But I want to speak to you tonight. I want to draw a picture for
you, if I can, a picture of mercy. 2 Samuel, chapter 9. And we're having a contest tonight.
Me and Brother Don Fortner and I, we've got best luck in town. You just write your vote on a
ten-dollar bill and drop it. I just made up my mind I'm going
to one-up him, one service. I've had this tie for about four
years, and this is only the second time I've had nerve enough to
put it on, but I wore it tonight. I wore it tonight, so anyway.
And those are crawfish, they're not crawdads. You fish with crawdads
and you eat crawfish. It's a matter of semantics, but
it's very important. I want to draw you a picture
of mercy tonight. This is one of those passages
of scripture that Brother Todd Nyberg preached on it about three
years ago when he was out here. Brother Henry Mahan preached
on it one time. But it's just one of those passages
of Scripture that to me is never mentioned too many times. You
know, one time a couple of years ago, Brother Henry and I sitting
in Florida together, and I was getting ready to go back to Louisiana,
just looking over some things for Sunday school class. He said, What are you teaching
on Sunday in Sunday school? I said, Hebrews chapter 6. He
said, You don't even have to study that. You can just read
it. You don't even have to comment on it. Just read it. That's the
way I feel that 2 Samuel chapter 9 is. I like to comment on it,
but it's one of those passages of Scripture that if you ever
get caught in a bind and don't have your notes with you, you
preach. Read 2 Samuel 9. It'll come to
you. And I remember one thing Brother
Mahan said about this story of Mephibosheth. He said, if it
don't ring your bell, your clapper's broken. And I've never forgot
that. And if it doesn't ring our bell,
the clapper's broken on it. It's a great story, and I want
to paint it for you. I'm going to use seven brush
strokes to paint this picture. It's all going to be one color.
You don't even have to change colors here. Just make these
seven brush strokes to paint one of the beautiful pictures
of the Scriptures. And David said, the people's king has been rejected
by God with disobedience and rebellion. Over in 1 Samuel,
chapter 15, Samuel told Saul, he said, I will not return with
thee. I tell you, when God's preacher
says those words, speaks those words to you, There'll probably
be the saddest words that'll ever be spoken to you. I asked
a man one time, he just, he was in and out, up and down, hot
and cold. I really, I just got tired of
going to see him. And I think he broke me from
going visiting people that quit coming to church. Because I found out that for
me, it didn't do me a bit of good. And I never saw that it
did any of them any good either. It never helped a bit. You can't talk to a dead person.
We've got a cemetery right beside the church. Where's Brother Dan? I've got Brother Dan for neighbors.
Wherever you are, Dan. I know you. There you are. I've
got Brother Dan for neighbors this week. I tell you, he's better
neighbors than mine. The neighbors I have, they're
so quiet. They don't throw parties. Somebody
said they could not live next to the cemetery. I said, man,
it's hard to beat them. Don't ever cause you any problems. But I tell you what, I could
stand out there and talk to those dead people. And just, you know,
it just keep on, and it has about as much effect as it does talking
to some of these people that I've tried to deal with. You
pastors, you know what it's like. Breaks your heart, doesn't it?
You know, it's like a hospital visit when somebody gets sick.
You go to a hospital and you visit them, but this is worse.
This is going to a funeral home. They're dead. And I don't like
to go to funeral homes. But I told this man, I said,
do you want me just to leave you alone and not ever bother
you again? I'd be glad to. Of course, he
broke down and he started squalling, oh no, no, no, don't leave me
alone. But he never showed up and I
never went back. I left him alone. He wouldn't
say it. He wouldn't admit it. And Samuel
told Saul, He said, I'm going to leave you alone. I'm not going
to bother you anymore. I'm not going to return with
you. Why? Because you rejected the word
of the Lord. And the Lord has rejected thee
from being king over Israel. They're sad words, aren't they?
