In Pastor Rick Lentz's Good Friday sermon titled 'It Is Finished,' he elucidates the profound significance of Jesus' final words on the cross. The sermon explores the misconception that 'It is finished' was a cry of defeat, clarifying that it was a declaration of victory and fulfillment of God's divine plan. Pastor Lentz emphasizes that Jesus' crucifixion was not orchestrated by the devil or any human group, but was God's predetermined plan for redemption. He highlights Romans chapter 5, explaining that Jesus died for humanity while they were still sinners, demonstrating God's immense love and offering salvation through His substitutional death. The sermon stresses the importance of acknowledging personal responsibility for sin and the necessity of repentance for forgiveness. Pastor Lentz underscores that Jesus' death fulfilled every prophetic word, demonstrating the divine orchestration and purpose behind His sacrifice. The sermon calls believers to live a life reflective of the finished work on the cross, emphasizing that salvation is not only being saved from sin but being saved for God's eternal purposes. The message concludes by encouraging believers to apply this finished work to their lives, live under the lordship of Christ, and proclaim the gospel message to the world.

Music As we celebrate tonight, You pick out a text, you pray about it, you ask the Lord for his word for his people, and then you just kind of have to believe that this is what it's going to be, but I knew when Rex read the Gospel message tonight that God was ready for us to hear this once again. Our Good Friday text is the Gospel that Rex read from John chapter 19 beginning at verse 28. I'll read it again. 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 the sponge with sour wine, put it on the hyssop, put it to his mouth.

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Howling his head, he gave up his spirit. Father, as we just look at your word, but more importantly, Lord, as you have your Holy Spirit speak to us through your word. We ask that we would be open, Lord, and ready to receive, but also ready to live a life that reflects what you have accomplished on Calvary's Cross. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Probably two, it's rather amazing, two or three word sentences that kind of, or that supports and is essential to all of Christianity. One that Brother Jerry will probably preach on Sunday morning, he is risen. Tonight we're going to look at another foundational stone, foundational account, foundational rock, if you will, that our open faith is built on, Jesus' final words, it is finished. And we have to begin tonight to dispel the concept as Rex introduced us to this evening, that it was a cry of defeat. It was far from that.

The devil didn't win. It wasn't his idea. It wasn't his plan. It was God's plan from the beginning. But throughout the years, many have attributed the blame of Jesus' death on Calvary's Cross as crucifixion to the enemy, to the Jews, a multitude of others.

Some denominations have even taken it upon themselves to pronounce forgiveness. And I wanna tell you tonight, without a shadow of a doubt, who was responsible for Jesus' crucifixion? Me. You. We learn that and that reality from Romans chapter 5.

When we were still without strength, In due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we should be saved by his blood.

Not and not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. While we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrated his love towards us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. That's substitutional death on Calvary's cross.

To pay the price, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we know from Romans chapter three that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So we should know from even these three passages of scripture that you and I deserve to die. But Christ died in our place.

That substitutional death on Calvary's cross. 1 John writes, my little children, these things are right to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with a father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for also the whole world. Understand what scripture is teaching us today that Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross was our propitiation. It's a fancy word that means he died in our place.

He's a substitutional death. But it also tells us that he intercedes, this one who lived a sinless life, the spotless Lamb of God, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John proclaims, this spotless Lamb of God who died on Calvary's cross for me, for you, in our place, now intercedes for the Father on our behalf." That's hard to wrap your mind around, but that's God. That's His love towards us. And it tells us that this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This sin that's separated, God sent the sacrifice.

And that's the gospel message, people. That's the gospel message of saving faith, that we deserve to die. And so one has to recognize that is me, that is you, that is the whole of mankind. And that personally by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit we see our sin and see our need for forgiveness and understand that it's only by Jesus' shed blood on Calvary's cross that we can be forgiven. Our hearts cleansed from all of our sin, iniquity the Bible says.

And invite Him into our hearts and lives, not just to save us from hell, but to become our Lord, to rule and reign in our hearts and lives. You know, we've been saved from something, obviously, but we've been saved for something as well, for His eternal glory and for His purposes. And it's the only way to be reconciled as we read in Romans, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Only way. And in that substitutional death, Jesus Christ cried, it's finished.

