If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 9. 2 Samuel chapter 9. Very familiar passage of Scripture.
This is the history of Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. David and Mephibosheth. I've entitled this message, The
Fetching Grace of God. The Fetching Grace of God. 2 Samuel chapter 9 and verse
1. The Scripture says, 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? 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 to the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Micar, the son of Amul, in Lodibar. Then the king sent and fetched
him out of the house of Micar, the son of Amul, from Lodibar. Now, to give you a brief understanding
of the situation here, David had now conquered all of his
enemies, all of his foes. He was now on the throne of Israel. He had conquered Zion and brought
the ark of the Lord back to Zion. He had reestablished the worship
of God in Zion. Remember, under Saul, the ark
was lost, but yet David now has restored it. restored the worship
of God, and David was sitting on his throne, and here he remembers. He remembers a covenant that
he made with Jonathan concerning his sons, concerning his house. If you want to see that, go back
to 1 Samuel chapter 20 and look at verse 14. The Scripture says here of Jonathan,
he said, Thou shalt not only while I yet live show me kindness
of the Lord, that I die not, but thou shalt not cut off thy
kindness from my house for ever. No, not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth.
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let
the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. And
Jonathan caused David to swear again. Because he loved him,
for he loved him as he loved his own soul." David and Jonathan
here, Jonathan made David swear that when he became king, he
believed, Jonathan believed the word of God. He believed that
David was going to be king. God said that David would be
king and Jonathan believed it. And Jonathan said, David, when
you become king, I want you to not only remember me, that if
I'm alive, that you not kill me, but not just me, remember
my house, remember my sons." And he made David swear that
he would show kindness. And notice this, not just any
kindness, but the kindness of the Lord. You see, Jonathan knew
something of the kindness of God in salvation. He knew something
of the grace of God. And that's what he was asking
David in this covenant. Make me a covenant of grace,
a covenant of free mercy. In this text, we see now the
fulfillment of that covenant. that David swore to Jonathan,
verse 1, and David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house
of Saul that I may show kindness, listen, for Jonathan's sake? Not for their sake, not because
they deserve it, but because of the covenant he made with
Jonathan. And this kindness of David to
the house of Saul was not heard of. This kind of covenant that
a king would make has not been heard of in the earth. All earthly
kings, what they did was kill the family of their rivals. They did that for a very specific
reason so that their family would not come up again and claim the
throne. How many times has that happened
in history? where the family members of kings had escaped
and then come back and caused war. This was unheard of. But David, for the sake of his
friend and their covenant, he asked an amazing question. Is there any left that I might
show mercy for Jonathan's sake? And this servant named Ziba,
they say, there's Ziba, he's a servant of Saul and he knows
if there's any left. And he says in verse 3, and the
king said, is there any left of the house of Saul that I may
show the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said, yeah, there's
one. Jonathan hath a son. Oh, but
this son, he's not worth it. He's lame on his feet. He can't
help you. He can't do anything good for
you. He's worthless. This man, his name was Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. And this word, this name Mephibosheth,
I want you to know what this name means. It means shameful
thing. A dispeller of shame. That's
what his name means. He was a son of Jonathan. when he was small. This is what
happened to him when he was lame on his feet when he was a baby. And the nurse had heard that
Jonathan his father and Saul his grandfather had died. She
knew she had to run. And as she started to run, she
fell and he became lame on his feet. And then he came to dwell in
this place called Lodibar. In verse 5 it says, Then King
David, Despite all this. Despite the man's name. Despite
that he's a shameful thing. Despite that he is in this awful
place of Lodibar. Despite that he was lame on his
feet, David sent and fetched him out of the house of Micah,
son of Amul from Lodibar. When David learned that Jonathan
had a son, he told his servants, you go fetch him. You go fetch
him. And David had a purpose, didn't
he? David's purpose was to show kindness. To show kindness. But this kindness was not yet
manifest to Mephibosheth. So imagine the scene here. Now
Mephibosheth is lame on his feet. He's in this awful place of Lodibar. And all of a sudden now, the
soldiers of David show up at his door. And they've sent with
one Decree one command you get him you fetch it and you bring
him to me So imagine the fear in this man
knowing that he's the only heir of Saul and Now David has come
calling David's men are riding up Think of it. What could he do? What could
he do? He was lame on his feet He couldn't
run. Look at verse 6. Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David, what
did he do? The only thing he could do. He
fell on his face and did reverence and said, and David said, Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth answered, Behold
thy servant. I want you to notice first of
all his name, the dispeller of shame. one that scoffs at shame. Before the king, he is lame and
useless and unable to run, unable to hide, and he did the only
thing he could do here, he fell down and did reverence. And said
what? Behold thy servant. I'm sure
that this man, he thought he was over. Can you imagine this? David now? having this last son
of Saul, the son of Jonathan, laying before his feet, unable
to run, unable to hide, and now he says, Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth has said, look,
kill me. Behold thy servant. Do with me
as you please. Thy right David could have right
then took a sword and slain him, yet that was not his purpose,
was it? His purpose was to show kindness. And listen to what
David said in verse 7. He said, David said to him, listen,
fear not, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore unto thee all the
land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. Do you think he expected to hear
that? Do you think he expected to hear David say, Fear not?
