“The Final Night”
The Lord Jesus Christ made a clear
emphasis on numerous necessary subjects on the final night that He spent on
earth before His suffering and death upon the Cross which culminated in His
resurrection. His last Words are recorded in the Gospel of John, chapters 13-17
and are titled “The Private Ministry of Jesus Christ” because these five
chapters were only heard by His disciples, and not the general public as the
rest of the Gospel of John.
Chapter 13 focuses upon the Lord’s foot
washing of the disciples, His betrayal by Judas and Peter’s denial. In chapter
14 the Lord gives a brief emphasis on His Second Coming in (v.1-4) which
elicits multiple questions by the remaining eleven disciples as Judas Iscariot
has already gone out to bring his betrayal of the Lord to pass.
The questions of chapter 14 in the Upper
Room gave the Lord the opportunity to teach the disciples with great emphasis
upon the Holy Spirit which also continues throughout the remainder of His
private ministry in 15:26, 16:7, 13-15 providing the eleven with powerful
principles and multiple necessary Truths on the ministry of the Holy Spirit!
And, although the Holy Spirit focus of the
Lord is vital to an effective ministry for the church and believer alike, the
intricate principles of ministry given in chapter 15 unfold the foundation of
fruit-bearing and the vital necessity of the Holy Spirit’s activity within the
believer first of all, then the ministry of a Holy Spirit-filled believer later
in the chapter.
“Fruit
that remains” (v.16) is the ultimate goal of both the church and believer,
and attaining this goal is very simple according to Jesus and this is summed up
by the Lord with three simple commands: Abide, Love and Go! All three of these commands
must be active in order for the ministry of the believer/church to be not only
effective, but also Biblical!!
Eliminate any one of the three and you
have nothing but confusion and dead works accomplished by the flesh not the
Holy Spirit. Now, consider how important the 15th chapter of the
Gospel of John really is, for John, after looking over all of the other New
Testament books in A.D. 85, recognized that these three facts as a unit were
missing from Scripture even though individually they are definitely taught in
the other Gospels.
But, they are never given in such a simple
combined formula as in the 15th chapter of John’s Gospel. So, he
began his writing recollecting the events of the final night the Lord spent on
this planet…before the most important event in human history…His redeeming work
on the Cross of Calvary!
The Lord’s forty day resurrection ministry
many would say in protest of the title of this message was His final night on
earth. While He definitely spent those days on earth there is no extended
teaching recorded during that time except for His last conversation with Peter
in John 21:15-25. However, the amount of Scripture given by John covering the
private ministry of the Lord vs. His resurrection ministry John 20, 21 is
almost 3:1 underlining the vital importance of the final night in John’s Gospel
chapter 13-17.
Amount
of Scripture does not always determine value, but, when you consider all of the
facts concerning the importance of John’s Gospel and recognize that he gave
this large amount of attention to the Lord’s final night before the Cross, then,
the value and importance of the private ministry of the Lord Jesus is amplified.
The 15th chapter of John was given
outdoors on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane which was Jesus’ destination
where he would pray what is contained in John chapter 17. John 15 was likely
given at the entrance of the Temple Mount which was on the way from the Upper
Room to the Garden of Gethsemane.
According to historians, the gate to the
Temple Mount had a great golden vine cast into it which symbolized the nation
of Israel called in the O.T. “The Vine out of Egypt”. Jesus last great “I am” in verse one of John 15
underlined the fact that He was now “The True Vine” through whom God
the Father would speak and work empowering His message through the Church and
each believer in the future, Israel being set aside due to the rejection of their
Messiah!
Jesus left the Upper Room where there was
much confusion due to talk of His betrayal, Peter’s pending denial, the
questions and doubts of other disciples mentioned in John 14. He moved His
eleven out of doors where He gave one of the most powerful sermons recorded in
the Word of God. It was almost un-interrupted by the disciples! Chapter 13, 14
contain numerous interruptions, but, John 15:1-16:33 is an almost continual
discourse containing vital Church building Truth that these eleven men would
need to turn the world upside down during the next few decades!
