If you would, open your Bibles
first to 1 Samuel chapter 20. Hold your place there. 2 Samuel
9, we'll come back to that in just one moment. In 2 Samuel
chapter 9, David is finally king over all of Israel. Saul is dead. Saul's sons are all dead. There
are no more rivals to the throne. He's united the kingdom, Israel
and Judah. And now that David's on the throne
with no rivals to his power at all, He intends, instead of making
a show of his power by killing people, David intends to make
a show of his power, his goodness, and showing mercy to some of
Saul's house. There's a grandson of Saul's
who's still living, Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son. And David intends
to show mercy to this man. But Mephibosheth's story begins
long before Mephibosheth ever existed. Before Mephibosheth
ever had any idea that he was even in need of mercy. Now when
Saul was still living, Jonathan, Saul's son, he knew his father
was not a good king. He knew Samuel had anointed David
to be king. He knew David was God's appointed
king. He knew his father was not God's
appointed king. And he knew he would never sit
on the throne. He would never follow his father,
but David would sit on the throne. In 1 Samuel 20, verse 12, Jonathan
and David have this conversation. And Jonathan said unto David,
O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow
or any time or the third day, and behold, if there be good
toward David, and I then send not unto thee and show it thee,
the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleased
my father to do the evil, then I will show it thee and send
thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with
thee, as he hath been with my father. And thou shalt not only
while I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not,
but also 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 of them, from the face of the earth. So Jonathan, made
a covenant with the house of David, saying, let the Lord even
require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused
David to swear again because he loved him, for he loved him
as he loved his own soul. I hear Jonathan entered into
a covenant with David, and David a covenant with Jonathan. It's
a covenant of mercy. It's a covenant of mercy to Jonathan
and all of his descendants. And this covenant is a picture
of the covenant. eternal covenant of mercy between the Father and
the Son. God in His goodness and His great power has determined
to have mercy on somebody out of Adam's fallen race to his
left. And God will save the people
that that covenant is concerning. I told you this a week or so
ago that the covenant is between the Father and the Son. The covenant
is not between man and God. The covenant is between the Father
and the Son. And that covenant is concerning God's people. It's
concerning the elect that he chose to save. And those elect
will be saved. Christ came to die for those
people and only those people. And he put away their sin, saved
them by his grace, by his power. Now God's covenant, his covenant
of grace, his covenant of salvation, is not a mean covenant. People
look at this and say, well, that's mean. God's keeping some people
out that want to be saved. No, he's not. No, he's not. If
you want to be saved, you will be. God's covenant is the only
way a sinner can be saved. God's covenant to save a people
is the only way you'll ever have a desire to be saved. God's going
to have to put that in you. Without this covenant of mercy
and grace that's been purposed by God Almighty, every sinner
would be damned. This covenant is a covenant of
kindness, isn't it? Jonathan told David, he said,
you show kindness to me. into my house. This is a covenant
of kindness. It's a covenant of mercy. It's
a covenant that's born out of love. David, swear again, Jonathan
made him swear again because he loved him as he loved his
own soul. This is a covenant of love. And
this covenant of grace between the father and the son was entered
into in eternity, long before the world was ever created. Just
like this covenant between Jonathan and David, was entered into before
Mephibosheth was even born. Mephibosheth never knew anything
about this covenant until he came before David's throne. They
entered into this covenant, Jonathan and David. Now it's 16, 17, 18
years later. David's on the throne. Jonathan's
dead, but David never forgot Jonathan. He loved him. And even
after all these years, David remembers the covenant that he
made with Jonathan. Mephibosheth doesn't know anything
about it yet, but David does. Now look at 2 Samuel 9. I want to show you five or six
things about this covenant. The title of the message is The
Covenant Experienced. We looked in the lesson this
morning at the covenant hoped in. Now this is the covenant
experienced. And the first thing I want to
show you is this, saving mercy. must be covenant mercy. But verse
one of second Samuel nine, David said, is there yet any that is
left to the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake. Now this is very significant
statement because you know, the custom in those days is a new
king. When he took the throne, he would
kill all the relatives of the old king. so that there wouldn't
be any rivals to his throne. Maybe they'd wait a little while,
and they'd come up and say, well, that throne was ours first. It
belonged to our family first, so there'd be a rival to the
new king. So to eliminate that threat, the king just killed
all the relatives of the old king. Well, Saul and his sons
are dead. But David intends to show mercy
to Saul. even though they don't deserve
it. Saul, he never did anything to deserve mercy. None of his
family could do anything to deserve mercy, but David's going to show
mercy anyway. Not because they deserve it,
but because he made a covenant with Jonathan. David's not going
to show mercy to anybody because they deserve it, is he? He's
showing him mercy for Jonathan's sake. But Phibosheth does not
deserve mercy from David. Mephibosheth, since Saul was
his grandfather's in line to the throne, he deserves to die.
