CONTINUING

GREY HAIR AND OLD BONES

1 Corinthians 2:7

BUT WE SPEAK THE WISDOM OF GOD IN A MYSTERY, EVEN THE HIDDEN WISDOM, WHICH GOD ORDAINED BEFORE THE WORLD UNTO HIS GLORY:

This is the verse we’re looking into, building on. The Apostle Paul told these people, at this Church in the first of the next chapter that he couldn’t speak unto them as spiritual but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ( I Corinthians 3:1 )  The same Man, the Apostle Paul said about himself: THAT I MAY KNOW HIM, AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERING, BEING MAKE CONFORMABLE UNTO HIS DEATH; IF BY ANY MEANS I MIGHT ATTAIN UNTO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. ( Philippians 3:10-11 )

What does he mean ( attainunto the resurrection of the dead?) The word attain means: ( to succeed in achieving something that one works for.) As a man with grey hair and old bones I’m trying to attain the same thing. Jesus said:( John 12:24 ) Verily, verily, I say unto you , except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  With this in mind,if this seed could talk and explain to you its desire it would tell its dream is to attain unto death. This seed realizes that, like it is, it’s worthless but if it dies it can bring forth much fruit. The Apostle Paul is one of those seeds. His flesh is only the hard shell of that seed. He realizes that unless that shell falls of that the spirit of God cannot grow.

We think in fleshly terms, and that my friend is worthless. We look at dying as something that happens and we cease to exist. Let me give you an example of something I know. I often plant a garden. I’ll buy, let’s say squash seed. When I look at them they are hard and dry in my hand, no life at all. I take half of them and plant them and simply place the rest of them on a shelf. The seed I plant grow and produces squash. They also have seeds that develop in them that can be planted and produce again. But what about the seed on the shelf? That seed will stay there, lay worthless for a long time. At any time I could pick them up and plant them and the will produce as well. But a day will come when the life in that seed will vanish. It will still look like a good seed. That a picture is of us lying in a coffin. All we could have done is over. We laid on a shelf and never attained unto the resurrection of the dead.The main difference is, the seed knows nothing, we have to have a desire to attain unto that death that we might reproduce spiritual fruit.

Let’s look at something here. Let’ say that my wife and I desire to have children. Well, one day, in just a moment of time she becomes with child. O,K. actually, she, at the very first doesn’t even realize it, does she? As time moves on, one day she comes to the knowledge that she is with child. Therefore she shares her knowledge with her husband, me. Well, now two people is aware the she is with child; Guess what, the child still is not aware  that he or she or both even exist. In just a short time a lot of people might know about the child, but the child still doesn’t he exist. One day me and my wife actually hold our little baby in our arms, we take our child home and many people see our child for the very first time. The child still is not aware but he or she is gaining in knowledge each day.

I realize that children gain knowledge at different ages. What can you say is your earliest remembrance?

The point is that a child, any child is conceived, it grows and one day is actually matures if everything takes its natural course. Most, or I should say normally, children grow and mature and it’s very pleasing to that Child’s parents. Shouldn’t it be the same way spiritually? When at first we are born again, we might not know anything, spiritually speaking but we should mature spiritually as time moves on, if not what’s wrong?

The Apostle Paul, when looking at himself, if you read this account in Philippians, he saying; I’ll pay any price, makes no difference. He’s saying that he desires to see ( death of his flesh) to be resurrected in Christ. Simply that he might know him and the power of his resurrection.

Therefore we can say that the Apostle Paul grew to spiritual maturity. He paid the price and along the way he shared that same passion that other people might grow to that same spiritual level of maturity. He had the battle scars to prove it.

The Apostle Paul went into a city called Corinth. I have no idea what he faced there to bring about the birth of a new Church for the glory of God. Maybe some of you can tell me what he suffered, in that city to bring about spiritual birth. However now he’s writing a letter to the people that he paid a price for to bring about their salvation and calling them a bunch of babies that still drink milk. I fed you with milk, not with meat and I still can’t give you meat because you are still child- like.

The Apostle Paul is telling these people that there are hidden treasures in Christ, also mysteries that you, in your childish ways cannot see because you refuse to, you refuse to grow up spiritually.

Have you ever seen a little puppy when it’s first born? His eyes are closed. His mother cares for him until he matures enough to be on his own. AS he grows, his eyes slowly open that he might see. Being born again is just like that puppy. We have spiritual new birth, but our eyes are closed spiritually. The Church is our mother. Its design is to nurture each of those new babes until their eyes are open. As we mature we began to see this hidden wisdom and, wisdom of God in a mystery. It appears that the people of the Church of Corinth, when, in a given time should have been men and women spiritually, they were still babes.

We, my friends are relating the skill of ( physical righteousness ) in our Church members as being spiritual growth and it’s not. We are wrong in our spiritual mindsets. When the Apostle Paul was Saul before he was born again he said of himself: of the law I was basically untouchable. He had to die to that mindset. And began to see the spiritual things of Christ. ( Philippians 3:1-6 ) The Apostle Paul said, at that time, before he was born again, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Don’t we do the same thing? I’m a member of such and such Church. I’m highly recognized in that Church. Even the members of the Church of Corinth could boast of being a member of a Church. In the Church of Corinth, these people were not even untouchable or blameless when it came to the law.  With that being said, even if we meet certain criteria physically in any Church it doesn’t make us spiritual does it?

As a man with grey hair, looking back I made somewhat the same mistakes. When I say that I’m looking at my children. Did I simply teach them to live a righteous life, expect that from them and did I look at that, their clean living as being spiritual? When that was taking place was I feeding them anything that would make them hungry for the hidden things of God or to seek the mysteries in scripture?

