Right, turn in your Bibles to
2 Samuel, chapter nine. 2 Samuel, chapter nine. Lord willing,
we're gonna go revisit Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, he's the son of Jonathan, the
grandson of King Saul. King Saul was an enemy to David,
King David. Many times Saul tried to kill
David. Yet Jonathan, Saul's son, Mephibosheth's
father, the son of Saul, he loved David. He and David were very close
friends. They made a covenant. with each
other. And we read of it, if you'll go back to 1 Samuel chapter
20 verse 14. 1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 14. And thou shalt not only while
yet 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 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 calls David to swear
again. because he loved him, for he
loved him as he loved his own soul. That's 16 years later. And David remembers his covenant
with Jonathan. And we'll take note that King
Saul is now dead, and Jonathan is dead, and all of Saul's sons
They're all dead. Now, King David is determined
to fulfill the covenant for Jonathan's sake. And here in 2 Samuel 9, King David finds Jonathan's son,
Mephibosheth. And now we all know that before
the foundation of the world, that God made a covenant with
himself. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. That the only begotten Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, would be the redeemer of his elect people. Those people that he chose before
the foundation of the world and his only begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, by his free electing grace. And he predestinated those that
he chose in him to the adoption of sons by the redeeming blood
of Jesus Christ. All for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All for his glory. That's why he saved us, his elect
people. So David, the king of Israel,
showed mercy and kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's
sake. A picture of God showing grace
and mercy to his elect chosen sinners,
all for the sake of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom
he made a covenant. God's only begotten Son, whom
he loves. So we'll look at about four things
that picture Christ, our Savior, here in 2 Samuel 9. We'll begin reading verse one. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had 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 in his feet. Mephibosheth was lame in his
feet. We read back in 2 Samuel 4, talks about, scripture tells
us that when Mephibosheth was five years old, the nurse that
was carrying him was fleeing. She had heard about the death
of King Saul and Jonathan, and she was running with him, and
he fell. She dropped him. and he was crippled. What a wonderful picture of God's
elect in Christ Jesus. In our nature, we're lame because we're ruined
by a fall that happened in Adam, our first representative head. We fell ruined by that fall,
made sinners, enemies to God in Adam. Born in sin, we're born
spiritually dead, helpless. Like Mephibosheth, we're lame.
We're not able to stand before the king on our own. We cannot
come to God. We are not able. We are without
God, without strength. And neither us or Mephibosheth
were aware of that covenant that was made. When Christ called, when he calls
us, here in verse four, and the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Maker, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. When Christ called us, we were
far away from God. Far from him. Maker means sold. We were sold, captive under sin,
sold into slavery. Satan. Bound by Satan. And we were in
Lodabar. Lodabar means no pasture. We
were in a place and there was no food for our souls. No food for our souls and we
were happy to eat the husk with the hogs. Man's self-righteous works religion. This was our condition by nature. And they ask, who can deliver
us from such a body of death? Not us. We're helpless, unable
to do for ourselves. We need God's mercy. We need
a savior. We need a deliverer. We need
that strong arm of God. A righteous redeemer, one who
is God and one who is man. We need Christ Jesus. We are
at the sole mercy of God Almighty. Christ our King, we need to be
fetched, drawn by his Holy Spirit to him. We need to be born again
by his grace. We need life and faith to believe
on him. We need God's mercy. And here we see Mephibosheth
was fetched by the king. Look here in verse five. Then
King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Macher, the
son of Amiel from Lodabar. He was called by the king. Fetched drawn to him God the
Holy Spirit fetches us to Christ Jesus We know in John 6 verse
44 says no man can come to me Except the Father which has sent
me Draw him and I will raise him up at the last day and Christ
says in John 14 verse 6 I Am the way the truth and the life, no man
cometh unto the father, but by me. This is all the work of God. Oh, the grace, beloved, the grace
