The last words of Jesus

Jesus died for our sins once and for all. 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit..."(ESV) Jesus final words before is death were, "It is finished." He died when he was ready. He gave up his spirit at the appointed time. His words should fill us with hope and joy. Death was defeated on that day. Jesus accomplished it all for us; there is nothing left for us to do. He paid the price for our sins by taking the punishment that we deserve.

In John 5:6-9, Jesus saw a crippled man by the Sheep Gate, a pool of water where people were supposedly healed. He approached the man and asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" The man probably thought that Jesus might offer to help him get into the pool. Instead, Jesus said, "Get up, take up your bed and walk." The man did this and walked away.

Later, Jesus found this man in the temple. He said to the man, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." Did he expect the man to never sin again on this earth? No, but he did expect this man to no longer live in unrepentant sin. If he continues to live in that way, he can expect that he will live in eternity apart from God. Unrepentant sin means that we do not accept Jesus’s free gift of salvation. If we abide in him, our sin will cause us great distress, and the forgiveness of our sin will cause us to draw even closer to him. What an amazing Savior!