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Bright and shining lights in the Bible #7

Stream or download Bright and shining lights in the Bible #7


There are so many ‘burning and shining lights’ recorded in the Bible that we must seek to limit our study. When I first considered this I thought of the list of godly people recorded in Hebrews 11. That is where we are turning for the remainder of our studies. In the opening versos FAITH is DEFINED and then in the rest of the chapter it is ILLUSTRATED.

THE FIRST MAN MENTIONED IS ABEL
However, before we come to him, I want to say something about the two people not mentioned – Adam and Eve!

WHY ARE THEY NOT NAMED AMONGST THESE SHINING EXAMPLES OF GOD’S GRACE?
Firstly, I believe that they were saved. Their conversion was symbolised in their being clothed in the skins of animals sacrificed, Gen 3:21. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” That is what we all require! Garments made by God to cover our sinfulness, Rev 7:14-17. Adam and Eve’s garments would have been blood marked.
Secondly, there was no condemning of them to hell. Rather, a Redeemer was to be born of Eve’s line. They did suffer consequences for their sin. Read Gen 3:16-19. Note verse 20. ‘Life’ would yet come of Eve.
Thirdly, they lost access to the Garden but not Heaven. Sin always brings its consequences. How often is that emphasised in the Bible! Gal 6:8.

NONE COULD EVER HAVE HAD THE SENSE OF LOSS AND SHAME LIKE ADAM AND EVE. When David sinned, he undoubtedly had a great sense of shame. Psalm 51:3 shows that! “My sin is ever before me.” He could never get away from the sight of the great sin he had committed when he had enjoyed so many privileges from the Lord! David was never the same man again!
How much more Adam and Eve must have suffered from a sense of the dreadful wrong they had done and suffering they had brought upon mankind!
Consequently, their spiritual lives were almost paralysed with the guilt and burden and sense of failure that they bore. Consequently, there is no record of their holy actions or works of faith.
Boys and girls, history is filled with the sad stories of those who so lost out with God that, even though they were saved, they never accomplished anything great for God. Manasseh -2 Chron 33:9-20.

Bright and shining lights in the Bible #6

Stream or download Bright and shining lights in the Bible #6


We have been considering how that we will “learn” as a result of studying the history of the righteous men and women and young people given us in the Bible. Romans 15:4 has been our guide. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

The Holy Scriptures bring us ‘comfort’. The word means, if I might put it in my own words, ‘a calling aside to encourage, strengthen and uplift.’ Such comforting imparts HOPE, the last word we wish to consider from this verse.
Here then is the third thing we learn from God’s Word. “That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” What God plans for His people fills us with hope.

Here is the meaning of the word hope. “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away,” Acts 27:20. The possibility of being saved was taken away from their hearts and minds. They had NO HOPE LEFT!

That is how it is with those who are not in Christ. Eph 2:12.

The Bible is full of hope for the one who is in Christ. Like the vine we are tied and secure and know that it is well with us. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance,” Psalm 42:5.
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost,” Rom 15:13.

1. God is the source of hope.

2. Hope consists of joy and peace and faith.

3. God imparts hope by His Holy Spirit. He gives abundantly, ‘over and above’.

Bright and shining lights in the Bible #5

Stream or download Bright and shining lights in the Bible #5


Now let us see the second thing we obtain from reading and believing the Bible.

It is PATIENCE. “ . . . . . that we through patience.”

The word translated ‘patience’ in Rom 15:4 means in the New Testament, the endurance of a man who is not made to  swerve from his purpose and his loyalty to God and His truth, not even by the greatest trials and sufferings. This patience comes from our reading, studying and believing the Bible.

1. As we read the Bible we are enabled to bear patiently with life’s trials.
Waiting for a bus can create impatience but when it appears around a corner, suddenly impatience goes. The Bible shows us that we are not waiting in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:58.
The vine encounters winds and buffetings of the weather. But it is tied to a support and so can stand the buffeting. What the Bible tells us enables us to have patience and gives us comfort in our troubles! “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,” James 5:11.  In the story of Job we ‘see the end, the purpose that God worked out in his trials!’ Job 42:12.
We learn that the Lord rescues His people from trial and sustains them and this truth gives us comfort.

2. In life we shall ALL have trials. So said the Lord Jesus. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” John 16:33. We cannot live in a world filled with enemies without encountering opposition and trial. BUT, the Lord Jesus our DELIVERER has conquered the world so we may run to Him in our trouble.  “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe,” Proverbs 18:10. See also Ps 34:19.