Saul was the people's king. People wanted a king. They didn't
care if he had anything to do with God or not. They wanted
a king. They looked around them. They saw all these nations all
around them, had all these kings. They saw all that pomp and glory
of these kings. They said, we want a king like
that. If you want it, the Lord God of heaven will provide it
for you. He'll send one your way. And
all you have to do is go read. the children of Israel and see
how they suffered. And they were warned. Samuel
warned them, didn't he? He warned them. He said, I'm going to tell
you what's going to happen. He's going to take your sons and your
daughters. And he said, your sons, they're going to ride his
chariots for him, drive his chariots. He said, they're going to work.
He's going to take all your fields. They're going to be his. He said,
he's going to take your daughters. They're going to be servants
to him. That's what's going to happen. They said, we don't believe you, preacher. What do you know? We want a king. There is. And it was a sad time
for Israel. But the Lord's raised up his
king now. Now he's got a king on the throne. David, a man after
God's own heart, now reigns over all Israel. In 1 Samuel 13, the
Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath
commanded him to be captain over his people." So we have David
on the throne. We get to 2 Samuel chapter 9. David's not been on the throne
very long. There's peace in the land. And David has a covenant
he's going to fulfill. He's made a pact. And one of
the first acts as king was to ask about the house of Saul,
is there yet any that is left to the house of Saul, that I
may show him mercy?" Mercy is translated in the King James
Version, kindness. But the words mercy, in the Spanish
Bible, it's written mercy. Mercy, show him mercy for Jonathan's
sake. And there was 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 on his feet." Former
servant of the house of Saul told David about Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan. He's still alive. He's a cripple. He's lame on his feet. Not half lame. Totally. Brother Pledger mentioned this
morning. Totally. Depravity. He's lame on both
his feet. So David sent And he fetched him. It says in
verse four, 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,
crippled, sold out, and he is down in Lodabar. There
is no bread there. poverty. Absolutely nothing. It says in verse five, so David
sent and fetched him out of the house of Maker, the son of Amiel,
from Lodabar. And he sent and he fetched him
and he gave to Mephibosheth the estate that belonged to Saul. with many servants, and he gave
them a place at the king's table all of his life. What a picture. What a picture. What a beautiful
picture of God's mercy and grace toward sinners for Christ's sake. And I want to try to paint this
picture, as I said, with these seven brush strokes, seven words. First word is found in verse
three. The word said, S-A-I-D. The king said. This is the king speaking here. This
is David, God's king, speaking. And when the king speaks, you
better take notice what he has to say, because when the king
speaks, there's power. It's written you can go fishing,
because there's power there. There's authority there. You
don't question what the king has to say. There's total sovereignty
here. When the king speaks, everybody
shuts up and listens. King speaking. They can call a council together. We're not going to call the deacons
together. We're not going to have a meeting and decide what
we're going to do about this. There's not going to be any bargaining
here because the king has spoken. The king has spoken from his
sovereign throne, and what he decrees will be done. And our God is infinitely sovereign
over all things. It's a comfort of my heart to
know that I serve God. Sovereign God, it's
redundant to say it, but sometimes we're sedente, we have to kind
of explain what we're saying, don't we? If He's God, He's sovereign. If He's sovereign, He's God.
And if He's not sovereign, He's not God. You write it with a
little g. He's an idol, figment of your
imagination, my imagination. He's not God. And our God is
infinitely sovereign over all of his creation. He reigns in
total authority in heaven and earth. The other day, I took the chaplain a copy of Spurgeon's
Morning and Evening. gave it to him, and I told him,
I said, I don't know if you have this in your library. He said,
no, but I sure do like Spurgeon, like to read him. I said, well,
I'll give you a copy of this. And I had already read the morning
before I took this out to him. And I know he went in his office
and read it, because he came back and he sat down where I
was. I started to say, my office, it's not mine, but it sounded
real big. I'm just a volunteer, but he
came in and he said, and he said, you know, the greatest comfort
of my heart is to know that God is sovereign, seated on his throne,
ruling all things after the counsel of his own will. He said that's
the comfort of my heart. I thought, I just read that.