of God in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. whom I'm the chief. Are we not like Mephibosheth? Oh, that free and sovereign grace
of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Look what he has
done for us. We were not seeking him, just
like Mephibosheth was not seeking King David. We're enemies to
God. We're born natural enemies, hating
him because of the fall of Adam. But those that God chose before
the foundation of the world to love in his son, he's never been
your enemy. You're his. Problems with you. Problems with us. Look at verse six. Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face and he did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth? And he answered, behold, thy
servant. Somehow Mephibosheth knew that
he deserved death at the hand of David. King. He knew the king would be just
to take his life, kill him. Be just in doing it. He was brought
before the king, called by name. King called him by name. He didn't
know him. He didn't know who King David
was, but he called him by name. And then he fell on his face. And he worshiped him, showed
him reverence. He bowed at his feet. Submission. He did not know the covenant
that was made between his father and King David. He just knew
the king was right to do with him as he pleased him. Behold thy servant, saying, you are God, and I'm sin. He didn't come up with that on
his own. Only God can show you that. It's called grace. Look at verse seven. David said unto him, King said, fear not, for I will
surely show bleak kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. Oh, there he was trembling, and the king showed mercy, mercy
for Jonathan's sake. and will restore thee all the
land of Saul, thy father. Look here, and you, you're gonna
eat bread at my table continually. Oh, mercy, mercy. What the king showed him was
mercy. God says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. It's God. So then, it is not
of him that willeth or not him that runneth, but it's of God
who shows mercy. King told him, fear not. God shows us mercy and grace for his son's sake. Those he chose in him, it's for
Christ's sake. If you look in Ezekiel chapter
36, verse 32, God says, not for your sakes
do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you, be ashamed
and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. We were scattered. We were scattered. Purpose of
God was scattered in the load of bars, sold unto slavery and
sin. And we were happy there. And then Isaiah 48, nine, he
says, for my name's sake, will I defer mine anger? And for my praise, will I refrain
for thee, that I cut thee not off? It's because of Christ Jesus,
he doesn't cut us off. He made a covenant. He's our
surety. He gonna lay down his life for
his sheep. It is for Christ's sake, for
Christ's sake, we are saved by God's irresistible electing grace,
his purpose, his covenant before the foundation of the world.
It's God's purpose. It is for Christ's sake God shows
mercy to his people. When he looks at his elect, he
sees the one who loved us and voluntarily laid down his life
for us. When he looks at us, he sees
that one who was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him and in him alone. Look what he's done for you.
Look what he's done for you, saints of God. He sees his son. He sees his son's sin atoning
blood that he shed. to purge away all the sins of
God's people in him. All that the Father gave him.
All of his elects. His bloodshed, his perfect robes
of righteousness covers us. His righteousness. We don't have
any of our own. Ours are filthy rags, but he
puts us in the robes of his son's righteousness. He sees his one-time
sacrifice of himself as our Redeemer, as our substitute, who bore all
the guilt, all the sin, and all the shame
in his own body for all of his elect. He bore the wrath of God's
holy justice And he justified us in doing it. Raised again
on the third day, according to the scripture. Because he satisfied
God's holy justice. And God, in our room instead,
is for Christ's sake. He called us by his gospel preached. For his sake, he has made us
new creatures in Christ Jesus. He predestined that before the
foundation of the world. It was done. It was done before
he created the world and everything in it. He made us join heirs with Christ,
our Redeemer. He made us partakers. of his
divine nature. He's made us meet and fit in
his son to sit at the king's table and eat continually. Jesus Christ, our prophet, our
priest, and our king, sits on his throne, our faith that God
gives us looks up to him, to the faith of Jesus Christ. And
he ever lives to intercede for us. If you go to Titus chapter
three and verse three, For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers, lust and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It's for Christ's sake. Look what he's done for you.