Because of his family, he's a natural born enemy to David. But David's
gonna show him mercy, not for his sake, but for Jonathan's
sake. And it's very important for us
to understand this. I wish I could make this reality
in each heart here. None of us, deserve anything
but wrath from God. I know we want to raise our children
with, you know, a certain amount of self-respect and, you know,
confidence in themselves or whatever. I don't know, maybe we've gone
overboard, you know, into making our children think, you know,
everybody gets a trophy, everybody deserves God's, you know, to
save them. That's not so. We are natural
born enemies of God Almighty. And it's because of who our father
is, because of Adam. Adam rebelled against God, and
you and I have Adam's nature. We rebel against God at every
turn. Scripture says our carnal mind
is enmity against God. Our carnal mind is at war with
God. We're natural born enemies of
God. We're just like our father Adam.
So what we deserve is God's wrath. We've sinned against God. We
deserve God's wrath. Nobody can ever complain about
wrath from God, because that's what we deserve. That's what
we've earned. So, if God's going to show mercy to anybody, it's
going to have to be for Christ's sake, isn't it? It can't be for
our sake. It's going to have to be for
Christ's sake. If God's going to show mercy to any sinner,
it's going to have to be because of the covenant of grace in Christ.
If God's going to show us mercy, mercy to any sinner, it's going
to have to be for Christ's sake, because of what Christ accomplished
as our substitute. Now in this covenant, the covenant
of grace, the father chose the people and he gave those people
to his son to redeem. And the son agreed, I'll redeem
them. I understand it's going to take
a great cost, but I'll pay it. I'll be their representative.
I'll come as a man and I will obey you. I'll love you perfectly.
I'll obey your law perfectly. And I'll give that obedience
to these people that you've given me. And I'll agree to be made
sin for them. I'll take their sin in my own
body on the tree. I'll bear it and I'll die the
death that they deserve. My perfect blood will put away
their sin. I'll shed that blood as an offering
for their sin to cleanse them from their sin. And the father
said, you do that for my left and I'll save him. I'll accept.
I'll bring him into my presence. Not because they did anything.
For your sake, because of what you did. Look over in Ephesians
chapter four. There's a problem. It's a heart
problem. when we're not forgiving of each
other. There's a heart problem. Look
here, Ephesians 4, verse 32. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. You who believe, why are you
forgiven? Now it's for Christ's sake, isn't it? It's for Christ's
sake. And Mephibosheth is going to receive mercy, not because
he did anything for David, not because he's able to do anything
for David, not because he's able to add anything to David's glory.
Mephibosheth is going to receive mercy for Jonathan's sake, for
the sake of someone else. Saving mercy is always covenant
mercy. There's a second thing I want
us to see. Covenant mercy is always for the helpless. Look
back in our text, 2 Samuel 9, verse 2. And 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? And 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. And the
king said unto him, where is he? Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Maker, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. Well, it's a good thing that
David intended to show mercy for Jonathan's sake, isn't it?
Because Mephibosheth was not able to do anything to deserve
mercy from David. Mephibosheth is lame on both
of his feet. I'll tell you how Mephibosheth
became lame. He became lame in a fall. When
news came from the battlefield that Saul and Jonathan had been
killed in battle, Mephibosheth, his nurse, was afraid that the
new king would come and kill this little boy, just a little
thing, four or five years old. So she picked him up and she
ran for the hills trying to protect him, to run away from the new
king. But as she ran, she tripped and fell. She must have dropped
him and must have broken his spine or something. He became
paraplegic. He's probably paralyzed from
the waist down. He became lame in the fall. Well, Mephibosheth
is a picture of you and me, how we became lame in the fall of
Adam. When Adam rebelled against God,
you know what he did? He tried to run away from God.
He tried to put a new king on the throne, and in his haste
to run, run away from God, Adam fell. And he died. And all of his race died in him.
