Category: Articles

INTRO TO PART 2: THE MERCHANT

Now if by God’s grace we have tasted of the perfection of Jesus Christ represented here in this parable as the one pearl of great price, we can with this foundation turn our minds towards the merchant. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls…

We can rightly surmise from this parable that Jesus is here demonstrating that all men and women in our day are merchants. Some are merchants of power. Some are merchants of pleasure. Some are merchants of evil and death, sin and destruction. Others are merchants of great wealth. Still others pursue knowledge, friendships, happiness, health, etc… Some merchants have a great sense of their sin and guilt. They have a great sense of their mortality and frailty. And so they search for help. They search for salvation from their sin, freedom from their guilt, hope for their mortality and pending death.

Ponce deLeon searched for immortality from mythical waters that gave eternal life. His whole life was a drive towards this goal. And while his name is placed on street signs in Atlanta he is no longer living. Such are the merchants in the world. Some of these merchants are even in the church. They deceive themselves and or others into thinking they are merchants of the Kingdom of Heaven but they are lying to themselves and others. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests of Jesus’ day were like this. They were in the church for the hope that they would be viewed well, that they will feel good about themselves, that they might be able to tell others they are in church and therefore be highly favored. But in their heart they were still very much the merchants of the world whom we see in the day of judgment in Revelation 18. These are the tares the devil sows in the church in the parable of the wheat and the tares (vs. 37-43).

Jesus, however, is not so much concerned in this parable to merely show the merchants of the world. He shows us that well enough in other passages. He is concerned to show us another merchant. The merchant Jesus shows is a member in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a merchant who is no longer looking for goodly pearls but has found one pearl of great price, sold all, and bought it. This merchant is a Christian. We must meditate on this parable now in the context of several lessons on the merchant.

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST’S WAY OF SALVATION

Gold, silver, and precious stones are very interesting items to study. In their common uses as jewelry they have very little utility. Ideally, they bring joy by looking upon them and a demonstration of status by showing them off. But they do not perform any great work for their owners in this life and certainly not the life to come. However, the one pearl that the merchant finds is worthy of selling all to gain it, for it does not lack any value and utility. It is not merely for show but it also gives something. To have this pearl is to have benefits from this particular pearl. So to have Christ, to be in Christ, is to have the benefits of Christ. Christ is not separate from his benefits. To have Christ is to have all His benefits. What is it about His benefits that we should so desire?

Like with Christ’s origin and attributes, we find again that Christ’s Word and Benefits are also perfect. Unlike the Old Testament prophets and even the angels and John the Baptist, God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ is the perfect prophet revealing to us His Word (Heb. 1:2); Jesus Christ is the perfect priest and sacrifice, holy, harmless, and undefiled (Hebrews 7:24 – 8:2); and the perfect King who subdues all enemies and conquers death even with His own death on the cross as evidenced in all of the gospels. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in all of His works. And that which flows from Him, even His benefits, they also are perfect.

We could spend significant time and ink considering the perfect inheritance he has given (I Peter 1:4); the perfect redemption He has accomplished for us (Col 1:13-14,22); the riches, value, and treasure of redemption through His blood (Ephesians 1:7); the perfect benefits flowing from Christ who unites us to Himself in our effectual calling, namely justification, adoption, sanctification and those accompanying benefits, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, Increase of Grace, and Perseverance to the End. These are almost too great to consider together in one paragraph! We may cry out with Paul, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.”

Jesus is the perfect way of salvation and the perfect way to these benefits. They flow from Him. There is no life, no justification, no sanctification, no nothing apart from Him. How much the Lord emphasizes this by referring to Himself even in this way, “I am the door…by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”

The merchants of the Earth sell their many pearls and buy their pearls and have nothing to show for it. They do not chase after the one perfect pearl; they chase after the many fleeting pearls. It is a sad thing and the subject of another study entirely, that the book of Revelation has been so poorly abused by well-meaning men of the past 150 years. Instead of the seeing the riches of the mystery and glory of God who defeats His enemies, of Christ who destroys all evil, of Christ who is reigning even now and will be reigning forever more, many see mystery, confusion, and strange prophecies. But if we put the confusion aside for a few moments, and if we come toward the end of the book, we can see something profound about the merchants of the world.

