As coal gives way, He then is
all my hope and stay. On bright, such solid rock I
stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking
sand. When he shall come with trumpets
sound, O may I then in him be found, Rest in his righteousness
alone, Or to rest to stand before the throne. His oath, His covenant,
His blood. Okay, go back to 1 Samuel chapter
18 now. 1 Samuel chapter 18. If you remember something about
Sunday morning's message from Exodus chapter six, where the
Lord spoke of his covenant, his covenant concerning his people
and what all he said he would do for his people because of
that covenant. Well, one illustration would
have sufficed, would have I didn't use it. Some of us were standing
around afterward, and I had brought it up. I wish I had used it in
the middle of the message, but I'm going to use it tonight.
But here in 1 Samuel, chapter 18, is the story of David, Saul,
and Jonathan. David, I'll refresh your memory
about this story. David is God's chosen king. And always has been. But a man named Saul was reigning
at this time. Saul was on the throne. And Saul
hated David. He hated him. He was David's
enemy. But Saul had a son named Jonathan who loved David. Loved him as his own soul, the
Scripture said. And David loved Jonathan. Look
here in chapter 18, it says that Verse 3, Jonathan and David made
a covenant. They made a covenant because
Jonathan loved David and David loved Jonathan as his own soul. One time, well after Jonathan
had died, David lamented and wept over Jonathan and said concerning
him, your love passed the love of women. This was much deeper. In verse 4, it says that Jonathan
stripped himself of the robe that was on him. Now, Jonathan
was Saul's son. He was the heir to the throne,
and he had on some royal robes. And he stripped himself of those
robes and gave them to David. His garments, sword, bow, and
his girdle. What a beautiful picture this
is of how our Lord Jesus Christ, the love between God the Father
and God the Son that they had in the beginning, and how that
Christ stripped himself of his royal robes to come to this earth
to redeem his people, to do the Father's will. What a pretty
picture that is. Well, they made a covenant, as
we read. They made a covenant, and it
was concerning Jonathan's posterity, Jonathan's family. Chapter 20, go over there, chapter
20. They made this covenant, David and Jonathan. Jonathan
knew that he was going to die a son. He knew that David was
going to reign over Israel. And this covenant that they made
together was concerning Jonathan's son. That Jonathan wanted David
to show mercy and kindness to his son after he passed away. Chapter 20, verses 15 through
17 that we read. Also, Jonathan said, Thou shalt
not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when
the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, every one from the
face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David. Let the Lord even require it
at the hand of David's enemy." And Jonathan calls David to swear,
or take an oath, because he loved him. He loved him as his own
soul. So David swore. David swore to
Jonathan. By his love he had to Jonathan,
that for Jonathan's sake, when David, when he came to the throne
for Jonathan's sake, that he would show kindness to Jonathan's
son, for Jonathan's sake. All right, now let's go to 2
Samuel chapter 9. Now be real curious, he was not
here four years ago. That was the last time this was
preached. The second Samuel chapter 9,
now this covenant, as we say, this covenant represents the
eternal covenant of grace that God Almighty, God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, covenant, pact, they made together before
the world began, before there was anything. in which God the
Father purposed to show mercy, to show grace, to show salvation,
to show kindness to some of the sons of Adam who would be his
enemies. Some of the sons of Adam, God
purposed to show kindness to them in time for Christ's sake,
for his son's sake. and his son agreed to come here
and die and purchase their redemption. Now this is the story of God's
covenant. This Old Testament story is the
story of this covenant. God's covenant kindness for Christ's
sake. All right, David is now on the
throne. David is on the throne. He's reigning. The house of Saul
has been pretty much destroyed. All of David's enemies have been
destroyed. And everyone in the house of
Saul, except for a few sons, eight to be exact, of Saul, were
destroyed. And these sons of Saul will be
destroyed. Seven of them. We probably won't
have time to see that. Nevertheless, all of the enemies
of David will be destroyed. Now, David is sitting on his
throne, and he starts thinking about his dearly beloved friend,
Jonathan, whom he loved as his own soul. And David remembers
the covenant that they made together years before. David remembers
this covenant, and so he calls one of his servants to him. Here in chapter 9, verse 1, David
said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that
I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? According to that covenant
I made with Jonathan, is there anyone left that I might Now there was of the house, verse
2, there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was
Ziba. And when they called him unto
David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? He said, Thy servant
is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. Now, let's go back to chapter
4 of this book, 2 Samuel, chapter 4. So
Jonathan had a son who was lame on his feet, both feet. That
means he couldn't walk, he's lame, crippled. And the way that
this happened, this son of Jonathan, chapter 4, when the news came,
you see, Saul and Jonathan were killed. And the news came of
that, and Jonathan's son's nurse, verse 4, Jonathan, Saul's son,
had a son that was laying on his feet. He was five years old
when the tidings, when the news came of Saul and Jonathan, out
of Jezreel, his nurse took him up, picked up this five-year-old
boy and ran him. And it came to pass, as she made
haste to flee, she was in such a hurry that she dropped him.
