 Hallelujah. Come on. Stand up. Give Jesus a hand tonight. He's worthy. Hallelujah. Thank you. Has he been good to you this week? Isaiah 26.3 says that he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed upon him. Amen. And I've found in my life, it's not going to happen by accident. We got to will our mind to be stayed on him, trust in him. So with that posture, let's take out your prayer and praise and go to the throne of grace. Aren't you grateful we have somewhere we can go with our prayers tonight? Someone who hears and answers. Do you believe that? So Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness tonight. Lord, we thank you for your presence. God, you said we're two or three are gathered that you are in our midst tonight, Lord, and that you care for every need. So Father, we lift up all the needs that are listed here. God, bring healing to the one right now that needs a healing. Bring deliverance. Bring salvation. Call the protocols home. We pray tonight in Jesus' name. Lord, let us see your glory. We're asking, Father. Lord, you know the needs that are represented, God, and even the ones that are here that are unspoken. Jesus, just search the room, Holy Spirit. God, search our hearts tonight, Lord. The inner depths, God, and just bring healing to our hearts tonight, we ask. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Hallelujah. Across the aisle, greet a brother and sister this evening. Online guests, we're so honored that you would be here with us. We counted a privilege and that you would be a part of the Pace family. Let us know where you're watching and how we can communicate with you and agree with you in prayer. We believe that the same presence that's here with us is transcending right through the airways, into your home, into your car, wherever you are tonight. So God bless you, amen. Who's thankful for Wednesday night Bible study? Come on, who's thankful? We are a blessed people. This is a deep well. We are so grateful. Let's never take one day for granted. Amen. There's some announcements I'd like to make you aware of. Starting point. Listen, if you're interested in being a member or getting connected here at Pace Assembly, we encourage you to go to the starting point class. It starts this Sunday, April 7th. Everybody say April 7th at 9 a.m. and it's four Sundays. Say four Sundays. Hallelujah. Also, this Sunday is Mission Sunday and we have a great opportunity to sow into missions that the gospel will go forth all around the world. Isn't that amazing that we can sow into that? Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Well, who's ready to bless the Lord in our tithes and offerings this evening? Amen. He said, bless as those who give. He said, be pressed down, shaking together and running back over. Hallelujah. And you can do that. We have buckets in the back. We have a QR code. You can go online and you can also mail it in as well. Amen. Let's pray over the offering. Father, again, we thank you for your goodness tonight, Lord. We pray that God, you would meet every need. God, bless the gift and the giver alike. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord. Are you glad to be here tonight? It's good to see you. I want you to take your Bibles and get ready and let's study the Word of God together. What an awesome weekend of celebration of the resurrected Lord this past weekend. There's record number in attendance and record number online. It was amazing and we praise God for it. Now I want you to go find all them people and tell them to get back here this weekend. The one weekend out of the year that most preachers get depressed is the weekend after Easter. They're all excited about what happened with their attendance and then all of a sudden we wonder if there's been a mass exodus. Everybody went to the grave or something. So you make sure you're here this weekend and bring somebody with you. Amen. And I believe God is going to bless this coming weekend. I'll mention it to you that this coming Sunday morning, there is an awful lot of talk, a lot of conversation about this coming eclipse and if it is significant or not in Bible prophecy and in the things of the Word of God. This coming Sunday, I won't promise to cover every area, but I will bring to you what the Bible has to say concerning signs in the heavens. There is biblical foundation for signs that are in the heavens and it's important for us to understand that. Too many people write off out of all of the categories of signs of the end times. Most people will write off those that category of heavenly signs and or earthly natural disasters, whatever it may be, and earthquakes and all that. Those are the ones they usually put to the side. Well, that's always been so forth and so on. Well, I want you to come this weekend and find out what the Bible has to say about it. That's my position and let me just make it clear because I've had a lot of folks just reading and seeing what people's mindsets were on this and there are some that are trying to connect it saying that the rapture is going to take place. That would not be accurate. That's not biblical. You need to get what the truth is and that's what I'm going to bring to you this weekend and help you to have a clearer understanding because it is, in my humble opinion, I believe that it is certainly a sign that we need to pay attention to. There's something going to happen immediately after that. Most of the time, that's not the way it is and let me just make sure you understand this. Regardless of what takes place, God is sovereign, meaning that He could do it on that particular time or not. But there are certain parallels and things that we need to be able to see in the Scripture that will help us to be able to know that we're living in the end times and He gives definitely from the Word of God the sun, moon and stars for signs in the heavenlies. I'll explain that this coming weekend in the Sunday morning service, so don't miss that. And then Sunday night at six o'clock, I'm going to be bringing a Bible prophecy, prophecy files update. You'll not want to miss that. Bring your friends and get the word out, share it out on social media. It's available for you to do that. I believe it will be a blessing to you and to others to be encouraged by what the Word of God has to say and also to just be able to understand what and the times that we're living in and have that clear understanding of that. So I'll be bringing that to you this coming weekend. I don't want you to miss that. It's going to be a great time in the Lord. And it's a good time for you to invite friends, people that are interested in the future. Everybody