Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you.

I want to look at a few verses in Scripture and then share something really meaningful that came up recently in one of our Gentle and Lowly small groups. Let’s begin by turning to Scripture. We’ll go to the Gospel of John, chapter 19.

For context, Jesus is on the cross at this point. He is hanging there—suffering and dying. Beginning with verse 28, we read:

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the Scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I really want to focus on those words: “It is finished.”
What was finished?
What was finished was the punishment for sin.

Something that came up in our Gentle and Lowly small group was this powerful truth: Christ is a perfectly matched Savior for you and for me. You and I are sinners—and not only that, we sin to the uttermost. Yet we have a perfectly matched Savior, because Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, saves to the uttermost.

While we are uttermost sinners, Christ is our uttermost Savior. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was declaring that the work was complete. He paid the price to the uttermost—for all of our sin, and for all the sin of the world, in all times and all places.

Now let’s turn to Hebrews, chapter 10. We’ll look first at verse 10, and then verse 12.

Verse 10 says:

It is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Again, it is finished. It is complete. Christ’s sacrifice was offered according to God’s will—once for all. We sin to the uttermost; Christ saves to the uttermost.

Then verse 12:

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

There is no sacrifice that needs to be made again. There is no sin left uncovered, no failure forgotten, no debt unpaid. There is nothing we need to add and nothing we need to strive to complete. Christ has done it all.

While we sin to the uttermost, we have a perfectly matched Savior who saves to the uttermost—once for all.

God is good—better than we can imagine, better than we could ever begin to comprehend. And in his grace, he gives us what we can know and understand: that the work is complete. Christ has done what you and I could never do, and it has been done once for all.

So walk today knowing this truth: you are a sinner to the uttermost, but by God’s grace you have been saved. It is finished.
You have been forgiven—to the uttermost.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Lord, we thank you so much. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you for your Word, for your Word is truth. We thank you that though we are sinners, we are saved.

Lord, thank you for completing the punishment for our sin, though you were never guilty. Thank you for bringing us into righteousness by your blood and sanctifying us through your sacrifice. We thank you that this sacrifice has been received, as you have ascended and sit even today at the right hand of the Father.

Lord, we thank you for the promise that you will never leave us nor forsake us, and that we are always held in your love and mercy by your grace. We praise you and thank you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a most amazing rest of your week. I look forward to worshiping with you soon.
God bless.

Pastor Malinak