In your presence, O God,

We wish to stand.

In the glory, of him,

At your right hand.

Through his blood,

Our spirit, you raise,

And in his name,

We give you praise

IT IS FINISHED!

It is finished means that something has ended. It also means there is a new beginning for something, as life is continual, there can be no gaps: no empty spaces, life changes with the ending and the new beginning. So it was when our Lord and saviour uttered these words from the cross.

[John 19 Vs 28 –30.] "Knowing that all was now completed, and so that the scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "it is finished." With that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

So ended the earthly life of the mighty, wonderful, Son of the one and only most high God!

Our Lord’s enemies saw it as the end, but it was only the beginning. They saw one Lord die, not knowing that he would be reborn in the heart of every believer. They saw only his physical death, not understanding that he would be resurrected to eternal life.

There can be no doubt as to who he was, no one could have fulfilled the scripture written hundreds of years before; unless the prophesies were written about him.

His light conquered the darkness; his life overcame death, the eternal reign of Christ our saviour began when he said, " it is finished."

After he told hid disciples he would be with them just a short time, he spoke these words, to comfort them. We also can draw on these words for comfort, and assurance.

[John 14 Vs 1 to 4.] " Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus tells us to trust in God. " Trust me too," he says. I am going to prepare your place in heaven. Would he lie? No! Of course not, Jesus could not tell a lie, if he did he would be as we are and unable to secure our salvation. He will come back for us, we know the way, Jesus is the way the truth and the life; only by him can we come to the Father.

I believe that we do not see "the word" as the path to glory. We are so desperate to fit it around our physical life, that we forget it is a spiritual journey. It becomes that when we give our lives to Jesus and he takes our hand.

His word, then becomes the light that guides us through the spiritual darkness, into his glorious brightness. What is more we walk in that light evermore.

[2 Corinthians 4 v 6] " For God, who said, " let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

It is the great light of heaven, there are no shadows there, no fear of what we cannot see, for God himself is the light and banishes all fear and doubt.

[Job 38 Vs 19 – 20] God asked Job these questions, "what is the way to the abode of light? And where does the darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

Job did not have the knowledge that we have. He did not know about Jesus, he might have known that he was coming one day, because it had been, prophesied for hundreds of years, but he may not have known what the Lord is about to reveal to you.

[John 1 v 6 – 9.]" There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that all men through him might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man that was coming into the world,"

The John referred to here, is John the Baptist. He it was that baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, before Jesus went into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He had very little to say, but what he did say was very important.

[John 1 v 29 and Vs 32- 34,] " The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, " "look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John was at this time baptizing people in the river; he was baptizing with water. "Then John gave this testimony: " I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, " the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit." I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

Now there is no excuse for us because we know that Jesus is the Son of God! We also know that he is the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin. John baptized with water, water could only be an outward sign of repentance, water can only wash away the dust and dirt of the day. It can do nothing to cleanse our soul.

Jesus came to baptize with the Holy Spirit; it is a believer’s baptism. The Holy Spirit of God gently persuades us from within, the truth of what God is saying to us. If we hear what he has to say, we believe. If we are content to live as we are, convinced that our life style does no harm to any, The Holy Spirit will leave us. It cannot stay where there is unbelief.

[John 8 v 12] "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, " I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

We are all, just one heartbeat away from eternity: one step away from the edge, will we walk in the light of him who loves us, and gave himself for us?

How wonderful is the knowledge that one can neither bribe, or cheat death. He is God’s harvester, he is totally impartial.

God is not impressed with our worldly ambitions or our worldly achievements: if it is not blessed by, and shared with him.

" Seek me first " he said and all else will be added unto you, all that you could possibly need.

[John 6 Vs 63] Jesus said " The Spirit gives life: the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life."

Jesus, the giver of life eternal, to rich and poor alike, He has paid the price demanded, the only price acceptable to God, the all sufficient sacrifice; his life for ours.

Surely then, rather than clutter up our lives with worries about pensions, life insurance and death expenses: we should be concerning ourselves first with a heavenly treasure? Whatever wealth and knowledge; or power we accumulate in this life, counts for nothing in the next, believer or not, there will be a next life, Jesus said so!

[Matthew 6 Vs 19 – 24.] " Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there shall your heart be also..

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.

No one can serve two masters. Either we will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

How well our saviour knows our mercenary nature, how well he sees the things that we prefer to him, how sad he must feel, because we cannot take anything with us: when we come before him for judgement. It will be no good saying to him we never heard about him, when the truth is we did not listen.

We cannot become a member of the household of the most high God, whilst we are laden with sin. We first have to be free from our sin. We cannot run away from it, we cannot wash it away with soap and water; nor can we purge it away with fire. We are helpless against our own sinful nature: we cannot put it right. But I know a Lord who can!

[1 Peter ch 3 Vs 17 –18.] "It is better if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit."