We’ll get back to our journey in Genesis in a little, I promise. However, these things are pressing on my heart. Just consider! When you are viewed, and you are, do you want to be seen as a babe in Christ or a spiritual giant? A spiritually mature, all grown up believer? Are you willing to die to self that you might know all the mysteries an see the hidden things in scripture or are you content just to drink milk?

AS a man with grey hair and old bones I see our Churches filled with babes. I see teaches and pastors that are spoon feeding their flocks, and in some cases still bottle feeding them. Our Churches are more like the Church of Corinth than they are the Church of Philippi.

As a man with grey hair and old bones, my desire is to help to feed, never to hurt. I’m not anybody’s enemy. Unless you are the enemy of the cross of Christ. If that’s the case we might be enemies but not by my choice.

I realize that the book of 1 Corinthians is in scripture. We all can see that. However I’m not sure that the very people that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to ever got to read it. Can you see how that the leadership of the Church of Corinth might have received this letter, didn’t like what it was saying, therefore concealed it from the very people that needed it? The very meat that was sitting before the Corinthians on their spiritual table, their leadership withheld it from them.

But, by the grace of God, we have it don’t we? If we can take what is being said by the Apostle Paul to these people and  be spiritual enough to look at ourselves as it relates to this book, we can grow thereby. We must simply be willing to die to self that God’s spirit might teach us.

Basically speaking, under normal circumstances my mouth is the only way my body receives what it needs to stay healthy. I’ve learned as a man with grey hair and old bones to put in my mouth what my body need to sustain my health. I’m not perfect at that but I do at least realize that, over the years, as I matured in my flesh, I had to change my diet.

How does my spirit, the spirit within, how does it get fed? The first thig that most believers might say would be reading scripture or by their pastor or teacher. I’ll agree, those things are necessary tools in any spiritual growth. However, I simply cannotallow myself to limit my spiritual growth to just listening to other people and reading a daily devotion. If we do allow our spiritual walk or life to be governed by these things then we are babes in Christ our whole lives. My mama, when I was a child, to fed me. If I only allow another person to give me scripture, is not that the same picture? And, also, can you show me the verse in scripture that instructs me to read scripture? ( Study, it says: to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth  not be ashamed, rightly dividing to word of truth. ( 2 Timothy 2:15 )

God’s desire is for born again believers to study, to know him, to hear him, not the pastor, not the teacher but Him through his Spirit.

At one time I listened to my mom and dad and followed their instruction. At some point I became a man and began to think on my own. I still showed them respect but began, as I matured to make my own decisions. Believers should be the same way. The pastor and teachers in your Church are or should be related to school teachers or someone that begins your spiritual journey. We however have made a spiritual career out of going to school, with no further education.Our pastors and teachers should be like grade school or high school in our lives. At some point we graduate and seek higher education, the members of the Church of Corinth were still in kindergarten.

As a man with grey hair and old bones I charge you to grow up spiritually, one day you will be glad you did. In my journey as a believer I’ve had some great pastors and great teachers. I’ve also had some that were not so good. However, I, as a man that desired to know learned from every one of them. Friends, do you realize when you stand before God, in the body of Jesus Christ you can’t blame any other person but yourself for where you are spiritually? It’s not your pastors or your teacher’s responsibility for your spiritual growth. It’s yours. You’ll find that out when you stand before him.

There’s no such thing as a perfect pastor, teacher or person. I can teach my pastor some things, he can teach me some. I can teach my teacher some things, he can teach me some. But if either of them or I are not willing to learn, no one can teach us anything, like the puppy, our spiritual eyes are still closed.

God, help us to open our eyes, open our understanding, help us to grow, help to attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Now, back to Genesis.

AS a man with grey hair andold bones; ( I believe ) that the Church can be seen in through the whole book of Genesis. I also believe that some of the spiritual people in the Old Testament could see certain segments of it and God was pleased with them for their interest. I also realize as a man with grey hair and old bones that I see and understand very little about the hidden things and mysteries that I could understand if the spirit man, being the Holy Spirit that lives within me could fight his way through my weak flesh. As I go through this book and point out little things that I see with my spiritual eye; you look at the verses between what I point out and see what you can glean.

My desire is to talk about Simeon in the book of Luke a little but first I feel impressed to say something else.

WE see a little book in the Old Testament called Ruth. I’m not going to turn to it, but I believe it only contains four chapters. In that little book we read a story about a man named Boaz and a woman named Ruth. They eventually married. Ruth, being a poor woman would go and glean in the fields of the rich man named Boaz. She would gather the grain that the reapers would miss. Boaz seen her doing this and told his reapers to leave her some ( handfuls on purpose ).

Ruth was just like me. She and I both are very undeserving people> We, both however are willing to search to feed ourselves. The only difference is, she was searching for food to feed her flesh, I am searching to feed my soul, the hungry spirit that lives within me.

Simply speaking, common sense will tell you that if she was not out seeking, she would find nothing. It’s exactly the same with any believer, if we are not seeking, we will never find. Because of her determination to find, Boaz loved her and blessed her with ( handfuls on purpose ) He is a type of God the Father. When God, through his spirit sees his children seeking he does the same thing. Sometimes when I’m searching for one thing I’ll stumble on one of the biggest piles of spiritual knowledge that just swells within my spirit and  squeezes tears from my eyes.

WE look at people in the flesh that we say are lazy. We wonder, why don’t they just get a job and try to do better. I guess they are simply content with nothing. Aren’t we the very same way if we say we are born again and never take the time to seek out spiritual lessons or knowledge? Don’t we just expect the teacher or our pastor to do all the work? Or, are we just expecting God the Father to give us something for nothing?

