Very well put to 2nd timothy and cris. I have one side note to add to it. When Jesus died on the Cross, and he said "Tetelestai" "It is finished" The war was won there. On that rugged cross, pierced by our transgressions. He bore the price, and won the victory so that we may have a CHANCE so that we may be free. Here's a verse from a song that i listen to that explains this.
Broken and poured out for the love of His creation,
God chose to pay a debt He didn't owe.
Bearing my pain,But not one was his equal,
And wearing my shame so that I could know Him
He gave us all he had to give,
So that we could truely live
So let's give all we have to him,
So that we can be completely free.
As they placed the thorns on his brow
As they drove the nails into his hands and his feet
He looked past the moment to where we are now
And gave us the victry from what seemed his defeat
He said, "Here's my body, it's broken in two,
Here is my blood, let it cover you
All that i have, is now yours to recieve
Payment in full, so that you can be free!
He gave us all he had to give
so that we could truely be free...
I like that song. It's by Big Daddy Weave and it is called "Completely Free" I thank God that He finished my salvation up there on the cross. Because i know that because my sins were pierced and nailed to that cross, that I am completely free.
I'll post an excerpt from one of my sermons dealing with this verse:
Turn to John 19:23 it says this also Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost” The greek word used is Tetelestai which is a cry of purpose, a shout of triumph. He was being sacrificed for a specific purpose and that purpose was now fulfilled! Don’t you see…Christ was a living sacrifice, the Ultimate Sacrifice. THis cry of purpose gave sinners an anchor to hold onto. It gave us as Christians a present help in time of need. To know that our Savior, has already suffered and bled and died, so that WE would have life, and have it eternally. Not to ever lose it, nor forsake it...but to have it eternally. As paul wrote..."So that You KNOW you are saved." NOT so that you "Think" you are saved, not so that you "Speculate" that you are saved. But that you KNOW that you are saved.
Yet He did it for you because He loves you and I. Check this verse out in Romans Chapter 5:8-10 Read along with me:
(Rom 5:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Rom 5:9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.(Rom 5:10) For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Here is a poem that a friend wrote that may give a deeper meaning to what God says in His Word…Instead of Him being up there. We deserved to be up there suffering. Not Him! Yet in His unconditional Love, He did it anyway.
It should of been me
alone i sat, the day he died
how could life go on?
I watched as they beat him
i watched them scorn him
this man who could heal
this one who had shown nothing but love
now had died for it all
his one true friend denying
any knowledge of him
the soldiers shoved a crown made of thorns on his head
as the blood bagan to flow
they drug him to a cross
Nailing his feet and hands to it
mocking his name
as he bagan to die
shouldn't that crown be ours
should not we be the ones to die
the nails should have been in our hands
but his love for us surpassed our sin
our salvation on his mind
not his pain, not his death
just his love for us.
His voice echo's in my mind
as they take his body down
"father forgive them for they know not what they do"
how could i let an innocent man die!
the was mine.
yet i stood by and let him die
his pain was mine
yet he took it upon himself
what kind of love is this?
that causes a man to die for another
shouldn't that crown be ours
should not we be the ones to die
the nails should have been in our hands
but his love for us surpassed our sin
our salvation on his mind
not his pain, not his death
just his love for us.
three days he laid in the grave
soldiers guarding the place he lay
yet death, a grave and soldiers
couldn't hold the son of God
and he's alive forever more
Just a few thoughts friends.
Joshua