So Lord may graciously help me,
I'll turn your prayerful attention to the second book of Samuel,
chapter nine, and reading for a text, verse six. I do want
to go through this precious account of David and his dealings with
Mephibosheth. To Samuel nine, and verse six. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell
on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant. That's 2 Samuel chapter 9 and
verse 6. We read together firstly from
that portion in 1 Samuel 18, where Jonathan and David meet
one another, and there's this covenant made, this covenant
in love between Jonathan and David. Jonathan, who was heir
to the throne, naturally speaking after his father Saul, and yet
he gives these indications that he hands over those rights to
David in this covenant. You see in verse four, of 1 Samuel
18, he says, and Jonathan stripped himself of his robe that was
upon him and gave it to David, and his garments, and even to
his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. These symbols,
which we believe were symbols of his heir to the throne, as
it were, he'd been a prince, as it were, he gave them to David. And it was a covenant in love,
and it was a covenant that gave. And we see then something of
that love and covenant there was, that was between David and
Jonathan. And we see then, later on, how
that covenant was put into effect by David. David, many years later,
became king. By that time, Jonathan had died
on those mountains of Gilbar with Saul. by the Philistines. And yet this covenant, you see,
that David had made with Jonathan, that one who encouraged David
so much in his times of difficulty, this covenant. And so we think
of the covenant that the Lord has made. And you see, then if
we look at the beginning of this chapter, chapter nine of the
second of Samuel, And David said, is there yet any that is left
of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? You see, it was because of his
covenant and because of his love to Jonathan that he sought to
show kindness for Jonathan's sake. And so here we can see
so often we would finish our prayers with when we pray for
Jesus Christ's sake, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as we think of David
here, his love, you see, for Jonathan's
sake, for that covenant that he had made, and how, when we
pray to God, we come for Jesus Christ's sake. And it's that
love, that there is that covenant between these two that is the
strength of the people of God. It's our pleading ground. And
David said, is there yet any that is left of the house of
Saul that I may show him kindness? And in verse three, it says that
I may show the kindness of God. So David had a desire, you see,
to show kindness to Saul's family. Of course, this was quite different
than you would naturally expect. I understand it was the common
practice when one king came into power of a different family.
was to wipe out any other family that could possibly have a claim
to the throne, to clear one's space so that there would be
no other contenders to take the throne. But here you see David
never operated like that. When he came, when he started
to come to power, he never used his power to crush Saul. He did defend himself, but it
was always the aggression was coming from Saul's side and Saul's
family. David never sought to, as it
were, exterminate them, really, in fulfillment and in faithfulness
to this covenant that he'd had with Jonathan. And so here, and the king said,
is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? So there was a seeking out the
kindness, to show kindness to those, and particularly, you
see, of the house of Saul. You see, we later read of this
character Mephibosheth, who was one of the sons of Jonathan,
whom Ziba told David that he was yet alive. And Ziba was going,
sorry, Mephibosheth, you see, he was born Royal. He was five years old. We read
when Saul died, in fact, you can read that if you look in
2 Samuel chapter four and verse four, it tells us, 2 Samuel four
verse four, it says, and Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was
lame on his feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. That's the tidings
of their death on the mountains of Gilboa. And his nurse took
him up and fled. And it came to pass, as she made
haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. And his name was
Mephibosheth. So here we have a little of the
history behind this character Mephibosheth. He was five years
old when his grandfather Saul died and his father Jonathan
died in battle. And you see, so he was born as
son of a prince. In a sense, he was born royal.
Well, he was born royal. And you see, and yet, now, you
see that the nurse fled. You can see there was fear. Once
there was a, Saul and Jonathan had died, the thought was that
David would come and exterminate all the house of Saul, but David
never did do that. David never intended to do that.
And when those killed people like Abner, who was the captain
of Saul's army, David did not reward them, but punish them
for doing that. So David was faithful to this
covenant that he'd had with Jonathan. But particularly, you see, it
was to show the kindness. And it seems that there was a
time coming, you see, something like 17 years into his kingdom,
that David really felt that he must put into execution this
covenant, the agreement of that. But we think of the things of
God, and there's a picture here, surely, of something of the covenant
that is. The covenant of grace, the grace
and mercy and kindness to those which were naturally from the
enemy household. You see, Jonathan and And though
Jonathan had a covenant with David, yet he was from the enemy
household. And Mephibosheth, his son, as
that royal blood that was flowing in his veins, made him, by definition,
an object, one that would be of the enemy, that would naturally,
David would, if he was left to his own normal devices, would
seek to kill because he would be a contender. to the throne. And so if we look at it like
this, we can see that, you see, he was born royal. And yet, you see, after the fall
and after that death of Saul and the change of the kingdom,
then that royalness became, he became on the enemy household. And we think of that with the,
you see, Adam was born to have communion with God. And yet after
the fall, you see, and we as Adam's race are now, you see,
naturally we're enemies. We're part of the enemy household.
