Well, good morning again. If I didn't express it enough
earlier this morning, I want to tell you all how much me and
Jamie enjoy being here with you. It's both an honor, but it's
humbling you all would even ask us to come. So we really appreciate
it. We enjoy being with you very much. Turn, if you would, back
to 2 Samuel 23, verse 9. Forgive me, 2 Samuel chapter
9. That way I won't mess this up. I asked Cody to read that passage
of scripture because that's what we'll be preaching out of this
morning. It's the story of David and Mephibosheth. And I love
this story. I absolutely love it. And it's
for this reason. This man, Mephibosheth, and I
are the same. Our story is the same, and our
condition is the same. And I said this morning, if there's
any biblical character I can identify with, it's Lazarus.
And that's true, we have the same problem. But this man, Mephibosheth,
me and him, we're the same as well. And his story is the story
of every believer's salvation. The Lord has saved a man. He's
done it by grace, and this is the story of your salvation.
You can look at this man's story, and your experience is just gonna
line up just like his. And it's interesting, that's
different than how the Lord calls us out. When he calls a man out,
he uses different people and different experiences and different
circumstances to call a man out. A man might be born here in the
gospel. He's raised up in a gospel church.
One day, the Lord just turns the lights on. There might be
a man in California listening to a false gospel, and he's got
to drag him out of that false church and bring him down to
Kingsport, Tennessee or something like that and shove him in a
gospel church. The circumstances leading up
to us getting called out, they're different, but our salvation
who accomplished it, how he accomplished it. That story is always the
same. There's one God that saves and He does it one way and that's
by grace. Now if you would, let me give you the back story on
this a little bit. 2 Samuel chapter 9. Saul, the former king of Israel,
is dead. His son, Jonathan, is dead. And
now David sits on the throne and he is the mightiest king
in all the world right now. Scriptures say that the fear
of David fell over everybody. Everybody was terrified of David.
He is the most powerful man on the face of the earth right now.
Here's how these things used to work. So Saul was the former
king, right? Now David sits on the throne.
What used to happen was if you were a descendant, a male descendant
of the former king, you needed to run and you needed to hide.
because that new king was coming after you. He was going to come
and he was going to wipe out all the male descendants of that
former king because he wanted no one to oppose his rule. That's
how things were done. And the descendants of Saul had
every reason to run and to hide and to fear because that's the
way things were done. But look if you would, look at
verse 1 of 2 Samuel chapter 9 and let's look at David's decree
upon becoming king. 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, every story has to have a beginning,
and I can't help but notice the story of how this man, Mephibosheth,
is saved. It begins the same way the story
of my salvation begins. It begins with a sovereign king.
David, the picture of God the Father sitting on His mighty
throne, purposing to show mercy to an undeserving people. The
house of Saul, the picture of God's elect. Now, that's how
the story of my salvation begins. That's how the story of your
salvation begins if you're a believer. What does the world say about
the beginnings of salvation? How would the world say? How would
false religion say that salvation begins? me ask you, does it sound
something like this? Salvation begins when a man makes
a choice for Jesus, when He allows Christ to be His personal Savior,
when He's finally willing to crown Him King. That's what the
world would say, isn't it? That salvation begins when man
makes a choice for God. That's what false religion would
say. What do the Scriptures say? Because
really that's the only thing that matters. John 15, verse
16 says, this is the Lord speaking to His disciples, You have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you." You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you. What plainer language could possibly
be used? Let me ask you this. Were there any members of Sowell's
house in this in this story seeking mercy from David. Are there any
descendants of Saul knocking on the throne room door? David,
have mercy on me. David, have mercy on me. Is that
recorded anywhere? No. The descendants of Saul aren't
begging mercy of David. They're running from him. They're
hiding from him because they know by nature they've made his
enemy. And that's our natural state,
running from God, fleeing, expecting His wrath, His enemy by nature. That's our natural state. Men
don't seek God. God only seeks men. Second question,
or second thing. Prior to making this decree that
He will show mercy, did David inquire about the fitness of
Saul's house to receive that mercy? Did David look at one
of the subjects and say, okay, tell me about these descendants
of Saul. Are they good folks? They go to work, take care of
their families. They read the Bible, right? Go
to every service four times a week, including Sunday school. Does
he make any inquiry whatsoever? No. The fitness of Saul's house
to receive mercy was never taken into consideration. There was
one reason that David showed mercy to these people, and what
was it? It was for Jonathan's sake. not
for any reason inside those descendants of Saul, but only for Jonathan's
sake. And why is it the Father shows
mercy to undeserving sinners such as you and me? Let me give
you the scripture. Ephesians 4.32 says, and be ye
kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Why does he show mercy? Why do
we have favor with God? It's not for any reason in and
of ourselves. It is all for Christ's sake.
