It Is Finished
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
(John 19:30)
One of the last things Jesus said before He died on the Cross was, “It is finished.”
I want you to think about those words for a moment, because I’m not sure we always believe Him. We believe Jesus finished something, obviously. We know He died for our sins. We know He rose again. We know salvation is through Him alone. But then we spend most of our Christian life trying to finish everything we say He finished.
We try to get more forgiveness. We try to become more righteous. We try to make ourselves more holy. We try to get closer to God. We try to stay on His good side. We try to keep ourselves saved. We try to earn more blessings and avoid curses.
Then, if we mess up badly enough, we wonder if we’ve somehow undone everything Jesus did for us.
That doesn’t sound very finished to me.
John 19:30 says, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
He didn’t say, “I did My part. Now you do yours.” He didn’t say, “I got the ball rolling, so make sure you don’t screw this up.” He didn’t say, “Your past sins are taken care of, but from this point forward you’re on your own.”
He said it was finished.
If we don’t understand what Jesus finished, we will spend our entire lives trying to complete something that has already been completed. And believe me, religion will be more than happy to hand you a hammer and put you to work.
WHAT DOES FINISHED MEAN?
If I hired someone to build a house and he called me one afternoon and said, “Matt, good news. Your house is finished,” I would assume something. I would assume my house is actually finished. If I showed up and discovered there was no roof, half the plumbing was missing, and I needed to install the electrical system myself, we’d have a problem.
“Finished” doesn’t mean mostly finished.
It doesn’t mean I finished my portion, and now you have to finish yours.
It means finished.
Yet somehow, when it comes to Jesus, we change the definition. We say Jesus finished the work, and then immediately begin listing everything Christians must do to keep His finished work finished. You’re completely forgiven, but. You’re completely righteous, but. You’re saved by grace, but. Jesus will never leave you, but. You’ve been sanctified, but.
There’s always a giant religious but waiting around the corner.
If you’ve lived this way for years, I understand why you’re tired. I understand why Christianity might feel heavy to you. You genuinely love Jesus yet still wake up wondering how God feels about you today. Maybe yesterday wasn’t your best day in regard to your actions and attitudes. Maybe you said something you regret. Maybe you dipped your toe back into an old habit. Maybe there’s something you’ve struggled with for years, and you’re embarrassed that you’re still dealing with it.
Then the questions start.
Is God disappointed in me? Am I still forgiven? Do I need to get right with Him again? Did I lose fellowship? Did I go too far this time? What if I die before I confess this? What if I haven’t repented well enough?
That’s exhausting. I want you to know something: Jesus is not looking for a reason to get rid of you.
He came to save you and keep you saved (see John 3:17, John 6:37).
He already knew everything about your choices when He went to the Cross. Nothing has surprised Him. He didn’t save you and then discover three years later, “Oh my! They are really struggling with some issues!” He knew. He knew every failure, every poor decision, every relapse, every thought, every immature action, and every sin you would ever commit.
And He still died for you.
That’s Jesus.
JESUS DIDN’T JUST GIVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE
Sometimes the gospel gets presented as though Jesus came to give humanity “another chance.” As in, Adam messed everything up and we followed suit; then Jesus came along, cleaned up the mess, put us back at the starting line, and now we better get it right this time.
No way. That is not good news.
That’s actually terrifying.
If the gospel is simply God giving us another opportunity to get everything right, we already know how that story ends. We’ll mess it up. We don’t need another chance to save ourselves. We needed an actual Savior to do what we never could.
Thankfully, that’s exactly what we got.
Hebrews 10:10 says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Then just four verses later, Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
Read those words again: once for all, one offering, perfected for all time.
That’s some pretty strong language.
Yet we have a strange habit of looking at what we do, say, and where we go, to determine whether Jesus actually accomplished what those verses say. We look at our behavior, our latest mistake, our “thought life,” our church attendance, our Bible reading, our “prayer life,” the health of our marriage, our addictions, our temper, our bank account, or whatever else we can find to gauge. Then we use those things to decide how well we’re doing with God.
But you’re looking at the wrong things.
Look at Jesus instead.
Your behavior didn’t finish the work, so your behavior cannot be the measuring stick for whether the work is finished. Christ Himself is the measuring stick. His blood is the measuring stick. His life is the measuring stick.
