In this insightful sermon, Pastor Rick Warren opens up about the importance of understanding unfinished business and the one person who accomplished everything He set out to do—Jesus. Discover what ‘It is Finished’ truly means and how it stands as the most victorious statement in history. Whether you’re a seasoned believer or seeking to understand the basics of Christianity, this episode offers a deep dive into the fulfillment of God’s promises and prophecies, bringing hope and assurance to every facet of life.
00:00:02 Introduction to the Seven Greatest Words of Love
00:00:34 Unfinished Business and the Completion of Christ’s Work
Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series called The Seven Greatest Words of Love. There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross. that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career. Right now, here’s Pastor Rick with part one of a message called The Word of Victory.
SPEAKER 01 :
How many of you have ever used this phrase? I just can’t seem to get it all done. Let me see your hands. Okay, I just can’t seem to get it all done. How many of you have ever said this? I need more time. Yeah, yeah, right, okay. Because we live in a broken planet, fortunately you don’t have to live here forever. You’re not gonna spend eternity on this planet. That’s actually good news. I don’t wanna live forever on a place where there’s sorrow and suffering and sadness and sickness. I wanna go to a place where it’s perfect. But because you have a limited amount of time on this earth, I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to die with unfinished business. People say, if I could just get it all done. You’re not. You’re not gonna get it all done. You just need to accept that fact. You’re not gonna get it all done. You will end your life having things that you wish you had done that you didn’t, could have done that you didn’t, should have done, whatever, because you just don’t have enough time. Only one person in all of history died with finished business, with no unfinished business. And his name was Jesus, of course. And the world is filled with unfinished projects and unfinished buildings and unfinished dreams. I remember one time, years and years ago, I took my kids to see Mount Rushmore. And they thought it was really cool, but I remember Matthew saying to me, Dad, when are they gonna finish it? Because as you know, Rushmore is not finished. The guy ran out of money. He died, it was left unfinished, his son took over, the guy who built Mount Rushmore, worked on it four months and gave up. And it’s, one of our national monuments is unfinished. And that’s what Matthew noticed. As I said, you’re gonna die with some unfinished business, and only one person has ever died having completed everything he came to do, and that was Jesus. Now this was the sole goal of his life. Notice there in your outline, for his entire life, Jesus had one overarching goal, John 4, 34. I must finish. I must finish the work that God gave me to do. Now fortunately for you, fortunately for me, he did. He did finish. And today we come to the sixth word of Jesus from the cross. We’ve been looking at the seven last sayings of Jesus that he said while he was dying on the cross. The last three, he says them right in the row. I’m thirsty, it is finished, and into your hands I commit my spirit. We’ll look at that next week. But we come to the sixth one. In John 19, this is seen on the cross. Knowing that all… was now completed. I have to come back to that in a minute. He’s hanging on the cross. Jesus, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the scriptures would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I’m thirsty. And we talked about that a couple weeks ago. And after Jesus was given a drink, he said, it is finished. And with that, He bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. I think it’s important he says he gave up. He voluntarily gave it up. Now, I call this sixth phrase, it is finished, the word of victory. The word of victory. Now throughout history, there have been a lot of victorious statements when, you know, MacArthur says, I will return, and he goes back to the Philippines, and when Neil Armstrong lands on the moon, and he says, the eagle has landed, that’s a statement of victory. Were any of you alive when Neil Armstrong said that? The eagle has landed. Yeah, I was still a baby. In fact, I think I was in my mother’s womb at that time. But after a big battle, after a great game, after a major contest, when a war is concluded, there are great statements of victory. But this statement, these three words, it is finished, is the greatest statement of all time. In fact, I want to tell you that these three words are the three most important words in your life. When Jesus said, it is finished, it determined your future. If Jesus had not said these three words, you wouldn’t be here today, you wouldn’t be headed to heaven, and the world would be a very, very different place. These are the three most important words in history. It is finished. What’s he talking about? What are these three words, it is finished? The Bible says that Jesus shouted it. In fact, it’s the reason he asked for some water, because he was his parched throat, he was thirsty, but he wanted to be able to shout out this phrase. So after they’d given him a drink, he shouts out, it is finished. Now the irony of this statement is that when Jesus said it, nobody understood it at that moment. The Romans, the passerbyers, the lookers, even the believers didn’t get what was going on. When Jesus shouted out, it is finished, the Romans probably were thinking, yeah, that’s right. We’re finished with this rabble rouser, this revolutionary, this guy’s been causing all this commotion. Now we’re finished with a guy, good riddance. And when Jesus said it is finished, I’m sure Pilate thought, well, you know, my political headaches are finished. The guy’s dead. Because it’s been nothing but trouble for me since I heard about him. When the religious leaders heard Jesus say, it is finished, they’re thinking, our competition is finished. We’ve gotten rid of him. Because he was far more popular than we were. And they envied Jesus. And they said, he’s finished. I mean, even the disciples, when they heard Jesus say it is finished, were thinking, yep, the kingdom’s finished. Our dream of a new kingdom, our dream of the kingdom of God, it’s finished, it’s gone. And even, I think, the devil misunderstood this. I think when Jesus said, it is finished, Satan thought, I’ve won. I have killed God. I’ve won, and the Son of God is finished. But here’s the thing, Jesus did not say, I am finished. Because he wasn’t. He rose three days later. He said, it is finished. These are the three most important words in history. Nothing will ever be more important to you in your life than these three words. It is finished. What was Jesus saying on the cross when he gave the word of victory? What was finished? His suffering, yeah. His humiliation, yeah. His pain, yes. But much, much, much more. What I wanna do this weekend is explain to you the five things that Jesus accomplished. This is Christianity 101. This is the basic gospel in a nutshell. If you’ve ever wondered, what are we all about? What is church all about? Maybe you have another religious background, no religious background. What