Now, what happened between David and Jonathan that David would
purpose to show such mercy? Turn, if you would, to 1 Samuel
20. While you're turning there, I'll
give you the back story here. So Saul, the former king of Israel, had
taken David into his inner circle. And the scriptures record that
David behaved himself wisely. and he was mighty in battle,
and he was loved by all the people. And at some point, David grew
to a greater notoriety and fame than Saul did, and that made
Saul very jealous. And Saul set out to kill him.
He said, I'm not going to have this young guy outdoing me. So
Saul sets out to kill him. But Jonathan, Saul's son, he
loved David. He loved him very much. So let's
see what happened between David and Jonathan. First Samuel 20,
pick up in verse 12. And Jonathan said unto David,
O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow
any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good toward
David, and I then send not unto thee, and sheweth thee, the Lord
do so, and much more to Jonathan. But if it please my father to
do the evil, then will I sheweth thee, and send thee away, that
thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he
hath been with my father. So what's Jonathan saying here?
He said, I'm going to go to my father. And if he's not angry with you,
if it turns out he's gotten over it, he's not angry with you,
I'll let you know so you can come back and you can be part
of the family again. But if I find out he is angry
with you and he still purposes to kill you, I'll let you know
that so you can flee, you can get away and you can preserve
your life. Pick up in verse 14, and thou shalt not only while
yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord that I die not, but
also thou shalt not cut off the kindness from my house forever.
No, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, everyone
from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David saying, let the Lord even required at the
hand of David's enemies. What happened? Why did David
purpose to show mercy? He ended into a covenant with
Jonathan where he agreed to show mercy to Jonathan's house as
long as he sat on that throne. Now what is this a picture of?
What is this a type of? This is a type of the covenant
of grace, the covenant between the father and the son before
the world began. The father looked at the son
and he tasked him, he gave him the responsibility of delivering
all the elect back to him without a scratch on them. I'm giving
these to you. These are yours. They're mine. It's your charge. You're going to take them and
you're going to bring them back to me without a scratch on them.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said, I will. I will be surety for
them. At my hand, shalt thou require
of them. If I bring them not before you and sit them before
you, then you let me bear the blame forever." Those are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his Father. The covenant of
grace. Now, turn back to 2 Samuel 9, look
at verse 2. We're introduced to the sole descendant of Saul's
house, Mephibosheth. And there was in the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, or Zeba, whichever way. And when they had called him
unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? 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 Makir, the son of Amul, in Lodabar."
Now, Befivishef is a type of the believer. And we get some
information about him. First, we get his name. Do you
know what his name means? A shameful thing. That's what
his name means, a shameful thing. What's the source of shame? It's
guilt. What's the source of guilt? Sin. He's a shameful thing. He's a
guilty thing and he's a sinful thing. He is just like you and
me. We find out what his name means. We also know this, he
has an ailment. He's lame. He's lame on his feet.
He has an ailment. And the circumstances leading
up to how he got this ailment are very interesting. Turn to
2 Samuel 4 and look at verse 4. 2 Samuel 4 verse 4, 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. And those tidings were that Saul
and Jonathan were dead. That's what they were telling
the people at this time. Saul and Jonathan had both been killed. 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. Now, we don't have to ponder
on that too long to figure out what he's talking about here.
Mephibosheth, this shameful thing, how did he get in his lame state?
It was through a fall. Adam was in the garden. Adam
was given one command, don't eat of this one tree, the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. One command. One upright
and innocent man with one command, and he couldn't keep it. And
he fell. He took on a sinful and an evil
nature, and he passed that down to every descendant of his, right
down to you and me, including this man, Mephibosheth, dead
in trespasses and sins. That's how we're born in this
world. No spiritual ability. Lame on our feet. Now, because
of his ailment, he was lame, there are certain things Mephibosheth
couldn't do, three particularly. First, he couldn't provide for
himself. He's paralyzed. He can't move, right? Can't walk.
He can't go chop firewood. He can't raise a garden, work
a farm. He can't hunt. He can't do anything.
