Living a Christian Life in The Last Chapter | Pastor William Hixson

elves for the Lord's Supper

and

doing something just a little bit

different

tonight.

I want you to think through me with me

something that I think is important and

will be a blessing to us.

God in heaven

is keeping records

of everyone's life on earth.

And those books will be open someday.

Christians will appear at the judgment

seat of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 and

other 1 Corinthians 3.

The lost will appear before the great

white throne

in Revelation 20 11-15.

But as we think about what the Bible

talks about and the future,

every one of us is going to give account

to God. The books are going to be open.

It's going to be reviewed.

There'll be rewards passed out to the

saved.

And uh there'll be degrees of punishment

passed out to the lost.

Life is important. Every day of life is

important.

Our works cannot save us.

But certainly heaven is very aware of

how we live our lives.

As we live our lives, we are all

actually writing our own autobiography.

Uh I think everybody here knows the

difference between a biography and an

autobiography. A biography is when

someone else writes about your life. An

autobiography is when you do.

And every one of us every day is adding

a page to our autobiography.

And uh most of us

are probably in the last chapter. We're

getting there. Maybe some of you are two

or three chapters from the end, but some

of us uh especially people just had

birthdays.

We will not say who

are in the last chapter. I'm in the last

chapter, I'm sure.

We don't know how long that chapter will

be.

But all and all of us will have a a

book, an autobiography of different

lengths.

Some don't live as long as others.

Methuselah

had the longest

biography ever written.

969 pages, one page for every year of

his life. And you know, being

illustrative here,

so yours and mine will be much shorter

in comparison to his.

And as far as we know,

uh, most of us gray beards or baldheads

are

in the last chapter

or close to it. We're getting closer to

the last chapter.

Now, why do I say such things?

Because I'm going to look at people in

the Bible in the last chapter of their

life, what they did.

We can't even begin to look at all of

them.

But let's pick up let's pick out some

New Testament people. We could reference

some Old Testament people.

Let's pick out let's pick out Peter,

John, and Paul

because we have explicit

information from them when they were not

only in the last chapter of their life

but getting into the last paragraph

of their life.

They all wrote part of the New

Testament.

The Apostle John wrote five books of the

New Testament.

The apostle Peter wrote first and second

Peter. And if you believe that the

church father Papus, which I do, Mark

wrote the gospel of Mark

uh through the instruction

of Peter. So Peter was very very much

involved in writing the gospel of Mark.

So I think we could I personally am

saying that Peter wrote three books not

two. Mark makes the third.

And of course maul Paul wrote more than

any of the others uh John or Peter.

And

certainly all of this interests us

tonight.

They're not the only ones that

ministered and wrote about their last

chapter. Ecclesiastes

was not written by a young Solomon.

Ecclesiastes, the book was written by an

old Solomon. And the poem of old age

proves it.

The man who wrote the po poem of old age

was not a young man. A young man could

never write that.

So obviously Ecclesiastes was not

written and Solomon was a young man. If

you ponder Ecclesiastes 12 where he

describes the body as a house that's

fallen down,

you got to be there

right like that.

And of course, Moses

Moses had a swan song

in Deuteronomy.

The book of Deuteronomy was a book of

review of the law. And Moses knew he

wasn't going to cross the Jordan. He was

going to be buried in Moab.

He knew his time was short. Sister, his

brother were already gone. He was 120.

God said, "You're not crossing the

Jordan. Everybody else is, but you're

not."

Somebody in this room is going to be the

last one to heaven if Jesus tries. I

wonder who that'll be.

We don't know, do we? Or maybe the

trumpet will sound and we'll all go at

the same time.

But either way, we're closer than when

we were born. We're closer than when we

were born again. We're closer than we

were last year or last month. And if if

we're not in the last chapter, we might

be in the second to last or third to

last. But every day we're writing

another page

of our autobiography.

Someday that biography will be read

before everyone.

Now, thank God our sins are under the

blood and there'll be some editing

by the Lord.

