The Work Is Already Complete
Why You Should Stop Looking Forward and Start Looking Back
When do you think you'll be saved? Next year, when you've grown more spiritually? Ten years from now, when you've overcome your persistent sins? At the moment of death, if you've lived faithfully enough?
Maybe you're not sure you'll ever really know if you're saved until judgment day…
If any of those answers sounds familiar, you’ve missed something crucial about the gospel. The work that needed to be done for your salvation has already been completed. Not partially completed, with you needing to finish it. Not mostly done with a little bit left for you to contribute. Finished. The work is now complete.
This isn’t about future hope—it’s about present reality. You don’t look forward, thinking that at some future time a great work will be done for you. The great work has already been done. Two thousand years ago at Calvary, Christ accomplished everything necessary for your salvation. What are you waiting for?
But we naturally look forward, don’t we? We think, “Someday I’ll be spiritual enough to really be saved. Eventually I’ll overcome these sins and then I’ll be worthy. If I keep working at it, maybe I’ll finally achieve the level of holiness God requires.” We treat salvation like a destination we’re traveling toward rather than a gift we’ve already received.
This creates a Christianity of perpetual striving, constant anxiety, and never-quite-enough performance. You’re always looking forward to when you’ll finally be good enough, when you’ll finally have done enough, when you’ll finally be saved enough. But that future moment never arrives because you’re looking in the wrong direction.
Scripture redirects your gaze. Instead of looking forward to what you hope will happen, look back to what already happened. Christ made an end of sin, bearing its heavy curse in His own body on the tree. Past tense. Finished. Accomplished. The work that needed to be done has been done. The price that needed to be paid has been paid. The curse that needed to be removed has been taken away.
Think about what “made an end” means. Not “made progress toward ending” or “started the process of ending.” Made an end. Brought it to completion. Finished it. When Christ died on the cross, He didn’t leave the work partially done for you to complete. He didn’t handle the hard part and left the easier parts for you. He made an end of sin’s curse completely.
This is what Jesus meant when He cried out, “It is finished.” Not “It’s mostly done” or “I’ve done My part.” Finished. Complete. Accomplished. Everything necessary for salvation was completed at that moment. Nothing remains to be done. Nothing can be added. Nothing needs to be added.
But here’s where many believers stumble. They accept that Christ finished the work of dying for their sins, but they think they need to finish the work of making themselves worthy to receive that salvation. They believe Christ did His part two thousand years ago, and now they need to do their part by living well enough, obeying faithfully enough, and persevering long enough.
That’s not what Scripture teaches. Christ didn’t just provide the possibility of salvation that becomes actual only if you perform well enough. He provided actual, complete salvation that you receive by faith right now. The work is complete. The salvation is secure. Your role is to receive what’s already been accomplished, not to complete what Christ left unfinished.
Paul makes this crystal clear when he writes that we’re complete in Christ. Not becoming complete, not working toward completeness. Complete. Right now. In Christ, you have everything you need for salvation because in Christ, the work is already finished.
So why do we keep looking forward instead of looking back? Sometimes it’s because we don’t really believe the work could be that complete. We think there must be something left for us to do, some contribution we need to make. Sometimes it’s pride—we want to believe we’re earning at least part of our salvation. And sometimes it’s just the way we’ve been taught—to view salvation as a process we’re working through rather than a work already accomplished.
But when you truly grasp that the work is complete, it changes everything. You stop striving to earn what’s already been given. You stop working toward salvation you’re trying to achieve. You stop anxiously wondering if you’ll ever be good enough. Instead, you rest in the finished work of Christ, you grow from the security of salvation already accomplished, you obey out of gratitude for grace already received.
This doesn’t mean you stop growing. It doesn’t mean you stop pursuing holiness. It doesn’t mean you become passive in your Christian life. But it reframes everything. You’re not growing to get saved—you’re growing because you are saved. You’re not pursuing holiness to earn acceptance—you’re pursuing holiness because you’ve been accepted. You’re not working toward completeness—you’re living from completeness already secured in Christ.
The believer is not called upon to make his peace with God. That’s already been done. Christ is your peace. The work of reconciliation has been completed. You don’t make peace with God—you accept the peace Christ has already made. You don’t work toward salvation—you receive the salvation Christ has already accomplished.
So stop looking forward, waiting for some future work that will finally save you. Look back to the completed work of Christ. Stop striving to achieve what’s already been given. Stop anxiously wondering if you’ll ever be good enough. The work is complete. Christ has made an end of sin. He has taken away the curse from all who believe in Him. Not will take away if you perform well enough. Has taken away. Right now. For you. If you believe.
That’s the gospel. Not “Christ started the work and you finish it.” Not “Christ did His part and you do yours.” But “Christ finished the work completely, and you receive it by faith.” The work is now complete. The question is: Will you stop looking forward and start trusting in what’s already been accomplished?
“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30)
Want to dig deeper into these truths? Explore The Core Pillars of Bible Study. Discover how Christ is the Center of all interpretation, why The Sanctuary is the Map for understanding God's Word, and learn how Scripture is the Authority that interprets itself. Join us at The Word Miner Ministries as we equip Truth Prospectors for more profound biblical discovery.