He fell, and he became lame by this fall. And his name was Mephibosheth. He was lame by this As a result
of this fall he took, Mephibosheth was lame. That means just what
it means. He was unable to walk. He's crippled. Unable to run. He cannot come and go as he pleases. From that day forward, he was
totally dependent on somebody to pick him up, carry him, do
everything for him. on both his feet. Well, this
is our story. So it was and so it is concerning
all the sons of Adam. We're lame. We're born that way. Lame by fall. The fall of our
father Adam says in Romans chapter 5, verse 12, by one man's sin
entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men. or that all have sinned." We're
born that way. We're born sinners. We fell in
our father Adam, and Adam all died, the Scripture said. We're
born lame. We're born dead in trespasses
and sin. Unable to walk with God, unwilling
to walk with God, even if we could. Unable to come to God,
unwilling to come to God. Born enemies. Now, this Mephibosheth
was the son of Saul, the grandson of Saul. That made him an enemy
of the king. Right? All of David's enemies,
all the sons of Saul, are going to be killed. And this Mephibosheth
is one of those sons, a grandson, albeit. But that made him an
enemy to the rightful king. And that's us. We're born enemies
of God, right? Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind,
the natural mind, the natural man is enmity against God. Ephesians
2 says we were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Can
you quote the next verse? But God, but God, rich in mercy. Scripture said, for His great
love wherewith He loves His people in Christ. Purpose to show kindness,
to show mercy, to show grace to some of these enemies of the
King. For Christ's sake. Completely
for Christ's sake. Alright, let's look back at chapter
9. The King asked this of Isaiah,
verse 4. The King said unto him, Where
is he? Where can we find this Ziba?
Where is it? And Ziba said, under the king,
verse 4, Behold, he is in the house of Maker, son of Amel,
in Lodibar. He's down in the house of Maker,
and he's the son of Amel, in a city called Lodibar. Every word is significant in
God's Word. The word maker means a salesman
or a seller. The word anvil, the name anvil,
means people of God. And the name of the city, Lodibar,
means without pasture. Like sheep have no pasture. Dry, dead, no pasture. Now, can you picture this? He's living down in this pretty
forlorn place called Lodibar. He's living in somebody else's
house, house of a salesman. And the man, he's borrowed the place
he's living. Now, this is a picture of us.
every once by nature. This is where God Almighty finds
every one of those He purposed to show kindness to. We were once, or supposed to
be, children of God, creating the image of God. Not anymore. Sold. Sold ourselves. Sold out to sin. Enemies of God. Living in a place with no pastor. Like that old prodigal son, you
know, thought he was doing okay, but he was in the hog pen. Thought
he was all right. I'm fine. Somebody come along. You doing all right, Mr. Prodigal?
I'm doing fine. Eating husks with the hogs. I'm doing fine. I'll get along
just fine. Thank you. And that was all of us. Every
one of us. This is where God Almighty finds
His people. Now this Mephibosheth. is not
seeking David. He's not calling on David. He
should be, shouldn't he? He's the enemy of David, and
later on, all his brothers or uncles are going to be killed
because they're Saul's sons. He ought to be calling on David,
sending out messages of repentance asking for mercy and so forth.
He's not calling on David. Maybe he doesn't even like David.
You know, maybe he doesn't even like David. Maybe he's bitter
against David because his granddad, you know, ought to be on the
throne. David, he might think, is not the rightful king. Maybe
he thinks he ought to be on the throne. I'm the rightful heir
to this throne. I will not have this David reign
over man. Maybe he thinks all that. You
reckon? Could be. I know this. He doesn't realize
the danger he's in. He doesn't have a clue. Or he'd
be begging David for mercy. He'd crawl to David if he could. If he realized the danger he's
in, wouldn't he? He doesn't realize it. He doesn't
realize it. Now, he's not calling on David,
but David, who is rich in mercy, who is a great man, a loving
man, a merciful man, a true and a faithful king, just like his
Lord. That's where David got this spirit
and attitude, got it from his Lord. He was a man after God's
own heart. Wouldn't you have liked to have
met David? You know David the Lord, you know David. If you
know anybody Christ-like, you know David. Oh yeah, merciful
men, men of kindness. That's who they are. God calls
them that. David was true, true to his word, the word he made
to Jonathan. He's going to be true to it.
