17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
What you have to keep in mind is; when you are looking at the scriptures in general nobody in the Old Testament had a inner work of God. There were plenty of wonderful miracle's and how God would provide for the children of Israel in the dessert and so on. The patriarchs of old are some of the best stories we can read in our Bible's. Some people even believers cannot believe how some of the Old Testament event's played out, but I believe they happened exactly the way they are written. So when you start to make statements about the Old Testament some Christian's may have a hard time dividing up the Old and the New based on how they see and know the written scriptures.
My early days as a Christian was spent mostly in the Old Testament. There was something about it that drew me to it. To me the New Testament just wasn't as appealing for some odd reason. I preached my first message out of Ezekiel just a few months into my salvation. I was scared to death to get up in front of about 50 people and give something. I wanted to do it, I was asked and I did it. Before the service a saintly little mother asked "what are you preaching on" I replied! Out of Ezekiel. Oh she said, shouldn't you be preaching John 3:16 or something easy. Well she was probably right but it didn't really matter at a few months you really don't have much to say, you would be better off to just testify.
My point is the Old Testament is still a wonderful study and blessing to go over but as you may know now I have come to talk more about New Testament work than anything that could ever take place in the Old Testament. I still have a feel for the Old Testament but it should not override a believers understanding when it comes to understanding the things of God. As a matter of fact it can't override the things of God because the deep things of God will come to you as a result of your New Testament understanding.
What is the deep things of God? First I would call it "Christ in you the hope of glory." You cannot get any deeper than Christ in you.
Second it is; the meat of the word of God. It is the "taste and see that the Lord is good," that sustenance that is deep in the core of the being of a person. It is spiritual food that satisfies human hunger to know and understand the things of God.
Do you know why we will grab on to things sometimes that really may not be good for us? Because of hunger, people are hungry to know God. If you are hungry to know God follow on with what you know and understand but yielded to the Holyspirit. That will be your absolute establishing (rooted and grounded) in him. Why should we follow understanding? Understanding is the way God is going to lead you. What you know and understand is how you stay interested in scripture and serving God. What happens when we see people go way off the deep end? They have taken up their own mind and determined in themselves and left little room for Spirit teaching (revelation).
So to say there was no inner work of God in the Old Testament is to say "that the Spirit of God came upon man" but was never in them. In the New Testament we have the Holyspirit indwelling believers from the day of Pentecost on. From that moment on believers would have the Holyspirit as their teacher of the "Christ in them." You know how to yield to the Holyspirit? Your mind, it is a mind issue, with the mind you yield to the Holyspirit. The Holyspirit is soulish, he is in the soul of believers to teach them and to teach them a very specific deep understanding coming from scripture. Glory!
What you have to keep in mind is; when you are looking at the scriptures in general nobody in the Old Testament had a inner work of God. There were plenty of wonderful miracle's and how God would provide for the children of Israel in the dessert and so on. The patriarchs of old are some of the best stories we can read in our Bible's. Some people even believers cannot believe how some of the Old Testament event's played out, but I believe they happened exactly the way they are written. So when you start to make statements about the Old Testament some Christian's may have a hard time dividing up the Old and the New based on how they see and know the written scriptures.
My early days as a Christian was spent mostly in the Old Testament. There was something about it that drew me to it. To me the New Testament just wasn't as appealing for some odd reason. I preached my first message out of Ezekiel just a few months into my salvation. I was scared to death to get up in front of about 50 people and give something. I wanted to do it, I was asked and I did it. Before the service a saintly little mother asked "what are you preaching on" I replied! Out of Ezekiel. Oh she said, shouldn't you be preaching John 3:16 or something easy. Well she was probably right but it didn't really matter at a few months you really don't have much to say, you would be better off to just testify.
My point is the Old Testament is still a wonderful study and blessing to go over but as you may know now I have come to talk more about New Testament work than anything that could ever take place in the Old Testament. I still have a feel for the Old Testament but it should not override a believers understanding when it comes to understanding the things of God. As a matter of fact it can't override the things of God because the deep things of God will come to you as a result of your New Testament understanding.
What is the deep things of God? First I would call it "Christ in you the hope of glory." You cannot get any deeper than Christ in you.
Second it is; the meat of the word of God. It is the "taste and see that the Lord is good," that sustenance that is deep in the core of the being of a person. It is spiritual food that satisfies human hunger to know and understand the things of God.
Do you know why we will grab on to things sometimes that really may not be good for us? Because of hunger, people are hungry to know God. If you are hungry to know God follow on with what you know and understand but yielded to the Holyspirit. That will be your absolute establishing (rooted and grounded) in him. Why should we follow understanding? Understanding is the way God is going to lead you. What you know and understand is how you stay interested in scripture and serving God. What happens when we see people go way off the deep end? They have taken up their own mind and determined in themselves and left little room for Spirit teaching (revelation).
So to say there was no inner work of God in the Old Testament is to say "that the Spirit of God came upon man" but was never in them. In the New Testament we have the Holyspirit indwelling believers from the day of Pentecost on. From that moment on believers would have the Holyspirit as their teacher of the "Christ in them." You know how to yield to the Holyspirit? Your mind, it is a mind issue, with the mind you yield to the Holyspirit. The Holyspirit is soulish, he is in the soul of believers to teach them and to teach them a very specific deep understanding coming from scripture. Glory!
