cure.

Save from wrath and make me pure. We have a double cure at the cross. God's anger towards sin is coming for the sinner. Jesus throws himself in its way. He interposes himself between a holy God and a sinner who deserves judgment for the sin.

He saves from wrath. He cures. That's not all he does. He makes pure. The one substituted for gives the sin.

Like Jonathan Edwards says, the only thing you contribute is the sin that made it necessary. But Jesus sends something in the other direction not just taking from the sinner but giving to the sinner his righteous life the favor of God that he deserves for his perfectly righteous life of active obedience and passive obedience a double cure Save from wrath and make me pure. The work is finished. Jesus has made, past tense, an end of sins for his people and brought in everlasting righteousness. Think of that, an end of sins, reconciliation for iniquity, an everlasting righteousness.

Your sins parted from you and righteousness given to you. His righteousness. Oh, this is wonderful. John MacArthur has a note in his study Bible. Listen to this note.

The single Greek word here, translated, it is finished, has been found in the papyri being placed on receipts for taxes, meaning paid in full. Now understand what this note is saying. They found ancient tax documents on papyri. That tells you how old they are. It's a plant that they used to write on.

Before you would have paper as we know paper. Tax documents with this Greek word on it. Paid in full! Paid in full! Debt erased, nothing owing, this Greek word.

There are probably more things wrapped up and it is finished. It is finished. The Old Testament prophecies about the incarnation, they're finished. Jesus is dying. His life on earth as the Messiah taking on human flesh, that's over.

The ceremonial law is finished. It's not mentioned in John, but the moment he dies, the veil is rent from top to bottom. There's no more need for any of this. There is free access to God. Worship isn't constrained to a location.

All that is finished. Ceremonial law is done. It is not in effect anymore. The Jews would keep doing it until the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD but they might as well have never killed another lamb. Undoubtedly there's more here but the center of it is Daniel 9, the end of sins, the end of transgression, bringing in of everlasting righteousness.

And bowing his head, Jesus gave up his spirit. Nowhere else in all of scripture is death spoken of in these terms. This is unique. He bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. On the day I die, I won't have a choice.

God kills and He makes alive. This is from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 22. God kills, God makes alive. On the day He decides to kill me, He'll kill me, He won't ask me, I'll simply die. He gave me my life and He's determined the nanosecond in which He'll take back my physical life.

But Jesus gave up His Spirit. No one took His life from Him. Yes, He took on human flesh. Yes, He is hanging on the cross. But because Jesus is God, he had to give up his spirit.

It is speaking of the voluntary nature of what is happening in the text. He freely gave up his spirit. God will kill you on the day of your death. Jesus freely gave up his spirit. He willingly gave up his spirit.

He voluntarily gave up his Spirit for sinners, for His people. I only have one application. One. Because I don't want to dilute it. If you have repented and believed in Jesus, rest.

Jesus paid it all. Nothing is left undone. Everything has been accomplished. If you've turned, repented, turned, you were heading to destruction, God convinced you that that is what only a fool does, and so you turned around. If you've turned and believed in Jesus, if you've turned to believe in Jesus, Remember how Jesus, speaking of belief, uses this in the Gospel of John.

Ascending to the truths and consenting to the person. That's you. You ascent to the truths. You say, this is true. This is true about me and what I deserve and this is true about Jesus, who he is and what he's done.

And you've consented to the person. I throw myself on him. I have no other hope than him. Then rest. Listen to what Martin Luther says.

This is wonderful. Give Martin Luther the last word here. It's almost October 31st. He nailed those declarations to the door. Luther says this, In this word it is finished, I will comfort myself.

I am forced to confess that all my finishing of the will of God is imperfect piecemeal work while yet The law urges on me that not so much as one tittle of it must remain unaccomplished. Christ is the end of the law. What it requires, Christ has performed. Period. What the law requires, Christ has performed.

He has been the law keeper on behalf of his people. Luther says, if I look at my finishing of any part of the law, it's piecemeal work. And yet, what the law requires is not one jot or tittle go unaccomplished. So, nothing I've done has ever been finished out. There's no rest there, says Luther.

Christ puts an end to working for salvation by having completed the work. Last week and this week, I've resisted the temptation to have an application be, now you take up your cross. Because that's not in the Bible? No, it is in the Bible. Because there's another day for that sermon.

As good and helpful and necessary as holiness preaching is, it doesn't belong here. Christ did the work. He is the end of the law for His people. Rest. Today is the day to preach rest for the people of God.

Rest in Christ. Leaning on Christ. Trusting in Christ. We'll preach on holiness soon enough. Today, thank God in heaven that He sent His Son to do all that you couldn't do and you wouldn't do.

You have no inclination to do the things that God loves. You actually have an inclination to do the things he hates. If he left you to yourself, you would destroy yourself. And only you would be to blame. You would have done all that you wanted to do, and it was the things that God hated, precious little of the things that he wanted and he would be right to condemn you.

But if he's drawing you today hope, he might be calling someone in here right now who's never thought that they needed to rest only on his work, but figured that because they were better than some or even better than most that that might be enough, don't be a fool. Perfect righteousness is required to be saved. That's why there's only one place for you to go for perfect righteousness. You know it cannot be yourself. You know it cannot be yourself.

It is Jesus hanging on the cross, perfect righteousness, Ushering in eternal righteousness, making an end of sins, oh go there, go only there, there is nowhere else to go. God, Thank you, thank you, thank you. This gets said regularly, I'll say it again. It seems so small to say thank you. It seems so insignificant just to say thank you and yet it's so representative of what's in our text.

What more would we say? What more do we have to offer you other than thanksgiving for the work that you've done? Should we add our defilements to it? Thank you God. Thank you that you have left nothing left for us to do for salvation other than just to rest on our Savior.

To rest on Him. Help us to rest, to lean upon him, hope in nothing else. Thank you for this beautiful text. I thank you that it's finished. We join Luther.

All of every one of our law keeping works has been piecemeal work at best. Incomplete. Filled with mixed motives and imperfections. We comfort ourselves with these words out of the mouth of our Savior. It is finished.

We believe it. We believe it. Nothing left to do. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.