The three key words of John 15:1-17,
Abide, Love, and Go are simple precise terms that these eleven would be able to
remember and utilize as they began building the church during the 1st
Century there at Jerusalem. It is these three terms that also must be
implemented here in the 21st Century in order to successfully build
the church during these last days.
In (v.1-8) the Lord emphasizes the need to “Abide in Him” which focuses upon the
fruit of the Holy Spirit within the believer. However, in order to produce this
most necessary fruit the fruit-bearing believer must be purged by the Father
(v.2b), and cleansed by the Word (v.3) which gives access to abide in the Lord
by faith (v.4a). Now the Holy Spirit (v.4b) takes full control and more
fruit is produced.
“I am the Vine, ye are the branches, he
that abides in me and I in him the same brings forth much fruit for without Me ye can do nothing.” (v.5). The progression is clear, fruit,
more fruit and much fruit when the believer abides in Jesus and the Holy Spirit
actively abides in the believer then the significant phrase “For without me ye can do NOTHING”!!
In (v.6) the progressive worthlessness of
the believer who chooses not to abide in the Lord is illustrated. The key to
understanding this shocking verse is the word “in” for this person has the
option to abide in Christ but instead continues on their backslidden ways which
eventually brings them to a place of complete worthlessness to the kingdom of
God!
Notice in (v.7), abiding in the Lord
requires the Word of God abiding in the believer! This was not a new concept to
these eleven men for the O.T. Scripture is saturated with commands to memorize
and meditate on the Word of God. Every great leader of the nation of Israel
gave the people commands and exhortations to fully digest the precious Holy
Scriptures beginning with Moses: “Hear O
Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD; and thou shalt love LORD thy God with all
thy heart and soul and strength and mind. These words which I command thee
shall be in thy heart” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6).
Joshua, the next leader of Israel was told
by God in the first chapter of his book: “This
Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then
thou shalt make they way prosperous and then thou shall have good success.”
(Joshua 1:8)
The pattern continues as David in the very
first Psalm underlines the importance of meditation: “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his
delight is in the Law of the LORD, and
in His Law does he meditate day
and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water the
brings forth his in his season, his leaf also shall not wither but whatsoever
he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:1-3)
This is but t he first of numerous
references to the necessity of meditation upon the Word of God found in David’s
writings in the book of Psalms. Psalm 119 alone has multiple references to
meditation showing that it is the precious Word of God that ‘Quickens’ or makes believers alive with
the Holy Spirit of God. Small wonder why David and these other leaders of
Israel were personally digesting the living Word who we now know is the Lord Jesus
Himself!
Solomon continues this powerful progression
adding the practical side to memorizing and meditating on the Word: “My son
keep thy fathers commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother,bind them continually
upon thy heart and, tie them about thy neck; when thou go it shall lead thee,
when thou sleep it shall keep thee, and
when thou awakes it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp and the
law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” (Proverbs
6:20-23)
Solomon gives precise instruction to his
sons in order for them to avoid the sins he fell into involving “Strange women” which is what follows in
the rest of this section of Scripture. The Lord will give victory over sexual
temptation by memorizing and meditating upon the precious and powerful Word of
God as underlined in this N.T. verse: “I
have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God
abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” (I John 2:14) Solomon over and over emphasized the need
to digest the Word of God for victory over sexual sin i.e. “The strange woman” in the book of Proverbs which in essence is similar
to overcoming the wicked one.
The Apostle Paul also taught the necessity
of digesting the Word of God: “Let the
Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing making melody in your
heart to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16) This result of letting the Word of
God dwell/abide in you produces the same activity as being continually filled
with the Holy Spirit: “And be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit: Speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:18, 19) Amazing!! Exactly what the
Lord taught in John 15:1-8 and John 6:63!!
To digest the Word of God is a good way to
describe the overall process of memorizing and meditation upon the written
Word. However, meditation includes considering what the Lord has told you in
light of His words or to put it literally, the overall personal directions He
has given you throughout your life as you consider His will for your calling.
In Psalm 105:17-22 the Lord gives a brief
history of the life of Joseph. The key verse on our topic is (v.19) “Until the time that his word came: the Word
of the Lord tried him.” The first time “word”
is mentioned it is referring to the personal word that the Lord gave Joseph concerning
His vision for his life which now was beginning to come to pass.
