Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good evening. If you would open your Bibles to mark chapter 14 starting in verse 32.
[00:00:09] And alongside that, open your worship guide to page four, where you see the hymn Jesus Paid It All.
[00:00:23] In the first verse it says, I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small.
[00:00:30] Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in me thine all in all.
[00:00:38] Proverbs 24:10 says, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
[00:00:45] Well, who of us has not fainted or faltered in times of trouble? In the day of adversity, our strength indeed is small.
[00:00:57] This hymn pays tribute to that fact while pointing us to Jesus Christ, who is our all in all our whole strength and sustenance, not only in times of trouble, but in all of life's experiences.
[00:01:11] Each verse of the hymn contains two themes.
[00:01:16] Number one, the sinner's utter weakness, and number two, Christ's infinite power to cleanse us from sin.
[00:01:25] And the refrain is a succinct statement of the doctrine of justification.
[00:01:30] Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain, and he washed it white as snow.
[00:01:42] In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18, it says, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.
[00:01:48] Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.
[00:01:58] Every genuine true believer must give testimony to this truth that Jesus paid it all, and all to him we owe nothing we could ever do would atone for our sin.
[00:02:13] Our own works contribute nothing to to our salvation.
[00:02:18] Christ paid the debt in full, and there is nothing for us to add.
[00:02:25] In Titus chapter three, starting in verse four, it says, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
[00:02:56] Verse 2 makes a reference to the believer's rebirth by the Spirit of God.
[00:03:02] Only the Lord's power, and that alone can change sinful hearts and cleanse the effects of our sin by the washing of regeneration and renewing of by the Holy Spirit.
[00:03:16] It says, thy power and Thine alone can change the leper spots and melt the heart of stone.
[00:03:24] Leprosy caused a ceremonial defilement according to the law of Moses that we can see in Leviticus, chapter 13.
[00:03:33] And it is therefore a fitting illustration of our sin.
[00:03:38] Our sin is a spiritual leprosy because it is infectious and results in nothing but defilement and decay.
[00:03:48] Jesus demonstrated his power over leprosy by healing it instantly and completely in Mark, chapter one.
[00:03:56] And that event symbolized his power over every kind of uncleanness, including the spiritual defilement of sin.
[00:04:06] And then verse two of the hymn says, and can melt the heart of stone, a reference to Ezekiel 36 that says, speaking of the salvation of Israel, it's prophetically described, moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, the same work Christ does in each believer at the moment of their regeneration.
[00:04:36] Verse 3 opens with another confession of the believer's spiritual bankruptcy. For nothing good have I whereby thy grace to claim.
[00:04:46] It's an echo of what Paul was saying in Romans, chapter seven, when he said, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.
[00:04:56] So grace is by definition utterly undeserved, unmerited, unattainable by those who try to work for it.
[00:05:07] Our only hope for redemption from our sin is to trust in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:05:15] And then finally, verse four of the hymn looks forward to heaven, the worshiper confessing that even in the glorious perfection of heaven, when we finally stand in him complete, we will confess and still repeat that we owe everything to his saving work alone and not to ourselves.
[00:05:37] So we confess our other weakness and hopelessness to save ourselves. And we confess Christ's infinite power to cleanse us from our sin.
[00:05:47] But as we consider the result of Jesus saving grace, let's consider more thoroughly the full price that he paid.
[00:05:56] And I would ask you to follow the rest of this message, not so much as a matter of instruction, but in a meditative and experiential way, as we walk with our Lord to the cross.
[00:06:11] Mark chapter 14, starting verse 32.
[00:06:16] And they went to a place called Gethsemane.
[00:06:19] And he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.
[00:06:24] And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
[00:06:31] And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
[00:06:38] Remain here and watch.
[00:06:40] And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
[00:06:47] And he said, abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
[00:06:53] Remove this cup from me yet not what I will, but what you will.
[00:06:59] And he came and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, simon, are you asleep?
[00:07:04] Could you not watch one hour, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[00:07:10] The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:07:14] And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to answer him.