is. What's it going to be? What's the future hold? Well, we don't have to be backing up to that. The Bible clearly tells us what the future is. My prophecy files briefing that I put out on Tuesday. There are, the Bible says this in 1 Peter. He says that in the last days, there would be scoffers saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since our fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they are. And those scoffers, those that mock the coming of the Lord. I've got a number of, I've apparently attracted them and they put their little emojis out there laughing at it. And I said, when I saw some of that today, they'll be laughing out of the other side of their mouth because the Word of God is going to come to pass just like, just like God said. And so, don't you allow the times that we're in to deflect you, distract you, detour you from the truth of God's Word. It will come to pass whether it happens while we're alive or after we're gone or whatever, it's going to come to pass. So, you make plans to be with me this coming weekend. It's going to be a full Sunday of services so we don't want you to miss that. Tonight, after this lesson is concluded, I will ask you to stay. Those of you that need to or want to, I want to bring you a little brief update as I told you that I would do concerning the litigation that the church has been involved in concerning the insurance claim and the storm damage from some three years ago. I've got answers for you this evening that we'll be able to conclude this in your minds and in this church and close the book on this particular situation. So, I want you to remain here. We will end the broadcast for live streaming. And so, those of you that are watching online when we conclude this evening, you won't see people getting up and running around. They're going to stay here with me, I hope, and get this information to you, and then we will conclude the live streaming. But right now, let's get in the Word of God. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 19, and let's see what God has in store for us this evening. Praise God. Father, thank you for the privilege of your Word. We recognize, Lord, that this evening that your Word is all that we need, and it is definitely needed now more than ever before. And so, we ask you to illuminate that Word. Give us, Lord, as we hear the Word of God this evening, let us, let it drop into our heart and into our spirit to cause faith to grow inside of us and have confidence and trust in who you are as our God. And we give you praise for it in Jesus' mighty name. Everybody said a good amen. In the book of John chapter number 19, and one verse in verse number 30 for a point text tonight, the Bible says we're taking up as Jesus was dying on the cross. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. These three words, it is finished, is what I want to zero in on tonight in the mission accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's talk about it for a few moments here this evening. The completion of your assignment and mine that God has given to each and every one of us who are believers on this earth is certainly the enemy Satan's greatest fear. For you to be able to complete what God has given to you is Satan's greatest fear. I don't want to leave this world having an unfinished assignment. I want to say like Paul did, like Jesus did, I have completed the work that you have given for me to do. Only those the Bible said that endure to the end shall be saved or promoted or rewarded. That is the key. I want you to say that word endurance. Enduring to the end is a critical thing. Sometimes you just got to tolerate and put up with some stuff just so you can say, I'm going to make it to the end of this thing. How many of you understand what I'm saying? That's why Satan deceives us or attempts to. If he can get you to forsake your assignment before it is finished, then he knows that you'll be discouraged to start another one. How many of you know what I'm talking about? So Satan attacks in seasons. You can see that throughout the Scripture, especially when people are weakened or exhausted. But there is also a period of time in a season when Satan attacks at the birth of something, a birth of a vision, a new revelation, maybe even the birth of a child. You see that in the Scripture, even with Jesus being born, Satan attacked to try to kill Jesus and kill Moses and on and on the list goes. It's important for you to realize that because whenever there is a vision that God has given to you, an assignment, he's going to do everything he can to kill, still and destroy, discourage you from completing that assignment, from finishing the assignment. But I want you to know that people that are champions, believers in Jesus Christ are finishers. I have a real problem in my, when I don't complete something that I know I need to do and I really have a real big problem when we don't complete what we need to do as a church, as a ministry because finishing is something that the Lord is not only going to reward, but he is saying to us that Satan hates a finisher. Philippians chapter one verse number six, being confident, listen to what God said, being confident of this very thing, that he which had began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So realize that the Lord is going to be working on all of us as his people until the day that Jesus returns. So you're in the process of things. You're in, you are God's assignment. We are God's assignment and he's given to us an assignment. So if you're writing some things down, here we go. Jesus then considered non-finishers to be disqualified for the kingdom. That's what Luke chapter number nine verse 52 says, 62 says that, and Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom. Backsliding is not an option for us. Not finishing the assignment. You know, sometimes today people don't finish because, because it's just hard to do. Well, I'm just going to tell you anything for the kingdom of God's sake is not going to be easy. There's going to be some blood, sweat, and tears that you have to put into it. Trust me. Anything you do for the kingdom is going to come under an assault. The anointing attracts attack. So don't say I want to be anointed. I want to be anointed to do something and not expect the enemy to hit you. I want, and I'm not sure that I've gotten there yet, but I want to be like the Apostle Paul when, when he says, I know that there's this thing that's happening, attacking my life. The enemy is attacking my life, but I glory in that. I can't say that I've always gloried in it. Have I got any takers here tonight? I cannot say