And you see, as sinners, it says the wages of sin is death. And how could these be brought
together? How could Mephibosheth, you see, how could he ever have
union and fellowship with David? You see, he would fear David.
He would think, well, David's gonna try and kill me because
I'm part of the enemy household. But you see, David had thoughts
of kindness and gentleness and love and mercy towards this one. And we see here that as we have
also that we see that this son was lame on his feet. And of course, we think of that
spiritually. By nature, you see, we cannot
walk. in the ways of God. We cannot run in the ways of
his commandment. We are lame and we cannot seek,
we cannot go in those right ways. Well, this was the difficult
situation that Mephibosheth grew up in. He was far off, you see. And so obviously by this time,
this story happens sometime later than obviously when he was five
years old. He was probably in his 20s or
so at this stage. So the king is told, you see,
in verse three it says, 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? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house
of Mekah, the son of Emiel, in Lodibah. And I understand the
name Lodibah means a place of no pasture. And surely it's not
that asked by nature. Far off from the king, a rebel
really, and by our very being part of Adam's race, we are enemies
to God. far off from God, in a place
of no pasture. Solomon so aptly describes it
in Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, a place where
there's nothing substantial. But the king sent and fetched
him. You see, this is mercy and kindness,
isn't it? Well, of course, we don't know
when this edict went out to fetch Mephibosheth. Just what was said,
we don't know whether they explained that David had purposes of kindness
and mercy to Mephibosheth or not. Fearful. He feared no doubt
for his life. Would this be his death warrant? Would this be his call? His summon
to the king? And you see, You see, he would
think, well, if I keep away from David, if I keep away and he
never knows that I exist, that would probably be better for
me. I can carry on living in this place of no pasture, in
Lodibar, but he gets his summons. You see, we think of that, that
he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Surely, spiritually
speaking, he was far off from David. He was in exile, as it
were. He was far off and he was an
enemy. And how could he be brought back?
And this is a picture of us spiritually. How can there be a bringing back
between hell-deserving sinners and a holy God? Well, the movement,
you see, was on David's side. David was the one that was making
the first move. He was the one that was seeking.
He was the one that was, I came to seek and to save that which
was lost. Then King David sent and fetched
him. Well, if he was lame on both
his feet, he would need transport him, wouldn't he? He wouldn't
be able to walk. He needed to be fetched. He needed to be brought. He needed to be encouraged. He
needed to come. He had to come to the king. And
would it be, what would it be? Would it be for his death? He
didn't know. It's not clear that he knew. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makah, the son of Emel, from from that
place of no pastor to come to Jerusalem to visit King David. And of course, David had thoughts
of kindness to show the kindness of God to this exile, to this
one who was lame, this one who, I understand his name means a
shameful thing, this one who was far off as it were. Now, when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came unto David. He fell on his
face. He fell on his face. He showed
his great reverence to David. He submitted to David. He showed
his submission and reverence and humility before David. He
fell on his face and did reverence. Well, what was gonna happen?
Would David command his execution? Would he say, you're part of
the enemy household? Your father chased me upon the
mountains as a partridge upon the mountains. Your father had
edicts against me, or your grandfather, sorry, not his father, sorry,
Jonathan was good to him. But Saul had been so unkind to
David, and he was part of Saul's household. And yet you see, no,
he says, and David said, Mephibosheth. Just one word, Mephibosheth.
I know thee by name. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. You see, he speaks one word.
It was the same with the Savior. With Mary, when she was supposing
that he was the gardener, he said unto her, Mary. He called her, called them by
their name, Mary or Mephibosheth. And you see, that meant so much,
didn't it? It would not depart from me, but Mephibosheth, the
shameful thing. And he answered, so this is what
Mephibosheth answered, behold thy servant. So here we have
this submission. Mephibosheth didn't come to rival
King David. He didn't come to mount a coup. He didn't come to seek to dethrone
David. He came with humility. He came
as it were, he was conquered by the love of David. Conquered
by his kindness and his mercy. Behold thy servant. He wanted to be the servant.