I'm sure he didn't expect David to say, I'm going to show you
kindness. And not only show you kindness, I'm going to restore
all that belongs to you. All that belongs to your house.
For a very specific reason. For Jonathan. For Jonathan's
sake. David commanded him to fear not
because of the covenant. because of a covenant he made
with Jonathan before this man was born, that he would show
kindness and restore his father's lands. And not only so, but that,
listen, he's going to eat at the table of the king. He's going
to eat with the sons of the king. Imagine the surprise. Imagine the awe that filled this
man's heart to see the grace of David. The kindness of David,
that he would take this useless son of his enemy and treat him
with such kindness. Look at his response in verse
8. He said he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that
thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Now this kindness of David upon
Mephibosheth, Why do we have this here in Scripture? What
is the purpose of this text? We just went over history. But
if that's all it is, what good is that to us? The Lord intended the picture
here to show the grace of God towards sinners. How God saves
sinners. The same way David was able to
show mercy to his enemy, is the same way God is able to show
mercy to sinners, by a covenant of grace. By a covenant of grace. Consider that all the victory,
all the ascension of David to the throne, All that happened
to Mephibosheth, the covenant between David and Jonathan, the
fetching of Mephibosheth, the kindness of David, the response
of all of this was ordained of God. You realize that? That God
took the lives of these men so that we might have a gospel picture. You realize why Mephibosheth
was lame? Why did his nurse have to fall? Why did Mephibosheth have to
be lame on his feet? Why is it that God chose David
to ascend to the throne? Why is it that God made Jonathan
make this covenant with David? All of this providence is moving
together and ordained of God. I want you to get a sense of
how important the gospel is to God. that He used the lives of
these men to picture His gospel. That's how important His gospel
is to Him. Listen, there is nothing more
important than the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you to understand
that. Not to God. To God, the most important thing
is His gospel. What happened when Moses defiled
the picture of God's gospel? God said he would not go into
the land, and God killed him before he was going into the
land. He defiled the picture by not speaking to the rock. All of this had one purpose,
that the gospel of Jesus Christ should be pictured and preached
from this divine providence. The whole history and everything
that happened is given to us of God to show us How that all
who are saved are saved by a covenant of grace and love. If anyone
is going to be saved, it's going to be saved this way. That's
what God's saying. There's no other way. A covenant of grace
and love. This history and all that happened
shows us the greatness of Jesus Christ, our King. And what does
it do to the objects of grace? It abases us. Who's Christ pictured as? David. David, the mighty conqueror,
the one seated on the throne, the one who has conquered his
enemies. What is his people pictured as? Mephibosheth, lame on their feet,
incapable of any goodness and worthy of death. And how does
he who is exalted save one of low degree? One way, by a covenant. A covenant made outside of them. Covenant of grace. So first of
all, let's see these characters. I want us to see clearly that
Jesus Christ is the conquering king. You see, David now has
conquered all of his enemies. He's established the worship
of God. and is intended of the Holy Spirit to declare how Christ,
by His death, has conquered the enemies of God." David is a picture
of Christ. He's a picture of Christ. Oh,
my friend, that Jesus Christ is the mighty King. Now listen,
if you can't get anything else, I want you to see Him. I want
you to see Him. I want you to see Christ is a
victorious Savior, that Christ has accomplished The salvation
of His people. He's accomplished righteousness
and redemption for all those in the covenant of grace. All
those that the Father gave Him. All those that He represented.