As the final book of Scripture draws towards a triumphant close, we read of the end of the world in chapter 18. And we find in verse 11 that there are merchants in the world at the hour of judgment, but they are not merchants in the Kingdom of Heaven. As the world is ending, the merchants of the world are weeping and mourning over her destruction. Why? Because no men will buy their merchandise any more. They have gold, silver, precious stones, and verse 12 tells us, they have pearls! All mannerof merchant materials are present: sweet spices, fine linens, foods, precious metals. As these merchants gaze upon the place that made them rich with the things of the world, they will stand afar off saying…

“Alas Alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like unto this great city!…Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate.”

In but one hour, merely a moment in time, the merchants of the world with their worldly, imperfect, destitute pearls will lose all they worked for, all they longed for, the hope of their well-being, the sustenance of their joy, the pleasure of their souls. It will vanish away and they with it. They have a pearl like many other pearls, of very little value, of no true benefit, that performs no great works, nor provides any eternal reward.

But my friends, he who has the one pearl of great price has salvation! He who has Jesus Christ as His Lord and as His Savior, he who has been born again of the Spirit, he who has been given the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good, has everything! He who has Christ has eternal life! He who has Christ Jesus has the Father also. He who has Christ has that which is perfect. He who has Christ has greater wisdom and riches than the wise and wealthy men of this world.

With Christ Jesus who is the one pearl of great price; with Christ who is the way, the truth and the life; with Christ Jesus who said, “I am the door”; is it any wonder that when John sees the vision of heaven in Revelation 21 that he sees the walls, the streets, the foundations of precious metals and rubies and then in 21:21, he sees the twelve gates which are made of…pearl! Even the world is familiar with this concept of the pearly gates of Heaven. Why the one pearl for the door? Well, Christ is the door. Life eternal in the heavenly city is through Him and only through Him. And Christ is the one pearl of great price!

Do you see the sin and misery that is Rome and every other false religion? Jesus Christ is the one perfect pearl. He is sufficient. Rome takes Christ and says, “He is good, but you need more. You need other pearls which you can work for and receive.” The one perfect way of salvation, the only way, the only hope for lost and dying men, and Rome says…not so fast. The work He said is finished, Rome says, it is still being done in the mass and by your works. The once and for all sacrifice is the once started and forever continuing sacrifice of Rome. The only mediator between God and man is more like the first of many mediators between God and man in Rome. The one pearl of great price in Matthew is to Rome the one of many pearls of good price. The perfect pearl of Matthew is the blemished, dull, distorted pearl of Rome. Those in the Kingdom of Heaven know nothing of Rome’s pearls and will not have such bondage, lies, and destruction. Jesus Christ is the one perfect way of salvation!

My friends, have you seen the perfection of this pearl in Matthew 13:46? Have you tasted of the perfection of Jesus Christ today? Will you, like Pharaoh, harden your heart at these sayings? Or will you, like Paul, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ (Phil. 3:8).”

If Christ is in you (Col 1:27) you have all things! Press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and you shall greet with joy the great day of the Lord, when with your eyes you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory. My friends, by any means possible, attain to the resurrection of the dead. And here is the means – Christ Jesus and Him crucified!

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST IN HIS ATTRIBUTES

Have you known a man or woman who was always concerned to show to others the wealth they had accumulated? Perhaps they never had earned much income while working, but had made wise investments and over the years and multiplied that wealth many times over. As the years drew on and they grew older, they talked to you and whoever would listen of their wealth. After years of delighting in this wealth, they eventually drew their final breath and never spoke, saw, or experienced anything of that wealth ever again. Like a bird, it spread its wings and abandoned them.