We think of Saul on that Damascus road. When he came with that
brightness above the midday sun, he fell down and said, Lord,
what will thou have me to do? He wasn't saying, well, I think
I'm gonna do this, this, and this, and then I'm gonna do that.
He said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Behold thy servant. He was there to serve, not to
dictate, not to call the tune, but to serve David and to seek
to be a blessing to David. And David said unto him, fear
not. So we have another of those precious
fear nots. in the Bible. If we think, when
did fear, what's the first time we read of fear in the word of
God? Surely it was in the garden of
Eden, after the fall. After the fall, we read the first
time about fear. In Genesis three, verse eight,
this is Adam speaking, and they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, And Adam and
his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among
the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called Adam
and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy
voice in the garden, and I was afraid. The first time we read
of fear in the Bible, because I was naked. and I hid myself. There was fear, you see, and
fear comes, you see, as a result of sin, as a result of the fear
of the wrath of God, as a result of sin. And well, you see, and
David said unto him, fear not. Oh, what must have that meant
to Mephibosheth? Meant to him that was naturally
lame on both his feet as a result of that fall, and also one that
was of the, naturally by his birth, part of the enemy household. Well, fear not. David's words of kindness. Fear
not. There's so many beautiful fear
nots in the word of God. But here, David, you see, as
that king, the king in Jerusalem, was able to say, fear not. And
of course, surely David was a picture of great David's greatest son,
who was king in Jerusalem, who shall sit upon the throne of
his father, David, and having an everlasting kingdom, and is
able to say to his people, fear not. with all their fears, with
all their thoughts about the future, and the fact that they
are lame, and the fact that they are of the enemy household, the
fact that they're sinners, the fact that sin is mixed with all
that they do. And David said unto him, fear
not. Well, what music that must have
been to Mephibosheth's ear. That was life, wasn't it? Instead
of death, there would be kindness, for I will surely show thee kindness. for Jonathan, thy father's sake. It was for Jonathan's sake. It
was for that relationship, that covenant that David had with
Jonathan, that therefore he could show this kindness to one that
otherwise would be, naturally, he would be against. And of course,
it's all as we are in Christ. It's all, the mercies that flow
to us are for Christ's sake. It's all because the Father can
show his love to his people because of Christ, because of what Christ
has done, because of the mediator, because of the one that has been
that day's man, because of that one that has brought sinners
back to God through the red sea of his own blood. And David said
unto him, fear not, for I shall surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan's sake, and will restore to thee all the land of Saul
thy father, and how much, you see, we lost in the fall. And
yet, you see, there's a restoration. There's communion. Adam lost
that communion in the cool of the day as a result of the fall
in the Garden of Eden. But there's a restoration. There's
a way back to God. There's a way of communion with
God once again. And David said unto him, fear
not. I shall surely show thee kindness. for Jonathan, thy father's sake,
and will restore to thee all the land of Saul, thy father. So there was a bringing back
of the inheritance. Think of the first fear not that
we have in the Bible, and that was in Genesis 15, verse one. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, fear not,
Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great rewards.
Abraham there had just fought the kings, had just rescued Lot
and rescued the Sodom that had been taken, a captive, and he
could have had retaliation from these kings that he'd fought
against. And yet he has these precious words, fear not, Abraham,
I am thy shield. and thy exceeding great reward. He turned down the riches of
the King of Sodom. And God comes to him saying,
I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Yes, you've turned
down the goods of the land of Sodom, but I've got much more
to give you than the King of Sodom can. And what a blessing
when we realize that the blessings that are in Christ Jesus are
far greater than anything here below. And David said unto him,
fear not, I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy
father's sake, and will restore to thee all the land of Saul
thy father. You see, he was gonna show kindness.
Far from being aggressive against Saul, he was going to give that
land that Saul had back to Mephibosheth. But then he says, and thou shalt
eat bread, at my table continually." Here there was going to be a
feasting. You think of it naturally. It's a great honor to be able
to be invited to the king or the queen in our land as it was.
Well, the king now. A great honor to be able to go
to Buckingham Palace and eat a meal with the king or the queen. But here you see, and thou shalt
eat bread. at my table continually. What a feast, what a wonderful
thing. This one who was far off, this
one who could only think that David would ruin him. But you see, as we think of how
God can show kindness to his traitors and his foes, it's all
to do with the work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who
stood in their place, who paid the price, who took their sin
and dealt with their sin. And you see, as there was that
covenant of grace, there was a need for justice to be satisfied. You see, God is just and he cannot
bypass sin. He cannot say sin doesn't matter.
