I'm not absolutely sure myself what that means.
I have discovered that since I am supposed
to have retired, I have more honorary non
-paying titles than I ever had in my
whole life.
What was that word again?
I may know how to say it, but
I don't know what it's all about.
Kind of reminds me of that story they
tell about a little country church that had
a fellow in the congregation who was always
against everything.
Didn't make any difference what it was.
Came to a vote, he was on the
negative side all the time.
And so there came a moment, they had
some old-fashioned lamps around the church, and
somebody offered to give the church a brand
new chandelier.
And when they came to voting to accept
it, this fellow rose to his feet and
said, I'm opposed to it.
I'm against it.
And I'm against it for three reasons.
First place, we can't afford it.
And the second place, we ain't got no
place to put it.
And in the third place, there ain't nobody
around here knows how to play it.
He said, what this church needs is a
new light.
I'd like to ask you to turn to
a very familiar passage of scriptures tonight, and
I want to zero in on just one
verse in that passage, but let me read
a few verses from the tenth chapter of
the gospel according to John.
Our Lord's wonderful words, commencing with the seventh
verse of John 10.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves
and robbers, but the sheep did not hear
them.
I am the door, by me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved and
shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not but for to steal,
to kill, and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep.
Much more that he says, of course, in
this great chapter, but we'll stop in our
reading for the moment there.
I say I'd like to zero in on
half a verse, if I may, the latter
half of verse 10, where the Savior says,
I am come that they might have life,
and there is, or should be, a comma
at that point, and that they might have
it more abundantly.
I'd really like to speak about life beyond
the comma tonight.
Our Lord is here saying that he is
offering some kind of a life that he
calls abundant.
Now, I must confess to you that as
I travel about our country, I find very
many Christians who don't know what it is
to have the abundant life that our Lord
here promises to us.
They know what it is to have life
indeed.
They've gone through the experience of putting confidence
and trust in the finished work of the
Lord Jesus, but something seems to have happened
beyond that point somewhere, and instead of living
a rich and an abundant life of triumph
and victory and joy, something has stagnated en
route, and they're living an ordinary kind of
a life.
I don't think that our Lord intends that
we should be living an ordinary kind of
life.
We're extraordinary people.
We're different from all the peoples on this
globe.
We who are the redeemed of God are
different than anybody else.
Let's don't ever forget that fact.
Some of us are different because we're a
little cranky and a little cantankerous, I must
admit, but I mean we're different because of
our relationship to God.
Now, the Lord here is saying, I am
come that they might have life.
That's life before the comma, if you please.
With that, I suppose most of us are
familiar.
Maybe somebody is in this audience.
It's always possible that there could be someone
present who has never yet experienced that kind
of life that he came to bring to
lost men, and he indicates, of course, what
it cost him in order to give us
the life that he said he came to
bring.
Except the corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abides alone, but if
it die, it brings forth much fruit.
And so, his death is indicated.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep.
Anyone who is born again, who has experienced
life before the comma, has a special kind
of life.
I may have to repeat myself in our
study in the morning, but it's a scientific
fact that all life comes from preexisting life,
from a seed of preexisting life.
This is true in every realm of existence
that we know anything at all about.
For instance, plant life.
All plant life is found in the seed
of life, and we are aware of that
fact.
You get the right seed, you get the
right fruit.
I remember once getting the brilliant idea that
I was going to have a garden.
I didn't realize that you've got to dig
up the ground first, and that was a
tough job, and it was hard ground.
Then you have to fertilize it, and then
you have to weed it, and then you
have to sit there and watch it and
water it and all the rest of it.
I came to the conclusion it was much
cheaper to buy the stuff in a can
than to go through all that rigmarole for
a little bit of string beans or whatever.
Well, you know, since I was such a
greenhorn, the only way I could tell people
what I had planted was I saved the
packages from which the seeds came and stuck
them on sticks at the end of the
row, and I would say proudly, there are
my radishes there.
All went well until we had a summer
storm and blew the whole works away, and
then I was confused.
I didn't know whether I was growing radishes,
carrots, lettuce, or what.
I had to wait until the stuff got
a little up there where you could kind
of identify it.
