This is an exposition of John 19:28-30. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 22, 2018.
Intro:
This evening we gather around the Lord’s Table. It is a time of reflection and celebration.
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This is one of 2 ordinances given to the church. We are told to observe this memorial meal as a proclamation of our Lord’s death until He returns. I just want to stop and reflect for a moment this evening on the events of that last week of our Lord’s earthly ministry. The week we refer to as Passion Week.
It was an amazing time. It began with a great parade and a cheering crowd. It ended with a violent mob shouting, “Crucify Him!” In between there were moments of tenderness, love and compassion mixed with bitterness and betrayal. Of course it is misleading to say it began on that Sunday – it actually began much earlier. It began in eternity past when the Father, Son and Holy Spirit agreed upon a plan. A plan that would redeem fallen humanity. A plan that would demand the slaughter of the innocent for the sake of the guilty.
The plan was put into motion some thirty years before when the Lord Jesus left the glory and splendor of heaven to become a man. God, the Eternal One, the Creator stepped into His creation. The Sovereign Lord who enjoyed the worship and adoration of heaven; the Sovereign One, to whom the whole of creation bowed in obedience, became flesh and bone. He who had enjoyed eternal worship was scorned. He who had known only love and acceptance was despised and rejected. Laughed at, mocked and ridiculed. Shamelessly nailed to a cross. Humiliated for all the world to see.
Yet that moment of shame became the time of triumph.
Text: John 19:28-30
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
I know, it doesn’t seem triumphant.
Until you know, the rest of the story…
Following three horrifying hours in darkness as the Father turned His back on His beloved Son, the parched lips of the bleeding, dying Jesus formed the words – “It is finished.”
Then, in a scene that defied the moment – he bowed his head and whispered a simple child’s prayer, “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.” Silence. An eerie silence fell across the Golgatha.
The moans of the other victims pierced the silence. The muffled sounds of orders and the talk of the executioner broke the silence. But the words hung in the air “it is finished.” Finished? What was finished? In what possible way could this scene be interpreted as victorious?
To answer that question we have to back up – to the beginning.
“The soul that sins, it will die.”
That’s what the Father had said to our first parents.
Adam and Eve understood the penalty for rebellion.
But they rebelled.
Lesson #1 – sin brings death.
Fast-forward several generations - Egypt had been rocked with plague after plague. Stubborn Pharaoh refused to let go of God’s people.
Lesson #2 - deliverance comes through the blood of an innocent one.
That is the message of the Gospel. That is the message of the cross. That is the meaning of this Table. We are guilty. It is not that we “feel” guilty, it is that we are guilty! We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Most of us will say, easily enough, that we are sinners. After all, no one is perfect.
Why did he come? What was his mission? He came to perfectly fulfill God’s righteous demands. He came to satisfy the holy law of God. He was without sin. He perfectly obeyed the Ten Commandments and every other law of God. He came to satisfy all of God’s requirements and he came as our substitute.
Romans 5:6-11 –
He came to give his life as a ransom.
He, who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ. So we come this evening. This is my body given for you. Take and eat. This is the new covenant in my blood. Drink in remembrance of me.
There are those who want to rid the church of these horrible, awful hymns of the blood atonement. But I say, “sing on!” For without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. I’m in agreement with the great old hymn based on 1 Peter 1:19 –
Gadsby’s Hymnal #1156 —— C.M. —— J. Irons Precious Blood. 1 Pet. 1. 19
What sacred Fountain yonder springs
Up from the throne of God,
And all new covenant blessings brings?
’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.
What mighty sum paid all my debt,
When I a bondman stood,
And has my soul at freedom set?
’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.
What stream is that which sweeps away
My sins just like a flood,?Nor lets one guilty blemish stay?
’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.
What voice is that which speaks for me
In heaven’s high court for good,
And from the curse has set me free?
’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.
What theme, my soul, shall best employ
Thy harp before thy God,?And make all heaven to ring with joy?
’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.
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