Now when Adam fell, You and I became more than just lame. You know,
this is just a picture. Mephibosheth being lame is just
a picture. Don't try to make it any more
than that. When we fell on Adam, we didn't become lame. You know,
Mephibosheth used to move his arms and things. You and I can't
do that. We became dead in the fall. When Adam fell, more than
just our legs were affected, our whole being was affected.
so affected that in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. We have no ability to do anything
for God, just like Mephibosheth. If Mephibosheth was going to
go anywhere or do practically anything, somebody had to help
him do it, didn't they? Well, if you and I are going
to have anything spiritually good, somebody else is going to have
to do it for us. We don't just need help. We need somebody else
to do it all for us. Mephibosheth had fallen, and
oh my, he had fallen a long way. The name Mephibosheth means a
shameful thing. The king's grandson, I mean,
can you imagine when this boy was born, the king's grandson,
heir to the throne, had become a shameful thing. That's us and
Adam. Adam was created upright. But
he fell and we became a shameful thing, polluted with sin. And
when Mephibosheth had fallen, no longer was he in the palace. He was in the house of Maker.
That name Maker, it means salesman. It means something that's sold.
Adam was a snake oil salesman. He sold us into sin. And Mephibosheth
was in a city called Lodabar, which means, that name means
pastureless, no bread. There's no green grass there
for the sheep. It's just all dirt. That's what Adam did to
us. Adam put all of his race in a
place where we're without life, without hope, without Christ.
And this is how all of God's elect are born into the world.
Now, God has an elect people. He chose them. He's going to
save them. He set his affection upon them. But they're born into
this world with Adam's nature. But you know what? Even then,
they're still God's children. They're still God's elect. There's
never a time that they weren't God's elect. Maker was the son
of Amiel. You know what that name Amiel
means? It means the people of God. You mean the people of God. They're down, they're a shameful
thing. They're sold into sin and put in that place where there's
no pasture. Yes, sir. That's the way they come into
this world. But they cannot stay what they are, and they cannot
stay where they are. God chose them. Christ died for
them. Christ put away their sin. So,
now God's got to do something else for them, doesn't he? Here's
the third thing I want us to see. Covenant mercy is fetching
mercy. Verse 5. Then King David sent
and fetched him. out of the house of Maker, out
of the house of the son of Amul from Lodivar. Now God's elect,
they're lame on both their feet, aren't they? They're dead in
trespasses and sin. And because of that, because
of their inability, God never invites a sinner to make a decision
for Jesus, ever. If you hear a man say that, you
mark it down, he's a false prophet. God never does that. God never
tells people, you take the first step and then I'll meet you the
rest of the way. That's the most cruel message
I ever heard. If somebody said that to Mephibosheth,
you're just taunting him. You're being cruel to him. That's
a horrible message. There's no comfort, no hope in
that. God never tells His people, I'll save you if you start helping
yourself first. Dead sinners cannot be saved
that way. The Almighty God. He chose to save a people. God
the Son. He came and established righteousness
for those people. He died to put their sin away. But now they're born in bondage
to sin. They're born in bondage to the law. They're dead. They
can't leave the prison house of the law. They can't leave
the prison house of sin. They can't quit sinning. Even
if they wanted to, they can't do that. So you know what God
does? He sends the Spirit to them.
to fetch them, to bring them to God through the preaching
of the gospel. Now, fetching is a very simple
term that everybody here understands. Jan and I have a dog. We have
two, but this one dog, one of those crazy dogs loves to play
fetch. I mean, you could throw your
arm out a socket before that dog would get tired of getting
the ball and bring it back to you. He loves it. He's just all
the time bringing us the ball, dropping our feet, looking at
it. You're going to throw it. You're going to throw it. And so we
get the ball and we throw it and we say fetch. And fetch means
I'll throw the ball and wherever it is I throw it, you run and
get it. And you bring it right back to me. And you know I throw
that ball and that dog has never stood at my feet and barked and
invited the ball to come back to him. Never. That ball, that
dog never stands there and begs the ball to come back to him.
You know what he does? He fetches it. He runs where
that ball is. And whether the ball wants to
or not, he picks the ball up and he brings the ball back and
drops it at my feet. That's what it means to fetch.