He makes us alive by the same Spirit. Our weakness, is his strength? His death is our spiritual life.

He came to give us a spiritual life that would last forever. We already have a physical life; God gave us that when we were born.

We sin because it is our nature to sin. A one year old child, can be very disobedient and put up a fight; when we try to get them to something they do not want to do.

God saw our helplessness and had compassion upon us, he sent Jesus to save us and give us eternal life for our spirit, and a blessed life here on earth, while we inhabit our bodies.

God wants us to worship him. That is, to love and praise him. Not just with our mouths and heads, but with our hearts and souls. Jesus told this to the woman of Samaria.

[John 4 Vs 22 – 24.] " You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind worshippers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Please notice that we must worship, as God wants us to. We were not given a choice of style regarding worship, but we can praise him in any way that gives us pleasure. God inhabits the praises of his people.

Worship is not like praise. Worship is how we feel toward God. It is more than song and dance, or raising of the arms in surrender to God. Worship must be seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day; God first and foremost, always for eternity. Our spirit is eternal; God’s love is eternal.

How great is the darkness within us? We all do things that we are ashamed of, and we never want to be reminded of them; or be found out. We live in dread of the day, that a loved one will confront us with our shameful past. This only serves to enlarge the wrong in our mind out of all proportion. There is no peace of mind in a situation like that.

God knows all about it! Whatever it is, he waits full of compassion and love for us; longing to hear our prayer of confession and repentance, and our request for forgiveness.

God knows all about us from the inside. Our deepest thoughts, fears; good and bad feelings; and our doubts. There is nothing that he does not know. We cannot shock God with our confessions, we cannot disgust him, we can only please him. When we confess our sin, he can act! He will forgive us and remember our sin no more.

[Hebrews 8 v 12.] "God said For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more," What the mouth of God has spoken, no one can alter.

There is always someone, who thinks they can improve on anything that has been done. A building, a work of art; a tune, whatever has been done we think that by adding something, or taking something away, we can make it better. Don’t try that with God, it will not work

Jesus, is the most amazing person ever to be born. [To say "was," indicates that he is no longer with us."] He came with a mission, and he carried out his mission, with a great passion. He spoke no word of his own, he did nothing but that which he was told to do.

[John 5 v19,]" I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

God was always there with his Son. He sent him to us, To give us the opportunity to accept his offer of redemption. You are a miracle, waiting to be reborn into an even greater miracle.

Sad, sad; sad, are those people who would struggle to live longer on this earth, who think eternity should be spent here: with them in charge. "You are playing God," is a popular cliché, too often spoken these days.

Oh man whose vanity is so great,

Humble yourself, before it is too late,

You cannot add one day, to your life span,

So call upon the Lord while you still can.

How sad to accumulate such vast wealth, that three lifetimes would not be long enough to spend it: while children starve and there are so many needy people in the world.

[Psalm 14 v 1-6.] " The fool says in his heart, " there is no God "

They are corrupt; their deeds are vile;

There is no-one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men

to see if there are any who understand,

any who seek God.

All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt;

there is no-one who does good, not even one

Will evil doers never learn-those who

devour my people as men eat bread and who

do not call upon the Lord?

They are overwhelmed with dread,

for God is present in the company of

the righteous.

You evil doers frustrate the plans of the poor-------

but the Lord is their refuge."

The unrepentant wicked have no refuge. God’s mercy and compassion, waits to comfort and bless such people, God’s great love is more than enough to cover all our sins. The blood of Christ is our only claim to heaven. Whether our sin is great, or small; it hides us from God, only the blood of Christ can cleanse us.

What can be worse for a loving Father, than to hear his children, crying in the darkness; and he being unable to help them: because they will not call upon his name, for God is holy and cannot look upon sin.

[Psalm 25 Vs 1 – 3] "To you O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse."

God is aware of all the nasty tricks people get up to. God gave man the power of reason, the knowledge of right and wrong; a gift withheld from every other creature: yet some animals seem more intelligent, faithful and friendly than many people. Yet it is to us, that God, sent his Son, with his offer of eternal life.

[Psalm 25 Vs 7] "Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good O Lord."

Did you know that you couldn’t win God, with a flattering tongue? Well you know it now. We can say the most wonderful things about God and they would all be true. His greatness is beyond measure, his creation beyond flattery. I always say that flattery is like perfume, sweet to smell but do not swallow it.

When God created the earth and all living things, he saw that it was good. He saw that for himself, he knew that all he had made was good and could not be bettered.

[John 5 Vs 41 44.] Jesus said, "I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know you do not have the love of God, in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God."

We are to love and respect God’s creation, and all the life he has given to all creatures. We are to enjoy the benefit of his beauty in all that he has made. God made us for his pleasure, he made the world for ours.

Our Lord’s words point us to heaven, they are free to all comers. But how are we to know unless we read the Bible? How will we understand what we read, unless God reveals himself to us in his word?

