Month: October 2017

The moment anyone sees the title of this introductory article, he or she might think or ask, “Is there such thing as the grace of God to a dead dog? Isn’t the saving grace of God directed and applicable to human beings, not animals?” And the answer obviously is yes.  The grace of God was revealed to us all through Jesus Christ to save sinful human beings like us from the power and death of sin.

If that was the case, why are we making a reference to a dead dog in relation to the grace of God?

It is because in 2 Samuel 9:8 we see Mephibosheth Jonathan’s son describing himself to Kind David, who was showing him the kindness of God, as a dead dog. It was in the encounter of that crippled man by the name of Mephibosheth with King David that we discover the hidden mystery of the saving power of God’s grace to the human sinners who spiritually resemble a dead dog.

“Like a dead dog?” you might ask. You might even object that what we see in 2 Samuel chapter 9 is a clear story of King David’s kindness to the poor and lame Mephibosheth and the heartfelt gratitude of Mephibosheth to the King. The chapter does not say anything about grace or salvation.

And that would be a fair assessment of the story, but it is not a full understanding of the spiritual mystery in the chapter. Remember what Jesus Christ our Lord said about the purpose of the Books of the Bible.  “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that every-thing written about me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” Luke 24:44.

You see, according to Jesus Christ, the whole Bible is about God and how God saved us through the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ. And that includes the story in 2 Samuel 9. In that chapter, we have the loving and saving covenant of God discussed and revealed through the kindness of King David to Mephibosheth. We also see the crippled man, who received the undeserved kindness of God through kind David, recognizing the reality of his true spiritual condition as a dead dog who has been transformed, by the grace of God, to become the beneficiary of the eternal that only God can give.

What you have in 2 Samuel 9 is a marvelous display of justification by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  If you really want to dig in more into the mystery of Salvation by the Grace of God alone and through faith in Jesus Christ alone, I really encourage you to watch or listen to the Rev. Dr. Nick Willborn’s message, titled “Grace to the Dead Dog”, during last Sunday’s morning worship service here at Redeemer.

Listen to the sermon and discover more of the beauty of grace!

Pastor Zecharias

In Hebrews 10:32-39, we see the author of the Book of Hebrews exhorting the believers of his day to display an enduring faith in their struggling faith at the time. Some of the confessing Christians in the Church of his day were giving an indication of spiritual instability in their Christian living, as a result of the persecution that they had been facing because of their faith in Christ.

Hence, the writer of Hebrews, as a good and caring pastor would do, told them that they were in need of endurance (Hebrews 10:36). He calls them to the refreshed life of an enduring faith by exhorting them in three ways. Each of these three ways had to do with remembering:

1. To remember how they started ( 10:32)
2. To remember how they suffered for the cause of the gospel in the past (10:32-33)
3. To remember what they already have embraced ( 10:34-35)

The author, by reminding the Christians about these three good qualities of their track records in the past, calls them to be resolute in not throwing away their confidence in Christ Jesus.
He calls them to fight the spiritual amnesia that they have been suffering from by exhibiting endurance in their Christian suffering. But what is the kind of enduring faith to which the writer of the Book of Hebrews was calling his readers? How do Christians display it in their Christian life, so that from how they respond to persecution and hardship in life, because of their association with Christ and other believers who suffer for the sake of the gospel, it would become visible and perceptible that they are not shrinking back from the faith?

If you want to know the answers to these questions and learn more about what enduring faith is, I would encourage you to go to our church’s website and watch or listen to the sermon on Enduring Faith which was delivered last Sunday, October 1, 2017.

May the Lord bless you with the message and as you endure for His glory!

Pastor Zecharias