Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we
Speaker 1: continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love.
Speaker 1: There are seven words, in particular that Jesus spoke during
Speaker 1: his final hours on the Cross that hold the keys
Speaker 1: for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part one of a
Speaker 1: message called the Word of Victory.
Speaker 2: How many of you have ever used this phrase, I
Speaker 2: just can't seem to get it all done.
Speaker 3: Let me see your hands.
Speaker 2: Okay, I just can't seem to get it all done.
Speaker 2: How many you have ever said this, I need more time? Yeah, yeah, right, okay.
Speaker 2: Because we live in a broken planet. Fortunately you don't
Speaker 2: have to live here forever. You're not going to spend
Speaker 2: eternity on this planet.
Speaker 3: That's actually good news.
Speaker 2: I don't want to live forever on a place where
Speaker 2: there sorrow and suffering and sadness and sickness. I want
Speaker 2: to go to a place where it's perfect. But because
Speaker 2: you have a limited amount of time on this earth,
Speaker 2: I hate to tell you this, but you're going to
Speaker 2: die with unfinished business. People say if I could just
Speaker 2: get it all done, You're not. You're not going to
Speaker 2: get it all done. You just need to accept that fact.
Speaker 2: You're not going to get it all done. You will
Speaker 2: end your life having things that you wish you had done,
Speaker 2: that you didn't, could have done, that you didn't, should
Speaker 2: have done, whatever, because you just don't have enough time.
Speaker 2: Only one person in all of history died with finished business,
Speaker 2: with no unfinished business, and his name was Jesus, of course,
Speaker 2: And the world is filled with unfinished projects and unfinished
Speaker 2: buildings and unfinished dreams. I remember one time, years and
Speaker 2: years ago, I took my kids to see Mount Rushmore
Speaker 2: and they thought it was really cool. But I remember
Speaker 2: Matthew saying to me, Dad, when are they gonna finish it? Because,
Speaker 2: as you know, Rushmore is not finished. The guy ran
Speaker 2: out of money, he died, it was left unfinished. His
Speaker 2: son took over. The guy who built Mount Rushmore worked
Speaker 2: on it four months.
Speaker 3: And gave up. And it's one of our national monuments,
Speaker 3: is unfinished.
Speaker 2: And that's what That's what Matthew noticed, as I said,
Speaker 2: you're going to die with some unfinished business. And only
Speaker 2: one person who's ever died having completed everything he came
Speaker 2: to do, and that was Jesus. Now, this was the
Speaker 2: sole goal of his life. Notice there in your outline
Speaker 2: for his entire life, Jesus had one overarching goal John
Speaker 2: four thirty four.
Speaker 3: I must finish. I must finish.
Speaker 2: The work that God gave me to do. Now, fortunately
Speaker 2: for you, fortunately for me, he did. He did finish.
Speaker 2: And today we come to the sixth word of Jesus
Speaker 2: from the cross. We've been looking at the seven last
Speaker 2: sayings of Jesus that he said.
Speaker 3: While he was dying on the cross. The last three
Speaker 3: says them right in the row. I'm thirsty.
Speaker 2: It is finished, and into your hands I commit my spirit.
Speaker 2: We'll look at that next week. But we come to
Speaker 2: the sixth one in John nineteen. This is a scene
Speaker 2: on the cross knowing that all was now completed.
Speaker 3: I have to come back to that in a minute.
Speaker 2: He's hanging on the cross, Jesus, knowing that all was
Speaker 2: now completed and so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, I'm thirsty. And we talked about that a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, and after Jesus was given a drink,
Speaker 2: he said, it is finished, and with that he bowed
Speaker 2: his head and he gave up his spirit. I think
Speaker 2: it's important he says he gave up. He voluntarily gave
Speaker 2: it up. Now I call this sixth phrase, it is finished,
Speaker 2: the word of victory, the word of victory. Now, throughout
Speaker 2: history there have been a lot of victorious statements. When
Speaker 2: you know, MacArthur says I will return, and he goes
Speaker 2: back to the Philippines. And and when Neil Armstrong lands
Speaker 2: on the moon and he says the eagle has landed.