The merchant found something very different when he found the Pearl of great price. He didn’t find a pearl like the many other pearls he had. He found one pearl. He found a special pearl. He found a unique pearl. He found a perfect pearl. We have seen that this pearl was perfect in its origin. For this pearl is Jesus Christ, who is from all eternity and to all eternity. He is from God and He is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is also a pearl with perfect attributes.

Christ’s attributes display His perfection, for His attributes themselves are perfect. As the most expensive pearl is free of blemishes, perfect in reflection of light, ideal in color, and great in size, so the Lord in all His ways, Words, and works is perfect.

Time would fail us in our short discussion to speak of God’s perfect attributes. But if we are to embrace this pearl that is Jesus Christ, the treasure that is more valuable than all else, we must know this treasure better than all else. For to have eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. Too many have an idea of Jesus. Too many have a concept of Jesus. Too many think they are best friends with Jesus because he is said to slay all their giants and help them all the time. But too many do not know Jesus Christ. They embrace an idea of Him but do not care to know Him. The merchant found the one pearl by searching out its attributes. From a distance it may have looked like most other pearls. But the merchant did not simply embrace the idea of a perfect pearl. It was close examination that brought its perfection into observance.

As we examine the Scriptures we find it full of the perfection of God’s attributes. We see the perfection of His work (Deut. 32. 4); the perfection of His knowledge (Job 37:16; Isaiah 40: 14); the perfection of His ways (Psalm 18:30); the perfection of his law (Psalm 19:7); the perfection of God manifested in each of the three persons of the Godhead; the Father (Matt. 5:48); the Son (Heb. 5:9); the Spirit (John 14:16); and the perfection of His beauty (Psalm 50:2); all just to name a few of God’s named perfections. Over and over in the Words of Holy Scripture we come face to face with the perfection of the Lord in all that He Is as God and our God and in all that He does.

Consider the summary of the perfection of Christ – His beauty. “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us…” (Psalm 90:17); “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (I Chronicles 16:29); “…he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever. (II Chronicles 20:21)”

The perfection of the Beauty of the LORD is also described in His holiness. He Himself is perfect in Beauty because He Himself is perfect. This beauty is displayed in many ways but perhaps above all else, in His Mercy. When the Moabites and the Ammonites came against King Jehoshaphat to battle against him, the king called out on his smaller army to praise the Lord, namely to praise the beauty of Lord. And they did this by praising the Lord for His mercy that endureth forever. God is not a god of change. He is the unchangeable God and His mercy knows no end.

One way to see a merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven who has found the pearl of great price is to see his love of Christ’s perfect beauty. Consider the Word’s of the Psalmist, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.(Psalm 27:4)

My friends, what is your greatest desire of the LORD  this day? Is it for treasures of the world? Is it for success in this world? Success in your work? Success in your family? Or do you, like the Psalmist, desire above all else to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of your life, so that you may behold the beauty of the LORD and enquire in His  temple? David is the greatest and most loved of all Israel’s kings. David is blessed with riches uncountable. And this king of Israel desires one thing above all else – To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord! Why? Because the Lord is perfect in beauty, His mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. When the merchant found the one pearl of great price – he found a pearl perfect in all its attributes. Perfect in Beauty. Have you found Him? Do you like the idea of the pearl, or is it your one desire above all else to know Christ and to gaze upon His beauty?

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST IN HIS ORIGIN

Here is a topic that no writer can fully script, no minister can fully expound, no mind can fully comprehend – the perfection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ told His disciples that to see Him was to see the Father (John 14:9). Who can fully know the mind and ways of the infinite God whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts? And yet, while the infinite God by His very nature is incomprehensible to His finite creatures, His creatures can know God truthfully and sufficiently for salvation. You can know Him not because of your wisdom or because you have ascended up into the heights and brought the knowledge of Him down to man but because He Himself, the infinite God, has condescended to His creatures to reveal Himself truthfully, sufficiently, and perfectly. He has revealed Himself in His creation showing the glory of God and He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures showing the only way of salvation through Jesus Christ.