that I've always went, who, praise God, rejoice. Rejoice when, when you are put under diverse temptations and trouble comes your way. Rejoice. I can't say that I've always done that. Maybe you have, but the Bible is clear. Whatever you do when you say, that's the reason why he says you better count the cost of serving the Lord, because it's going to cost you something. And don't get jealous of somebody else's anointing in your life, because, because what they had to do and sacrifice for the anointing of God upon their life may not be yours. Okay. Someone was saying something like that to Rita the other day, and I said, well, you know, if they want that kind of anointing, then they'll have to bury their mother, have open heart surgery, shoulder surgery, foot surgery. They'll have to go through the pains. I know she's going, are you kidding me? If you're telling everything, you have to go through what you go through. But if we don't endure like we should, what testimony do we have? Your anointing is measured by what you endure, not what you quit. Anybody can quit. And you know what? You can have the luxury of quitting as long as you know you're not going to quit. Some of you are still thinking about that. When you know and you're a heart of hearts that you're not going to quit, you may look in the mirror on any given day, and you know what? I'm fed up with this. I just quit. And then you don't. You go do what you're supposed to do. Some of you said that about your own jobs. I just quit. Then you went. Then you started thinking about it. No paycheck, no food. Can't pay my bills, can't live in the house. Well, off to work I go. Right? So he's saying, don't put your hands to the plow and look back. Make up your mind because you need to finish what God has started inside of your life. Next, Paul was a finisher. Look at Second Timothy. He said, I've fought a good fight. I love this. I have finished my course. The race is not completed, but I've finished my course of it. That's all you've got to do. That's what you're going to be paid for. That's what you're going to be rewarded for. Not running somebody else's race and not trying to finish the whole race. You're just one leg of it. But Paul said, I've finished my course. I have kept the faith. Boy, if you're going to write something on my tombstone, let that be it. Let my legacy be that I've kept the faith all the way. Nehemiah was a finisher. I love him. You know why? The Bible says so the wall was finished in the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 days. Now, let me just tell you, I've stood by the walls of Jerusalem and to say that they finished the walls around Jerusalem in 52 days, I stood there and said this to myself, only God could have done that through him. Only God. 52 days, but he finished it, didn't he? And look here, he didn't finish it because everybody was on his side. Not even the people he brought with him to build the walls up were on his side. They were mocking him and saying, oh, you know, I'm having to work on this side of the wall. I wish I was next. God gave him wisdom every bit of the way. And about the time he starts getting those that were there to help him build the wall, get their mindset. They had a mind to work for a little while. All of a sudden, here comes Sam Blatt and Tobiah saying, oh, that thing is so weak, a fox will run across the top of it and make it fall down. You ever had anybody encourage you like that? Come on, yeah, that really makes you want to keep on going on. I can assure you Nehemiah had a mindset that God told him to do it. And he said, I'm going to finish this thing and in a feat that has only been known this one time in the Scripture, Nehemiah finishes the wall in 52 days. And here comes Solomon. He's a finisher. You're in good company if you're a finisher. Second Chronicle 711, the Bible says, thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. Now, you got to know what that house of the Lord was. You know, solid gold walls, etc., etc. How many of you know that you don't just get started on something like that and then oops, we didn't cost this thing out too good. It's going to take a little bit more gold. Where are we going to get that from? Well, it's coming on the slow boat from China. Supply chain is down. No, Solomon finished it and did it to the glory of God. And the Bible says, even when he's building this, he said, how can I build a house for God? Now, I'm just telling you right now, you talk about a media maniacs that would take, and many church people would, would be to walk into Solomon's temple in its incredible grandeur. And they would have said, this is an absolute waste, but he didn't build it for you. He finished it for God. Come on, somebody. I'm talking about your house. We're not talking about just building some facility. We're talking about building you. You're better and more precious than fine gold. Let the work be done on the inside of us and on the outside of us for that matter until we come into the place of perfection. And then, of course, Jesus is the finisher of all finishers. John 17, 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. Wow. Hebrews 12 and 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. Look at that. He had to finish it through the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down to the right hand of the throne of God. Here's John 4 and 34. Jesus said unto them, my meat, telling his disciples, my meat, the thing that gave me, gives me purpose. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. What a powerful statement. So the cross of Jesus Christ is a precious emblem to those of us who understand the call of the Lord and the assignment that the Lord has given to us because the cross of Christ is the basis of the foundation of everything that we do, everything in and through the cross. Our faith is there. So Jesus' death on the cross purchased then our forgiveness and our redemption and our freedom. We have fellowship, reconciliation with God, fellowship with God, and our eternity is already set. I don't have to wait to get to heaven to have eternal life. The moment I gave my life to Jesus Christ, he finished it at the cross and has given me eternal life right now. Hold on to that truth, my friends. Now, I want to take you into Isaiah 53 as we talk about this finishing. What is it that he finished? What did he do? When Jesus died on that hideous cross, Isaiah 53 and 3 says, he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows. He's talking prophetically, Isaiah is, concerning the Messiah and acquainted with grief. He's acquainted with grief and he hid as it were