LS017a - The Finished Work I - A Final Perspective

Hello everyone!

People often talk about the "finished work" of Christ and they are often faced with more questions than answers when it comes to understanding what it means to rest in the finished work as preachers like to say.

Let's take a closer look...

Because of Jesus

I'm going to start at the single most important event in history, in my opinion, the point where Jesus gave up His last breath on the cross over two thousand years ago as recorded in John 19:30: -

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said "It is finished": and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.

In stating that it was finished, Christ was acknowledging that the work that God had sent Him to earth to do had indeed been done. This is what confuses a lot of people because they still like to think that there are things that they need to do. In actual fact they need only to be still and receive the rest that He promised to give found in Hebrews 4.

For too many of us we like to tell ourselves that it really can't be that simple and that there must be something that we have to do in order to sustain that rest.

Let me put something to you that I wrote in my journal moments before starting this entry: -

It is, therefore, our daily mission to enter into the rest of the finished work of Christ by simply acknowledging that the finished work is a result of God's doing and not our trying. For it is God's doing that's what presents us with His glory rather than our simple efforts at trying to be good, right and holy.

This is bound to be news to some people because they have heard Philippians 2:12 preached on countless times as though there is something that they have to do, or keep doing in order to both be saved and to stay saved.

I've got some news for you: -

• If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour, you are saved and always will be saved; and
• You cannot lose your salvation because salvation is not yours to gain, but to receive (Ephesians 2:8)

A Changing Frame of Mind

You see, the moment you asked Jesus to come into your life and change you from the inside out, He did just that and He is doing just that every single day.

Now sometimes you won't feel like you are saved especially when you sin. Here's the shocker for some; even if your confession is slow in coming, your salvation status is not affected one bit.

That last part might be difficult for some to swallow because it implies that we then have a licence to sin and can do or say as we please without fear of the consequences. Yet the reality is that the more you realise and rest in the saved work of Jesus Christ, the less you should be wanting to sin.

Realisation of your true state in Christ Jesus should be causing you to change your behaviour as you don't want to be conscious more of your sins that you are of your Saviour. It is that imbalance that so cripples a lot of people; they spend more time looking at their imperfections than they do beholding the face of God through Christ Jesus.

In John 19 we are told the perspective of Jesus' crucifixion according to "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and in verse five a very intriguing point is raised as Pilate presents Jesus to the crowds: -

Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, "Behold the man!".

Wow!

Just dwell on those last three words for a moment...

Behold.

The.

Man.

Here was Jesus being presented in His sacrificial state to the people as a royal King in their presence and they received Him not.

This can be how our minds operate sometimes during our moments of post-sin consciousness; we can spend more time beholding our sin than we can our very Saviour who is being presented to us a sacrificial Lamb!

It is this "sin-conscious" state that detracts our focus from our salvation and causes us to question whether we really are saved if we can, like the people in this passage, deny Jesus with our very actions.

Let us make every effort from this point on to remind ourselves that we are still saved no matter what happens to us. The more we are conscious of our right-standing with God through Christ Jesus, the more we should be wanting to please Him and not ourselves.

There is clearly so much more here to tap into, so I'm going to break this up into another part tomorrow.

Final Thought

I want you to, next time you are faced with a temptation to sin to simply switch that sin focus to beholding your Saviour as though you were present at Jesus' trial. If you behold Him and Him alone, then I believe and declare that you too will want to curb your enthusiasm to sin all the more.

Peace!

===TLP===