Oh yeah. He's going to be true to his
covenant he made with Jonathan. And so David, According to this
covenant he made with Jonathan, and because he's going to be
true to Jonathan and to that agreement, that covenant they
made, David starts seeking Jonathan's. He seeks Mephibosheth. Now look at verse 5. Then King
David sent. He heard about this fellow named
Mephibosheth. I kind of believe he knew about
him. Don't you? Is there anything the king doesn't
know, Sam? He knew. He knew all about it. But this
is written for our sake. All of this is written for our
sake. Well, when David heard about this Mephibosheth down
in Lodomar, then King David sent, and it says he fetched him. Fetched him. Now, all our old
southern sayings aren't original. Most of them come from God's
Word. You reckon? That's Romans 6, 11. Reckon yourselves
to be dead. And on and on we go. Hoping.
He's hoping. That's a scriptural word. Fetching. The word fetch. Listen to this. I just looked
it up in the course. The word fetch means taking.
The word fetch means seizing. The word fetch means bringing.
The word fetch means carrying. The word fetch means drawing.
The word fetch means accepting. Fetching! He's not calling, the
Mephibosheth's not calling, but the king sends the command. Fetching. Bringing. Drawing. Accepting. Seizing. Take hold
on him. Grab him. Pick him up. Bring
him to me." Fetch him. Now, is there any doubt that
this man's coming? What if one of his servants,
what if one of King David's servants said, but King David, what if
the man's not willing? Fetch him. But what if he won't
cooperate? Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think for a moment that
one or even two or three of King David's mighty captains that
slew thousands of Philistines, single-handedly, that one or
two or three of King David's mighty captains couldn't bring
one lame man to them? You think they're going to have
any trouble? fetch him. Bring him to. So they came to where Mephibosheth
was. Mephibosheth didn't come to them.
He was brought. They came to where Mephibosheth
was. Now, it does not say here in our story. It does not say
they knocked on a door. It does not say that they asked
anybody for permission to come in. It doesn't say that they
asked Mephibosheth if he would come. Apparently they bypassed
the door or knocked it down. Bypassed everyone in the house,
in the family, to get to this one old lame fellow. That's the way salvation is. Christ doesn't stand out and
knock on the door of sinners. He is the He doesn't ask people
anything. He fetches them. Well, they came in and they laid
a hold on this old fellow. Two, one, maybe two of these
mighty servants of David came in. There is lame fellow sitting,
and they grabbed him. And they said, if they said anything
at all, they said, Mephibosheth, you're coming with us to appear
before the king. They may not have told him why. Probably didn't. You're coming
with us and you're going to appear before the king. Now, salvation in a word is to be fetched. You know that? You know that. Everyone in here
who has been an object of God's saving grace was fetched. You
know that's why you're here. You were fetched by order of
the King. Psalm 71.3 says, Thou hast given commandment to save
me. Kings don't ask anybody anything.
They just fetch them. They give the order and they're
brought. Sovereign king, sovereign God sent his word by his servant,
the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit, do you
reckon the Holy Spirit can bring one lame fellow to Christ? Do
you reckon he'll have any trouble? The wind that bloweth where it
listeneth? Well, God sends His Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel in power and lays hold
on us, apprehends us, doesn't ask us anything. Like the psalm
says, Almighty love arrests that man. Like the scripture says, hitherto
have you come and no further. And brings us, fetches us, makes
us accepted in the beloved, carries us. all the way. Christ said
of that sheep that he found, left the ninety and nine to fetch
the one in the wilderness, and said, when he had found him,
put him on his shoulder and brought him home. Brought him all the
way home. Carried him all the way. That's
what that Scripture said, doesn't it, Nancy and Isaiah? From the
cradle to the grave, through your hoary head, I've carried
you all the way. I don't know why I pointed at
you when I said hoary head. There are other hoary heads in
here. Lots of them. All been carried
all the way. Well, that's all for Christ's
sake. We're going to see that. Now,
if Mephibosheth didn't fear the King before, he does now, buddy. If he didn't fear the King before,
If he had any idea or thoughts of rebellion before, he doesn't
now, buddy. He's been apprehended. He's been
laid hold of. He's between the arms of two
mighty fellas being carried to meet the King. And he's trembling. You know
