The last written Words of William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare lived from 1546 -1616, his plays have been studied for centuries, he has an unrivalled position in the literary world, lots of people admire his wisdom and insight into human nature. Many phrases that we regularly use today come from the works of this outstanding man. This man has impacted our world, in fact it’s not surprising he was voted the Man of the millennium at the turn of the century .
Test on the works of William Shakespeare: Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. Romeo and Juliet – To be, or not to be: that is the question. Hamlet: Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em Twelfth Night: If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? Merchant of Venice.
I must confess I know very little of the works of William Shakespeare but I do know that he said this “To thy own self be true.” Today I want you to be true to yourself. In the light of what you will hear, ask yourself can I say with confidence the same as William Shakespeare did...
We might not be literary geniuses but we all have something in common with William Shakespeare, something like William we will all have to do at some point in our lives and it’s something we often put off to a later date. Because it involves the business of death and death is a taboo subject to our minds.
• Somebody once said there are two things that can be certain in this life death and taxes.
But seriously death is no respecter of persons and it can come at any time, at any age for William Shakespeare it came at the age of 52. Death is our common bond as human beings no matter whether rich or poor – famous or not we all share the common experience of death as a result of death there is a need to get our estates in order before we die and so more than likely will write a will. On 25th March 1616, just weeks before his death on 25th April 1616, Shakespeare made his last Will and Testament.
A short extract from the last Will and Testament of William Shakespeare, is going to be our spring board for the message, the will is easy accessible as it is kept in the public records office in London and found on the internet .
It’s amazing what you can write into your will, did you know that William Shakespeare out of his vast estate, the only thing he gave his wife Ann Hathaway was his 2nd best bed! (People leave the strangest things) But it’s not the comical side of Will writing I want to look at today but the very serious side.
Lets read the extract together: “In the name of God, Amen, I William Shakespeare.... in perfect health and memory, God be praised, do make and ordain this my last will and Testament in the manner and form following. That is to say, first I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting...”
This will indeed show William Shakespeare to be a wise man not only in the realm of literature but also in his relationship with God. Of course this is only written words and we cannot see into his heart, of W.S only God can do that, but from what he has written we can learn three vital lessons: Apply to our own lives.
1. He acknowledged God “In the name of God”
You might say, “No kidding inspector Morse” but this is a major statement today the acknowledgment that there is a God in our secularised world, seems too many infantile and belongs in the realm of fairy stories. We live in a nation since the enlightenment period where everything has been rationalised away.
• One time press secretary ALISTAR CAMPBELL announced on behalf of Tony Blair ‘We don’t do God.”
• Richard Dawkins who propagate a rationale that says God just does not exist with books like ‘The God delusion’. Which has been on the best sellers list for months what does that say about the mindset of our nation.
By faith: This simple statement In the beginning God created is one of the most profoundest statements confronting the modern mind - it is a statement that we take on board by faith – Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.
God doesn’t spend his time trying to prove to you His existence, He believes that every human being on the face of the planet is without excuse Rom.1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
You might be saying Aubrey there’s the rub you Christians believe it all by faith, a leap in the dark your brains plonked on the shelf as it were and that evolution is all scientific fact. But that’s where you are wrong listen to this recent article on a recent science website the edge .
• 117 Scientists were asked “What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?” Prof Richard Dawkins said, “I believe but I cannot prove, that all life, all intelligence, all creativity and all ‘design’ anywhere in the universe is the direct or indirect product of Darwinian natural selection,’’www.edge.org It’s all a question of faith he believes he cannot prove so its faith even for the evolutionist
William Shakespeare acknowledged God – I wonder where so you stand right now? Is your faith in the God of creation or the God of chance?
1a. Shakespeare also acknowledges God as his creator: ‘into the hands of God my Creator’
Friends all of us in this room are here by intelligent design and that designer is God. Gen.2.27 So God formed man in his own Image; in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. All human beings bear the authentic stamp of God (AS CLOTHES HAVE DESIGNERS –SO DO HUMANS). Human beings are unique because we are the ONLY ONES made in God’s s image. Evolution would teach us that were not unique at all - that were just a bit of matter 17 trace elements and have originate from the primordial soup.
