1. The finished work of Christ 1-15-12

2. We talked last week about the events surrounding the words; “It is Finished”. 1. Darkness 2. “My God My God why have You forsaken me”? 3. “It is finished!” 4. The veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom

3. 5. Earthquake so intense that rocks split 6. Graves are opened 7. Saints who are asleep are raised and appear to many. When Jesus said “it is finished” it meant God is now satisfied. The ransom has been paid in full and a new and living way has been opened to God! At what cost and price though?

4. Darkness and “My God, My God why have you forsaken me”? God is Judging Jesus, for He is bearing our sin. Jesus is literally becoming a curse for us. Gal 3:13) Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), God’s Son becomes a curse????

5. How bad is this really? The phrase “My Father” uttered by Jesus before His death occurs; 15 times in Matthew 3 times in Luke 33 times in John 51 times! The phrase “My God” uttered by Jesus before His death occurs only twice. Once in Matthew and once in Mark!

6. Why doesn’t Jesus say, “My Father, My Father, why have You forsaken Me”? Sin’s wage is death; Rom 6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. When we separate from our bodies we die physically. Without the spirit, the body is dead. When we separate from God we die spiritually. Without the SPIRIT, the spirit and the body are dead.

7. Adam and the whole human race were separated from the garden and the Tree of Life. Jesus was separated from the Father (sin’s wage is death) Whatever depth of agony Jesus suffered on our behalf, it involved something more than a break in fellowship with the Father. It involved changing the intimate term “My Father,” to a more distant term, “My God” and using the word “forsaken!” Romans 5:12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned–

8. σαβαχθαν ί sabachthani (sab-akh-than-ee') aram. 1. thou hast left me 2. sabachthani (i.e. shebakthani), a cry of distress The root שְׁבַק shbaq (sheb-ak') v. 1. to quit, 2. i.e. allow to remain KJV: leave, let alone.

9. Forsaken ἐ γκαταλε ί πω egkataleipo (eng- kat-al-ei'-po) v. 1. to leave behind in some place 2. (in a good sense) let remain over 3. (in a bad sense) to desert With all the tenses and moods involved it can read like this; “God! You have already deserted me and left me behind, abandon and alone in this place!!! Why? This goes way beyond non-fellowship!

10. This involves some sort of separation that we can barely comprehend It is a ransom so costly and un-payable by us, that you need to stop trying to redeem yourselves in God’s eyes. For in doing so you are insulting the grace of God. Gal 3:3) Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

11. Jesus finished it. It is already a masterpiece, what can we do to improve on it. Galatians 3:21 For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.