he is. If they didn't tell him what
this was about, he's prayed. He's prayed for his life. If
he didn't know King David before, if he didn't know this king's
power and might and true sovereignty, if he didn't know that David
really and truly is reigning and ruling and doing what he
will with whom he will, he does now, buddy. He does now. He's about to meet the true king,
and he's shaking his boots. Well, he's brought by these servants
into the king's court. Now, I cannot describe David's
court. I haven't been there. I wish
I could. The greatest king on the planet
ever, perhaps with the exception of his son Solomon, and one greater
than him. The greatest king sitting on
his royal throne. Try to picture this now. But
this great king, greatest king on the earth, King David, sitting
on his throne in his sovereign power and glory and regal splendor,
what do you think the reaction of this man is when he's brought
in before this true sovereign, when he finally meets a king
who is a king? What is his reaction? The same
reaction that every true son of Adam who meets the true Christ
has. Everyone who meets the true sovereign
God, same reaction. Look at verse 6. It says, When
Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, the son of Jonathan, the son
of Saul, was come in to David, he fell on his face and did not
reverence. Fell on his face. You won't hear him. None of this
foolishness. I hate to bring it up again,
but it's all we hear now. King, I've decided to make you
my king. Can you imagine? In your wildest
dream, could you imagine a fiddle chef at this time saying something
so foolish? I decided to come here. I decided
for you. No, look at it, verse 6, it says,
He fell on his face and did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, Behold thy servant. In other words, I'm yours to
do with as you please. You're the king, I'm the subject. I'm in your hands to do with
as you please. Fear and trembling, no rights.
He doesn't have any rights, does he? He's not pleading his rights.
And he's not an enemy now. He's not an enemy. All rebellion
has gone out of him for fear of the king. He bows and does
reverence to the king. He says, do with me as you please. Well, what's the king going to
do? What's David going to do? It's an enemy. This man could
rise up in rebellion against the king. What's the king going
to do? What's he going to say? Well,
look at verse 7. David said unto him, Fear not, fear not, for I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. To all who fear
the Lord, and to only those who fear the Lord, first. Then the
gospel message comes, fear not. To all who truly fear the Lord,
and bow before his sovereign kingship, and do him reverence,
and worship him as an undeserving enemy of the king, hell first pointed this out to us,
that the command which our Lord said to his disciples more than
any other was this, fear not. Fear not. God's people are God-fearing
people, and the gospel is for those that fear the Lord. It
says fear not. Why? How come? You're going to
show me mercy? Yeah. Why? for your father Jonathan's sake,
and the mercy which God Almighty shows to us, the grace, the salvation
is all for Christ. For that covenant that God made.
How important is the covenant that God made with his son? Our
salvation depends on it. It depends on his oath. David
swore to Jonathan and Jonathan to David. His oath and his covenant. For Jonathan's sake, and read
on, it says verse 7, and, now David says, I'm not going
to, I'm going to spare you for Jonathan's, your father's sake. And, as if that's not enough,
you're not only going to spare him, show him mercy, but and,
he says, will restore thee. All the land of Saul. I'm going to give you back everything
that belonged to your granddaddy. Now, can you picture this story
now? Here's this crippled fella coming in before the king thinks
he's going to take his hat off. And the king says, Mephibosheth,
I'm your servant. Mephibosheth, I'm going to show
you kindness for your father Jonathan's sake. You're not going
to kill me? No, I'm not going to kill you.
Fear not, I'm not going to kill you. But just give me a little
cabin in the corner of your kingdom. No, Mephibosheth, I'm going to
give you everything your granddad had, all the riches of his kingdom. I'm going to give it to you. Barbara, you know
what he's thinking. This is too good to be true.
This king's too good to be true. No, this is the true king. This
is the king after God's advice. This is the way his God is. This
is the way his Lord is. This is the way his Lord treats
all of those whom he shows kindness to, for Christ's sake. He restores
unto us everything we lost in our father Adam. We lost it all
in our father Adam, didn't we? We were rendered penniless, lame
beggars. But God, in Christ, restored
it all to us. We lost fellowship with God.