[00:07:24] And he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
[00:07:30] It is enough.
[00:07:32] The hour has come. The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[00:07:37] Rise. Let us be going.
[00:07:40] See, my betrayer is at hand.
[00:07:44] This is a very familiar account of our Lord's agony in the garden of Gethsemane.
[00:07:51] If you look back in Isaiah the end of chapter 52, and then read through chapter 53, it states that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions.
[00:08:02] He was crushed for our iniquities.
[00:08:06] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
[00:08:14] And it also says, he was despised and rejected by men.
[00:08:19] A Man of Sorrows this is our Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
[00:08:27] For his 33 years in this world. He was constantly exposed to to sorrows, sorrows of life in a fallen world.
[00:08:36] He saw it outwardly, but he also knew the heart of man.
[00:08:41] Jeremiah 17:9 says, Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
[00:08:48] Who can understand it?
[00:08:50] Jesus did.
[00:08:52] He saw grief and sorrow.
[00:08:55] He saw sin and disease and unbelief and ignorance and rebellion and rejection, disobedience, suffering, poverty, loss and death.
[00:09:12] And he gave temporary relief to some.
[00:09:15] He healed the sick.
[00:09:18] He took care of the demon possessed.
[00:09:20] He took care of the hungry.
[00:09:23] He even raised the dead.
[00:09:25] The New Testament never says that Jesus laughed or that he was happy.
[00:09:31] He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
[00:09:36] It says that he was sad. In fact, he even wept.
[00:09:40] He experienced a fullness of sorrow that you and I cannot.
[00:09:45] But there was no greater sorrow or grief than what is described in the passage which I just read.
[00:09:53] This event has been called his last temptation, an experience so severe that it almost killed him before he got to the cross.
[00:10:03] The Bible says it evoked out of him loud crying and tears so severe that he actually sweat blood.
[00:10:13] All four Gospels describe this particular event, the full picture as being the sum of all four accounts in Isaiah 53. This is a verse I've read so many times and I cannot grasp it.
[00:10:29] The Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering.
[00:10:40] The Lord was pleased to crush his own Son.
[00:10:44] And it is in Gethsemane where the crushing begins.
[00:10:48] The experience of his suffering and sorrow and grief defies our comprehension and our ability to understand it.
[00:10:57] This is sacred ground.
[00:10:59] It is a supernatural struggle.
[00:11:03] It is a private divine conflict.
[00:11:07] But let's go deeper in our understanding and try to see more of his glory and why he is worthy of our worship and our obedience.
[00:11:16] Put yourself alongside the Lord Jesus on this evening, if you can.
[00:11:22] This is the second greatest agony our Lord will experience the night when he anticipates drinking the cup of divine wrath.
[00:11:31] The greatest agony being that which was to come later that day on the cross itself.
[00:11:37] His last temptation.
[00:11:39] You remember his first temptation when he went into the wilderness to begin his ministry and he was tempted by Satan. After fasting for 40 days, he was tempted to turn stones into bread. He was tempted to jump off the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels would come and deliver him from injury.
[00:12:01] He was tempted to take the kingdoms of the world if he would fall down and worship Satan.
[00:12:09] And each time Jesus answered, why?
[00:12:12] It is said, it is said, quoting the word of God, that's informative to us. When we are tempted, we need to know the word of God and need to be able to speak it back to the temptation.
[00:12:29] It's also interesting to me that Satan would say, hey, if you'll fall down and worship me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. He's looking at it from a high mountain. Jesus spoke the universe into existence in Satan's offering to give him a few kingdoms here on this earth.
[00:12:48] And Jesus again said, it is written each time Satan was trying to deflect him from the cross, saying, you don't deserve this treatment. If you are who you say you are, you don't deserve this treatment.
[00:13:02] You don't have to go through with it.
[00:13:04] The second temptation that we see in scripture is when Jesus told his disciples that he was going to be killed.
[00:13:11] And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you.
[00:13:20] And you know what Jesus said? He didn't say, get thee behind me, Peter. He said, get thee behind me, Satan. That's who he's being tempted by.
