Over the course of a half-century of pastoring, I have had the privilege of officiating several hundred memorial services. Just this past Saturday, I had the awesome responsibility of conducting a memorial service for a family that I have known and ministered to since the late 1990s. I did the service for the family’s “matriarch” in 1999 and for her husband three years later. Since then, I have been called upon to do the services for two of their sons and a daughter-in-law. So, that is five precious lives, with their loved ones and friends, to whom I have been able to minister the Word of God over several decades. That is one of the blessings of having pastored in one place for half a lifetime.
When I was seeking God’s mind about the message He wanted me to deliver at this most recent memorial service, I came across a message written and handed to me early on in my ministry here in Indianapolis by a man who said, “I want this read at my funeral.” I did not know the gentleman personally but knew that he had been very active in Thompson Road Baptist Church in its earlier years, when he was healthier. I thanked the man and filed the paper in my file marked “In Memoriam,” thinking nothing more of it until, less than a year later, I received a call that this gentleman had passed into glory. The family requested that I conduct his service. I retrieved the printed statement that he had put into my hands a few months prior to his passing, with the request that it be read at his funeral. I did just that, and I will share it with you today—more than 45 years later. It bore the title “Last Testimony,” and he had dated it 1958, some 22 years before his funeral. Here is what he wrote:
“By the time a person reaches the age of 51 he has attended very many funerals, and almost every one that I have attended, you usually hear folks after the service making remarks about the preacher in charge of the service, that he pronounced some bad remarks and some good. So this is the reason for me to take time now to write this article. In the first place, I know where I am going when I die because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior; furthermore, I have certainly tried to tell people about my Savior, and it seems most of the time to be of no avail, and perhaps a lot could be my own fault for not saying the right words at the right time.
All this that I am writing I would like to be read at my funeral service, and definitely it should be preached by a good, born-again minister. Furthermore, I sure would appreciate for the minister that conducts my funeral service to give an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Even though this may seem to be unorthodox, there may be people attending this funeral service that have never been inside a church where true salvation was really explained or an invitation given.
Remember this when I depart from this world: I have gone to be with my Lord—so don’t feel sorry for me—if you are a born-again Christian ask the one next to you if they have ever accepted Christ as their personal Savior (right now), for God says in the Bible, “Now is the accepted time.”
This I say to you that are lost without Christ, please accept Jesus Christ NOW—it is all free—have you any reason why you should not accept such a Savior as Christ—who showed the world that He has victory even over death—when He hung on the cross and died for you and me that our sins could all be forgiven—then approximately three days later arose from the grave and even tarried on this earth for several days—and even said then that as many as would receive Him, to them He would give the power to become the Sons of God. And it was up to those that saw Him and heard Him, as God says in the Bible, to go into all the world and preach the Word; and so it is today for every Christian to tell people about this wonderful Savior. Won’t you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? NOW I hope you will. This will be of course my last testimony on this earth. For those that are saved, I will see you in Heaven—and I will certainly hope that will be everyone at least that hears this message. At this moment, if you are not saved, please ask God to forgive you of your sins and REPENT, and from this day on you will see that you are a new person and wonder how you ever got along without God. For without God we are nothing, and, like the Bible says, when God is on our side, who can be against us?” (Clifford Ravencamp, August 4, 1980)
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)