Have you heard the less than true story of an atheistic a scientist who said, "Listen God, we’ve decided we don’t need you anymore. These days we have unravelled the human DNA we can clone people, transplant organs and do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous.”
So God replied, "Don’t need me huh? How about we put your theory to the test. Why don’t we have a competition to see who can make a human being, say, a male human being?" The scientist agrees, so God declares they should do it like he did in the good old days when he created Adam."Fine" says the scientist as he bends down to scoop up a handful of dirt.""Whoa!" says God, shaking his head in disapproval. "Not so fast. You get your own dirt."
There is a saying often quoted, “It’s not what you know, but who you know that counts.” That’s exactly true when it comes to our true identity many scientist believe they know much about humanity and they glory in it – but the real important issue is not what we know , but who we know. Because when we see God as creator, Its then we see that our worth is not based on what we have, do, or what we know, but more importantly on who we know!
God never made any other creature upon the planet in his image it means we alone reflect His character – we are like him, we have a God connectedness. He has given us a mind to reason, a body to have our being and a soul to encounter him. Only this basis in our life gives us a stable foundation for purpose and self worth in life.
• Our Purpose in our creator: In Winchester Cathedral there are mirrors to enable visitors to admire the magnificant carvings in the roof without straining their necks. The tourists will have missed the point if they leave the Cathedral say “What wonderful mirrors!” They are designed not to draw attention to themselves, but rather to point upwards to the ceiling. We, too, are designed to point away from ourselves. Our purpose is not to bring glory to the human race , but rather to reflect God, in whose image we are made..’
Our self worth in our creator: Madonna, extract quoted from Vogue magazine, “My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. That’s always been pushing me, pushing me. Because even though I’ve become somebody, I still have to prove that I’m somebody. My struggle has never ended, and it probably never will. “
From this quote we see Madonna is a woman who is finding her purpose and self worth in what she does, she openly admits her struggle to find her true purpose and worth will never end. In God alone we find purpose –worth and rest…….Of course without God you are always going to try and find your worth from somewhere else (work , family, pursuits, politics, causes, success ) continually searching for significance!
2. ‘He affirmed he had a never dying soul. That is to say, first I commend my soul’
William Shakespeare affirms that even death is not the end, that he has a never dying soul, He is inferring here that his soul will live on... here he commends his soul to God, because his soul will encounter God. This is something else that the natural man fails to grasp, the never dying soul, many people say “When you’re dead your dead” that might be true, when it comes to the human body for the present time , but we are more than just a body we also have a never dying soul, WHICH WILL LIVE FOR ETERNITY in heaven or hell. Pause now as you pass by......
You see God didn’t just make us out of dirt, but God went on to do a divine act with that dirt Gen 2: 7 He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam – with the breath of God. This is much more than just giving us a physical life as he did with all the animals, the Biblical writers tell us that man became a living soul or a person distinct from all the others – nothing else on the face of this planet has a soul.
• Friends who are you? So often we govern our identities from our names given to us as children, little exercise for you, I want you to take your name away, “who are you?” You’re more than a name.
To the government you might be statistic, to the atheistic scientist you might be a bit of matter, to the businessman you might be the profit margin, but to God you are a relational being made in his image with a never dying soul.
Have you seen the pirates of the Caribbean? What makes all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films stand out is that these movies are not primarily concerned with treasure maps and buried treasure but as the Curse of the Black Pearl demonstrated, no amount of tainted gold is worth the soul-destroying effects of the curse.
From the beginning of Dead Man’s Chest the story centers on souls as the most valuable trading commodity. Pintel and Regetti, two of the pirates from the first film who were saved from ghastly immortality, are rowing to shore, Regetti tells his partner that now that they are mortal again, "We’ve got to take care of our immortal soul." Truer words you will not find spoken, even in more serious films.
Jesus teaches us that there is no possession worth risking for and more valuable than the human soul listen to what he said, “What should it profit a man if he gain the whole world yet lose his own soul. William Shakespeare commended his soul to God can you confidently commend yours and say it well with my soul.
