Some Famous Last Words
Washington, George (1732-1799) "It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go."
Adams, John (1735-1826) "Thomas Jefferson--still survives..." (4 July 1826. Jefferson died later the same day.)
Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826) "Is it the Fourth?" (4 July 1826)
Sedgwick, John (1813-1864) "Nonsense, they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." (In response to a suggestion that he should not show himself over the parapet during the Battle of the Wilderness.)
T.J. Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863) "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”
Some words live on!
• A lady who died in Kansas and on her tombstone were these words: "I told you I was sick."
• A man who owned a restaurant for years, and he was about to die. He had always been known for being stingy! As he laid on his bed, he began mumbling something. So the family leaned in to hear his final words. Very faintly he said, "Slice the ham thin," and then he died.
• A wealthy man who died and the family gathered together to hear the reading of his last will and testament. The family all sat in a circle trying to look sad as the attorney read the will. They were all anxious to learn what their portion of the pot would be. The attorney began reading, "I, Sam Jones, having made a large fortune, being of a sound mind and proper judgment, want to reveal to my family that I spent it all." Some words live on!
The final words of a person represent something about his or her character.
Yeshua (Jesus) reminds us in Matthew 12: 34, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
On the cross and on the way to the cross Yeshua speaks some powerful words.
Luke 23.26-31
I. The Fire
If your house is on fire, warm yourself by it. -Spanish Proverb
Thomas Edison invented the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1000 other things. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67. With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken?
The inventor’s 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. "My heart ached for him," said Charles. "He was 67--no longer a young man--and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, ’Charles, where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ’Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.’" The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew." Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.
A. Fire in Prediction – John the Immerser
10”Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
B. Fire of Punishment – inflicted on Yeshua
1. To the Nation for its sins -- Jeremiah 21: 14, ‘But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,” says the LORD; “ I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.”
2. The Innocent Messiah for Guilty Men
3. The Lamb to the slaughter – Isaiah 53
C. Fire of Pain
1. Women Weeping – for Him
a. Saw him as an innocent son
b. Imagine the inner fortitude of Mary
2. Fire is coming to them – “Weep for yourselves”
3. Fire is coming to the world – 2 Thessalonians 1.5-110
5This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
D. Fire of Purification (Malachi 3.3)
The story is told of a group of women that met for Bible study. While studying in the book of Malachi, chapter three, they came across verse three which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered how this statement applied to the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out more about the process of refining silver, and to get back to the group at their next Bible study.
The following week, the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him while at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest, beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith work, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse, that "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "But how do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that’s easy--when I see my image in it."
E. Fire in Proclamation
1. Yeshua Teaches ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS
2. In his teaching he declares he is the Messiah of Israel
a. Remez – Ezekiel 20.45-21.7
b. Kal v’Homer -- less to greater
3. ON THE CROSS – Psalm 22
II. The Fuel
Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.
One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.
God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination.
A. The fuel of our Sins
1. He became sin for us
2. He fulfilled God’s justice – 1 Peter 3.18
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,
B. The fuel of Hate
1. Satan’s Hatred for God and His People
a. to Break Covenants
b. To scatter as sheep with no shepherd
2. Romans’ Hatred of the Jews
a. Yeshua was insignificant to the Romans
b. Not first or last seditionist – Simon Bar Kokhba
c. Anti-Semitic behavior – Jews did not worship Caesar/prayed for him/Special privileges
3. Jewish Leaders’ Hatred of Yeshua – John 11.47-53
47So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." 49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. 50Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." 51He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
III. The Finality
A. Destruction of the Temple to come – AD 70/135
B. Dispersion of Jews
C. Not final:
1. Yeshua – DBR
2. Our own DBR – by his power – 1 Corinthians 15.51-55
51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
__________
President Calvin Coolidge once invited friends from his hometown to dine with him at the White House. Unsure of their table manners, the guests decided to imitate the president. They watched closely to see which utensils he used, what foods he ate and when. Their strategy seemed to succeed until coffee was served. Coolidge poured some coffee into his saucer. They did the same. He added sugar and cream. His guests did, too. Then the president bent over and put his saucer on the floor for the cat!
Be careful whose example you follow.
I marvel at our Rabbi!
He incorporated the word of God into every part of his life
He taught the word of God in every aspect of his life
What if we did?
“Christianity, in its purest form, is nothing more than seeing Jesus. Christian service, in its purest form, is nothing more than imitating him who we see. To see His Majesty and to imitate him, that is the sum of Christianity.” ~Selected
