Text: John 19:28-30
Facebook live: Following Jesus in self-sacrifice
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Following Jesus in self-sacrifice
When our Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, fully conscious of the work He was accomplishing and the Scriptures that he was fulfilling, He said, “I thirst,” knowing this would initiate the fulfillment of one last prophecy before He died.
So, in response to Jesus' words, the soldiers filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a hyssop stick, and held it up to His mouth. And when Jesus had received the wine vinegar in fulfillment of Psalm 69:21
for My thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and handed over His spirit.
Our Lord Jesus died in a manner he alone could. He actively handed over His human spirit to His heavenly Father, choosing to lay down His life when He knew the time was exactly right.
No one but the Son of God could do that – simply give His spirit to God and die as an act of His own will.
But Jesus did this, because He was deliberately giving Himself as the sacrifice that completed the payment for our sin. Just as He had said before, no one took His life from Him; He lay it down of His own accord. Jn. 10:18
So, this truly was a self-sacrifice;
Jesus voluntarily gave all He could. Yes, this was the supreme sacrifice – the willing self-giving of the Son of God into death for the salvation of the world.
Now, as Jesus completed this sacrifice, He said, “It is finished,” or “It is completed.”
Not just the drinking of the wine vinegar, but every other prophecy concerning the work of the Christ up to His death was at that point completed.
Both the types, that is, the people and objects and events that foreshadowed the Savior, and the words that spoke of Him directly, all these prophecies were fulfilled.
Jesus' crucifixion marked the completion of them all.
In dying, Jesus also completed God's Law for us.
We know God's abiding commandments; they are summarized like this:
“Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mt. 22:37-39
But we also know we sinners don't do this; we cannot do this as God requires.
We know we have not come anywhere close to fulfilling God's holy commandments, and we deserve His punishment because of it.
Yet we thank and praise God that Jesus has completed the Law on our behalf.
As true Man, Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.” Heb. 4:15
He resisted all temptation perfectly in our place.
And Jesus kept all the commandments in our place, coming “in the likeness of sinful man... in order that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us.” Rom. 8:3-4
We are now made righteous by the one Man's obedience – a perfect obedience that took Him all the way to the cross in keeping with His Father's will.
So, as Jesus hung on that cross and proclaimed, “It is finished,” He declared to you and me, that God's Law is also completed for us.
So too, with the death of Jesus, His work of atonement is fully finished.
We know that because of our sinfulness, we were separated from God.
We had cut ourselves off from Him and written our own eternal death warrants.
But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to offer Himself as the sacrifice of atonement, to reconcile the world to God.
When He handed over His spirit to His heavenly Father, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing – giving His life as a ransom in the place of the many.
And with this sacrificial payment, God's righteous wrath was appeased, and our sins were fully forgiven.
So, in declaring, “It is finished,” Jesus announced the completion of the atonement
The sin of the world is paid for.
God's Law has been kept perfectly on our behalf.
The prophecies have all been fulfilled.
Jesus Christ has finished it all!
And that, dear Christians, should fill us with complete confidence in our salvation!
Since Jesus has finished all these things in His self-sacrifice, we can be fully certain our sins are forgiven, and we have everlasting life!
And that is why we can and should follow Jesus in self-sacrifice as well.
We know that because of His finished work, our salvation is secure. We don't have to worry about doing anything to earn our salvation or make ourselves acceptable to God.
Therefore, we are free to give our attention mainly to the needs of others, and sacrifice ourselves for them in love, even as our Savior has sacrificed Himself for us.
We follow Him in offering ourselves as living sacrifices.
Obviously, we cannot sacrifice ourselves just the same way as Jesus did, in atonement for the sin of the world.
Our lives could never be a sufficient ransom, and more importantly, Jesus has already finished this.
It doesn't need to be done again! But we actually can follow Jesus in offering our lives as “living sacrifices.”
That's the language God has given us in Romans chapter twelve.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Rom. 12:1
We hear the same teaching in 1 Peter chapter two.
