What is Finished?

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Well, again, if you're following along with your Bibles, I wanna invite you to turn to the Gospel of John, and we're going to look at just one verse from the Gospel of John.
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We're going to look at John chapter 19 and verse 30.
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So John 19 and verse 30.
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When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished.
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And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
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Father in heaven, as I seek to preach your word now, I pray first and foremost that you would keep me from error.
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For Lord, I am a fallible man and I am capable of preaching error.
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And I don't want to preach error for the sake of your name, for the sake of my conscience and for the sake of my hearers, Lord, that they would hear the truth.
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And Lord, that your Holy Spirit would fill me as I preach and that he would be the ultimate teacher.
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For Lord, if the spirit of God is not the teacher, then the teaching will be in vain.
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So Lord, I pray that tonight, those hearing my voice would be moved toward a closer understanding of what the Gospel is, a closer understanding of what the cross means.
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And Lord, for those who do not know Jesus, that this would be to them a challenge to their very soul, that they would understand that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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We pray this all in his name and for his sake, amen.
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The title of tonight's message is what is finished? What is finished? The cross is a horrendous method of execution.
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The person dies by asphyxiation.
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The lungs are crushed under the weight of one's own body.
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Therefore, it is without doubt that to speak during crucifixion would be difficult, almost impossible.
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One would have to take his feet, push down on the nail in the foot, lift up his body weight on that single nail, which has gone through both feet and use that to be able to breathe in so as to say something.
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This is probably the reason why we have so relatively few statements of Jesus from the cross.
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There are only seven recorded statements of Jesus from the cross.
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Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
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Luke 23, 34.
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Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
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Luke 23 and 43.
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Woman, behold thy son.
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Son, behold thy mother.
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John 19, 26 and 27.
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Eli, Eli, laima sabachthani.
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Matthew 27, 46 and Mark 15 and 34.
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I thirst.
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John 19, 28.
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Into thy hands I commit my spirit.
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Luke 23 and 46.
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And finally, it is finished.
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John 19 and 29.
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Given time, we could examine each of these and each one's significance, but now I wanna focus only on one.
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And that is, it is finished.
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And I want us to answer this question.
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What is finished? What is it that Jesus said is finished? Many of you have heard the term tetelestai.
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That is the Greek term that is used in this passage to translate the phrase, it is finished.
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And often the word tetelestai is translated paid in full.
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And that is the proper term.
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That's the transactional term.
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But the root of tetelestai really needs to be understood because the root of tetelestai is the Greek idea of telos.
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And the word telos means end or purpose, ultimate object or goal.
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So when Jesus said tetelestai, when Jesus said it is finished, what he was saying is that I have completed my purpose.
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I have achieved my ultimate objective.
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I have reached the end for which I began.
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So tonight I want to look at three ways that Jesus achieved his ultimate objective on the cross.
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I want us to see three ways that Jesus fulfills his ultimate objective that he set out to do.
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First and number one of the ways that Jesus achieved his ultimate objective on the cross is that it was in the types and symbols of the Old Testament had been fulfilled.
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The types and symbols of the Old Testament had been fulfilled.
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From the very moment Jesus began his ministry, the language of types and symbols was used.
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John the Baptist saw him and what did he say? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he says as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.
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Jesus also said as Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, so will I be three days in the belly of the earth.
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And we can go all through the Old Testament and see over and over and over again how Jesus is fulfilled in types and symbols.
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Jacob's ladder is a symbol and type of Christ.
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The manna from heaven is a symbol and a type of Christ.
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The priesthood itself represented what Christ would become as our great high priest and every act of the sacrificial system pointed forward to the work of Christ.
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This is why Paul would tell us that the Sabbaths and the feasts and the ceremonies were all shadows, but they have their substance in Jesus Christ.
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That's Colossians chapter two in verses 16 and 17.
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He said, these are a shadow of things to come, but the substance of them is Jesus Christ.
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After the resurrection, Jesus met two men on the road to Emmaus.
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In Luke 24, 27, it says this, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
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And then in Luke 24, 44, it says this, then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
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Notice what he says, all of the prophets, all of the law of Moses, all of the Psalms must be fulfilled.
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How are they to be fulfilled? They're fulfilled in him.
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They're written about him.
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The Old Testament is about him.
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It's about Jesus.
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So the first thing that is achieved in the cross is the fulfillment of the Old Testament signs, types, and symbols, which all pointed to him.
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When he said it is finished, he was saying all of those types, signs, and symbols have their finish, their end, their telos in me.
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The second thing that he achieved on the cross is that the prophetic announcements had been realized.
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Not only were the signs and the symbols and the types fulfilled, but the prophetic announcements were realized.
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Types and symbols are pictures of Christ, but prophecies are announcements of Christ.
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They're different.
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The Old Testament is filled with types and symbols which point to Christ, but it also has direct, unambiguous announcements about the coming of Jesus Christ.
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These announcements are what caused the great anticipation in the heart of the people of Israel.
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Think about what the woman in Samaria said to Jesus.
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We know that Messiah is coming.
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How did she know that? How could she say in John 4.25, I know Messiah's coming? Well, the reason why she could say I know Messiah's coming is because that had been announced by the prophets.
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The prophets said Messiah is coming.
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When did they say it? There are well over 100 specific prophecies about Messiah which are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He is the seed of the woman, Genesis 3.15.
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He is the seed of Abraham through whom all nations will be blessed, Genesis 12.3.
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He is the rightful and perpetual heir of David's throne, 2 Samuel 7, 12, and 13.
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He is the one born of the virgin, Isaiah 7.13 and 14.
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He is born in Bethlehem, Micah 5.2.
