The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross-41

"It is finished"

2. Here we see the completion of his sufferings.

But what tongue or pen can describe the sufferings of the Saviour? O the unutterable anguish, physical, mental, and spiritual which he endured! Appropriately was he designated "the Man of Sorrows." Sufferings at the hands of men, at the hands of Satan, and at the hands of God. Pain inflicted upon him by enemies and friends alike. From the beginning he walked amid the shadows which the cross cast athwart his path. Hear his lament: "I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up" (Ps. 88:15). What a light this throws on his earlier years! Who can say how much is contained in those words? For us, an impenetrable veil is cast over the future; none of us know what a day may bring forth. But the Saviour knew the end from the beginning!

One has only to read through the gospels to learn how the awful cross was ever before him. At the marriage-feast of Cana, where all was gladness and merriment, he makes solemn reference to "his hour" not yet come. When Nicodemus interviewed him at night the Saviour referred to the "lifting up of the Son of man". When James and John came to request from him the two places of honour in his coming kingdom, he made mention of the "cup" which he had to drink and of the "baptism" wherewith he must be baptized. When Peter confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he turned to his disciples and began to show unto them "how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matthew 16:21). When Moses and Elijah stood with him on the mount of transfiguration it was to speak of "his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."

If it is true we are quite unable to estimate the sufferings of Christ due to the anticipation of the cross, still less can we fathom the dread reality itself. The physical sufferings were excruciating, but even this was as nothing compared with his anguish of soul. To a considering of these sufferings we have already devoted several paragraphs in previous chapters, yet we make no apology in turning to them again. We cannot contemplate too often what the Saviour endured in order to secure our salvation. The better we are acquainted with his sufferings, and the more frequently we meditate thereon, the warmer will be our love and the deeper our gratitude.

At last the closing hours have come. There had been the terrible experience in Gethsemane followed by the appearings before Caiaphas, before Pilate, before Herod, and back again before Pilate. There had been the scourging and mocking by the brutal soldiers; the journey to Calvary; the fastening of his hands and feet to the cruel tree. There had been the reviling of the priests, the crowd, and the two thieves crucified with him. There had been the callous indifference of a vulgar mob, among whom "none took pity" and none spoke a word of "comfort" (Ps. 69:20). There had been the awful cloud that hid from him the Father’s face, which wrung from him the bitter cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There had been the parched lips which drew from him the exclamation "I thirst". There had been the fearful conflict with the power of darkness as the serpent "bruised" his heel. Well might the sufferer ask, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger" (Lam. 1:12).

But now the suffering is ended. That from which his holy soul shrank is over. The Lord has bruised him; man and devil have done their worst. The cup has been drained. The awful storm of God’s wrath has just spent itself. The darkness is ended. The sword of divine justice is sheathed. The wages of sin have been paid. The prophecies of his sufferings are all fulfilled. The cross has been "endured". Divine holiness has been fully satisfied. With a cry of triumph - a loud cry, a cry which reverberated throughout the entire universe - the Saviour exclaims, "It is finished". The ignominy and shame, the suffering and agony are past. Never again shall he experience pain. Never again shall he endure the contradiction of sinners against himself. Never again shall he be in the hands of Satan. Never again shall the light of God’s countenance be hidden from him. Blessed be God, all that is finished!

The head that once was crowned with thorns, is crowned with glory now;
A royal diadem adorns the mighty Victor’s brow.
The highest place that Heaven of fords is his by Sovereign right,
The King of kings and Lord affords. and Heaven’s eternal Light.
The Joy of all who dwell above, the Joy of all below,
To whom he manifest his love, and Grant his name to know.

Morning and Evening

Charles H. Spurgeon
June 30, 2011

Morning Reading

And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them.

—John 17:22

Behold the superlative liberality of the Lord Jesus, for He hath given us His all. Although a tithe of His possessions would have made a universe of angels rich beyond all thought, yet was He not content until He had given us all that He had. It would have been surprising grace if He had allowed us to eat the crumbs of His bounty beneath the table of His mercy; but He will do nothing by halves, He makes us sit with Him and share the feast. Had He given us some small pension from His royal coffers, we should have had cause to love Him eternally; but no, He will have His bride as rich as Himself, and He will not have a glory or a grace in which she shall not share. He has not been content with less than making us joint-heirs with Himself, so that we might have equal possessions. He has emptied all His estate into the coffers of the Church, and hath all things common with His redeemed. There is not one room in His house the key of which He will withhold from His people. He gives them full liberty to take all that He hath to be their own; He loves them to make free with His treasure, and appropriate as much as they can possibly carry. The boundless fulness of His all-sufficiency is as free to the believer as the air he breathes. Christ hath put the flagon of His love and grace to the believer's lip, and bidden him drink on for ever; for could he drain it, he is welcome to do so, and as he cannot exhaust it, he is bidden to drink abundantly, for it is all his own. What truer proof of fellowship can heaven or earth afford?

