GYC West 2014: I Am The Conflict Continues

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GYC West

Patrick Dillon

It is Finished

The cross is a paradoxical event in many ways.

And as we approach the time of meditation And we bow our heads now to pray.

I want to ask you to seek the Lord's blessing so that you can be free from any of the distractions from the week or from the month or from your job and that God will be free to speak to you at this time.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for Jesus.

And Lord, we pray that you will renew our minds this morning.

Please give us a fresh sense of what you have accomplished on our behalf.

It's our prayer, Lord, that our hearts would be filled with praise this morning because of what you have accomplished for us.

We pray, Lord, that any burdened hearts in this room would find peace and rest today in Jesus.

And Lord, we ask that as we contemplate the cross in light of the great controversy, that we would gain an appreciation for it that would change the way we live forever.

And I ask all these things in Jesus' name.

As Christ approached the final days of his earthly ministry, the sense of his mission and of its gravity began to press upon his soul.

And as the crowds around him were rejoicing and praising, singing, Hosanna, son of David, son of the most high God, his mind was raptured to the heavenly reality of what he was about to experience, the cosmic reality of what he was about to experience.

And as the crowds pressed around him, As the crowds pressed around him, he says, now my soul has become trouble.

Father, forgive me for this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour.

Then a voice came out of heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered.

Others were saying an angel has spoken to him.

Jesus answered and said, this voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes.

Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself.

But he was saying this to indicate by what kind of death he was to die.

As Jesus approached this hour and everyone around him was thronging with praise, he was able to see that what he was actually about to experience was the greatest trial any human ever has or ever will.

And what Jesus was able to see during this time was that although everyone around him would perceive what was about to happen as the worst defeat, that in the sight of God and in the sight of the cosmos, it was the greatest victory.

As he went on from this place, he began to seek to call the attention of his disciples to what was about to take place, to prepare their souls for the sorrow that they were about to experience, and to let them know that this was actually a part of God's plan to redeem them.

And oftentimes we find ourselves in that position, facing sorrow, facing trial, unable to realize that actually in the midst of the tribulation is found God's solution to the problem of our character, A character which he intends to renew.

And so, as he approached the Last Supper, the enemy who had been battling Christ day by day, seeking to crush him out, had eventually taken over the heart of his follower Judas.

And as Judas yielded himself completely to the authority of Satan, he was then prepared to conspire with those who hated Jesus because of their pride and self-righteousness in order to put him to death.

And so just before the great scene of Gethsemane, Jesus sat down with his disciples and sought to teach them the lesson of the humility that he was going to demonstrate on the cross.

So that they could see that in the humility of Christ was found the source of cleansing.

We depend too much on technology anyways, right?

As Jesus came forth from Gethsemane, the place where he went to nourish his soul with the power of God, the power to endure.

A violent mob met him upon his departure with clubs and swords, as though they were coming to capture a violent revolutionary.

Though their minds were blinded with the passion of revenge and fear, Jesus was unmoved.

And in Luke chapter 22, verse 52 and verse 53, Jesus gives us insight into the true reality of what was taking place.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against him.

Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber?

While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on me.

But this is the hour and power of darkness.

Up to this point when Jesus was in the temple ministering and teaching, even when the mobs tried to attack him, They found themselves restrained by an unknown power.

They found themselves restrained by the providence of God.

But as Jesus approached this final moment, He said that now is your hour and the power of darkness.

The word for power there is not macho power, but authority.

Now is the time where you will be allowed to do as you will.

Now is the time where providence will be restrained and the hateful forces of darkness will be unleashed upon me.

And at this stage you will see, indeed, those on earth and those in heaven, the great contrast between light and darkness.

And so as Jesus was taken captive, betrayed by Judas with a kiss, betrayed by Peter with cursings, taken back and forth between Pilate and Herod, the sovereign of the universe, made subject to earthly rulers.

The atmosphere of darkness began to intensify.

And as the minds of men who were around him at that time became more and more subject to the satanic energy, The intensity with which they poured out their wrath on him began to grow.

And as he moved towards that moment where the powers of hell would be fully unleashed, He still took time to comfort those who were mourning and to let those who had come to love Him most intimately know that this would result in ultimate victory.

And as they laid him upon the cross, The atmosphere around him was teeming with the spirit of oppression.

And the cries of those who had once followed him lovingly, the cries of those who had once received food and healing at his hands.

Now cried out with scorn and contempt, crucify him.

And as he was lifted up upon the cross, And the dark forces moved with that last great attempt to crush out the life of the Son of God.

The Lord, knowing and believing in faith that he would be resurrected and that the great controversy would eventually come to an end, cried out with that mysterious sign of victory, it is finished.

Beloved, the cross to everyone who beheld at that time was the worst defeat, but in reality the cross was the victory of God.

The disciples did not yet understand it, but soon they would see that there was a much grander picture than they would have ever imagined.

More than the overthrow of some earthly monarch, Jesus came to do away with evil itself.

But in order for this to happen, in order for the new earth and the heavenly hosts to be eternally secure, Jesus had to answer the question of God.

Notice what Spirit of Prophecy says about the Christ event.

Christ did not yield up his life until he had accomplished the work which he came to do.

And with his parting breath he exclaimed, It is finished.

His right hand and His holy arm had gotten Him the victory.

As a conqueror, He planted His banner on the eternal heights.

All heaven triumphed in the Savior's victory.

Satan was defeated and knew that his kingdom was lost.

To the angels and the unfallen worlds, the cry, it is finished, had a deep significance.

It was for them as well as for us that the great work of redemption had been accomplished.

They with us share the fruits of Christ's victory.

How could something so shameful and so full of contempt be the victory of God?

How could the cross, which caused untold sorrow for the hearts of his followers.

Be the cry of victory and the keynote of rejoicing for the heavenly hosts.

What was the warfare between Satan and God about?

Now, an entire seminar, and I'm sure seminars have already been dedicated to the subject, could be devoted to just tweezing out what the issues were in the great controversy.

But what I'm going to do is just summarize what we find in Desire of Ages, the chapter It is Finished, 1 of the most succinct presentations of the great controversy.

At the cross, Satan saw that his disguise was torn away.

His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe.

By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from what?

Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts and before them accused Christ's brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin.

The last link of sympathy, the last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.

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It is Finished

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