[00:13:31] Satan's attempt to keep Jesus from the cross through the mouth of a trusted friend.
[00:13:38] Satan always tried to keep Jesus from the cross. And in the garden we see Satan showing up again.
[00:13:46] Jesus told those who came to arrest him in Luke 22:53, this is your hour and the power of darkness.
[00:13:56] The specific Hour for Satan to act.
[00:14:00] His last attempt to keep Jesus from the cross, to make Jesus say to his father, no, I can't do it.
[00:14:08] And if Satan succeeded, hell would be the only place that people would live forever.
[00:14:15] Heaven would be empty.
[00:14:17] God's word would be untrue. The promise of salvation, a lie. And Satan is really the sovereign.
[00:14:25] And the struggle is so severe that Jesus said in Matthew 26, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
[00:14:34] So verse 32 of our passage tonight, it says, and they went to a place called Gethsemane.
[00:14:42] Jesus and the 11 were going. They had just left the upper room. They were going to descend down the mountain, cross the Kidron Valley, and up the side of the mountain to the Mount of Olives.
[00:14:54] Jesus and the 11. Judas had gone to plot the arrest of Jesus.
[00:14:59] They have left the upper room and they've eaten their Passover meal.
[00:15:04] And in verse 26 of Mark 14, it says, they sang a hymn and headed to the Mount of Olives.
[00:15:12] And on the way, Jesus said, you will all fall away.
[00:15:16] You're going to stumble, you're going to be scattered.
[00:15:20] You will all deny me.
[00:15:22] He warned them of their weakness in the coming temptation.
[00:15:26] Let me read those verses briefly.
[00:15:29] When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.
[00:15:42] Peter said to him, even though they fall away, I will not.
[00:15:47] And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
[00:15:54] But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same thing.
[00:16:03] So they come to the garden. It's outside the city wall, on the hillside, away from the massive crowd that was in Jerusalem for the Passover.
[00:16:12] It was a place of privacy where they could go be by themselves.
[00:16:17] John 18:2 says, Jesus often met there with his disciples. And that's why Judas knew where they would be.
[00:16:25] Gethsemane. The meaning of the word is olive press.
[00:16:31] It was an olive grove where they would harvest the olives. They would press them to get the oil out of it.
[00:16:38] Another definition of that. It was called the place of crushing.
[00:16:43] That interesting.
[00:16:46] Where olives would be crushed to get the oil. And a primary use of the oil so that they could use that for fuel for their lamps, that they would have light.
[00:16:56] And it's here that Jesus begins to be crushed.
[00:17:00] And he becomes the light of the world. For those who put their trust and their faith in him.
[00:17:06] It pleased the Lord to crush him.
[00:17:10] In verse 32, Jesus says, sit here while I pray.
[00:17:14] But he also said in Luke 22:40, Pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[00:17:20] He had just warned them about the danger of falling away and denying him, saying, don't depend on your own strength. Call on the Lord if you would be victorious.
[00:17:33] We have a high priest who intercedes for us, and we are secure from total failure by his prayers. But we will lose the battle with temptation along the way if we don't pray and depend on his divine strength.
[00:17:50] Verse 33. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
[00:18:00] We see here an affliction beyond what we can comprehend.
[00:18:05] They go deeper into the garden with his leaders.
[00:18:10] Most of the disciples stayed probably close to the entrance to the garden.
[00:18:15] Peter, James and John went a little further into the garden with him.
[00:18:19] These were the ones who would learn the greatest lesson, who would be the influence on the others.
[00:18:25] They were going to learn how important it is to pray so that they could triumph over temptation.
[00:18:32] And they learned that by failing to pray and falling into temptation, learning it the hard way, the inner circle goes with him, that their weakness may be exposed.
[00:18:45] The ones who were confident that they would sit on his right hand and his left hand in the kingdom, and Peter thinking himself to be the most elevated of them all.
[00:18:57] If Christ himself needs to pray in the face of temptation, being tempted in all things as we are, how much more do we need to pray?
