Communion Message
(It is finished)
October 9-10, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. I invite you to stand as I read to you from John chapter 18. Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?" "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you." Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled. Pilate then want back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." "What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?" They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him." The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposed Caesar." When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at the palace known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king." Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fasted to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the 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 the hyssop 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. It is finished. You know that was more than a statement of the obvious. It was more than the pronouncement of the end of a life's journey. It was more than the declaration of the fulfillment of a life purpose. It was an accounting statement. It is finished means paid in full. Paid in full. The scriptures tell us the wages of sin is death. The Scriptures tell us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Scriptures tell us all we like sheep have gone astray, each of us turning to our own way, but the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity, the sin, of us all. As Jesus hung on that cross that day so many years ago, it was not for sins that He had committed, for He committed none. He went to that cross to pay with His life the wages of our sin.

I invite you if you're physically able to join with me as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Lord as we hold these elements we're reminded of the great price that was paid for our sins. Lord we stand in awe when we think about how great and mighty and infinite You are in every dimension, and how holy; and how small and finite we are and how unholy. Thank you for Your word which declares that if we confess our sin You are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because of Your great sacrifice on our behalf we can leave this place today cleansed of our sin. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Let's partake of the bread and also the cup. O, we say thank you Lord. We say thank you Lord. We say hallelujah. As a congregation let's provide a chorus of hallelujah to the Lord, shall we? Hallelujah. Let's declare it again. Hallelujah. Let's say it again. Hallelujah! We worship You this day Lord for You are great and greatly to be praised. Thank you Lord for all that You are and all that You've done on our behalf, in Jesus' name we pray. And together we say, amen. Let's stand. Let's greet our neighbor, shall we?