LIFE ABUNDANTLY

J.C.Evershed

Genesis 6: 13-16, 21, 22; John 10: 10-15; 15; 1-5

I thought to say a little more, dear brethren, about life abundantly. It is one of the things that we in this city are stretching out after to experience more. It was brought before us last Tuesday and then we have spoken on Lord's day as to the "words of this life" (Acts 5: 20), which was to characterise the Christian way right down from the earliest days of Christianity.

There was a little incident, possibly hardly worth mentioning. A notice was put this week under the Hall door here of a gospel campaign called 'Come alive in '85', and though one cannot associate with much that is being done, how thankful we would be if many persons were to come alive. How much more so if they were to come into the enjoyment of life abundantly! The Lord Jesus said that He had come that all might have it. I reckoned up that there were twelve distinct things that the Lord said that He had come for, and this must be one of the most wonderful of them. It was at a time when He was being degraded by the religious people after He had spoken what we have early in John 10; they said He was mad; one whom the Lord had healed had just been cast out of the synagogue, so that it did not look like a time for abundant life. If there are difficult circumstances today and the pace of ordinary life is so rapid we might say, Well, we cannot expect to experience much of the fulness of life. But I think, beloved, that if we are saying that, we are in the worst unbelief for it must always be the time to enjoy life abundantly.

I thought of these three things: life in the ark life in the flock and life in the vine; they bring before us this kind of life. One might not think that perhaps about the ark; there would not be much room; there would certainly be plenty of life there, but you would hardly call it life abundantly! But if we think about it more however we shall see that it was in fact just that. It was not even like a lifeboat that would just keep persons alive but in distress and discomfort. The ark was certainly in circumstances where death was all around and yet fulness of life was to be enjoyed by those who were within. Those who went in did so on account of their relationship with Noah, and we as believers, on account of Christ, have a place in the ark of safety and abundant life.

The details as to the ark are interesting. It has often been pointed out that it was "pitched inside and outside with pitch" and that is a word often translated 'atonement' or 'covering', so that whenever God looked at the ark He would see the pitch as the covering. When ever Noah inside looked at the ark he saw the same pitch that would speak of atonement. What a wonderful thing it is to have a life which has come to us through the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, as has been mentioned this evening, and which wrought out His work of perfect atonement for us, which God can look upon. He looks at the blood and we look at it· He looks at the rainbow and we look at it and I am sure He looks at the pitch and sees the perfect safety of those in the ark of present salvation. Then there was the great administration of Noah in the ark; I do not suppose that anything went wrong or failed. He had to take all food with him and there was light too. I remember that Mr Coates points out that elsewhere the word is translated 'noonday'. One had the idea that there was just a little light at the top but scripture evidently suggests that there was in fact plenty of light. Think of our having light even if we are in a certain sense in confined conditions: the ark speaks of baptism and that has a confining bearing upon us because it is our going out of sight in death.

As an understanding of this is known in our hearts it cuts us off from much that might please us in other ways, yet it was the means which God chose whereby His own could be preserved in fulness of life. Scripture tells us that there was order in the going in; I am sure there was order within; and there was order in their coming out again. And what is a great point in life abundantly is not only that we ourselves enjoy it but what there is for God from it. Hence, when Noah and the others came out on to a cleansed earth there were the altar and the burnt-offerings of clean animals offered up to God and He smelled a savour of rest. For how many years had He not had that, yet as a result of the experience of abundant life Noah turned instinctively to God. So now our blessing is to redound to Him and speak in some way of the perfections of Christ.

The thought of being in the flock is somewhat different. The Lord Jesus spoke attractively about it. From our earliest days we have been delighted with the touches of the twenty-third Psalm, the way the Shepherd cares for His own; and that He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. There is safety here; there is serenity in the way in which the sheep may go in and out; and there is satisfaction because they find pasture. Think of the way in which the Lord would lead us into green pastures and beside still waters. There is security too although in God's government discipline comes our way and we suffer to a large extent what other people in the world suffer. I am sure that it is right that it should be so, but Jesus says that He lays down His life for the sheep. The results are not only for their benefit, because the Shepherd would enjoy them as well. "There shall be one flock, one shepherd", but the Lord goes on to speak about His Father. So that out of the abundant life in the flock there is some apprehension of the greatness of the Father, who He is, and what He does, and the fact that the Lord had received commandment from His Father.

Then there is life in the vine which is a very attractive thing. All of us would know what the wonderful potential fruitfulness of a vine can be. Many know of the Hampton Court vine, the great size of it and what fruit it provides! What a wonderful thing it is to think of yourself as a bunch of grapes in such a vine, or a rod or spur and the way in which you draw your sap from the main stream! We had a vine once and if in the time of the rising of the sap an accidental incision were made somewhere, the sap would almost pour out. It gives an idea of the wonder of the sap and the potential fruitfulness of the vine of which the Lord speaks. Although we can hardly think of ourselves as branches when we think of the great apostles, yet we have a part in the vine and in the bringing forth of more fruit. It calls forth the discipline of God, not necessarily because of things we have done, but in a purging and refining way with a view to the future. So that if we bear fruit, we should bear more fruit, which I suppose is life abundantly coming into expression. That fruit is for God, and the way it is produced is by abiding in Christ.

Abiding in Christ is another concern we have had constantly before us of late. How simple it seems, yet how disturbed one easily gets, but "Abide in me, and I in you". There is a certain responsibility on us, although the vine provides all that is needed for fruit-bearing. The Lord balances up the truth as so frequently in this gospel. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall come to pass to you. In this is my Father glorified". It is not only that we have the advantage of enjoying abundant life, but that the Father is glorified by it. What a thing to be able to minister to the glory of God in some way through what the Lord Jesus in His grace has done and has brought us into! May we develop in these things, dear brethren, reaching out after them and developing in the grace and good of them. For the Lord's Name's sake.

LONDON

16 April 1985