Famous Last Words

John Wesley preached his last sermon on Feb 17, 1791. His last words were, “The best of all is, God is with us!”

 

The last words of a dying man can often tell us a great deal about his life.

 

On his deathbed the famous evangelist, D. L. Moody cried out, “Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me! If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”
And then we have the last words of those who have not found peace with God:
Sir Thomas Scott, Chancellor of England said, “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”

Voltaire, the famous anti-Christian atheist said: “I am abandoned by God and man; I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life.” “Then I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness.”
But there is one man in history whose last words to His disciples tell a great deal about how we should live our lives. He gave them one clear instruction:

 

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel and lo I am with your always.”

 

He didn’t give them an instruction manual. He didn’t give them a list of do’s and don’ts. He gave them one simple instruction. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.”

 

You would have thought that He would draw up a blueprint for winning the world. Perhaps hold an all day seminar. Instead He gives them one simple challenge.
He wasn’t there to give them a lecture on theology. He was giving them one simple task asking these disciples to commit the rest of their lives to its completion.

 

His famous last words and last command should be the focus of our lives and our first priority.

 

THE AUTHORITY HE HAD.

Jesus prefaced these words by saying, “All authority has been given to Me.”

 

These disciples had walked with Jesus for 3 years. They had heard His wonderful words seen His amazing miracles – the blind were made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dead were raised. This was no ordinary man. This was somebody supernatural. And then He was crucified. They were completely devastated. But He didn’t stay dead.

 

When these disciples saw the risen Jesus, “they worshipped Him”

 

These men, these Jewish men, for whom the first and second commandments forbid giving worship to any but the one true God, fell down and worshiped Jesus. Worship is reserved for the Lord God alone.

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It was the same with the wise men from the east when they saw the young child Jesus, “they worshipped Him.’

 

These disciples who had been with Him for three years walking the dusty roads “they worshipped Him.”. They saw Him at His weakest and most vulnerable. They saw Him tired and weary. They had seen Him angry but never sinful, they had seen Him hanging on a cross. And now they worshipped Him.

 

Heroes of history no matter how wonderful they seem to be and how sacrificial their lives seem to have been all have their weaknesses. The most high profile Christians in the world are all ordinary men. If you dig deep enough you will find weaknesses and failings. I have had the privilege of meeting many world famous evangelists, preachers and missionaries and I am in awe of them and the great things they have accomplished but I never once felt like worshipping them.” None of them could say, “I am perfect. I am without sin. But Jesus was a man without sin. And they worshipped Him.
It speaks volumes to me to know that those men who knew Jesus best would worship Him. Yes, those who know Jesus best worship Him most. As we too worship Him we will find that He draws near to us and He will speak His words of life to us.

 

The early disciples did not face a lost world on the basis of their own authority, but on the authority of Jesus Christ.

 

 

THE ACTION THAT HE REQUESTED

 

We are not to wait for people to come to us, we are to go to them. Jesus would have His people on the offensive and not always on the defensive. To quote American preacher, Greg Laurie, “Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to church. But He did say that the church should go to the whole world.”

 

To whom did Jesus give the great commission? To His disciples. Do you consider yourself to be a disciple of Jesus? Well then this word is for you. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.”

 

Now obviously not every believer is expected to pack up his things and go. Jesus said that the gospel had to be preached in Jerusalem (your home town), then Samaria (the surrounding countries) and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. (Acts 1.8). So some need to stay and some need to go.

 

The problem is that we have failed to make the preaching of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth a priority. We are comfortable in our own environment and in our own comfort zone. And a disproportionate amount of our money and our resources and our manpower (and womenpower) goes towards the home base.

The average church is loaded with countless activities, but the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost is sadly neglected.

 

THE GOSPEL

We are commanded to preach the Gospel! Sadly what many churches preach is just religion not the good news of a personal relationship with Jesus. In AD 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan and Christianity became the official religion. Everybody immediately was regarded as Christians. There was no need for a conversion experience you were born into a Christian empire so you were automatically a Christian. This situation persists in many countries today. And many cannot find real salvation because it is hidden behind a curtain of religion.

