Easter: It is Finished

“It Is Finished” : Don’t Quit  Until Finished Easter 2023

Introduction:  Good morning…thank you so much for joining us this Easter Sunday…

I’d for you to join us again Next Week when I’ll begin a three-week series on the idea of Emoji: “Finding Happiness in a Very Unhappy World.” 

To the Jesus Follower…this is the Greatest Day of all time…

  • Christmas Doesn’t make sense if there is no Easter.
  • The Apostle Paul said, “If Jesus hasn’t been resurrected…we should pity people who claim to follow Jesus.”

Transition:  “It is Finished” is possibly three of the most famous words in Christianity…

  1. The Last 7 Statements of Jesus
    1. To fully grasp what happened at the Crucifixion, we have to become familiar with his Words, especially all Jesus said and taught from the Cross while dying…
    2. You have to read it in all Four Gospels….
      1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:34).
      2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
      3. “Women behold your son. Son, behold your mother”(John 19:26-27).
      4. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34).
      5. “I thirst”(John 19:28).
      6. “It is finished”(John 19:30).
      7. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:46).
      8. When Jesus said it is Finished…what was actually Finished?
  • The Prophecies of Scripture have now been fulfilled in Him.
  • The Judgment of Sin was Complete.
  • The forgiveness of sin was made available because of the shedding of His blood…
    1. Now to those who don’t know…we often think Jesus’ last words were “It is Finished…” but it wasn’t. His last Words were actually recorded in Luke 23:46.
      1. Luke 23:46-47 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ESV

Transition:  But today I want to challenge you…Don’t Quit, Until Finished.

  1. Don’t Quit Prematurely
    1. In Corinthians 13, “the Love Chapter” of the bible it challenges us to “Bear all things…”
    2. Can you bear a thing…
      1. We were talking a few weeks back in the “Play the Man” class, about Jesus’ ability to take the punishment of the cross…
      2. And I told them what amazes me also is not simply what he bore, but what he restrained.
  • Knowing you could say or do one thing and it’d change the outcome…yet he didn’t…
  1. Because Love Bears all things…
  1. You can’t truly learn to respect yourself until you have Finished something.
    1. When you taste the success of finishing something that didn’t come easy, but you fought hell and high-water to get there…
    2. Some people quit things because it is out of their control!
  • Circumstances get bad and they quit.
  1. The immature mind quits when it gets difficult.
  1. It’s interesting to me that a person may Not be committing the “Big Sins”…but they are Spiritually anemic or spiritually weak on the inside, so sin is running ramped…
    1. They pass for Holy until you find they won’t stay in the fight.
    2. Won’t keep their word!
  • They give up easily.
  1. They won’t complete assignments.
  2. Won’t have your back when things go wrong…

Transition:  Everyone in life has a fight to fight…a life to live…but can you Finish… 2 Tim 4:7-8  7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ESV

Introduction:  This is the elder Paul, telling his Protégé Timothy…a bit of his journey.

  • I Fought a Good Fight
    1. Are you fighting a good fight…
      1. I fought my way up.
      2. I fought to get to work.
  • I had to fight to get back on my feet.
  1. Fought to Love
  2. Fought to raise Godly kids.
  3. Fought to carry on.
  • Fought to Stand
  • Fought to Grow
  1. Fought to Live
  1. Had to fight fears, worry, anxiety, sickness, disease, setbacks, and betrayal….
  2. I had to fight myself at times…

Transition:  Wanted to quit…you didn’t see it…but I fought a good fight…Kept the Faith

  1. Keep the Faith
    1. When you fight a Good fight…you’ll lose a lot of things, people, stuff, sleep, friends, and many other things…but whatever you do…Don’t Lose Faith…
    2. If you lose the marriage…Keep the Faith
    3. If you lose your money…Keep the Faith
    4. Hurt…but Keep the Faith
    5. Alone…but Kept the Faith
    6. If you lose the job…keep the Faith
    7. If you’re at wits end…keep the Faith

Keep the Faith – Keep the Faith – Keep the Faith

  1. Finished My Course
    1. We’re living in a world that has become comfortable with Quitting…
    2. When you get a taste of quitting…it becomes easier to Quit.
    3. I’m not talking about Winning…I’m just talking about not quitting…
    4. Just stay, Just stick it out, to endure…can people count on you….
    5. Paul said, “I finished my course…”
      1. I’m not running your race…I’m responsible for my Course.
      2. It’s all I can do to finish my course…

