It's a blessing to be here, to
be with brothers and sisters in the Lord that we have grown
to love over the years. And I just want to praise my
God for His divine providence that brought us into an acquaintance. You know, there's God's saints
all over the world, and we love them all. But those we meet and
fellowship with, we just grow in our love one for another,
and that's just the way it should be. And so I'm delighted and
honored to be here. We had a wonderful conference
up at Danville with Pastor Fortner and the saints there. It was
just absolutely I can't even put it into words. I was just
sharing with a brother a moment ago that the preaching was good,
the fellowship was good, and the food, those people, they
just feed you too good. Another ten pounds. I'm not complaining. I'm thankful it was good. God
has given us a good safe trip all the way. Judy had a little
problem with losing a crown. Had to go to the dentist last
Thursday right here in Danville, I mean, Madisonville. And we
have to go back tomorrow. She gets her temporary tooth
tomorrow. And then the implant that he
put in, it takes four months for the bone to grow around that
before she can get her permanent tooth. But that's all going to
take place. We can get that taken care of
when we get back to our home. Any dentist can do that, Mr. Baldwin was telling us. That's
just in the makings. But the Lord is good. Whether
there's grey clouds or bright sunny days, His divine providence
brings all of these things across our path and we're to do all
things without murmuring and just acknowledge His hand in
everything. So, we're thankful. I closed
my message up at Danville Saturday night with these comments, and
I want to open my message tonight with the same comments. If we don't have any interest
in the Christ of Holy Scripture, if we don't have any interest
in the gospel, the true gospel of God's sovereign, amazing grace,
that's found in his holy word. If we don't have any interest
in meeting for public worship with those who love Jesus Christ
and his gospel, we have absolutely no reason to think that God has
any interest in us. Now he does. His elect But we
have no reason to think that he does if we have not been quickened
by God the Holy Spirit. But once God sends the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, there's an interest that wasn't there
before. And that interest just grows. Is that not true? It just grows.
We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him,
just like we were singing a moment ago, all that thrills my soul
is Jesus. And we want to learn more about
Him, more about Jesus, what I know. So would you please turn to 2
Samuel chapter 9. 2 Samuel chapter 9. My subject this evening is The Believer's Rites. The Believer's
Rites. And I want to illustrate this
subject through a biblical character by the name of Mephibosheth.
And I know you've heard about him, you've heard your pastor
preach and other preachers preach from this passage of scripture.
But it's such a It's such an obvious manifestation of the
believer's rights through this man called Mephibosheth that
I want to share this with you. This has been on my heart. I
was telling your pastor that I preached this back home about
a month ago and it just seemed to really encourage the saints
and I just want to share this with you this evening. Mephibosheth
was a grandson of Saul, King Saul. Saul was the first king
over Israel. They rejected God. Israel actually
rejected God and wanted a king like the other nations. And God
told Samuel to give him a king. And He told Samuel to tell him
what King Saul would do. And he did. And they wanted him
anyway. And so God gave them Saul. But
David was a man after God's own heart. And the reason he was
is God gave him a new heart. Jesus Christ is that heart. It's
not the muscle that pumps the blood, it's Christ in us. The
new heart that God gives us is Christ himself, Christ in us,
the hope of glory. And David was just as sinful
as the rest of us. He was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. But God saved him at an early
age. And David was to become the king
over Israel after Saul died. And we know the story. Saul persecuted
David. He didn't want David to be the
next king. He wanted Jonathan, or one of
his sons, to be the king. Saul was killed by the Philistines
and Jonathan as well, and David was made king over Israel. Now Jonathan knew that David
was going to become the king over Israel, and he made a covenant
with David, and we all know the story how Jonathan I said to David, you show mercy
on me and my household after the Lord anoints you. Well, Mephibosheth
then was an enemy of David. He was the son of Jonathan and
he was a threat to the throne. In those days, When a man became
king, any threat to the throne, that is a relative, a son or
a grandson of the preceding king, they were executed, put to death,
so there wouldn't be any threat to the person who had taken over.