One could attend Church, all ones life; and never learn that the Bible, is a spiritual experience. Jesus is telling us the way home to the Father, to where we have been chosen by God, to spend our eternal spiritual life.

What then can we do to please God? We can spread his love abroad; we can make known his saving grace among all people. We can assure people, that no matter what they think of themselves, God loves them. But the most important thing of all is that we must believe his word! We must be willing to give up all that we have for him.

[Luke 18 v 18 – 25] " A certain man asked him, " good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

" Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. " No one is good------except God alone. You know the commandments: " do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother."

"All these have I kept since I was a boy," he said.

When Jesus heard this he said to him, " you lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, " How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Are you thinking of a camel trying to get through the eye of your sewing needle? No! You are right, the eye of the needle referred to by our Lord, is the slit we see in the walls of castles. It is just as impossible, but all things are possible to God. This young man loved Jesus and wanted to follow him, but his wealth was too much to give up. We are not told how he came by his wealth. It may be that he had great responsibilities, large amounts of labourers that depended on him for their living: but, this young man could not serve God with his mind on his money.

[1 Peter ch 1 v 17 – 21.] " Since you call on a Father who judges each man'’ work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty life that was handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your hope and faith are in God."

Jesus, was chosen by God, to come and give us the good news of salvation. We can come to God right now! All we have to do is ask. The Bible is full of directions. Jesus tells us ask, and it will be given to you: and he said those that come to me ,I will in not turn them away.

Jesus is the truth. Always remember that, when doubt creeps in and you begin to think; it cannot mean me. It means you alright.

[ 1 Peter ch 2 v 2] says, " like new born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. "

Wow! Those are words of life, they make my soul sing with joy unto the Lord, why? Because I am listening to what he is saying and I believe every word.

I find it so exiting, once I wondered what it would be like to die. What happened after? Was there an afterlife? Did eternal life mean living on this earth forever? If it did, did I want it? Like any other person, I had so many questions I wanted answered, before I was going to make any commitment.

Then in John ch 11 v 25-27, I read this "Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

My soul answered for me YES! Yes I believe it, then I read these words, I am sure Jesus gave them to me to strengthen my faith. They can be found in John 5 v 24, Jesus said "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned: He has crossed from death to life."

So I became an eternal being. It is an awesome thing to know that Christ Jesus himself has given you his life with all its eternity. We have to die to live, but we all have to die. This is just a temporary place for all of us and sooner or later we have to move on. Yet to really live in peace and harmony here on earth, safe in the knowledge that our lives are hidden in God with Christ: means that death is just a peaceful transition. Our souls must live, no man can keep alive his own soul and only God can kill it.

In Ezekiel ch 18 Vs 4 God said, " For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son ---- both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die."

God gives us the choice, he holds out his arms to us, accept his offer. God said, " if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." [Isaiah 7 v 59] Jesus upholds us in our faith, he strengthens it, and he justifies it. He has chosen people from every race, his love and his offer of salvation is extended to all people. There is no room for bigotry or racism on the spiritual walk through this life with our God in the company of his Son Jesus Christ.

1 Peter ch 2 v 4-5 says "As you come to him, the living stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Often we are rejected by family, and friends, when we become Christians Jesus understands, because he himself was rejected. So much so that he was crucified because of it. We will have doubts and questions, never be afraid to speak to God about them. Talk aloud, about your doubts and fears ask your questions. One thing is guaranteed; God will answer!

There are countries in the world where Christianity is not allowed. People are put to death and their families made outcasts. This is because of fear. The people in authority over the countries concerned are afraid to lose one iota of their power, which can gain them nothing only lose them eternity.

Listen to what St Peter says in 1 Peter ch 2 v 8 – 10 " a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall" * They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people a people belonging to god that you may

Declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." * Isaiah 8 v 14.

It is then, by the blessed mercy of God that we are drawn from every corner; and made a separate nation, a nation of believers, owing our love; our loyalty, and our very lives to God alone: brought to him by his one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ: who came into this world, to draw us into the wonderful light of the glory of God, before which all things fade into nothingness. We are a nation of spiritual people called and chosen, to walk with our God.

Romans 8 Vs 13 – 17, sums it up like this," for if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if you live by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry " Abba Father". The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Now if we are God’s children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co – heirs with Christ, if indeed we share his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory.

As a rich man counts his money and gloats over the sum of his riches, so we should praise and worship and thank God for our imperishable riches, that he has granted us in Christ Jesus. With the same enthusiasm as the rich man, but with humility, never gloating, as it is not acceptable to God for us to gloat; but bursting with love for him and joy in the new eternally spiritual life he has given us.

It is finished; the work is done,

Given by the Father, to the Son.

Sent to save us all, the perfect man.

Hear his voice; obey it if you can.

For there is nothing, nothing else to do;

He has done it all, for me and for you.

IT IS FINISHED.