Speaker 3: That's a statement of victory.
Speaker 2: Where any of you alive when when Neil Armstrong said
Speaker 2: that the eagle has landed, Yeah, I was still a baby.
Speaker 2: I was just in fact, I think it was in
Speaker 2: my mother's womb at that time. But after a big battle,
Speaker 2: after a great game, after a major contest, when a
Speaker 2: war is concluded, there are great statements of victory. But
Speaker 2: this statement, these three words it is finished, is the
Speaker 2: greatest statement of all time. In fact, I want to
Speaker 2: tell you that these three words are the three most
Speaker 2: important words in your life. When Jesus said it is finished,
Speaker 2: it determined your future. If Jesus had not said these
Speaker 2: three words, you wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't be
Speaker 2: headed to heaven, and the world would be a very,
Speaker 2: very different place. These are the three most important words
Speaker 2: in history. It is finished. What's he talking about?
Speaker 3: What is this?
Speaker 2: What are these three words? It is finished? The Bible
Speaker 2: says that Jesus shouted it. In fact, it's the reason
Speaker 2: he asked for some water because he was his parched throat.
Speaker 2: He was thirsty, but he wanted to be able to
Speaker 2: shout out this phrase. So after they had give him
Speaker 2: a dream, he shouts out, it is finished.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: The irony of this statement is that when Jesus said it,
Speaker 2: nobody understood it at that moment. The Romans, the passer buyers,
Speaker 2: the lookers, even the believers didn't get what was going on.
Speaker 2: When Jesus shouted out it is finished, the Romans probably
Speaker 2: were thinking, Yeah, that's right, We're finished with this rabble rouser,
Speaker 2: this revolutionary. This guy's been causing all this commotion. Now
Speaker 2: we're finished with a guy. Good riddance. And when when
Speaker 2: Jesus said it is finished, I'm sure Pilot thought, well,
Speaker 2: you know, my political headaches are finished. The guy's dead,
Speaker 2: because there's been nothing but trouble for me since since
Speaker 2: I've heard about him. When the religious leaders heard Jesus
Speaker 2: say it is finished, they're thinking, our, our competition is finished.
Speaker 3: We've gotten rid of him because.
Speaker 2: He was far more popular than we were, and we didn't.
Speaker 2: They envied Jesus and they said he's finished. I mean,
Speaker 2: even the disciples, when they heard Jesus say it his finished,
Speaker 2: were thinking, Yep, the kingdom's finished. Our dream of a
Speaker 2: new kingdom, our dream of the kingdom of God is finished.
Speaker 3: It's gone.
Speaker 2: And even I think the devil misunderstood this. I think
Speaker 2: when Jesus said it is finished, Satan thought I've won one.
Speaker 2: I have killed God. I won, and the Son of
Speaker 2: God is finished. But here's the thing. Jesus did not
Speaker 2: say I am finished, because he wasn't. He rose three
Speaker 2: days later he said it is finished. These are the
Speaker 2: three most important words in history. Nothing will ever be
Speaker 2: more important to you in your life than these three words.
Speaker 2: It is finished. What was Jesus saying on the cross
Speaker 2: when he gave the word of victory? What was finished?
Speaker 2: His suffering?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Uh, his humiliation yeah, his pain yes, But much much
Speaker 2: much more. What I want to do this weekend is
Speaker 2: explain to you the five things that Jesus accomplished. This
Speaker 2: is Christianity one oh one. This is the basic gospel
Speaker 2: in a nutshell. If you've ever wondered what are we
Speaker 2: all about? What is church all about? Maybe you have
Speaker 2: another religious background, no religious background, what is Christianity about?
Speaker 3: I'm gonna explain it to you in.