Jesus Christ, as a mighty conqueror, came into this world, and by
His obedience and by His death, He saved His people. He saved them. Do you realize by that covenant,
when David and Jonathan made that covenant, Mephibosheth was
already saved. Now Mephibosheth hadn't been
born. Mephibosheth had no clue about this covenant. He had no
part in this covenant. It's the same way with the covenant
of grace between the Father and the Son. Christ and the Father
have made a covenant to save and elect people. And Christ
came into the world and He did just that. He saved His people
from their sins. The angel said that at the beginning,
didn't he? His name shall be called Jesus. Why? He shall save
His people from their sins. Jesus is the mighty conqueror.
And as David here is considered a despot, you know what a despot
is? A despot is one who has absolute authority. One that no one can
question his authority. A despot does whatsoever he pleases. One that rules with absolute
power over his kingdom. There is none to contest his
authority. There is none that can stand
against his command. David was the man. David could
do anything he pleased, and none could stand in his way. He was
king. How much more so is Jesus Christ
a despot? You see, David's kingdom had
borders. He could only have authority within the bounds of those borders.
Don't you see that when God raised Christ from the dead and set
Him on the throne, there are no borders for His authority,
His dominion? Jesus Christ rules over all flesh. And listen to me, none can stay
His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? He's a king. He's the King. But what will
Christ do with this great authority? What has He promised to do with
this great authority? The same thing David did. Show
mercy because of a covenant. Because of the covenant of grace,
he is intending to show mercy. That's what all providence is
working toward. It's to show mercy in John 17
when he's praying that high priestly prayer. He said father the hours
come Glorify thy son that thy son may glorify thee As thou
has given him power over all flesh Now what is he gonna do
with it? That according to a covenant
that He should give eternal life to as many as are named in that
covenant that he should show the kindness of God to all his
Mephibosheths, all his people. My friend, make no mistake, all
things are in the hands of Christ, and there is nothing more important
to Him than the salvation of His people through the preaching
of this gospel. Nothing. Nothing is more important
to Him. Matter of fact, everything is
working together for that purpose. Can't you see that in your own
life? If you're a believer in Christ, can't you see that God
worked all things to bring you under the sound of the gospel
at that time, so that you should hear of His grace, of His mercy,
of His blood, of His righteousness, and that you should believe? This was the work of a king. The work of a king. All things are in the hands of
Christ and nothing is more important than the salvation of His people.
And we are not waiting for Him to come and rule one day. Why?
Because He's ruling right now. Do we complain about our providence? Anybody
else complain about their providence? Maybe I'm the only one. You know what I'm doing? I'm
complaining against Him. I'm complaining against Him because
He rules all things, doesn't He? Mephibosheth was lame because
of God. David was ruling because of God.
This covenant was made because of God. Therefore, believers, we should
not be cast down and discouraged for all things are in His hand,
and He will do all His pleasure, and this is His pleasure. to
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And how
does he do that? He's done it by the fulfillment
of the covenant. He's done it by the fulfillment.
David, just as David determined in his heart to show mercy because
of a covenant with Jonathan, even so Christ is determined
to show mercy because of a covenant of grace. A covenant of grace. Behold, that God the Father had
purpose from eternity to show mercy. He purposed to show mercy. He purposed to show mercy not
to the best, but to a fallen race. And not just for any arbitrary
reason. He did it for one purpose, for
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. You see, God
had a purpose in a covenant, and it was that they should be
saved for Christ's sake. Just as David made that covenant
with Jonathan to do all the house of Jonathan good, before Mephibosheth
was born, even so God before the foundation of the world hath
made a covenant with Christ His Son that all God's elect were
given to Him, and He agreed to be their shirt. He swore to be
their surety. You know what that means? He
took responsibility. He took responsibility. When
David swore with Jonathan, David took total responsibility to
show mercy. Because of the covenant. He promised
to be their righteousness and offer Himself for their sins.
This is what Paul says in Hebrews 13, 20. He said, Now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. The everlasting covenant. You know, in Isaiah 55, God says,
Incline your ear and come unto me. Here in your soul shall live
and I will make a what? Everlasting covenant. Listen
to this. Even the sure mercies of David. Don't you know that has reference
to this? That has reference to this covenant that He made with
Jonathan? This surely has reference to
the mercy of our text. It's a shadow and picture of
the true mercies of Christ. This covenant of kindness was
made in eternity between the Father and the Son so that he
should be the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, from the beginning, the Holy Scriptures began to
show this in types and pictures from the very beginning. Remember
this, the seed of the woman shall crush the head. This is how he's
going to fulfill the covenant. Adam, this is how he's going
to save you. This is how he's going to save
those of your race he chose. He's the seed of the woman. And
he's going to crush the head of the serpent. Well, how is
he going to do that? Let me give you this picture here. I'm going
to kill these animals and cover your nakedness. It's exactly
how by sacrifice, a sacrifice of the innocent instead of the
guilty, so that the guilty might be covered. What a picture of
Christ in the fulfillment of this covenant. And I'm thankful
salvation is by a covenant of grace, aren't you? Because if
it's not by a covenant of grace, then it'd be a covenant of what?