That's what God the Holy Spirit does for His people. He comes
where they are. They're far away from God, but
He comes to them. He sends them a preacher. He
sends them a man who dares to preach the gospel. of free salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Spirit gives them ears
to hear and He brings them to God. He fetches them. He brings
them to the feet of Christ and puts them there. Just like my
dog drops a ball on my feet. The Spirit fetches God's children
and brings them to the feet of Christ. And I'm telling you,
I've never heard better news. God did for me what I cannot
do for myself. The Father did for me what I
could never do. He chose me when I would never
choose Him. God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
did for me what I could never do for myself. He paid my sin
debt and made me righteous. And God the Holy Spirit did for
me what I could never do for myself. He gave me life. He gave me faith. And he brought
me to the feet of Almighty God. Look at Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Let's see if
this isn't what scripture teaches us. That covenant mercy is fetching
mercy. Titus 2 verse 11. For the grace of God, not that
offers salvation, not that asks you to receive salvation, for
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men, hath appeared to every man God's chosen. Look at first Peter
chapter three. 1 Peter 3 verse 18, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. David sent Ziba to fetch Mephibosheth. He wasn't going to invite Mephibosheth.
He wasn't going to ask Mephibosheth's opinion. David sent Ziba to fetch
Mephibosheth out of where he was. and bring him to David. You know that's the new birth.
Look at Colossians chapter one. I told you, God's elect, they're
born in sin. They're born in bondage, but
they can't stay what they are and they cannot stay where they
are. They must be given a new nature. They must be given a new address.
They're gonna be put into a new kingdom under the dominion of
a new king. Colossians 1 verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet, he's made us fit to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us, has transferred
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And that's exactly what
David did in fetching grace. He took Mephibosheth out of where
he was, out of what he was, and put him in a new kingdom, gave
him a new address in the kingdom of David. Well, here's the fourth
thing I want us to see. Covenant mercy is always amazing
mercy. Verse six in our text. Now when
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto
David, he fell on his face and did reference. He could hardly
do anything else. He couldn't stand there, could he? He fell
on his face and he did reference. And David said, Mephibosheth,
And he answered, behold, thy servant. And David said unto
him, fear not. I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father. And thou shalt eat bread at my
table continually. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? Now, I can just picture in my
mind Mephibosheth. He's down there. in Maker's house
in Lodabar. And Ziba shows up. He knows Ziba.
Ziba's been his grandfather's servant. And Ziba comes in. He says, Mephibosheth, I've come
from the king. I've come from King David. He
says, you come with me. You're going to his palace. Can
you imagine the fear that came up in Mephibosheth's chest? Oh,
he just gripped with fear. He thought, I knew it. David's
going to kill me now. He's going to give me what I
deserve now because of who my grandfather is. And I don't know
how long of a journey it was, but that whole journey, Mephibosheth
was full of fear. He comes in fear and trembling.
And he falls down at David's face, on his face, at David's
feet, and he's just, he's tormented with fear. And there he lays. He can't get up. He's laying.
He just lay there at David's feet. He's laying there lame,
probably dirty, doesn't look too good. I mean, he's a sight.
He's a sight you and I would not want to look at. And David
says, this royal voice rings out, Mephibosheth? And he just
melted there on the ground, full of fear. And that same royal
voice with royal authority says, fear not. Don't be full
of fear. Mephibosheth, there's no reason
for you to be afraid. There's no reason for you to
be afraid, because I love you. I've set my affection upon you.
I'm going to take care of you. And I'm going to do it because
I love someone else, because I love your father, Jonathan.
Mephibosheth, you don't know it, but a long time ago, me and
your daddy entered into a covenant. I promised him I'd show mercy
to his family. And Mephibosheth, I'm a man of
my word. I'm going to show you mercy for
your father's sake. I'm not going to kill you. Matter
of fact, more than that, I'm gonna give you everything that
ever used to belong to your grandfather for your father's sake, because
I entered into a covenant with him and I loved him. Now there
lay Mephibosheth and he's hearing this and he's thinking, am I
hearing this right? Can that be true? Can you imagine
what's going through his mind? This is the first time he's ever
heard of this covenant. If God in His mercy has revealed
His Son to you, you know what's going through Mephibosheth's
mind. Because the same thing goes through your mind. Can this
be true? Can it really be true? God's
not going to give me what I deserve because He gave His Son what
I deserve? Can it really be true? that God is going to give me
what His Son deserves? That's too good to be true. That's
the best news I've ever heard. And no matter how long it is
you continue in the faith during this walk here below, until God
calls you home, you'll keep repeating what Mephibosheth said in verse
8. Why? What is thy servant that thou
shouldest even look upon such a dead dog as I am, amazing grace,
how sweet to sound, that saved a wretch, a dead dog, like me. Covenant mercy is amazing mercy. Then next, covenant mercy is
restoring mercy. David says in verse seven, fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan, my father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul, thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Mephibosheth
thought he'd lost everything, didn't he? And he got everything
restored back to him that used to belong to Saul. Only better. Better. Because now, Mephibosheth's
not going to eat at David's table as Saul's son. He's going to
eat at David's table as David's son. See what David says there
at the end of verse 11? As for Mephibosheth, he shall
eat at my table. as one of the King's sons. And
you and I lost everything at Adam. When Adam fell, we lost
everything. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to restore that which was lost. He came to restore everything
we lost in Adam, only better. Adam had a righteousness, didn't
he? But he could lose it if he disobeyed. But Christ has made
his people righteous and they can never lose it because he
is our righteousness. Adam was made in the image of
God. But when Adam sinned, he marred that image, didn't he?