and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Now, I'm going to tell you, there's probably, I don't know, to me this has got to be one of the greatest prophetic and one of the greatest poetic verses that lays out for us what Christ has done in our behalf. Look at what he says. Surely, he hath bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, spitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. When Jesus died on that cross, and you need to get this wrapped in your head and in your spirit, he bore our griefs. Before I forget to say it, I want to emphasize that each one of these things that Jesus did, according to Isaiah 53, are in the plural form. Griefs, not grief. Sorrows. You know why? Because he knew you wouldn't have just one grief in your life. You and I have had many griefs and many sorrows and many situations that we've had to deal with, so it wasn't just a one-time effect on the cross and just a one-time fix. This is something that when he died on the cross and he said it is finished, it means every situation that you've ever been in that's brought grief into your life. In fact, that word literally means anxiety or calamity. Have you had a calamity that's brought grief to you? Have you had anxiety and stress and pressure that's brought grief to you? Jesus bore that on the cross. He bore our griefs. It was laid upon him the grief of every one of us and every grief we'll ever have. Walked away from a cemetery and laid down one of your loved ones and walked away and tears flowed like a river until you couldn't cry anymore. The Lord bore that upon himself in our behalf. When I place my faith and I'm changing that little word a little bit, that word right there, instead of saying placed in recent days when I've been studying I found the word planted to feel better to sit right there. So when I have planted my faith, when I have planted my faith in the cross, the residual back to me is everything the cross provides through Jesus Christ, meaning every anxiety and every calamity he has already seen in my life and has taken the weight of that upon himself. So when I place or plant my faith in him, he says take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. My yoke is easy. Doesn't mean that the grief is going to be easy. He doesn't take that away from us, but he does carry it for us. He understands. We have an interaction with him through the cross of Jesus Christ that he's not some detached God in heaven that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmity. Are you getting that tonight? You know why that's so important because I have seen probably now and you have to hundreds of commercials for depression medication. And just today as I was thinking about this and thinking about the grief that we bear and the literal definition of anxiety and calamity, one of the reasons why we're taking so much depression medication is because we are not taking our grief to the right location and giving it to the Lord. We continue to bear things that we're not supposed to bear. And so we are a nation and a world full of depression medication. And if this one doesn't work, then we've got this one to supplement. And I understand. I understand what the supposed effect is, but I want to tell you, if we don't trust in the Lord enough to take our cares to him and then receive his love and his compassion, then we will stay up underneath a depression cloud for the rest of our life playing the victim. When Jesus died on the cross and says, why are you carrying your own calamity? Bring your need to me and I will exchange it for peace that passes all understanding. Come on somebody. I've just given you the remedy, the prescription for coming out from underneath that anxiety and stress. And let me tell you, there's not a day that goes by that you're not pressed with it. Come on, talk to me somebody. Some way, somehow something is pressurizing you and stressing you and it makes sometimes, sometimes it may be just a little bit. And here it is. And it lays on that. And then here comes the enemy, put something else on it. That isn't enough. Here comes a neighbor and put something else on there. Here comes family members. And the next thing you know, the balance is out. That means I've got to run to the cross because it's the only place where someone in Jesus Christ bore everything that I am facing. Boy, I wish I had time to preach that, but I don't. I hope you're getting what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your grief. Who can you take it to? The songwriter said, take it to the Lord in prayer. Well pastor, I'm still carrying it. Take it back to the Lord in prayer. Well I'm still carrying it. Take it back to the Lord in prayer because I'm going to just tell you, left by ourselves, we will lose our minds. But I don't have my own mind anymore. I have the mind of Christ. Come on somebody. And I can tell you the mind of Christ is not grieved. He's not weeping up there. He's not still in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is our victorious champion that when he went to the cross, every bit of the pain of that anxiety, he came in there. That's the reason why they wanted to give him some kind of drug to the vinegar and gall mixed together, and he refused that because he didn't take just a little bit and then drugged himself out. He took every bit of our grief up to the very depths of hell, ladies and gentlemen, and bore it on the cross for us. What else did he do? He carried our sorrows. He carried, he didn't just carry his own cross, he carried our sorrows. What is that? Afflictions and pain. What kind of affliction? Afflictions are not always a disease. Sometimes you look at someone who may have a child that may be autistic or some kind of physical malady going on and you look at them with pity to say, I don't know how they do it. You know why? Because you're looking at it through your own eyes and you know you couldn't. That's the reason why that child wasn't given to you. Because whoever that it is has got an anointing on their life to deal with what they got. Come on somebody. You better hear what I'm telling you. The sorrows of life can be overwhelming, the afflictions of life. And let me just tell you something. If you sat down and started talking to people that are sitting on the road beside you, you'd find out that their afflictions are superseding anything perhaps that you've ever had in your life. All you've got to do is listen to somebody for a little while and you'll find out that their situation is really something. And you start doing a comparison to it and you find out, you know what, I'm doing pretty good over here. But the Lord bore and carried our