He absolutely cannot provide for himself. And that's our state
by nature. We cannot provide for ourselves
what God requires. We are lame on our feet. We cannot
make an atonement for our sins. We cannot come up with a personal
righteousness We can't work in ourselves spiritual life a holy
nature what he demands of us. We cannot provide we are lame He was unable to get to David
let me ask you this What if David sent his servant down to Lodomar?
And the servant knocked on Mephibosheth's door. And he said, all right,
Mephibosheth, you're highly honored. David would love to see you.
And he'd love to give you all these gifts and take good care
of you. If you'd love to come, we'd love
to have you. And he turned around and he left. Well, that's a great
invitation, isn't it? But there's one problem. Mephibosheth's
lame. He can't get there. That's our
case by nature. An invitation's not going to
do us any good. We can't get to God. We cannot and we will
not. We lack the ability and we lack
the willingness. He has to send a trustee and
faithful servant down to where we're at and scoop us up and
carry us over the shoulder and bring us back to him. And I'm
so thankful he does that. He comes to where we're at. We
don't meet him halfway. We don't come to Kim so much
so as he comes to us first. He couldn't provide for himself.
He couldn't get to David and Mephibosheth couldn't do anything
for David. He couldn't be useful to him. He couldn't help David
do anything. He couldn't do anything for David.
David had to do everything for Mephibosheth. And in this religious
world, what do we constantly hear? People talking about what
they're doing for Jesus, what they're doing for God. Salvation,
every believer knows this is not what we do for him. It is
what he freely does for us. Three problems with Mephibosheth.
He couldn't provide for himself, he couldn't get to David, and
he couldn't do anything for David. And that's me and you by nature.
Where is Mephibosheth? He's in Lodabar. Now look this
up. You know what that means? It means a land without pasture
or a house with no bread. Think about that for a second.
If you go to an island and it's got no pasture land for any animals
and in none of the houses there are any food, what are you not
going to find on that island? Anything living, you're not going
to find any life. There's no food. That's me and
you by nature, folks. Dead. We talked about it in Sunday
school this morning. What can a dead man do? He can't work. He can't believe. He can't muster
faith. He can't cry out for mercy. He can't do anything. He is spiritually
dead, and that's where we are born into. We're born into Lodabar.
Just dead. No food. No land. Now, go back to your text, look
at verse 5, 2 Samuel chapter 9, and let's see what David did
for this man that was lame. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Machiah, the son of Amul, Now, I love
that word. It's one of my favorite scriptural
words, fetched. And what it simply means is to
take, to take. And I love to think about the
Lord doing just that, just taking me. And He does it without any
respect to my thoughts or my opinions or my will. He just
reaches out and He takes me. And that's how He deals with
sinners, that He chooses to save. He reaches out and He takes them.
He fetches them. There's a couple different ways
we can look at this. There is a very real sense in which we
have been eternally fetched. We have always been fetched.
And for the sake of time, I'm going to read it to you. It's
Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 4. It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Where
were we when we were chosen? We were in Christ. And that before
the foundation of the world. I don't understand this as much
as I just believe it. Every believer, we have always
been in an eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
always been a part of him. That's beautiful. It's wonderful.
It's glorious. We have been eternally fetched.
He's always taken us because we've always been a part of him.
in time were fetched. And this is through the call
of irresistible, invincible grace. And we talked about that this
morning, just like Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. Lazarus, come
forth. A dead man came forth. It was
a call from death unto life. At an appointed time, the Lord
fetches us in time. He sends a spirit into a man's
heart, and He gives him spiritual life freely as an act of His
grace. That's what He does. Now, you
could look at this, and you could think of it as, you know, let's
say I'm leaving the house and I've left my car keys on the kitchen
table. I fetch my car keys. I'm walking
by. I'm the one who has all the power. The car keys don't have
any power. I reach down and I grab them. I take them. They're mine.
The car keys can't resist my will. You can look at it from
that standpoint, but to tell you the truth, that illustration
is actually incomplete. It leaves out a very, probably
the most important part of the whole thing. This word, fetched,
I told you means to take. Oftentimes where that word is
used in the scripture, it's in reference to a man taking a wife.
And there's actually a couple times the word is just directly
translated married. Married. Now, what's the commandment
concerning marriage? Ephesians 5.25 says, Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church. See, that
illustration is incomplete because a man doesn't love his car keys,
but when a man takes a wife, he fetches a wife. Why is that?
