Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we are, our last Wednesday of our Lenton journey this year gathered together again by the power of the Holy Spirit. He’s brought us here to hear once again our savior’s voice, crying out from the cross. I wonder, have you ever been at a bedside of someone who is dying, being invited into that sacredness of the holy as someone closes their eyes for the first time, for the last time in this life, and opens them for the first time In the arms of their savior. There’s a sacredness about it in those moments. In the last things that they say to us, it’s almost like they’re written on the tablets of our hearts. We remember them. They impact us Tonight. The Holy Spirit is here to impact us with the last two things that our savior says. It is finished and into your hands. I commit my spirit. We are here by the power of the Holy Spirit because we need to hear about Jesus in the very hour that he had waited his whole entire life to endure. This was the time that he had told his disciples about over and over again leading up to Jesus’ time on the cross. He told them in John 12, now my heart is troubled and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour. No, it was for this very purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Jesus again, tried to prepare his disciples. In John 13 when we hear it was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the end. And again in John 17, as Jesus opens what we call the high priestly prayer, we hear from his lips, these words, father, the hour has come glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. The hour had come. The hour when Jesus would die for our sins. The hour when Jesus would bear the burden of our judgment upon himself. The hour that reminds us that just as the birth of Christ was made public by a bright light in the middle of the night. Now the death of Jesus Christ is marked by a deep darkness. In the middle of the day, the hour had come, the hour when God dramatically turned the light out on humanity. As his dear son, Jesus Christ entered into the depth of suffering of our sins. This is a solemn occasion we face tonight. We face it, pondering the price of our savior’s, uh, victory. The price he paid because of us. It’s a solemn moment described for us in our gospel reading. We find it in John’s gospel, chapter 19, beginning in verse 28 later. Knowing that all was now complete, 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 his plant and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said it is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The Gospel of our Lord. Praise. Let’s pray. Father, we come to you tonight thanking you that in this season of Lent, you invite us to receive the gift of your grace and the gift of your love found in the debt. Death of your son, your son who gave his life as a sacrifice for us. Jesus, we thank you that once again, you bring us to the foot of your cross. We’re there. We’re watching you. Your hands are out. Blood running from them, from the nails. Your feet are nailed to the cross. The thorn is upon your brow. Blood is everywhere. Help us understand more fully the impact your death and resurrection should have on our lives. And Holy Spirit, come and ready us now to receive God’s truth as you. Come to take me out of your way. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Dear friends, in Christ, I’m not sure that you and I will ever truly grasp the wonder of God’s love or the dimensions of his power unless we first understand and grasp the significance of his death. That brings us to the first point tonight. Jesus endured the cross in submission to his father’s will. He didn’t come kicking and screaming. He came because his father gave him to the world to do this work, to endure this hour that we talk about. And as such, we come to hear the Declaration of Victory. I. That our savior made when in a loud voice, a loud voice, he moments before he dies, but in a loud voice, loud enough that the whole world heard it. He cried out. It is finished. We need to understand that the cross of Christ has two sides to it. The first one shows the profound depth depths of Christ’s humiliation and his suffering. The second side of the cross forms the basis of our salvation. It tells of the consummation of Jesus’ mission. When we hear it is finished, we also come to understand that you and I have now entered into the very nerve. Center of what we call sin bearing. We are at the very center of the gospel. We are at the very essence of Christianity. This is what it’s all about, folks. This is what our savior came to do for us. He declared it is finished. The mission was upon him, the mission that his father had sent him to do. His father, who declared to the world that this is my son, my one and only begotten son. I’ve given him to the world to complete this mission. A mission described for us in Isaiah 53. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. This mission of Jesus Christ is described by himself in Luke chapter 12. He said to his disciples, a bab, that he had a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed.

The apostle Paul tells us of this mission in Second Corinthians chapter five, when he wrote, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And again, the Apostle Paul. Rights. In Galatians three 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hung on a pole. So you see tonight as we contemplate what happened on the cross, we contemplate God’s truth. God’s truth that tells us God, Jesus hung in our place and when he did, hell came to Calvary. Hell came upon Jesus as he entered into the depth of it. Why? Why did he bear it so that you and I do not need to fear it? For if he bore it in our place, we should never have a threat of hell coming upon us for he took our place. It brings us to our second point. It is finished is the victory cry of every believer. Yes, but if we are going to have it is finished as our victory cry. We need to understand it. We need to know exactly what he did, what was finished. Did Jesus just cry? It is finished so that he could declare the determination of his physical suffering and that he was done with it was his cry. It has finished a final gasp. Of a worn out life or was there more was his cry? It is finished a declaration from our own redeemer that all for which he had been born to do had been accomplished, that the full price of our redemption had been paid for. Dear friends in our victory Cry, it is finished or found the sum of all the joy. And divine consolation that you and I need so that we can have peace in our hearts and in our lives, despite anything this world throws at us. After, after the sermon, we’re gonna sing a hymn that I ask Kristin to find in it, we find words that remind us that you and I need no other argument. We need no other plea for this statement. This victory cry from the lips of our savior is enough. The cross is enough, his wounds are enough. The knowledge that Jesus died for us is enough. It is finished, is our victory cry. The words of this statement are found. In the, the words of this statement ground us as believers in the assurance that the full price, everything that needed to be paid for you and I to be reconciled with the father was done through the son.