is Christianity all about? I’m gonna explain it to you in this session. Because when Jesus said, it is finished, he was talking about five very specific benefits to your life and to my life. And we’re gonna look at them this weekend. Now, first thing I wanna explain to you is that this phrase, it is finished, these three words, in the Bible, which was originally, the New Testament was written in Greek, is only one word. It’s one word. We translate it, it is finished. But when Jesus shouted it is finished, he actually said the word tetelestai. Tetelestai. And he cried out at the top of his voice, tetelestai. Now in ancient Greek, tetelestai was a beautiful word. It was a well-known word, it was a common word, and it had a lot of different usages. In fact, there were five major uses. And when Jesus talks and says and shouts out, it is finished, he’s implying all five of these are finished in his work here on earth. He says, I’ve got to finish the work that the Father sent me to do. Now, one of the ways that tetelestai was used is a servant would use it. A servant would come in having completed all of his assignments, done all of his tasks, finished his jobs, and he’d come in and he’d say to his master, to his employer, master, tetelestai, which means I’ve finished all the work you gave me to do. That’s what it meant. Tetelestai meant boss, I got it all done. Okay, I got it all done. It’s all finished. The job you gave me is completed. And that’s how a servant would use it. A judge, actually, this is a judicial term too, a judge would use this in a courtroom. And a judge would bang the gavel down and say, to telestai, meaning the sentence has been served and paid for. Justice has been served. And so for instance, if you had gone to prison for a crime and you had done the time and you were coming back before the judge and he’s now going to release you because you have paid for your crime, you have done your time, he would say and he would stamp on your prison document to telestai, which means justice has been served. You have done the time, you’ve paid the penalty. And that’s what the word meant in a judicial setting. Now accountants, which would be a third way, used this in another way. It was a business term. And it actually meant paid in full. And they actually would make stamps that said Tetelestai. And when you paid off a bill, they’d stamp it Tetelestai. In fact, even today, archaeologists have found many, many old papyri, that’s old paper made out of plants, old papyri of tax records with the word Tetelestai stamped on it. It meant paid in full. You have no more debt anymore. It’s been paid off. The debt has been canceled. Interestingly enough, this word was also used by artists to telestai. And an artist, when they were painting with either pastels or watercolor or whatever they use in charcoal, as they had finished a painting and they made the final brush stroke on that painting, the artist would say, , which means the painting is finished. The picture is done. All the details are there. It’s been completed. There’s nothing more to add to this picture. The artist would use it. Finally, this word would also be used by priests. In the temple, in the Jewish temple. And when they offered a sacrifice, which had to be a perfect sacrifice, could not be a blemished lamb. And when they offered the sacrifice, the priest would then say, in Greek, which means the sacrifice has been made. Every one of those five things, five ways the word was used, Jesus was using it in the same way when he says and shouts on the cross after dying on the cross, tetelestai. So what did Jesus finish on the cross? As I said, this is the single most important phrase in your life. If Jesus hadn’t said this, there is no hope for your life. None, no hope of heaven, no hope of God’s power in your life, no hope of the promises being fulfilled. None of that’s gonna happen. But Jesus did say it. This is Christianity in a nutshell. So what did Jesus finish when he says it’s finished? What did he complete? What did he accomplish? I’ll write these down, five things. Number one, the first thing Jesus accomplished was this. He fulfilled what God had promised us. He fulfilled what God had promised us. Now last week, or a couple weeks ago, I talked to you about that in the Old Testament, for thousands of years, God had been predicting that he was gonna send a savior. And there are over 380 of these predictions, they’re called prophecies, 380 of these predictions over thousands of years, he said, here’s how you’re gonna know when it’s me coming to earth. And he has all these conditions, and we went through that a couple weeks ago. 380 prophecies about the coming Savior, the coming Messiah. But there are not only prophecies or predictions in the Bible, there are promises. And there are many, many promises. And Jesus, when he dies on the cross, fulfills every promise that God has made to you. Let me show you a couple verses. Luke chapter 24. Jesus said this. By the way, this story that I’m reading happens after the cross. He’s resurrected and he’s actually walking down the street a few days later, the week after he’s died on the cross. So Jesus said, this is on the road to Emmaus, Jesus said, this is what I told you while I was still with you. In other words, before I died on the cross. Now he’s back to life and he’s telling this to some people. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me. in the law of Moses, that’s the first five books of the Bible, in the prophets, and in the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. And he told them, this is what was written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations. Jesus is saying, this was predicted and this was promised and I just fulfilled it a few days ago. He said, I’m fulfilling. Now, you’re never gonna find Jesus’ name in the Old Testament, but all of the predictions and all the prophecies of what he would do, what he would say, where he would be born, how he would die, and all of those things we looked at a couple weeks ago are there. He fulfilled the promises that God had given to us. Look at the next verse there, 2 Corinthians 1 20. All of God’s promises, all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in him, who? That’s Jesus. And he says, that’s why we say amen when we give glory to God through Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
Pastor Rick Warren says that every word Jesus spoke was important and has life-changing power. The words that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross hold the key to finding fulfillment in your life, career, and relationships. That’s why Rick put together a powerful seven-session study kit called The Seven Greatest Words of Love. Get it now and unlock the full meaning and amazing blessings of Jesus’ last words before his resurrection. Words of forgiveness, assurance, love, trust, and more. And this is a life-changing Bible study with seven video sessions and a workbook. Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com or just text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that’s the word HOPE to 70309. And really, thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us because your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the world. We hope you’ll join us next time when we look into God’s Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