And really, he just read it too. But it is. And to know that he
reigns in absolute authority. every detail, every speck of
dirt, as you mentioned last night, everything is under his control,
and I wish I believed that all the time. Every once in a while I'd get
a little inkling of confidence in that, just a little bit. But
I know the way I act, I don't. I don't It just hasn't got a
hold of my heart yet. Not unto us, the psalmist said,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory
for the mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? No reason to say it. Some of
us walk around where somebody has to ask, where is your God?
He died? We walk around with a face so
long we'd eat oats out of a Coke bottle. Where's your God? I guess
he died. The psalmist said, our God's
in heaven. And he hath done whatsoever he
hath pleased. All things, working all things.
Look back in 1 Samuel, chapter 2, verse 6. Look what he says
here. Oh, I read this, and I read it
phrase by phrase, and I just keep telling myself, oh, I want
to believe that. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. It just doesn't have anything
to do with me. He bringeth down to the grave,
and He bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor. and maketh rich, he bringeth low, and he lifteth
up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to
set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne
of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and
he hath set the world upon He will keep the feet of His saints. He will. That's His power, His ability. And here's His promise, the wicked
shall be silent in darkness. I love the wills and the shalls
of the Scriptures. The wills He can, the shalls
He promised it, He will fulfill it. For by strength shall no
man prevail." Don't you wish you believed that? The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. He's already promised it. Out
of heaven shall he thunder upon them. Out of heaven shall he
thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt
the horn of his anointed." The Lord's going to do it. Did you
get that picture? There may be second, third, fourth,
and fifth causes, but the Lord God of heaven is the first cause
in all things. We get mad at the second cause,
don't we? But that's just getting mad at
God. He's the first cause. He's the first cause that caused
the second cause to move. He's sovereign in salvation. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Paul repeats it in
Romans chapter 9, he said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's of God who showeth mercy. Now what David said, I'm going
to show him mercy. I'm going to show him mercy for Jonathan's
sake. He hath mercy on whom he will
have mercy. And whom he will, he hardeneth.
Jonah declared salvation is of the Lord. King said, the only
one who can say, the king said, the king said, is there any of
the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? That's the second brush stroke.
That word kindness, I want to show him kindness. In verse one. In verse three, that I may show
him kindness. That I may show the kindness
of God to him. David the king was a man of mercy. The house of Saul was David's
enemy, sworn enemy. If Mephibosheth could, He was
spit in David's face. They were sworn enemies. There was not a kind word spoken
between them. David said, I'm going to show
him mercy. I'm going to show him mercy. Because the house
of Saul was such a sworn enemy of David's, it deserved no mercy. But that's obvious, sir. It wouldn't
be called mercy. deserve no pity, but David found
it in his heart. That's the only reason it was,
to show mercy to one. Our God is holy, righteous, just. He's king. He's merciful. He delights to show mercy. The
psalmist said, let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord
there is mercy with the Lord, with Jehovah. There's mercy with
Jehovah. There's plenteous redemption. And this race of ours, it's a
fallen, rebellious race that deserves no mercy. If we could,
we would spit in God's face right this minute. We would. God's not in debt to us. I defy you to say it's not fair. It doesn't have anything to do
with fairness. It has to do with Him showing
mercy to whom He will show mercy. He's God. He's not in debt to us, but He's
determined to show mercy to some. And if you're righteous, you
don't want mercy. You demand justice. And you can. Demand justice. You know who
mercy is for? The guilty. Don't claim the innocence
and ask for mercy. Don't claim the innocence. I see it too much. Claiming innocence,
wanting some mercy. Cry guilty. and throw yourself
at the king's feet. The language of religion is merit,
rewards, what I can do. The language of true redemption
is mercy. That's what Paul told Timothy.