AS a man, now with grey hair and old bones, I remember when I was a boy. Just five years old. My dad gave me the Job of carrying the ( slop bucket ) to the hog pen to feed the hogs. The slop bucket was a five gallon bucket, in most cases fil of milk and table scraps. The hog pen was about four to five hundred feet from our house. Time, to me, at that age didn’t mean anything, I didn’t have anything else to do anyway. But even at that may dad would tell me to hurry back. He was not hare on me about it but set boundaries you might say, teaching me to be responsible with my time, even as a five year old. I would straddle that bucket, lift it with both hands and move it one step at a time until I reached the hog trough. It was always easy to bring it back.

AS a boy, I went to work at five years old. My dad and mom, at an early age begin to teach me and instruct me on life lessons, mainly how to be a man. In Genesis, God the Father is teaching at an early age how to see spiritually, how to open our spiritual eyes.AS I grew, I learned to put that bucket in a little red wagon, my dad gave me the wagon as a Christ- mas present. Sometimes he would even help me put the bucket in the wagon. What a blessing. But it all started because of discipline and my willingness to listen to instruction.

I also remember from an early age another point I can make. My dad and I were down at Farmer’s Exchange  when they had their grand opening. I was about  seven or eight at the time. For you that live in my home town, that is the same building to we know as Southern States today. As we were looking around in that new store I spotted a little airplane that a boy, like me could fly. I didn’t ask my dad for it because I figured he won’t buy it anyway.

Years later, not long before he died. He and I were sitting and just sharing things. I ask him if he remembered the time when farmer’s Exchanged opened, he replied, yes. I told him the story I just shared with you. He told me, he, as a man with grey hair and old bones, I should Have asked him.

I realize as a man with grey hair and old bones that, in is wisdom at that time he probably would have still not purchased it for me. However that’s not the point. The point is that I didn’t ask.

In a spiritual light aren’t we the same way? We know very little about what God truly desires for us to know, the mysteries, the hidden treasures in scripture simply because we don’t ask, we don’t seek. Sometimes he might day no at times and we might receive that knowledge when we truly need it. Does that mean we quit because the answer is no at that time? In ( Daniel 12 ) Daniel ask God to reveal something to him and God refused. He answered him, shut up the book. We know see that answer, the answer to Daniel’s prayer in the Revelation. If we truly desire to grow spiritually we must ask.

The Bible teaches us that concept. One that I know of in ( Hebrews 12:9 )Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, and live?

Also, ( Matthew 7:11 ) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven good things to them that ask him?

Again, we as Church members relate this to our fleshly needs when that’s not what God is trying to tell us. It’s not that God’s desire is for you to be poor but the rather that ye be rich in spiritual knowledge. His desire is that you go to work to enrich the flesh being wise with your earnings and to go to work in the study of his word to enrich your relationship with him.

As a man with grey hair and old bones I realize that most people are like me. We see people that are lazy and say; hey man, get a job. Well, I look at you spiritually, the same way, hey man, pick you Bible up.

I have listened to my pastors over the years, even the one I have now and thought; I believe he’s wrong about that. I have also listened to them and thought; why don’t he go ahead and say this. But he didn’t. God, through his spirit, the spirit that lives within you can teach you to even take a man that is wrong on some points and grow by his mistakes.

My  desire is to be honest with about how I feel, to help, to instruct in righteousness. I believe that a Sunday School quarterly is a child’s play toy. At some point we need to grow up and use real tools to do real jobs.

You, my friend can do as you please, I will never have to stand before God for any of your short comings, only mine. However, I am concerned about you, I care about how you stand before him. Jesus himself said he wanted to gather Israel under him as a mother hen gathered he chicks under hers, but they would not. The Apostle Paul said he was willing to suffer, all that was necessary until Christ be formed in you. Israel was not willing to gather under the wings of Christ, we know that. The real question is, are you willing to allow Christ to be formed in you?

Simeon, in the book of Luke was a man that had studied the Old Testament> he had figured out, according to the time table, ( hidden. A mystery ) laid out by God in scripture that reveals when Christ should be born. God, through his spirit had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Christ child. Once Simeon had seen that Child he told the God of Heaven that he was ready to depart. ( Luke 2:25-30 )

WE as born again believers can do the very same thing. We just have to die to self and allow the Spirit to teach and guide us.

AS we look in Genesis, there is no way that even I in my flesh can see all that is here. As we move through may you can see little handfuls and teach me as well.

We pick up again after the birth of Isaac. We have seen how Sarah, being a type of the Church cast out the fleshly child and held on to the one after the promise.She cast out the flesh. That is spiritual growth in a Church when we become spiritual. We become willing to yield to God’s spirit and not listen to our flesh nor to yield to it.

God is one. There is no middle ground. We, just like this picture create middle ground and try our best to stand there but, God is not now, nor has he ever been pleased with it. If we simply look at Abraham and Sarah his wife. We can see the same picture that we see in Adam and Eve. Even in a Church setting. God’s desire is to speak to the head, no outside influence, and have his will carried out. Adam failed. Abraham failed, and so do we see it in our Churches. The members of the body of Christ almost demands that they have a voice.However, God wants, through his spirit to speak to the head and have his wife yield to all he says. He doesn’t want his wife misleading the head nor the head foolishly yielding to the bride or wife.

Can you see the problems that the world has now? Can you see how the mistakes in judgement brought about because the head, being Adam and Abraham caused simply by yielding to outside influence? Is it not the same in our Churches? We can see the Serpent speaking to Eve, we don’t see him speaking to Sarah, does that mean he’s not there? In the same way, we don’t see him in our Churches. Does that mean he’s not there?