[00:19:13] Verse 33 says, Jesus began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
[00:19:18] He was distressed by an experience that he had never had before.
[00:19:23] He was troubled to a level that is incomprehensible to us.
[00:19:28] Was it the rejection of the nation of Israel, the defection of Judas, the desertion of the 11 which was about to happen?
[00:19:39] Was it the injustice of the mock trials that were coming soon?
[00:19:45] Was it the mocking, the spitting in his face, the punching, the scourging ripping his flesh, the males or the dying?
[00:20:00] And it was really something beyond that.
[00:20:03] It was the anticipation of experiencing the Father's will to crush him by becoming a sacrifice for sin, to be a sin bearer?
[00:20:15] He has never known sin.
[00:20:18] He's never known the wrath of God. He's never known alienation from his Father.
[00:20:24] He was tempted at the point of his holiness, his holy nature, his sinless purity, his total righteousness, his perfect love and obedience to the Father.
[00:20:38] We struggle because of our unholiness, God was asking him to embrace sin as a sin bearer, not as a sinner, but as a sin bearer, to take the full wrath of God for sin to receive divine punishment.
[00:20:57] We struggle because the power of sin is so strong within us.
[00:21:03] His struggle was because the power of holiness was the only power that existed in him.
[00:21:09] The level of divine wrath would be staggering because Jesus was about to embrace eternities of divine wrath and punishment. What do I mean by that?
[00:21:21] If you do not receive Christ as your Savior and you go to hell, your punishment will be the wrath of God for an eternity.
[00:21:30] Yours, your earth, mine, whoever does not receive it.
[00:21:35] So Jesus was about to receive eternities of wrath for everyone who rejected him as their Savior.
[00:21:47] He was completely harmless and undefiled. He was separate from sinners, and he became greatly distressed and troubled at the anticipation of paying the price for our sin.
[00:22:01] Verse 34 says, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
[00:22:07] Our Lord was engulfed in grief to the point of dying. At that point.
[00:22:14] He has never before said yes to alienation from his Father, never said yes to guilt, never said yes to sin bearing to an eternity of punishment. And the anticipation almost killed him in the garden.
[00:22:31] And it says in Luke 22, in that account, it says, God sent an angel to strengthen him, or he may well have died in the garden.
[00:22:45] Luke 22:44. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.
[00:22:50] And his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground.
[00:22:56] There's a medical term for this called hematidrosis, caused by severe mental stress invoking a fight or flight response to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the capillaries that supply the sweat glands in exceedingly rare condition.
[00:23:14] That, honestly, I couldn't find any other records of that other than the record of Jesus Christ, who sweat drops of blood.
[00:23:22] Well, in verse 34, he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch.
[00:23:32] And going a little farther, he fell on the ground.
[00:23:37] The Luke passage said it was about a stone's throw away from where Peter, James, and John were.
[00:23:43] Yes, maybe 30 to 50 yards, something like that.
[00:23:48] And then in verse 35, the latter part of that verse, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
[00:24:00] The hour might pass, the hour of the power of darkness, of all the suffering leading up to and including the cross.
[00:24:11] We are not holy, so we can't relate to this.
[00:24:15] We don't have a perfect hatred of sin that he did everything in his being, was repulsed by the thought of iniquity.
[00:24:27] His plea was absolutely consistent with his nature as God. His eyes were too pure to approve evil, and he cannot look on wickedness with favor.
[00:24:40] The strain and the grief and likely the blood loss were so severe that an angel had to come and rescue him in some way to strengthen him.
[00:24:52] Verse 36. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.
[00:25:04] If Jesus doesn't go to the cross this night, we have big problems.
[00:25:09] Satan wins again. Heaven is empty, Hell is full. The Bible isn't true. The promise of God are lies and there is no salvation.
[00:25:20] And he says, abba, Father.
[00:25:23] Papa. Daddy.
[00:25:26] It speaks of his intimate relationship with the Father that he had had for an eternity.
[00:25:34] Remove this cup from me.
[00:25:36] Assemble you throughout the Old Testament of God's divine wrath.