sorrow. He carried our afflictions. Let me give you a little bit more right here. He not only carried our afflictions today, He carried those that we don't even know about into the future. And if the Lord can't carry Him, I can assure you, you and I can't. That's the reason why He wants us to come to Him. He was wounded for our transgressions. I'm about to have a moment up here. He was wounded. Wounded. Hey, this is not a metaphor. This is not a spiritualizing of the wounds. He bore the wounds in His body for our rebellion and our sin. The nails were driven in. Physical, real nails. The spear was shoved into His side, a real physical spear. The crown of thorns upon His head. These are not metaphors. These are not just images. This is a reality. He bore that and He took our sins. That's what salvation is. I give Him my sin. He gives me His forgiveness. That's what I mean by Him caring and bearing and the wounds that He received in His body for our transgressions. Not only that, but we are, He was bruised for our iniquities, bruising for our iniquities. Iniquity is the perversity and the fault of ours. It's the inner working of the sin nature. What did He do? He was bruised for that. I'm glad that it says this and uses the terminology of being bruised. Have you ever been bruised? Not an open wound. Bruised. It's not an open wound that you can doctor up and so forth. In fact, you don't even put a band-aid on a bruise. It's just up underneath the layer of your skin, but if you touch it, you know it's there. Bruised. There are people in this building who are bruised. And Jesus said, I took care of that for you. I took care of all the bruising for you. The places that nobody can see that you tend to cover up with a garment to hide the bruising and all of that. He said, I got that covered too. Are y'all seeing how comprehensive? I'm talking about Isaiah's talking this 700 years before Jesus ever hits the earth. What a prophetic word. He said, not only that, but He said, He was chastised for our peace. So what is it? That is the term defined as well-being, our peace. Well-being. I'm going to say this to you. The basis of all of the fruit of the Spirit and the basis of salvation for us is found in peace. Peace with God, the peace of God. It's all found in peace. So if peace is not there, love can't work. Long suffering can't work. Kindness, gentleness, all of that. Because peace is a basis of that. He was chastised for our peace, for our well-being. He took the crown of thorns upon His head and bore that for the attacks of the mind that want to steal the peace of God from us. Now, why is this so important? Because in the days ahead, I mean, I'm going to bring it, I've been studying this today and I will tomorrow preparing for this coming weekend, and I'm just going to tell you, when you see the headlines that says World War III, now that there has been an attack in Russia, an attack now in Syria, and multiple other, Taiwan, all of this, when you see all these things taking place, the ability for you to keep your well-being emotionally, physically, spiritually is going to come not only under an attack, but an undermining. The more you hear it, the more it affects you. The more that's going on, the more it affects you. Drive down the road, even subliminal thoughts that can hit your head. Driving down the road, not even paying attention, and here's the sign. Are you hear a radio program or a C.A.T.V. program? And your well-being is always being stolen by the enemy. But the Bible says, and I think I heard being quoted here tonight, I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him. You can't have the peace that He was chastised for unless you keep your mind and your faith stayed upon Him. I think I'm preaching better in your shout, but maybe you're getting it. So here's the last one. He said, He was scourged for our healing. That scourging was not necessarily supposed to take place. Do you know that? Whenever Pilate passed the sentence, it was just going to be, hey, here's Barabbas, here's Jesus. And then He tried to satisfy the crowd by saying, go take and scourge Him, and maybe that will make everybody settle down. What He thought was an accident or what He thought was His order to do this was done on purpose for our healing. Have you got that in your head? Did you know that what was not supposed to happen, the Lord ordered it to happen and gave Himself to the whip scourged, beaten unrecognisably so that no matter what you say or what the doctor says is the disease, He already took the beating for it. The healing is in the beating. When He was scourged, He was taking upon Himself every disease known to man, and they striped Him for it. I had a preacher a few days ago asked me about the message that I preached several years ago, spit on me Jesus. Some of you may remember that. Some of you may not. Apparently it was really impactful. Nobody remembered it. But the Lord started challenging me about DNA. I was watching a television commercial and the Lord spoke. The commercial was spit into this little test tube and send it to us and we'll tell you where you came from, where you've been, where you're going. We'll tell you out of that DNA, out of your saliva, otherwise known as salivation for you. So they said they could tell everything that's in that spittle. We'll tell your whole life. We'll tell you DNA. And then the Lord took me over and said watch what took place. Since there was healing in the DNA of Jesus Christ walking around and a blind man was sitting there who needed healing. Jesus spit in the ground. The clay represents humanity. He spit in there, mixed it up and put it into man's eyes. He said go wash and you're going to see. He went washed, obeyed the Lord, washed it. I mean you would think putting dirt in somebody's eyes is the absolute reverse. That makes it worse. But in Jesus' case it made it better. Now I know that may not affect you now. You think about this as a Bible story, but I came to tell you that same DNA is flowing through your life because you said yes to Jesus Christ. Now what does Jesus say? He says he tells his disciples days before he said they're going to beat me, they're going to pull out my beard, they're going to mock me, and of all things he had to say he said they're going to spit on me. Isn't that something? So what took place? He's at the whipping post and that Roman soldier is beating him and unrecognizably opens up his flesh. The Bible says, the commentaries tell us that his very intricals were falling out because he had been beating so bad. He opened up Jesus' literal body and on his way to the cross and hanging on the cross, it is said that