But you know that vegetable life is all
contained in the seed of life, and that's
how it is propagated.
This is true of animal life as well.
All life comes from a pre-existing seed
of life.
It's true in the human realm as well,
and it is also true in the divine
realm.
God has planted in this word of his.
I don't know how it can be.
There's a marvelous mystery about it.
Somehow, this book, I can have another book
that is printed with all the materials that
were used to print this Bible, and with
maybe some of the leather binding left over,
I can bind another book.
Maybe some of the pages of the paper,
there are some superfluous paper, and so it
becomes the pages of another book.
And then also some of the ink, the
very ink that's used to imprint these pages,
may imprint words on the pages of another
book.
And the glue that's used to hold it
together, and the thread that binds it, all
of it.
And this is a book on any kind
of subject you can mention.
But let me tell you, there's a vast
difference between that book and this book, because
God has been pleased to deposit in the
words of this book this mysterious thing called
eternal life.
It's here.
It's in the words of this book.
When you were a high school student in
your high school biology classes, you perhaps recall
how you were asked to dissect a seed
like a lima bean, for instance.
Cut it all apart.
Dissect it.
Get it apart.
And identify each one.
Up to that point, I was doing well
until they said, draw a picture of what
you see.
When I got finished, it looked like elephant
ears.
My artistry was nothing like my skill at
cutting the thing open.
But you know you can cut a lima
bean open.
You can identify every single part that you
can observe by microscope or just plain sight.
And yet there is one thing you cannot
discern.
No microscope can reveal it.
There is planted in that lima bean lima
bean life.
It's there.
And put it in its proper environment, in
the soil of the earth, and it will
come forth.
The same kind of life that is in
that seed will reproduce itself.
It's so in this book.
That's why it's the most exciting adventure of
Christian service and witnessing is to take the
seeds out of the package of this seed
packet of God and cast them abroad into
the soil of men's hearts and then watch
the miracle of the Holy Spirit quickening those
words into eternal life.
There isn't anything that can match it for
excitement and thrill.
Now, the life that we receive from Christ
is a special kind of life.
It's hard to identify it.
It is called eternal life in the scriptures.
But our problem is that we identify that
word eternal purely with an extension of time.
We are the possessors of eternal life, which
means, indeed, that we shall live on forever
and ever and ever endlessly.
But there is another quality.
What else is there?
Eternal life is the kind of life that
is in God Almighty, and that life has
been transferred to you and to me when
we put our trust in the living Christ
and in the promises of God concerning him
so that we have within us a special
kind of life.
God's very own life is in us.
This is the basis for our victory, as
well as every other blessing that comes to
us through Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm more concerned, however, about the quality
of life that our Lord Jesus talks about
here.
I am come not only that men might
have life because they don't have it.
They are born dead in their trespasses and
sins.
They need a quickening.
They are dead to everything that is in
God.
But I am come that they might have
life, eternal life, God's very own life, and
that they might have it more abundantly.
Now, he's talking about a quality of life
that we can enjoy as Christians.
When I first became a Christian, I remember
I was raised in an unsaved, ungodly family.
I never remember reading the Bible as a
growing boy.
I never heard it read in my home.
I heard instead other kinds of language and
talk.
And when I got converted, I was living
out in the world, doing all the things
that I could do at my teenage period
in life, and traveling with a crowd that
was godless and all the rest of it.
And when I got converted, it was a
revolutionary experience.
A revolution took place in my life.
I was made a new creature in Christ
Jesus overnight, immediately.
Now, I had a lot of stuff hanging
on.
I smoked, I drank.
I drank good beer because I know I
made it.
My father and I made it, so we
know it's pretty good stuff.
And I did all the things that we
called worldly things in those days.
And you know, I thought, my, now I've
become a Christian.
Boy, that's the end of joy.
I'm finished.
No more fun, no more joy, no more
gladness.
I wonder if it's worth it.
And then I soon discovered, very shortly afterward,
that all those things that I thought were
so valuable and so fulfilling were empty things,
and they disappeared as quickly as it was
possible to shed them.
And I found a whole new life that
was rich and full and wonderful in Christ
Jesus.
