Good morning. Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 21 in the spiral hymn book and the gospel hymn spiral hymn book.
Let's all stand together. Number 21. God the Father and the Son, and
the Spirit be in one. In eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast. God my Father chose his own in
the person of his Son, and ordained that I should be one with him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ, in love so willingly,
Stood as my great surety. For my price He offered blood
To appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
He seeks the lost, heals the lame, and He brings us to the
Lamb. By His mighty sovereign call,
God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure, for
God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. ? Blessed holy covenant God ?
I am yours by ties of blood ? Ties of grace and ties of love ? Hold
me to my God above Please be seated. Good morning. I do love that hymn. And I'm
very thankful for the grace to understand what we just sang,
to believe it, to have some, little as it might be, some understanding
of the fact that we have a God who is absolutely sovereign,
a God who was successful, in accomplishing the salvation of
His people. God the Father in election, God
the Son in redemption, God the Holy Spirit in regeneration,
and how ordered and sure that covenant is. That's my hope. That's our hope. If we had to If we had to depend
upon how faithful we are to keep our promises to God, we wouldn't
have much hope, would we? But oh, to be able to rest in
how faithful our God is to keep His promises gives us a sure
hope. We're going to be in 2 Samuel
chapter 9 this morning. If you'd like to open your Bibles
there with me, 2 Samuel chapter 9. for a sinner. One of the most
encouraging and God-honoring stories in the Bible is the story
of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. And we refer to it often, and
we've preached from it several times. Matter of fact, last December,
as we were going through 1 Samuel, when we got to chapter 20, we
looked at the covenant promise that David made with Jonathan. And back in December, I skipped
ahead to this chapter and we looked at this story and called
it Fetching Grace. comfort we have in knowing that
God fetches his lost sheep and brings them to himself. This
morning I want us to consider this story from a little bit
of a different perspective. I've titled this message, The
Kindness of God. I need God to be kind to me.
I need to know something of his kindness. The Lord has given us in his
word, a picture, a story of his kindness toward those whom he
loves. And let's ask the Lord's blessings
before we go any further. Our merciful heavenly father,
thank you. For your mercy, thank you for
your kindness. Thank you for your goodness,
all revealed in the person of your son. Lord, we thank you for the forgiveness
of sin that is to be found in Christ. And Father, we ask this
morning that your Holy Spirit would reveal to us the mystery
of the gospel. Lord, left to ourselves, we would
never see it. We know that the seeing eye and
the hearing ear is of the Lord, and we know, Lord, that you've
told us, he that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. Lord, give us those ears. Give
us those ears and speak truth and hope and comfort and grace
and forgiveness and light to our hearts. Lord, we are like Mephibosheth,
crippled and hiding. Lord, we need for you to fetch
us, to bring us to the king's table. and to feed us with the
bread of life. Lord, we ask that you would be
pleased to do that now. We ask it in Christ's name and
for his sake, amen. David's kingdom is established. We saw that last Sunday as we
looked at 2 Samuel 8, all of the nations. where enemies of
Israel are now subdued and David's power and authority is unthreatened. And David calls his servant,
who was Saul's servant, David's predecessor, king of Israel,
King Saul. Saul is now dead and Saul's son
Jonathan is now dead. David's kingdom is established. And David calls Ziba, his servant,
and he says to Ziba, are there any left from the household of
Saul that I might show them the kindness of God for Jonathan's
sake? And Ziba says, yes, Jonathan
had a son, and his name is Mephibosheth. And he's living in the house of Mechur. And Mechur translated means sold. And he lives, the Mechur's house
where Mephibosheth lives is in the land of Lodabar. And Lodabar
translated means a land without a pasture, without a pasture,
without bread, without sustenance, without life. And so this is
a picture of sinners represented by Mephibosheth who had been
sold into sin. And by nature they live in a
land that is a desert, Lodabar, a land without
bread, a land without sustenance, a land without water, a land
without life, a dry and thirsty land. And those sinners represented
by Mephibosheth are in need of David to remember the covenant
promise that he made to Jonathan. and to send his servant, Ziba,
who is a picture of the Holy Spirit, to fetch us. Fetch us from the condition that
we're in, sold under sin. Fetch us from that land where
we can find no sustenance for our soul. We live, the Lord said
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread
and water, there's plenty of that. but a famine of hearing
the word of God. And that's where we are by nature.