It's because he loves her. That's why the father fetches
us because he loved us in eternal election before the foundation
of the world. The love the father has for his people in Christ.
But Ephesians 525 doesn't stop there. Husbands love your wives
even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And this is the fetching I am
so thankful for more than any other. It's when he came in time
and fetched me on that cross. Like I said this morning, this
is my only hope. This is all I've got. Jesus Christ bore my
sins in His body, and when He bled and died, He suffered the
punishment that was reserved for me. And truly, through His
death, and we see this in the resurrection, truly, sin has
been put away. The sins of everyone of the elect
have been put away. In the resurrection, we see that
death could no longer hold the Lord Jesus Christ. It was only
right that He would be resurrected because there is no more sin.
When He said it is finished, and all the reason for God's
anger at any member of the elect is gone. We are truly justified
in Christ, never done anything wrong, always done that which
is right. I love fetching grace, I'm so
thankful for it. All right, look back at your
text, verse six of 2 Samuel chapter nine. What happens when the Lord fetches
a sinner? Now 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, Mephibosheth,
shameful thing. And he answered, behold, thy
servant. Now, can you imagine the fear that Mephibosheth felt
as he's laying in David's court? And I tried to imagine what this
would look like in my mind. Imagine a beautiful throne room,
and imagine David sitting on a throne, big, mighty David.
This is David, everybody. This is the guy who slew Goliath. This is David, this man after
God's own heart. And he's sitting on his throne,
wearing his crown, and he's adorned in all his jewelry, and he has
his mighty soldiers surrounding him, and they're big, strong
guys with spears and swords. And here lays Mephibosheth, this
poverty stricken, worthless individual. And he's not, he can't stand
before David because he's lame. So he's either laying or he's
sitting in the middle of this throne room. He's just thinking,
what in the world is David going to do with me? Because he knew
something. He knew something very well.
He knew that he was in the hands of David. He wasn't laboring
on the delusion of a free will. He was in the hands of David,
and David could do anything he wanted to do with him. David
wanted to slay him right on the spot there. David had that power,
and nobody's going to bat an eye to it. David was king. He
was sovereign. There's another thing Mephibosheth
knew. He knew that his house, the house of Saul, they had made
themselves the enemy of David. Note how I said that, too. David
didn't make himself their enemy. They had made themselves the
enemy of David. Saul was constantly warring against
David. David would never raise a hand to Saul. And that's just
by nature. That's what the believer experiences
when he's fetched into the throne room of God, when you're exposed
to who he is for the first time. There you tremble in fear, knowing
that your house, the house of Adam, had made yourself the enemy
of God. And you're sitting there in his
sovereign hands, and he can do with you whatever he sees fit. He can save you or he can damn
you, and he's right out of the way. Does that not line up with
your experience when you first found out who God is? when you're
first given a glimpse of who he truly is. Now, how did Mephibosheth
respond? Did it go something like this?
Did Mephibosheth say, well, Dave, what I think I'm going to do
is I'm going to allow you to show me mercy. I think, Dave,
I think what I'm going to do is if you'll just bend down here,
let me put this crown on your head, I'm going to allow you
to take care of me, and I'm going to allow you to rule over me
as my king. Did you say anything like that?
That's preposterous, isn't it? I mean, it is out and out preposterous. But think about false religion
in our day and what they call on men to do. I dare say if Mephibosheth
would have said anything even slightly disrespectful, had an
air of disrespect to it, a soldier, before he got the first couple
syllables out, would have taken his sword out and hacked him
to bits where he stood. They would have swept him up
and carried him out and not thought another thought about him. But yet false religion
says, accept him as your personal savior. He can't do anything
without you willing him to do it. It's not the example we have
here. What did Mephibosheth do? It
says he fell on his face and he did reverence. He worshiped. That's that same word. And I'll
tell you what, folks, you only worship a sovereign. There's
no argument. There's no excuses to be made.
Can't blame anybody. Can't blame your father Adam
for your sinfulness. Take Adam out of the equation. Have you
done on your own? I'm a sinner and nothing more. Can't blame
the sovereignty of God. No, I'm the only one to blame
and you will only worship a sovereign and you sit in his hands and
he can do with you whatever he wants to do. That's what Mephibosheth
was exposed to. And if you've ever been fetched
into the presence of God, where he truly revealed himself to
you, you've been brought to the same place. There's no arguments
to be made. There's no one to blame. It's
just me and him, and I'm in his hand, and he can do with me as
he sees fit. Look at verse 7. What's David's
response? 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,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. David said,
fear not. Now, Luke's grandfather said
this. I'm gonna quote him. It was one
of the best quotes I've ever heard on this. The Lord never says fear
not to a man that fears not. It is only to a man who fears
to whom he says fear not. Have you and I experienced the
fear of God? What is the fear of God? What does that mean?