they spit upon him. Well their DNA, our DNA in the spittle is sinful. But when we spit on Jesus, he turned around spit back on us. And what I put on him a sin, he turned around and put back on me his salvation. Now I've got his royal blood flowing through my veins and the devil says that you're not healed, the devil is a liar. I have the DNA of the healer Jehovah Rafa that's flowing through me right now by his stripes I am healed. So let me take you to this. There's four things right here. Jesus said hanging on the cross, we read it. Jesus breathed his last breath and he cried out, it is finished. It is finished. What is he saying? He didn't say I am finished, he said it. I'm not finished, I'm just starting. I'm just getting started. I just came down here and finished what the Lord told me to do. Now that's a brand new beginning. Why is it attack upon religion today? Why is it attack upon Christianity like it's never been before? Because Jesus is alive and he's saving and healing. The University of Alabama in this past week has had a revival among the young people up there and they're baptizing people inside of the fountain up there in the University of Alabama in the name of the Lord. I just want to let you know something. Jesus power is still working today and the devil don't like it. People are going to save around this altar this past Sunday and the devil don't like it. He's got to do something to stop that but he can't because Jesus said it is finished. So these words are translated from this important Greek word right here. It is finished. When we think of it as one word, it's true that we look at it as one phrase but the definition of it expands. How does it expand specifically right here in four different ways? Let me show you this. When Jesus said it is finished, this is a picture of the servant finishing his assignment. So when Jesus said it is finished, he said, I have done exactly what you've requested me to do. The mission is accomplished. That's what that literally means in one nuance. He was saying when he cried out it is finished, he was crying that out to the entirety of the universe that he had been faithful to follow what the Father's orders and will was and now the mission is accomplished. No wonder he shouted it is finished. It's the greatest phrase of victory in the history of the human race because the Lord has been faithful to his assignment even in the face of unbelievable challenges. He says the mission is accomplished. He did that on our behalf. You do know that Jesus was sinless and did not have to come down here and be beaten and bruised and mocked and spit upon and nailed on a cross for anything he did. He did that on our behalf as a substitute for us. Anybody remember anything about that? Secondly, the nuance is this, that the word Titeleistai was the equivalent to the Hebrew word spoken by the high priest when he presented the sacrificial lamb without spot and without blemish. Those of you that are not aware of it, the high priest in the Old Testament would have to enter into the Holy of Holies annually and pour out the blood of a sacrificial spotless lamb on the mercy seat as I preached to you a couple of weeks ago on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. The moment that the blood touched the mercy seat, atonement was made for the sins of all of the nation for one more year. I'd hate to know that I had to wait a whole year. So this was done year after year to obtain this annual but temporary forgiveness of sin. But when Jesus hung on the cross, both the lamb, the sacrifice, and the high priest, he was both the lamb, the sacrifice, and he was both the offering and the offerer. He said, I don't want nobody touching any part of this. I'll be the one who does it and I'll be the one who is it to be sacrificed. When that took place, when Jesus hung on that cross in that fashion, it was in that moment that our great high priest, Jesus offered his own blood for a permanent removal of sin. Not just covering our sin, but cleansing us, 1 John 1-9 says, from all unrighteousness. Isn't that beautiful? Somebody ought to say praise the Lord right there, because he offered up the perfect sacrifice of every type and every symbol that has been since the day of Genesis. It was in that instant that the Bible says there remained no more need for an offering of sin by an animal or any kind of offering that could be offered to pay for sin. The sin payment had been made once and for all. The sacrifice was so complete that God never acquired the blood of lambs or animals to grant forgiveness anymore. Here's what Hebrews 9 and 12 says, I love this, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his Jesus own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Let me tell you something else. Whenever that lamb was offered up on that burnt offering on that altar of sacrifice in the outer court and it had been examined inside and out and filleted and laid out on that burnt offering sacrifice on the altar out in the outer court of the Tabernacle, once it was accepted, the high priest would literally turn around to the Holy of Holies and raise up his hands and say these words, it is finished. The same words that Jesus offered up. Are y'all with me right here? Why is it that when Jesus was brought before Caiaphas, who was in the role and in the office of the high priest in all the regalia and the garments of the high priest, and God said in the Old Testament, don't rip these garments. He said, if you rip these garments, you nullify your priesthood, you're no longer a priest. Standing in the company of the Sanhedrin and all of the witnesses there, Caiaphas asked the question of Jesus, are you the son of God? And whenever that affirmation came back from Jesus and said, I am, Caiaphas reached up to the reinforced collar of his high priest garment and ripped his garment. At that moment, there were many witnesses in the room to declare, and I could hear the audible gasp in my mind as they found out that we no longer have a high priest to offer up the sacrifice. And guess what day it is? It's Passover, and we've got to have somebody who can minister in the priest's office to offer up the offering. Now we don't have one because he's nullified. He's a false priest. Well, guess who had that in mind? God Almighty. Because when the high priest, Caiaphas ripped his garment and nullified his priesthood, Jesus said, that's all right. I'm a high priest from the order of Melchizedek. I'm here. I'm both the lamb and I'm both the high priest to offer up a sacrifice. I'll take care of all of it. Come on, somebody. Are you getting this right here? This is critical for you to