Sermon
Jesus' Shout of Triumph
April 7-8, 2001
Pastor Leigh Bishop

I want to share with you today. I've entitled my message "Jesus' Shout of Triumph", and if you'll join me in the gospel of John chapter 19. Now unlike Pastor Sheley I did not look to see what page that was on so I'm going to have a biblical service today. You have to seek and find. And I hope you will. It's one of the four gospels. It's the last one. If you find Matthew keep going. If you're at Revelation you went too far. John chapter 19 we're going to start reading with verse 17.

And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews', but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'" Pilate answered, I have written, what I have written." Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Then the soldiers did these things.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Father we thank you for the preciousness of Your word. We pray as we look at it today that it would speak to our hearts and challenge us in new and fresh ways that we might come to understand the depths of Calvary, and what it can mean to our lives and how it can change us and transform us as we identify with the Christ who died in our place. We thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen.

Some have said that the cross is where we see man at his worst and God at His best. Calvary is where the awful depths of human sin and the tremendous heights of God's love are met. Calvary is where the Lamb of God was slain and gave His life for us. And Calvary is where each one of us must come in order to be saved. Jesus as He hung on that cross uttered seven different phrases that speak volumes to our hearts and to our lives. The first was the word of forgiveness where He says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Then there was the word of salvation as the thief hanging on the cross next to him recognized Christ as his Savior and repented of his sins, and Jesus turned to him and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." There are the words of affection that we read in chapter 9 where Jesus beholding His mother said, "Woman, behold your son!" And then turning to His disciple whom He loved said, "Behold your mother!" Wanting to provide for her someone who would meet her needs because He would no longer be available to do so.

We see the word of anguish as He cried out, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" We hear the word of suffering when He simply said, "I thirst!" We hear the word of victory when He declared, "It is finished!" And we hear the word of contentment when He says at last, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." All these words uttered from the cross in the midst of great agony speak volumes to our soul, but I want to focus today on three words, the words of victory when Jesus said, "It is finished!" I want to take us back to the time when Jesus was about 12 years of age. His family had taken Him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and as the family leaves, when they finally camp that night, the parents realize that Jesus is not amongst any of the family members. Now if you're a typical parent panic sets in. I mean, I know for me if my child was out of my sight for 10 or 15 minutes, and I didn't know where they were, I would be fearful. Now they were relaxed because they had assumed that Jesus was with one of the uncles, or aunts, or cousins because a large entourage had gone to Jerusalem. And so it was until that night that all of a sudden -- Jesus isn't here. And so they journey back to Jerusalem, probably all through the night and into the next morning. Tired, looking for Jesus, they go from place to place. They can't find Him.

Finally in desperation they go to the temple, probably to pray, probably to ask for God to guide them and to help them find their boy. And as they get to the temple and come through the doors there is Jesus, sitting, listening to the scribes and teaching them. And the parents in all that frustration that's built up from this long journey and searching the city of say to Him, what in the world are you doing here? And they rebuked Him. And Jesus turned to His parents and said these powerful words, didn't you know I needed to be about my Father's business? But He faithfully went home and served His parents. And then at the age of 30 He began that public ministry to fulfill all the things that God had called Him to do. He worked miracles. He healed the sick. He cast out devils. He raised the dead. He talked with authority. He presented Himself as the Messiah, God in flesh. And throughout all this time He did the work of His Father, and then in John 17 as He's praying He prays this prayer in verse 4, He says; "I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work which You gave Me to do." He knew the cross was around the corner, and then as He hung on that cross He realized and knew it was done. He had accomplished all that God required of Him, and He declared with triumphant victory, "It is finished!"

What is finished? Well I want to look at several things. First of all, it is finished means that all the prophecies concerning His first coming had been fulfilled. Now you can go back into the Old Testament and you'll find several hundred prophecies concerning Christ. Some refer to His first coming, some to His second. Mathematicians have said for anybody to fulfill even a small number of those prophecies would be miraculous, but to fulfill all of them would be absolutely impossible. It could not be done unless that person was who He claimed to be, and Jesus fulfilled them all. Isaiah prophesied and said a virgin shall bring forth a child. Micah prophesied and said that Bethlehem would be the place of His birth. And Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52 and 53 we have detailed descriptions of Jesus' suffering on the cross. Throughout the Gospels you will find the phrase 'as it was prophesied' or 'as Scripture said' because time and time again the goal of the gospel writers is to point out that Jesus fulfilled the promises of God. So Jesus came to fulfill all those promises that God had given, and then prior to His death on several occasions He said to His disciples, the Son of man will be bound and arrested, and He will be killed and He will rise again the third day. And the disciples heard Him say this. They even sorrowed with Him when He said it, and yet somehow when it happened, they were surprised. In fact, when Jesus died on the cross, none of them remembered that in three days He had promised to rise again. They were convinced that it was the end. They hear like so many of us hear. They heard the words but they didn't apply them to their heart, and so they lost them in the context.