[00:25:41] In Matthew 20, verse 22, the mother of James and John were asking for her sons to sit at Jesus right and left hand in the kingdom.
[00:25:50] And Jesus responded by saying, you do not know what you're asking.
[00:25:55] Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?
[00:26:00] John 18 the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?
[00:26:06] John 12:27 now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
[00:26:11] Father, save me from this hour.
[00:26:14] But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
[00:26:18] Father, glorify your name.
[00:26:22] Verse 36. Again, again. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.
[00:26:29] This is where we see his triumphant, victorious resolve.
[00:26:34] Yet not what I will, but what you will. At 12 years of age, Jesus had said, I must be about my Father's business.
[00:26:43] In John 4, when he was speaking to the woman at the well, and the disciples had gone off to get something to eat, and they came back, he said, I have food to eat that you don't know anything about.
[00:26:54] My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
[00:27:00] In verse 37. And he came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?
[00:27:10] The same event in Luke 22 says he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow. It wasn't just that. It was the middle of the night. They'd had a long day, but they were sleeping for sorrow. They had left the upper room. Judas had gone to betray Jesus. They had been told they were all going to fall away.
[00:27:32] They were thinking, we're not going to have our kingdom and our king like we wanted.
[00:27:36] And it was all falling apart.
[00:27:39] And in verse 38, Jesus said, Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[00:27:45] The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:27:51] Peter learned this lesson the hard way.
[00:27:56] But later in Peter's writing, in First Peter, Chapter 5, Verse 8, Peter says, Be on the alert because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
[00:28:11] Peter had been devoured.
[00:28:14] He had turned into a pathetic, sniveling coward and a deceiver on this night because he hadn't prepared himself through prayer and he trusted in his own strength.
[00:28:28] Good intentions aren't enough.
[00:28:31] And Jesus gives us a simple lesson by saying, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:28:40] Jesus, in the middle of his greatest agony, is concerned about these guys, his sheep whom he loves.
[00:28:48] A sympathetic, merciful high priest who, in the middle of great agony, a supernatural battle that almost brought him to death, he breaks off his prayer and he goes to check on his friends because he is concerned about their spiritual vulnerability.
[00:29:09] That is our great high priest.
[00:29:12] Members of ccbc. Jesus Christ never forgets about you, no matter how intense your struggle.
[00:29:20] He has you in his heart.
[00:29:24] Verse 39. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words, the words he prayed in verse 36.
[00:29:32] He likely prayed this repeatedly over several hours.
[00:29:36] He only interrupted his prayer because he was concerned about them.
[00:29:43] Verse 40. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy and they didn't know what to answer him. Do you think he came again? They didn't want to answer this time in verse 41 and 42, he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[00:30:08] Rise. Let us be going. See, the betrayer is at hand.
[00:30:13] This is a picture of Jesus. Total submission and triumph over the temptation of that night.
[00:30:21] He is resolved triumphantly, majestically, unhesitatingly to do his Father's will. He is going to the cross.
[00:30:32] Verse 41. He says, it is enough.
[00:30:35] The temptation is over. The struggle is finished. The prayer is done.
[00:30:40] The answer is clear.
[00:30:42] The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[00:30:48] And you can picture these men coming up the hillside.
[00:30:52] Religious leaders, the Sanhedrin of Israel, the temple police, a cohort of Romans, as many as 600 soldiers, possibly a total of about 1,000 people coming up the hillside with their torches.
[00:31:08] But Jesus steps up in triumph in verse 42. Rise. Let us be going.
[00:31:15] See, my betrayer is at hand.
[00:31:17] The cup is in his hand.
[00:31:20] He is not trembling.
[00:31:22] He stands bloody, sweat coursing down his exhausted face, soaking his clothes.
[00:31:30] He is bloodied, but he is unbowed.
[00:31:37] Get up. Let's be going.
[00:31:40] Not out the back way of the garden.
[00:31:44] He meant right toward them.
[00:31:47] Judas leading the entourage, the crowd, the sword, the clubs. And he confronts them all.