It was done over the course of many hours, but tonight we concentrate on the last six, the six hours on the cross. The first three, Jesus suffered because of the wrath of humanity. Men and Satan came to do their worst upon our savior. The pain he endured begun in the Gar Garden of Gethsemane when he bled from every pore. It continued through the heinous trials of Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate. The pain Jesus endured in the surging and mocking by the brutal soldiers went on through the journey to Calvary. As the nails were pounded into his hands and his feet on the cross, he endured it as the priests spit upon him, mocked him. He endured suffering from humanity as the callous indifference of the crowd and the vulgar mob came against him when none would take pity and none would speak a word of comfort to our Lord. This is the pain that he took for you and for me. Then came the three hours of darkness. Pain I can’t even imagine. There’s no way that I could ever understand the excruciating pain of being separated. The son separated from the father. We heard it a couple of weeks ago. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As the sins of the world came upon him in this darkness, it was God’s will for the Son to suffer and to be crushed under the weight. Of his life becoming an offering for us. And I can almost guarantee you that at some point in your life, you have heard what most of us have heard. Jesus died for you. But do we really meet, know what that means? Do we have the weight of that upon us? Jesus’ death is often associated with the forgiveness of our sins, and it needs to be. But is death, is that only about forgiveness or was there more when Jesus shouted in a loud voice, it is finished. What was the It was the it only about fulfilling prophecy. He had truly done that for Jesus was the woman’s seed promised in Genesis three 15. Jesus’ mother was the virgin spoken of in Isaiah seven 14. He was from the seed of Abraham promised in Genesis 2218. Jesus was born in Bethlehem just as God told us. In Micah five two, Jesus was the promised Messiah who opened up the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. He set the prisoners free. He preached the good news to the poor. He had done all of this stuff. He was the person despised and rejected by the Jews and hated without cause. He was betrayed by his friend and forsaken and abandoned by his disciples. He was led by a lamb to the slaughter. His hands and feet were pierced with nails as he hung between two criminals. All of this Jesus knew had to happen. And then knowing that all of this was now completed so that scripture could be fulfilled, he said he was thirsty and he received the drink. And then after Jesus had reviewed the entire scope of the prophetic word, as he hung there dying, he saw that the work of the father that the father had given him to do was complete. And then, and only then did Jesus lift himself up and say, it is finished. So yes, it was certainly to fulfill the prophecy of scripture, but the, it was much more than that. It was the sacrificial work of God. It was the three hours of darkness that had passed. It was the awful cup that he had been given and that had been drained.

The, it was his precious blood that had been shed for us. The, it was the outpouring wrath of God upon him that he had endured the, it was the giving of his life that he laid down of his own accord just as the father had promised would happen. The, it was God so loving the world that he gave his one and only begotten son to die. This death in this hour to finish the work of the Father, to endure this hour so that all who believed in him would not perish, but would have eternal everlasting life. We call him our redeemer. We call him our savior. We say Jesus is our high priest. We say he is our pascal and anointing lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. We call Jesus our liberator, and we call him King. The King who was willing to die for his people. Jesus lived so he could give his life for us. As such, our Lord Jesus died as no other human that’s ever lived or will ever live, died. His life was not taken from him. He laid down his life. He told us in John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd and I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life only to take it up again. He said, no one takes it from me, but I lay down. I lay it down on my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it up. Again, this command I received from my father, we should be excited about that. This should give us comfort in our times of trial. You see on the cross, Jesus showed us what love looks like. In his death, Jesus came and he identified with our pain, he identified with our suffering and with our humanity. And in his death, he identifies with our mortality. In his resurrection, Jesus proves that he had overcome all these things. Jesus was doing all of this on the cross so that he could redeem us, so that he could save us, so that he could draw all of humanity toward himself. This is the it of it is finished and it was done on an old, rugged bloody cross in a place called the skull. The cross is a divine drama, a divine drama in which our God, the Father, through his son Jesus, revealed the darkness of humanity and the relentless grace and the great lengths that the Father went to give his divine love to the entire human race. The cross is a divine love story. It should move us to tears, and it should beg us to come often and read about it over and over again so that we can find comfort and encouragement that our savior finished it all. He was indeed the man of sorrow, spoken of suffering at the hands of men. At the hands of Satan, and yes, at the hands of the father, pain inflicted upon himself, both enemies and friends alike. From the beginning, Jesus was the man of sorrows, and for his entire life, from birth to death, he walked in the shadows of the cross that awaited him. But now. The end of the hour came, the suffering was ended, that from which his holy soul shrank was over. The father had bruised him. Men and the devil had done their worst to him. The wages of our sins had been paid for. The divine sword of justice had once again been put back in its sheath. And with a triumphant, victorious, loud voice, we find our victory cry in the lips of our savior.