And as we ponder those words, I want you to reflect on just what He is proclaiming. You see, in His declaration that it's finished, He is proclaiming first and foremost that the perfect and complete will of God the Father in sending his only begotten Son is finished. He has completed every work God assigned for him to complete. In a brief three-year ministry, His will accomplished through his son. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

You know this scripture. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, although that's what the world deserved. That's what you and I deserve. But he didn't send his Son to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And it's an all-inclusive invitation as Jesus this is a good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires that all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, a propitiation if you will, to be testified in due time. Every sin that ever was and ever will be committed, the price for that sin has been paid. But not every sin is forgiven. Because it tells us that repentance is required for forgiveness. And so it's one thing to acknowledge that all sin have been forgiven, the price has been paid.

It's a whole other thing to understand that one needs to come to that personally in my life and in yours. And that that gap of separation between heaven and hell that only God can bridge through his son Jesus Christ has been accomplished. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who offered himself for us, enter and assure us into that eternal life through his forgiveness.

Because it's according to the law, most all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. It was the required sacrifice. And as we celebrate the Lord's Supper tonight, you will hear the words, do this in remembrance of me. If you participate, you're confirming that this is your personal experience. Acknowledging that Jesus Christ died in your place, my place.

He paid the price for your sin, for my sin, shed his precious blood for my forgiveness, for your forgiveness. It's finished. We do this in remembrance of that tonight. The perfect will of God finished through the death of His Son to be ultimately completed as glorious resurrection, but that's another message for another day. And we're looking forward to that.

But another thing that Jesus proclaimed on that cross that is finished is found in our text that every prophetic word ever prophetic word ever spoken was completed in this Calvary's cross. We can read in Isaiah chapter four, and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found a place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recover the sight to the blind, to send out liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and all the eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. He outlined the call of God on his earthly ministry.

And as you and I read through Scripture, we have all of the accounts that confirm this complete work was accomplished by His ministry. And He could cry out, It's finished. All the prophetic promises were complete and fulfilled in Him. Every prophetic word. We read about that in our text tonight because it said this, after this Jesus knowing all things were now accomplished that scripture might be fulfilled, every prophetic word spoken might be fulfilled and said I thirst Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on his up and put it to his mouth.

Prophesied in the Psalms where the psalmist writes, they also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Every prophetic word. Mathematicians have tried to figure out how many, what's the odds of that accomplishing. And the last figure that I looked at, and I have no concept of what this figure means, I'm not proclaiming I do, but it's 10 to the 17th power. That's right the number 10 and then put 17 zeros after that.

The only thing I know that that's bigger than is the national debt. I mean, that's the only thing. But that's Only God could accomplish that. Only God. And Jesus Christ being the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, completed that prophetic promises, every single one.

And he told this to his disciples. Listen, he took the 12 aside and said to them, behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished, for he will be delivered to the Gentiles, will be mocked, insulted, spit upon, they'll scourge him, they'll kill him, and on the third day he'll rise again." That's what happened on Good Friday. They killed him. It was prophesied and it was accomplished in his death. Those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not know him or even the voice of the prophets which were read every Sabbath having have fulfilled them in condemning him and though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death.

And now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb. You see, God in His wisdom and grace and mercy has given us His will expressed in His word and In every promise he has accomplished in his son the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior And it was proclaimed and He proclaimed that to His disciples. And we just read about it in Acts where he died, they fulfilled all that was written concerning him that he would be crucified. They took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb. But listen to the beginning of the next verse.

But God raised him from the dead. Hallelujah. You see, the cry that has finished is victory. There was a vicarious death. He died for me and for you.

But there's a victorious chant and proclamation at the end of that, that it is finished. And it's always accomplished that you and I could believe that He is the Son of God, that He is the one and only way for forgiveness of sins. And to have this gap between heaven and hell bridge. It's only in Jesus Christ who proclaimed, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father but through me.

And as we apply Scripture to our hearts and lives, we proclaim that, that He is not only our Savior, but our Lord. And we are here to accomplish His will and call and purpose as He did His Father's. By hearing, by obeying. For all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. It's finished.

It's finished. And we can grab that and we can lay a hold of that. We can even agree to that tonight. We can celebrate that in the Lord's Supper. But people, there's a challenge.

There's a call. There's a responsibility that you and I, hearing these words, it's finished. That you and I can begin to live in that finished work on Calvary's cross. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. It's finished. We celebrate that, but we also testify to that reality in our hearts and lives as we partake of the Lord's Supper tonight, but also as we go forth into the world, proclaiming God's complete and finished work on Calvary's Cross and His glorious resurrection, that there is life, eternal life with Jesus Christ. Lord, let us apply your finished work to our hearts and lives, not just intellectually, not just that we agree with what you did, Lord, but that we live a life that reflects that relationship.

For your honor and glory in Jesus' name, amen.