This is one of the main reasons I want you to learn to rest. You don’t have to spend your entire life staring at spiritual navel, constantly asking, “How am I doing today? Am I still good enough? Did I pray enough? Did I sin too much? Does God still like me? I bet He’s miffed. Actually, I made up for that one.”
That’s no way to live.
Look away from those things, and look at Christ within you.
WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE?
To understand what Jesus finished, we need to understand what came before Him.
Under the Old Covenant, animal sacrifices were offered again and again. There was blood, then more blood, then more blood. Levitical Priests continued their work at the temple through ongoing animal bloodshed because the work was never actually finished; a work which was supposed to make the Jew acceptable to God.
However, Hebrews 10:1 tells us the Law was only a shadow of the good things to come and that those repeated sacrifices could never make the worshipers perfect; a worshiper was simply a Hebrew person presenting that animal blood. Yet, Hebrews 10:4 says, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
That was the problem.
Animal blood could never permanently take away sin. That’s why the sacrifices continued. If the sacrifice had actually completed the job, why would you need another one? And another one? And another one?
Year after year. Sacrifice after sacrifice. Bloodshed after bloodshed.
Then, Jesus showed up.
John the Baptist saw Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (See John 1:29).
Notice the wording. He didn’t say Jesus would temporarily cover sin until we committed another one. He said He would take it away.
Hebrews 9:26 says Christ appeared “once for all to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 10:12 says after Jesus offered “for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”
I love that. He sat down.
The Old Covenant priests kept working because their work was never complete, they never sat down in the temple. Jesus offered His own blood once and sat down because His work was done. He wasn’t pacing around heaven, wondering whether His sacrifice would hold up after you had a bad Tuesday afternoon.
He sat down.
He’s resting just fine, not worried about what you do and don’t do; and He’s with you the whole time, never to leave again (see 1 Corinthians 6:17, Hebrews 13:5).
Friend, maybe you need to sit down too. Maybe you need to do what the Hebrews people who kept going to the temple needed to do, “Strive to rest” (see Hebrews 4:11).
YOUR FORGIVENESS IS NOT A PAYMENT PLAN
I think a lot of Christians unknowingly treat forgiveness like a payment plan. Jesus made the huge down payment at the Cross, but now we have to keep making installments through ongoing confession, repentance, obedient actions, church attendance, tithing, volunteering, and trying really hard to be good.
And if we miss enough payments, God might repossess our salvation.
No. That will never happen.
Hebrews 10:18 says, “And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”
Why isn’t another sacrifice necessary? As in, what you do or don’t do?
Because the sacrifice of Jesus worked.
Romans 6:10 says, “The death he died, he died to sin once for all.”
Jesus isn’t dying again today to make up for your shortcoming actions and attitudes from yesterday. He isn’t climbing back onto the Cross every time you make a mistake. He died once because His blood was enough.
This is where people sometimes get hung up on future sins. They’ll say, “Okay, I understand Jesus forgave everything I did before I believed, but how can He forgive something I haven’t done yet?”
Well, let me ask you something. How many of your sins were in the future when Jesus died? All of them. You weren’t there. Neither was I.
Jesus wasn’t hanging on the Cross thinking, I can only forgive sins committed before 33 A.D. Everybody after this is going to need a different arrangement.
Of course not. All of our sins were in the future when He died for them. Therefore, all of our sins are forgiven the instant we trust in Him by grace.
God isn’t bound by time, space, or matter. If He was, then He wouldn’t be God. He knew your entire life before you lived it, and Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all of your lifespan. Once you understand this, you’ll understand grace. Then, you’ll understand Jesus. Then, the quality of your life will improve.
I want you to become so completely confident in what His blood accomplished that your forgiveness is never in question. But for today, understand this: Jesus did not accidentally leave some of your sins behind to be dealt with later.
YOU ARE NOT JESUS’ CO-SAVIOR
We love to sing about how Jesus paid it all, and then spend the next six days trying to help Him make the payment. Which one is it? Did He pay it all, or not?
My friend, you didn’t help Jesus die on the Cross. You didn’t help Him shed His blood. You didn’t help Him take away sin. You weren’t standing outside the tomb yelling, “Come on, Jesus! You can do it!”