A pastor is an ( under Shepard ), we could change that to ( understudy ). An under study is a person that is able to stand in for a main actor in the Actor’s absents. Therefore. The only person that can walk in a Church and tell the pastor that He’ll take it from here is Jesus Christ himself. If a pastor takes cues from anyone else his making the same mistake as Abraham.

A man by his very mature has a straight line vision. When men focus on a job the things around him is not important, he’s just doing his job. A wife or woman has more of a peripheral vision. She sees things going on around her far better than men do. Therefore, a spiritual wife can see trouble coming and warn her husband but see must make herself stay focused. She must never us her ability to deceive.

Can you see that same picture in as spiritual Church? The spiritual pastor, one that is truly seeking only the voice of God is focused simply on God’s word and his voice. He only has two eyes. The Church, the wife, if she is spiritual has many eyes and can see all that is happening around her, good and bad. If that Church is truly seeking to advance the voice of God she will only seek to give the pastor good instruction, never say or do anything that will bring or allow outside influence to come in.

I realize this might be taking this to the extreme, but could we also add that when Sarah came to Abraham, in a spiritual sense and talked to him about not being able to bare children, would that be a physical problem rather than a spiritual one? I truly believe we could say that looking at this from a spiritual mindset. For instance, what if she would have come to him and said: Honey, you and I are getting old. I know and trust our God and truly believe he will deliver on his promise. However I’m getting awfully weak in my flesh, will you pray with me? I need some reassurance that will sustain me.

As a man with grey hair and old bones I can see this. Far too often the pastors of our Churches are overwhelmed with the physical aspects of the Church and not the spiritual. If, nothing else this is a distraction on his ability to hear what he truly needs to hear, and that of the Holy Spirit of God.

As a man with grey hair and old bones that loves to talk to my Lord through and by the Holy Spirit, I can see this. I’ve often,while working a physical job have had people to ask me, if they could ask me a question. My mind would automatically go to the spirit within me and think, I hope it’s a spiritual question. Most of the time it wasn’t. But the fact still remains when the Church seeks spiritual answers form its pastor it’s like a whet rock sharpening his skills as a pastor. The physicalaspect of our lives can’t do that, they only dull the spiritual senses.

Can I throw something in here? It won’t cost you anymore, same price. We see in (Acts 6 ) where, shall we say the Church members were murmuring and complaining. What were they complaining about? They we not getting their fair share so to speak. In today’slanguage and coming from a man with grey hair and old bone, the Apostles actually told them; go find someone else to look after that junk, we don’t have time, it’s taking away from our Biblical studies. We desire to feed you spiritual food, feed your souls.So, that pleased the crowd and they found seven men. These men, I suppose took care of this problem. Can you imagine someone coming to one of the Apostles after this and complaining about a physical problem? This is probably what one of them would have said; what are you telling me this junk for, go talk to one of the men you picked and see if he can help.I don’t have time for it. Why in the world would a Church go to the trouble to pick such men if they didn’t do anything. WE see in the picture in Acts that they did pick seven men. I wonder how many of them were truly, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom, and of honest report? WE know two were, Phillip and Stephen. They both died at an early age, the rest probably pastored Churches like Galatia and Corinth.

 We now move up to the offering of Isaac as a sacrifice. There is a lot to see spiritually as relates to the Church before we get to this point. You can study and see what you can find in ( Genesis 21 ) I guess I’m picking my favorites.

In (  Genesis 22 ) we see where God tempted Abraham. God called his name just as a father might call the name of a child. Abraham heard God’s call. If we stop here; and ask, can you hear God’s voice, that clear? Are you willing to say, just like Abraham, here am I? You study and read all the things that happened in ( Genesis 21 ) and see what brought Abraham to this place. We know that earlier Abraham yielded to the voice of his wife. A man with grey hair and old bonesknows and understands, that was not the first time he listened to her nor will it be the last. We even know that Abraham gave his wife some bad advice at times. All this is simply being weak through the flesh and neither he or any of us are perfect.

We also don’t see here where Abraham ever told his wife about what God was asking him to do with their son.

However. This time Abraham heard God speak. Look what God said unto him. ( Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. ) It’s a lot to be said here, I try and say it all. That is, all I can see. Maybe you can add to it.

One of the first things I see here is God speaks to Abraham, Sarah is nowhere to be found. Do you suppose that Abraham is growing spiritually? Has he learned to listen to his wife when she is wise but to make sure that It’s God the father he’s obeying? Before we go any farther let’s make a point. If we read about what is about to happen, God has instructed Abram to take his only son and offer his as a sacrifice. We’ll look at this first. Abraham knows, by faith that if he kills Isaac that God will have to raise him from the dead because of the promise that God has already made to him. God also point out without a doubtthat Abraham only has one son. We don’t realize it very often but all we do in our flesh means nothing to God the Father. It was the same with Abraham. All the buildings we build and love, all the things we possess it nothing, even we, will lose them at some point. We have already seen and made a point that God looks after our flesh, but our healthy bodies are supposed to glorify his name. It’s the spirit within he desires to feed.

Do you suppose that Abraham shared with Sarah what God was asking him to do? As  a husband or a pastor, what would you do? Let’s say, for the sake of argument that Abraham did share this with his wife. It would have been the right thing to do, don’t you agree. As a man with grey hair and old bones, I can only imagine what it would be like if I told my wife I was going to kill one of our Children, I can hear the come back from that statement now. What? Manare you crazy, I’ll kill you before I let you do any of the such. What would your wife say?

