CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK – Charles Spurgeon
Christ’s Finished Work
“It is finished!” — John 19:30
Introduction: The Singular Nature of Christ’s Work
There never existed but one being who in truth could affirm of His work—“It is finished!” Incompleteness and defect trace the vastest, most elaborate, and accomplished products of human genius and power. That brilliant volume of history, at a period of thrilling interest, falls from the death-struck hand of its author, fragmentary and incomplete. That magnificent work of art fades before the glazed eye of the painter and the sculptor, at a moment when the pencil is pointed, and the chisel is upraised to impart the last and perfecting touch. That splendid edifice, the conception of a master mind, with all its architectural skill and beauty, is but a monument of human forethought and power blinded and cramped in its range.
Thus, contemplate man’s noblest achievements—the intellectual and the physical—the touch of human imperfection and incompleteness mars and traces all. The great truth then stands out like a constellation flaming in its own solitary orbit, that there never was but one man who could gaze with complacency upon His work and, with His expiring breath, exclaim, “It is finished!” That man was the God-Man, the Mediator, who, as the Son, and yet the Servant of the Father, relinquished His throne for a cross, that He might accomplish the redemption and work out the salvation of His Church—the people given to Him by God.
The Significance of Christ’s Atonement
On the eve of that redemption and with all the certainty of an actual atonement, He could thus breathe His intercessory petition to heaven, “I have finished the work which You gave Me to do.” We summon you this evening around the Cross of Calvary to listen to the words now breathing from the quivering lips of our dying Lord—“It is finished!” Believing, as I do most firmly and solemnly, that no scriptural doctrine, no revealed truth, will ever be able to confound the infidelity of the present day, we meet to explode the many errors and heresies, fearful and fatal, which are inseparable from this age of licentious thought, unchecked utterance, and freedom of opinion.
We summon you this evening to proclaim the one remedy—the simple, full, unreserved exhibition of the Atonement, the Sacrificial, and Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ! I am the more anxious and earnest on this important and impressive occasion to bend upon it your especial, devout, and solemn attention. Oh, that our modern theological controversialists—the men who are desirous of contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints—who are putting on their armor and furbishing their weapons for the approaching conflict, might learn the secret of their might, wherein their great strength lies!
It is not in accumulating around the cross the stores of ancient and modern love; it is not in a strife of arms, dazzling and distinguished by profound intellectualism, learning, and eloquence—but in a simple, bold, uncompromising presentation of the Atoning and Finished sacrifice of Christ—the lifting up, in its naked simplicity and solitary, unapproachable grandeur, of the Cross of the Incarnate God, the instrument of the sinner’s salvation, the foundation of the believer’s hope, the symbol of pardon, reconciliation, and hope to the soul.
In a word, the grand weapon by which error shall bow to truth, sin give place to righteousness, and the kingdoms of this world long in rebellion against God, crushed and enthralled, shall yield to Messiah’s specter, spring from the dust, burst their bonds, and exalt in the undisputed supremacy and benign reign of Jesus!
The Cause of Spiritual Doubt and Fear
And believing, too, as I firmly do, that so large an amount of corroding doubts, gloomy fears, and painful forebodings—which so essentially and so widely impede religious progress—invade and cloud the spiritual joy and hope of the Lord’s people, is mainly traceable to imperfect, crude, and dim views and apprehensions of Christ’s complete work, of the Savior’s finished salvation, I am still the more desirous of placing this great, cardinal, and precious truth prominently and broadly before you, trusting that in answer to prayer, there will be tonight the presence and power of the Holy Spirit descending, invisible and noiseless, upon your souls, sealing upon your hearts this grand, essential, and saving truth—the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST.
I. The Cry of a Sufferer
Let us consider these memorable words first as The Cry of a Sufferer. And what a sufferer! Contemplate for a moment the divine dignity of the sufferer. Here was no ordinary sufferer, my brothers and sisters. We approach the scene of the crucifixion, and we behold three individuals alike suspended upon three different crosses, two on either side and one in the center. They all suffer—all languish—all die. But the sufferings and death of one is attended by circumstances so strange, and events so unparalleled, by prodigies so miraculous and sublime, that we are led to exclaim in wondering awe, “Who is this?”
And the voice of prophecy replies, “This is He of whom I spoke—‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My fellow,’ says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” My dear hearers, if throughout the life of Christ I could fasten upon no other event confirming the doctrine of the Godhead of Christ, I would be willing and satisfied to predicate my argument in vindication of His essential dignity upon the closing scene of the cross—the last moments of His parting life.
If His life were destitute of fact, His death alone would supply the evidence that He who died upon Calvary was none other than the Son of God! Hold fast the doctrine of Christ’s essential Deity, for upon it, as upon a rock, reposes the entire and stupendous fabric of the Atonement.
Christ’s Sufferings: Expiatory and Vicarious
The sufferings of Christ were expiatory and vicarious. Many deny this fact. The only solution of the mystery of Christ’s death offered by certain schools is that which presents our Lord as a model of patience and resignation in suffering—a saint in virtue—a hero in endurance. And thus, the cross of Christ is deprived of its magnificence and robbed of its glory!