Works. And I'm so thankful they're not mixed. The world tries to
mix those two things. You can't mix those. It's either
works or it's of grace. The covenant's either of total
free grace or it's of total works. There's no middle ground here.
Praise God He made such a covenant of grace. We being of the house of Adam
are under the sentence of death and eternal condemnation. And
so what does the house of Saul picture in this text? The house
of Saul is a picture of Adam's race. You remember Saul was an anointed
king, anointed of God over Israel. And when he disobeyed God, you
remember that God removed him Listen, and his posterity from
being king. He removed him and his whole
line. When Jonathan was siding with
David, Saul was confused. He said, don't you understand?
If David's king, you're not. God removed him from being king
and his whole family was sentenced to death. Isn't that true of
Adam? God made Adam ruler over all
His creation. But when Adam fell, what happened
to his race? They all fell within. The sentence
of death was executed in Adam, and so it was passed to all his
race. Therefore, we are all born totally
depraved and full of sin. We are born fallen creatures,
born under the condemnation of God, But just as David had a
right as despot to kill the house of Saul, even so God in justice
had been offended because of our sin. And God had a right
to kill the whole human race. Didn't He? Did not God have a
right to kill us all? What about the fallen angels?
You see, the fallen angels who sinned, to this day there is
no hope for them. They are eternally damned with
no hope. God could have done that to us. We're all born fallen creatures
under the condemnation of God. He could have done that, but
because of this one reason, a covenant. Because of the covenant of grace,
because of His long-suffering mercy, we are not consumed. Because of the glory of God and
the love of God for His elect, this world continues to spin.
Don't you know when the last elect sinner brought in, this
world gonna... It's over. It's done. There's
no more reason for the world to keep going as it is. because of a covenant of grace.
And so we see that the house of Saul is a picture of David's
race. What is Mephibosheth then? He is a picture of all of us.
The offspring of David's race. Mephibosheth. First of all, listen
to this. I want you to see his condition
and his name. We all, like Mephibosheth, have
fallen and are lame on our feet. What does this mean? This shows
us that man cannot come to God, just as Mephibosheth could not
come to David. By nature, man cannot come to
God. And you know what? His name is
a picture of us too. His name means shameful thing.
We are lame on our feet, and our name means dispeller of shame. This was the message that offended
the Lord's disciples, wasn't it? A message of human inability. It was this message of man's
inability and God's sovereignty and salvation that caused many
of His disciples to no longer walk with Him. But those who
believed on Him, those who knew their sinful condition and continued
with Him, They did so only because they were part of this covenant
of grace. I want you to know this. Man
has every right to feel shame for his sins. That goes against
everything human wisdom teaches. Man has every right to feel shame
for our sins. But in our rebellious natures,
we dismiss our shame and call it glory. Man by nature calls good evil
and evil good. In our day, fornication is a
badge of honor. Is it not? Adultery is a common
practice. Homosexuality is a matter of
pride and privilege. Lying is considered your truth.
You get that? You can lie and say, well, that's
your truth. So everybody can have their own
truth, even though none of it's true. Murdering an unborn child is
called nothing more than a choice. Is that not shameful? How shameful is natural man? The worship of God is detestable. The gospel of salvation by grace
is despised and replaced by a gospel of man's free will and works
religion. The glory of God in salvation
is made dependent upon man? The success of Christ at Calvary
is hated by wicked men so that they might exalt their will and
works? Do you not see how shameful we
are? What a shameful thing man is! to despise the grace of God and
try to rob God of His glory. What a shameful thing we are. So Mephibosheth's name is rightly
our name, isn't it? Shameful thing. Therefore we
by nature do not come to God. Man has fallen so far, by nature
we cannot come to God. We are sinners. We run to hell
as though it were heaven and run from heaven as though it
were hell. We glory in our shame and count
the glory of God as a shameful thing. Friends, I identify with this
name. Mephibosheth is my name. I was altogether born in sin. I was altogether lame on my feet. I could not and I would not come
to God. My Lord said that, didn't He?
