Famous last words: when the U. S. federal income tax was signed into law on Oct. 3, 1913, a senator speaking in opposition stated, “If we allow this 1 percent foot in the door, at some future date it might rise to 5 percent!”¹ Last words are revealing and highly informative. What about Jesus last words? What can we learn from them?

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The Last Two Weeks of Jesus Life

John 13:1 (ESV) 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father,…

• If you look at John’s gospel, chapters 13-17, you’ll notice that most of it are in red letters.
• The majority of it is a huge Jesus monologue.
• Bible chronology shows us that these words which Jesus delivers in these five chapters occur during the last two weeks of His life.
• We literally have here some of the last words of Jesus on this side of the cross.
• Famous last words reveal quite a bit about a person.
• The Bible teaches that what is in you will come out of you.
• It always starts with words.

Matthew 12:34 (KJV) — 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

• Matthew 12:34 is true all the way to your deathbed.
• You are what are in your heart right to the last day.

Some Famous Last Words

• Joan Crawford was, at one point in her movie career, Hollywood’s, highest paid movie star.
• On her deathbed in 1977, as she lay dying, her housekeeper began to pray for her.
• Instead of reaching out to God, Joan cursed at her housekeeper and demanded that she not pray for her saying
  • ‘Don’t you dare ask God to help me.’
• Joan Crawford revealed what was in her heart as she stepped over into eternity.
• Last words are revealing.
• Karl Marx, founder of Communism, on his deathbed, was surrounded by candles which he was burning to Lucifer.
• He screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had any last words: “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”
• Voltaire, famous skeptic, atheist and ultimate infidel, died a terrible death.
• 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.”
• How different this is that Mother Teresa who, as she lay dying, said “Jesus I love you. Jesus, I love you. You can see what was really important to these people as death approached them.

Jesus Last Words

• What were the last things that Jesus talked about with His disciples during these last two weeks of His life?
• What do you suppose was in the abundance of His heart?
• During His active earthly ministry, Jesus taught on many subjects.
  • He taught on…
    • Trusting God
    • Healing the sick
    • Prayer
    • Money
    • Righteousness
    • The Law
    • Religious hypocrites
    • End time events.
• But during these last two weeks of His life, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father when He knew that He was going to be passing the baton to His disciples, what is it that comes out of His mouth?
• What is it that’s in His heart?
• Does He talk about any of the items listed above?
• No, Jesus focuses primarily on two main subjects.
  • Love
  • The Holy Spirit
• References to the Spirit of God and the love of God occur over forty times in the last two weeks.
• The first twenty verses of John thirteen centers are epic verses that illustrate the love of God without ever even mentioning the word.
• Love and the Spirit of God were what poured out of Jesus’ heart during His last moments on earth.
• Why?
• Why did He spend His last two weeks talking mostly about agape love and the powerful ministry presence of the Holy Spirit?

Why Jesus Spent His Last Two Weeks Talking about Love and the Spirit

• Do you suppose one reason Jesus did that in His last days was to give us a clue on how we should live in our day?
• Is love and the Holy Spirit supposed to have a prominent place in our every day lives?
• There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that we haven’t gotten the clue.

What’s Really Important?

• If you were to ask most Christians today, what’s the most important thing for a believer to do on a daily basis to grow in their fellowship with God, what would be the answers that you would most likely hear?
• You might hear answers like…
  • Prayer
  • Reading the Bible
  • Going to Church
• These are generic answers.
• We should talk to God.
• We ought to feed on the Word of God.
• We should fellowship with believers.
• But, Jesus didn’t spend His last two weeks talking about fellowship with the saints.
• He spent it talking about love and the Holy Spirit.
• So, maybe what we should be majoring on in our Bible reading is the love of God.
• Maybe one thing we should be praying about is to receive more revelation about the Holy Spirit’s ministry.
• It is an interesting thing that when you take these areas that we think are so vital and examine and turn them over and boil them down, do you know what the greatest common denominator is in all of these areas?
• You guessed it, love and the Holy Spirit.
• It’s always best to emulate Jesus.

Call to Action

Spend a little extra time centering in on your love walk and your relationship with the Holy Spirit. All them to become more prominent in your thinking.

Question: How has knowing what some of Jesus conversation was at the end of His earthly ministry impacted your life?

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