It is where I'm afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. I'm
afraid to look at my walk and my works. It's nothing but iniquity.
There's nothing good to it. I'm afraid to look at my feelings
and my experiences. I don't know if they're real.
I'm afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. His shed blood
alone, that is my only plea. Jesus Christ died and that he
died for me. That's all I've got. That's the fear of God. Have you and I ever experienced
the fear of God? But notice what David says. He
says, fear not, I'll surely show you mercy. Not maybe I'll show
you mercy. Not perhaps, if I'm feeling up
to it, I'll show you mercy. He says, fear not, I'll surely
show you mercy. That means everyone who has this
fear of God, you are afraid to look anywhere but Jesus Christ
alone. You're afraid of sin. You're afraid of sin because
you know it's against God and against His light. Anyone who's
fearful, deathly afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone, you
have this blessed promise. I'll surely show you mercy. No
doubt about it, not perhaps I will, you will definitely be shown
mercy and you'll be restored. Restored. Everything we lost
in Adam but so much more. Adam was upright and he was innocent
but he wasn't holy because holiness is incapable of change and Adam
proved he could change because he fell. But we have been restored
to a state better than Adam could have ever imagined. Right now.
Right now, as much as it doesn't appear that way, and I understand
that it doesn't, right now, if you are looking to Christ alone,
you are filled with the fear of God. Do you know right now
you are absolutely and utterly righteous with the very righteousness
of Jesus Christ? That's true. Before God, you
are absolutely and utterly righteous. You don't feel that way. You
feel the opposite, but you are. You're absolutely holy. You have
the very nature of God himself right now in this world. Every
man who is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone with an eye
of faith, that's how he is right now in this world, and it's despite
how we actually feel because our experience is the opposite.
We're nothing but sin. What was Mephibosheth's statement
concerning himself after being shown such mercy? Look at 2 Samuel
9, verse 8. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? I'll tell you what, if you're
ever shown mercy, truly shown mercy by God, you know what your
first question is going to be? Why me? Look at everything I've
done, look at everything I've said. Why in the world would
he show mercy to a dead dog like me? Is that not your experience? But here's the beautiful part.
He doesn't look for a reason in you and me to show mercy.
He wouldn't find one if he did. Why does he show that mercy?
It's all for Christ's sake. That's it. And when you look
inside yourself and you see that you can't find a reason in you
that he will be merciful to you, that's a good thing, because
there's not. You see things as they really are. He finds his
reason to show mercy in Christ for Jonathan's sake. Now look at verse 9 and 10 of
your text. David wasn't just merciful, he
was very, very gracious. Then the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto the master's
son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. Thou therefore
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him,
and thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, shall eat bread
always at my table." Look at how David provided for Mephibosheth. He couldn't provide for himself,
but David provided everything freely for him. And there's nothing
left for Mephibosheth to do. And that's the same thing the
Lord Jesus Christ does for all his people. Everything that the
Father requires of us, he freely provides. That's sin atonement
provided. Righteousness? I'm talking about
a real righteousness before the law, not one that's just simply
a piece of paper that you're handed saying, I'm righteous.
I'm talking about in Christ right now, you are righteous with the
very righteousness of Jesus Christ, freely provided, not earned,
but provided. A new nature, a holy nature that
makes you fit for fellowship with God himself, freely and
utterly provided. Am Iphibosheth, what was left
for him to do? He was just freely given everything.
There wasn't a thing left for him to do. And believer, there
is nothing left to do. There are no works to perform.
All we need to do is give thanks to the king and freely enjoy
his blessings. Now look at verse 11. Mephibosheth
is given a new identity. Then said Ziba unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants,
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. Mephibosheth
had sonship. Look at this with me. Turn to
Romans 8 and look at verse 14. We'll turn to this one. Romans 8, and pick up in verse
14, For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And believer, make no mistake,
in Christ, you have a new identity and you have a new family. You
are the very sons and daughters of God himself. You've been adopted. You've also been birthed. Now,
to understand what's involved in this thing of the Lord making
us his children, I'm going to offer you this example. And I
want to appeal to the parents out there more than anybody else.