He didn’t need your help then and He doesn’t need your help now. You are not Jesus’ co-savior.
Sadly, this is often what’s taught, “Jesus forgave you, but you better keep confessing to stay forgiven.”
“Jesus made you righteous, but your behavior determines whether you stay righteous.”
“Jesus sanctified you, but now you need to sanctify yourself.”
“Jesus gave you eternal life, but you better make sure you don’t lose it.”
That’s double-talk. Saying one thing out of one side of your mouth, and then the complete opposite out of the other side.
Either Jesus finished the work or He didn’t. If He didn’t, He shouldn’t have said, “It is finished.”
Paul dealt with this exact type of two-time-talking in Galatia. The Galatians began by trusting Jesus, but then certain individuals came along and convinced them they needed to add Law observance to what Jesus had already done. Paul asked them, “After beginning by the Spirit are you now trying to finish by another way?” (See Galatians 3:3).
There’s that word again. Finish.
They were trying to finish through human effort what had begun by way of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s response was essentially, “What are you doing?! You began by the Spirit alone. Why are you now trying to perfect yourself through religious performance?”
This is why grace makes religious people super-nervous. They want something to do so badly. Give me a list. Give me a rule. Give me something I can accomplish so I can feel as though I contributed.
But Jesus doesn’t need your contribution.
He simply wants your trust.
DOES THAT MEAN SINNING DOESN’T MATTER?
Here comes the question. I can already hear it, “Matt, if everything is finished and every sin is forgiven, I guess we can just go live however we want!”
Well the truth is, you already live however you want. It’s just sometimes you forget what you want because you’re lied to about what you really want. The real question is: What do you actually want?
As a child of God, you have been made new, past tense. You have a new heart, you have a new spirit, (see Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 6:17), you’ve become a partaker of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). Deep down, sin isn’t what you want. You might choose it. You might fall into an immature pattern. You might try to meet a legitimate need in an unnatural way. You might even ignore who you are for a season. But sin will never fulfill you because it contradicts who God has recreated you to be the instant you trusted in Jesus by no work of your own.
So no, grace does not mean sinful choices don’t matter. Of course they matter. That stuff is not for you. If you cheat on your spouse, you’re going to have problems. If you punch your boss in the face tomorrow morning, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t have a job by lunchtime. If you spend the mortgage payment at the casino, the bank isn’t going to say, “Well, he’s under grace.”
If you cut yourself, get drunk or high, binge eat or starve, and somehow think it’s relieving something that you actually want—it isn’t. Those choices will only make things worse.
Sinning isn’t for you. It’s not what you want. You’ve been sold a bill of goods.
Sinning hurts us. It hurts other people. It can destroy relationships, careers, finances, bodies, and remove years of our lives. Grace doesn’t make sinning smart. Grace means our sinful choices cannot reverse the finished work of Jesus Christ. That distinction is huge.
We mature out of sinful actions and attitudes because we are secure, not so we can become secure. We learn to express who we already are instead of trying to behave our way into becoming somebody God might eventually accept. He already accepted you fully, by grace, through faith, in Jesus.
So when we fail, He doesn’t use shame on us. Shame has never helped anyone. Instead, He uses the truth. He reminds us of who we are and what we want.
“That isn’t who you are.”
“Get up. I’m still here with you.”
“Stay down. Rest. I’m still here with you.”
“You are still loved unconditionally.”
“You are still righteous.”
“You are still forgiven.”
“No, this isn’t more powerful than what Jesus has done.”
“You are still mine.”
“You still want what I want.”
That’s grace. That’s how much your Heavenly Father loves you. He constantly convicts you of His love, your righteousness, and what you really want. You don’t even want to sin.
JESUS DIDN’T JUST CHANGE YOUR AFTER-LIFE DESTINATION
The finished work of Jesus isn’t simply about getting you into heaven someday. Something happened to you when you believed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Whereas that passage, contextually, is referring to the ministry of the Law, it is also describing your new identity as a saint.
The old you is gone. The old you is not slowly going away. Also, God is not repairing the old you. Gone means gone. Your identity is new.