Speaker 2: This session because when Jesus said it is finished, he
Speaker 2: was talking about five very specific benefits to your life
Speaker 2: and to my life, and we're going to look at
Speaker 2: them this weekend. Now, first thing I want to explain
Speaker 2: to you is that this phrase it has finished. These
Speaker 2: three words in the Bible, which was originally the New Testament,
Speaker 2: was written in Greek, is only one word. It's one word.
Speaker 2: We translate it it is finished. But when Jesus shouted
Speaker 2: it is finished, he actually said the word to tell
Speaker 2: u sty, to tell us sty, and he cried out
Speaker 2: at the top of his voice, to tell a sty. Now,
Speaker 2: in ancient Greek, to tell a sty was a beautiful word.
Speaker 3: It was a well known word.
Speaker 2: It was a common word, and it had a lot
Speaker 2: of different usages. In fact, there were five major uses.
Speaker 2: And when Jesus talks and says and shouts out of
Speaker 2: his finished he's implying all five of these are finished
Speaker 2: in his work here on earth. And he said, I've
Speaker 2: got to finish the work that the father sent me
Speaker 2: to do. Now, one of the ways that to tell
Speaker 2: us I was used as a servant would use it.
Speaker 2: A servant would come in having completed all of his assignments,
Speaker 2: done all of his tasks, finished his jobs, and he'd
Speaker 2: come in and he'd say to his master, to his
Speaker 2: employer master, to tell us sty, which means, I've finished
Speaker 2: all the work he gave me to do. That's what
Speaker 2: it meant to tell us. I meant, Boss, I got
Speaker 2: it all done. Okay, I got it all done. It's
Speaker 2: all finished. The job you gave me is completed. And
Speaker 2: that's how a servant would use this. A judge, actually
Speaker 2: this is a judicial term too. A judge would use
Speaker 2: this in a courtroom and a judge would bang the
Speaker 2: gavel down and say to tell us sty, meeting, the
Speaker 2: sentence has been served and paid for.
Speaker 3: Justice has been served.
Speaker 2: And so, for instance, if you had gone to prison
Speaker 2: for a crime and you had done the time, and
Speaker 2: you were coming back before the judge and he's now
Speaker 2: going to release you because you have paid for your crime.
Speaker 3: You have done your time.
Speaker 2: He would say, and he would stamp on your prison
Speaker 2: document to tell us sty, which means justice has been served,
Speaker 2: You have done the time, You've paid the penalty.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: And that's what the word meant to in an accountant,
Speaker 2: I mean in a.
Speaker 3: Judicial setting.
Speaker 2: Now accountants, which would be a third way, use this
Speaker 2: in another way. It was a business term and it
Speaker 2: actually meant paid in full. And they actually would make
Speaker 2: stamps that said to tell us sty. And when you
Speaker 2: paid off a bill they stamp it to teleisti. In fact,
Speaker 2: even today they have found archaeologists have found many many
Speaker 2: old papyri that's old, you know, old paper made out
Speaker 2: of plants, old papyri of tax records with the word
Speaker 2: to tell usty stamped on it. It meant paid in full.
Speaker 2: You have no more debt anymore. It's been paid off.
Speaker 2: The debt has been canceled. Interestingly enough, this word was
Speaker 2: also used by artists to tell usty. And an artist
Speaker 2: when they were painting with either pastels or watercolor or
Speaker 2: whatever they're using charcoal, as they had finished a painting
Speaker 2: and they made the final brushstroke on that painting, the
Speaker 2: artists would say to teleisty, which means the painting is finished.
Speaker 2: The picture is done, all the details are there, It's
Speaker 2: been completed. There's nothing more to add to this picture,
Speaker 2: as an artists would use it. Finally, this word would
Speaker 2: also be used by priests in the temple, in the
Speaker 2: Jewish Temple, and when they offered a sacrifice, which had
Speaker 2: to be a perfect sacrifice, could not be a blemished lamb.