“As you come to Him, a Living Stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet. 2:4-5
It's the very thing Malachi foretold of the Lord, that He would come and purify His priestly people, that they may offer to Him an offering in righteousness. Mal. 3:3
So, what does this mean?
In view of God's mercies, Paul said – that is, because Jesus sacrificed Himself to make us pure, giving His entire self into death – we are to sacrifice ourselves entirely to God, offering Him our whole lives.
For our Savior did not give Himself for us in part.
So, we do not give back to Him in part.
We don't offer ourselves to God just on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, for example.
Rather, we give Him our whole selves, all the time.
We understand that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices involves the giving of our time.
It requires us to be faithful stewards of the time He has given us.
Yes, it means we devote to our Savior all our time.
Otherwise, we are not sacrificing our whole lives.
You see, God, both teaches us, and has graciously qualified us, to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices – to live as His holy priests, who offer Him acceptable sacrifices through Jesus Christ, all day, every day, in our various callings.
In the passages from Romans and 1 Peter we hear several examples of Christian self-sacrifice:
serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, living peaceably with others, submitting to governing authorities and those over us in the workplace, wives submitting to husbands, husbands honoring wives, showing compassion, suffering patiently in doing good.
In all these things, and in all our other everyday activities, we sacrifice ourselves by using our time, talent, and treasure, not just for our own benefit, but also and especially for the wellbeing of others.
Work time, school time, exercise time, study time, mealtime, chore time, recreation and relaxation time, even sleep time – it's all God's gift to us to use for purposes that please and honor Him.
This challenges us to think about the way we spend our time, doesn't it? Whatever it is I'm doing, am I doing it “for the Lord”? Col. 3:23
Am I presenting God a living sacrifice?
Am I conducting myself as a holy priest, whose sacrifice is acceptable to God?
Because our Lord sacrificed Himself wholly for us, we offer ourselves wholly to Him as living sacrifices.
This is following Jesus in self-sacrifice.
By His saving mercy, yes, our sacrifice is acceptable to God. For the sake of Jesus' finished work, God is pleased with us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Following Jesus in self-sacrifice
When our Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, fully conscious of the work He was accomplishing and the Scriptures that he was fulfilling, He said, “I thirst,” knowing this would initiate the fulfillment of one last prophecy before He died.
So, in response to Jesus' words, the soldiers filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a hyssop stick, and held it up to His mouth. And when Jesus had received the wine vinegar in fulfillment of Psalm 69:21
for My thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and handed over His spirit.
Our Lord Jesus died in a manner he alone could. He actively handed over His human spirit to His heavenly Father, choosing to lay down His life when He knew the time was exactly right.
No one but the Son of God could do that – simply give His spirit to God and die as an act of His own will.
But Jesus did this, because He was deliberately giving Himself as the sacrifice that completed the payment for our sin. Just as He had said before, no one took His life from Him; He lay it down of His own accord. Jn. 10:18
So, this truly was a self-sacrifice;
Jesus voluntarily gave all He could. Yes, this was the supreme sacrifice – the willing self-giving of the Son of God into death for the salvation of the world.
Now, as Jesus completed this sacrifice, He said, “It is finished,” or “It is completed.”
Not just the drinking of the wine vinegar, but every other prophecy concerning the work of the Christ up to His death was at that point completed.
Both the types, that is, the people and objects and events that foreshadowed the Savior, and the words that spoke of Him directly, all these prophecies were fulfilled.
Jesus' crucifixion marked the completion of them all.
In dying, Jesus also completed God's Law for us.
We know God's abiding commandments; they are summarized like this:
“Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mt. 22:37-39
But we also know we sinners don't do this; we cannot do this as God requires.
We know we have not come anywhere close to fulfilling God's holy commandments, and we deserve His punishment because of it.
Yet we thank and praise God that Jesus has completed the Law on our behalf.
As true Man, Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.” Heb. 4:15
He resisted all temptation perfectly in our place.