It is because of Christ Jesus' perfect righteousness while he
walked on this earth and his perfect obedience to God Almighty,
his Father, as our representative head, the elects his voluntary
death on the cross as our substitute and as our surety, that God saves
his elect people. It's all for Christ's sake, the
just for the ungodly. And it pleases God to look on
his son and pardon you. In him, in Christ, those he has
given life and faith to believe on the son of Jesus Christ. As
David received Mephibosheth, and showed him mercy and kindness
for Jonathan's sake. Mercy. Mercy. God shows us mercy for
the sake of his son. Verse eight. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant? that thou should look upon such
a dead dog as I am. God must bring you low. Before he brings you up, he's
got to bring you low. He's got to show you what you
are truly by nature, a dead dog. Then he turns us to Christ. By that God given faith for the
just shall live by faith of Jesus Christ. Reveals Christ in you the hope
of glory that new creation formed in him. The only hope of glory
you have. The only acceptance to God the
father that you have is in Christ Jesus. For his sake. He has made him unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We have a high
priest, an advocate to the Father. First John 1, verse 9, if we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to clean us from all unrighteousness. He's already put them away. But those that he loved, he chases. Because you're the sons of God.
You're his children. And he loves you. And you're chasing your children
if you love them. You don't leave them to their
self. God demands perfect righteousness,
perfect holiness, perfect submission. Does a dead dog possess any of
those things? Nope. He don't possess one good
thing. He's dead. We were spiritually
dead. He got no ability. We got no
ability. but in Christ Jesus. That new creation formed in him,
he has in us, he has made us fit and meet, not to be under
his table, but to sit at his table. He made us like his son. Sit at the king's table and eat. Feed on the gospel. On Christ crucified. Eat of his
flesh and drink of his blood. Because he's made us one in him. And Christ gets all the glory.
Christ gets all the preeminence. That man, man cannot boast before
God. She didn't do anything. He did
it all. We're spiritually dead and lame
from the fall. Just like Mephibosheth. And only
God can show a sinner that. Only God can show it. Don't look to me. God, don't
look to me. Look at your son. Look at my
substitute. Because he is the only righteousness
I have. Oh, God, don't look to me. Don't
look at me. A dead dog. What did he have? He was shown reconciling grace.
Reconciliation. Restoring. The restoration. Restored to God's favor, not
by our works. Salvation is God's work alone.
Read verses nine and 10. Then the king called Esaiba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul, into 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 shall eat bread always at my table. Now Zabba had 15 sons
and 20 servants. Ziba was a servant. His sons
were servants. But Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth made a son. More than a servant. Servant
doesn't know what his master does. He just does what he's
told. God's made us to know all things
in Christ Jesus by his Holy Spirit in us, teaching us all things
Christ. He received more from David than
he lost in Saul. And we have so much more in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, than we lost in Adam. We have all the promises. We
have all the blessings that are in Christ Jesus. That are Christ
Jesus. They are Christ Jesus. We have
an inheritance. His name he gives us. And his
name is the Lord our righteousness. He's made of sons. and we're his inheritance. And
in him, we have eternal life, we have faith, we have peace
with God, we have hope of glory. All spiritual blessings and heavenly
places, he says, is ours in Christ Jesus. Look what we have, look
what he's given us. He's given us his son. Here is
the covenant. Look in Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and
write it in their hearts. and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. For they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and I We'll remember their sin
no more. That thing that separates us
from God, sin. Christ put it away for his people
in his own body. We have the forgiveness of sin. He put them away. Blessed is
the man to whom God does not impute sin. We are made righteous. We are made the righteousness
of God in him. New creatures in Jesus Christ.
We have pardon, pardon for sin, and we have the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Pardon for sin, the guilt, the
shame. It's gone. That new man, we have
the old nature. He's going to hang on to us till
God separates us. But in Christ Jesus, there is
no sin. And we're in him. That new man
has no sin. He put it all away. With his
blood on that cursed tree. He freed us from the curse of
the law. As he fulfilled the law of God
perfectly while he walked on this earth. His perfect obedience
to the father. His faith. relying on him for
everything. And he was made a curse for us
because he hanged on that tree. And there is now the cause of
his suffering, cause of his death, cause of his resurrection, and
him justifying us. There is no more condemnation.