[00:31:58] In John, chapter 18, we have what occurred, verses 4 through 6 said. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek?
[00:32:11] And they answered him, jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am he.
[00:32:17] Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
[00:32:21] I love this verse. Next, when Jesus said to them, I am he.
[00:32:26] They drew back and fell to the ground.
[00:32:30] A thousand people coming to take him.
[00:32:34] And all he had to do was speak. And they hit the dirt.
[00:32:38] You would have thought at that point that they might second guess what they were doing.
[00:32:43] But that shows you the evil of the human heart, the depravity of man, that even though the power of his voice put them on the ground, they get up and still take him to the cross.
[00:32:59] Triumph.
[00:33:01] Majestic, strong.
[00:33:05] But his disciples, not so much.
[00:33:10] What was it that caused Jesus to come out of the garden in triumphant submission to the Father, saying, I'm ready to die. I am willing to go to the cross.
[00:33:21] Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 7.
[00:33:26] In the days of his flesh.
[00:33:28] That's the time we're talking about tonight. Jesus offered up prayers and supplication with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.
[00:33:41] And he was heard because of his reverence or because of his holiness.
[00:33:46] He entrusted himself to God who was able to save him from death and would do so because he was perfectly holy.
[00:33:55] And on that Sunday morning, God raised him from the dead.
[00:34:00] Psalm 16. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
[00:34:07] Romans, chapter 1, verse 4. He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:34:19] It was our Lord's trust in the Father's promise of resurrection that enabled him to accept this from his Father.
[00:34:26] Go to the cross and look past it to his own resurrection.
[00:34:33] Hebrews 12:2. Who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.
[00:34:44] When on the cross later that day, Jesus said seven things. The next to the last thing that he said before, he said, father, into thy hands. I commit my spirit, he said. It is finished.
[00:34:56] The Greek word for that is tetelesai.
[00:34:59] It means paid in full.
[00:35:03] It indicates, according to Luke 23:46, that he made the crowd with the cry, with a loud voice, not a weak voice of failure, but a loud cry that was triumphant, full of rich meaning.
[00:35:23] He did not mean merely that his earthly life was over. He meant that the work of the Father that had been given him to do it was now complete.
[00:35:33] As he hung there, looking like a wasted victim, he nonetheless celebrated the greatest triumph in the history of all the universe.
[00:35:42] Christ's atoning work was finished. Redemption for sinners was complete. And he was triumphant.
[00:35:49] Christ had fulfilled on behalf of sinners everything the law of God required of them.
[00:35:54] Full atonement had been made. Everything the ceremonial law foreshadowed had been accomplished. God's justice was satisfied. The the ransom for sin was paid in full. The wages of sin were settled forever. All that remained was for Christ to die so that he might rise again.
[00:36:14] And that is why nothing can be added to the work of Christ for your salvation or mine. No religious ritual, neither baptism, nor penance, nor any other human work needs to be added because Jesus paid it off.
[00:36:31] Amen. Let's pray.
[00:36:36] Our Lord Jesus, we come to you with thankful hearts.
[00:36:40] Words fail us at this moment as we have seen with our mind's eye through the record of your word, the agony of Gethsemane.
[00:36:49] And what is so overwhelming is that when you were there, you knew each of our names.
[00:36:57] You had already written them in your book.
[00:37:01] So you were bearing my sin and the sin of every believer here tonight.
[00:37:08] You knew us in the garden.
[00:37:10] We were there in your agony and in your anguish.
[00:37:15] For it was our sin that you would bear.
[00:37:18] And though we were yet unborn in our fathers and forefathers, yet unknown to this world, you knew us and you were there for us.
[00:37:27] We're overwhelmed by your love and your grace.
[00:37:31] We are unworthy.
[00:37:34] We thank you.
[00:37:36] We want to thank you more than just our words, but with our very lives.
[00:37:41] Father, we pray that you would give us grace, that we honor and glorify you each and every day that we're on this earth.
[00:37:48] And we pray it in Jesus precious name, Amen.