 

97% of the population in Greece are members of the national church and would consider themselves to be Christians. But there is no relationship with Jesus, no assurance of salvation and basically the church is not preaching the gospel.

 

We are told, not just to go, but to go and preach the gospel

 

In the Great Commission, Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go!” And not just to go, but to go and preach the gospel. To go and make disciples.

 

THE AREA DESCRIBED: Into all the world

 

A third of the world claim to be Christians and of that third only a third claim to be evangelical born-again believers.

 

There are those that say, “Charity begins at home.” That is true of course, and Jesus does not expect us to neglect our needy neighbour. But it is not either or. It is both at home and abroad. The truth is that mission statistics show that the amount spent at home is tenfold that spent on foreign missions.

 

Never have there been so many incredible opportunities for missionary work worldwide, yet there are tens of thousands of vacancies waiting to be filled on the mission field today. The harvest has never been so large – and the workers are frustratingly few.

 

Finding suitable missionary volunteers has never been easy – nor is it likely to get any easier. Missionary service demands dedication, determination and discipline – and these qualities are basically rejected by the comfortable, complacent television generation

 

Most church goers today are secular in their mindset and lifestyle. They have few convictions, more questions than answers. They are reluctant to make long-term commitments. Our present generation has become selfish, sloppy, soft, spoiled and self-indulgent, unaccustomed to personal sacrifice, unwilling to endure hardship, and unlikely to exhibit loyalty to any mission, devotion to duty or courage in the face of danger.

 

In this computer age our technological advantages over previous generations of missionaries is astounding. The advent of radio, computers, desk-top publishing, photocopiers, fax machines and social media have made communications, Bible translations and literature production incredibly accessible to all.

 

Computers cannot make up for a loss of character. We have lots of programs, but it is persistence and perseverance which fulfill the Great Commission.

 

• C T Studd, the famous cricketer turned pioneer missionary to China, India and the Congo, declared: “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”

 

Where can we find such Christian volunteers today? Or more to the point – how can we produce such self-sacrificing disciples in our churches? If the church of today truly wants to obey the Great Commission, then we must produce tens of thousands of such disciples. To effectively evangelize the entire Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist populations in the final missionary frontier – the 10-40 window – we will need an army of dedicated disciples. They will need to be like the missionary volunteers who made the 19th Century the greatest time of missionary advance and revival in history. And the prayer support base that sends them out will need to be just as dedicated.

 

THE ASSURANCE THAT HE GIVES

 

He doesn’t just tell us to go and preach the gospel. He gives us the great promise, “and lo, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age.”
David Livingstone once addressed a group of students at Glasgow University. When he rose to speak, he bore on his body the marks of his African struggles. Several illnesses on nearly 30 occasions had left him gaunt and haggard. His left arm, crushed by a lion, hung limp by his side.

 

After describing his trials and tribulations he said, `Would you like to have me tell you what supported me through all the years of exile among people whose language I could not understand, and whose attitude toward me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this, “Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. ” On these words I have staked everything, and they never failed.

 

The presence of God which Livingstone experienced can be experienced by you today. The companionship of Jesus Christ is offered to every believer as he or she makes their way through this world.
Jesus by means of His Holy Spirit promised to always be with those fulfilling His Great Commission. Always means all the days. Days of strength as well as days of weakness. Days of success as well as days of failure. Days of joy and days of affliction.

 

Jesus is not only in the midst of us when we gather together. But He is also with us when we scatter into all the world to witness for Him. It sustained David Livingstone, and it can sustain you.
It is good to be part of a church and a missionary sending agency that makes disciples, but don’t hide the talents and gifts you have, nor lose the opportunities God has given you. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, therefore implore the Lord of the Harvest to send out labourers into His harvest. Don’t just enjoy the blessings and presence of Jesus, but comply with His command and, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.”