by David Long
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mk. 12:30-31).
We get these two commandments right and all the other commandments will fall into place. We get these two wrong and we will be messed up on all the others.
by David Long
"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living" ( Mk. 12:41-44). Compared to the poor widow the average Christian today doesn't know the meaning of sacrifice.
by David Long
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44).
Is your father the devil? The people to whom Jesus was speaking claimed God as their father (John 8:41). But their attitude and actions said otherwise. If God was their father they would have loved Jesus but they didn't (John 8:42). If God was their father they would have obeyed Jesus but they didn't (John 8:47, 51). Like them we have a choice, we can make God our Father by submitting to Jesus or have the devil as our father by disobedience (Acts 13:8-10).
by David Long
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:32-35).
"I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).
Jesus' death provides life. But in order to obtain that life we must believe and obey Jesus. "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
by David Long
"And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Num. 21:5-9).
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).
Just as looking upon the brazen serpent required obedience so does believing in Jesus (Heb. 5:8-9).
by David Long
Read Numbers 35:9-28; Dt. 4:41-43; 19:1-13 and Joshua 20:1-9. The Old Testament cities of refuge were types of the refuge we have in Christ when we obey the gospel.
"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 6:17-20).
by David Long
"who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us -- baptism(not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God)" (1 Pet. 3:20-21).
God had a plan to save man and in the Old Testament He was revealing that plan in types. Now in the New Testament we understand that plan in the antitypes. Those who reject baptism as necessary for salvation don't understand the types and antitypes.
by David Long
Read Hebrews 6:19-20; 8:2; 9:1-9, 11, 24.
The Old Testament tabernacle had two rooms: the holy place and the holy of holies. The holy place was a type of the church and the holy of holies was a type of heaven. Out in the outer court there was the alter of sacrifice and the laver. The alter of sacrifice was where the animal sacrifices were offered, which was a type of Christ. The priests had to wash themselves with the water in the laver before they entered the tabernacle. The laver was a type of baptism. Now here's the application: in order to enter heaven one must go through the church and in order to get in the church one must be baptized.
by David Long
When talking about the importance of the "name" of the church, people will say, "There's nothing in a name. It doesn't matter what you call the church." If there is nothing in a name then what do these verses mean?
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
"but if (a man suffer) as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name" (1 Pet. 4:16).
There is something in a name. The church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:24-32) and it should wear His name (Rom. 16:16), not a man-made name.
by David Long
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
"Not of works" can't refer to what God commands us to do because faith itself is a work of God (John 6:29). James tells us that we are justified by works (James 2:14-26). The works James is referring to are the commands of God. The "not of works" is referring to the Old Testament works (Eph. 2:15). Some were trying to bind the old law (Acts 15:1; Romans 4). We are saved by the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).
by David Long
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God" (John 3:19-21).
Evil doesn't like being exposed. Hypocrites don't like their hypocrisies being made known. They love their lies and hate the truth. They want to pull the wool over your eyes. Don't let'em do it. Expose them (Eph. 5:11).
by David Long
Read Luke 12:13-21.
God's epitaph over the rich farmer was, "Thou fool." The world would have said, "Here lies so and so, a good man, a good example for us all."
by David Long
Are you easy prey? Gullible people are easy prey for the Devil and His false teachers. If you don't have the mindset of the Bereains (Acts 17:11) then you are easy prey. There are a lot of warnings in the Bible about not being easy prey (Col. 2:8, 18; Matt. 7:15; Eph. 5:6; 1 John 3:7; 4:1).
by David Long
Choice, not chance, determines human destiny.
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (Dt. 30:19).