"When I stand before the throne
Dressed in beauty not my own
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe."

Evening Reading

Ah Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.

—Jeremiah 32:17

At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be justified of all His children. He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! Thou canst make this plot of ground of use to me; Thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; Thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for Thou didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours—nothing is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.

Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 30, 2011

As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:12)

My prayer: Father, I stand in complete amazement of Your unrelenting love for Your children. Thank You for the blood of Your Son and the eternal grace that You pour out upon us. It seems so unbelievable that You choose to remove and forget our many transgressions against you. Yet You do just that! Make us worthy of Your remarkable mercy and grace.

The problem of living in this world

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(J. R. Miller, "Things to Live For" 1896)

The problem of living in this world, is to pass through life's vicissitudes without being harmed by them--growing into more and more radiant and beautiful Christly life, whatever our circumstances and experiences may be.

It is in this phase of our living, that we need Christ most of all. We cannot escape meeting temptation; but we are so to meet it as not to be hurt by it, coming from it rather with new strength and new radiancy of soul.

We cannot find a path in which no sorrow shall come into our life--but we are to pass through sorrow without having our life marred by it.

None but Christ can keep us thus unhurt--amid the manifold perils through which we must move continually. It is only by committing our life into the hands of Christ, that there ever can be absolute safety in this world so full of evil, or that our life ever can reach its holiest possibilities.

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Romans 15:15-17

A Study of The Book of Romans

Lesson 109 Chapter 15:15 – 17

By Pastor Randy Johnson

1. Verse 15 “Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,”
1. These verse fill us in on one indisputable fact, Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles and to the Gentile Churches. Verse 16 “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles…” Gentiles sometime forget how blessed we are to be what we are. We sometimes forget how special Paul was and is to the Gentile churches, there is a reason God used him to pen 13 book in the New Testament, because it is mostly to the Gentiles and the churches. Paul was a great man used greatly of God and we are blessed because of it.
2. “Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort…” Boldly because he did not know them, he had never been to this church however he had heard of their faith and how strong it was. They were not without their issues (no church is) but they were strong in faith.
3. No church is without the need of correction, even if they are doing everything right, every church has some sort of issues.
4. God writes to us, this is how God speaks to us, we are no different than the rest of Christians since Jesus was crucified. 1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
5. “…as putting you in mind…” This is causing you to remember, we need to be reminded of the things of God, we are so forgetful, as unfortunately as it is we sometimes loose sight of how blessed of God we are, sometimes we just need to be reminded. 2 Peter 1:12 “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.”
6. “…because of the grace that is given to me of God,” – and what grace it was, remember what he was and what he is today? Paul was a great man and great for the Gentiles because that is what God made him by grace. – Men sometimes think they are self made; people sometimes thinks a man is self made, but a great man is made by Gods grace. Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
2. Verse 16 “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

1. “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles…” – this shows the pride Paul had in being an Apostle to the Gentiles, remember he was a Jew, a Hebrew of Hebrews; it is amazing how God works.

a. The word “minister” carries a little different meaning - a public servant, that is, a functionary in the Temple or Gospel – This carries the meaning of one with authority, it would be linked to one with civil authority today. What he said and wrote carried more authority. Acts 9:15 “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:”

b. Paul was God most trusted servant in the New Testament outside of Jesus Christ, his place in heaven will be great.

2. “…ministering the gospel of God…” This is what his call was, while he did so much for the Lords church his primary call was to preach the gospel. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts." - 1 Timothy 1:11 "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."
3. “…that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” The offering up is to present the gospel which he was called of God to do, but the saving of souls was Gods job, it has always been Gods job. Romans 5:5 "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
2. Verse 17 “I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.”

1. Anything Paul accomplished material wise or spiritually was not for his own personal glory, but to Gods glory.
2. 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 16 "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (15.) For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (16.) To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
3. Everything is through Jesus Christ, He is the head of the church, He is the Saviour of mankind, and He is our way to God, He gets all glory for all accomplishments.