In the Scriptures, you and I are brought face to face with the Triune God of Glory, Father Son and Holy Ghost. In the revelation of God to man this 2nd person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, takes upon Himself the nature of man and therefore has two distinct natures, fully God and fully Man. In the God Man Jesus Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3). You and I see in Christ the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2:9). You see that it is the Father who has delivered His people into the kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption from our sins (Col 1:13-14).

A pearl has greater value based on its origin. If it is harvested through man made techniques it is less valuable than natural pearls found in certain places in the ocean. The One Pearl of Great price is the perfect pearl. There is only one. There is none like it in its attributes, beauty, and origins. And this perfect pearl is a great picture, for Jesus Christ Himself is like none other because of His origins.

We confess that the Scripture teaches what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. What is it that man is to believe concerning God? Perhaps second only to the Triunity of the Godhead is that Jesus Christ is God! Jesus Christ has no beginning. Before Abraham was, Jesus Is. Before the foundations of the world, Christ was with God the Father and God the Spirit. Christ is like the order of Melchisedec, not like the order of Aaron for Jesus is a priest without beginning or end. Jesus Christ is from all eternity. To speak of His origin is something of a contradiction as God has no beginning and yet God Himself uses this anthropomorphism to help us understand the perfection of His origin. What else has no beginning? What other person or thing finds its beginning before Christ who has no beginning and who created all things by the Word of His Power? There is none else! He is the first and He is the last and before him there is no God!

Who hath measured the waters in the hallow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him , and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? To whom then will ye liken God?…Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the LORD; and beside me there is no Savior…I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” (Excerpts from Isaiah 40-44)

Jesus Christ is God, the only God. He is before all else. He is the first, and He is the last. He created all things. Like the one pearl, the perfect pearl of great price, so Jesus Christ is perfect because of His origins. My friends, Jesus Christ is the one perfect treasure for His origins are unlike any other. To have Him is to have eternal life. Do you consider the perfection of Christ in His origins? Who else can you compare to Him? Do you have Christ as your own today because He has made you His own? If you are uncertain, do not rest, do not sleep, look to Him and be saved!

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL

THE PERFECTION OF THE PEARL

Is there anything in this world that you would give everything that you had for? I asked myself this question and thought of many things actually. I would sell all I had for almost any Van Gogh painting or a Rembrandt or other famous piece of art. Why? Because I could then sell the painting and buy back all my stuff with many millions of dollars leftover. That thing for which I would sell all for would simply be something worth far more than what I already had. All men in the world understand this way of thinking. It makes sense to give up certain goods to buy something worth far more than what they are giving up. We have a phrase for that, “Getting a deal!”

The merchant in this parable has found such a deal. He has found one pearl of great price and has sold all to have the pearl. What is it about this pearl that makes it so valuable? Let it be understood very clearly that this Pearl is Jesus Christ and Eternal life through Him.

Which is it? Is Jesus is the one pearl of great price? Or, is Eternal Life the one pearl of great price? Yes! To have Jesus Christ, that is to know Jesus Christ with saving knowledge, is to have eternal life.

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. (John 17:3)”

“And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (I John 5:11-12).”

“Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life… (John 14:6)”

The pearl is Jesus Christ and eternal life in Him for life and truth come from him alone. No man has eternal life and does not have Jesus Christ. No man has Jesus Christ and does not have eternal life. To have the one is by definition to have the other for Jesus Christ is eternal life.

We now understand that this pearl is Jesus Christ and eternal life in Him. But we come to another question – what is it about Jesus Christ that would lead the merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven to sell all and be found with Christ?