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He is the stone the builders rejected who became the cornerstone, Psalm 118.22 and 23.
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He is the one upon whom the spirit of God rested, Isaiah 11.2.
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He is the one who establishes the new and eternal priesthood, Zechariah 3.8 and 9.
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He is the suffering servant despised and rejected of men, Isaiah 53.2 and 3.
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He is the one oppressed and afflicted yet who opened not his mouth, Isaiah 53.7.
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He is the one by whose stripes we are healed, Isaiah 53 and verse 5.
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It's on and on and on and on.
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There are prophecies and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And someone might say, well, could Jesus have fulfilled these by accident? Could Jesus have fulfilled these simply by happenstance? A Christian convert to Judaism, or excuse me, a Christian convert from Judaism named Louis Lepidus said this.
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He said, the odds are so astronomical that they rule that out.
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Someone did the math and estimated that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in 100 million billion.
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If you took that number of silver dollars and you covered the state of Texas, it would cover the state of Texas in a depth of two feet.
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And if you marked one silver dollar among them and had a blindfolded person wander the whole state and bend down and pick up only one coin, that are the odds that Jesus would fulfill only eight of the prophecies that were of him.
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And yet he fulfilled well over a hundred prophetic announcements as to who he was.
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So not only did Jesus, when he said it is finished, not only was he referring to the types and symbols, but he also was talking about the prophetic announcements.
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He has fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah.
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He has fulfilled the prophecies of Micah.
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He has fulfilled the prophecies of the Psalms.
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He has fulfilled them over and over and over again.
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But finally, not only when he said it is finished, not only were the types and symbols of the Old Testament fulfilled, not only were the prophetic announcements realized, but thirdly and finally, the father's wrath was satisfied.
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The father's wrath was satisfied.
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I will say this, there are more than three things that Jesus meant when he said it is finished.
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That we could spend all night going through what all was finished.
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But I think this one takes preeminence over them all.
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Because yes, when Jesus said it is finished, he meant he was done fulfilling the types and symbols.
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When he said it is finished, he was done fulfilling the messianic prophecies.
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But in the final analysis, the most important thing, the thing that he was finished and it was most important that he was finished, was that he satisfied the wrath of Almighty God.
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On that cross, when Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
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The biblical word for this is propitiation.
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Propitiation means to satisfy and it satisfied God when Jesus went to the cross because God's wrath, which was due me and was due all who believe in Christ, was poured out on the son.
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Romans 3 21 says this, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.
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The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
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This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins, but it was to show his righteousness at this present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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This one paragraph in Paul's letter to the Romans shows us the plight of man's sin and the power of the work of Christ.
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The plight of man's sin, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but the power of the work of Christ is in the propitiatory work of Christ.
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Man is helplessly lost in sin.
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God is just and therefore must punish his sin.
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He cannot simply excuse it and remain just.
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God is also merciful though, and he wants to save, and so he sends his son, and he sends his son to prave the way for salvation, where it would not forego his justice, but it would display his justice.
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On that cross when Jesus died, the wrath of God was being poured out on the son, displaying the justice of God and the mercy of God.
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Justice in him receiving the punishment and mercy in that he was giving the punishment to the undeserved son who took it willingly.
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The Bible says he drank the cup of God's wrath down to the very drop.
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He drank the wrath we deserved as our substitute.
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He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
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This is why we make the point of this word tetelestai, meaning transaction.
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In the death of Christ, a transaction was made.
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Christ paid the debt we owe for sin.
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God received the payment.
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The bill of sale was marked paid in full.
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All of the sins paid in full.
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All of the debt wiped clean because it's been paid by the blood of the lamb.
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Of all that was achieved on the cross, the most blessed thing that was achieved is that God's wrath against sin was satisfied.
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Many people get confused about why we call this Good Friday.
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Our Savior was beaten mercilessly.
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He was hung publicly, and he was killed viciously.
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How can we call that good? We don't call it good because our Savior suffered.
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We call it good because of what he accomplished in his suffering.
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Why? The Bible says it pleased the Lord to strike him.
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Why? Why would it please the Lord to strike his son? Because in striking his son, he is able to remain both just and the justifier of the one who comes to him through that son.
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Jesus takes the punishment we deserve and gives us the righteousness that we lack.
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That's why it's good.
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That's why this is Good Friday.
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It's a good day because our good Savior became sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in him.
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Tonight, if you are outside of Christ, let me tell you something very simple.
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If you were to die and face God right now, you would owe a debt that can only be paid by an eternity in hell.
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Your sin deserves death.
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The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but it doesn't stop there.
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It says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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If you're outside of Christ, the Bible says repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
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If you're saved tonight, hold tight to the son.
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Trust him with your whole life and know that no matter what happens in this world, nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, your Lord.
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But if you do not know Christ, run to the cross.
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Run to the cross.
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Know this, there is salvation in no one else.
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For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
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Let us pray.
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Father, I thank you for this time to study together.
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I pray, oh Lord, that you would hear the words that have been preached and I pray, Lord, that you would use those words to move on the hearts of men and women.
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Lord, if there are those who have heard these words tonight and Lord, you have saw fit to move their heart to believe, I pray that you would convict and convert and change them and bring them to Christ.
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And Lord, for the believers who've heard this word, I pray that this would be an encouragement to them that they would understand the goodness of Good Friday.
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Oh, what a good day it is.
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What a wonderful day it is.
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What an amazing thing we have to be able to call this day Good Friday.
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For it is good because you have loved us so that you have given your son to die for us.
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You've given your son to be our propitiation or to propitiate our sin.
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He is the one who has given us salvation.
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We thank you, we praise you, we glorify you for all that you have done and all that you're going to do.
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In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.