He marred it so bad, we'd look and we'd say, is that Adam? I remember we were looking there
at Ruth, people looked at Naomi when she came back, she said,
is that Naomi? It hardly looks like her. People look at us,
is that Adam? Is that the man God created? Hardly bears any resemblance
to him. Adam marred that image. But when God's elect are born
again, They're born in the image of Christ. They're born with
his nature. They've been made partakers of
the divine nature and it can never be marred. Adam had communion
with God. Scripture says every day Adam
walked in a cool evening in the garden with God. Reckon what
they talked about. What a blessing that would have
been. And then in a moment, Adam lost
communion with God. He's hiding from God, waiting
to walk with Him. Christ came to restore that which
was lost. Christ comes to bring His people
back to God. And He will never leave us nor
forsake us, ever. We sin and we think, God's forsaken
me. No, He hasn't. No, he hasn't. That sin's paid for. It's under
the blood. He'll never leave you or forsake
you. And one day, he can bring you
out of this loaded bar and bring you to be with him. And what
communion that'll be. When we think we enjoy this communion
now, what will it be like there? Then sixth, covenant grace is
always providing grace. Look here at verse nine. 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, and thy sons
and thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt
bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to
eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, he shall eat bread all the
way at my table. Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty
servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord 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 sons. And Mephibosheth had a young
son whose name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. David provided everything Mephibosheth
would ever need, didn't he? He gave him back everything that
belonged to Saul. and just blessed him with anything he needed.
Mephibosheth never again had to worry about food or clothes
or a house to live in. David had also given Mephibosheth
all the land, all the farms and the property and the orchards
and things that belonged to Saul. Well, now Mephibosheth is lame
on both his feet. He can't go farm that. He can't
go take care of those orchards. So David gave orders to Ziba.
He said, Ziba, you and your sons and your servants, you tend to
all this stuff for Mephibosheth so he doesn't have to worry about
it. Now Ziba's a wicked man. Ziba hated David. He hated Mephibosheth. The only thing Ziba loved was
Ziba. He loved himself. But Ziba had
to serve Mephibosheth. David said so. I'll tell you
what that's a picture of. Everything in this creation belongs
to God's people. If you believe God, everything
you see, it all belongs to you. But you know, God's elect, they're
just a remnant at any given time, aren't they, on earth? And God's
elect can't take care of all this great creation. So God has
other men serving to take care of this world and the affairs
of it. And that's fine with God's children. We don't want to get
entangled with those things. We don't want to get too attached
with them. We're just passing through anyway. But everything
in God's creation is for you who believe. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. God has these men serving him
in this way to take care of this earth for his children, for his
children's sake. He blesses them, but He doesn't
bless them materially or whatever for their sake. It's always for
His children's sake, because everything God's created and
everything He does is done for His children. It all belongs
to them. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 21. Therefore, let no man glory
in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to
come. It's all yours. And you are Christ, and Christ
is God's. This whole world belongs to God's
people. And the whole world, every man,
woman, and child in it, serves God's elect, even though they
don't know it. They think it's theirs, but really
it's yours, and they're taking care of it for you. And you know
Mephibosheth got all this stuff. He got it all, houses, lands,
property, just everything. And you know what? He didn't
care. He didn't care a thing about
it. You know what Mephibosheth cared about? David. Mephibosheth loved David. Mephibosheth didn't love stuff.
He loved David. And all a believer needs is Christ. There's things we need in this.
We need food, we need clothing, and those kinds of things, don't
we? And the Lord's blessed us so richly. But really, we don't
care near as much about the stuff as we do Christ. How we need
Him. Oh, and if you have Christ, you've
got it all. And I'll prove my point here
about Mephibosheth. He didn't care about the stuff. You remember
in Absalom, David's son, he carried out a coup against David. Tried
to kill David, and he did indeed take the throne. And David had
to run and hide in the wilderness, as some of David's men, those
trusted men who loved him or were close to him, came to him.