But as we think about all these things,

uh, we're not writing inspired scripture

as the men that I mentioned, Peter,

John, and Paul,

but we are writing our autobiography

with our lives

and what we say

and what we do

and what we don't do and what we don't

say

very interesting

but I want to look let's look in second

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 1

second Peter chapter 1

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

this is not young Peter

this is old Peter

and I'm not sure how old

is old

date of writing most believe it's 66 AD.

Peter's about to be crucified with Mrs.

Peter

at his side

according to extra biblical writing.

And Peter knows it. He knows his time on

earth is running out. The hour class is

almost empty on top.

And so in second Peter chapter 12,

excellent

to put you always in remembrance of

these things, though you know them.

I just gave you the growth cycle.

Just gave you the growth cycle that

you're being to be involved in.

You know, just like notes on the piano,

you just keep going

higher and higher and higher.

Start out with C until you get back to

C. But you're in moving forward

as he talks about all of that, add to

this, add to this, add to this.

And he says in verse 12, wherefore I

will not be negligent to put you always

in remembrance of these things. And that

means the importance of growing

though you know them and are established

in the present truth. It's not enough

that you know it. Even if you know it,

I'm going to tell you again.

Yay. I think it's fitting as long as I'm

in this tabernacle, that means this

body, to stir you up, putting you in

remembrance, knowing that shortly I must

put off this my tabernacle even as the

Lord Jesus has shown me.

Remember Jesus Jesus was very clear how

Peter was going to die

in the last chapter of John

and the Peter's embracing it. He he

senses it. He knows he's not going to be

around. He's refreshing people's memory

of what he taught them before and he's

uh going over all of that.

And so

um

it's a fascinating business. How is

Peter, what is Peter doing in the last

cha page of the last chapter of his

life?

He's ministering to people.

He's focused on others and their

maturity. He's focused on others and

what they will do when he's gone.

He's preparing them for his departure.

And so that's what Peter's doing here.

He's refreshing their memory of things

he'd already taught them. And he's

announcing his departure is getting

closer.

And the things he wants them to remember

are the things that

he's already said in verses 3 to 11 that

we know so well. the growth cycle.

And

let's ask ourselves this question.

Who are the people we are seeking to

minister to spiritually

in the last chapter

of our life?

Do we know who they are?

Are we treat are we making effort to

minister to them? Peter could have just

said, you know, I've done my bit. I've

been an apostle for 35 36 years. I've

preached. I've traveled. I've wore

myself out. I've been persecuted.

I've done my bit.

I'm retired.

No, he didn't retire. I'm not saying

retire retirement is bad. Retirement

sometimes is good. Some people don't

know when to quit.

And by quit, I mean maybe they maybe

they're not supposed to continue in the

same capacity that they were in. But we

should never stop serving the Lord ever.

We should not never stop serving his

people

till our last breath.

I think I used this in a message

already. Forgive me if I did about Ulysa

Grant. I used that, didn't I? Or am I

mixed up?

>> Was that in nursing home or is that

here?

>> I don't either. I

>> think it was last week.

Well,

anyway,

General Ulysus Srant became President

Grant,

but he was asked to write his memoirs on

the Civil War.

And Mark Twain was very involved in

trying to encourage him to do that.

He did not want to do it. He didn't feel

he was a good writer.

Didn't feel that was his gift.

But Mark Twain was very uh and very uh

seriously trying to get him to do it.

Well, then Grant got throat cancer

and his time on Earth was limited

and he had made a bad investment with

one of his relatives urgings and he'd

lost all his money and he had

probably about a million dollars at that

point. He lost it lost it all. So his

family needed to has a lot of money back

then, but he he needed to do something

to provide for his widow when he was

gone. And he's now he's got throat

cancer and he has no money and death is

is coming closer every day.

So he decided, I'm going to write the

memoirs and see if I can get it

published. And he wrote it.

It became a classic. People still read

it.

He didn't think it was any good, but he

was just trying to earn a little money

for his widow and his family before he

departed. He worked hard on it every

day. Every day, six hours a day, seven

hours a day he worked on writing his

memoirs. And finally, he finished it

three days before he died.

and it was very popular and he provided

for his family.

So Ulysus Srant was in the last chapter

of his life and he knew it. I've got

throat cancer. It's incurable for me.

I'm not going to last very long. So what

am I going to do?