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “Is Jesus your greatest treasure?” Or, “Do you consider Jesus your greatest treasure?” Usually the man who says he believes in Jesus Christ will say “yes”. And that is very good. But how often do we consider and meditate on the treasure that is Jesus Christ? Why is He the Christian’s greatest treasure? What is it about this Christ that He would be called in this parable the one pearl of great price? With the picture of the perfect pearl in mind – is not Jesus the greatest and most valuable treasure because of one word, his perfection?

Ben Stahl, Elder

“AGAIN, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO A MERCHANT MAN,
SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS WHO, WHEN HE HAD FOUND ONE PEARL OF
GREAT PRICE, WENT AND SOLD ALL THAT HE HAD, AND BOUGHT IT.”

INTRODUCTION
Have you ever considered what it is that makes a pearl valuable? Why is it that some pearls can be several hundred dollars while similar looking pearls can be several thousand or even millions of dollars? According to gemologists the reason for the different prices has to do with two things: 1) the origin of the pearl; and 2) the characteristics and attributes of the pearl.

Where did the pearl come from? Did it come from rare oysters in the South Sea or was it made at an oyster farm in Kentucky? The pearl from the scarcest origin and with the highest difficulty of obtaining is the one that will command the most value.

What are the characteristics and attributes of the pearl? The larger its size, the higher the price it will likely command. The more symmetrical its shape, the higher its value. The luster of the pearl impacts the value. Is it transparent or cloudy? Does it reflect light very well or is it dull? The imperfections of the surface will impact the value. Are there many scratches and dimples or few? In other words, the greater the size, the closer the symmetry, the fewer the imperfections, the better the reflection, the higher the pearl’s value will be.

So why can one pearl be $100 and another $1,000,000? The answer comes down to just one word – perfection. The closer a pearl from a rare origin comes to perfection, the higher the value.

The merchant in Matthew finds such a pearl. He finds not many but one pearl. He finds not a pearl of small price but one of great price. He sells not some to acquire it but all to acquire it. This he does because he has found the perfect pearl! It is a pearl so perfect there never can be one better or more perfect. As such, with nothing better that he could possibly attain, this merchant of pearls sells all that he has and buys the perfect pearl. Who is this merchant? What is it about this particular pearl that makes it so perfect?

Study and meditation of the merchant necessitates knowledge of the pearl. In our meditations on the merchant and the pearl, we will consider the one pearl of great price that the merchant has found and then we will consider the merchant.

As we embark on this study we must realize that this one great pearl of great price is one that many have found but very few in comparison to all who have lived. It is freely offered to all and freely offered to you today. Do you have this pearl? Are you this merchant? If you are in the Kingdom of Heaven today then you have this pearl. Are you living and treasuring it as the merchant did? If you are outside of this Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ calls all men now to look unto Him and be saved for He is the LORD and there is none other!

May the Lord use this meditation on His Word toward the end that Christians might know that they have eternal life and continue believing on the name of the Son of God. May the Lord use these meditations so that lost souls might come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit and take possession of the one perfect pearl of great price.

“AGAIN…”

In the opening pages of Scripture God introduces Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who is greatly troubled by two dreams. When Joseph is introduced to the king as an interpreter Joseph begins his interpretation in Gen. 41: 25 by telling Pharaoh that the dream of Pharaoh is “One”. Pharaoh had two dreams but Joseph tells them they are actually one in meaning. At the end of the interpretation, Joseph elaborates; the dream was doubled “because the thing is established by God…”

The repetition of God’s instruction is a regular event in His Word. The Lord repeats things in His Word for many reasons including to affirm that it is true, highly important, and we can rely upon it with certainty. He also repeats it because man is so prone to ignore it, forget it, deny it, or skip it. Between Isaiah Chapter 40 through Isaiah Chapter 50 the phrase, “I am the Lord and there is none else” or a phrase similar to this is repeated dozens of times. Why? So the whole world would hear it; so that the elect would believe it; so that Christians might remind each other of it; so that we might repent of denying it; and so that we might delight in the Triune God. God does not deliver to us the account of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection but one time only – rather he does it four times in complete narrative and countless other times by reference in the remainder of the New Testament.