That is looking at it from a strictly physical stand point. So let’s say, like Abraham Sarah has grown spiritually by the physical mistakes she has made as well. Therefore she realizes she can trust her husband’s judgement as he seeks to obey God, she gives him her full support in the matter. Whether we are speaking from a husband and wife stand point or a pastor and a Church stand point, this is what God is looking for. His desire is for the head to yield to his voice and, as that head speaks and reveals God’s will the weaker vessel follows that head as he follows Christ.

We see in ( Genesis 22 ) basically speaking, a man and His son. The wife is not seen. Only the necessary components to bring about God’s will. Now, as I say that, since Sarah is being seen now as spiritual, where is she? She’s at home praying for God’s will to be carried out. Behind the scenes of every spiritual husband and every spirit filled pastor there’s a wife and Church that’s actually praying and asking God to give him the strength to carry out the very will of God.

Therefore although she’s not there. She’s doing her job.When a pastor is standing behind the pulpit his wife is not standing there however, if she is doing her job, he knows she praying, and he has her full support as he faces the difficult responsibility of saying and doing all God, through his spirit asks him to do. A man with a wife that truly stands behind him and willing to hear the spirit of God can be backed against the walls of hell, he will still not back down.He will even offer their child for sacrifice, by faith, trusting God.

The main two components that it takes to bring about God’s will is two things. It takes a body yielded to the Spirit of God and a body willing to be sacrificed. We see them both in Abraham and his spirit son, Isaac. Do you remember the verse in ( Acts 8:32 )? He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; like a lamb before the sheerer, so opened not his mouth:Isaac was this person, a type of Christ. Isaac didn’t understand but completely trusted his father.

I’m still studying and looking. So therefore the next thing I say I might need your help with. I pondered the two young men. We now the mountain he showed him was actually Mount Calvary. This whole picture is all about the perfect sacrifice. It’s pictures like this that point to Christ all through scripture. I love looking for those nuggets and sharing them.

Why the two young men? When Abraham departed from them he said this; I and the lad with go yonder and worship and come again to you. He implies that they both were coming back. That’s faith.

What if, the two young men represent the future nation of Israel and the future Church, both of which were not known at that point. I don’t know, just something to ponder.

( I believe ) the two young men do represent some people or something in Scripture. Things of this mature are things that stay on my mind while I study over years. As I study one day I will see something, and the Spirit of God will nudge me and make me go back to these two young men and tie it all together. It might be in a message I hear or somewhere in scripture that I remember or read. And also, it might not matter but I truly enjoy searching for those hidden treasures and mysteries.

Isaac is a type of Christ here. Look in ( Genesis 22:7 ) Abraham takes the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. Can you see Christ carrying the wooden Cross there?

One of the next things I like to point out here is the way Abraham the father answers his son Isaac when he notices that they have everything but the animal for the sacrifice.( Genesis 22:8 ) It’s actually two things here. When Isaac spoke his father, look at how Abraham replied,( here am I, my son ). When God’s children are yielded completely to him the line of communication between each of us and God the father are the same way. There’s total and clear understanding here. We’ll get back to this but let’s look at Abraham’s response to Isaac’s question. He replied; ( God will provide himself a lambfor a burnt-offering.) Abraham is already understanding that, one day God himself will become the sacrifice. He sees that by faith. WE see here two people, Abraham the father and Isaac the son, both are totally yielded to the spirit of God.

In ( verse 9 9 ) here we see that Abraham actually came to the exact spot that God directed him to. That’s where he built the alter. Can you see how sensitive the man is to the voice of God? When I read this I wonder, what if this was the exact place that Christ was crucified? I know, there are people that know far more than I do about places and things, but I’m not concerned about those people or things. I just love my conversations with the spirit of God. As a matter of fact, if the spirit of God told me that was the exact spot, I’d stand on that fact just because he said it.

Abraham went as far as building the alter, lay his only son on it and lifted the knife to slay him. But God stayed his hand. Now, listen to this; that means God’s voice, God spoke to him and stopped him. In Verse (11) God said; Abraham, Abraham and Abraham heard his voice. Did you notice how Abraham was just as receptive to the voice of God as Abraham was receptive to the voice of Isaac? Isaac listened to Abraham, Abraham listened to God.

This picture again was a mere type. We see the real thing on the Cross of Calvary. Can I make a very profound point here? Abraham was very sensitive to the word or voice of God. If he had not been he would have killed Isaac his only son, where would Israel be if that had been the case? In this picture we see two people very obedient. Those two people are Abraham and Sarah, they both learned from their lack of obedience and lack of faith. Now simply by being obedient and beingsensitive to God’s voice. Israel is born, a great nation.

What if? I say this to make a point. Religious people are not sensitive to the voice of God. They are never concerned about what God thinks. What if, on the day of the crucifixion the religious people would have been sensitive to the voice of God. Didn’t Pilate give them a choice? Do you think they heard the voice of God? A couple of things come to mind here. Do you remember the verse that we wrote earlier? ( If they had known they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of Glory? Religion is of the world, they simply cannot hear the voice of God. Jesus cried from the cross, My God, My God, why hast though forsaken me? If Abraham would have slain Isaac, Isaac could have cried the same thing couldn’t he?

What did Isaac do to deserve what is about to happen to him? Can you see my point? God spoke to a spiritual man and the spiritual man listened and stayed his hand. On the day or about the time of the crucifixion those people, being religious could not hear the call to stay their hand.Just by way of making another point. Have you ever, been under or a terrible circumstance and with tears, a very heavy burden, cried, MY GOD, WHY? Have you ever been at this point?