He has to punish sin. And therefore, you see, this
is the great plan of salvation, that there will be a bringing
mercy to sinners, a giving of mercy to sinners. at the same
time as being a just and a holy God. How can God be just and
the justifier of the ungodly? How can these things be? Well,
it's the gospel, the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ that
he stood in his people's place. He didn't, as it were, put the
punishment on some angel. No, he took the punishment himself. As we looked this morning at
that case of Judah standing in the place of Benjamin. Reuben had offered to kill some
of his sons if he didn't bring him back, but that wasn't good
enough. It needed to be Judah who would bear the blame himself. And that's so much more like
Christ. You see, it wasn't that Christ said, we'll kill some
angels if If this goes wrong, no, he took the punishment himself. He stood in the place of his
people himself. He trod the winepress alone. And David said, fear not, for
I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake.
So all his relationship is with Christ, and that's how we are,
you see. And that's how Paul describes
Christians in the New Testament, as those that are in Christ. That's why they're Christians,
they're in Christ. It's that relationship, that
bond. We spoke of it this morning, to which Jesus and the chosen
race subsist a bond of sovereign grace. A bond, you see, and that's
how they are described by Paul so often in the New Testament.
They're not called Christians, they're called those that were
in Christ. Of course, there were Christians, but that's how he
describes them, in Christ, union. And you see it's all for, in
this picture here, it's for Jonathan's sake, but greater than Jonathan,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that one that made a covenant, The one
that sealed the covenant with his own blood. Well, you see, what's the reaction
in verse eight? And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? This is humility. He's overwhelmed. He's overwhelmed with the kindness
and the love and the mercy that he's receiving. You see, and
And he brought me into his banqueting house, we read in the Song of
Solomon, and his banner over me was love. He could only, you
see, it was the same as when the brethren came back to Joseph.
They could only think that Joseph would have them executed or destroyed. But no, he said, ye meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good. His banner over them was
love. They'd come with repentance.
They'd come to hate the sins that once they loved. And you see, he was going to
show them his kindness. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant? Thou shouldest look upon such
a dead dog as I am. So you see, humility becomes
us. That we're unworthy of the least
of his benefits. We cannot deserve any of these
things, and yet, he was going to have those blessings. Then
the king called Zybron, Saul's servants, and said unto him that
he was going to give him his master's house, all that pertained
to Saul's house. But then we have another interesting
part in verse 11. It says then, that my lord the
king have commanded his servants, so shall thy servants do. As
for Mephibosheth, Seth the king, he shall eat at my table. Well you say, well you've had
that already said, but then there's something else. He shall eat
at my table as one of the king's sons. Now this is something,
it's a different level. It's one thing to have some people
to your house and to give them a meal. It's another thing to,
let them eat, as it were, as one of the sons, as to be one
of the family, as to be adopted into the family. And of course,
that's the great theme that's picked up in the epistle of John,
1 John 3, when it says, behold, this is something to note, something
to be amazed about, behold. This is 1 John 3, verse one,
behold what manner of love The Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. Not just that we've been forgiven
of our sins, but he's brought us into a loving family union. He's made us his sons and daughters,
that we should be called the sons of God. You see, this is
amazing. John says, What manner of love
is this? What sort of love does this world
come from? What? Behold what manner of love. It seems out of this world, this
level of love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Something for God's people to
take on board, something for them to absorb, to realise that
if we are in Christ, we are new creatures, we are sons of God,
we have been brought into the family, we have an elder brother,
we have a father in heaven, we can come to him as Our Father
that art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We come to him and
we come to the Lord Jesus, our older brother. We have those
new family relationships because we have come in to the family. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and yet it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but
we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him. as he is, you see, and that's
the great blessing, you see, to be like him, to be brought
into his family. He brought me into his banqueting
house and his banner over me was love. Then we read that Mephibosheth
had a young son whose name was Micah and all that dwelt in the
house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So in verse 13
we have, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat
continually at the king's table." Continual feasting with the king,
a continual sense of the kindness of David, the inclusion of David,
that he was one who was Jonathan's son, and yet he was brought into
the family of David, as it were, one of his sons, to enjoy One
of our hymn writers says this, no longer, no more stranger or
guest, but like a child at home. A child at home doesn't wonder
whether it's allowed to be there. It's its home. This is where
it lives. There's a sense of security,
a sense of belonging, a sense of love. And you see, that's
what we have here. He brought me into his banqueting
house. and his banner over me was love. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
but he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame
on both his feet. You see, that didn't change.