It is finished. Jesus fulfilled it all. It is finished also means that Jesus' personal suffering had come to an end -- His physical suffering. A number of years ago I had the privilege of going to a Bill Gothard conference, and at that conference he handed out a pamphlet that was written by a doctor that explained in detail what the body goes through when it's crucified. And as I read that I cried, because there wasn't a moment on that cross that Jesus was not in intense agony, and He never took any dulling agent to limit the pain. Every time it was offered Him, He refused it. In order to breathe the person on the cross had to pull themselves up against the nails in their hands and feet, to raise their body high enough to bring air into their lungs. And then the intense pain would cause them to collapse back down putting them in a position where they would begin to suffocate because they couldn't breathe. And so again they would have to pull themselves back up, and every time Jesus spoke He had to have done that plus a little more to stay up long enough to say what He said. You all remember that the other two thieves who hung on the cross had their legs broken to speed their death so that they couldn't pull themselves up, so that they would suffocate, but when they came to Jesus He was already dead. It was a painful and awful way to die, but it is finished.

It is finished also meant that the rejection that He received in this life that He lived was over. The Bible says He came unto His own and His own received Him not. He came into His own hometown. He wanted to minister God's love and grace to them, and their response was they tried to kill Him and throw Him over the side of a cliff. His mom tried to plead with Him to come back home and stop His ministry because she was fearful for His life. His brothers and sisters didn't even believe in Him. They thought He was mad. It is finished. All of that was behind on the cross of Calvary. It is finished also means that the way to redemption was completed. All the demands of God were met at Calvary. You see, God is not only a God of love, but He's a God of justice. I've often heard people say, well a God of love would never send anyone to hell. Hell is just something people made up so that we could scare them into living right, but God would never send anyone to hell. He's a God of love. They err in two areas. The first is God does not send anyone to hell. They choose to go there over the cross and over the love of God. Secondly, yes God is a God of love, but He's also a God of justice and the Bible declares that no sinner can enter into heaven that if you have sin in your heart and life heaven is closed to you. And so man's opportunity to have restored fellowship with God was lost unless a way could be found to satisfy God's justice. And what is fascinating is that even before God spoke into existence the heavens and the earth, Christ was crucified. The Bible says He was crucified before the foundations of the world. God knew what it would cost Him if He created man, and He still did it because He loves us so much. And so it met God's demand for justice.

It reminds me of a story I heard of a judge whose very best friend committed a crime, and of course the penalty was a heavy financial fine if found guilty. And so this judge being a just man and a strong Christian man had created a lot of enemies in the press because you wouldn't compromise and he wouldn't cheat. And so the press waited with glee. They had already written their articles. They had two different articles they had written. The first was if the judge condemned his friend. The article would say, what kind of man is this that would take his best friend and do this cruel thing to him? The second article was if the judge let his friend go or go off lightly. What kind of judge is this who claims to be honest and yet when his friends are in court He will bend the rules? They were just waiting for a chance to destroy this judge's reputation. And so that morning as the judge sat behind the bench his friend came forward and the judge said, how do you plead? And his friend said, guilty, for he was. The judge pronounced against him the harshest financial penalty he could pronounce by law. The people in the press could not wait for court to be dismissed so they could bolt to out and publish their account. And then to their amazement the judge stood up, removed his robes, and came down and stood beside his friend and walked over, took out his checkbook, and paid the fine.

You and I stand before the court of heaven. God sits in judgment and says, guilty or innocent? And all we can answer because it's the truth, guilty, and as God prepares to pronounce judgment upon us, eternal separation from Him, God the Son enters the venue and says, Father, I pay the price and we are free. Jesus accomplished everything that God's justice demanded when He said, "It is finished!" It is finished also means that the power of Satan has been destroyed. Now there are some people who don't believe in a real devil. There might be some people. They think the devil was created to get kids to be good like the Bogey Man. You better be good or the devil will get you. But if we do not believe in a real devil, then we deny Jesus because Jesus declared his reality and battled with him throughout His ministry. You cannot accept Christ as Savior and reject the reality of a real devil. But the beauty of it is when Satan thought He had won on the cross, the Bible says that Jesus triumphed over him, that Jesus won the victory and defeated Satan by His death on the cross and by His resurrection. Paul points out; he uses the phrase that He triumphed over principalities and powers making an open spectacle of them. This is one of those pictures that Paul loved to draw because he knew people would understand.