And the more I preach the gospel, the more I talk to people, the
more humbled I am that the Lord enabled me to hear the mystery
of the gospel, because I stand amazed. I stand amazed how people
can hear and not hear. how they can sit and listen to
the gospel in the simplest terms and turn right around and deny
everything that was just said. The gospel is a mystery. A mystery
is not something that's strange or mysterious. It is something
that's hidden. It must be revealed. And it can
only be revealed by God. and only as the Spirit of God
is pleased to come to the house of nature and take those who
are by nature sold under sin living in the land of Lodabar
where by nature they would have no bread for their souls and
fetch them. And I love the text of this word
fetch is a continual action. It's not, well, I've been fetched,
I've been brought to the king's table and I'm good now. Those
who have been fetched realize their need to be continually
fetched. Lord, you're gonna have to fetch
me again. Lord, I will sell my soul to sin and I will try to
satisfy I will try to satisfy my soul with the bread of this
world. Lord, you're going to have to
fetch me. And sinners are always made conscious
by the Spirit of God of their attraction to sin and their need
for the Lord to come. and again, and again, and again,
and again, send his Holy Spirit in power to fetch him. And we
have a God who's faithful, faithful to his promise. That's what this
story's about. And when David fetched through
Ziba Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, he brought him to the
king's table. And Jonathan, the only descendant
left from Saul, would have thought for sure, David's going to kill
me. I'm a threat to his throne. I'm
a descendant of his predecessor. And for David to look at Jonathan
Mephibosheth and say to Mephibosheth, oh Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth's response was
the response of every sinner that the Spirit of God fetches
by His grace to Christ. You remember what Mephibosheth's
response was? He hung his head and he said, what would the king
have to do with a dog like me? Why would you show mercy toward
me? And David showed mercy to Mephibosheth
for a reason. The mercy of God, the fetching
grace of God, the kindness and goodness of God is not without
condition. People fool themselves by talking
about unconditional love. God does not have unconditional
love. There are conditions that have
to be met in order for God's love to be to be experienced in order for
the kindness of God to be shown toward us, there are conditions
that must be met. I can't meet them. I have to have a God who meets
all those conditions for me. One who is able to satisfy his
own requirements for justice, his own requirements for holiness,
a God who is able to put away my sins by himself and to forgive
me of my sins, that he might show his kindness toward me. The word kindness, you have your
Bibles open to 2 Samuel chapter 9. We'll just read the first
few verses here. And David said in verse 1, is
there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Back there in 1 Samuel
chapter 20, David, Scripture says that the heart
of David was knit to the heart of Jonathan. He loved him as
his own soul. And they made a covenant with
one another. And Jonathan knew that David's
kingdom would be established. And although Jonathan was the
rightful heir of his father Saul, Jonathan was in full support
of bowing to the reign of David knowing that God had taken the
kingdom from Saul and given it to David. And David promises
Jonathan to show him, Jonathan, kindness when David becomes king. And Jonathan says in 1 Samuel
chapter 20, and let this covenant that you're making with me extend
not only to me, but to any of my descendants. That you will
show, and David agreed. David entered into that covenant
promise and agreed to show mercy and kindness toward all of the
descendants of Jonathan. We just sang that hymn. a covenant
ordered and sure. And we're reminded of that covenant
promise that God the Father made to his son to give to his son
a bride, a people. And God, according to his own
sovereign will and purpose, elected a particular people. and chose
them in Christ, the scripture says, before the foundation of
the world. Before anyone was born, before
anything God, the Lord Jesus Christ entered into that covenant
promise with his father. And the scripture says he became
the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He promised to
be their surety. A surety is one who does everything
required to make sure the covenant is ratified, to make sure the
covenant is fulfilled, to make sure all the conditions of the
covenant promise are made. And the Lord Jesus entered into
that relationship with his Father. God the Holy Spirit agreed to
come And in the day of his power, make each and every one that
the father had elected, each and every one that the son would
redeem by his sacrificial death on Calvary's cross, make each
and every one of them willing to give them faith, to regenerate
them, to birth them into the kingdom of God. That's what this
is a picture about. This is our hope. This is our
hope. We worship a God who is sovereign,
a God who is able to save to the uttermost. But for him to
save, there's conditions that have to be met. Justice has to
be satisfied. The law has to be fulfilled. And sinners, sinners have to
be made sinners. Verse 2, and there was of the
house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and when they
had called unto him 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. Now the story is given to us
in God's word of what happened. to Ziba, he was a small child,
probably a baby. And his mother was fearing for
her life, fleeing from Jerusalem and fell and Mephibosheth was
crippled in both of his feet. They never, never were, he, unable
to walk. Here's a picture of us. We're
unable to stand in the presence of God. We've experienced a fall
in our father Adam. The evidence of that fall is
seen in our own sin, is it not? In our own sin, the evidence
