“Our Real Bailout”
John 19:16-30
Sermon Series: “Getting Acquainted With Jesus”
Introduction: There is a lot of talk in our nation right now about financial problems and the economic bailout plan. A lot of people are frustrated with the bailout because it seems to help Wall Street instead of Main Street. People are asking, “Where is my bailout?” In other words, who is going to cover my debt and erase my financial mistakes?
However, our financial problems are not our biggest or most important problem. We actually have a debt that is much bigger than our financial debt. That debt is the sin debt that we all owe God. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It is a debt that we are not capable of paying. In fact, Romans 4:4 tells us that we just make the debt bigger when we try to pay it ourselves.
What is the hope for a spiritual bailout then? How can we be forgiven and made right with God? The answer is found only in Jesus Christ and His cross. As Jesus was hanging on the cross, just before He died, He cried out, “It is finished.” This is only one word, tetelestai, in the Greek. It basically means “paid in full.” It was a term used in Greek commercial life. Dwight Pentecost writes, “The term signified the completion of a transaction by the full payment of a price or the discharge of a debt by a completed payment.” Let’s look at the cross by examining this term in detail as it relates to the rest of this passage. However, we will focus on the idea of “paid in full.” God will forgive you of your sins today if you will trust Him. This term and passage show us:
1. The completion of His earthly sufferings.
2. The accomplishment of His earthly purpose.
3. The fulfillment of the prophecies regarding His first coming and atoning death.
4. Ultimately (and this is what we will focus on), the full payment of our sin debt.
Main Idea: We are sinners. God, our Creator, is the Holy Judge, and we own Him an unpayable debt. However, God sent His Son, Jesus, who fully paid the debt for us on the cross. Therefore, we can be forgiven by trusting Jesus alone. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Implications of this idea:
A. Jesus would not have paid our debt if we did not have one. So, the first step is admitting our problem.
B. Jesus would not have paid our debt if we could pay it ourselves so we need to stop trying to pay for it on our own (Romans 3:19-4:8). Why would we try to pay for something that has already been paid for?
C. Jesus completed the work of salvation and completely won the victory. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. Salvation can never be taken away from us because every sin past, present, and future has been atoned for.
D. Understanding the cross correctly changes our lives because it causes us to hate sin and love Jesus.
E. We can now come into the presence of God and have a relationship with Him because of the barrier of sin being removed. The temple veil being torn in two signified this fact.
F. This is the basis for salvation being by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, we must repent of sin and trust Jesus in order to receive Him and His work of salvation.