And that's exactly what we have in him.
Now, I want to know what the dimensions
of such a life are.
I probably could mention a half-dozen or
more characteristics of this abundant life, but let
me select only three that seem to me
to be indispensable.
Without these three characteristics, we can't really say
that we're living an abundant life.
First of all, I would say that the
abundant life that Christ is here promising must
be a life of peace.
Romans 5, 1 says, We have peace with
God, therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The very first characteristic of the new and
abundant life in Christ is peace of mind.
Peace of mind.
There was a Jewish rabbi some years ago
who wrote a book that overnight became a
bestseller.
Almost as before the ink was dried, it
was at the top of the list.
His name was Joshua Liebman, and I think
the thing that sold his book was merely
the title.
The title was exactly this, Peace of Mind.
Like a lot of other people, I went
out and bought the book.
And while I majored in psychology in college,
I confess to you that I lost all
interest in Joshua Liebman's book at about the
second or third chapter.
Then I skimmed through the rest of it
and said, I've wasted my money.
He was trying to talk about how to
have peace of mind purely from a psychological
point of view.
Why did the book become a bestseller overnight?
Because there were so many people who did
not have peace of mind, who hoped that
this book would give them the secret of
how to have it.
Over against that book, I could recommend another
that God has used.
Billy Graham's book, Peace with God, which has
sold, as you know, multiple hundreds of thousands
and has been used of God to lead
people to true peace of mind.
This abundant life that we have is marked
by peace of mind.
There's nothing quite like that.
Jeremiah the prophet, a long time ago, said,
Is there no healing for us?
We look for peace, and there is no
good.
And for the time of healing, and behold,
trouble.
Ours is an age of restlessness and fear.
Few people today experience real peace of mind
and heart.
You know, it's possible to assess the turmoil
of a nation's soul by the labels on
its drugs and the titles of its books.
They betray exactly what's in the soul and
mind of a culture or a society.
This is an age of fear.
The psychologists tell us that the dominant emotion
of our world is not anger or hate
or jealousy or, on the other hand, sympathy
or love.
Although all these emotions are widespread, they say
it's fear.
They tell us that we're born with two
basic fears in life.
A baby is afraid of just two things
when he's born.
He's afraid of a loud noise.
That's why he kind of quiets things down
with a newborn baby, and he's afraid of
falling.
That's why one wonders what some foolish parents
are doing by tossing their little kids up
in the air like a basketball and catching
them.
They're fighting against the basic fear with which
everybody is born.
Now, to that, we've learned how to add
a whole lot more fears.
You want to hear some of them?
You can maybe say, oh, I didn't know
that that was what was wrong with me,
but this is it.
And we call them now by a fancier
name.
We don't say fears.
We say, I have a phobia.
That's like saying I have an allergy.
But I have a phobia as if it's
something nice to have.
Some people have mysophobia.
That's fear of dirt.
Others have hydrophobia.
That's fear of water.
Then there are some who are afflicted with
taxophobia.
That's the fear of being buried.
Then there are some who are afflicted by
hematophobia.
That's the fear of blood.
Or claustrophobia.
That's the fear of being in a confined
place.
Some people endure an elevator.
They don't enjoy it, but get out of
it as fast as they can.
Others are afflicted with algophobia.
That's the fear of pain.
Or nyclophobia, the fear of darkness.
Or aquaphobia, the fear of high places.
Or xenophobia, fear of strangers.
Or necrophobia, the fear of the dead.
Or triskidecophobia, the fear of the number 13.
Or photophobia, the fear of light, to which
I've added one that I like.
Workophobia, the fear of work.
I don't mind boasting in that one.
But there are some people who seem to
fear work.
Well, this is true of our age.
People are afflicted by fears of all kinds.
Several years ago, a Presbyterian minister in Chicago
sent out a questionnaire to over 4,000
people in all walks of life.
And in each questionnaire, he just raised one
question.
What is the outstanding question you face in
all your thinking and your living?
It wasn't a complicated affair.
It was just a simple answer.
Twenty-two percent said it was within their
family.
Forty-eight percent said it was personal living,
the seeming loneliness, general failure, and the futility
of it all.
That's our generation.