Transition:  Why do we want to Quit…why have I wanted to Quit at times…

  1. It Becomes Personal
    1. There is a man in the bible that teaches me why I want to quit at times…his name is Jacob.
    2. Look at these verses…
      1. Gen 42:36-37

36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” ESV

  1. Back Story
    1. Let me share Jacob’s back story…he is a fighter…he was born a twin…and scripture says, He had to fight his way out…he was fighting with his twin brother in the womb…and that became a pattern in his life.
    2. He fought for his father’s approval…
  • He fought for his birthright…
  1. He fought the crookedness of his Uncle’s manipulation to be able to marry the Love of his life…then she dies giving birth to their second son…
  2. Jacob fought God and Won a blessing…left the fight limping…but blessed…
  3. He has a son named Joseph whom he thinks has died…because his other sons told him so…but Joseph was sold into slavery and has made his way up in the ranks of the government of Egypt…
  • This is where we pick up the story of the verse, I just read to you…
  1. Jacob Made it all About Him
    1. Jacob has been through it my friend…blessed but having to fight…
    2. The last part of verse 36 gives us the key to why we want to quit: All this has come against me.”
  • When we make it all about us…we will want to quit…
  1. This hadn’t happened to him…but he thought it had…
    1. He thought his son Joseph was dead…but he was about to be reunited with him…
    2. He thought He would never see his other son…Simeon…but Simeon was being taken care of waiting for his father to arrive in the place of provision…
    3. So now Jacob is living with the Fear of “the proverbial other shoe going to drop” and justifiably so…

 

Transition:  When we make everything in life…so personal…my friend, you will desire to quit…but I’m not a robot and neither are you…we all want to quit at times…

Tell Three People:  But I Ain’t Finished Yet

  • It Is Finished
    1. Jesus said from the Cross – It Is Finished
    2. Luke 22:39-44 39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. ESV
  1. “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
    1. After all the miracles
    2. After all the Teachings
  • After all of Life lived by Jesus…
  1. Knowing full well the Plan of God and the Purpose for which he was born…He is asking God…
  2. Can I Quit Being Me…I don’t want to suffer…WHO DOES…but Love Bears All Things…
  3. He is agonizing over this decision and wrestling so intensely in Prayer…that the capillaries in his face begin to burst and blood begins running down his face…

Transition:  Until the Battle is Won on the Inside…it’ll never be Won on the Outside.

  1. Not My Will
    1. Not my way
    2. Not my style
  • Not my likes and dislikes
  1. Not my Preferences…
  1. This is Jesus’ story of wanting…desiring…having the urge to Quit…even though He wasn’t finished…
    1. Three times Jesus prayed, asking Can I Quit?
    2. Can I quit before it is Finished…?
  • Closing
    1. Jesus earned the right to say “It is Finished” because he didn’t quit…
    2. Resurrection and Victory are only possible because He didn’t quit…
    3. we often, like Jesus, fall under the weight of what we are carrying.
    4. Scripture tells us: Jesus collapsed under the weight of the cross…and a man named Simon of Cyrene was thrust into the Story of the salvation of humanity…he was forced to carry the Cross of Jesus…

If Jesus collapsed under the cross, he had to carry…my friend at times you will collapse under the cross you are carrying…but I promise God has sent help….

  1. Video of Derek Redmon
    1. In the 1992 Olympics there was a runner from Britain…midway through the Race…he blows out his hamstring…he is hobbling, hopping, in pain and agony…medical comes out to attend to him…and he fights them away…
    2. JUST WATCH THE VIDEO….
  2. Derek’s dad comes out and helps him cross the finish line…
    1. Listen to me…you may not win first place.
    2. You may not Be honored.
  • You may not be Applauded by the Crowds
  1. But on this Easter Morning the Lord Sent me Here to Tell You Keep Hopping
    1. Don’t Give Up
    2. Don’t Quit
  • If you’re Breathing…You Aint Finished…Don’t you dare Quit…
  1. Altar
    1. Just like Derek…you can’t make it across the Finish Line by yourself…
    2. But Jesus left the stands of Glory…to enter this race…to put his arms around you and see you to the finish line…
    3. That’s one reason we call Him Savior…

 

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