All that's restored. Complete, perfect communion,
fellowship, favor with God. No longer an enemy. He loves
us. The life of God, holiness, that
was restored by Christ's love, imputed up by Christ. But that's
not all. Oba-Pedersen says, this is wonderful,
but that's not all. Look at verse 7. And David goes
on to say, And I will restore unto thee all the land of Saul
thy father, and, there's more, yes, and thou shalt eat bread
at my table. Down in verse 11, it says that
he'll eat at my table as one of my sons. In other words, I'm
going to adopt him. He's going to be a son of David
from here on. Well, what's this old boy's reaction
to this? Now, when he meets a true sovereign,
when he meets a true king, one who is king, and realizing he
was the king's enemy. He feared the king, and he bowed
before the king, and did reverence to the king. None of this flippant,
careless, foolish, blasphemous stuff that goes on today are
these pretenders. Like Ziba, this fellow, read
the story for yourself. Old Ziba was a fake. He did fake
obeisances to David. But this man really met the true
King, and he feared the Lord with his heart, he believed.
And then when David tells all that he's going to do for him,
David's not asking him anything, he's just telling him all he's
going to do. Like God did there in Exodus 6, right? This is what
I'm going to do for you, for Christ's sake. I will, I will,
I will, I will. And you shall eat at my table
as one of my kings. You shall. Not me, oh yes you. What's his reaction to this?
Such kindness, such mercy, such grace, such sovereign grace. David could have done this for
any of the sons of Saul. Huh? He had seven others to his
name. He could have done it for any
of them, but he did this. Well, look at verse eight. Here's
old Mephibosheth's reaction. He bowed himself again. He keeps
bowing. And said, Who am I? What is thy servant? That you
should look upon such a dead dog as I am. What do you got
to say about yourself, Mephibosheth? I'm a dead dog. I'm like an old
dead dog he found on the side of the street and took home.
Caused him to live, like that child in the field, Ezekiel's
child. Your favorite story of the John,
next to this one. That infant thrown out in that
field, you know, cast out, cast out. Christ came by, it was a
time of love, and he said, live. Spread his skirt over, decked
him. That's Old Mephibosheth, same
reaction. I was a dead dog. I was one of the king's enemies.
He said that over in chapter 19. I was one of the king's enemies. until you found it and had mercy
on me. What is thy servant?" And King David, now look at this.
This is wonderful. That's not all. King David, read
verses nine and ten. King David, because of the covenant
he made with Jonathan, because he's true to his word, he's going
to order everything for the good of the Mephuseh. All things are
going to work together. for good to Jonathan's son, whom
he loves, according to David's purpose. You thought that was just in
Romans 8, didn't you? Look at verse 9 and 10. Then the king
called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given
unto thy master's son all that pertain to Saul and to all his
house. Thou therefore, you, Ziba, and your sons and your servants
shall till the land for him. You're going to plow the land
for him. You're going to bring in the fruits to him that your
master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, he's not
going to work for this place. Mephibosheth's not going to work
to earn his place here. He's just going to sit and rest
and everything's going to be brought to him. You see that? He's not going to have to work
to get into my family. He got here because I called him. And
he's going to sit. And everybody here is going to
work for him. But Ziba may have thought, that's
not fair. It doesn't matter. All the world exists to serve
God's people. Yes, it does. But Mephibosheth
thy master's son shall eat bread always at my table. He prepared
him a table in the midst of his enemies. Ziba turned out to be
his enemy. Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Thirty-five seats, thirty seats
to wait on one man. The whole thing worked against him
for good. To them that he called according
to his purpose. 11, that's what Ziba did. He said
unto the king, all that the king hath commanded his servant, so
shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's son. And
Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. He left old Lodibar, a place
of no bread. Our noble pasture dried up to
a good place to live in, the land of the king, Jerusalem of
all the world. And he did eat continually. Every
time, wherever David was, whenever you saw David at the table, there
sat my fair share, right beside him at the table, and he was still laying on his
bed. He's still laying on his feet. Somebody once said, the
old Mephibosheth sat at the table. When you're seated, if you're
seated at the table, your legs are covered. Everybody's equal
when you're seated at the table. So it is with all of us. Though
laying on our feet, yet covered, hidden. Our lameness, hidden
with Christ. Did he continue King's David?
Well, there's more to that story if you want to read it yourself,
but old Ziba, the boar false witness against old Mephibosheth
and Lydon. David knew though. You'll find
out where Solomon got his wisdom back from David. David did. Mephibosheth loved David. He
wasn't there for the food. He was there at the worship and
out of gratitude to his great king. All right, stand with me. All of you gentlemen, our Lord
thank you for your mercy, your grace, your loving kindness,
this hesitant grace you made with your son before the world
began. and save such dead dogs under
his wing, and send in your Holy Spirit to the preachers of the
gospel to avenge us. Thank you, Lord, for your avenging
grace. Thank you for this gospel taken,
because it's said, continuing with the king's son, as his son
of a king, and all for Christ's sake. So Christ's name, in glory,
will give you good night. Amen.