understand because when Jesus said it is finished, he declared the end of all those sacrifices because the ultimate sacrifice had finally been made, and atonement then was complete, perfect, and fully accomplished. So when Jesus said it is finished, he wasn't just saying three words, he was saying, I'm the high priest who offered up the lamb that I am, and there'll be no more lambs to take the place any longer. I want to say to all of you that are caught up, you say you believe in Jesus, but you're caught up in doing all of the ritual that is found in the Old Testament, still trying to gain something by keeping certain kind of rituals and rules and so forth. Jesus took care of all of that when he died on the cross. It is finished. It is complete, and it's complete in Christ Jesus on the cross. Don't give me a list of rules. I don't live according to the old law. I could never fulfill it. Jesus completed the law. He finished it on the cross and gave to us what we now know as grace. You better thank God for grace. Three days ago, you'd have been a burn spot in the middle of the road if we were still up underneath the law. Come on, say amen. But grace lets you stay alive. Grace said you got another opportunity to breathe today. Come on somebody. Grace says, come on to me, all you little laborer and heavy lady, and I'll give you a rest. You don't have to die for your own sins. I took care of that. Come on somebody. I need you to get a hold of this tonight because some of you are beating your back, your own back, and you're filetting your own self over what you've done. Go back to the cross and plant your faith there and appropriate what Jesus has done in your behalf. And the guilt and the shame and the pain and the affliction will dissipate and go because Jesus paid it all and all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. Atonement was complete. It was finished forever. Here's the third one. Yeah, write that down. Finish forever. Look at somebody and tell them it's finished forever. Jesus ain't coming down here dying again. I'm going to tell you what the Jewish people are going to do because right now their eyes are blinded to what's taking place. They're going to go back and that third temple, even in recent days they've got them some red heifers and they made a mock-up model of the actual ramp that's supposed to lead right up to the sacrificial altar for that red heifer and all that kind of stuff. They're going to go back into that same routine, that same offering and worship unto God until the day that the eyes, their scales have been pulled back and they see Jesus for who He is as the Messiah. So what's going to happen? The Antichrist is going to accommodate them and allow the Muslims to do what the Muslims do and the Jewish people to do what the Jewish people do in their religion and it's going to be a false peace plan because the Antichrist will put this seven-year covenant together and then he's going to break it in three and a half. Come on somebody. That spirit is loose right now. It's loosened governments all the way around the world. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Where we're going to give you rights from the government. We're going to give you this from when we say we're going to give it to you. The devil is a liar. I want you to know I belong to the king of kings and the Lord of lords and his kingdom is not of this world. But I need to announce this out loud just in case anybody by me listening, his kingdom is here but his kingdom is coming. When it's all said and done, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ the Bible says. Once and for all, man, oh man, I'm telling you that Sunday morning crowd needs this one, don't they? Here's the third one. In a secular sense, the word tithilistae was used in the business world to signify the full payment of the debt. So when Jesus is saying it is finished, he's not just saying it's finished and let's move on to something. Every one of these constitutes an action in our life. We had a debt that we could not pay. So when the debt had been fully paid off, the parchment paper of the contract on the paper that the debt was recorded on was stamped with the word tithilistae, meaning that the debt has been paid in full. Once a person calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ and makes Him the Lord of their life by placing their faith, planting their faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, he marks our life tithilistae. It is finished. The debt has been paid. You mean I don't owe anything anymore? No, you don't owe anything anymore. You mean I can't come to church enough to be able to earn? You mean I mean don't I need to put something in the spiritual bank? No, you don't have to do any of that to be safe. Now I come to church. Now I read my Bible. Now I pray. Now I fast because that's what I do as a spiritual discipline to draw near to the one who loved me so much that he paid off my debt. He paid it off. Did you hear what I said? If you want to pay for your own debt, hang out and you'll go to hell and pay it throughout all eternity. But if you want the debt paid tonight, give your life to Jesus and he'll mark you finished. It's done. Hallelujah. He paid the price. He took our place. He paid the debt we had to owe and then he set us free. That's what Paul wrote in Colossians 1.14, in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. So he was telling us my blood is full payment and it's been accepted in heaven. Stop trying to pay for your sins by doing religious stuff. Are you hearing what I'm saying? I was listening to somebody, I don't know if it's a preacher or somebody the other day and they were telling me, you know, went to this church over here and they had a certain standard but the one just down the road, if you went a little further down the road physically and went to this church, what they didn't do down here, this one didn't do better. You know what I'm saying? If we don't eat licorice because it's a sin, we not only don't eat licorice but we don't even, we don't even eat any candy. Come on somebody. We're going to one up you. Are you hearing what I'm saying? I just want to tell you, I like wearing my ties and all that kind of stuff but if I don't wear a tie, the Lord ain't going to say you ain't getting to heaven because you didn't wear a tie because here's what I found out right here in this county. There's folks that say you better wear a tie, you ain't going to heaven. Okay. How are you going to tell that to the Mennonites up there who think wearing a tie is a sin? Come on somebody. Come on somebody. Which list of rules are we going to pay