Well, he didn't say to his wife, "Let's

go on vacation."

Now, that wouldn't been bad.

That's not a bad thing.

Uh I remember a physician in town that

asked me what he ought to do when he

found out he was going to die and he

they planned to go to Europe. I said go

to Europe. He did.

They went on vacation. Nothing wrong

with that at all.

But Grant realized he had a mission. He

had his family had a problem. He

couldn't go on vacation. He couldn't do

that.

He needed to provide for them. That's

part of a father and husband's job is to

be the provider as well as the

protector.

So he wrote and he wrote and he wrote

and he wrote. Didn't feel like it. Six,

seven hours a day, every day.

He got it done

and people are still reading it.

So he didn't say, "Let's go on vacation

because I don't have long to last."

Maybe he planned on doing it when he

when he got done, but they didn't have

time to do it because he died 3 days

after he finished.

He didn't say, "I've done my part. I'm

tired. Won the war

and beat General Lee. That's a hard

thing."

So he did it.

Now Peter knows he's going to die.

Peter understands what's coming.

He knows it's coming. He knows exactly

what's coming because Jesus has told

him. And because he knows, he energizes

himself to write the book that we know

of as second Peter to encourage the

people that he ministered to to grow.

That's what it's for.

And of course the last words in the book

is a key to the book 3:18.

Grow in grace

and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus

say our savior. Grow in grace in our

knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ. To him be glory both now and

forever.

My last words to you is grow and give

glory to God.

Pretty good way to go out, I'd say.

How many people been blessed by Second

Peter? It's one of my favorite books in

the Bible to preach. Some of you were

here when we went through Second Peter,

and I absolutely am blessed by it.

Incredible book in the Bible. I'm so

glad that Peter wrote it.

So, he was concerned for the people

under him. They'd already grown. It's

not like they were babies, but he wanted

them to grow more.

So Peter said, "This is my last shot.

This is my last ministry. One more

effort for the Lord Jesus Christ."

What's the old cowboy saying? Die with

your boots on.

That comes with from the cowboys, right?

You're dressed for work. You get your

boots on. You're hurting cattle. They

might stampede and run over you or

you're fighting Indians or you're

fighting wrestlers or you know you you

die with your boots on is an idiom for

fighting to the end

despite the risks

and maybe dying while fighting working

or performing a dangerous task or

difficult task.

uh and uh

person who dies with their boots on is

someone who keeps working to the end.

Now that doesn't mean every pastor has

to be pastor till the day he dies.

Sometimes you need to retire and let the

next guy go and just say you know what

I'll be pastor emmeritus

means I'm retired

in name only and I'm here to work and

help or I'll be an elder or I won't be

anything. I'll just be here to help when

I can or I'll move and go somewhere

else. But the point is, no one retires

from the ministry. If you're a

Christian, you want to have a ministry

the last month, day, week of your life.

Thank you, Peter. You did it.

You did it.

And uh we might retire from our job, but

we're not retired from Christ's service.

Second Timothy chapter 4.

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

This is Paul's

last letter. And just like Peter, Paul

knew he's going to die.

So Paul knew he was at the end of the

end of the last chapter

of his life.

The problem you and I have is we don't

know when the end comes, right?

Death usually surprises us.

And

my dad lived in 93.

That was a surprise to him

and surprised to all of us, but he did.

And he was in pretty good shape to the

end.

But nobody knows on that except Paul

knew. And in 2 Timothy 4:5, he says to

2 Timothy 4:5

Timothy, "Watch in all things

endure in afflictions. Do the work of

evangelist. Make full proof of thy

ministry

for I am ready to be offered, and the

time of my departure is at hand." He's

talking about his martyrdom. He's

talking about his death.

I've got my ticket.

I've got my ticket. The time of my

departure is at hand.

He can see it. He can know it.

And apparently there's a death date on

the calendar for Paul coming up.

And so it's like someone in an airport

that knows when the plane's going to

take off. Paul was he knew when the time

was coming where he was going to be

taken out of this world. We don't all

know that, but he did.

I guess there's something good to be

saying about having an execution date

and you know when your departure's

going.

But he said, "I fought a good fight. I

finished my course. I've kept the faith.

