Finishing Well, part 2

Part of my reading last week included the last supper. 

Mark 14:17-18, “When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, He said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” By this point in time, His disciples were beginning to truly believe that Jesus was the Son of God. They had witnessed many miracles, they sat under many hours of teaching; now they hear Him tell them that one of them was going to betray Him. 

I thought their response to Him was very interesting. Mark 14:19 (NIV) “Surely You don’t mean me?” – Mark 14:19 (KJV) “Is it I? and another said, Is it I?” – Mark 14:49 (the Message) “It isn’t me, is it?” There isn’t a single one of them who had any confidence in who they were. When Jesus said, “One of you is going to betray Me,” it’s almost as though each one of them said, “Boy, I hope it’s not me! I hope I can finish this race well.” They all seemed to put very little hope in who they were as individuals. I wonder if that’s why they all didn’t turn to Judas and say, “I’ll bet it’s him.”  They acted as though they had no idea who would do something like that, because they all felt capable of being the one who might betray Him. 

In my life, there are certain things that I am very confident in (maybe that’s a bad statement), or should I say, I feel victorious in. There are certain things that have no pull on me at all; and there are some things that might tempt you that don’t even catch my attention. 

It’s kind of like the example I’ve been using about racing cars. Some of you wonder why in the world does racing a car mean anything to Pastor Brad? The reason you might say that is because, for you, car racing has absolutely zero draw. That’s the way I am towards a number of things that some might call temptations, I wonder why anyone would even struggle with that? 

Then, there are the other things in my life that I’m not so self-assured about. Things where, if my salvation was determined by my ability to resist them, I might be saying, “Jesus I want to finish well, but I’m a little concerned because I’ve failed in this thing almost every time.” I believe there is a key to victory but I’m not going to get there quite yet. Let’s take a look at some people who didn’t finish well and then some who did.
 

I have been reading 1 and 2 Kings the past couple of weeks. As I’ve been reading about the various kings, I noticed that not many of them finished well. 1 Kings 16:2-3 “I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins. 3 So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house.” King Baasha did not finish well. 

His son Elah followed him as king. 1 Kings 16:12-13 “So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the Lord — 13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord.”
 

Elah, and his whole family are destroyed by Zimri, who then becomes king. But Zimri was no better than the ones he had just put to death. When Omri heard that Zimri killed Elah and his family, Omri attacks the town of Tirzah (where Zimri had set himself up as king) and sets it on fire. 

I Kings 16:18-19 “When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, 19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Zimri was king for seven days (that may be one of the shortest reigns in the Bible), and then Omri became king. 

1 Kings 16:25, 27 “But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all those before him… And Ahab his son succeeded him as king.”

Continued tomorrow