 In almost, I hesitate to say all. because I don’t know for sure but, in most cases, if we look deep enough, God could have been screaming to the top of his voice, trying to stay a hand, but no one would listen.

 I have, and if I had the time I’d share a few of them with you. Technically, can’t we call this a very short prayer? We’ve always assumed that Jesus was crying out to God his Father and asking he, being God, why he had forsaken him. When, in reality, Jesus could have been speaking to the very people that heard him say those words. Those were the people that had forsaken him, not God the father.

We now know that their inability to hear became our salvation and another part of God’s family was born.

Just how deep can we go here? As a man with grey hair and old bones it sends cold chills up my spine to think about the people that I have let down because of my unwillingness to die to self and be sensitive to God’s voice. People that are in hell, screaming, Why? Why? And I could have done more if I were more willing to suffer, spend time on my knees seeking to hear God’s voice, but I didn’t.

I also here, remember the verse in ( Revelation 3:20 ) Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock. He’s speaking to the Church, knocking on a Church door. Can we not hear, are we not listening, even looking for him anymore?

You see, the only place that Isaac died was in the mind of God. He seen Abraham’s willingness to kill his only son and, in his mind it was a completed act. He also seen the willingness of Jesus Christ to die for us, and in the mind of God, he did not die, did he? We clearly see that.

The Bible says that Abraham lifted up his eyes: ( verse 13 ) He seen a ram caught in a thicket. There was the sacrifice.What can we see within and about that Lamb that speaks to us about Jesus Christ?

God sees our religion, our willingness to listen to everyone but him. We can choose to deny that, but it doesn’t change the facts, not in God’s mind. Today we live in fear. We are afraid of offending people, we live in fear of not being excepted by our piers, losing the support of man, being wrong when we teach or preach, being rejected, making our wives or husbands upset. We desire for our children to, what we say, join Church so bad that we’ll do anything but listen to God to get them there. All that paints areal pretty picture, but it never changes reality. Do you think as a man with grey hair and old bones, I haven’t been there?My children were baptized, joined Church, said they were saved. I truly appreciate that, and my desire is that it’s true, a fact. However, me being satisfied and feeling good does not mean that God had anything to do with it does it?

In reality, we are similar to Abraham. We earnestly say we desire the same picture that we see in Abraham, but we are not willing to pay the same price. Abraham didn’t kill his son did he? Just a picture.

Don’t we in a spiritual sense have to be willing to pay the same price as Christ paid? Die to self? It’s just in a spiritual sense?

Let’s move on. It’s a lot to see but I’ll leave that up to you if you are interested. But we see that Abraham came down off the mountain. Spiritually speaking, when Abraham was going up the mountain it was a type of Old Testament saints looking forward to the cross of Calvary, when he was coming down it’s a type of us, looking back to the cross of Calvary.

He came down, got his two young men and they went to Beer- Sheba. This means ( the well of an oath ). God promised him some things didn’t he? When he got to this place, what did he find? He found that the wife of his brother had born children. You and I can discern that these children are not the descendants of Isaac are they? They are people of a whole other family; can we say; the Church. We must realize that every person that will ever be saved has to come by and through the blood of Christ. This is something the religious world cannot see as far as those that build religions apart from Jesus Christ in any respect. Remember God’s promise to Sarah’s handmaid? He said, her son would be a  great nation. He sent her to Beer-Sheba. Where is Abraham now? Is he not in the same place? He has grandchildren. Every one of these people, then and now, we are, part of these children in one form or another. Anyone that is not a descendant of Isaac can become a member of the body of Christ, they each must come through his blood. Even the descendants of Isaac can be born again. The whole point is that the Church is the great nation God promised the Sarah’s handmaid. All these nations that think they are great, denying Jesus Christ, they are not. Even if we walk with a false Christ, one we create ourselves we are nothing, even they, that put on a show but are truly denying Christ are in the same demonic mindset. Think about it, you either gather with him or you are scattered abroad. That means you are not born again, it doesn’t matter how much you hate the mindset of some religions you are actually no different.

Do you realize that there is only one hell? The members of the most Christ hating, Israel despising, even those that hate born again believer are going to that hell. If you are someone that is simply playing Church, walked down an aisle, joined Church, got baptized but actually you have never been born again, where do you think you will spend eternity? You will be with them in the very same hell.

Sarah died. Abraham sought a place to bury her.

As a man with grey hair and old bones I wonder about things of this nature. Why would God in all his wisdom, make a point to tell us all about this process? There’s a question to be asked here. The people that died before the flood, did they have an eternity, or did they just die? That’s just a question. Also, if people believed before the flood, where did they go when they died? We see here, after the flood that Abram is preparing a place to bury his wife. Abraham and Sarah are the grand parents of the whole nation of Israel and, he is also the grandfather of the children of another great nation. He here, is purchasing a place to bury the grandmother of Israel. He is determined to pay the price for it. Why? Wonder why he didn’t just let the man that owned it give it to him?

There are religions that encourage their members not to study scripture. They want their people to simply listen to the leaders, whatso ever they might call that leader. I wonder sometimes if we, as member of our local Churches are not blindly doing the same thing? Questions of this sort and, the believers desire to understand them enhance our faith. It also gives us assurance of our salvation, simply by studying.I say this out of concern, in most of our Churched today we are not encouraged to bring our Bibles to Church. We never hear our pastors say anything about following along with them in scripture and, in most Churches they use pre- prepared teaching material.

As a man with grey hair and old bones, I take my own personal stands on these types of things. The spiritual stands that I take are not forced on anyone. However, when I speak to people I do stand on my principles and what I believe. Not one person has to agree with my personal stands.