here? Which one are we going to pay up on? Who are we going to follow? Who are we going to go and ask what sin and what is not? After a while, you'll have a list so long, you won't even be able to get in. Come on somebody. The only way you can get to heaven is if you've got 1,342 hairs on your head. Well, Ben just told me before I walked in here or not, he got his cut. He's in trouble. Come on somebody. You understand what I'm saying? Stop with the religious nonsense and receive what Jesus Christ has done as the full payment for your sin. Now pastor, where do I go after I, where do I go if I sin after I've asked Jesus to come in my heart? Do I go, do I go to McDonald's or do I go to Burger King? Because now Burger King says you can have it your way at the Burger King Church. McDonald's, I can, McDonald's Church, I can get a happy meal. Where do I, where am I supposed to go? Do I, do I crawl in here on my knees? Do I do what the people in the Philippines did this past week and literally climb on a cross and nail my hands up in my feet and shed my own blood for my sin? No sir, my dear friends. I want you to know the same place you got saved is the same place you go back to for victory every time, every time. Don't let the devil lie to you. You can't come to church enough to pay for your sin. You can't pray enough. You can't fast enough. You can't read that Bible enough to pay the debt. The debt is too great, but if I keep going back, he reminds me, paid in full. You want to lift your hands and thank God the debt has been paid. Wow. Y'all get me all excited on Wednesday night. My dry cleaning bill is off the chain. Sweat so much with you people. Here's the fourth one. The word tite least I was used to depict. I love this one. A turning point. When one period ended and another period begins. Now you're never going to look at it as finished again the same way. When Jesus said it is finished, it was the turning point in history. Why? Because at that moment in Christ, the Old Testament, the Old Covenant had been fulfilled and that period had ended. It wasn't just that it ended. See the Lord never takes away something that he doesn't give something better. Hebrews calls it better things. Come on somebody. When he said it is finished and closed the Old Testament and completed it, the New Covenant began. So the cross was the great divide of human history. And when Jesus cried out it's finished, he was shouting, the Old Covenant has ended and the New Covenant has began. And the justice of God had been fulfilled and completed in the Lamb of God. At that moment, the sacrifice of all the Old Testament could permanently cease and the perfect Lamb of God that had been slain from the foundation of the world had finished his assignment. Never forget, ladies and gentlemen, that Jesus was willing to offer his own blood for the full payment and forgiveness of our sin. He didn't resist that. He was willing. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, but he willingly laid his hands down, paid in full, stamped on my past, my present, and my future. So what have I got to do, pastor? Here's what you got to do. You got to finish strong. How many of you want to finish strong in your life? The Bible says in Ephesians 6, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be strong in the Lord. You can't do it by yourself. In the days that are ahead, the word endurance is going to become more important to you because endurance is your decision. And I love watching war movies and true stories about people because there are stories that have yet to be even told of people that have endured beyond their physical abilities, beyond their mental capabilities, beyond any imagination. How could they put up with that? How could they endure that? Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame. Why? Because the joy that was set before him was us. I don't think you understand what I said. The all-seeing, all-knowing God saw your face hanging on the cross and said, I'll stay here in the midst of mocking and rejection and even the temptation to come down from the cross. Come down and then we'll believe. I was down there for three and a half years and you still didn't believe. I'm staying right here because you know why? Because the Bible said if the princes of this world would have known what the crucifixion was going to do, they'd have never crucified the Lord of glory. But Jesus said, I got the plan. I got the plan and the plan is I'm staying right here. Keep your faith in the cross like Jesus stayed on the cross and you will have complete victory. It is finished. Hallelujah to God. First Timothy 2 and 12, we close here tonight. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Wearing two thou art also called and hath professed a good profession before many witnesses. You know, the dangerous thing for you to do is for you to give a testimony to somebody. That's why people don't do it because the moment it comes out of your mouth, you're held to an account to that person. Come on, talk to me somebody. That's the reason why people don't witness because they don't want to, if they mess up, well you ought to be me. Put your little prophecy file briefing out there thinking 12 people are going to see it and you start getting all kinds of crazy people coming out of the woodwork. Facebook wants to ban you and all kinds of stuff going on. Just put your witness out there. Understand something, ladies and gentlemen. You're not going to testify of Jesus Christ and get away from the attack of the enemy, but I'm not standing in front of the cross. I'm standing behind the cross. I'm standing on the victory side. Come on, somebody. Are you on the victory side tonight? Lift your hands and let's bless him right out loud. Father, we thank you right now because you gave your only begotten Son and we recognize tonight that while he hung on that cross, he endured all of the pain, the shame, the affliction, but Lord Jesus, I thank you for saying those words. It is finished because in that moment, you gave me everything I had need of to know for sure, for sure that I am born again. I give you praise for it tonight in Jesus mighty name. Let all the church shout a great big amen. Come on, give the Lord a hand clap for praise here tonight all over this place and all of you that are watching online. God bless you for watching online tonight, for wherever you've been watching. We thank you for joining us and we're going to allow you to be able to go and eat a burger because you got victory in Jesus. We thank you. We'll see you Sunday morning. Don't miss it. God bless you. If you need to stand up, take your leg rest. You can do