Hopeless and helpless, without security, afraid of a
million things.
Some of those fears are baseless, and some
are indeed based upon all sorts of things
that justify a fear.
We're living in a fear-filled culture.
President Carter, before he left the White House,
spoke at the U.N. Assembly, and I
quote him, I think it was on an
anniversary of that institution's founding.
He said, Thirty-three years ago, in the
cold dawn of the atomic age, this organization
came into being.
Its first and foremost purpose has been to
secure peace for an exhausted and ravaged world.
Yet, the assurance of peace still eludes us.
Before the end of this century, a score
of nations could possess nuclear weapons.
If this should happen, the world we leave
our children will mock our hopes for peace.
Never were truer words spoken by anyone.
And that fear penetrates all of our society.
And when you talk about peace of mind,
there are millions of people tonight in America
who will pillow their heads upon hard pillows
and will toss half the night because they
don't have peace of mind.
They're trouble, they're trouble.
Maybe the only comforting thing is that sin
has a narcotizing effect.
It acts like a narcotic, and it kind
of dulls the senses of the unconverted so
they don't feel the sharp pain of an
empty, lonely life.
I think it's because our generation has lost
any reason for existence that there's a pathetic
search for identity.
Young people are asking, Who am I?
Why am I?
They're asking, Why am I alive?
Whither I?
Where am I going?
What's it all about?
And maybe the theme song is, Stop the
world, I want to get off.
Well, the first result of a plus life,
the abundant life, is peace of mind.
But it also must be a life marked
with peace of heart.
And this is in spite of the fears
that beset us.
Hear the psalmist.
In the 56th Psalm, he says, What time
I'm afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God I have put my trust.
I will not fear what flesh can do
unto me.
In God I have put my trust.
I will not be afraid what man can
do unto me.
That's the peace of mind that comes, and
the peace of heart when you're enjoying the
full, abundant life that the Lord Jesus says
is your right.
He purchased it for you and for me.
I guess I would add that this peace
has to extend also to our conscience.
It was the poet who wrote long time
ago, Trust me, no tortures which the poet
feigns can match the fierce, the unutterable pain
he feels who night and day, devoid of
rest, carries his own accuser in his breast.
And a clear conscience is like a coat
of mail.
It's wonderful to have it.
Well, I am come that they might have
it more abundantly.
What do you mean, Lord, by this abundant
life?
I bring a life of peace, peace of
mind, peace of heart, peace of conscience.
And in a troubled world like ours, it's
wonderful to move through it knowing that all
is well, that you have peace between yourself
and God.
But you see, this life, I think, must
have another dimension.
I call it a life of purpose.
You know, when you lose purpose in life,
you begin to lose any real desire to
stay alive.
Healthy people get sick because they don't have
a purpose anymore for living.
They give up.
You've got to have a purpose.
And the Christian life, this abundant life, is
a life of purpose.
It's a life that's lived under the constant
control of the will of God.
God controls our lives constantly.
Without God's will, we're nothing.
You can take a motor car.
You know, a motor car is made to
run on gasoline.
And so, human beings were made to run
by the will of God.
You can take a beautiful automobile and put
alcohol or witch hazel in the tank, and
no matter how shiny the exterior or elegant
the upholstery, that thing just won't function.
It's not made for that.
No man, no woman can ever find fulfillment
in life who doesn't gear his life to
the plan and the purpose of God for
it.
And you can make your life count, you
know, for God.
I don't know whether I'm...
I hope you won't take me wrong, but
before I'm finished, I want to speak on
one of these evenings, maybe Friday night.
That might be a safe night because I'll
disappear during the night.
I'll be gone in the morning.
But I want to speak on life begins
at 80.
Do you think that might match some of
us?
Oh, it does.
It can begin at 80.
The most exciting experiences of your life can
still be ahead of you, no matter what
your birthday.
But I can think of a life that
is so filled with purpose.
Some years ago, I took a singer with
me down to South Africa, and we went
through all of South Africa, mainly back in
the bush, ministering to missionaries and to national
groups of believers.
He would sing.
It was the most interesting experience because they
were out in the bush.
They don't have any instruments, you know.