Henceforth, there's 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 that love his appearing." Now,

it wasn't going to happen next week

because he he wants Timothy to come and

he wants Luke to come and he wants Mark

to come and uh he wants him to bring his

cloak that he left in Trrowaz. So,

apparently this isn't going to be before

they can probably get there.

These are the words of a man uh who's

going he had you can't say he's dying

with his boots on because they didn't

wear boots. dying with his sandals on.

You know, he was all about the Lord's

business.

And so, may God help us die and harness

be about the Lord's business.

And uh

Pastor Oswald took in God's grace, as

you've heard me say many times, died

after teaching a nursing home service

and handing a woman a track and

explaining John 3:16 to him her when he

John 3:16

died in the process of explaining to her

John 3:16.

John 3:16

The founder of Gospish South America

was in a railroad station witnessing to

people, passing out tracks

and witnessing to people.

And he handed a track to a little boy

and dropped over dead.

And the little boy said, "Look what the

dead man just gave me."

Now that's pretty good. Not a way not a

bad way to go, right?

And so, thank God for him and his

faithfulness to the end.

And Paul was that way and he knew it was

coming.

And he knew he was in the last page or

pages of his earthly life.

And how do he spend it?

He wrote second Timothy

or dictated it. Either way, that was

pretty involved

for someone to take up the little time

they have left to do this, but he did. I

had two long telephone calls yesterday

and one was someone I was ministering to

on the phone from out of Athens and

another I forget what the other one was.

They were two long calls. They're all

ministry stuff. I didn't even leave the

house yesterday except for nursing home.

No, yesterday Saturday, wasn't it? I was

on the phone with those calls

and

it they were long enough that they were

tiring although I enjoyed myself.

But Paul didn't have a phone but he did

have papyrus and pen.

And so he's writing. He's ministering to

others. He's bringing him then into the

experience.

And this isn't the only time he did it

when he was in Rome. Remember when he

first got there the first time in Rome,

he called all the Jews in

a Bible study with him from morning to

night,

12-hour Bible study.

And the Apostle Paul was busy.

And that's how he spent the last chapter

of his life. And guess what? That's how

he that's how he was all the chapters of

his life.

The only rest he got is when they threw

him in jail. And even then, he didn't

rest. He was either singing hymns or uh

worshiping and with others there or

ministering to those there or writing

scripture. But God was gracious in

giving the apostles some rest by getting

him thrown in prison so they didn't have

to zoom about the country all the time.

Now, the Apostle John is another one.

The amazing thing about John to me is he

wrote five books at his old age. I don't

know how he did that.

Now two of them are really little

in second John and third John

but first John's five chapters and it's

quite involved and it's quite original

and it's quite it's wonderful to teach

and it was very needed for the church at

Ephesus after the church split when the

false Christians left

and he wrote the gospel of John

something that is still being used by

Christians today to win people to Jesus.

Was that time well spent?

And he wrote he wrote the book of

Revelation. Not that he had much choice

because God kept telling him, "Right,

right, right."

But he did it. He said, "God, I'm too

old. Get somebody young to do this."

He had a wonderful experience

and gave us

that.

So John uh on the island of Patmas had

some breast from the rigors of ministry

but he was busy. He was busy.

King David had loose ends to

tie up when he was old and he told

Solomon, didn't he? Deal with this guy.

Deal with this guy. Deal with this guy.

I'm not going to live long enough to do

it. You take them out.

You're wise, you know how to do it. He

pointed out people that had to go.

That for whatever reasons he couldn't do

it, but he knew

Solomon could do it. And what did he do?

He couldn't build the temple, but he

could sure plan it. And he threw himself

into planning the temple. Got the

materials, got the instructions,

designed it. um

got the materials and all of that. So

Solomon just had to build it.

And that was an amazing thing.

And so

Peter, Paul, and John, you can add David

right before he died. You can add

Solomon because he he spent his old age

writing Ecclesiastes.

And what a precious thing it is. Now we

come to the last,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, time becomes more important to

us as we get older because we got less

of it.

When you're younger, you think, I got

plenty of time.