As a man with grey hair and old bones, I can’t remember whether I’ve already said the statement I’m about to make or not. I know I’ve made it, but I write so much and say so much I forget what I say where. If I’ve said it already in this article, it’s worth saying again.

I’ve always wondered why the pastor of any Church won’t take a stand on what version of scripture is choses to preach out of. If a pastor likes the Living Bible for instance, why not encourage his people to bring that Bible with them to Church? If the various members of that Church want to study another version at home, fine but at least when they gather together they are reading the same words.

( I believe ), that means, you don’t have to agree with me. The inability or lack of standing on certain aspects of Biblical standards is weakening the cause of Christ, in our Churches and, therefore his voice is not heard through our voices outside the Church.

Do you remember when this man with grey hair and old bones made the statementabout showing respect for the elders, listening to older people while we stand in front of them but forgetting what they say once they are gone? Well, to this man with grey hair and old bones, this is the same way. WE say we stand on certain principles while we are around certain people, like in a Church setting but never mention it outside the Church.

It’ referred to as ( push back ) we’ll say. Our Churches are not pushing back against the world. We like to talk about it inside the Church house, we talk about how the world is but never talk about it outside that building.

There’s no such thing as a free thing. If we think, in our minds it’s free then we are being deceived. Even salvation, Christ had to pay a price for it. Now the act that brings about salvation is free to us, as the recipients but, is it not true that some earthly body had to pay a price to bring that free gift to you? How did you find out about salvation? Didn’t you have to find out from another person? After Christ was Crucified and arose, the Apostle Paul had to pay a price to share salvation and so on it goes.

Also, do you think that anything beyond your salvation is free? Are you telling me that once you make a profession of faith in Christ, you have nothing to do? Is that what you think? Even your physical birth was free to you, however someone had to pay a price to get you into this world, your mother did, Ask her. She is a type of the Church. Our Churches are they willing to pay that kind of price?Your mother and father had to pay a price to bring you to maturity and that my friend, wasn’t free. Our pastors, teachers and,  and in general, Church leaders have to be willing to pay that same kind of price in a spiritual sense, to bring new believers to spiritual maturity.

This Actually has nothing to do with Sarah’s place of burial, but we can see the same picture here. When a man offers you something for nothing, you be careful. Within that offering it might be a hidden cost on down the road. ( I believe ) we see this in our Churches to day. We’re not taught to look beyond our day of salvation,or beyond our day of death, that is, physical death.How do we pay the price for both from our day of salvation?

In our Churches we don’t close the door enough, we leave it cracked. It’s easy for our flesh to rule our thinking when Satan has too much access to our thought process.( I believe ) that even born again believer have to be taught from spiritual birth how to see the spiritual aspects of God’s word, to slam that door. Simply understanding the concept of salvation is not able to do that. We must have our spiritual eyes opened in order to grow spiritually.

Now back to the purchase of the place of burial. Since Adam fell in the garden of Eden, who is the prince of the world? Is it not Satan? Do you think he, being Abraham or we can trust him?

In the picture we see here of Abraham being determined to give this man money. In other words, it’s a clear deed,no strings attached. Far too often we leave doors that we should tightly close with a little crack in them and the enemy slips in through the crack. I believe we could say that’s what happened with the offering of Sarah’s handmaid to Abraham that he might have a son by her. I also believe that, both Abraham and Sarah learned from this, spiritually speaking. The problem is you can’t go back and undo the mistakes that have already been made, just learn from them and move on. Here, Abraham is dealing with the children of that physical relationship, { the flesh )  Neither he or any of us can trust it. He is slamming the door shut on the deal.

 I’m going to give you a couple of things to think about. neither of which might be all together correct but something to ponder and build on. I will say however that this, like other things we might look into are those hidden things and mysteries that I love. I can imagine one day in eternity God the father grading my test paper and showing me where I was right and wrong.If you disagree with the things I see in this passage, then you pray, seek you own answer and teach it. One day God will grade you test as well.

That relates to the man travelling to a far country that called his servants and left them talents. We see later, when he returned what happened. ( Matthew 25 ) Being born again is a hidden thing within itself. That is, unless it is revealed through our flesh. Each of us have physical talents that can be tied to our spiritual birth if we are willing to put ourselves in service for our Lord. When we leave that door cracked, giving Satan a way into our mindsets we allow him to deceive us into thinking things that are not spiritual , we lean on our flesh and not God’s spirit. We see the ability not the allow that to happen when, Jesus contended with Satan: ( Matthew 4:1-10 )This is the first thought. Jesus Christ is a type of each of us within himself. He is, God in flesh. Since we are born again we have that same spirit living within us. Jesus takes scripture here each time Satan tempts him with something and, with that scripture, slams the door shut to the temptation.

Abraham, being a spiritual man, here is standing in, typically speaking, the world. That is what we, as believers do every day of our spiritual lives. He could not trust the flesh, his or anyone else’s. We cannot make deals with the devil. When it comes to the spiritual aspect of your life, get a clear deed and then use that deed for the glory of God. Abraham and Sarah tried to make a deal with the devil, they learned, get a clear deed.

I hear people that say they are born again, often say, they hope they go to heaven when they die. Their deed is not clear to them. Doubt is a crack that Satan slips in way too often.

As a man with grey hair and old bones, I wrote all I just said in a few different settings. I hope you can get the point I’m trying to make. It’s basically saying that we need a distinct border line or understanding between our flesh and our spirit. This is what Abraham is willing to do at any cost as he deals with this aspect of his family. We need to separate ourselves from our weak flesh as much as possible.