of that fall. And the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Matre, sold of Amel in Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Matre, the son of Amel from Lodabar. 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. And David said unto him, fear
not. First thing the Lord says to
his people when they're fetched by his grace and brought into
his presence, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I'm not here
to hurt you. The conditions of your salvation
have been met. Only thing that's left is the
kindness of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God. 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 shall 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? The kindness of God. Oh, this is what this story is
about. Sinners. see that they need the
kindness of God. Our God's kindness is holy, it's
just. It's not without conditions. Our God, I hear people say, well, God's
not angry. Well, it's not what the Bible
says. The Bible says in Psalm 7, verse
11, that God is angry with the wicked continually. So, Lord, I don't want anything to
do with your anger. I'm wicked. I'm a sinner. And we come like Mephibosheth
to the feet of the king. We fear the wrath of the King,
lest he speak peace to our hearts, and lest he say to us, don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. Turn with me, if you will, to
Psalm 117. Psalm 117. Not only is this the shortest Psalm, in all 150 Psalms, it's the shortest
chapter in all the Bible. And, you know, I've always felt
like whenever something is condensed in the fewest words, it's the clearest and simplest
way of declaring something. Here we
have so few words that God has spoken and yet the simplicity of it and
the truth of it is so wonderful and so hopeful for Mephibosheths
who by nature are crippled, by nature are sold into sin, by
nature are living in a land where there is no bread. And the Lord says, oh, praise
the Lord, all ye nations. Praise him, all ye people. Why? For his merciful kindness
is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. His merciful
kindness is good toward us, and the truth
of the Lord endureth forever. There's no kindness without truth. Turn over just a page or two
to Psalm 119, and look with me at verse 76. Psalm 119, verse
76. Let I pray thee, Thy merciful kindness be for
my comfort according to my word unto thy servant. I'm gonna show him the kindness
of God for Jonathan's sake. Let thy tender mercies come unto
me that I may live for thy law is my delight." The law of God's got to be satisfied.
The truth of God has to be fulfilled and there's only one who did
that. You and I have never been able to keep any part of God's
law. If God requires the fulfillment of his law, By nature, we would
go about trying to establish our own righteousness, ignorant
of the righteousness of God, not knowing, not knowing that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. There's only one who ever kept God's law.
And the only way that I'm going to experience the kindness and
the mercy of God is if that law is kept. That mercy is fulfilled. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 5, and when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. That word quicken means to be
made alive and so when was the Lord Jesus made alive? At his
resurrection. He was brought from the dead,
the firstborn, among many brethren. And the Lord's telling us when
the Lord Jesus was risen from the dead, all those for whom
he died were quickened with him. They were made alive with him
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, our sin bearer,
Christ Jesus, our substitute, ascended back into glory. And
when he took his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty
on high, he took those for whom he died with him. The scripture
says God's people are there now. Now. That Verse seven, in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For all of eternity, for all
of eternity, the Lord is going to show the exceeding goodness
of His grace, the exceeding kindness of His mercy toward us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The kindness of God can only
be known through the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Let Israel look to Christ. Let Israel rest the hope of their
salvation in the Son of God and in his shed blood. Let Israel
hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with
the Lord there is plenteous redemption. The only way that we're going
to be redeemed, the only way we're gonna know anything about
the mercy of God, is in the person of the Lord
Jesus. And he, shall redeem Israel from all their iniquities, all
their iniquities. He shall put their sins away
once and for all, that they might know the kindness of God. Why would you show mercy towards
a dead dog such as I? For Jonathan's sake, for Jonathan's
sake, a covenant promise was made to your father. And in fulfillment
of that promise, not in fulfillment to a commitment that you make,
not in a fulfillment to a promise that you make, not in fulfillment
to a decision that you make, Left to yourselves, you'd still
be crippled, you'd still be in the house of nature, you'd still
be sold under your sin. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
he said, we know that the law is holy. The law is holy. But I am sold under sin. I'm sold under sin. That's who
I am by nature. And all throughout Romans chapter
7 Paul is lamenting his condition left to himself. O wretched man
that I am, he goes on to say, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? In me, that is in my flesh, there
dwelleth no good thing. He's talking about his condition
by nature. And then he concludes chapter
7 with this question, who shall deliver me? Who shall deliver
me? How can I be saved from the house
of nature? How can I be brought from the
land of Lodabar? How can I sit down at the king's
table and eat the king's fare the rest of my life? How can
I find the kindness of God? Thanks be to God through Christ
Jesus I am free. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. They're not looking to any fleshly
means for the hope of their salvation. They're not hoping that God will
show kindness toward them because of something that they've done.
