There are believers who are falling short of the glory of God. They are not coming to the fullness that God intended. In our initial experience of salvation, we were not brought into fullness, or maturity. There is a salvation from our sins, and from being enslaved to sin. Salvation includes saving, deliverance, healing; all this is within the meaning of the word. “We shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9b).
But we are to grow up spiritually. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). This word “uttermost” means to be brought to the “fullness” or to “ the full intention”. That is, to fulfill the ultimate objective; to arrive at the intention of God at its full point.
“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, BUT have eternal life” (John 3:15). The word “but” means there is something in contrast, something different. There are two things here. The first, to “not perish” is being saved from death. Then there is “eternal life”. In the first step, we are “in” and will not perish. In the second step, we receive an eternal life which is projected to the conclusion of salvation. “Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time top come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:19) Here, we are told to “lay hold” on eternal life. Paul is speaking about the conclusion, the coming into the fullness of salvation.
Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven” (Matt. 7:21). He is not talking about salvation here, rather He is speaking of a “full salvation”. We hear the term “Full Gospel”, but we seldom hear the term “Full Salvation”. There is a difference between salvation and a full salvation, or being saved to the uttermost.
Salvation is a gift. We cannot qualify for salvation. But there is a qualification for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. Entering the Kingdom of heaven is not a gift. A robe of fine linen, clean and white is not a gift (Rev. 19:8). “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?” (Matt. 7:22a). These served the Lord who saved them, but they were not living and ministering the principles that Jesus established. Rather, they were contradicting Him. Also, they may have taken certain liberties in their living and were walking in the broad way. “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23) He knew their works, but He did not know them. The word that is translated “iniquity” can be translated “lawlessness”.
Jesus is saying, “You are not working within the frame of lawfulness.” What law is Jesus talking about? The next word is, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matt. 7:24). He is not talking about the Mosaic law. Those who hear HIS WORDS, and do them are working in the framework of these laws. He is saying, “Do not ignore what I say; walk in it, and do it. If you do this, you will be like this man who built his house upon the rock.”
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-15). There are two gates here. Notice that it does not say destruction of what. There are gradations, or qualities of life. Jesus came to giver is life, AND to give us life MORE abundantly. The fact that He came to give us life does not mean that we have all of it. When we come to the Lord for salvation, we get so much, compared to what we had before, that we feel we have it all. But we have hardly scratched the surface.
There is a spiritual quality, a bringing us to fullness, as we grow in Him. As we walk with Him, we will come to fuller levels, or stages in Him. The broad way is salvation. The narrow way leads to the fulfillment, or to the conclusion of the matter. We must be willing and anxious to pay the price to come to the conclusion of the intention that the Lord had for us in our initial experience of salvation.
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). There are two entrances here. The first entrance is: “he shall be saved.” The second entrance is: “he shall go in and out”. There is a paradox about the broad and the narrow ways. The broad way speaks of quite a bit of liberty. The narrow way speaks of quite a bit of constriction. But, the narrow leads to broadness and the broadness leads to restriction. The greater your personal restriction (your personal limitation), the greater God’s liberty is in you. And the greater the personal liberty that you take, the more restricted God is in you. There is always this paradox, there is a broadness after the second entrance. There is the pasture, the richness, the fullness.
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (Luke 13:24). Strive. Salvation is anything but striving. How could Jesus be talking about salvation and using this term “strive”. We do the opposite to enter into salvation, we quit striving and surrender. But here, the word is “strive” to enter.
Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world: if my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight” (John 18:36). This word “fight” is the same word as “strive”. “And every many that striveth for the mastery” (1 Cor. 9:25a). This word “striveth” is the same word. “Having the same conflict which ye saw in me” (Phil. 1:30a). The word “conflict” is the same word.
Paul said, if we are going to strive for the mastery, we must be temperate in all things. The entrance into, and the staying on the “broad way” attracts the many because these desire personal liberties, and do not want to come under discipline. They are not willing to exercise self-control, they want what they want, when they want it.
“Temperance” or “Self-control” is listed in Gal. As a fruit of the Spirit. Titus 1:8 mentions it as a qualification for leadership. How can we exercise control in leadership, if we are not able to control ourselves? We cannot walk the narrow way, unless there is self-control. The narrow way is much tougher than the broad way. There are oppositions. The broad way is rather easy. We are so liberal that we accept this or that, there is no opposition. We just float downstream with the many. We dodge opposition by going along with the opposition. But if we are walking in the narrow way, we are going the opposite way and it will be necessary to plow our way through. We will lose friends and have to put aside many things. We must have within our heart the determination that we are going to walk into the fullness that Jesus has planned for us in our salvation.
“The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of the Lord did lighten it (the New Jerusalem) and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it” (Rev. 21:23-24). There are people who are saved, who are not within, but walk in the light of the city. You may still be saved, but you will not have any spiritual meat on your bones.
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14). There is an entrance that is based on doing His commandments. Having the right to the tree of life is our “fullness of life”, which is in Christ Jesus. He is the tree of life. We can be saved and not enter into the city. We are without the city, outside the gate.
There are several testimonies which are recorded in the book of Revelation. A testimony will tell where and what a person is; it will reveal the extent of a person’s revelation, his emphasis, his arrangement of things. Read Rev. 5:9-10. The elders said they will reign on the earth. This speaks of the redeemed who have come to the fullness of His purpose. These will reign with Him on the earth. In Rev. 7:9-10 we see a great multitude, without number, who could only say salvation. Rev. 19:7-8 speaks of the Bride making herself ready. This is not salvation, for we cannot make ourselves ready for salvation. She is arrayed in fine linen. This goes beyond the white robes in Ch. 7. Fine linen is defined as the righteousness of the saints. Only the Bride is portrayed as having this fine linen, which represents the conclusion of what the Lord has in mind. The Bride has come to the fullness, to the uttermost. This is “Full Salvation”.
“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). What is the fullness of God? If we will allow Him to do so, Jesus will bring this capacity, this possibility to us. “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge…For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:3,9). How are we every going to get all this? It will take perseverance. It will take an inner strengthening to get there. It will take a will that can develop hardness like flint to get there. "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16). We must be strengthened in the inner man to run the gauntlet, this narrow way and follow on to the fullness.
We are moving into this for a fulfillment; to be made into the image of Christ Jesus, to be brought into the holiness that God has designed us for, that we might stand before Him washed spotless, without blame and become all that He expects His Bride to be. This is the fullness that He has intended for us.
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Ministerial Fellowship
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