The next thing I see here has to do with a difference I see between the Old and New Testament saints.As a man with grey hair and old bones I realize that not many people think about this. However, as I study, and have been over the years of my born again experience, I run across scripture that causes me to question things of this nature. I just wonder why most people don’t?If all we needed to know about in the  Bible is the Ten Commandments and that Jesus Died and rose again, why didn’t we just have the gospel of Luke and the Ten Commandments in a book and call it the Bible? Why in the world did he put 66 books in the book we call the Bible? ( I believe ) that fact that we are willingly ignorant of all God has for us in scripture will one day be to our hurt. It’s one thing if you can’t learn as a born again believer and quite another just to be ignorant by choice.

There are people that are ( Jesus only ) believers and also, some other people that won’t read the Old Testament. I, like the Apostle Paul am not their judge, God can take care of that in his time. However, many people might decide, as long as they get to heaven , that’s all I’m looking for. I, as a man with grey hair and old bones say to that, one day, we’ll see.

What is ( easy believism )? Is it not believing at all?It’s easy to tote a Bible and say you’re saved. It’s easy to sit in a Church, enjoy the singing, listen to the preacher and allow everything about you to remain the same. So, you heard a preacher one day in a message say something about Jesus Christ and your need for him, at that you joined Church, that’s easy. It’s easy to say you are a Christian, the whole world is saying that today. It’s even easy to say that I’m wrong about what I’m saying about Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. I know that and understand that.

There’s never anything easy about truly exalting Jesus Christ with your deeds. It’s hard to seek the hidden things in scripture and to understand the mysteries. As a man with grey hair and old bones, ( I believe ) those things, when taught and seen is a treasure that the people of this world cannot come close to understanding. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. All these things help those that are born again, know him and the power of his resurrection.

Abraham purchased a field. That field and the land he purchased had a cave within its boundaries. We now know that Abraham is the grandfather of both spiritual aspects of this world. The nation of Israel and, basically speaking, the Church.

A little earlier I mentioned where the people before the flood went when they died. When we consider this, just think of all the people that are born at this time after the flood. Noah had three sons. We’re only following the time line of one of them. Abraham is a descendant of Shem. Although we can see the genealogies of the other two sons of Noah that’s as far as we can see. We can see one thing about them, they tried to build a tower to heaven. God stopped it by confounding the languages.

 That’s one reason I make the point that we are seeing a picture of the Church in the physical son of Abraham, being Ismael. All these other people, nations, languages, the world is full of them. The fact is, as we narrow it down, even in our own being, God is only concerned about the spiritual aspect of our lives. He shows no concern for our flesh. Our flesh or, the flesh of nations will not please God. Therefore we will have to or at least assume that both the Church and the nation of Israel both came from the seed of Abraham. In his seed all these other people can be blessed. If you look at our world today, what are the two most despised entities? Would you agree that it is the Church and Israel?

You, as an individual, a nation or a sect might not like or believe this but if you are ever going to please God or see him as he is, you must come through one of these two, and there are only two entities. Now, even Israel is expected to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Although they will inherit the earth one day, right now and over the last two thousand years or so every person must be born again. Actually, it has always been, basically speaking; the condition of the heart, not the relationship with a family.

As a man with grey hair and old bones I realize that, as a people we are not much different than the people that lived just before the flood of Noah. The Bible teaches us that without a doubt; as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the son of man cometh.

One other point I see a need to point out is this. In the New Testament Jesus said not to go to but the lost sheep of Israel. ( Matthew 15:24 ) The Samaritans we not seen as worthy of their time, outcast. Is that not a picture of Ismael and his mother?

Do you remember the story or parable in the book of Luke about the good Samaritan? It’s found in ( Luke 10 ). If you read that you will see that it talks about a man that has been beaten and left in a ditch. A priest, a Levite and a Samaritan all come by. Do you think that this story is told just to show you that you were supposed to help the needy? Give him what he needs and care for them? The truth is that it is a spiritual lesson.Can you see there that we, today are more like the priest and Levite than we are the Samaritan? Now, that’s because this is actually spiritual and not Physical. We see the physical aspect of it and might be able to fulfill that aspect however, on the spiritual side there are people that have spiritual needs and we will not fulfill them, we walk by on the other side of the road. We are like the priest, we look religious but offer no help for the soul. Like the Levite, we think by law I don’t have to do anything. Do you doubt what I am saying here? Well, tell me, or think within your own self, when is the last time you actually share the gospel of Jesus Christ with a person you think is lost? We are willing to help with the physical needs but never even consider healing to soul by sharing the gospel.

We sit in our perspective Churches, pay our tithes, we look the part, we think all this makes God happy.

As a man with grey hair and old bones, I see these hidden things and mysteries. God didn’t have to make a way for Ismael, nor did he have to stop Abraham from slaying Isaac, but he did. He could have just let each of us get exactly what we deserve, hell, but he went all the way to Calvary to pay for our sins. We see these things in the Old Testament.Through the loins of Isaac, God brought forth a man, his name is Jesus. He is the savior of all those that will come to him, of the family of Ismael and beyond, if they will only believe. There’s a statement made in the New Testament: ( salvation is of the Jews )( John 4:22 ) Ye worship ye know not what: to whom is he speaking there? We know what we worship: Again, to whom is he speaking about? For salvation is of the Jews. All salvation comes only through and by the nation of Israel.

Within this field that Abraham purchase we also notice two things;( the field ) and ( the cave ). He buried Sarah in the cave, which was  in the field in which he purchased.

I’m going to end this segment right here. I do, however want to leave this with you. Even being born again, knowing Christ, how close you to hell right now?

I’ll be back to this, By God’s grace, I promise.

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