And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

John 1:16

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:14

We understand that it is by God’s grace that we are saved.  It is not our own efforts, but is His efforts.  It is only by coming with no merit of our own, but as sinners who sin, with no excuse or righteousness of our own merit, and by coming to the bloody cross with our own souls, that we enter into Christ’s life within.  It is only in the fullness of that finished work that we have any life whatsoever.  Paul called any efforts besides simple faith in the cross to be “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1).

On the other side of this is Jesus’ Words, saying, that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we will in no way ever enter the Kingdom.  He said that the gate was small, and the the road to life was hard and narrow.  Only a few find it.

Between these two places on either side, which we could call ditches, we find the road.  Narrow as it is, it is still the road, and it must be traveled.

When we learn to preach the fullness of His Grace hand in hand with the narrowness of the road, we will have begun to understand the finished works of the cross.

The Words of Jesus cannot be understood correctly outside of a correct understanding of the cross and living life as a new creation.  Paul brought this point forward in his epistles, and explained it with the revelation he received.  In the administration of his revelation, he explained how we have passed from the first Adam to the last, Jesus Christ.  He explained how we at one time, every person alive, were wedded to the law, but, through the sacrifice of Jesus, we ourselves died to the law, and have become one with Christ.  We no longer follow the spirit of the law of sin and death, but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!

But, Jesus’ words stand as the standard of all righteousness for all the ages.  This narrow road, this seemingly difficult to find place is precisely what Paul was explaining in his exegesis of both his current revelation and his study of the Old Covenant law (Matthew 13:52).  This is the life of the Spirit.

It was the in the life of the Spirit that Jesus lived and demonstrated the power of the Spirit through signs, wonders, and miracles.  It was in the life of the Spirit that Jesus lived spotless and blameless and demonstrated all the gifts and fruit of the Spirit (although, He obviously lived perfectly before that as well).  It was by living in the Spirit that Jesus had the greatest wisdom, demonstrated the greatest meekness, and walked perfectly through every storm.  This was the life of the Spirit that Jesus came to display.  And, it must be understood how integral this is with every understanding of the Kingdom ever described.  There is no Kingdom of God without the Holy Spirit, and there is no Spirit-filled life without Jesus Himself (John 3:3-5).

So, while to the disciples, much was not yet fully understood, to us, it has been revealed by the Word and by the Spirit.  To us, we have the understanding of Paul, like any good preacher who expounds the Word of God to us, to help us see more clearly what Jesus, our Lord, said.

Just as with salvation, the bringing of any of our own, self-inspired works, all our efforts in ourselves is a dead work, as Paul elsewhere described.  But, this is not the end of the story!  If it was, then we would have no purpose on the Earth.  But rather, read what Paul wrote elsewhere about the cross.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

You see, there are those works which we do in and of ourselves, which are dead.  Yet, there are those works, inspired by the Spirit and walked out in a life of the Spirit, and not of ourselves, for which we were created.  These works, God has prepared in advance for us.  You see, they aren’t our works, they are His.  This is how Jesus said that He did the works of the Father.  They weren’t His works, they were the Father’s.  He only ever did or said what the Father did, and hence, was perfect.

As works without faith are dead, faith without works are dead (James 2:26).

The fullness of the finished works of the cross says that I am free from my own life so that I can live Christ’s life.  There is not a middle ground anywhere in scripture.  Either we live for Christ or we live of another.  Christ’s life demonstrated and modeled the life of the Spirit, showing forth Spirit-filled works that were inspired from Heaven and not His own fleshly, carnal mind.  He did not demonstrated His own divinity in what He did (although He was God), but rather that of His Father.  Hence, the scriptures were fulfilled.  Even in the One that had no need in His mortal flesh to do the works of another, but He did so so that we might have life.

What he lived, and offers to us, is the life of the Spirit.  We, by learning to live by His Spirit as He did, demonstrate the same gifts, same anointings, and same character as Him.  In so doing, even when we give a cup of cold water to one of His disciples in His name, we fulfill the law of Christ, which is to love.

How do we demonstrate that we have accepted Christ, and all that He is?  By our love for the brethren.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:15-20

While the works to not save us, for only the works of the Father, done of the Spirit are righteous, those who truly have entered, and love the Lord, will work.  For it is impossible that one who believes wouldn’t do the works of Jesus, in some measure.  For, truly, if God had not ordained a way for a man to do good works, namely, by His Spirit, there would be no purpose, and only vanity, futility, to all his toil under the sun.  But, the walk of the Spirit is by Grace!  There is a work that can be done “by us” that is not “from us”, and it is called obedience.

The fullness is the finished, even as Christ said that the work of the Father is to believe that He is the One (John 6:29).  But, whoever believes, these signs will follow…

This is why Paul, after explaining the believer’s position, so clearly then admonishes them to put off the old and to put on the new.  In the context of the writing, the exchange on a daily basis can only take place in the context of a Spirit-filled life.  That is, it is only possible to either put off the old, corrupted flesh, or to put on the new life of Christ, through the power of the Spirit within.  This is why Paul exhorts believers to do so, believers that He has already taught on the finished works of the cross.

For, as we grow in His grace, and in His faith and nature, we more completely and wholly, on the outside, resemble Him, because we walk further in His greater grace (James 4:6).  As we humble ourselves and submit to Him, He gives us more grace, that we could walk in Him fully.  As we do not all heal people with our shadow as Peter, or have aprons that we touch bring deliverance as Paul.  Therefore, we all have further to go in Christ.

But, the Grace that God brings is narrow, and yet it is free.  It requires everything be surrendered, and everything be sacrificed (Luke 14:33).  We have all received, but as we grow in Him, we are responsible for what we have learned, and to what we have already attained (2 Corinthians 10:6).

In the fullness of the Spirit, we will fully abide in the original intent and Spiri2  of the Law of Moses.  Being its author, when we live by the Holy Spirit, He keeps us in His original plan, the same plan which was from the beginning, which He intended for the first Adam, but which was realized only by the Last.

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

John 1:16 NASB

 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1