He said, I've obtained mercy. Had we get where we are, I've
obtained mercy. The publican cried, Lord, be
merciful unto me. I'm the one there is. I'm the
only one there is. Mercy. But look at the next word. Next brush stroke here we're
going to apply to this painting here. It's also there in verse
3. Right at that last phrase. And the king says, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show mercy? The mercy
of God to him, and Ziba said to the king, Jonathan hath yet
a son which is lame on his feet." Lame on his feet. Ziba, the servant
of the house of Saul, reported to David that Jonathan had this
son called Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth was down in
a place called Lodabar, where there's no bread. And he's now a poor cripple because
of a tragic fall when he was young. And you know the story.
A servant was carrying a fibber shaft, was running with him,
and tripped and fell. And it injured this young boy.
And he never walked again. He was laying on both his feet. And that word lame, through a
fall, it not only describes Mephibosheth, but it's our condition since
our fall, and our father Adam. Paul told the Corinthians, he
said, in Romans 5, he said, Wherefore, by one man's sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, So death passed upon all men,
for that all had sinned. He told the believers in Ephesus,
And you, who hath he quickened, made alive, who were dead, dead
in trespasses and sins." Lame. Lame in both his feet. That's
what it says. All of our faculties were affected
by this fall. In this flesh, there dwells no
good thing. The Apostle Paul, he wrote to
the believers in Rome. He said to them, and when he
finished these accusations, there wasn't a part of us left that
wasn't touched. He said, what then, are we better
than these Jews? No. We before have proved, both Jew
and Gentile, that they are all under sin. As it's written, there's
none righteous. There's none that understand.
There's none that seek after God. They're all going out of
the way. We've all become unprofitable.
There's none that do good. Our throat's an open sepulcher. With our tongues we've used deceit.
Poison of asp is under our lips, our mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery in our
way. The way of peace have we not
known. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. Down in verse eight, Ephibosheth
thou himself to David, and said, What is thy servant? that thou
shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am. And you think about that. You
know what I see? And I forgot my little mirror.
I carry a little mirror around with me. I have one laying here
on the pulpit. I lay it right there when I'm
preaching. Because I don't want you to think
I'm preaching down to you. I'm preaching to me too. So I
keep that mirror there. And I have one I carry in my
briefcase, and I just forgot to bring it. You know what I see when I look
at us? A bunch of dead dogs. Rotten, corrupt, stinking, dead
dogs. That's not very flattering, is
it? But you know, if we ever get there, If we ever see ourselves,
Mephibosheth saw himself, there's some hope for us. He gives life
to dead, doesn't he? What good is a dead dog? You put them in your storage
shed like you do everything else and save them up? Never know
when you might need that thing. That's what I tell my wife. You clean your stuff out and
throw it away. I'll clean my stuff out. Our values, they're
just different. Well, we don't take a dead dog
and store him up for a rainy day. Phibosheth said, What is
thy servant? Nothing. We can answer that question. Nothing. Why would you look upon
such a dead dog as I am? Because I'm going to show mercy.
Mercy. Mercy. The fourth word here is fetched.
Like you were talking about that word, Saul, David. Fetched. And David sent and fetched him.
Verse 5, King David sent and fetched him out of the house
of Maker, the son of Amiel, from Lodabar. Fetched him. King David purposed to show mercy
to someone of Saul's house. He made a covenant to do it.
And when he heard that Jonathan had a crippled son in Lodabar,
David sent his son to where Mephibosheth was, and he fetched him. That servant went and called
him and brought him to David. The Lord of glory is love, and this love is going to be
expressed, this sovereign mercy The Lord of Glory determined
to show mercy to a fallen race like us. He set His love and
His affection upon totally lame sinners, dead dog sinners like
us. And He sent His only begotten
Son into the world to redeem us. Why'd he do it? For God so
loved the world. Sometime just sit down and try
to define, let me rephrase that, quantify that little two letter
word there in John 3, 16, S-O. How much? How much did he love us? I don't
know, but he loved us sufficiently that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Paul said, And when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them where they were under
the law. Then again to the believers in Rome, he said, for when we
were yet without strength, lame at both feet, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, dead dog sinners, Christ
died for us. We shall be saved from the wrath
through Him. Christ came where we are, became
what we are, and by His obedience to death honored the law, satisfied
justice, enabled the Father to be judged and the justifier of
all that believe. And now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. He sent His Holy Spirit to fetch
us, to fetch us, call us, make us willing in the day of His
power. Make us willing to come to Him. People will be willing
in the day of His power. There's a fifth word, fear not.