No man can come unto except one way, the Father which
hath sent me draw him. There was no way Mephibosheth
could have ever come to David except David fetched him. My name is shameful thing. I
kicked, I repelled, and in my heart I despised God. I thought to myself, I'm not
so bad. I believed God would surely recognize
my goodness, so in pride I reveled in my sin and called my shame
glory. But one day, as David remembered
his covenant to fetch Mephibosheth One day God remembered His covenant
that He made for me. He sent and fetched me, Christ,
having conquered all His enemies, having established the worship
of God by His life and death, Christ forever having redeemed
me and put away my sin by His blood, God now tells His servant,
the Holy Spirit, Ziba is pictured here as the Spirit, The servants
of God are pictured as the Spirit of God who is sent to fetch His
people. God sends His servant, the Spirit,
to fetch every object of His mercy. And so this account of
fetching Mephibosheth is the account of God fetching the elect. Notice the act of mercy. It did
not come because of Mephibosheth. It came because of Jonathan.
Isn't that what David said to him? He gets him there, he fetches
him, he comes to him and he lays him down before his feet. He
said, Behold thy servant, and David said, Fear not, I will
show thee kindness. For what reason? For Jonathan's
sake. For Jonathan's sake. And so then if we have been fetched
by the Holy Spirit, this story is our story. And all the honor
must be given to the free and sovereign grace of God that brought
us. No man can come. Why? We're Mephibosheth. We're lame on our feet. Shameful
things. And no man could come until God
brings us. So we see his name, Mephibosheth.
We see his inability. is our inability. His name is
our name. Notice next his location. This place, Lodibar. This means
house of no bread. It's a barren place. Lodibar means land of no bread. It was located in the king's
Mephibosheth was not in the king's palace because his father Saul
had fallen. He could not come to David. He
was worthy of death, and he was unable. And so this is where
he lived and called home, a barren place. But isn't this where God
finds all of His people? In the barrenness of our sin.
In a place of no bread. Isn't that what sin is? Sin is no bread. There's no value in sin. Have you found that out? If you're
a believer in Christ, you know this for truth. The result of sin is not what
sin promises. What does sin promise? Sin always
promises fulfillment, doesn't it? If I can just get this, then
everything is going to be fine. If I can have this, then I'm
going to be happy. If I can do this, false religion
says, if I can accomplish this, I'm going to be at peace with
God. And yet what do we find out?
That sin is fruitless. It's barren. It never gives us
what it promises. The result of sin is always death. The old man hungers for sin to
satisfy his longing, but sin cannot satisfy. Isn't that what
Solomon said? He said, a man that longs for
silver will never be satisfied with silver. You can just give
him as much silver as you want. Give him all the silver there
is, and he will never be satisfied. Why? Because sin is never satisfied. The cry of sin in our flesh is
only this, more, more, more. But the more we eat of sin, the
more it doesn't satisfy. The more it doesn't satisfy.
A lost man is like that prodigal
son. He spent all that he had and he ended up in the hog pen.
And he was eating husks. The swine was eating better than
him. He was eating the husks. Do you know how much nutritional
value a husk has? None. It filled his belly as
though he was full. But it gave him no nutrition.
He was going to starve to death. That's what sin does. You eat
and eat and eat and eat and you are never satisfied. But this is where God finds all
of his people. in the house of Lodibar, a place of barrenness,
a place of sin, a place of no bread. Therefore, the gospel
cries to you. If you're in this place tonight,
if you are in Lodibar, if you are in your sin, if you are lame
on your feet and you cannot come to God, listen to what God says.
Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that
hath no money, come, buy. Eat, yea, come by wine and milk
without money and without price. Listen to this. Wherefore do
you spend your money on that which is not bread? Isn't that
what Lodibar is? It's a place of no bread. And
you labor for that which satisfieth not. Listen, hearken unto me
diligently. Eat that which is good and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here, and your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David." Can you not hear Isaiah recounting this history? Mephibosheth, why are you in
Lodibar? Sinner, why are you in Lodibar? There's plenty of bread in the
house of God. Come, you that have no money.
You got nothing? That's exactly who gets to come.
Those who have nothing. Those who are lame on their feet.
