DEAD, BUT STILL SPEAKING

“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4).

Adam and Eve

Take personal responsibility for your sins.

Adam: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:12).

Eve: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Gen. 3:13).

David

Christians, be willing to confess your sins.

“I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Sam. 12:13).

“I have sinned greatly in what I have done” (2 Sam. 24:10).

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

King Saul

Envy will eat you alive.

“They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" So Saul eyed David from that day forward (1 Sam. 18:8-9).

“For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there” (James 3:16).

People of Sodom, Gomorrah Do not give yourself over to sexual immorality,

and yes, that includes homosexuality.

“as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:6).

David

It would be wise to be like Job and make a covenant with your eyes.

“I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?” (Job 31:1).

Herod

Do not enter into an unlawful marriage.

“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18).

“…whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” (Matt. 19:9).

Christians in Laodicea

Lukewarmness is disgusting to God.

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:16).

“…I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20).

David, fellow-Israelites

Better check with God first before you act.

“The Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order” (1 Chron. 15:13).

NIV: “We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”

John the Baptist

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord” (James 4:10).

Think about the attention given to his birth, the importance of His work, the popularity he gained, and the high praise given to him by Jesus.

“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Rulers of the synagogue

Don’t give in to peer pressure.

“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42-43).

Remember Daniel, and his friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Peter

No matter how many times you may have denied the Lord, you can still return to Him and do great things for Him.

“When you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).

King Manasseh!

Noah, Elijah

You CAN live a godly life in an ungodly world.

Noah: “…the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).

Elijah lived during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, and things were so bad that thought he was alone.

Joshua

You, and you alone, can make a difference in the lives of a whole lot of people.

“Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel” (Joshua 24:31).

And one way to do that is to be like Dorcas!

King Jeroboam

You can also ruin the lives of many generations to come.

“…he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin” (1 Kings and 2 Kings).

The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight (2 Kings 17:22-23).

Felix

Do not delay in obeying the gospel.

“Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you” (Acts 24:25).

Demas

Do not love the world, or the things in the world.

“for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…” (2 Tim. 4:10).

“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).

Balaam and Achan

Don’t give in to greed, because there are far more important things in life than money and material things.

Balaam (Numbers 22-25; 2 Pet. 2:15-16; Jude 1:11).

Achan (Joshua 7:10-26).

Diotrephes

Only One has preeminence, and it’s not you.

“…loves to have the preeminence among them” (3 John 1:9).

“…that in all things He (Christ) may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18).

Korah and his cohorts

Do not rebel against authority.

“You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:3).

Nadab and Abihu

Do not act without authority when it comes to religious matters.

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD (Lev. 10:1-2).

Naaman

Don’t try to come up with a better plan than the one God has given.

“Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:11-12).

Peter

“…let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

“Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble…even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You” (Matt. 26:33, 35).