But our Lord suffered as an expiatory Offering, as a vicarious Victim. All suffering is, in a sense, vicarious—not in the fullest meaning of the term, as conveying the idea of substitution, but simply and only in the sense that all suffering is the effect and consequence of sin. The man who violates the laws of his physical nature—who wastes his substance in riotous living—who herds among the unclean, and sacrifices to his baser passions health, property, character—shall suffer as a consequence of his lawlessness, folly, and sin.
These sufferings shall not expiate his transgression, but they shall follow in its wake as a sure and dire consequence. Our Lord’s sufferings were also the result and consequence of sin—sin not His own, but His people’s. In the fullest and most emphatic meaning of the terms, they were expiatory and vicarious—sufferings, not only the fruit of sin but, more than that, suffering expiatory of sin—sufferings, substitutionary and vicarious, sacrificial and atoning.
The Revelation of God’s Glory Through the Cross
Behold the Almighty sufferer! There stood the Son of God, bearing the sin and enduring the curse of His Church—putting away the one, and entirely exhausting the other—by the sacrifice of Himself. To all the demands of God’s moral government, to all the claims of law and justice, Jesus now, on behalf of the people for whom He stood as surety, gave a full, honorable, and accepted satisfaction.
The Unparalleled Intensity of Christ’s Suffering
The sufferings of Christ were unparalleled and intense. Never since the universe was formed was there such a sufferer as Jesus. He was the Prince of sufferers. No sorrow ever broke the heart like that which tore His in two. Truly could He challenge the universe of sufferers, and ask, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto My sorrow.”
No, Lord! Your sufferings had no parallel; no sorrows were ever like unto Yours!
The Unknown Agony of Christ
The Greek Church speaks of Christ’s “unknown agonies.” Yes, the agonies of our sin-suffering, sin-atoning Lord were unknown! They were in their intensity known only to His holy soul. No angel could ever fathom their depth; no finite mind shall ever be able to gauge the breadth, to scale the height, to conceive even of the agony of His soul when He exclaimed, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
The Physical, Mental, and Soul-Suffering of Christ
We may form some idea of their character, but the depth of them is beyond us. First, there was the physical element; our blessed Lord suffered bodily. The rending rocks around His cross provide a faint picture, but even the finest triumphs of physiology can never fully portray what the Savior endured.
Then there was mental agony. The mental grief He endured, who can conceive? His mind was a human mind, and all the more sensitive because it was a sinless mind. The sympathy of Christ was all the more exquisite, all the more tender, because it was entirely free from sin. We are not all human. We possess a part of a demoniacal nature, while Christ’s humanity was entirely free from sin.
Christ’s Deep Soul-Suffering: The Wrath of God
The soul-suffering of our Lord was the most intense of all. This was inconceivable, indescribable. Listen to the cry in Gethsemane, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.” The billows of God’s wrath began now to penetrate His nature, and the storm broke in upon His soul. That was a terrible moment—the moment when He succumbed to the woe.
The Atoning Love of Christ
All this, O child of God, was for your soul! It pleased the Lord to crucify Him and put Him to grief for you. By His stripes you are healed. Your healing flows from His wounds, your joy from His sorrow, your glory from His abasement, your riches from His poverty; your hope beams through the darkness which enshrouds His holy soul.
The Completion of Christ’s Suffering
The sufferings of Jesus are now over. Hear Him cry—“It is finished!” Rejoice, then—rejoice that the sufferings of Jesus are finished; the storm and the tempest will no more beat around Him! The sun of God’s love shall no more darken over Him, for He took the cup, pressed it to His lips, exhausted the last bitter drop, and then shouted out in words that made heaven reverberate with its melody, and hell ring with its mightiness, “It is finished!”
II. The Language of a Savior
Secondly, “It is finished” is not only the cry of a sufferer; it is the language of a Savior. Christ’s mission to our world was simply and singularly to save. He came for no other objective than to save man, to give His life a ransom for many.
His life and death were both part of the divine strategy—an expedient to restore to God’s moral government the glory it had lost in man’s apostasy. His death was the atonement for sin; His blood, shed for the remission of sins. The purpose of His sacrifice was to harmonize justice and mercy, holiness and truth, and to provide a golden chain of mercy to lift sinners back to God.
III. The Shout of a Conqueror
Lastly, the words “It is finished” are the shout of a conqueror. Christ was a man of war. He came to battle against Satan, sin, and hell. It was a terrible conflict, a fearful battle, but He girded Himself for the mighty and solemn work—and He finished it.
Conclusion: Victory in Christ’s Finished Work
In Christ’s words “It is finished,” we hear the victorious cry of the conqueror. He completed the work He came to do, and through His sacrifice, salvation has been secured. The work of atonement is finished, and those who believe in Him can rest assured in the finished work of Christ.
He met His foes on the battlefield, confronted all His enemies, and on the cross He destroyed—He divested death of its sting, triumphed over Satan, the grave, and hell, and as He expired, He exclaimed, “It is finished!” Oh, what a sublime conflict was that, my brothers and sisters, when the Captain of our salvation met single-handedly, overcame the powers of darkness, fought the fight, won the victory, and died, saying, “It is finished!”