The second time “Word” refers to God’s revelation which even though there was not
written revelation, this refers to what the Lord revealed to all believers just
as we have today the written Word. The Scripture overflows with examples of
God’s servants receiving personal visions which only applied to each
individual. This phenomenon continues today!
Testimonies of preacher’s and laymen alike
attest to the fact that the Lord tells His people the plan for their life if
they are willing to take the time to
simply listen. The best way to hear the voice of the Lord is through His Word
while you are meditating on His written Word He will speak to you His personal word
for your life and trusting in Him will bring it to pass! This is illumination
of the Word, not revelation for revelation is complete in the 66 books of the
Bible!
It was Joseph’s personal word verbalized
to his family that eventually got him into some troublous places to fulfill
the Lord’s plan for his life. And,
although it might not always be wise to tell others what God has told you, in this case it was the way
Joseph became the ultimate leader of a great nation and brought about the
necessary events for the Lord’s plan for the nation of Israel to prosper and become
what the Lord planned for countless multitudes of people!
And, it all began with Joseph’s abiding in
His Lord learning exactly what He had planned for His life. This is the first
Word given on the final night of Jesus private ministry. Without obedience to
this command there is no Holy Spirit-filled actions by the believer which is
the primary reason for all of the programs and plans that have been flooding
the churches in order to attempt to fulfill the next two commands.
It
is significant the first time “meditate” (Genesis
24:63) is found in Scripture it is Joseph’s Grandfather Isaac who is
meditating in the field when he sees the camels coming. This caravan brought
his future wife Rebekah to him providing Isaac with an event that continued the
unfolding of “His word” from God as
God’s plan for Isaac’s life surely included his marriage to Rebekah which union
eventually brought forth their son Jacob who would father the twelve tribes of
Israel.
Jacob’s eventful life included encounters
with the Angel of the Lord the Pre-incarnate Christ showing to this somewhat of
a renegade believer exactly what was going to come to pass in his colorful life
which included many different types of experiences all of which the Lord used to
make him what in the end was a man of God noted for his wrestling with the Lord,
worshipping and eventual willingness to be conformed to the image of the Lord.
He also received “His word” from the
Lord during these many encounters with the living God which must have turned
him to meditate upon these things.
Meditation is the fruit of digesting God’s
Word. It is during this digesting time which includes personal seasons of
prayer, musing upon the Word, placing yourself into the passage, appropriating the
promises of God which will produce mighty faith in God’s plan as He speaks to
you through His Word. This in essence brings forth “Your word” from God which
He will bring to pass in His timing as He sees your submitted life to His will
unfold before your very eyes!
Command number two, is love the brethren,
which is repeated over and over throughout the Scripture and is the key to the
success of both the believer and the local church. But, this command is the
result of the two previous commands operating. You must abide in Christ, His
Word must abide in you which is in essence the energizing of the power of the
Holy Spirit which is how THE LOVE is given. Notice, it is THE LOVE, AGAPE LOVE
which is the only kind of LOVE that comes from God the Holy Spirit. There are
four Greek words for love:
1.
Eros-Lustful love
2.
Storgos-Parental/familial love
3.
Philos-Brotherly love
4.
Agape-Christ-like love, Selfless, Sacrificial love which continually gives and
expects no return or payment!
Then by the presence and power of the Holy
Spirit THE LOVE will flow automatically to the brethren and then to the lost.
The Holy Spirit compels those who are walking in the Spirit to “Go and bring forth fruit that remains” which is the capstone
command of the final night for Jesus Himself came to seek and to save that
which is lost so He gave this simple formula on His final night on earth before
the Cross. If this formula is not being exercised by the local church there
will be no success in ministry even though there are many today who believe
that they are the leaders of a successful ministry.
Just the other day I spoke with a man who
has been saved for over forty years and belongs to a Bible preaching church. He
told me of their emphasis on evangelism and it went something like this: “We believe that making relationships with
others is the way to reach them with the Gospel.” This is sometimes called
“Lifestyle Evangelism”, to which I responded that this method is not found in
the Bible. Jesus, John, Peter, Paul, the believers in the early church did not
practice this type of evangelism. Their method demonstrates urgency to tell the
message and loving confrontation of the lost.