Those who are shameful things. That's who this Scripture is
speaking to. The sure mercies of David. There's hope for shameful men
who are lame on their feet. There's hope for those in the
house of no bread. The house of sin and shame. For
one day the king sent and fetched his servant Mephibosheth from
Lodibar, verse 5, then David sent and fetched him out of the
house of Lodibar. One day I was living in sin,
feeding on the hust, and God sent a preacher, and by grace
the Spirit fetched me. The Spirit opened my eyes to
see who I was. God opened my eyes. Preacher just preached. God opened
my eyes. I know who I am. I know my name and my condition.
And like Mephibosheth, now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan,
the son of Saul, has come to David, what did he do? He fell
on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
and he said this, Behold, I see. When God opens the heart of a
man to see he's a son of Adam, to see that he's broken the law
of God, all he can do is say, behold thy servant. In other words, do with me as
you will. Why? I deserve everything you
do. I deserve. What Mephibosheth said, I deserve
to die. Do you deserve to die? No, preacher. And you ain't Mephibosheth,
are you? God's people understand God's
right if he kills me. If he leaves me to myself, he's
right. He's just. If a man ever comes to God on
the feet of religion and works, death will be his lot. Oh, but all who come lame on
their feet, listen what they find. David said, fear not, fear
not. They find mercy with the king.
It was at this time I heard mercy. I heard mercy. But there was
a thought in my head, surely this couldn't be for me. Surely
he must be mistaken. This could not be mine. I was
lost and undone before God. When a man comes face to face
with God, the only place he will be is on his face. On his face. But oh my friend, if God ever
fetches you and opens your eyes to see His holiness, all our
thoughts of standing before God and merit vanish away. Isn't
that what happened when God brought you? Did your merit vanish away? We that have come to God recognize
that it was not by our will and not by our power but because
He fetched us. I know this, I never would have
come to God had He not brought I was looking for a hymn to go
along with this message, and there's a hymn out there called
Mephilesheth. What a horrible hymn. It's just
horrible. There's a line in that hymn that
says, Fear not, I've given you an invitation to sit at my table.
Where do you read that in this text? David is not inviting him
to do anything. David said, Fear not, you will
sit at my table. Why? Because I've already made
a covenant. You will be my son. I will restore your father's
house. It's not an invitation. It's
a command. And Mephibosheth, does he act
like it's an invitation as though he's making some decision? He
says, well, David, you know, I had it pretty good there in
Lodibah. So I think I might just decline your offer. No, that's
not the way the story runs. No, David said, fear not why
I've made a covenant already. You're mine. You're mine. I will restore. I will restore
for Jonathan's sake all the land of Saul, thy father. And thou
shalt eat bread at my table. This is not a request. It's a
command. What a gracious command. Is it
not the most gracious thing? There he is, laying on the floor.
He can't do anything for himself, ready to die. And David says,
pick him up. Take those rags off of him and
you put on my son's clothes. And you sit him at my table.
Why? That's my command. And that's what God does for
sinners when He brings us, when He fetches us. He fetches us
and He says, don't be afraid. I fetched you not to kill you.
I fetched you to save you. I will show you kindness. All
who are brought before God in grace, that have seen God's holiness
in their unworthiness, to them and them alone will God show
mercy. Listen, if you're looking for
a reason that God's going to show you mercy in yourself, you'll
never find it. Even as believers, I know we
do this, we look within. for reasons. Why would God forgive
me? Well, there's no reason why God
would forgive me. Why would God receive me? There's no reason why God would
receive me except for Christ's sake. You see, everything that belongs
to Christ belongs to me because He's my representative. In that
covenant, He stood in my place. He took my sins and my sorrow
and made them His very own. For what reason? That God should
punish my sin in Him. And when He was finished, when
it was done, when God was satisfied, what did Jesus say? It's finished. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. For who? All in the covenant. All those He represented. So don't look for any merit in
yourself. You won't find it. Look and see that the kindness
of God towards sinners is only found in Christ. It is only by
Him we are accepted of God. All our works, praise and thanksgiving
will never be accepted if it is anything outside of Christ. Tonight we are wanting to worship
Him. I want to worship Him because of what He's done. He's fetched
me. I'm a febuchair. I'm a shameful
thing. And by grace, by a covenant of
grace, He fetched me. He saved me. I want to praise
Him. I want to give thanks. But you
know what? None of that praise and none
of that thanks will be accepted outside of Christ. But listen,
in Christ, they're accepted. They're accepted. Your little
bit of worship tonight is accepted. God has received it and accepted
it. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Believers, let us rejoice that
God will show us then only kindness. And notice, this is the kindness
of God. The kindness of God. I want you
to know this. He's restored everything. Everything
your father lost, He restored. Think about this. The image of
God. Adam lost the image of God. He marred the image of God that
he was created in. Christ has restored it. Isn't
this what happens when He creates a new nature inside of us? That's
exactly what His purpose was, is to restore us. In Romans,
He says, For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. How
in the world could we be conformed to the image of His Son? Because
Christ restored all that we lost. He restored that image. Matter
of fact, in Psalm 69, He said, Then I restored that which I
took not away. He restored the image of God.
