If I may borrow the words of
my dear friend Paul Mahan and just. Simply say ditto to everything
he said. Thank you so much. Thank you
so much. This has been just wonderful.
Little bit of heaven on Earth, isn't it? If I may just for a second speak
to those. View believers here at Kingsport. So thankful God is giving you
a pastor. after his own heart. What a gift
from God. He loves you, he hearts burden
for you, prefers you over himself. That's only by the grace of God. I was thinking this morning how
how I find such great delight and comfort in the words of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus, who said, I, the Son of Man, have come
into the world to seek and to save that which is lost. That'll mean something to you
if you're lost. All whom Christ seeks, he will
save. What a glorious, glorious thought.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. The certainty,
the certainty of God's Word, the certainty of a sovereign
God, all that God purposes to do, He does. He said, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I will. I have purposed it. I will also do it. The matter is certain, isn't
it? He's God. He cannot fail. Men say God wants. No, no, no, no. Don't ever put
that word want in the same sentence with God. God doesn't want to
do anything. He does. God tries, and oh, God never
tried to do anything. He does. And I find comfort in
that. If there's one square inch of
this world in which God is not in control of, I would constantly,
constantly be afraid. That's where I was standing. But wherever I am, I find comfort
knowing that God is in control. That's what the Apostle Paul
tells us in Ephesians chapter 1. You don't have to turn there
with me. My text will be found in 2 Samuel chapter 9 if you
would like to go ahead and turn with me. But let me read this
passage in Ephesians 1 to you. are told to have obtained an
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
The saved sinner has obtained, not attained, obtained this inheritance. To obtain something means that
it was given. To attain something means that
it was earned. Paul said obtained, the gift
of God. We obtain this inheritance, our
redemption, because God Almighty predestinated, predetermined
to give it according to his own will and purpose. We didn't attain
anything. We didn't achieve anything. We
haven't accomplished anything in and of ourselves. It was God's
free gift of grace in Christ that brought our salvation to
pass. Now yesterday morning our subject
was covenant love. We compared the love of Jonathan
and David with Christ's perfect covenant love for his people. And what a picture that is of
Christ's love for us. And I want to, for a few minutes
this morning, if God will enable me, to show you from the scriptures
the continuing effect of God's covenant love for undeserving
wretches like you and I, and whom God has set His sovereign
affection on. Now if you turn with me to 2
Samuel chapter 9 in these verses before us this morning we again
see a beautiful picture of how God saves undeserving sinners. We see how King David pictures God the Father. Mephibosheth
pictures the chosen sinner. And Jonathan again pictures the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1, 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? 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 yet not 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 who 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 Makar, the son of Ammiel in Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, the son of Ammiel from Lodabar. 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?
And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. for Jonathan's sake, and will
restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt
eat bread at my table continually. And he, Mephibosheth, bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant? What is thy servant that thou
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Then the king said
to Ziba, Saul's servant, called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and
said unto him, I have given unto thy 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. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants
and then said Ziba unto the king according to all that my lord
the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servants do. And as for Mephibosheth, said
the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons.
And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and
all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants under Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. for he did eat continually at
the king's table and was lame on both his feet. I was thinking
as I prepared this message over the years I've heard so many
wonderful messages from these divinely inspired verses. Brother
Jack Shanks, I know many of you know Jack who's now in glory,
had a track published years ago many of you familiar with have
heard the message he preached called Fetching Grace. And I
borrowed this morning as an outline some of the questions that Brother
Shanks proposed from this amazing passage of scripture. So let
me, in the form of questions, ask you a few for us to consider
together. First of all, in the matter of
redemption, in the matter of the salvation of God's people,
who took the initiative? Who took the initiative? Was
it God or was it the sinner? Did Mephibosheth make any move
to be reconciled to David his king? The answer is a resounding
no, isn't it? As a matter of fact, he was hiding
from David as an enemy. Hold your place here and turn
back just a few pages to 2 Samuel chapter 4. 2 Samuel chapter 4 and look at
verse 4 with me. 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, meaning their death, referring
to their death, out of Jezreel. 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 king Saul out
of jealousy and envy and hatred for David David was considered by Saul
to be his enemy and he sought to kill him We know that, we
saw that yesterday. But now Saul is dead and David
is king. And it's important to understand
that it was customary in those days for the one who became king
to destroy the previous king's family. You think, well, why? Well, especially if the previous
king had any sons. Very, very often, one of the
previous king's sons would rise up and secure for himself a following
and rebel against the new king, endeavoring to take over his
kingdom. So custom was, when the new king came in, if he wasn't
of the family of the preceding king, he just destroyed all their
heirs. Wiped them out, all the sons,
all the grandsons, anybody and everybody that was a threat to
his throne. He did so in order to protect
his kingdom. Mephibosheth's nurse knew this.