Well, he's out there in the wilderness, and Ziba comes to David. And
he says, David asked, where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba lied on
Mephibosheth. He told David, he said, Mephibosheth
wouldn't come out here to you in the wilderness because he's
going to try to take the throne back where you're out of town.
And David was furious. No good deed goes unpunished,
does it? Oh, after all my kindness to him, that's what he did to
me. David says, Ziv, I'm taking away everything I gave Mephibosheth
and it's all yours. Again, everything belonging to
Saul is yours now. Mephibosheth doesn't own it anymore.
Well, Ziv was pretty happy about that. But in truth, Mephibosheth
wanted to come to David. If they'd have offered him the
throne, he wouldn't have taken it. He didn't want that. He wanted
David. But Ziba wouldn't help him. Mephibosheth
is lame. He can't saddle his donkey. And
Ziba wouldn't help him. So there Mephibosheth lay. Look
at 2 Samuel chapter 19. You know what happened. Eventually,
David comes back to Jerusalem. He comes back and he sits on
the throne. And there's old Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 19, verse 24. And Mephibosheth, the son of
Saul, came down to meet the king. And he hadn't dressed his feet,
or trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the
king departed. until the day he came again in
peace." Mephibosheth mourned so much when he didn't have David's
presence. He didn't take care of himself. He didn't trim his beard or take
a bath or wash his clothes or anything. I mean, just he mourned
so much for David. And verse 25, it came to pass
when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king that the king
said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, My lord, O king, My servant deceived me. For thy
servant said, I'll saddle me an ass that I may ride thereon
and go to the king, because thy servant is lame. And he has slandered
thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is
as an angel of God. Do therefore what's good in thine
eyes." Total submission to David. Do whatever you think is right.
For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord
the king. Yet didst thou set thy servant among them which
did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet
to cry any more unto the king? And the king said unto him, why
speakest thou any more if I matters? I said, thou and Ziba divide
the land. They didn't know what to do.
He said, well, you and Ziba, you just split it. And Bethesda said
to the king, let him have it all. Let him take all. For as much as my lord the king
has come again in peace unto his own house. Ziba said, I don't
care about that stuff. The lands and the houses and
the cattle. I don't care, but let him have it all. David, all
I care about you. And the believer in our prayer
says, Lord, give me what's convenient. You give me what you know is
right. All I care about is Christ. Give me Christ, or else I die. Don't take his presence from
me. Give me Christ. That's all Mephibosheth cared
about. And then last, let me give you
this. Covenant mercies give birth to sinners who are saved by grace.
Verse 13 in our text, 2 Samuel 9. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table, and was lame
on both of his feet. Ephibosheth ate at the king's
table with all the king's sons. He is made rich by David. He
is accepted by David. But, Ephibosheth was still lame
on both his feet, wasn't he? But you know what? You couldn't
see it when he sat at the king's table. He looked just like all
the other sons. God's elect, they sit at the
king's table. The king of king's table. They're
sons and daughters of the king. You're made rich in God's grace.
You're accepted in the beloved. You're made righteous in Christ.
But in this flesh, boy, we're laying on both our feet, aren't
we? The new birth has left this flesh unchanged and the flesh
will never be changed. It'll always be dead, always
be sinful, and always be depraved. We'll always be dead in this
flesh. But you know what? You can't
see it when you look at me in Christ. And one day, one day,
Christ is gonna come, and He's gonna take us home, and there'll
be no more lameness. There'll be no more deadness.
We'll be made just like Him, body and soul. Now David received
Mephibosheth because of a covenant, didn't he? And David received
Mephibosheth as he was. There's no record that Mephibosheth
tried to clean up, tried to make himself more presentable, tried
to find some robes that used to belong to his grandfather.
Mephibosheth came to David as he was. And David accepted him,
didn't he? For Jonathan's sake, because
of covenant mercies. Now you come to Christ. Right
now where you sit, you come to Christ. Come as you are. Don't clean up first, don't try
to get rid of some sin in your life and start acting better.
If you come like that, you'll never be accepted. You come as
you are, begging for mercy. You like Mephibosheth, you fall
at David's feet and you wait on him to speak. And you know
what you'll find? You'll find mercy for Christ's
sake. God make it so. Let's bow in
prayer.