This pattern is repeated in the parable of the merchant and the pearl. In Matthew 13:44, the Lord has shown the value of the treasure of Jesus Christ and he is doubling that parable and instruction in the parable of the merchant and the pearl. Why? Jesus is establishing the importance, reality, reliability, and truth that to have Christ is the greatest treasure in all the world and no worldly treasure can compare. This theme is not unique to our parable today but is throughout Scripture, perhaps most explicitly in Philippians 3 and the opening chapters of  Ephesians in the New Testament while hitting high notes in Psalms and Isaiah in the Old Testament.

The Lord is revealing truth whose importance and value to lives cannot be over-emphasized. Are you listening to Him through His Word? If you are a Christian: do you recognize the treasure that you have? If uncertain of your standing, do you want this treasure you read of? May the Lord grant to all men eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to understand, all with the blessing and work of the Holy Spirit who alone makes this hearing, seeing, and understanding possible.

I do not presume that this short series of meditations on the merchant and the pearl will do or even could do full justice to a passage of God’s Word that deals with his beauty and perfection and the way of the man who has found Him. However, I do pray that these letters will delight the heart, convict of sin and self-deceit, destroy and lingering chains of love for the world, increase our love for the true Christ, and persuade us to pursue at all cost, for the whole of our lives, the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ whose wisdom and glory surpasses all understanding and whose own power brings us to attain the glorious resurrection of the dead. May the Lord use these meditations for His glory and His people’s good.

“THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN…”

What is this Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is a familiar phrase but probably one that results in a variety of definitions. In Matthew and in the other gospels, Jesus defines the Kingdom by showing the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) in a variety of ways.

He shows what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like by showing the people who are in the Kingdom of Heaven – those who are not ashamed to call Jesus Christ their God. Those in the Kingdom of Heaven are the good soil on which the seed of the Word of God has been sown. Those in the Kingdom of Heaven joyfully submit to Christ as the Sovereign Lord of their lives. The way into the Kingdom of Heaven is spiritual and we may enter it truthfully in this life through the new birth (regeneration) accomplished by Jesus Christ, applied to us by the Holy Spirit, according to the love and election of God the Father.

The people whose God is the Lord are in the Kingdom of the Lord. The King of the Kingdom is of course Jesus Christ and He is reigning now putting all His enemies under his footstool and subduing all His people to Himself. And it is into this Kingdom that Jesus Himself calls all men to enter through the gifts of faith and repentance (Mark 1:15). Now in the parable of the merchant and the pearl Jesus shows what the people in the Kingdom of Heaven are like and what it is that they have. They can be compared to, they are like, a merchant man who is seeking goodly pearls. This merchant finds one pearl of great price, sells all that he has, and buys the pearl of great price. Christians (the elect/believers/the saints), are like this merchant man. They have the pearl of great price.

For those who are currently outside of this Kingdom of Heaven or do not  know if they are in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ freely offers entrance into this Kingdom. All men are called today, right now, to look unto Him, repent, believe, and be saved. God is the Lord and there is no other Savior!

Ben Stahl, Elder

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

What is the one particular sin that God will never tolerate or forgive? It is a sin that draws a person closer to heaven but then suddenly takes him to eternal damnation in hell. What do you think this sin is?  According to what we read and see in the Book of Hebrews 10:26-31, it is the sin of apostasy.

Apostasy means falling away from the truth of the gospel.  When a person receives the full disclosure of Who Christ is (Christ being the way, the truth and the life) and intentionally and purposely rejects that truth, the sin that the person commits against the Lord is called the sin of apostasy.

In his discussion of the sin of Apostasy, the author of the Book of Hebrews makes it clear that those people who commit this deadly sin against the Lord and his son Jesus Christ will receive severe punishment from God.  In fact, in Hebrews 10:26, the writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us that there will not be a sacrifice that will atone for the sin of apostasy.  And the reason for that is because the sin of apostasy is a sin that an apostate (a person who rejects Christ and His sacrificial blood) commits against the Lord deliberately and constantly after receiving the full knowledge of God and salvation.