Speaker 2: And when they offered the sacrifice, the priest would then
Speaker 2: say in Greek, to tell ustye, which means the sacrifice
Speaker 2: has been made. Every one of those five things, five
Speaker 2: ways the word was used. Jesus was using it in
Speaker 2: the same way when he says and shouts on the
Speaker 2: cross after dying on the cross, to tell ustye. So
Speaker 2: what did Jesus finish on the cross? As I said,
Speaker 2: this is the single most important phrase in your life.
Speaker 2: If Jesus hadn't said this, there is no hope for
Speaker 2: your life none, no hope of heaven, no hope of
Speaker 2: God's power in your life, no hope of the promises
Speaker 2: being fulfilled. None of that's going to happen. But Jesus
Speaker 2: did say it. This is Christianity in a nutshell. So
Speaker 2: what did Jesus finish. When he says it's finished, what
Speaker 2: did he complete? What did he accomplish? Write these down?
Speaker 2: Five things? Number one. The first thing Jesus accomplished was this,
Speaker 2: He fulfilled what God had promised us. He fulfilled what
Speaker 2: God had promised us. Now, last week or a couple
Speaker 2: weeks ago, I talked to you about that in the
Speaker 2: Old Testament for thousands of years, God had been predicting
Speaker 2: that he was going to send a savior. And there
Speaker 2: are over three hundred and eighty of these predictions. They're
Speaker 2: called prophecies, three hundred and eighty of these predictions over
Speaker 2: thousands of years. He said, here's how you're going to
Speaker 2: know when it's me coming to earth. And he has
Speaker 2: all these conditions, And we went through that a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, three hundred and eighty prophecies about the
Speaker 2: coming Savior, the coming Messiah. But there are not only
Speaker 2: prophecies or predictions in the Bible. There are promises, and
Speaker 2: there are many, many promises. And Jesus, when he dies
Speaker 2: on the cross, fulfills every promise that God has made
Speaker 2: to you. Let me show you a couple verses Luke,
Speaker 2: chapter twenty four Jesus said, this. By the way, this
Speaker 2: story that I'm reading happens after the cross. He's resurrected,
Speaker 2: and he's actually walking down the street a few days later,
Speaker 2: the week after he's died on the cross. So Jesus said,
Speaker 2: this is on the road to Amis. Jesus said, this
Speaker 2: is what I told you while I was still with.
Speaker 3: You, in other words, before I died on the cross.
Speaker 2: Now he's back to life, and he's telling us to
Speaker 2: some people, everything must be fulfilled that is written about me.
Speaker 3: In the Law of Moses.
Speaker 2: That's the first five books of the Bible, in the Prophets,
Speaker 2: and in the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so
Speaker 2: they could understand the scriptures, and he told them this
Speaker 2: is what was written, that Christ will suffer and rise
Speaker 2: from the dead on the third day, and repentance and
Speaker 2: forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to
Speaker 2: all nations. Jesus, and this was predicted, and this was promised,
Speaker 2: and I just fulfilled it a few days ago.
Speaker 3: He said, I'm fulfilling. Now.
Speaker 2: You're never going to find Jesus' name in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: But all of the predictions and all the prophecies of
Speaker 2: what he would do, what he would say, where we
Speaker 2: would be born, how he would die, and all of
Speaker 2: those things.
Speaker 3: We looked back a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Are there He fulfilled the promises that God had given
Speaker 2: to us. Look at the next verse there, Second Corinthians
Speaker 2: one twenty. All of God's promises, all of God's promises
Speaker 2: have been fulfilled in him. Who that's Jesus. And he says,
Speaker 2: that's why we say amen when we give glory to
Speaker 2: God through Christ.
Speaker 3: When Jesus died.
Speaker 2: On the cross, and he said these three words, it
Speaker 2: is finished. He was announcing five benefits to you. The
Speaker 2: first one, he fulfilled what God had promised us. He
Speaker 2: fulfilled all the scripture, all the prophecies, all of the promises.
Speaker 2: Number two, this is a big one. Satisfied what God's
Speaker 2: justice required. He satisfied what God's justice required.
Speaker 3: Now let me explain this to you.
Speaker 2: God is a God of justice. He is imminently fair.
Speaker 2: God cannot be unfair. God is a god of justice
Speaker 2: and truth and righteousness and holiness and always does what's
Speaker 2: right and can never do what's wrong. So God is
Speaker 2: a god of justice, and God is a God of
Speaker 2: order and God is a god of laws, and God
Speaker 2: is a god of fairness. Now, the only reason the
Speaker 2: universe works is because that's God's nature. God wired the
Speaker 2: universe to run on certain laws. There are laws of physics.
Speaker 2: God designed them all their laws in astronomy, there are
Speaker 2: laws in chemistry. There are laws in the environment, physical laws.
Speaker 2: There's the law of gravity. How about if the law
Speaker 2: gravity just worked every other day and it was totally unreliable.
Speaker 2: God's laws always work all the time, and so God
Speaker 2: designed the entire universe so that rotations work, and gravity's work,
Speaker 2: and the laws of thermodynamics work. All of God's laws
Speaker 2: are immutable. Now there are physical laws, laws of physics.
Speaker 2: Has said they are physical laws. There are spiritual laws.
Speaker 2: There are moral laws, and there are relational laws. God
Speaker 2: is a god of justice and law. Now, God gave
Speaker 2: the moral laws to Moses and to the nation of Israel,
Speaker 2: to the Jews, and the Jews were to take the
Speaker 2: moral laws and share them.
Speaker 3: With everybody else.
Speaker 2: You've heard the phrase that the Jews are God's chosen people.
Speaker 3: It's true. What were they chosen to do? They were
Speaker 3: chosen to.
Speaker 2: Be the purveyors, are the ambassadors of God's moral law
Speaker 2: to everybody else, those of us who are not Jews.
Speaker 2: That's what they were chosen to do, to take the
Speaker 2: word of God and to take the truth of God,
Speaker 2: and to pass on the laws of God to everybody else. Now,
Speaker 2: human beings, we you and I, we have two problems
Speaker 2: with the laws of God. Number one, we are completely
Speaker 2: unable to keep them all. We just can't keep them all.
Speaker 2: In fact, here's what the Bible says Romans chapter eight.
Speaker 2: The law of Moses could not save us because our
Speaker 2: sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan.
Speaker 2: This is like a plan be God put into effect
Speaker 2: a different plan to save us. He sent his own
Speaker 2: son in a human body like ours, except that ours
Speaker 2: are sinful, and God destroyed sins control over us by
Speaker 2: giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Speaker 3: That's what he was doing on the cross.
Speaker 2: He did this so that the requirement of the law
Speaker 2: would be fully accomplished, finished, satisfied, completed for us, who
Speaker 2: no longer follow our own sinful nature but instead follow
Speaker 2: the spirits. What the rest of that verse says, now,
Speaker 2: Jesus is the only person in human history who ever
Speaker 2: kept all of God's law perfectly.
Speaker 3: Because he was the son of God.
Speaker 2: Now, the first problem we have is that we're completely
Speaker 2: unable to keep all of God's laws. The second problem
Speaker 2: with God is this, justice demands that lawbreakers pay the consequences.
Speaker 2: You don't have laws, and then if you break it them,
Speaker 2: nothing happens. There are certain laws. There are laws of sleep.
Speaker 2: If you don't get enough sleep, your body pays for it.
Speaker 2: There are laws. If you don't exercise, your body pays
Speaker 2: for But if you eat the wrong foods, your body
Speaker 2: paid for it. You are free on this planet to
Speaker 2: do anything you want to. God gives you that freedom,
Speaker 2: but you are not free from the consequences. I'm free
Speaker 2: to go out, get drunk, cause accidents, blow up buildings,
Speaker 2: steal things, live a totally licentious, self centered life.
Speaker 3: And I'm free to do that.
Speaker 2: God gives me that freedom, he does not give me
Speaker 2: the freedom from the consequences of it. And every kick
Speaker 2: has a kick back, and there is a payoff, and
Speaker 2: justice demands that law breakers pay a penalty. So God
Speaker 2: is a just God, but he's also a loving God.