And by grace, when He fetches His people, He gives us that
image. He gives us that nature that
is created after God in true holiness. He restored that. And listen to this, He restored
our ability. You see, once I could not believe.
Listen, now I can. I would not serve God. Now I
do. I did not love God. No, I can't. Why? Christ restored it. Aren't you thankful? Later on,
he tells old Ziba, he said, Ziba, you're going to go out in the
field, and you're going to work, and you're going to plow that land,
and all that fruit, all that fruit of that land, you're going
to bring it, and you're going to give it to Methuselah. That's a picture of the Holy
Spirit going out and producing the fruit and putting it in you. Great! You know, I believe, but
really, is it me? It's my faith, I do believe,
but really, who's producing this? Who's doing this? I restored
what you lost. I restored your unbelief and
your ability to serve. And He restored He restored paradise. Adam lost
paradise, didn't he? Guess what? Christ restored it.
He said to that thief, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And notice this last thing. Mephibosheth
gets to eat at the king's table all the days of his life. Look
what he said. Back in your text. He said, thou shalt eat bread
at my table Continually. My table continually. Believer,
consider this and see this matter of feasting at the King's table
is a constant, continual and abiding privilege in this life.
Tonight, what are we doing? We are feasting at the King's
table. You know, it's amazing. This has always been here. All
I did was just present it to you. It's yours. It's your food. Why do we neglect
it? Why do we neglect it? Why do
we neglect study? Why do we neglect reading and
prayer? You know what we're neglecting? This is the King's table. And
why would you not come? You don't have to prepare anything.
It's already here. It's already prepared. We're told to continually feast
on Christ. And I want you to know this.
Look at verse 13. I want you to know that Mephibosheth,
though his position changed, he himself didn't change. Look at this, in verse 13. So
Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, and did eat continually at the
king's table, and was what? Lame on his feet. I like this. Another pastor and I were talking
about this. The king and all the king's sons
could not see his lame feet. They were under the table. You
know what? Our Savior no longer sees our
sins. He no longer sees anything except
this. He sees a son at his table. He sees the robe that is provided
by Himself. But you notice that His feet
are covered. His feet, His old lame feet are
covered. You know what? All your lame
feet are covered. You know the only one that knew
He had lame feet? Mephibosheth. have this lame feet, that old
nature that's in me. I still feel it. But listen to
me. It's covered. It's covered. By what? The blood. The blood. And one day, listen to me. One day I will not have lame
feet. One day I will be like... Why? It's part of the covenant.
It's a part I haven't yet received. I've received a down payment.
I sit at the king's table. I have his robe of righteousness.
I have his blood. I have his forgiveness. I have
his pardon. I have his love. I have his grace. I have his
protection. But you know what? I'm still lame on my feet. But
I have this promise that there is an inheritance that is incorruptible
undefiled and fades not away." Listen to me, reserved in heaven. One day I won't be lame. Why? Because of the covenant of grace.
Have you been fetched? Have you seen who you are? Are
you Mephibosheth, lame on your feet, residing in Lodibar? Has God brought you to Himself
to see your need? has he showed you Christ, the
covenant of mercy? What a blessing to sit at the
king's table. You know what? Nobody can take
me away. Nobody can take me from that table. It was a covenant of grace It's
a covenant of grace that keeps me there. And it's a covenant
of grace that'll bring me to God. Oh, I pray God will bless
this to you. My gracious Father, dismiss us
with your blessing. I pray for mercy. If there are
any that have not come to Christ, that you would fetch them even
now. Bring them to Christ. Give them faith. And those of
us who sit at the table, I do pray for grace. that you'd forgive
us our sins, feed us with your word. I ask this in Jesus' name,
amen.