It Is Finished Sermon

Three Words That Changed Everything

John 19:28-30 (Csb)

Opening

There is a moment in every great undertaking when the work is done. The surgeon steps back from the table. The builder sets down the last stone. The writer closes the manuscript. In that moment, something is declared, not just finished, but complete. What was promised has been delivered. What was broken has been addressed. What was required has been fulfilled.

The Gospel of John records such a moment, and it stands as the most significant declaration in all of human history. Three words in our English translation. One word in the Greek. Tetelestai. It is finished.

These words did not fall from the lips of a defeated man gasping his last breath. They were the proclamation of the Son of God who had accomplished everything the Father sent him to do. To understand what Jesus meant when he said it is finished, we have to understand what he was finishing, and why that matters for every person sitting in this room today.

Let us read the text together.

John 19:28-30 in the Christian Standard Bible reads: "After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, he said, 'I'm thirsty.' A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they put a sponge saturated with sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished.' Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit."

The Text In Its Setting

John is a careful writer, and he wants us to notice something important in verse 28. He says that Jesus, knowing that everything was now finished, spoke. This is not a man who has lost control of the situation. Jesus is not surprised by the cross. He is not overcome by it. He is completing something he set out to do.

John has been building toward this moment from the very first chapter of his Gospel. In chapter 1, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." That declaration at the beginning of the Gospel finds its answer here at the end. The Lamb of God has come to the altar. The sacrifice is being made. And Jesus himself announces when it is done.

Notice also that John connects this moment to the fulfillment of Scripture. The thirst Jesus expresses in verse 28 is a fulfillment of Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, where the suffering servant cries out in thirst and is given vinegar to drink. John is not simply reporting physical details. He is showing us that every step of the crucifixion was moving according to the plan of God written long before that Friday morning. Nothing about Calvary was accidental. Nothing was improvised. God had been pointing toward this moment through centuries of prophecy, sacrifice, and covenant promise.

The sour wine offered on a hyssop branch is a small but meaningful detail. Hyssop was the plant used in the Passover ritual in Exodus 12, when the blood of the lamb was applied to the doorposts of Israelite homes so the angel of death would pass over. John is drawing a line from the first Passover to this moment. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, and his blood is the only covering that can turn away the judgment we deserve.

When Jesus receives the sour wine and says it is finished, he bows his head and gives up his spirit. This is not the language of a victim. A person does not bow their head and then die. You bow your head in a deliberate act. John is telling us that Jesus laid down his life. He was not taken from the world. He surrendered himself to death on our behalf, in our place, for our sin.

What Was Finished

So what exactly was finished? This is the heart of the passage, and it is the question every honest person must ask.

First, the demands of the law were finished. The law of God is holy and good, but every human being stands guilty before it. Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The law required a penalty for that sin. Death. Separation from God. Judgment. Jesus did not come to set aside the law. He came to fulfill it perfectly in his life and to absorb its full penalty in his death. When he said it is finished, he was declaring that the debt had been paid in full. Not reduced. Not deferred. Paid.

Second, the sacrificial system was finished. For centuries, the people of Israel had brought lambs and bulls and goats to the temple. The priests offered those sacrifices again and again, year after year, because no animal sacrifice could permanently remove sin. The book of Hebrews tells us that those sacrifices were shadows pointing forward to the one true sacrifice that was coming. Jesus is that sacrifice. He is the great high priest and the offering at the same time. When he said it is finished, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying that the way to God was now open. No more sacrifices were needed. No more priests were required to stand between a sinner and God. The work was done.

Third, the mission the Father gave to the Son was finished. In John 17, in his prayer before the arrest, Jesus said to the Father, "I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He came so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. That mission reached its completion on the cross.

The Confidence Of The Believer

Now here is where this ancient declaration becomes intensely personal for every person in this room.

If the work is truly finished, then the confidence of the believer does not rest on what we have done or what we still need to do. It rests entirely on what Christ has done. This is the foundation of the gospel. This is what separates Christianity from every other religious system in the world. Every other religion, in one form or another, tells you that you must complete the work. You must earn your standing before God through discipline, devotion, ritual, or moral achievement. The gospel says the work has already been completed, and it was completed by someone else on your behalf.

This is not a license for careless living. Paul addresses that misunderstanding directly in Romans 6. But it is the most liberating truth a human being can receive. You do not have to earn what Christ has already purchased. You cannot add to what is already complete.

For the believer who is walking through suffering, this matters deeply. The cross does not promise that your circumstances will be easy. But it does promise that God has not abandoned you. The same Jesus who endured the cross is the same Lord who intercedes for you now. Your salvation is not in danger because it was secured by his finished work, not by your performance.

For the believer who is haunted by past sin, this matters deeply. The word tetelestai was used in the ancient world as a commercial term. When a debt was paid in full, this word was stamped across the record. Paid. Done. Cleared. Your sin does not have a hold on your standing before God if you have placed your faith in Christ. He stamped the record. It is finished.

For the person in this room who has not yet placed their trust in Jesus, this is the most important thing you will ever hear. You do not have to clean yourself up before you come to him. You do not have to reach a certain level of goodness before he will accept you. The work that needed to be done to reconcile you to God has already been done. What is required of you is not achievement. It is faith. Repentance and trust. Turning from your own way and placing your confidence in the one who said it is finished.

A Word About What Comes Next

We must not leave the cross without remembering that the story does not end there. Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit, but three days later the tomb was empty. The resurrection is the Father's declaration that the Son's work was accepted. The sacrifice was sufficient. The debt was paid. Death could not hold the one who had conquered sin.

The finished work of the cross and the victorious reality of the resurrection belong together. We do not worship a dead savior. We worship the risen Lord who completed the work of salvation and now reigns at the right hand of the Father. Because he lives, we have hope not only for forgiveness but for new life, both now and in the age to come.

Conclusion

Three words. It is finished. They are the simplest and most profound words ever spoken. They are the words that tell you the war has been won, the debt has been paid, the way has been opened, and the love of God has been demonstrated in the most costly way imaginable.

The cross is not a symbol of defeat. It is the altar where the Lamb of God completed the work of redemption. It is the place where justice and mercy met. It is the ground on which every sinner can stand forgiven, every doubter can find solid footing, and every weary soul can finally rest.

Come to the finished work. Not to add to it. Not to improve upon it. Come to receive it. Come with empty hands and a willing heart, and find that what Jesus finished is more than enough for everything you carry today.

Let us pray together, and if you have never placed your trust in the Christ who said it is finished, let this be the day you do.

Sources Consulted

Carson, D. A. The Gospel According to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 1991.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. Revised edition. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 1995.

Kostenberger, Andreas J. John. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 2004.

Schreiner, Thomas R. The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Baker Academic, 2013.

The Holy Bible, Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.