We do not have to fear the wrath of God. He's going to raise us up in
him. Perfect. He satisfied the holy justice
of God. God poured out his wrath on him
that we deserved. He took those sin, he was made
sin for us, and he bore that fiery wrath of God. God poured out his wrath on him. Because sin will not go unpunished,
not one. And when he found sin on his
son, because he made him, he made him sin. Christ never sinned. He's without sin, but he made
him sin for us. I don't understand that, but
praise God, I believe it because he says it. Don't understand it, but he poured
out his wrath on him till all that sin was gone. He's a consuming
fire and he burned it all in him and he bore it in his own
body on the cross for all his elect till it was gone. Nothing left
to burn. There's nothing left to burn. That's joy, brothers and sisters.
If you're in Christ, we ought to be jumping for joy. There's no greater joy. There's
no greater love. Christ did it all for us. For
his glory. For him to have preeminence.
And he was exalted. All for Christ's sake. He fulfilled. He fulfilled it all. All the
scripture. He fulfilled the covenant. He
fulfilled the will of God. And his work was finished. He
came as a man, God manifest in the flesh, without sin. And he fulfilled everything that
God required for our salvation. He did it for us. John 6, 37. John 6. Y'all probably quote
this by heart. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will which has sent me. that of all which he hath given
me before the foundation of the world, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. And then he
goes on again and says, and this is the will of him that sent
me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believes on him by
that God-given faith, may have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. That's a promise. That's a promise
of God. He doesn't lie, and he doesn't
change. We have hope. We have a good
hope. Eternal life in Christ Jesus. Oh, how we should rejoice, giving
God all the glory. We have peace with God. We have
peace, that enmity that we had born, hating God. Now we have
peace with God through the bloodshed of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
have been reconciled, restored to his favor by the meritorious
works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Justified, really justified by
his grace for his sake. We have the pardon for sins.
We have his perfect righteousness. And we did nothing to merit it.
Did nothing. We do nothing to keep it. We're his workmanship. He's already
ordained all those good works. He does them. He does it all. We sit back and
we rejoice in the grace and the mercy of letting us see him do.
His work, and we give Him all the glory and praise and honor,
because He does it all. We did no work to obtain it.
We did nothing to deserve it. God purposed the redemption in
His Son, and this is the love that He is at propitiation. He
is at propitiation for His people. And as Mophibosheth, we are nothing. We knew nothing of that covenant
until God revealed it to us. We don't know anything until
God reveals it to us. We didn't make that covenant,
but we are the recipients of the blessings of that covenant. that covenant of grace and mercy
shown for another's sake. The blessed receiver of God's
grace. He gives us faith in him to receive
it. And this before the foundation
of the world. Our names are written down. But we had no part. We had no
part in God's purpose of salvation. We weren't there. We weren't
even created. The world wasn't even created yet. It's all for Christ's sake. And fourthly, that covenant,
Christ fulfilled it. Eternal sonship, eternal unity
with God and Christ, eternal protection. Eternal protection. We're not strong, we're weak.
He's our strength. We can't keep ourselves. Like
Mephibosheth, he lay him on his feet. God didn't take it away. God
didn't heal his feet. We still got that old nature
we drag around. He was crucified. He crucified
on the cross with Christ. He's dead, but he still hangs
around. Those two natures. And it still
wars with our nature, with our new nature. But all it does is bark. All it does is stink. It wars. It wars with our inward
man. that God created in us, but he's
not gonna win. Christ will win. He's gonna protect
us, and he's gonna keep us. We're his purchased possession.
He paid for us with his own blood. He's gonna keep you. He promised. We're made to love him and serve
him. because he first loved us and
gave himself for us. Now we read down in 11, let's
read the rest of the verses here. Verse 11. Then said Ziba unto
the king, according to all that my lord the king hath commanded
his servant, so shall the 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. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table, and he'd lay
him on his feet. Still lay him on his feet. Jerusalem, the city of peace.
Christ Jesus, that city made without hands. The true Jerusalem. And we're in him. And he keeps
us. He dwells in us and we dwell.