Let's say that there's a child you had an interest in adopting.
And this kid absolutely hated you. He hated you. And he ran
away every opportunity he got. And every time you got a hold
of him, he would shake his fist in your face. That's the kid
you want to adopt. And you have a kid that's your
own, your son. He's your birth son. And you
love him with all your heart, and he loves you with all his
heart. And he has always been obedient to you. Never back-talked
you, always been obedient, and he has always been right there
by your side. You could tell him to do anything. That boy would jump
off a bridge for you. The son of your love, your birth
son. And you go to the adoption company, and you say, you see
that kid over there? I want to adopt that boy right
there. Adoption company says, you'll want that one. That one
that keeps on running away. That one that's cursing your
name right now, the one that's shaking his fist in your face, you want that
one. He says, yeah, I want that one. And I says, okay, all right. What's interesting about adoption,
I've got a few friends that have adopted children. It is very,
very expensive. It comes to the parents at a
great cost. It is not cheap. And the adoption company says,
that's fine, but it's going to cost you. It's gonna come at
you at a great cost. I see you have your son here,
your birth son. What I want you to do, this one that you love
so much, who loves you so much, what I want you to do, you take
him out back, and what I'm gonna need you to do is start punching
him in the face. Until you can't tell what he
looks like anymore. Until his vision's marred. Once you get done with that,
what I need you to do is rip the shirt off his back, take this whip, and
you start whipping him as hard as you can, and you watch the
blood run down his back. Once you get done there, you
see that pole over there? Here's some nails. I want you to nail
him hand and feet to that pole. Take this spear and shove it
in his side. And I'll tell you what, when he's dead and when
it's finished, you can adopt that other one. You can have
him. But not until that's done. How many of you would make that
deal? I wouldn't. Every time I think
I'm starting to understand the love of God, understand what
his sacrifice truly was, I think about that. I don't know anything. That is the cost of your adoption. Look at your text in verses 9
and 12. How does the story end? And Mephibosheth had a young
son whose name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table." And what does
it say next? And was lame on both his feet. Now, if I'd have written this
story, you know how I'd have ended it? I'd have said, well, and
one of David's doctors came in and they fixed him right up,
and Mephibosheth, he walked and he worked and he was profitable
to David, and he built houses and sung David's praise. That's
how I would have ended the story. But I'll tell you what, if I
would have written this story and I would have ended it this way, it would
give me no hope. Because I told you, my story
lines up just perfectly with this man, Mephibosheth. I'm a
dead dog, but I'm also a son of the king. and I eat continually
at the king's table and I enjoy all the blessings of sonship. But here's the thing, I'm still
lame on both my feet. I am just as incapable in and
of myself at keeping the law as I have ever been. I can't
keep it. My sins are ever before me. Like I said before, I'll tell
you what, believer, if you were looking at Christ alone right now, you are
absolutely and utterly righteous in the eyes of God himself, he
who sees things as they really are. But what does our experience
tell us? I'm a dead dog sinner, and I'm
lame on my feet. How can that be? How can we understand
that? Two natures. That old man's still
here, and he's still dead, and he's still, well, he is what
he is. He's an unrighteous, wicked man, and he's here, and I know
him real well. He's been with me longer. I know
him real well, but the new man's there, too, and he's alive in
Christ. Now, I'm going to conclude this
thing, and I'm going to ask this question. Is there any Mephibosheths
here this morning? I'm talking about, is there anybody
here who is a shameful thing? You're lame? Can't provide for
yourself? Can't get to David? Can't do
anything for David? Is there anybody here like that?
Because I'll tell you what, if there is, if anybody here is
trembling face down before a sovereign God just wondering, what in the
world is he going to do with me? I can tell you this, the
king has purposed to be merciful to the remnant of the house of
Adam and is for Christ's sake. And now every Mephibosheth is
a son. If this is the way you see yourself,
can't do anything for David, can't provide for myself, can't
get to David, if this is where you are, who you are, and where
you're at, And your only hope is Jesus Christ and His shed
blood alone. You're a Mephibosheth, that means you're a son. You're
a son of the King. And that means that everything
that God requires you, He has freely provided for you. What
does that mean there's left to do? Just give thanks to the King. I'm gonna stop there.