And so Mephibosheth was an enemy. And in our text here in 2 Samuel
9, David is now king over Israel,
and as I walk us through the first eight verses of this passage
of Holy Scripture, let me ask you this question. What right, what right did Mephibosheth
have to sit at the king's table? And that question will be answered
by what the Word of God says. The Word of God tells us and
the rites of Mephibosheth applies to every child of God. Every enlightened child of God
has a right to sit at the table of King Jesus. To feast at his
table. That really That really blesses this old
sinner's heart to know that I am not in a relationship with God
based on any right that I have of my own. I'm there on the rights
of King Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. Now, 2 Samuel Chapter 9 and verse 1
reads this way, David, now remember he's king now, he's king over
Israel. 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? Now remember, and I won't take
time to go back to the scriptures, but Jonathan and David had made
a covenant. So there was an agreement that
David, when he became king, would show kindness to, if Jonathan
was still alive, to him and to his household. And so David asked
this question, is there any left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness, not for Saul's sake, for Jonathan's sake? The
covenant was made between David and Jonathan. Now Jonathan knew,
like I said earlier, that David would be the next king over Israel. And I believe Jonathan typifies
every believer that we read about in the Old Testament. All of
the Old Testament saints. knew that King Jesus was coming.
They knew the Messiah was coming. They knew that there would be
a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. And they looked forward to that
day. And they knew when that day came that the Messiah would
sit on His throne as the sovereign ruler over the whole universe. And so David typifies King Jesus. Now, our text in verse 1, David
says, Is there any left of the house of Saul that I may show
kindness for Jonathan's sake?" Every believer knows that God
has bestowed his mercy on us for Christ's sake. Only for Christ's
sake. Now Mephibosheth's right to sit
at the king's table was based upon that covenant. And here
in the scripture, I won't have you turn there, but in Hebrews
Chapter 13 and verse 20, we read this. Now the God of peace that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. Folks, our God is
a covenant God. He tells us that. We're His covenant
people. That covenant was established
between the great three and one, back before time began. Our Father
gave a people to His Son, and Jesus Christ, His Son, agreed
to meet all the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace
by coming to this earth, becoming a man, a man of sorrows acquainted with
grief, walking in perfect obedience to his Heavenly Father in fulfillment
of the eternal covenant of grace. He was, our Lord Jesus, was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. And so this Bible
is all about Jesus Christ from cover to cover. There are people
who are professors in Bible colleges that will try to teach that Christ
is not in the Old Testament. He's on every page. Someone just
recently said there's more than Jesus in the Bible. Everything I read in the scripture
points me to Jesus Christ. And it's my business as an ordained
preacher of the gospel, I don't care where I get my text. It's
my business to get us on that road that leads to Christ as
quick as I possibly can. So this account of David and
Mephibosheth It's a picture of Jesus Christ and his covenant
people coming to sit at the king's table because of a covenant. Because God has mercy on his
covenant people for Christ's sake. So starting at verse 2
we read, 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 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 Maker, the son of Emiel, of Lodabar. Now because of a fall, Mephibosheth
was lame on both his feet. When he was a child, the nurse
picked him up to run him to safety. He was threatened, his life was
threatened. And she fell, and when she fell
it crippled Mephibosheth. That's a picture of us. That's
a picture of us. In Adam, when he fell. The fall
of Adam completely ruined all of his posterity. Even Even after
the Lord enlightens us, after we experience the miracle of
the new birth, we are aware of that old nature
that still plagues us. Saul of Tarsus, when he was saved
on the road to Damascus, became an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And even after he had served
the Lord for many, many, many, many years, he said, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He did not say, of whom I was
chief. He said, of whom I am chief.
He said, O wretched man that I am, not that I was, that I
am. I have such an awareness of my
weaknesses, and my failures, and my shortcomings. I scratch
my head more times than I can count asking myself, are you
sure you're a child of God? And I am. I'm absolutely persuaded
that nothing can separate me from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus my Lord. But I know I'm still a sinner.