But when you're older, clock seems to go

faster. calendar seems to go faster and

you know you don't have enough time

likely to do all the things you'd like

to do.

How did Jesus spend

his last day and night?

Well, we'd have to go to John 13-1 17

and 18 to see that. We're not going to

do it.

We have the upper room discourse.

We have the Lord Jesus preparing the

disciples for his going away. We have

him praying for them with that wonderful

high priestly prayer that we spent I

think we spent 20ome weeks on that high

priestly prayer in chapter 17 when we

taught the gospel to John.

And so he certainly did that and

everything in John's gospel uh uh helps

us. We remember the garden of

Gethsemane. He was praying on his last

night on earth.

But he was he walked. What did what did

Jesus do the last night? The night in

which he was betrayed.

The last night on earth, the last day,

the last night of the last chapter of

Jesus's life on earth.

He washed feet.

He introduced He taught the the upper

room discourse.

He gave us He prayed, "Not my will, but

thine be done." And he gave the Lord's

supper.

He gave the Lord's supper.

The very last night on earth, he gave

the Lord's supper.

He wouldn't see another night.

And he said, "This do in

remembrance

of me."

As often as you eat this bread and drink

this cup, you do show forth the Lord's

death

till he come.

And for 2,000

years, Christians in churches have taken

the bread of cup and remembered his

death.

And so the Jews had the Passover and

they would look the Passover lamb and

the Passover blood, but we look to the

lamb of God that takes away the sin of

the world that the Passover was just a

picture of. And we remember him

and our Lord Jesus modeled for us

how to minister right to the very end.

It is not unimportant how we live.

Read the book of Acts and what it says

about Dorcas and how she sewed and made

stuff for people. read the book of Acts

of how a widow is not to be taken into

the uh uh the church's support unless

she's done this this and this wash the

saint's feet and all the rest and uh

it's not important how we live

it. Thank God for our early Christian

life, the middle of our life, but also

the end. We want to end well, don't we?

And we're all going to stand before the

Lord Jesus, give account of ourselves to

God,

and we'll be glad that by God's grace,

we repented and believed and were saved

whenever we were saved. Young, young

age, middle age, old age, we're going to

be glad. And we're certainly going to be

glad we didn't neglect the assembly of

the saints together when the Lord's

supper was being observed because the

Lord said, "This do in remembrance of

me."

Which means if you don't do it, you're

forgetting it. He wants to be remembered

by our bread and the cup.

Not once in a while, not just when we

feel like it. It's something that's not

to be neglected. Now, obviously,

sometimes we're traveling and we can't

get to church and they don't have

communion on the day we're there, but

certainly this is there there's a casual

Christianity that's not the New

Testament expectation.

There's a ferveny and a faithfulness

that's expected of the saints.

I don't believe water baptism saves, but

I wouldn't want to see Jesus without

being waterbaptized.

Told you to do it. Why didn't you do it?

I don't believe taking communion keeps

you saved or is some kind of sacrament

in the sense adds to my salvation. But I

wouldn't want to see Jesus and say, you

know, I know I I know I've been a

Christian, but I got away from church,

got away from communion. I haven't had

communion in 30 years.

Stand before Jesus. He said, "This do in

remembrance of me." You mean you forgot

me for 30 years?

If you don't remember the Lord, you'll

forget the Lord.

When you forget the Lord, Satan comes in

and sin comes in.

The Lord knows what we need. The Lord

knows he you need to remember him.

If you don't remember you're married

when you're away from home, you might

just cheat on your wife

or your wife might cheat on her husband.

That's why wedding rings are a good

thing. They kind of remind you.

I don't have one cuz my finger's too

fat.

I've already added gold to it a couple

of times.

Very important. This was the night when

our Lord was on the night he was

betrayed. He's introducing something to

be remembered. The last one of the last

things he did.

But that didn't even stop his ministry.

Not even after the garden of e of the

garden of Gethsemane. He confessed

before Pilate. He confessed before

Herod. Well, he didn't say anything to

Herod, but he stood before him. He

confessed before the Sanhedrin. a good

confession before Pilate

and he confessed before the Sanhedrin

where they pronounced death to him and

the great seven sayings from the cross

when our Lord could hardly breathe

cuz on the cross to taking a breath was

a torture.

