For all practical applications, the basis of the concept of a finished work is derived from the completion of Jesus' ministry, when he freely gave His life for the sins of the world.

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. There is no disputing the absolute completion of Christ's work. There was nothing left undone. His work is finished. He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Where some of us in Christianity have made a quantum leap of presumption, is in applying Christ's finished work to ourselves. The redemptive work of our Lord, does not in any way, shape or form, absolve us of our responsibility to "follow HIM." Throughout the four gospels, Jesus repeatedly states what is required. He clearly enunciates exactly what will make us accepted, and what will cause us to be rejected. Our names can be written into the Lamb's Book of Life, they can also be blotted out again. Our choices determine our condition. We must willfully choose to believe God. We must daily choose to walk in obedience. We determine just how much of our flesh we will die out to; how much of this world we will still cling to; whether or not we will press in all the way...or not.

There is no easy, painless, cost-free express on which to hitch a ride. Because Jesus paid the price, does not mean that we get a free pass. He is our example. It is His footsteps that we are to walk in. We will generally concede that this was the case for the Apostle's and Prophets of old. We read of the things they suffered as a result of believing and following Christ. We accept that they suffered, but how many of us apply the same requirement to our own walk?

Hebrews 12 is a good place to start:

Verse 1 - Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Do we recognize that we are called by God to lay aside every weight (hindrance)? Every sin? That we are called to run with patience (cheerful, continual patience) the race (conflict, fight) that is set before us? Hebrews 12:2-4 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. We are to do as He did, enduring our own cross (self-denial), despising the shame. How much consideration have we given our own calling? Have we thought beyond the aspect of appearances? Beyond the goose-bumps and tingles, the admiration of others, the power and the glory? According to this writers rendition, we can expect contention and strife. We are charged to guard against becoming wearied, tiring, becoming relaxed in our thinking and attitudes. We are to struggle against sin, in our own lives first, and in the world at large, to the point of the shedding of blood. How many of us have the notion that it is not necessary for us to get that radical about our religion? After all, haven't we been taught that God is love? So what's this all about?

Hebrews 12:5-8 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Remember if you will, as you read the Bible, that these words are written to the Church, to the called out ones, to the believers down through the ages; not to the sinners. We can no longer afford the luxury of applying the parts of the Word that make us uncomfortable or that we find unpleasant to "the other guy." We can no longer afford to overlook, ignore, or dismiss as "for another time" things that we don't want to incorporate into our own walk. Another way of saying 'Despise not the chastening of the Lord' might be, "to have little regard for the education, training, and discipline of the Lord." If we are committed to following Christ, we can rest assured that we will make mistakes, we will be tested and tried, and we will experience the correction, albeit with love, of the LORD. If we do not, then we are bastards, illegitimate imposters, and not sons at all.

Hebrews 12:9-11 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

God does not expect us to enjoy His correction and discipline, yet He promises that if we submit to the training we must receive, we will enjoy the fruits of it. We will experience the joy of being justified before God by the training we receive.

Hebrews 12:12-13 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

We are charged here to lift up (make straight) our hands (instruments of power) which hang down (are relaxed), and our paralyzed knees. We are to make an honest, direct course of conduct for our feet. In order that we do not cause the limping, crippled souls Jesus died for to be pushed away, but rather be instrumental in their being cured and made whole.

Hebrews 12:14-16 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Did we really hear what we just read? Do we comprehend that without holiness, we will never see the LORD? From both the Old Testament and the New, God has commanded us...Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

And 1Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

We are charged to beware, to oversee ourselves, lest we fall short of the grace of God. The grace of God here is speaking of God's divine influence upon our hearts, and it's reflection in our lives, including gratitude, acceptance, joy, thanks, and graciousness. Lest, or God forbid, that any root of bitterness (poison) germinate or grow in our hearts, crowding in and thereby contaminating many. We must conform to God; God is not going to adjust His plan to accommodate our flesh, our wants, or our perspectives. (No where in the Bible does God even suggest that holiness is optional).

Hebrews 12:18-21 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

We cannot even imagine what the Israelites witnessed so long ago. Modern man has received such a polluted and watered down concept of Who God Is, that we have a hard time conceiving Holiness or the fear of the LORD. Every instance of individuals recorded for our benefit declare that when they are confronted by God's presence, they fall on their faces as though dead; they are fully aware of their total lack and weakness before their creator.

Hebrews 12:22-23 But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Can we comprehend this? God, the Judge of all. Have we been guilty of glibly saying that our names are among those written in heaven, without understanding what that means? If we have, then do we also know that we must then meet the requirements of being counted among such a company? To stand among the spirits of just men made perfect, means that we are also: innocent and holy, having been made complete.

Hebrews 12:24-25 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Thank God, that we do have the shed blood of Jesus to cleanse us. We do have Jesus as our mediator before God. If we refuse, reject, and disdain Christ, there is no other remedy.

Hebrews 12:26-29 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

Only what is of God will stand. Even now, the stage is being set for the consummation of all things. The entire world will be participants. Individually, each one of us must choose: what we will believe, who we will follow, and who we will serve.

Do we still believe that we can reject reverence and godly fear, and serve God acceptably? Are you still holding to the mindset that Jesus paid it all, I don't have to do anything? Does the admonition given in Philippians 2:12-13 have more significance for you? Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Can we embrace and stand in agreement with Paul, "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;" (Phi 1:29).

Even more importantly, are we willing to believe what Jesus said in John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Only as we "Follow Christ," walking in His commandments, will we be conformed to His image. Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Jesus finished the work He was sent to earth to accomplish. He made the way for us to follow HIM, giving us the Holy Spirit to enable us to do what is impossible in our own strength. Now it is our turn to finish the course. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity set before us. Will we join the ranks of those who have pressed in and believed God? 2Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

May we run our race in such a way that we too, may obtain the prize set before us....

Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Col 4:12 ... always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Phi 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: