WEEK 6 SERMON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS

The Last Seven Words of Christ: It is finished

Introduction:

Anyone’s last words are important, but Jesus’s last words carry some unique significance. Just before He breathed His last breath, Jesus uttered the phrase, “It is finished.” Jesus indicates that His work, His fulfillment of the scripture, and His life are the ultimate payment for our sins. He has completed His work on earth and has fully offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice in our place for our sins.

Bottom Line: How does what Jesus finished on the cross keep me from being finished?

Something To Talk About:

When Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” certainly part of what He meant was that the sin-made separation between God and His people was overcome. Wrath absorbed, sins are forgiven, righteousness achieved, fellowship restored, and the God who is Love definitively made known….at the cross of Jesus Christ, “it is finished.” On the cross:

He fulfilled what God had promised us: Jesus is the substance and fulfillment of all the promises of God. “All the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). God made the promise, Christ came to fulfill the promise, and now we enjoy the blessings of the promise. Because that is true, we can be 100 percent certain that every other promise that God has made will be fulfilled. All of God’s promises are “yes” in Christ. All the promises: the promises to hear your prayers, the promises to provide for every need, the promises to guide you through life, the promises to protect you so that you do not lose salvation, the promise to give you wisdom when you ask for it, the promises to be with you, the promise for all-sufficient grace for every situation, the promise to provide a way of escape in temptation, the promise of peace in our hearts and minds, the promise of eternal inheritance.
He satisfied what God’s justice required: First John 2:2 says, “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” The Bible teaches clearly that God is holy and mankind is not. In fact, the Bible explicitly teaches that every person who has ever lived has broken God’s holy law. Every person who has ever lived has rebelled against God and incurred His just wrath. That is the universal bad news. But on the other hand, there is good news. The good news (the gospel) is that God, while being just and holy, is also gracious and merciful, so He offers complete forgiveness by saving faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. For anybody who believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who repents for sin, and who embraces Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness, the forgiveness of all sin, and deliverance from the penalty of sin.
He paid off the debt I owed God: Sin leaves us with a debt before God that we cannot satisfy. But out of His free mercy, God sent His Son to pay the price in full. He canceled the payment due for our sins. Instead, He accepted the payment His Son Jesus provided when He died on the cross: “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). Accepting God’s payment for our spiritual debt means our obligation is paid in full, enabling us to live as His free children. Jesus willingly and gladly makes the sacrifice to pay our debt.
He defeated the fear of death: Jesus lived a sinless life and then died on the cross for all of us sinners. Then, three days after being crucified, He resurrected from the dead. By dying for us, He solved the problem of our sins; by resurrecting from the dead, He broke death’s power over us. Since Jesus defeated death and removed its sting, believers should no longer be motivated by fear of death. 1 Corinthians 15:55,57 says, “ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? …But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The death of a Christian believer is just a transition from this lower reality to a higher, more perfect, and lasting reality. For anyone trusting in Jesus, there is no reason to be afraid.
He destroyed Satan’s power to control me: Jesus came to conquer the one who conquered man. In that first great promise of the gospel (Genesis. 3:15), God swore to send a Redeemer who would crush the head of the serpent. The Apostle Paul drew a straight line from Genesis 3:15 to Christ when he wrote, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

Discussion Questions:

When you want to know what God is like, where do your mind and heart “look”?
The primary place we should look to know God is the cross. What do Jesus’s death and resurrection tell us about who God is? How does Jesus’s death overcome the separation between God and humanity?
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he told us that His work on earth was done. The work of preaching the coming kingdom, living a life of perfect righteousness, and offering himself as an appropriate sacrifice on behalf of humanity was complete. How does Jesus’ sinless human life uniquely qualify Him to be our Savior?
Through this powerful statement (It is finished), Jesus was communicating that the work of redemption had been accomplished—He had made it possible for man’s relationship with God to be restored because the cost of man’s sin had been covered. What should our response be when you think that Jesus took your sin to restore your relationship with your heavenly Father?
Through Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection, the power of death as a consequence of sin was defeated. How should that affect how we live our lives?
As you consider Jesus’s death, mission on earth, and work on the cross, how does His love for you affect you? How can God’s people, the church, share and demonstrate this kind of love to those who don’t know Him?
The wrath of God is a weighty subject that demands careful words and thought. How do you feel about it, and what impact does it have on your life?
What does Jesus’s choice to go to the cross teach us about God’s heart?
Why do you think it is important to understand Jesus’ death and resurrection as both the act that justifies us in God’s sight and the act that supremely manifests God to us?
Do you crave growth in your relationship with God? Why or why not? How do you need to respond to God today? What was your main takeaway from this week’s message?

Take One Thing Home with You:

In that moment when Jesus cried, “It is finished,” all the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’ earthly ministry were fulfilled. The justice of God had been fully satisfied by the Lamb of God. At that moment, the sacrifices of the Old Testament could permanently cease, for the perfect Sacrifice had laid down His life for the salvation of mankind. Jesus’ mission was accomplished. Thus, He could cry out that His task was complete. Remember that because Jesus was willing to offer His blood for the full payment of our sinful debt, we are forgiven and utterly debt-free. “Paid in full” has been stamped on our past sinful record because Jesus paid the price for our redemption with His blood.