He was still lame, but you see, he was able to dine and to delight
himself at the king's table. And of course, you think of it
like that. If he was sitting around the
table with the king's sons sitting there enjoying the dainties of
that food, surely there were times when he could forget his
lameness. Because while you're sitting
down and eating, you don't notice perhaps the fact that you can't
walk so much because you're not needing to walk at that moment
in time. You see, to be round the table, a strange combination
though, in the king's table and yet a continual lameness. Of course, I wonder whether there's
something of a similarity there in Romans 7, you see, as Paul
had been given that new life, and yet he found that when he
would do good, evil was present with him. And how to perform
that which is good, I find not. Surely, Paul in Romans 7 is speaking
of the sadness of his He continued to not be able to
serve God as he would. He continually felt his shortcomings,
and God's people do, a continual lameness, and yet a continual feasting
in God's house, feasting upon his mercy, feasting upon his
grace. You see, and a continual realization
of the shortness that we come. Paul says in Romans 7 verse 18,
for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that
which is good I find not, for the good that I would I do not,
and the evil which I would not, that I do. Surely that's lameness,
isn't it? It's not being able to walk and
run the way you would, a lameness. Paul complains of that. And yet
you see Paul knew what it was to banquet, to banquet with his
God. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin dwelleth in me. I find then
a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, delighting, hungering,
and thirsting after righteousness. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind. and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Well you see Mephibosheth then,
this one, who was exiled, who had originally royal blood flowing
in his veins, and yet there was a change of king, and then he
became an object of the enemy household by his very original
royal blood. And so we as those that were
made in the image of God are in that Garden of Eden, yet because
of the fall, We are enemies by nature from God. And we need
to be brought back to God. We need to be brought into fellowship
with him. He needs to, as it were, bring us into his banqueting
house. He needs to make us sons and daughters of the Most High. And yet, you see, there is somewhat
of that lameness about us in our walk, that we can't serve
him as we would. And you see, David could never
ultimately, David the king could never ultimately solve Refibeshev's
lameness, could he? He continued lame. But you see,
we have a God, you see, that is ultimately going to change
the lameness of his people. The hymn writer said, when this
poor lisping stammering tongue lies silent in the grave, Then
in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save. You see,
there will be coming time when all God's children will lose
their lameness, will lose their inability to not run in the ways
of his commandments. They'll lose it, they'll be able
to truly run, they'll be able to truly serve him in perfection. Yes, they are to walk lamely
here. Well, as a person who's lame,
they can walk certain amount perhaps, awkwardly and difficultly
and very with much effort, but often these people can walk a
certain amount. But you see, there's a time coming,
you see, when we will be able to worship him. We think of our
times of worship. We gather around God's house
and we seek to worship him, but we do it always with imperfection. But you see, there's coming a
time when we'll be able to worship him with unsinning hearts. You see, that's what gets picked
up here in what we said about the, now are we the sons of God. But it yet doth not appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, We should
be like him. We won't be lame then, will we?
We won't be lame. We won't be lame. We'll be like
him. For we shall see him as he is,
and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself
even as he is pure. So there's an aspiration to be
like him. And yet, here below, we're always
affected with that lameness, the sin that just so easily besets
us. And yet, there's a reaching forth. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Those who, despite their lameness,
feast, you see, on the table. And it's often, isn't it, as
we come to the table of the Lord and feast upon the broken body and the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus. It's, you see, this man received
his sins and eateth with them. It's their lameness and their
far-offness and their inability to serve him that makes the supper,
in one sense, all the more precious. Because it's for sinners. It's for sinners. You see, sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. Well,
as David showed this kindness, this kindness of God to one of
the enemy household, one that he had a covenant with Jonathan
and how Christ had a covenant with his father. And because
of that covenant, you see, all the blessings of the gospel are
able to come to his people, his chosen, and they're adopted into
the family of God. They're brought to banquet in
his house. They're to eat continually at
his table, and yet they know something of being lame on their
feet too. But it won't always be like that.
There will be a time when they'll be changed with a twinkling of
an eye at the last trump, and then they shall be changed, and
we shall be like him, and we shall see him as he is, and worship
with unsinning hearts. May the Lord add his blessing,
amen.