Jesus Last Words

Subject: Forgiveness

Central idea: Jesus final loving instructions for us

Specific purpose: to persuade the congregation that Christ died for each of them.

Introduction: Not too long after my twenty-second birthday, I arrived in Vietnam, a machine-gunner in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Only a few nights later, we slept not battling until drawn in our first close quarters combat. Combat often grows one up quickly. The soldier only a foot off my right shoulder got a nose full of grenade shrapnel. The invincibility of my youth left me in bit seconds. I knew that I could die. From that time on, I wrote each letter home with care, for I knew that letter might be the last words my loved ones would ever read from me.

A. Since my combat experience, I have noted the last words of a number of famous people. I have found that a person’s dying words can be revealing, showing us something of the person. The ideas of Karl Marx put many nations on the horrible road to communism. On the day Marx died, March 14, 1883, his housekeeper came to him and said, “Mr. Marx, tell me your last words, and I'll write them down.” Marx replied, “Go, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!” P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, asked as he was dying, “What are the receipts of the day?” Napoleon’s last words were, “I am Chief of the Army!” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon’s last words were, “Jesus died for me." And Charles Wesley, the initiator of the Methodist Church, said, “Best of all is, God is with us.”

B. The Bible records seven last statements that Christ uttered while he was on the cross. These statements are important to us, not only because Jesus spoke them, but also because of the place where he said them. While Christ was on the cross, he was doing his greatest work; he was uttering some of his greatest words. Luke 23:34 records one of his last statements: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’”

I. Sometimes it is difficult for us to forgive. Someone hurts us, someone says something against us and in our hearts, we cannot forgive that person. Listen to Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the people who only the day before had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the soldiers who only minutes before had nailed him to the cross.

A. I hear Christians say, “I cannot talk to God! I cannot pray! I do not believe anymore—after the way people have treated me.”

1. Look at the way people treated Jesus. He had preached love. He had healed the sick. He had fed the poor. He had done nothing bad to anyone. His only crime was that he upset the social order.

2. For this, his nation sinned against him. His own disciples failed him and fled. Peter denied him. His heavenly Father was willing to see him suffer. Not a minute did he sleep that night for the Temple guards dragged from one kangaroo court to another. The witnesses for the prosecution presented lies. The court found guilty of crimes that he did not commit. The soldiers forced a crown of thorns on his head caused multiple painful stab wounds that penetrated into his skull. Then the soldiers placed a cloth sack over his head, hit him with a bat and then laughing asked him, "Who hit you?" They whipped with a cat of nine tails its lead hooks jerking bit of his flesh from his body. Once beaten almost beyond recognition, and in horrible pain, they made him drag his own cross to Golgotha. There they drove spikes through his hands and feet. Then they raised him on the cross painfully jerking him erect his every injury screaming. There he was suspended by his nail-torn flesh between two thieves to suffer death.

II. In spite of all this, Jesus was able to look up into the heavens and begin his prayer with, “Father.” He lived in fellowship with his Father and knew that even under these horrible circumstances, God loved him. I remember in Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 37, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ and Jesus answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Jesus, under these most difficult circumstances of his life, remained true to his Father, never doubting God’s love, even as he hung from the cross.

A. Perhaps you are hurting now. You are thinking, “If God loves me, how can he let me suffer so?” God loved Jesus, and yet he was willing to see Jesus die a horrible death. No matter how bad things seem, God loves you, and he always will; have no doubt in that. Do not lose faith. He is working out his purpose for each of you. Christ’s agony on that cross was for the greatest purpose, forgiving you of all of your sins.