Tuesday, April 22, 2008

It is Finished

"When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed His head and gave up His spirit." -John 19:30

I have recently been reading "Spiritual Secret of Hudson Taylor," a biography of the great missionary to China. In the book it relates how he picked up a gospel tract for entertainent, planning to read the "story" and skip the "sermon," and was struck by the words "It is finished."

"What was finished?'"
And at once I replied, "A full and perfect atonement and satisfaction for sin. The debt was paid for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Then came the further thought, "If the whole work was finished and the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to do?"

This week at church we heard a message which meshed perfectly with this. The pastor spoke on "Religion versus the Gospel." He emphasized that all of the things that we and other people do, many of them very "good" things, are not a part of the Good News that Jesus Christ paid the price and offered forgiveness. We cannot work our way into heaven, or into any merit with God. There is nothing left for us to do!

Throughout Jesus ministry in Israel He blasted the religious fervor of the Jews, condemning their public prayers, their scrupulous tithing, and their carefully preserved cleanliness. In your church and life would He find the same things to condemn? I think all of us, especially those who have grown up in the church, demand of ourselves certain good works. The insidious idea that we are "doing something for God," and therefore promoting ourselves, sneaks in so easily.

Remember today that in Christ "It is finished!" There is nothing left for you to do! Your sins are forgiven! It should be a natural response to this incomprehensible mercy to worship and love your great Forgiver with the utmost of your life and being. But this is always and only thanks to Him, and never merit with Him. Live in the freedom of accepting His payment for sins, and praise Him!