1. Comfort for the Believer Amid Failures
With two or three brief inferences from the subject, I will close. First, what a spring of comfort flows from it to the true believer amid his innumerable failures, flaws, and imperfections. What service do you perform? What duty do you discharge of which you can say, “It is finished”? Alas, not one! Your service is imperfect, your obedience is incomplete, your love is fluctuating, and upon it all are the visible marks of human defilement and defect.
But here is the work which God most delights in: “finished.” “You are complete in Him.” Turn, then, your eyes of faith out of yourself, and off of all your own doings, and deal more immediately, closely, and obediently with the finished work of Immanuel. Come away from your fickle love, from your weak faith, from your little fruitfulness, from your uneven walk, from all your shortcomings and imperfections, and let your eyes of faith repose where God’s eyes of satisfied love rest—on the finished work of Jesus.
God beholds you only in Christ—it is not upon you He looks, but on His beloved Son, and upon you in Him, “Wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved.”
2. The Folly of Supplementing Christ’s Work
If Christ’s atoning work is finished, what folly and what sin to attempt to supplement it! What vast numbers are doing this! Away with your tears, your confessions, your duties, your charities, even your repentance and faith, if these things dare to take their place side by side with the finished work of Christ! See that you attempt to add nothing to it.
3. The Worthlessness of Human Effort in Salvation
In a similar strain of exhortation, let me warn you of the utter worthlessness and fallacy of all grounds of faith, and of all human hope that comes in conflict with the finished work of Christ. My dear hearers, you have nothing to do in the great matter of your salvation, but to accept in faith the one offering made once and for all by God manifest in your nature.
Cast your deadly doings at the foot of the cross; cease from your own works; cease from your own righteousness; cease from resting in your confessions, in your tears, in your prayers, in your going to your church or your chapel. Oh, cease from all this, and in simple faith accept—take hold of—the Divine work of the Lord Jesus Christ!
God needs no more sacrifices; God asks no other atonement; God looks for nothing on your part to propitiate His regard, or present you with acceptance; He is satisfied with the Divine work of Christ—with His obedience—and with His blood-shedding.
And if tonight, sin-burdened and distressed one, you will renounce all your own doings, and rest in the finished work of Christ—the one eternal redemption He has offered—God will expand His arms of love, and embrace you, take you into a covenant, filial relation to Himself; and from that moment, your path to eternity will be like the sun, growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. All is done! Christ has done all. Christ has suffered all—all He asks of you is in faith to receive His glorious sacrifice. Believe in Him, and be saved!
4. Beware of the Errors of the Day
Beware of the errors of the day, the tendency of which is to veil the light and glory of Christ’s finished work, and to mislead, misguide, and misdirect souls on their way to the judgment seat. The fact is too patent to ignore, and it would be affectation to veil it—that there exists at the present moment, a theological school in our land—which by the press is endeavoring to circulate doctrines and statements which go to undermine the Divine inspiration and authority of the Bible, and to cast the pall of darkness and death over the splendors of the cross.
I warn you of these terrorists, and against their errors. Deceitful men, false to your Master, and unfaithful to His truth! You may attempt to veil the luster of the cross, you may sepulcher incarnate truth, roll upon it your stone, seal it, and set your watch, but the truth of God shall leap from the dark chamber in which you attempt to entomb it, and shall walk this earth again—a thing of life, light, and beauty!
Rejoice, O Christian, that all these attempts to subvert the truth as it is in Jesus, God will laugh to scorn, and finally, His gospel shall fully and universally prevail— “Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again! The eternal years of God are hers; But error wounded writhes in pain, And dies amid her worshippers!”
5. A Prayer for the Minister and the Church
And now, from my heart, I ask the blessing of the triune God upon my beloved brother, the grand substance of whose ministry I believe from my very soul is to exalt the finished work of Jesus. And I pray that this noble edifice, reared in the name, and consecrated to the glory of the triune God, may for many years echo and re-echo with his voice of melody and of power in expounding to you the glorious doctrines and precepts of Christ’s one finished atonement.
And God grant that none of you may be found rejecting to your everlasting woe the doctrine of the cross. You may attempt to laugh it to scorn; you may make your excuses for its rejection; but the hour is coming, yes, the hour is near, when death confronting you—the veil falling upon all earthly scenes, rising upon all eternal realities—you will discover the unbelief and slander that could trifle with the atonement, dispute it in life, and in health, fail you in your solemn hour.
6. The Call to Accept Christ’s Finished Work
You will find yourself on the brink of eternity, without a plank, without a lifeboat, without a star of hope to cheer the dark spirit’s travel to the court of God! Reject it; deny it at your peril; your blood be upon your own heads. And may God grant in His grace, that before long you who have believed in Him, confessed Him, and loved Him here on earth, may cluster around His throne, gaze upon His unclouded face, unite in the anthem of the blessed, and from those lips which once uttered that glorious sentence—“It is finished,” receive the “Well done, good and faithful servant;” “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world.”
And to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we will all unite in one eternal ascription of praise. Amen.