The Roman Empire was common for this. Whenever they would win battles against their foes they would take a number of the enemy and binding them in chains and send them back to Rome along with the conquering general. And that general when he got back to Rome he would have it all set up and he would have the finest polished chariot with the best horses right there at the gate. He'd put on his classiest uniform that glistened in the sun and they'd take that chain and tie it to the back of his chariot that all of the enemy were tied to, and he would start driving that chariot through the city. The accolades and cheers of the people for his great triumph, and behind him in open shame, many times naked, were those people whom he had conquered and won the victory over. And I see with my imagination Jesus triumphing over the principalities and powers of Satan, binding them with chains, attaching them to His chariot, mounting that chariot, and riding through the gates of the new Jerusalem as all the hosts of heaven cheer the conquering hero as He returns. And Satan and his horde are made an open spectacle defeated by the Son of God. It makes you feel good all over.

Well somebody says, wait a minute. You don't know what the devil's been doing to me. He is one bad dude. Satan is only as bad as you let him be. The only authority Satan has in your life is the authority you give him. We sing that chorus, he has no authority here, for this habitation is made for the Lord. He has no authority here. There's a wonderful scripture in the Bible that says Satan goes around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But if you look really closely at the Greek it adds that Jesus plucked his teeth, and all he can do is try to gum you to death. Now I'm not saying that Satan is somebody that we should ignore, but he somebody that can do anything to us. As long as we are in Christ we are safe. He has no power in our lives. It's been destroyed by Jesus. That's what Jesus meant when He said, "It is finished!" No longer is Satan the God of this world I have taken back dominion, and Jesus is Lord of all. Hallelujah.

And finally, it is finished means that the way to heaven has to us. You see, until Jesus died on Calvary man had no hope of eternity with God, because sin separated us and no sinful person can get into heaven. I don't care how hard to work, or how good you are, or how handsome, or who you know, you can't get to heaven on any of that. Now, there is one way you can get to heaven without receiving Christ as Savior because the Bible says that's the way; that's to, from the time you are born, to the time you die live and absolutely sinless life. Never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever do anything wrong. Not even steal a cookie from the cookie jar. That lost me right there are, because I stole cookies from the cookie jar. My mom made the best. None of us deserve heaven. None of us are worthy of heaven, but because Jesus completed to work on the cross, the way to heaven is open, "It is finished!" I don't get to heaven by any other means then by the fact that Jesus Christ died for me. Now here's the crux -- the way to heaven is open, but Jesus is the only way. The rest of the world looks at that and says, Oh you Christians think you're special. You think you're the only ones that know how to get to heaven. Yes, we are, because we do know the only way to get to heaven. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

You have to understand we did not set the standard. We did not say that Jesus is the only way to be saved. We did not saying that all other religions that try to promote some other way to heaven are wrong. We did not say that. God did, and if that seems to be intolerable, remember God gave His Son, and that should be enough to make Him the only way to heaven. So we have to choose, and the choice is always there before us. As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the children of God. You see, the door is there, the way is there, the opportunity is there, but God still leaves it in our hands and says to us every day of our life, just like the Jewish people said to Pilate, or Pilate said to them, what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? What are you going to do? Receive Him as Savior? Reject Him and be lost. Because that's the only choice there is.

Someone said, well I'll think about it. You thought about it. Because Jesus also said, if you are not for Me you are against Me. No middle ground in God's kingdom. Choose this day whom you will serve. Let's pray. Father, as we're here this afternoon in a day that's been filled with so much praise and worship and opportunity to share Your word, again I want to pray if there is anyone here today that does not know You as Savior and Lord, that this day would not go by without them making a decision and saying yes to You that they might have eternal life. Father I pray for us who know You that we would be challenged to not be complacent in our relationship with You, but to realize Lord that if You gave Your all at Calvary, and You did, how can I give any less than everything I have? Lord, may You challenge each one of us as we sit here to take the time to examine our lives and ask the hard question, am I giving Jesus might best? Anything less Lord would be wrong. Speak to our hearts. Take us to the cross. Allow us to see again the power of the Christ who died for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you. Go with His grace. Enjoy this week. See you on Easter.