What did Jesus do with the old you? Finished you. I’m not talking about what you do but who you are. A great separation must happen in your mind to fully grasp the good news of the gospel. Separate you who from your do. Only then will the finished work of Jesus make sense.
If you don’t, then it will be very confusing. Behavior can never produce authentic identify, but authentic identity will always produce authentic behavior.
The Cross changed your relationship with sinning. It changed your relationship with your Creator. It changed your complete identity. It changed your relationship with the Law, and that’s if you were a Hebrew because non-Hebrew people never had a relationship with the Law. It changed your eternal security as well. And when you begin to understand these things, it changes the way you live.
It changes your confidence in a positive way because you have all your confidence in what Jesus has done.
This is why I get passionate about teachings that minimize the finished work of Jesus. I’m not angry at people. People need love. People need patience. People need grace. Many pastors, teachers, podcasters, and social media personalities who teach the opposite of what Jesus finished, or a mixture, they’re typically repeating what somebody taught them.
But the teaching itself?
Let’s call it what it is.
If a teaching makes Jesus’ blood insufficient, it’s error. If it makes your behavior more powerful than His sacrifice, it’s error. If it tells a child of God that Jesus accomplished something but they can somehow undo it tomorrow, it’s error.
What Jesus finished at the Cross and through His Resurrection cannot be undone and is completely sufficient to give your blessed assurance.
MAYBE YOU’RE TIRED
Maybe you’ve spent years trying to make God happy with you. Maybe nobody ever told you He already is. Maybe you’ve been scared that your latest failure was finally the one that caused God to throw up His hands and say, “I’m done.”
Maybe you’ve been carrying shame about something you did years ago. Everybody else has moved on, but you haven’t. You replay it in your mind, you wish you could go back, you wish you could change it, but you can’t.
The wonderful news is that Jesus knew about that very thing when He died for you, and His blood was enough.
You don’t have to punish yourself for something Jesus has already dealt with, even something from yesterday, or today. Instead be honest with yourself and others about what happened and simply make amends where appropriate if possible. Sometimes it’s not possible and for those situations, just be easy on yourself. Learn from it. Grow. Mature. If you’ve hurt someone, acknowledge it, but don’t confuse maturity with paying God back. You cannot pay Him back, and He’s not sending you an invoice.
You can breathe. You can unclench your white knuckles.
You don’t have to wake up tomorrow wondering which version of God you’re going to get because His disposition toward you isn’t bouncing around according to your performance. Remember He is your safe place rather than trying to behave better so you’ll be safe.
The Cross made you safe (see Romans 5:1,9).
WHAT ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO FINISH?
Maybe you’re still trying to be forgiven. Maybe you’re still trying to become righteous. Maybe you’re still trying to make yourself holy, little by little. Maybe you’re trying to get closer to God, earn His favor, keep yourself saved, convince Him to bless you, or maybe you’re trying to punish yourself enough to prove you’re really sorry. Maybe you’re still trying to become someone Jesus says you already are.
This is where exhaustion enters the Christian life. We take something Jesus declared finished and turn it into a lifelong religious project and then wonder why we’re tired. Most people then give up on their relationship with God altogether or become hyper-cynical of others because they know they aren’t living up to their own standards.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Rest… Rest… Rest…
Not laziness. Not apathy. Not sinning.
Rest.
When you know you’re forgiven, you can stop trying to earn forgiveness. When you know you’re righteous, you can stop trying to manufacture righteousness. When you know you’re holy, you can begin expressing the holiness that’s already within you. When you know you’re secure, you can stop living scared. When you know God loves you, you can stop performing for love. And when you know Jesus finished the work, you can finally stop trying to finish it yourself.
Strangely enough, that’s when real maturity begins, in grace and knowledge of Him.
Grace doesn’t make Jesus smaller. Grace makes Him everything.
Don’t make a list of the things you need to improve upon. Don’t promise God you’re going to try harder. Don’t beat yourself up about your current struggles. Look to Jesus. See Him on the Cross. Hear what He said. Believe Him.
“It is finished.”
You can rest.
And by the way, He got off that Cross so you don’t have to climb up there yourself. Even He’s not there any longer.
This devotional is from an upcoming book! Check out Matt’s other bestselling books here!