Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up
their cross and follow Me. Mark 8:34
In the end it will be the End that judges our Christian life.
And so it is the Holy Spirit’s work, His interest, concern, energy and
activity; not only to bring people to the door and to get them inside the door,
but to make them know that that door is but the opening of a Way, on the other
side of the door everything lies. It is not the door alone, but it is what lies
beyond the door, and that is this renewal, this making anew after
the image of Him that created. The End governs: it is Christ in all that He
signifies and means and stands for. It is that vast All that He is.
“Christ is All, and in all” is the last clause. It is Christ in that fullness,
which is more than our salvation, more than our initial salvation. The door is
essential, but it is what it leads to that justifies going in it at
all.
He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together. Colossians 1:17
Christ Himself, when He was here,
never failed to let people know that when they entered that door, or that
straight and narrow way, they were in for trouble.... Now that may sound like a
very terrible thing to say, especially to you young Christians who are not far
inside the door, but be perfectly clear about it; the Lord Jesus never deceived
anybody about this, never at all. He let people know that to “follow Him,” as
He put it at that time, involved them in difficulty and suffering and
persecution and trial and a lifelong thing. There is a cost here, a great cost.
And we shall discover that while there are the compensations, for there are
undoubtedly the compensations in this life, and the mighty compensations for
eternity, this is a way which is not easy for the natural man by any
means. This work of the Holy Spirit is drastic, exacting, and very trying to
the flesh. Make no mistake about it; it will take all the energy that the Holy
Spirit Himself has to accomplish this work. It really will. So the Lord Jesus
has not left us in any doubt about this.
Here there is no Greek or Jew,
circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is
all, and is in all. Colossians 3:11
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