I know that. Well, that keeps me stayed on
Jehovah, what we were singing about just a moment ago. And
I find perfect peace in every situation, even though I know
that in my holiest moments there's enough sin in me to make another
devil. But my hope is not in me. My hope is in Jesus Christ. who he is and what he has done
for me at the cross at Calvary over 2,000 years ago. And every
child of God knows this. So Mephibosheth is a picture
of those who fell in Adam, crippled by the fall, more than that,
ruined by the fall. And Mephibosheth was content
to stay in Lodomar, a place of no bread. He would not have come
to David on his own. He feared David. He knew that
Saul, his granddaddy, was David's enemy. He knew that. And for
fear of being put to death, he not only could not come because
he was laying on both feet, he would not come. And Mephibosheth
typifies every unregenerate, helpless, and hopeless sinner.
All of us were ruined by the fall, and all of us, we have
a fear of death. We don't have a fear of God,
but we won't come to God because of His holy justice, and we just
don't want our sins to be reproved. We love the darkness we're in,
so we won't come to Him. Not only will we not come to
Him, we can't. Our Lord said that. No man can
come to me except the Father would send me. Draw him and I
will raise him up at the last day. So Mephibosheth typifies
every enlightened child of God. We would be content to stay Out
in that world, in darkness, a place of no bread, no heavenly manna,
no feasting on Christ. We would not want to be confused
with the facts. We just want to go right on through
life thinking, this is foolish, but this is the way we think,
that somehow it's going to be okay when we stand before God.
My good's going to outweigh my bad. It will not. There's no
good in us. So we have a picture of us in
Mephibosheth. Now verse 5 we read, And King
David sent and fetched him, that is Mephibosheth, out of the house
of Mekar the son of Ammiel from Lodabar. And when King David
sent his servant to fetch Mephibosheth, it was not a pretty please, won't
you come? Won't you make a decision for
Jesus? Won't you exercise your free
will? That's going to determine your eternal destiny. It was
none of that. It was a command. It was a command
from the King of Israel to go and fetch Mephibosheth. And along
with the command, David knew that Mephibosheth He knew that
he was lame, so he sent a carriage to bring Mephibosheth back to
Jerusalem. He would not have expected Mephibosheth
to get up and walk and come on his own, he could not do that.
Pastor Henry Mahan said this, he said the command to believe
and the will to believe go together. No blind and lame Mephibosheth
is commanded nor expected to arise and come to Christ apart
from the Spirit's power to do so. And we read in the Holy Scriptures
that God's people shall be made willing in the day of His power. And where the word of a king
is, there's power. And so the command came from
David, And Ziba better obey, he better obey what the king
commanded him to do. Now verse 6 says, when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, David said, Mephibosheth? And he answered, Behold thy servant,
And David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee
kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all
the land of Saul thy father, or grandfather, and thou shalt
eat bread at my table continually. The first thing Mephibosheth
did was fall on his face before King David, and reverence Him. That's what every believer does
when we are brought to Jesus Christ by the sovereign, irresistible,
drawing power of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts
us of our sin, convicts us of our helpless and hopeless, bankrupt
condition. Then He reveals Christ to us,
brings us into a living union with the King of Israel, Christ
our Savior. And that's when we do reverence
to Him. We have no reverence, no reverence to God at all in
our unregenerate state. We fear death. We feared hell,
but we had no reverential fear for God, and so the first thing
Mephibosheth did, and rightly so, he fell on his face before
the king and he revered him. By faith, by God-given faith,
we echo the words of Mephibosheth, Behold thy servant, thy servant. We recognize because of God's
enlightened power, that He's the King and we're servants. What an honor! What an honor
God has bestowed upon us! to be servants of the Most High
God. And it does not matter what position
God has placed us in, whether we pastor a church or play a
piano, or if we're involved in cleaning, or whatever, whatever
God is pleased to allow us to do, being a servant to Him is
the greatest honor that God could bestow upon any hell-deserving
sinner. And Mephibosheth said, Behold
thy servant. So by faith, We are in the presence
of God's anointed King. We don't just bow down to the
name of Jesus. We bow down to the person. We
bow down to the true and living God. Jesus Christ is Jehovah. I didn't know that. I knew about
a baby being born in a manger. I knew about a man named Jesus.
