United in Resurrection

"If we have been united with Him in
a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him
in a resurrection like His."
ROMANS 6:5 ESV

If we share in His death then we will share in His life. How could
it be otherwise? What is true of the Vine is true of the Branches
that are part of the Vine. It would be impossible for the Vine to
be raised while the Branches that are part of the Vine remain
buried. So long as the Vine and the Branches are one, they share in
both the suffering and in the glory that is revealed afterwards.

In the same way, when God made us one spirit together with Christ
on the Cross, His intention was for us to experience both the
Crucifixion and the Resurrection. So Paul says that if we suffer
with Him, then we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12). Again, we
see the purpose of the Cross. If we refuse to join Him in suffering
then we cannot hope to join Him in ruling. If we refuse the
Crucified Death then we cannot have the Resurrected Life.

No Other Way To Be Saved

"Narrow is the gate and difficult
is the way which leads to Life."
MATTHEW 7:14

The Narrow Gate refers to salvation. We know that a gate is an
opening, or a door that one passes through. It is an entrance into
something. Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he
will be saved" (John 10:9). Here, Jesus connects the Door, or the
Gate, to entering in through Him to be saved. This is the Narrow
Gate. Why is it narrow?

The Bible says of Jesus, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved" (Acts 4:12). To insist that there is no salvation
apart from One Man is, in the eyes of the world, rather
narrow-minded. But we insist upon it because it is true. Jesus says
the Gate is narrow. We must go in through Him. God requires all men
to enter in through Christ in order to be saved. There is no way to
appropriate the Victory of the Cross without entering in by the One
Who was crucified for us.

Reigning on Earth

"You were slain, and have redeemed us
to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people
and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God;
and we shall reign on the earth."
REVELATION 5:9,10

When we think of a king, we usually think of some human authority
exerting their will upon their subjects with a haughty air. But
true authority is not found in title or position. Jesus, the King
of Kings, shows us that true authority is serving, not lording
over. In fact, Psalm 72 tells us what a true king is - someone who
serves the people, provides for the poor, and defends those who
cannot defend themselves.

We are being prepared for a kingdom. But our preparation is not in
learning how to wear a crown or how to walk around with a glorious
robe and scepter. One brother sings, "He's brought me low so I
could know the way to reach the heights." In God's Kingdom, to go
higher, we must go lower. That is the Hidden Wisdom.

Governed by the Holy Spirit

"The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all things
that I said to you."
JOHN 14:26

The Holy Spirit is the vessel - the Person, the instrument, the
agency, the method and the means - through Whom God accomplishes
His purpose of increasing Christ in all things. Jesus said this
Helper, this Counselor, this Comforter, this Teacher will abide
with us for- ever and will help us as we walk the Difficult Path
towards the full knowledge of Christ.

To the extent that we allow ourselves to come under the government
of the Holy Spirit, to that extent will Christ be increased. Since
the Holy Spirit is responsible for the increase of Christ,
spiritual growth is impossible apart from the Spirit. There will be
no measurable advancement, no real apprehension of spiritual
things, and no recovery of the Heavenly Order apart from the
ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Enjoy Your Inheritance

"It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain
of the water of Life freely to him who thirsts. He who
overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God
and he shall be My son."
REVELATION 21:6,7

As we look at the promises made to those who overcome we should see
that God is not establishing some new order or special group which
enjoys rights and privileges not accessible to the rest of the
saints. This is not the establishing of new promises, but a
bringing us back to the same exceeding great and precious promises
which are potentially true of everyone who is in Christ. It is not
establishing a new foundation, it is calling us back to the
Foundation which is already laid.

Crucified AS Us

"Those who are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
GALATIANS 5:24

Scripture says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
(past tense) the flesh with its passions and desires. No one can
commit suicide by crucifixion. Someone else must nail us to the
Cross. The flesh cannot crucify itself. Jesus has already done what
we could not do. The sooner we stop trying to crucify ourselves,
the sooner we can boast in the finished work of the Cross and
actually witness the evidence of it in our lives.

Notice that Paul does not merely say that Jesus was crucified for
us. That is certainly true in and of itself. But there is more. Not
only was Jesus crucified FOR us, He was crucified AS us. God
considers us to have been crucified as surely as if we were there
receiving the nails in our hands and feet. We have been crucified
together with Him because God placed us in Him the moment He was
crucified.

BOASTING IN THE CROSS

"God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to
the world." GALATIANS 6:14

Whereas the Holy Spirit is instrumental in the increase of Christ,
the Cross is instrumental in the decrease of Self. Remember that
the whole trouble with man is his inherent tendency to travel a
path that is independent of his Creator. This is why the Cross must
do a very deep, thorough work in every disciple of Jesus.

As Self is submitted to Christ, Sin begins to lose its power of
attraction, and Satan has no more leverage. The night He was
betrayed, Jesus told His disciples, "The ruler of this world is
coming, and he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). That is to say,
there was nothing in the Lord Jesus that the devil could use to get
an advantage over Him. This is the condition He desires for each of
His disciples, and the Cross is the means through which that
condition is arrived at.

NOT ACCORDING TO CHRIST

"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to the tradition of men, according to the basic
principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
COLOSSIANS 2:8

How can we be cheated? According to Paul we are cheated "through
philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men,
according to the basic principles (elements) of the world, and not
according to Christ."

It matters not if the philosophy is good, right, morally excellent,
and praiseworthy. It matters not how well intentioned, meaningful,
or helpful the tradition is. It matters not how necessary we think
the worldly element to be, or how important it is to society in
general. If none of these things are "according to Christ," that
is, if they are not of Him, through Him, and unto Him, then they
are worthless insofar as God's Purpose is concerned and must be
discarded.

EVERY KNEE EVERY TONGUE

"God also has highly exalted Him and
given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of
those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
PHILIPPIANS 2:9-11

Christ will have the preeminence in all things, but it will not be
the forced submission of a dictator who forces everyone to bow down
to him whether they want to or not. It is true that some seem to
bow down more easily than others; some are quick to confess Jesus
as Lord, others confess Him as Lord when they are older, while some
seem to hold out until the last possible moment. Some apparently
die having made no obvious confession of faith at all.
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But in the end, we have the glorious promise. Note how Scripture
includes "every tongue" and "every knee." The Bible affirms that
"He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians
3:21).

GROWING IN CHRIST

"Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also
will abide in the Son and in the Father."
1 JOHN 2:24

There is still much of Him to learn and to experience. There is
much growing which must take place. The Path is a process. We are
hardly ever as far along as we imagine ourselves to be. But we have
not been talking about spiritual maturity, but spiritual
satisfaction. If, in abiding continually in the Lord, He becomes
our food and our drink, then we will grow.

Growth is not the result of time, it is the natural result of
Christ increasing and us decreasing. The Law of Life says that
Christ must increase. Now we can do nothing to speed up this
process, but we can certainly hinder or quench it.