Lifestyle Evangelism is merely man’s way
of trying to fulfill the commands of Scripture: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”(Mark
16:15) is not limited to preachers as he attested. In Acts 4:31 the
Biblical method is unfolded: “And when they had prayed, the place was
shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the Word of God with
boldness.” They includes
ALL believers!
The Truth in Acts 4:31 is a perfect
illustration of The Final Night Formula that Jesus gave to His disciples. Their
abiding in Him brought about the power of the Holy Spirit and knowing the Word
of God they were compelled to go out into the highways and hedges and compel
the lost to receive their Savior and be freed from the bondage of sin.
The missing ingredient in today’s Church
is the power of the Holy Spirit and believers who know the Word in order for
them to speak the Word to unbelievers. But, if we salve our consciences by
organizing programs utilizing man’s methods, then we won’t have to spend time learning the Word and
waiting on the Lord to fill us with His Spirit: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? (Luke 11:13). The
following three steps are what the early church utilized in evangelism:
1. Praying for God to give His
Spirit
2. Knowing the Word
3. Speaking the Word with boldness
Their lives focused upon winning and
witnessing to others! It was what they zeroed in on each day before they went
out into the highways and hedges in anticipation by faith to compel the lost to
come in and receive their Lord and Savior. This is the only way to live if you
are saved. Pray and ask the Lord to fill you with His Spirit that you might be
used of Him when He sets up Divine Appointments with those who are saved and
those who are lost.
Let THE LOVE rule in your hearts…love for
the Lord Jesus Christ…He will never change so our love ought to be continually
focused upon Him and the great work of sacrifice He performed on the Cross of
Calvary…this and only this must be our driving motivation for ministry through
His love which abides in those who abide in Him and His precious Word!
So, the three commands of the final night,
Abide, Love and Go are the basic necessities for the believer and the local
church. Abiding in the Lord requires the Word abiding in you which brings forth control by the Holy Spirit
producing His abundant fruit described in Galatians
5:22”THE LOVE, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance”. All of these characteristics are brought forth at
once when the Holy Spirit controls through abiding in the Lord and His Word
abiding in you
.
The “LOVE”
in John 15 is also the first word the Holy Spirit’s fruit produces and many
Bible scholars believe that out of the Holy Spirit’s love within the believer
the rest of the fruit comes forth. This word love is the key to walking with
the King and all interaction with other believers and unbelievers alike.
While walking out of the truck-stop last
night where the Lord has called me to serve He led me to talk to a driver that
was headed in the same direction. Even though it was really cold outside we
stood and talked trucker talk for a few minutes but when the conversation
turned to spiritual things it became evident that he knew the Lord.
His last statement to me went something
like this: “Everything I do operates in love, everybody I meet, love is my response
and that’s the way I’ve lived since I came to know the Lord as a child”. Little
did he know I was in the middle of writing this message, but he underlined what
Jesus said on the final night “This is My
Commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my
friends if you do whatsoever I command you.” (John 15:12-14)
This was not the first time the Lord gave
this commandment. He in reality began the final night teaching of the eleven
after Judas went out to betray Him with this: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye
are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34, 35) John,
the Apostle of Love uses the word agape/love over (60) times throughout His
writings.
And, it should be no surprise to the
seasoned believer that agape love is the key word for living a life that is Christ-like,
for God is still working on all of us to make us more like His Son, so, if we
love others to promote the Kingdom of God He will take care of the consequences
regardless how unlovely that person may be that He puts in your path to test
your love for all! Paul tells us “For all
the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shall love thy neighbor as
thyself” (Galatians 5:14) which is based upon Jesus’ earlier teaching in
the Gospels when a scribe questioned Him.
Jesus answered: “The first of all the Commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God
is one Lord: And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first Commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shall love they
neighbor as thyself. There is none other Commandment greater than these.” (Mark
12:29-31)
Enough
said, let us Abide, Love and Go bringing forth fruit that remains fulfilling
the Truth given by the Lord there in John 15:16, 17 “Ye have not chosen Me but I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and
that your fruit should remain that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My
name He may give it you These things I command you that ye love one another.” These foundational commands from the Lord on
the final night must be the driving emphasis of every Biblically successful
local church…any substitute is exactly that, man’s substitute in an attempt to
do the work of the ministry!