I knew about a cross that he was nailed to, but none of that
meant anything to me. And I certainly did not know
that that little baby was God in a human body. I didn't know
that. I didn't know. I heard about the Trinity. I
heard about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but I didn't
know what that meant. I had no idea that there were
three divine persons that make up one glorious majestic triune
God and Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He's equal with the Father in
essence and in power and in purpose. We can't deny that. That's all
through the whole Bible. Now it's obvious that Mephibosheth
was shaking in his boots. Like I said earlier, he thought
that he was going to be executed. He thought he was being brought
to King David to be put to death because he was a known enemy. He was of the household of Saul.
But the King of Israel said unto him in verse 7, Fear not. Fear not. Do you remember when
you heard those words from King Jesus? I don't mean that you heard an
audible voice, but He speaks to us hard. This follows conviction. When we know that we rightly
deserve His eternal wrath, that we sin against Him, and when
the Holy Spirit reveals to us that it's well with our eternal
soul through what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, we hear
these words of Him, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear not. I'm telling you, that
blessed me all the way down to the bottom of my feet, all through
my whole being. I was so blessed when I heard
that Jesus Christ took care of my sin debt, that nothing could
be laid to my charge, that God had forgiven me for all of my
sins for Christ's sake. I learned that right when I was
a babe in Christ. And I've been thrilled by that
truth ever since. I have never stopped being amazed
that God would forgive me my sins because of my substitute. But it's true. It's just as true
as anything else that we read in the Holy Scripture. We have
nothing to fear. We should not fear death. Actually,
I was just sharing a while ago. Absence from the body is present
with the Lord. We shouldn't fear coming judgment.
Judgment's already been taken care of. We were found guilty
in our substitute. And we've already been punished
for our sins. So, we are those who have been
blessed of God to know there is therefore now no condemnation. no judgment to them which are
in Christ Jesus." That's just overwhelmingly wonderful,
and we should never ever get tired of hearing that. That's
the message I heard over and over and over again from those
preachers up in Danville just this last weekend, and it continues
to bless me every time I hear it. Now, sitting at the table
with King Jesus, feasting on the king's food, Mephibosheth's
legs were under the table. Now he knew he was still lame
on his feet, but nobody could see his legs.
He was sitting there as a member of the royal family, and he was enjoying every bit
of what he was partaking of as much as any person in that room
at that table. Well, that's the way it is. We
know that we still have the old nature. But God sees no sin in
Israel. He sees no sin in Jacob. He sees us in Christ. He doesn't even remember our
sins against us. Christ has removed all of those
sins from God's sight forever, as far as the east is from the
west. And that wonderful truth carries
me right on through every minute of every hour of every day of
my life, even though I am aware that I don't deserve not one
bit of God's mercy for anything that I have done. It's all because
of what Christ has done. And that's the subject here this
evening, the believer's rights. The believer's rights. We have
rights, not based upon anything we have done, but based upon
what Christ Jesus has done for us. So let me read an article
that I placed in our bulletin last month when I preached this
to our folks back home, titled, The Believer's Rights. The article
reads this way. In their unregenerate state,
Hell-deserving sinners have no rights within themselves to any
of the eternal blessings of God. Those spiritual blessings are
found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. When people
die physically, they relinquish all rights to anything this world
has to offer. They have no right to citizenship
in any of the countries of this world. They have no right to
any position in this world. They have no right to cast any
vote that would influence the outcome of anything political.