On April 14 1912 the greatest vessel to set to the seas the titanic sunk, 1500 people lost their lives, people from 1st class 2nd class and 3rd class perished that night, only 700 were saved. That fatal night an S.O.S would have gone out ‘Save our Souls. ’ We might distinguish people into classes, but one thing is certain whether rich or poor we all have a never dying soul. The rescue services came to late that night for many, but God responded to that call that night as there was a man on board the titanic by the name of John Harper a Christian minister who called individuals to turn to Jesus Christ and save their never dying souls.....
Life is like being on board a sinking ship whatever class of citizen we consider ourselves to be we all face certain death, yet we all have an equally valuable eternal possession a never dying soul . Please don’t ignore it , if so you too are in dangerous waters. A SOS has been received and God has responded even tonight you can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and save your eternal Soul.
3. He accepted that Jesus Christ was his only hope for eternity. Hoping and assuredly believing through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting...”
Here we see the key to the Christian faith, something which you might just find staggering. If I were to ask you this question tonight “Why should God let you into heaven?
Think about it, could your response be ….. CARDS RIP UP EXERCISE AND PUT IN BIN Go through cards although the majority of these responses are to be commended yet before God they are not the grounds of being accepted they are useless to save us…
• Who remembers “Old Blue Eye’s” died in May 1998 at the age of 82 everyone agreed: There will never be another Sinatra. Sinatra had an amazing career; he even topped Elvis! He holds the record of 40 consecutive years with a song on the billboard charts. One of those chart topping songs was “I Did It My Way” a theme song for many people in our culture today.
The opening verse says, “Now, the end is near, So I face the final curtain – My friends, I’ll say it clear State my case of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full, And traveled each, and every highway – And more, much more than this I did it my way.”
Friends when Sinatra died, he left family, friends and a world full of fans who grieved his loss.
He also left behind a vast fortune in cash and assets: He left all of his platinum and gold records, his Grammys, and his Oscar. When Francis Albert Sinatra died, he left behind exactly what you and I will leave behind when our days on Earth are over. He left behind everything, just like all of us will someday.
When Frank Sinatra left this world to stand before God and God asks him, “Frank, why should I let you into my Heaven?,” he won’t be able to sing , or even say the words “I did it my way.” When we stand before the Lord in heaven our self achievement our accomplishments, no matter how great or small will not count for anything.
The amazing Truth about Shakespeare’s last will and testament is that he saw that very fact…… Shakespeare was a literary genius, who has influenced our world, but even he realized that there was one greater, he realized that he wouldn’t be accepted before God through his own achievements Do you?
The heartbeat of Christianity is not about what we can do, but what God has done for us. Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Friends we are saved through the merits of Jesus Christ and are justified through his righteousness and not our own.
The sufficiency of Jesus
When St Paul’s cathedral was being built, some of those involved did not feel fully confident that the structure could support itself. Despite being designed by Christopher Wren England’s most respected architect. So when the plans were submitted they felt it necessary to add a further central pillar to the structure from ground level all the way up to the top of the structure. This they said would add extra support, which was lacking in the design. Despite absolute confidence in the sufficiency of his structure Wren had to go along with their requests and the pillar was added.
Many years afterwards, in the late 19th century renovations were being carried out on the cathedral when a startling feature was found in regard to the central pillar. It actually never reached the top of the dome in fact it stopped short by about a centimeter. In fact this pillar which they thought was so needed supported absolutely nothing. Wren’s original structure was sufficient after all, yet the councilors had doubted him and in doing so insulted him.
This story illustrates what can go wrong with our thinking about our understanding of God and the Christian doctrine of salvation. God has designed a sufficient way, yet are we still trying to add to it, Jesus Christ is sufficient.
Friends you might have already written a will, putting your house in order, but can I ask you more importantly have your put your spiritual house in order. Is it well with your soul? Are you trusting in Christ alone or are you trying to build your own ways?
We would do well to adhere to the words of William Shakespeare to trust in the merits of Christ alone to be made partaker of life everlasting. How can we do that? Through prayer 1. Admit you’re a sinner, 2 believe in Jesus as your Saviour (NO condemnation) 3. Confess him as Lord. You are going to have the opportunity to do just that, right now lets pray.
Scriptures passages as ref are: Genesis 1:1:1,2:7,27 and Ephesians 2:8,