So we had a little tape recorder run
by batteries, and this friend of mine, he
recorded before he went organ background for all
kinds of hymns.
And then he would sing without a compliment.
And when we got way back in the
bush, it was fascinating to watch the reaction
of natives.
First of all, they'd never heard music come
out of a box like that.
We were in areas where they didn't even
have radios.
And that was a miracle to hear music
coming out of a box.
But I noticed that all the little African
kids and the teenagers, when my friend began
to sing, they began to titter, and you
know the Africans have to hide their teeth
when they smile.
And when they laugh, they put their hands
up like this, and you know they're enjoying
themselves.
And they would be hiding behind their hands.
And I wondered why it happened every single
time until I noticed that my friend had
a very prominent Adam's apple.
And whenever he sang, that apple would, you
know.
And those Africans thought that was the funniest
thing they'd ever seen and heard in their
whole lifetime.
Well, one day we were invited to speak
at a little Bible school in the suburbs
of Johannesburg.
It was for blacks only.
And in the audience that day was a
young man.
I never dreamed that he would have such
a prominent place in my life as well.
It was a young man who'd had a
very interesting experience.
He was reared in a fairly well-educated
home.
His father was a school superintendent.
And this boy was very clever as an
athlete.
He was an excellent soccer player.
You have to know that South African kids
are born with soccer balls in their mouths,
you know.
They all play soccer.
Every one of them do.
And they're clever at it.
They can do things with their feet nobody
else can do.
And he was exceptionally gifted.
So, he wanted to be an athlete.
His father wanted him to be a school
teacher.
They are.
And so, anyway, when he was just a
boy, maybe 10, 11, 12 years old, he
went into a bank and because he forgot
to say thank you or sir or something,
the teller lost his temper and called for
a policeman.
And right there in the presence of other
whites, that policeman beat that boy mercilessly.
Just because of this little slip.
Well, that generated in him a growing hatred
for things white.
And so, when he got to be about
17 or 18, I guess, on Christmas Eve
he was riding along the road on his
bicycle and a white man was driving his
car behind him.
And he struck him and ran over the
bicycle and over him.
And then sped off.
And in the process, this boy's leg was
jammed into all that mesh, broken wires of
a wheel and an artery was pierced.
And he lay there bleeding, really bleeding to
death.
And because he was black, a nearby hospital
refused to take him in.
And so, they rushed him off to another
one nearby and it too refused to accept
him.
And by the time he got to a
place where they would accept him, it was
too late.
And he told me, he said, Dr. Anderson,
and he said this rather sarcastically, he said,
the grimmest Christmas present I ever received in
my life was to be told on Christmas
Eve that to save my life I had
to amputate my leg just below the hip.
And so, when Christmas morning dawned, I felt
and my leg was gone.
That ended forever his days and dreams of
being an athlete.
And he became exceptionally bitter toward God, towards
everything.
But he had a friend who was a
believer, who was connected with a youth ministry
called Youth Alive in Johannesburg.
And this friend consistently and faithfully witnessed to
this boy.
His name was Caesar.
And he brought him finally to Youth Alive,
one of the rallies.
And after several weeks of coming, he came
under conviction of his need of the Savior
and he was saved.
And his whole life was changed then.
And so, he was in this little Bible
school as a student, studying.
And when we arrived there, we were told
that a black quartet was coming to the
United States.
And they had appointments and assignments all the
way across the country to Denver, Colorado.
And they were going to raise some money
to help support Youth Alive's ministry.
And on the eve of their departure, one
of the boys in the quartet got pneumonia
and died.
And so, there was a blank space and
they reached for Caesar.
Now, I don't know whether Caesar can carry
a tomb in a bucket, but the point
is he had to go.
They pushed him in.
So, he came to the United States, and
he gave his testimony of what the Lord
had done in his life all over the
country.
And finally, he came to our church in
northern New Jersey on a Wednesday evening.
They were to fly out the next night
to Africa.
And when Caesar gave his testimony for God,
a man in our church became very, very
touched.
And he went up to Caesar afterward and
he said, Caesar, you ought to be right
here in America and get training so that
you can go back and minister more effectively
to your people.
And I'll tell you what I'll do.