This three word formula fulfills the need
for balancing edification and evangelism in the local church. Ephesians 4:11,
12 show how the Lord accomplishes this most necessary work: “And He gave some apostles; and some
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ”. This brief section of Paul’s writings shows how to attain
balance in the church.
Mobilizing the army of believers to
evangelize the lost is accomplished when God’s gifts to the church train and
equip the saints to practice the last word from the Lord on the last night!
“GO…GO…GO must be the calling of all believers! We must GO out into the
highways and hedges and compel them to come in with loving urgency, giving the
GOspel!
Notice, THE LOVE is necessary for
edification by one another is how Paul caps this passage on doing the work of
the ministry: “But speaking the truth in
LOVE…makes increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in LOVE.” (Ephesians 4:15, 16) So, Jesus formula given
on the last night provides us with the necessary Truth to get the job done! All
we need to do is utilize the gifts God gave, Evangelists and Pastors to do what
God gifted them to do…equip the saints…teaching and admonishing one another in
songs and hymns and spiritual songs…ministering in love and winning the lost.
But, in many 21st century Bible
preaching churches this formula has been clearly omitted. There is much ado by
man and his ideas and much omission of these simple steps given by the Lord,
including Paul’s additional teaching about the gifts God gave the church, the
Evangelist and the Pastor/Teacher. In many churches the Evangelist is missing
altogether and the Pastor/Teacher is giving his ideas of ministry, not the
tried and proven methods given in the Word of God.
How can this be? Very simple answer. It is easier to do the work of the ministry in
the flesh than by the Holy Spirit’s power. There will be no battle from the
devil when believers operate in the flesh, and the blame must be placed on the
leaders of local churches…these Bible texts are very clear which the Lord and
Paul gave…where are the leaders?
Recently I visited a church very close to
the truck-stop in an attempt to get someone to cover for me when the Lord sent
me on an extended trip to the Philippines. This church is not practicing the
last night formula. However, one of the men had shown interest in the truck-stop
ministry in the past. As I was leaving another man came up to me and asked if
there was anything I needed and I responded “Prayer” and shook his hand as I
was leaving the church.
I noticed that this did not seem to be the
answer he was looking for he might have been thinking about money or any
physical needs because he wanted to participate in a ministry that was reaching
the lost. Most believers who walk in the Spirit want to reach the lost, but, many
times the leaders do not train them or give them an opportunity to get it done
and many who want to witness are fearful not knowing how to do what their heart
is telling them to do.
As a young Evangelist in 1985 a veteran
Evangelist, Phil Shuler, told a crowd of students and preachers at the
university where I graduated from that the Evangelist’s ministry
as we know it will be dead in ten years. He then went on to explain that his
once prosperous and busy ministry was waning year by year as Pastors were using
musical groups, seminars and other Pastor friends attempting to replace his and
other Evangelist’s preaching ministry.
It is now almost three decades later and
his prophetic words have definitely come to pass. By eliminating God’s gift,
the Evangelist, many churches have become inward focused institutions.
Edification is the main diet of a lot of Bible preaching churches and the
Evangelist/evangelism has been left ‘On the outside looking in’ as it were.
This is one of the errors being committed by the leaders of local churches, but,
it is a MAJOR ERROR and may well be a reason for the church’s ineffectiveness
as the conscience of our country, for evangelism is the key to changing the
climate of the country!
Is this the only reason? No, but it’s a
good place to start…changing the mindset of leadership is where the cure must
begin…then, the people will be fed what they need and the environment for the
Evangelist’s ministry will be ripe. Then, REVIVAL may come which is the ONLY
cure for our churches, communities and country’s condition! ‘Souls for Jesus’
must be our continuing battle cry by utilizing these three simple commands
given by the Lord Jesus on “The Final Night”!
Chaplain LEWolfe www.btmi.org I-85 Exit 35 SC McPilot Stop in, and please pray for our ministry!
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