Finish
Luke 14
· 25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
· 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
· 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
· 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
· 29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
· 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Intro: One of the greatest words in the English language is FINISHED!
We work, we labor, we strive to hear that word.
That word means the job is complete.
Our work has ended. It is now time to rest.
FIRST MENTION PRINCIPLE:
Genesis 2
· 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
· 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
The desire of every Christian is to hear the Father say, “Well done…”
I long for the day when our labor, our work has ended, and we can rest forevermore.
But until then, we have work to do.
And I want to finish.
In our text, Jesus compared the Christian life to a building project that must be finished.
He brought out several important aspects of the Christian life that many people don’t want to think about.
A. The Comparison that must be Considered – vs. 26
Jesus is not teaching us to hate our family.
His statement draws a comparison. Our love for Him should be so great that it makes our love for our family look like hate to the world.
B. The Cross that must be Carried – vs. 27
The cross is non-negotiable.
C. The Cost that must be Counted – vs. 28
Speaks of the predetermined decision based on the facts and the knowledge of the price.
D. The Construction that must be Completed – vs. 29, 30
One day, we can also say that we were able to finish it, but it will take several things.
Let’s look at some examples in the Bible of those that FINISHED and see how they did it.
Moses finished the work with the help of:
I. Sacrificial People
· Exodus 40:33 And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
On Mount Sinai, God gave Moses an overwhelming task.
God wanted a tabernacle to be built in the wilderness.
· Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
What a mind-blowing fact – that God would want to dwell with this group of complaining, murmuring people!
But God did, and He wanted a tabernacle built.
Not just a tabernacle, but one that could be taken down, moved and set back up every time they journeyed.
But this was a job that Moses couldn’t do alone.
This was a group effort. He needed help.
Notice the verses that precede verse 8.
· 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
· 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
· 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
· 4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,
· 5 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,
· 6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,
· 7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.
· 8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
In verse 8, we see the PROJECT.
In verse 9, we see the PATTERN.
In verse 2, we see the PEOPLE.
The people of God were to be informed of the will and the desire of God.
This project could not be done without their help.
So, Moses cast the vision for the need to the people in Exodus 35.
· 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying,
· 5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,
I couldn’t help but notice how many times the word “heart” is mentioned in this chapter in relation to giving.
· 5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,
· 10 And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded;
· 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.
· 22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
· 25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
· 26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.
· 29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
· 34 And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
· 35 Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.
Notice the overwhelming response of the people in Exodus 36.
· 2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:
· 3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.
· 4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;
· 5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
· 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
· 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
Exodus 40:33 tells us that Moses finished the work.
But he had help. Lots of it.
He could have never done the work that God called him to do without the help of SACRIFICIAL PEOPLE.
God gave these people a sacrificial heart to help Moses build this sanctuary.
They had WISE HEARTS and WILLING HEARTS.
They didn’t have stores; they didn’t have Amazon Prime.
They didn’t have any way to replenish their resources.
They had no way to replace what they gave, but they gave it sacrificially.
They were willing to trade their gold and silver for the PRESENCE OF GOD IN THEIR MIDST!
God still uses SACRIFICIAL PEOPLE to do the work!
Jesus finished the work with the help of:
II. Sovereign Purpose
· John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Satan tried every trick in the book to get Jesus to fail in His mission to die on the cross.
He tried temptations and promises of glory and power in Matthew 4.
He tried to have Jesus killed prematurely multiple times in his ministry at the hands of the Jews.
He tried to finish him off in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was praying.
He tried to have Jesus killed when he was scourged in Pilate’s hall.
But Jesus was able to say IT IS FINISHED on the cross of Calvary because He had a purpose.
That purpose was given to Him by God and it motivated Him and propelled Him through His entire ministry.
That purpose was to die on the cross for the sins of the world.
· Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The ministry of Jesus Christ all pointed to and was culminated with Him dying on the cross.
That is why He came.
The pictures of this were repeated throughout the Old Testament.
The types, the foreshadows of His substitutionary atonement are abundant throughout the Bible.
From the Prophetic curse upon the serpent in Genesis 3:15, the offering of Isaac upon the altar in Genesis 22, to the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, to every detail in the Old Testament Tabernacle, the whole reason Jesus came to earth was to die on the cross.
His entire life was consumed with finishing.
· John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
There was not a day that He wasn’t motivated to finish what God had sent Him to do.
· John 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
He finished the work because He had the help of a SOVEREIGN PURPOSE.
· John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
He was able to say in John 17:
· 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Paul wrote about Jesus in Hebrews 12:
· Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He had a SOVEREIGN PURPOSE and he was able to endure the cross and finish the work God gave Him to do.
Paul finished the work with the help of:
III. Supernatural Power
· 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
The Apostle Paul was able to say with confidence, “I have finished…”
But the Apostle Paul didn’t finish what God had given him to do in his own power and with his own ability.
Paul was one of the most intelligent, well-learned men of his day.
He had access to the greatest of education and teachers.
But Paul didn’t rely on himself to do the work of God.
He admitted on numerous occasions that it was all done by the power and might of God.
· Colossians 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
See 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
See also 1 Corinthians 2
· 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
· 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
· 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
· 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
· 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Conclusion: If we are going to finish the work that God has given us to do, we will need
1. SACRIFICIAL PEOPLE
2. SOVERIEGN PURPOSE
3. SUPERNATURAL POWER