Speaker 2: And Jesus did for us what God's justice and God's
Speaker 2: law required. Look at the next verses. Look at this
Speaker 2: verse on the screen. After Jesus had finished his work.
Speaker 2: What's the work he's talking about? That work on the cross,
Speaker 2: dying for our sins. After Jesus had finished his work
Speaker 2: on the cross, he became the source of eternal salvation
Speaker 2: for who, for everybody, everybody who obeys him.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter what.
Speaker 2: Your background is, doesn't matter, what your culture is, doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: what your religion is, doesn't matter, what your personality is,
Speaker 2: your sex is, doesn't matter, he says, it's for salvations
Speaker 2: for everybody who obeys him, who accepts what he did
Speaker 2: for him. Look at the next person in your outline
Speaker 2: Romans ten four. Christ ended the law so that everyone
Speaker 2: who believes in him may be right with God. Now
Speaker 2: circle that phrase, ended the law. Did you know That's
Speaker 2: what God did when he let Jesus down the cross.
Speaker 3: He ended the law.
Speaker 2: Now he said, wait, amen, does that mean to keep
Speaker 2: the tak commandments anymore?
Speaker 3: No, that's not what that means. Let me explain it now.
Speaker 2: I want you to listen really closely, because the world
Speaker 2: gets this wrong all the time. There are three kinds
Speaker 2: of law in the Bible. There's legal law for the
Speaker 2: nation of Israel. There's ceremonial law for the worship of Israel,
Speaker 2: and there's moral law for everybody in the whole world. Okay,
Speaker 2: there are legal laws in the book, in the Old
Speaker 2: Testament books that are for the nation of Israel. You're
Speaker 2: not obligated to fulfill those laws. You're not a Jew,
Speaker 2: you don't live in Israel, and you weren't living in
Speaker 2: the time where there is the theocracy of God being
Speaker 2: the King of Israel.
Speaker 3: You're not obligated.
Speaker 2: And then there's ceremonial rules in the Book of Leviticus.
Speaker 2: Anybody ever read that book. Okay, there's some strange rules
Speaker 2: in there. Okay, rules of hygiene, rules of health, rules
Speaker 2: of the kind of clothes you're supposed to wear, rules
Speaker 2: the way you're supposed to do worship in the temple,
Speaker 2: and all that. That was the ceremonial law for the
Speaker 2: nation of Israel. You're not obligated to keep those. You're
Speaker 2: not at ISRAELI and you're not under that system. God
Speaker 2: ended that system, endo that system. Now, the moral laws
Speaker 2: are still an effect. You can't murder, you can't lie,
Speaker 2: you can't commit adultery. Those are the big ones, and
Speaker 2: those are always an effect. And what happens is is
Speaker 2: people will come up to you and say, what about
Speaker 2: the law that says da da da da da dad?
Speaker 2: And he said, well, that's a ceremonial law. Well that's
Speaker 2: a national law. It's not a moral law, and it
Speaker 2: doesn't have the same effect as the laws that are.
Speaker 3: To keep on.
Speaker 2: Jesus ended the old system. He just says it right there.
Speaker 2: He ended the law, so everyone who believes in him
Speaker 2: may be right with God.
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick Warren says that every word Jesus spoke was
Speaker 1: important and has life changing power. The words that Jesus
Speaker 1: spoke during his final hours on the cross hold the
Speaker 1: key to finding fulfillment in your life, career, and relationships.
Speaker 1: That's why Rick put together a powerful seven Essian study
Speaker 1: kit called the Seven Greatest Words of Love. Get it
Speaker 1: now and unlock the full meaning and amazing blessings of
Speaker 1: Jesus' last words before his resurrection words of forgiveness, assurance, love, trust,
Speaker 1: and more. And this is a life changing Bible study
Speaker 1: with seven video sessions and a workbook. Request your copy
Speaker 1: today by calling eight hundred six hundred five thousand four
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