And Jesus kept all the commandments in our place, coming “in the likeness of sinful man... in order that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us.” Rom. 8:3-4
We are now made righteous by the one Man's obedience – a perfect obedience that took Him all the way to the cross in keeping with His Father's will.
So, as Jesus hung on that cross and proclaimed, “It is finished,” He declared to you and me, that God's Law is also completed for us.
So too, with the death of Jesus, His work of atonement is fully finished.
We know that because of our sinfulness, we were separated from God.
We had cut ourselves off from Him and written our own eternal death warrants.
But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to offer Himself as the sacrifice of atonement, to reconcile the world to God.
When He handed over His spirit to His heavenly Father, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing – giving His life as a ransom in the place of the many.
And with this sacrificial payment, God's righteous wrath was appeased, and our sins were fully forgiven.
So, in declaring, “It is finished,” Jesus announced the completion of the atonement
The sin of the world is paid for.
God's Law has been kept perfectly on our behalf.
The prophecies have all been fulfilled.
Jesus Christ has finished it all!
And that, dear Christians, should fill us with complete confidence in our salvation!
Since Jesus has finished all these things in His self-sacrifice, we can be fully certain our sins are forgiven, and we have everlasting life!
And that is why we can and should follow Jesus in self-sacrifice as well.
We know that because of His finished work, our salvation is secure. We don't have to worry about doing anything to earn our salvation or make ourselves acceptable to God.
Therefore, we are free to give our attention mainly to the needs of others, and sacrifice ourselves for them in love, even as our Savior has sacrificed Himself for us.
We follow Him in offering ourselves as living sacrifices.
Obviously, we cannot sacrifice ourselves just the same way as Jesus did, in atonement for the sin of the world.
Our lives could never be a sufficient ransom, and more importantly, Jesus has already finished this.
It doesn't need to be done again! But we actually can follow Jesus in offering our lives as “living sacrifices.”
That's the language God has given us in Romans chapter twelve.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Rom. 12:1
We hear the same teaching in 1 Peter chapter two.
“As you come to Him, a Living Stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet. 2:4-5
It's the very thing Malachi foretold of the Lord, that He would come and purify His priestly people, that they may offer to Him an offering in righteousness. Mal. 3:3
So, what does this mean?
In view of God's mercies, Paul said – that is, because Jesus sacrificed Himself to make us pure, giving His entire self into death – we are to sacrifice ourselves entirely to God, offering Him our whole lives.
For our Savior did not give Himself for us in part.
So, we do not give back to Him in part.
We don't offer ourselves to God just on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, for example.
Rather, we give Him our whole selves, all the time.
We understand that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices involves the giving of our time.
It requires us to be faithful stewards of the time He has given us.
Yes, it means we devote to our Savior all our time.
Otherwise, we are not sacrificing our whole lives.
You see, God, both teaches us, and has graciously qualified us, to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices – to live as His holy priests, who offer Him acceptable sacrifices through Jesus Christ, all day, every day, in our various callings.
In the passages from Romans and 1 Peter we hear several examples of Christian self-sacrifice:
serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, living peaceably with others, submitting to governing authorities and those over us in the workplace, wives submitting to husbands, husbands honoring wives, showing compassion, suffering patiently in doing good.
In all these things, and in all our other everyday activities, we sacrifice ourselves by using our time, talent, and treasure, not just for our own benefit, but also and especially for the wellbeing of others.
Work time, school time, exercise time, study time, mealtime, chore time, recreation and relaxation time, even sleep time – it's all God's gift to us to use for purposes that please and honor Him.
This challenges us to think about the way we spend our time, doesn't it? Whatever it is I'm doing, am I doing it “for the Lord”? Col. 3:23
Am I presenting God a living sacrifice?
Am I conducting myself as a holy priest, whose sacrifice is acceptable to God?
Because our Lord sacrificed Himself wholly for us, we offer ourselves wholly to Him as living sacrifices.
This is following Jesus in self-sacrifice.
By His saving mercy, yes, our sacrifice is acceptable to God. For the sake of Jesus' finished work, God is pleased with us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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