David said to him in verse 7, fear not, because here came Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan. When he came, when he was come
to David, He fell on his face, and he did reverence. And I remember
Brother Todd said this. I remember it because I have
it written in my notes that I took. He said, when you get rid of
your crutches, you fall on your face before God. As long as we're
propped up by our crutches, whatever it is, our crutches of religion,
we're going to stand As lame and dead as we are, we're going
to be standing up there on those crutches. When the crutches are
gone, we fall on our face, and he fell on his face and did reference
to David. And David said to Mephibosheth,
David said, Mephibosheth called him by name. There's a particular
affection, wasn't there? No mistake here. Oh, he was afraid
in the presence of his king because he was of that house of the king's
enemies. And when he came, he fell on
his face before the king and he did reverence. And David said,
you have no cause to be afraid. I'm going to show you mercy.
I tell you, men and women who know something of God's holiness
and something of their nature and sin, know something about
what the law and the justice of the kingdom demand, and have
every reason to be afraid in His presence. That's the reason
our Lord said, You believe in God? Believe also in Me. That's what takes the fear away.
God's going to punish sin. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. So like the publican, we cry,
God be merciful to me. But there's another brush stroke
here, and it's that word's sake, Jonathan's sake. In verse 7,
why is he going to do this? Fear not, for I'll surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. It doesn't have
anything to do with you. It's way back before you was
ever even thought of. It's for Jonathan's sake. It's
not because you're crippled. No, I just, you know, I'm a bleeding
heart. I'm a tree hugger, and I'm going to show a little mercy
on you. No. It's for Jonathan's sake. There's
been a covenant made. A covenant made with another.
And that's our hope. I've not fetched you to destroy
him, so you don't need to be afraid. I'm going to show you
mercy for the sake of Jonathan, your father, whom I love. before the foundation of the
world, the Father, entered into an everlasting covenant of mercy
with the Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him a people out of Adam's race,
Christ the surety, redeemer of those people. This mercy and
kindness that God shows to sinners, that the Lord God shows to sinners
is because of His love for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all for
Christ's sake. And that last brush stroke, Verse
13, I love that word continually.
He came from no bread to continued bread. Continual bread. He came from low to bar to sit
at the king's table. What about, why you going to
look up on me with such a dead dog as I am? And then there,
verse 13, so, Joseph Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. For he did
eat continually at the king's table. And he is still lame on
both feet. That's reading he still ate at
the king's table. He's still lame. He's still lame. I love to preach that passage
of Scripture there in Acts chapter 8, isn't it, about that Ethiopian
eunuch. And I love to tell people he
went back to Ethiopia. He's still a slave. He's still
in chains. He's still a eunuch. But he went
worshiping God. And hear him of Philbishop, he's
still crippled. Both feet. Didn't get one of them healed.
He's still crippled in both feet. Not a bit better than he was
before he started, is he? And that's us. We're not a bit
better than we were before we were saved. Oh, but we do eat
bread at the king's table continually. That's our hope. David fulfilled
every promise to Mephibosheth as God will fulfill every promise
to His people in Christ. None shall ever perish, but all
shall be made like Christ and enjoy His presence forever. From no bread to continual bread. And we still need it. We still
have to be fed. But we're still lame. But we're still eating bread.
We're still sinners. We're still saved by mercy and grace of God
in Christ Jesus. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to our hearts tonight. Thank you for listening.