It is for that reason that the author of the Book of Hebrews exhorts and reminds us that for those who reject Christ intentionally and perpetually, there will not be mercy from God. They should expect a fearful judgment and a fury of fire that will consume them as adversaries.  (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Often when people hear such a warning from God through preachers, they try to deny and reject it by hiding in a wrong conception of God’s love towards sinners.  One of the common arguments that people try to present is that God is the God of love and he would never send anyone to hell.

But the Bible over and over again (in both the Old and New Testaments) shows us clearly and undoubtedly that God is both the God of love and justice. God through his eternal love and mercy forgives repentant sinners and saves them through the perfect sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ on the cross.  But at the same time God is holy and hates sin. He specially will never tolerate the sin of apostasy and punishes it with his anger in hell forever. The words from Psalm 7:11 “God is a righteous Judge, and a God who feels indignation everyday” are a clear evidence of that.

But why is God angry towards the sin of apostasy in this way? Why is there no mercy and sacrifice for the sin of apostasy at the end of times? Doesn’t that contradict the idea of God being the God of love?

Well, if you want to know the answer to that question and hear more about the nature and character of the sin of apostasy, I invite you to watch or listen to last Sunday’s sermon entitled “The Fruit of Apostasy”.

May the Lord bless your hearing and meditation on it!

Pastor Zecharias

Let us draw near to God!

Those of you who carry your mobile phone with you enjoy receiving text messages from people whom you love very much.  In fact, there are times that you almost risk your life by reading text messages from your friends and typing a reply to them while you are driving on a busy road.

Why do you think you go to the point of even endangering your life by reading text messages while driving?  It is because you love the person from whom you receive the text message and you want to have a conversation with that person even at inconvenient times. You want to have communication with the person whom you love so much.  In a sense, you want to be close to your friend even under difficult circumstances. We do that with our human friends all the time. But I wonder how much of the time of our days or weeks we give to our God in order to draw near to him for worship and fellowship?  Let alone risking our lives to draw near to him as we do with texting, how much of our time do we dedicate to have communion with our God in private and public worship?

Remember, worship is the highest desire of the heart of our Creator from his people. We have been created for the purpose of worship. And it was for that very purpose that the writer of the Book of Hebrews, in Chapter 10:22, exhorts us to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

You see, the reason why God wants you to draw near to him at all times is to fulfil his purpose of creating you and to consecrate yourself for His glory by separating yourself from the wicked way of the world around you.  The temptation that the Jewish and Gentile Christians at the time of the writing of the Book of Hebrews faced was that the world and people around them were trying to draw near to God through animal sacrifices. These were never intended to be a direct access to the presence of the Holy God for worship.  What most people around them were doing and the fiery trials that they were facing from the only approved religion of Judaism at the time was the result of their failing God in the area of worship.  Because of that, the author of the Hebrews tells them not to follow the wrong crowd in the principle of worship, but instead to worship the Lord through the new way that Christ has opened for them by his perfect blood.  It was to that effect that he exhorted them with these words:

“Therefore brothers , since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain , that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God” Hebrews 10: 19-22.

As you can observe it in the Scripture very easily, the reason why God the Father sent his son to the world was not only to remove our sins by his perfect death (sacrifice) once for all but also to bring us near to God the Father for a sweet and uninterrupted time of worship and communion with our heavenly Father. But the question is, how does a person draw near to God with full confidence?

How do we worship God continually with a pure heart and cleansed conscience?  If you are really serious about true and biblical worship and you want to know how the blood of Christ makes you qualified for the kind of worship that pleases God, I encourage you to listen to the whole sermon on Drawing Near to God that was preached last Sunday morning here at Redeemer.

In the love of Christ!

Pastor Zecharias