They're looking in faith by the Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he did to fulfill all that was required for them
as their surety. And in Christ, in Christ, we
have nothing but the kindness of God. Nothing but the kindness
of God. Nothing but the goodness of God. David is in a position of power
and authority. He has the sovereign right to
have mercy upon him. He will have mercy. David would
have been legally right in having Jonathan put to death. He had
the power. No one would have questioned
it. Go get him, bring him here, slay him. No one would have had
any question about it. David was king, and that was
the only threat to his reign. But in his power, he showed mercy
for Jonathan's sake. God has the sovereign right,
the authority, and the power to cast me and you into a devil's
hell, to pour out the wrath of his justice upon us. And when
he shows mercy toward us, we become like Mephibosheth. Say,
well, how do I know that he's shown mercy toward me? Because
I believe myself, left to myself, to be a hell-deserving sinner. No question about it. God gave
me what I deserved. Let's ride go. David is showing not only his
mercy toward Mephibosheth out of an obligation to fulfill a
covenant promise that he had made to Mephibosheth's father,
Jonathan, But David's showing this mercy. You know, sometimes
we get the idea, child of God, don't think like this. God's
not like us. We talk about these covenant
promises and all that God has done, and we think, well, you
know, maybe the Lord's just tolerating me for Christ's sake. Maybe he's
just putting up with me. Maybe, no, no. When he shows his mercy toward
his people for Christ's sake, he puts them in Christ. And the
Lord Jesus said in John chapter 17, Father, as thou hast loved
me, so thou hast loved them. Now that's, I don't, how could
God, a holy God, look upon a dead dog such as I and love me in
the same way that he loved Jonathan? He does, he does. As he is, so are we in this world
right now. David's not just showing mercy
towards Mephibosheth out of an obligation to fulfill a covenant
promise. He's not just showing it because
he has the right to show it or to withdraw it. He's doing it
out of a heart of love. He looks at Mephibosheth And
I'm just confident. We had a funeral here yesterday. And I met the son of a man, well,
Wayne Neal. Many of you knew Wayne. And Wayne
had a son that we didn't know anything about. And he was here
yesterday. And I looked at, I thought, I
talked to him for 20 minutes. I thought I was talking to Wayne.
And he never met Wayne. Never met him. He looked like
him. He sounded like him. His personality
was like him. His mannerisms were like him.
I thought I was talking to Wayne Neal. And the man's 55 years
old and he'd never met his father. It was just uncanny. And I'm
just certain that when David looked at Mephibosheth,
he saw Jonathan. When he said, oh, Mephibosheth,
Mephibosheth. He has, yes, established a covenant
that he must keep because he cannot lie. But that covenant
that we talk about so often as being an eternal covenant of
grace, and it is, is not the beginning of our salvation. That
covenant came about as a result of something else. And that's something else is
the love of God. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. God chose and redeemed and regenerates
his people out of love, out of love. The love of God is the
first cause of our salvation. He's not just He's not just obligated
by a covenant to save us. He established that covenant
because of his love for us. And he looks on us and he sees
his son. This is the fulfillment and this,
This work of grace is always effectual. It's always effectual. Mephibosheth didn't dig in his
heels. Mephibosheth didn't say to Ziba,
no, I'm not coming with you. Mephibosheth didn't know. Mephibosheth bowed. Mephibosheth
was brought back to the king. Oh, the Lord doesn't bring his
children to himself. against their will, he makes
them willing. He makes them willing. And it's the goodness of God
that leadeth to repentance. It's the grace of God. It's the
kindness of God. It's the love of God. It's the
mercy of God that breaks our hearts and causes us to say truth,
Lord, truth, Lord. Cry out for mercy. Oh, what a
humbling thing God's mercy is. It causes us to confess with Mephibosheth. Last Wednesday night, we looked
at Matthew chapter 15, that Syrophoenician woman. And there's an interesting
progression that takes place in that, that I didn't bring
out Wednesday night. The Syrophoenician woman, when
she first comes to the Lord Jesus, she comes on behalf of the need
of her daughter. Lord, my daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. And the Lord ignores her. And
the next word out of her mouth is, Lord, help me. And then the next word out of
her mouth is, truth, Lord, I am a dog. That's the progression of grace. Well, I need God's mercy because
of this. situation or this circumstances,
I need God's mercy because of me. Oh no, if we come before
God on the basis of anything other than truth, Lord, I'm an
undeserving sinner in need of you to have mercy upon me out
of your love and out of your kindness. Yes, for Jonathan's
sake, Lord save me. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
thank you for this glorious picture of your mercy towards sinners.
We ask that your Holy Spirit would remind us often and continue
to fetch us. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.