It is finished. I have won the war. It’s a is astounding. It’s amazing. It’s awesome and at times it’s unbelievable what Jesus finished on the cross. Jesus died in our place. God’s masterpiece of his love and redemption was completed in those moments. As he cried out, it is finished and in his final breath, he defeated death and sin and evil and all of the brokenness that Satan brought to this world. Jesus. The Lamb of God hung on the cross and he took away the sins of the world, and when he did, he bridged the gap between God and humanity. When he poured out his blood for the forgiveness of our of sins, he healed everything that had been broken in our hearts. And he made a way for us to receive everlasting eternal life. Dear friends, I believe the Holy Spirit has brought us tonight back to the foot of the cross so that we can once again hear our savior say it is finished. And as we hear it, I pray that it can be written on the tablets of our hearts. So that when the enemy comes against us, when he tries to say, you are not good enough, you’re not worthy, you’re not righteous. We can say You’re right. But guess what? My savior died for me. And because he said it is finished, it is finished. So get away from me. I’m not listening to you anymore. Until you and I have journeyed with our savior to this cross, until you and I have been fully immersed in the forces of evil on display at his death, until you and I have walked with our Lord through the darkness of hell, we cannot fully understand the beauty of his resurrection that we will celebrate just days from now. And my dear friends, this brings us to our last point. Even in his death on the cross, Jesus was teaching us how to pray. Five weeks ago, I told you that we began our Linton journey being reminded that Jesus began his long grueling hours of death on the cross with a prayer. Do you remember what it was? Father forgive them for. They do not know what they’re doing. His beginning prayer was not filled with anger or condemnation or hate. He wasn’t saying, dad, go get ’em. He began his grueling hours on the cross by heaving himself up to take a breath and to say, father, forgive them to tonight, we’ve heard Jesus cry out in a loud voice. His last prayer, his prayer of victory declaring it is finished, but also his prayer prayed loud enough for the whole world to hear, said, father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. These final words of Jesus. Are also the same words found in Psalm 31, verse five. It tells us that Jesus’ dying prayer was an absolute trust of the Father. With his final breath, he prayed the prayer he most likely learned at the knee of his mother when he was a small child.

You see, many theologians believed that Jewish mothers would teach their children. Psalm 31 verse five. Kind of as a prayer at the end of the day. Do you remember teaching your children? Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep you. Remember that one? Oh, that scared the, that scared me when I was a kid. You see, I wasn’t a believer. I didn’t know what in the world. I, I kept thinking somebody’s gonna come in the middle of the night and take my soul. But when you’re a believer, you understand the power of that prayer that we teach our children. So Jesus understood the power of what it meant to say into your hands. I commit my spirit, father like so many other Jewish children. Jesus learned how to completely surrender himself over to the Father with absolute trust in this prayer of complete surrender. Let me read the full verse to you. You are indeed my rock and my fortress. For your namesake, lead me and guide me. Take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands. I commit my spirit. What encouragement we should gain from this prayer, this act of contentment of faith. Of confidence and love. He’s showing us how to do that. He is saying, when you face danger, pray to the father. This way, he bookended his time on the cross with prayer. And he did so because he taught us that in the faith face of darkness and despair, when we face the valley of the shadow of death in our own lives, when we face the dark unknown of the trials in our lives, we should pray. Father, into your hands. I commit my spirit. I do so Father. So I can tell you that I believe in you and I have faith in you, and I trust you. The world can’t save me. The world can’t give me what I need. But you father, you can. So I give myself over to you when we pray this prayer as part of our daily routine, you and I never have to be afraid. Uh, and our faith can always be a resting place, not in fear, but in confidence and in hope of the father. Into your hands. Jesus says, into your hands, the hands of the Father. Do you know that your name is carved in the hands of the father? Do you realize that? Do you remember that? And do you remember the words that Jesus told us in John 10 29? That we’ve been given to the son by the father, and as such, we are in the father’s hands, just as he said we would be. And if you are in the hand of the Father, then what can come against you and what can ever separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus into your hands. I commit my spirit, you and I pray. It is a prayer that reminds us of God’s truth found in Romans chapter eight. If God is for us, who can be against us?

Nothing. Why? Because God did not spare his only son, but gave him up for us. So that nothing can separate us from the love of God. You are in the hands of the Father right now. As much as you try to squirm out of it, he is not gonna let you. You are in the hands of the Father, nothing. No trouble or hardship or persecution, or famine or nakedness or danger or sorg, nothing. Not even death, can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. So my dear friends, as we now face Holy Week, where the Holy Spirit will bring us to the darkness of our own sins, let us go in confidence. Let us go with courage as we like our savior, cry out to the world and to the Father into your hands. I surrender it all. I commit myself to you, father. I give it over to you. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we are truly humbled by your love. Thank you for coming to this world to be our savior who is willing to die so that we could live. Help us remember your sacrifice. Help us remember to live in peace and the healing that you provided to us. Holy Spirit, write our victory, cry. It is finished. Write our prayer into your hands. I commit my spirit on the tablets of our heart and let us rest in the hands of the Father as we now commit our whole entire selves over to him. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.