They can't make any decisions. They can't exercise their free
will. Why? Because they're dead. Their voices can no longer be
heard. So it is with the unregenerate
men and women All are dead in trespasses and sins, just as
dead spiritually as any physical dead person. We read that in
Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 5. It is just as impossible for
those who are spiritually dead to exercise any rights in God's
eternal kingdom as it is for those who are physically dead
to exercise any rights in the kingdoms of this world. They
don't have the right to determine their eternal destiny. They're
dead. Unregenerate sinners don't have
the right to make a decision for Jesus. They don't have the
right to exercise their free will to give God permission to
save them. What blasphemy! They're dead
and dead people have no rights. However, all of God's enlightened
children have rights. But our rights are not based
upon the works of the flesh. Rather, the believer's rights
are based upon the perfect redeeming work of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Because we were in Christ when He perfectly obeyed the will
of God our Father while He was here on this earth, in Christ
Jesus we have these rights. The right to the perfect, eternal,
immutable love of God which is in God's darling Son, Jesus Christ
our perfect representative. The right to be dressed in the
perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is every believer's
only righteousness before a thrice-holy God. The right to a living, eternal
union with God in Christ as His chosen blood-bought children
who have experienced the miracle of the new birth. The right to
all the spiritual blessings that are in Christ in heavenly places.
The right to all the promises of God that are in Christ, His
darling Son. the right to a full inheritance
in Christ reserved in heaven for every believer. And when
our very short temporal journey through this life is over, every
believer has the right to enter into glory with Jesus Christ
as citizens of his eternal kingdom. All of His elect will spend all
eternity with the glorified, exalted God-man, Jesus Christ
our Lord, basking in the warmth of His eternal love, because
He obtained that right for us." End of quote. Now this life,
and all the painful trials of this life, are only temporal. what is passing through. I wish I could really grasp a
hold of that to the point where I believed it in every situation.
I do, but we lose sight of that because of the old nature. But this life was so temporal,
so temporal. Some years ago on The main freeway coming down
out of Oregon, there was a crane, a big crane, that had swung away
from the highway and the job was shut down for the evening.
And the counterweight on that big crane, which weighed who
knows how much, hung out over the lane closest to the bank. And as a car was coming down
that freeway, a small car with three or four people in it, for
some reason, that counterweight gave way. And the timing, oh
the timing. That car was right under that
counterweight. You could just barely see one
piece of the tire. One split second, those people
were alive. the next second they were out
there in eternity. Now I don't know if they were
God's children or not, but I know this, God not only has appointed
the time of our death, He has appointed the instruments of
our death. And this life is just temporal. It's almost over for
me. I don't know how much longer
that I might have in this life. I could live another ten years
or I could be in eternity tomorrow. Judy and I are planning on moving
here next fall, but that's Lord willing. We don't know. We'll be around until that time. Pastor Gabe Stoniker called me
about a week ago, a little over a week ago now, asked me if I
would be one of his conference speakers at his church in September
of 2018. I chuckled. I said, brother, I'd
be honored if I'm still alive. We don't know. We don't know. But I know this, for every believer,
when this life is over, We have a right that God has given to
every one of us to enter into glory, to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ forever and forever and forever. Now I don't know why
it ever came up with different statements referring to Peter
at the Golden Gate. Peter's a sinner saved by grace
like the rest of us. But if it should be asked, Before
we enter into glory, what right do you have to enter in? The answer from every child of God
will be, I'm not here on my rights. I'm here on the rights of my
King, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there won't be any kind of
talk like that anyway. Just as soon as we close our
eyes in death, We'll open our eyes in glory, and we'll see
our Savior, not through the eye of faith, but through the eyes
of a brand new glorified body. We'll see Him in all of His glory. What a day to look forward to.
So everything that we have, as far as the blessings that come
from God, are in Christ Jesus. And if we have Him, we have it all. If we don't have
Him, we don't have anything. Thank God for His sovereign grace
and His sovereign mercy that He, according to His eternal
covenant of grace, has forgiven us for Christ's sake. Amen. God bless you. Thank you
for allowing me this honor of standing before you and preaching
the glorious gospel of God's amazing grace. Thank you all.