If you'll sign up at Northeastern Bible College,
I will pay all your expenses, whatever they
may be, your tuition, your room and board,
and your transportation for four years.
You can count on me for that if
you'll come.
Well, that man kept his word.
And I'll tell you, he made one of
the greatest investments he ever made in his
life, in a life like that.
Caesar came to our school, and you know,
he was one of the brightest students in
the school.
I asked him one day in class, how
many languages do you speak?
And he said, now just a minute, I
have to count them.
So, he started counting, and he stopped at
eight, eight languages.
Now, he spoke English beautifully, true, with a
little tint of South African accent.
But his English was superb.
His vocabulary was beautiful, and still is.
He made some of our students look rather
silly and sick.
You understand, don't you, how kids today talk?
The average kid.
What's your name?
My name, you know, is Jimmy, you know.
Anderson, you know.
I live, you know, in Florida, you know.
And I, you know, I've been in school,
you know, for a couple of years, you
know.
And you know, that reveals the depth of
brain power that most of our kids have
who use that.
Also, it is a brilliant commentary on the
marvelous vocabulary American youth possess.
You know, you know, you know, you know.
Well, anyway, Caesar graduated from our school.
He went to Wheaton College to the graduate
school, got his degree.
And while he was there, a telegram came
from South Africa saying, Caesar, we need somebody
to head up Youth Alive.
Will you come back and do it?
And yet, friends, for the last several years,
he's been back in Soweto, one of the
hottest political spots in all of South Africa,
there heading up that work from which he
came and where he was first saved.
And I think that Caesar Malabatsi is perhaps
one of the best-trained, sharpest-minded South
African black men in all the world.
He is being called upon to speak all
over the world now.
He has his head screwed on tight.
He understands the situation as far as the
church is concerned.
But, you know, some folks might have said
that the day he was hit by that
car and the day that he lost his
leg, what purpose was there in life for
him from that point on?
Everything was shattered.
His dreams were broken.
No, here was a man who was convinced
that his life was going to count for
God.
You can make your life count for God.
Oh, no, you're saying, I'm too old for
that now, too late for me.
Oh, no, don't give me that stuff.
If you can still gossip like you can,
some of you talk the head off a
nest, you know what I mean?
You got nothing wrong with your tongue, I'll
tell you that.
Your legs may be giving out, but, man,
your mouth keeps rolling.
And if you can use your mouth to
talk about weather and sports and the country
and all the rest of it, you can
talk about the Lord.
I heard about a fellow who was past
75, I think he was, and he decided
he was going to make his life count.
He said, I've wasted most of my life.
And he was a widower then, so you
know what he did one morning?
He got all dressed up like he was
going to church.
He put on his best suit and tie
and a hat, and he filled his pocket
with trash.
And he started down the street.
He knocked on the door, and a lady
came and he bowed to her and took
these hats and he said, Excuse me, madam,
I'm just asking a simple question.
Does Jesus Christ live here?
He said, The lady nearly fainted.
She never had anybody ask that question.
And she gasped.
He knew, of course, that he had bumped
into an unconverted person.
So he said, Oh, I'm sorry.
But I'd like to give you a little
piece of paper.
Would you read this when you have some
time?
And he gave it back and said, Thank
you very much.
He didn't preach any sermons.
He didn't give her any deep theology.
He went to the next house.
Same thing.
Madam, excuse me.
Does Jesus Christ live here?
And down the block he went, house after
house.
He came to one place when he knocked
on the door and asked that question, the
lady said, Yes, he does.
Oh, he said, that's wonderful.
You're the first person I've met on this
block where Jesus lives in your house.
Isn't that wonderful?
Will you pray for me?
I'm asking people.
That man has covered the whole city where
he lives, block by block by block, on
his own.
You don't have to be a great preacher.
You don't have to do anything tremendously great.
Just make your life count for God, and
you can do it, because this abundant life
is a life of purpose.
It really is.
Einstein, everybody knows Einstein's theory of relativity, but
very few people know that Einstein also had
a philosophical theory.
He said, Perfection of means and aimlessness of
goals marks our age.
How very true.
Perfection of means, but aimlessness of goals marks
this age.