We're in him. God purposed all this before
the foundation of the world. And God, we know, creates all
things, as our brother read to us earlier. He creates all things
for his will, and his purpose, and his good pleasure, and for
our good, and for his glory, and for Christ's sake. Proverbs
16, verse four, the Lord hath made all things for himself,
yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. I don't know about
you, but I'm glad our God is in control of everything. Not
only good, because He is the only good there is, but the evil
He created to use as it pleases Him, and for the day of destruction. Satan is not equal with God,
and he is not a rival to God. God's in control. Complete control. And because Ziba's, Ziba's are
among us. Ziba's are among us. Because
later we see Ziba lied to David about Mephibosheth. We're going
to look at this real quick. Over in 2 Samuel 19. 2 Samuel 19. If you look in verse 24. Says him, Ophiuchus, the son
of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed
his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the
day The king departed until the day he came again in peace. Just live by faith, we watch
for the king to come again. And it came to pass when he was
come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto
him, wherefore wentest thou? or not, wherefore, when is not
thou with me, Mephibosheth? He was supposed to went with
him. And he answered, my Lord, O king, my servant, Ziba, deceive
me. For thy servant said, I will
saddle me and ask that I may ride there on 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 an angel
of God. Do therefore, listen here, do
therefore what is good in thine eyes. This is Mephibosheth talking
to David. For all of my father's house
were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet didst thou set
thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What
right, therefore, have I yet to cry any more unto the king? And David the king said unto
him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? Why do I talk
any more about it? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide
the land. And Mephibosheth said unto the
king, yea, let him take all. For as much as my lord the king
has come again in peace into his own house. Oh, Ziba betrayed Mephibosheth
and he meant it for evil. But God uses his creation. He puts us through trials, but nothing can separate us from
His love. He loved you from eternity. He
never stopped loving you, and He never stopped loving you.
We did nothing to merit that love. We still don't, and we
never will. And nothing can take that love
away from us. It's for Christ's sake. He purposes all things and does
all things for the good. Our God-given faith works by
love. And that love that God sheds brought in our hearts,
it looks to Christ alone to believe on Him, to trust Him, to love
Him, to serve Him, to adore Him. Because He's all we need. Just like Mephibosheth said,
let Ziba have it all. I got you. I got you, oh God. It's all I need. It's all he
needs. And Ziba got the temporal things
that he desired. You know, one of the first thoughts
I had, why didn't he take him out? Destroy him. Thank God we're not God. Because
God is good, and he only does good. He will, he will come and he
will judge. He will come and he will judge,
not us. And it rains on the just and
the unjust, doesn't it? But Mephibosheth, what did he
have anything to cry about? That's what he said, what have
I got to cry? Look what I've gained. Look what you've given
me that I didn't deserve. Mercy from the king. For another
sake. We've already looked at his brothers
already read Romans 828 to us. We know that all things do work
for the good because God's already purposed in his purpose for the
ones that he loves and love him. And we know he chastens us and
he treats us as sons. And he's given us a high priest
who can succor us, who knows our infirmities because he was
tempted and suffered everything. We haven't suffered or been tempted
with everything, but he was tempted and suffered everything that
all his elect tempted and suffered with. Who has suffered as he
has? He's our high priest, the God-man,
the mediator, and he sits on his throne right now and he saves
his people that are scared. He comes to them and he calls
them by name. He fetches them. to himself and reveals himself
to them and reveals himself in them. Christ Jesus in you, the
hope of glory. And he'll keep us until that
day, he's promised. As Mephibosheth sat at King David's
table for Jonathan's sake, God Almighty has made us meet in
his son to set at his table and feast continually forever in
his kingdom without sin, guilt, or shame. All for Christ's sake,
for he hath in himself and by himself put all the sin and guilt
and shame away. That enmity, the hatred is gone. One last thought. And as Mephibosheth
looked for the return of King David, by faith, That God gives
all His elect. We look. We look. What was that on the tiptoe of
faith? That's what Brother Don used to say. We're like little
children and we're just looking. We tiptoe to look out. Because
we know He's coming. He promised. He's coming again. He's going to collect, gather
all His purchased possession unto Himself. And we look for
his return. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
begotten son of God, for he is our only acceptance to God. We need him. We got a bad, we
got a need. He is our only righteousness.
He is the resurrection. He's our only hope of eternal
glory. And it's all for Christ's sake. that God loves his Mephibosheth. Amen.