#4 10-1-06 AM – HCBC
The Lord’s Table
What Debt?
Romans 1:14-15
The gospel is a debt to the world v. 14-15
Introduction: How are you doing with your debt?
This is a communion message, so I am not really checking on your finances!
One Bible expositor has explained that there are a couple of ways that we can be in debt.
1) If I were to borrow $50 from you, I would be in debt to you.
2) If you were to give me $50 to give to my neighbor, I would be in debt to you until I gave my neighbor the $50.
As we celebrate the Lord’s Table, we need to look at two debts:
One that has been paid in full and one that is unpaid!
I. THE DEBT THAT IS PAID IN FULL
John 19:16-30
HIS DYING WORD (19:30a)
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” Tetelestai
(1) The malice and enmity of his persecutors had now done their worst. When he had received that last indignity in the vinegar they gave him, he was saying, "This is the last; I am now going out of their reach, where the wicked cease from troubling.''
(2) The counsel and commandment of his Father concerning his sufferings were now
fulfilled. He had said, when he entered upon his sufferings, Father, thy will be done; and
now he was saying with pleasure, it is done. Jn 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the
will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
(3) All the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, were accomplished and answered. Prophecies such as, his being sold for thirty pieces of silver, his hands and feet being pierced, his garments divided, etc.; and now that this is done, it is finished.
(4) The ceremonial law is abolished, and a period put to the obligation of it. The substance is now come, and all the shadows are done away. Just now the veil is torn, the wall of partition is taken down.
Eph 2:14-15 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has
destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 5 by abolishing in his flesh the
law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself
one new man out of the two, thus making peace.
(5) Sin is finished, and an end made of transgression, by the bringing in of an everlasting righteousness.
Dan 9:24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to
finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most
holy.
Hebrews 9:26 teaches that the Lamb of God was sacrificed to take away the sin of
the world, and it is done.
(6) His sufferings were now finished, both those of his soul and those of his body. The storm is over, the worst is past; all his pains and agonies are at an end, and he is going to paradise, entering upon the joy set before him. Let all that suffer for Christ, and with Christ, comfort themselves with this, that yet a little while and they also shall say, it is finished.
(7) His life was now finished, he was ready to breathe his last and leave this world.
2 Tim 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith.
(8) All of these can be true without explaining the full meaning behind the word that Christ uttered.
Tetelestai was used in common Greek to signify the completion of a transaction by
the full payment of a price or the discharge of a debt by a completed
payment.
All sin incurs a debt which the sinner owes to God.
The debt must be discharged before that sinner can be accepted by God.
Every animal sacrificed on the Day of Atonement throughout the Old Testament
constituted a recognition of debt.
Because of the shed blood that was applied to the cover of the ark, God in His
grace postponed collection of the indebtedness for another twelve months.
He did this in anticipation of the coming of the Lamb of God who would put away
sin by the sacrificing of Himself.
When Christ died, he gathered to Himself the accumulated debt of a sinful race and
offered to God a payment for sins.
Having made that payment, Christ could say, “It is finished.” or “The debt has
been paid in full.”
Arthur Pink:
It was the briefest and yet the fullest of His seven cross-utterances.
Eternity will be needed to make manifest all that it contains.
All things had been done which the law of God required;
all things established which prophecy predicted;
all things brought to pass which types foreshadowed;
all things accomplished which the Father had given Him
to do;
all things performed which were needed for our
redemption.
Nothing was left wanting.
The costly ransom was given,
the great conflict had been endured,
sin’s wages had been paid,
Divine justice satisfied.
“It is finished!”
This was not the despairing cry of a helpless martyr!
It was not the last gasp of a worn-out life!
No, it was the declaration on the part of the Divine Redeemer that all for which He
came from heaven to earth to do, was now done;
that all which was needful to reveal the glorious character of God had now been
accomplished;
that everything necessary for the putting away of the sins of His people,
providing for them a perfect standing before God,
securing for them an eternal inheritance and fitting them for it,
had all been done.
Jn 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Jn 17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
II. THE DEBT THAT IS UNPAID
Two ways to be in debt…
It is the second sense that Paul is in debt.
He has not borrowed anything from the Romans which he must repay.
But Jesus Christ has entrusted him with the gospel for them.
A. I am obligated!
1 Cor 4:1-2 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those
entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who
have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Gal 2:7 “…they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the
gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.
1 Thess 2:4 “…we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.
Timothy and Titus the same “entrusted to me.”
1 Cor 9:16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
It is Jesus Christ who has made Paul a debtor by committing the gospel to his trust.
In the same way, we are debtors to the world.
If the gospel has come to us, and it has, we have no liberty to keep it to ourselves!
Good news is for sharing! We are under obligation to share it with others!
Obligation calls for obedience!
B. I am eager!
Acts 20:22-24 "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not
knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy
Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider
my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the
Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
John MacArthur: “Life had but one value for Paul: to do God’s work.
He was consumed by an eager desire to serve God,
which included serving others in His name.
Gal 2:9-10 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas
the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They
agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10 All they asked
was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to
do.
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
2 Cor 7:11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what
eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what
concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved
yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
Paul was eager to discharge the debt the Lord had given him!
Because the debt of his sin had been paid in full, he recognized the continuing debt to
proclaim the good news of eternal life!
And he was eager to fulfill the obligation!
How about you and me?
As we spend these few moments remembering what Jesus Christ did for us,
When He paid our sin debt,
Are we more willing and eager to fulfill the debt of taking the good news to
others?