It's amazing he got those seven sick.

We supported Rick and Bev God for years

and Rick's retired. He's been sick. He's

he is there's something with his lungs

that are all messed up and I'm friends

with him on Facebook and he even went to

he went to

what was it?

>> No, he went to Roman Romania, but he

also went to uh Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovakia.

>> Ukraine.

>> Ukraine. He went to Ukraine. He just got

back from Ukraine. Now he's back in the

hospital with the mask on. They just got

the mask off and he's been in and out of

the hospital. He's probably not too long

for this world.

He's older than me,

but he's been serving the Lord as a uh

missionary. And one of the things on

Facebook, he got on when he was in uh

when he was in Ukraine, I think it was

Ukraine or one of the countries, he he

goes into those countries that are near

Austria,

he was on television and 10,000 people

watched.

But Rick's busy. He's not saying, "Oh,

I'm running out of stage."

He's

in the battle.

He's kind of like David on the B on the

battlefield when he's so old he can't

swing the sword and and he can't even

block the the sword thrust and somebody

has to There's David, old David trying

to swing his sword and somebody has to

rescue him. David, you better lead from

behind now from now on. No more coming

into battle.

Um,

may God be thank the Lord Jesus

persisted in ministry

even while he was dying.

That's how Hudson Shed's wife Myra, she

witnessed to the nurse when she was den

that woman's dying and she witnessed to

me. She's concerned about me.

And that of course was the Lord Jesus.

And one of the thieves

beside him

was saved.

Remember me when you come into your

kingdom.

This man's done nothing of miss. What

are you laughing at him about? We're

getting the due reward of our deeds, but

this man's done nothing a miss. remember

me when you come into your kingdom. He

saw a king. He saw a king. Even in his

suffering, he saw a king. He saw the

king of kings

and he was saved.

And Jesus said, "Today you will be with

me in par."

Wasn't long after that the thief died

and Jesus died. And I'd like to see the

fa the look on his face when he ended up

in heaven.

I'd like to see the look on his mother's

face. He certainly didn't expect.

But it was because in the Lord Jesus

ministered right up to the end.

May God help us as we remember our

Lord's death tonight.

This is not a little thing.

This is a very sacred thing. His

death was for us.

His death is described more than

anything else in all four gospels. More

material is spent on the last week of

Jesus than any other part of his life.

And so as we come to the Lord's table

tonight,

we're doing something we've done before.

And we have the privilege

and the joy to do it again,

but we're older than we did it the last

time.

So, we're doing it again another time.

And if we live long enough, may we keep

doing it until the Lord calls us.

It's a great privilege to have this

opportunity tonight.

to recognize our savior, to rejoice in

his death

as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me. Father, we thank

you for the bread in the cup.

We thank you, Father, as a church.

There's a very simple thing our Lord

asked us to do.

He commanded us to do. This is not

option.

And the bread and the cup can't save us.

Know that we're not trying to earn our

salvation

or even maintain it.

But in love to you and in worship to

you.

Thanksgiving it is the eukarist to you.

We take the bread.

We take the cup.

and we'd remember

as we get older. There's many things we

forget.

And our forget is getting stronger than

our rememberer.

But we remember Jesus.

We remember the cross

and we remember the price that was paid.

So in the sacredness of this hour, and

the joy of these moments,

may we glad, may we be glad that we were

here.

And if we have to miss any church

service, may it not be the Lord's

supper.

And if sometimes we do have to miss it,

maybe we realize I'm I can't make it now

because of sickness or traveling or

something like that.

But always count every time we can

legitimately make it that we'll do our

best to do it

because we can never repay.

We'll be remembering his death for us

for all eternity in heaven.

We want to begin now

to do it

even on earth

even though we do it imperfectly.

as we all do

and in the last chapter of our life,

our lives

when we meet the Lord

and the review of our lives takes place.

It will at least be said

that we took the bread and we took the

cup

and we counted it special, counted it

sacred.

We counted it a joyful thing.

We need

to remember him

not forget

in Jesus name.

Oh Lord, as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine well to a sin

darkened world as we go from this place.