And that aimlessness, that purposelessness, has seeped into
the church, and even among Christian people, and
we seem to be content with an apathetic
kind of an experience.
Friend, if you're going out, go out in
a blaze of glory.
Don't peter out.
Run out.
See?
Because this abundant life is a life of
purpose.
On the bulletin board of an Ivy League
college, and I thought, my, how this would
apply to Boca Raton, Florida, where we live.
Everybody calls Boca Raton God's waiting room.
That's where people come down getting ready to
die, and they do two things en route.
Count the coconuts, and play golf.
And in between, the favorite sport is comparing
restaurants.
That's all of life in Boca Raton, really.
Anyhow, here's what it said.
Wanted, a young couple to care for an
elderly millionaire who has been taking tranquilizers for
20 years.
This couple is needed desperately to give him
meaning in life he has nothing to live
for.
Tragic.
But so true.
Yes, this abundant life, this life beyond the
comma, is a life of peace, it's a
life of purpose, but it has to be
a life of power.
Of power and victory over sin.
Almost at the close of this holy volume
is God's appended promise, Revelation 21, 7.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God, and he shall
be my son.
I believe the Bible is the story not
only of God's victory over Satan and sin,
but of man's victory over the same.
And what are the keys to that victory?
What secrets are there for victory over Satan
and sin?
I think there are three of them.
And they're mentioned in Revelation 12, 11.
They overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto the
death.
Three things In that tribulation period, men will
overcome Satan, first of all, by the blood
of the Lamb.
Victory over Satan and sin is only possible
to one who has been born again.
The pure blood of Christ is the antitoxin
for sin.
He turns our defeats into victories.
There was a Frenchman who became a British
citizen, and when he came out of the
hall where he had been sworn in as
a British citizen, one of his compatriots said,
How do you feel now that you're a
British citizen?
And he said, Well, before today, Waterloo was
an ignominious defeat for me, but today it's
a glorious victory.
That's right.
How do you feel since you've been to
the cross?
Oh, before that, everything was a defeat.
Now it's victory all along the way because
of the blood of Christ.
And then it says that they overcame him
by the word of their testimony, because of
the purity of their testimony.
And I've shot my wad on time, so
I must conclude, and also because of their
attitude or the preciousness of life.
They did not count their lives dear unto
themselves.
At the end of the road, when it's
all over, I want to ask myself, Lord,
have I enjoyed what you came to bring
for me?
I know you came that I might have
life.
Hallelujah!
To know that.
Have I really entered into this abundant life,
this more abundant life that you also promised?
Have I known what it was to have
constant peace of mind and heart and conscience?
Have I known also your purpose fulfilled in
my life day by day and its experiences?
And have I known the power of your
blood to give me victory every step of
the way?
Because when it's all done, I want to
be dead sure, and I'm sure you do
too, that what we have lived for him
pleases him.
J.
H.
McConkie, a businessman from Pittsburgh, tells this fine
story.
He says before they were building bridges, before
they had built bridges over the rivers of
Pittsburgh, one of the first bridges built had
been designed by an engineer architect, and in
the early stages of the bridge's construction, he
fell and broke his back, and he was
taken to the hospital, and he was in
the hospital for months.
Finally, it came for the day when that
bridge was to be opened for traffic, and
this architect was now, he had recuperated enough
though he was still in a cast, that
he requested that he might be able to
be there somewhere when the bridge was opened.
He finally said, I'd like to be on
a boat, in a boat, on the river,
if I may.
So they put him in a small boat,
and they took him out into the river,
turned the motor off and let it drift,
where he could see that entire bridge, all
the spans, the cables, the great struts, and
he studied it very carefully, didn't say a
word for a while, and then they heard
him murmur, it's just like the plan, isn't
it?
It's just like the plan.
When we stand in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ, there'll be nothing more satisfying
than to hear him say, as he surveys
with us the life we've lived here, it's
just like the plan, it's what I planned
for you, and it has filled every detail
of that plan.
To know that, and to experience that, to
have indeed enjoyed abundant life.
For this thy word, we're grateful, dear Father,
and for these blessed words, our Savior, that
remind us of the purpose.