What Was Finished and What Remains
John 19:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
You have likely heard the saying “the finished work of Calvary“. This true saying continues to be used to promote false doctrine about our faith in God and what believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. Those that pervert this truth are leading the sheep to the slaughter and I want to speak out against it.
While Jesus did indeed utter the famous words “It is finished” and while Jesus indeed fully completed the mission given Him by the Father; these words have been twisted into doctrines that contradict the rest of the Scripture and lead us into egregious errors and in the knowledge of God. The stealing of the truth is the work of the devil who is the father of all lies. What really was finished? What does it mean to our walk of holiness as we heed the words of Jesus and strive to follow the difficult road and enter the narrow gate? These are the questions I hope to shed answers based on the truth I have been shown.
Please do not misunderstand this post. We do not earn our salvation by works but we must obey Jesus from a pure heart as this is the will of the Father. Only those that do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom says the Lord. Our righteousness from our flesh, devoid of the Spirit of God is as filthy rags. It is only by the mercy of God that our past sins are forgiven and the grace of God that leads us into obedience going forward that we could ever come into the presence of our Holy God. We do God’s work because we are saved and we have given up our worldly life to live for Him. We don’t do it to be saved but we are not saved if we don’t do it. God saves people not men but we do have a role and that is to obey.
We are supposed to be His bondservants and do what He our Lord commands. Servants do things don’t they? They serve their Master and that starts and ends with obedience to their commands. When we walk in true faith and are led by the Holy Spirit, we die to our flesh and follow Jesus. Lots of things must get done to complete our sanctification and serve the Kingdom but these things are not done via the flesh, they are done via the Spirit. It is the power of God working in us. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.That is how we enter into His rest.
Hebrews 4:8-10 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
The problem is false teaching has crept into the church that is keeping babes in Christ from coming to maturity and being sanctified. They are not being washed by the Word nor led by the Spirit. They get a little light but then the powers of darkness come with false teaching and take away the seed that was planted. This causes them to shrink back from the Word and they end up being destroyed in the end. That is what the Scriptures tell us will happen. So we need to get real clear on the work required of us and understand that God has fully equipped us to do it, IF IF IF we are led by His Spirit.
Jesus Finished His Work
God did finish His work relative to His perfect plan for the redemption for His chosen people on the Cross. “It is finished” were the words spoken by the chief priests just before every Passover Feast when they would come out of the temple after the lambs had been slaughtered in preparation. We need to understand the context of Jesus words as He was and is the final and ONLY sacrifice for sin. These words spoken were for the Jews and us Gentiles also, serving as an eternal reminder that Jesus is the only way to be reconciled unto the Father. He alone is the way, the truth and the life. There remains no more sacrifice for sin except for Jesus. We can’t do enough good deeds or acts of kindness to make ourselves acceptable to God. It is only thru an active faith in Jesus, where He is Lord of our hearts that we can be saved. That is finished forevermore.
While God’s work is finished our work is just beginning. We must go to sacrifice, that is Jesus, and obey Him to have eternal life. This is the simplicity of the gospel: Love the Lord with ALL your heart, mind and soul. It pains me to see the deception spoken by false teachers spewing a false gospel and leading people to another Jesus with the perversion that turns the grace of God into a license to sin. They define faith as just saying some words, with no action or deeds. That is the lip based vain worship that Isaiah and later Jesus told us about. The Scriptures are chock full of warnings about this very deception but the powers of darkness have blinded many to the truth and their idols have become stumbling blocks in their hearts.
The truth could not be further from this fiction about our work being finished. Jesus told us what lay ahead if we were to follow Him. It was a difficult and narrow road, one that we were to strive to remain on all the way to the finish.
Luke 13:23-24 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
In fact Jesus gave us the example on how to live. We are to be imitators of Christ. He tells us about the price we must pay even reminding us that we would have to carry our own cross.
Luke 9:23 If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Picking up and carrying a cross is hard. We must suffer as He suffered. There is a cost of discipleship defined by Jesus. We are told to cleanse ourselves, purify ourselves, make ourselves ready, persevere, endure to the end and scores of other actions to what false teachers now call works. I wrote a post that hit on this issue called “Real Faith Means We Do Things”. Click HERE to access it. Do not be deceived my friends, he who practices righteousness is righteous.
We don’t any of this “work” (which is really just obedience but falsely called works by deceived teachers) on our own power or even our own initiative, so it is not about how good or how smart we think we are. The work of God is only done supernaturally through the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of us who leads us into all truth. That is what true grace is all about. But the work of God must be done and we have to choose every day to whom we shall give our service. God does not force you to follow Him that is why in the above verse says if you “desire” to come after Jesus. You don’t have to, nothing is forced upon you but you must choose life if you want to be saved. Jesus said we obey God because we love Him and we choose with our free will, from our hearts, to become His bondservants.
Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride (true followers of Jesus) has made herself ready.
Have you made YOURSELF ready or are you following a false gospel that says you don’t need to do anything but say you believe in Jesus? You cannot serve two masters, you cannot walk double minded. Who is your Lord really? If you cannot practice obedience, it is because you have not repented and turned your heart towards God. Pray that God will grant you repentance. Most of us do stumble out of weakness at times but we do not take pleasure in our sins. There is indeed a difference you must understand.
Finishing Our Work Before Judgment
Paul told us that those who are led by the Spirit of God, those are the sons of God. If you are not led by the Spirit you are not His plain and simple. Believers that are falsely secure in their faith are just walking around not doing anything except trusting in their false religion. Many are deceived and without understanding of the Word of God and do not really know the Lord Jesus. They worship another Jesus but there is still time to repent and follow God.
Scriptures clearly tell us we will be judged by our deeds not our faith. All the verses about God’s judgment state this and you can search this blog for many posts that will clearly show you this repeated truth in the Scriptures. If you are so led, please visit my INDEX page at the top and read some of the post topics that may interest you and God willing edify you.
Here is what the Lord, our perfect Judge told us as His final written words as captured in the Holy Scriptures.
Revelation 22:12-13 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his WORK shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 14 Blessed are they that DO his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Jesus spoke about His Judgment and who would live and who would die in the Gospel of John.
John 5:26-29 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. ”Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have DONE what is good will rise to live, and those who have DONE what is evil will rise to be condemned.
The Gospels and Apostle writings tells us repeatedly what we must do to be saved. These same writing give us many warnings about not being deceived about the essential matters of salvation.
Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to WORK out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works IN you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Paul continues in Philippians and tells us to press on, to strain toward what is ahead. Salvation is not easy, it is no cakewalk and those that teach a cotton candy gospel are putting the sheep on a broad road that leads to destruction. Jesus wrote the book entitled “It is finished“, but we must read past the title of the book to get the truth.
Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
Hebrews 4:11 Therefore let us diligently labor with every effort to enter into that rest, lest any man fall from the same kind of unbelief [and resulting disobedience],
Does this sound like we have nothing to do? We are to make every effort to obey the commands of the Lord. If this is not our aim, Jesus is not our Lord. John told us we do not even know Jesus if we do not obey Jesus. Don’t deceive yourself by just hearing the word, DO IT said James.
1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him MUST WALK as Jesus did.
I hope you are striving hard and working out your salvation with fear and trembling. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and without knowledge of God’s judgment and a reverent fear of God Almighty, we will not be able to overcome. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God. We must be ready and prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lamb and the wedding feast. Are you ready? Faith without works is dead according to God. There is lots of work to do.
May God Bless You Richly!