Knowing David was now king, upon the hearing of Saul and Jonathan's
death, knowing that he was king, she knew his life was in danger,
so she grabbed him up to flee with him. And while carrying
him, he fell and became lame. He was a fugitive. He's hiding. He knew he was an enemy of King
David, so he hid in fear. My mind immediately goes to Adam
in the garden. Because of his sin and rebellion
against God, he hid himself from the presence of the Lord. Mephibosheth did not seek King
David. He didn't seek him for mercy
and grace, but he hid from him as his enemy. And so it is with
all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. We hid from God, did
we not? Oh, remember what I told you
in the beginning? Christ came to seek and to save
that which was lost. He came to seek and to save those
that hid themselves from Him. He came to seek and to save His
enemies, those who hated Him without a cause. In this matter
of salvation, friends, God takes the initiative. And if He didn't,
none would be saved. None would be saved. Now back
in 2 Samuel chapter 9, again we'll read these verses. In verse 1, 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? My next question to you
is what was the cause of God's mercy to sinners? Why does God the Father show
mercy upon those that hate Him without a cause? One reason. For the sake of His only begotten
Son. The Lord Jesus Christ. Why does
God forgive sinners? Well, there's only one reason.
For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Paul wrote,
God for Christ's sake. hath forgiven you. That's the one reason for Christ's
sake. David determined to show mercy
to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. They made a covenant. Jonathan again and again in the
scriptures said, remember that covenant you made to me that
you'll show mercy to all my... Jonathan knew, didn't he? He
knew David was gonna be king. And David was moved to show mercy,
grace, and love to Mephibosheth out of his love for Jonathan.
And when David looked at Mephibosheth, he saw Jonathan. When God looks at me, the wretched
sinner I am, he sees his beloved son. And for Christ's sake, he loves
me just as much as he loved him. As much as he loved his own son,
he loves me. God doesn't merely save sinners
just to keep them out of hell. I grow so tired of hearing men
preach Christ as a fire escape from hell. He saves sinners to magnify and
glorify His Son in His own name. Christ gets all the glory in
the salvation of His people. Those people the Lord spoke of
in the gospel that said many in that day are gonna say to
me, we have. We have. We've done many wonderful
works. We've preached, we've cast out
devils. We have, we have, we have. What do God's people say? Not
unto us. Not unto us. But under thy name,
under thy name, God gets the glory. Yeah, the basis of this
mercy was out of a covenant, out of a promise. David promised
Jonathan that he would show mercy to all his house. And the first
thing he asked is, is there any yet of the house of Saul that
I may show mercy? And God has promised the Lord
Jesus Christ that all whom he gave him before the foundation
of the world would be brought to him. He seeks them and he
saves them. He fetches them. What kind of people does God
save? What kind of people does God
save? That's my third question. Well, the Apostle Paul tells
us Christ came into the world to save sinners. We've already
discovered some things about Mephibosheth. He was a cripple
who was lame on both his feet. He couldn't come to David. He
couldn't come to David, Steve. He's a cripple. He couldn't walk. And as we just
read in 2 Samuel 4 verse 4, he fell. He fell and became lame. His inability was due to a great
fall. And so is ours. We too became lame through a
great fall, the fall of our father Adam. And the mercy of the king
was solely by his own will and purpose to fulfill his covenant
promise to the one whom he loved. God's grace to you and God's
grace to me. like David's former Fibbersheff
was due to something entirely outside of us entirely. We would not come. We could not go. We neither had the will or the
ability to come. We're not only lame on both our
feet, friends, spiritually speaking, we're dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. It dawned on me just recently. I am Mephibosheth. I am Mephibosheth. The names of scriptures we've
mentioned, they mean something. They mean something. Mephibosheth
means a shameful thing. A shameful thing. One driven
away by shame. You and I have no redeeming qualities. hid our faces in shame. You and
I, by nature, are shameful things. Macphibosheth was an enemy of
David because of the hatred and rebellion of his kinsmen, Saul,
his grandfather. And you and I are enemies of
God because of the rebellion and disobedience of our father,
but not only that. but out of our own sinful rebellion
against God, enemies, enemies of God. But blessed be the name
of the Lord. Christ did not come to call the
righteous, did he? But sinners to repentance. I
read a story recently I thought was very interesting. There was
an old preacher by the name of Peter Miller who lived in the
days of the Revolutionary War. And near the church where he
was pastor, there lived a man that just hated him and despised
him. And no matter how gracious this
pastor tried to be to this man, it just fed the fuel to hate him more,
it seemed. And one day, this man that hated
him so was arrested for treason and was sentenced to be hung.
And upon hearing this, this old preacher, Peter Miller, set out
on foot and walked nearly 70 miles to Philadelphia to plead
to President Washington for this man's life. And upon hearing
the preacher's plea, the president said, no, he's committed treason. Your plea for your friend cannot
be granted. And the old preacher said, my
friend? Oh no, he's not my friend. He's
the worst enemy I got. And the president said, what?
What did you say? He said, that's right. He's the
worst enemy I got. I've tried to be kind to him.
I've tried to be gracious to him. He hates me without a cause. And the president said, you've
walked nearly 70 miles to plead for the life of one
who hates you, one who is your enemy? And the president said, that
puts the matter in a different light. I'll grant the pardon. I'll grant it. What mercy, what
grace for God to leave his throne of grace on high and condescend
all the way down to earth to save his worst enemies. grace. That's sovereign grace. That's mercy. Notice again in
verse 4, And the king said unto Ziba, Where is he? And Ziba answered,
Behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amiel, on Lodabar. Now many of you know that Lodabar
means the place of no pastor. Friends, God finds his people. He comes to seek, fetch, and
save his people in Lodabar, a place of no pastor, a place with no
food, a place no sustenance, no satisfaction. That's where
all God's elect are found. In Lodabar. In Lodabar. In a world where there is no
life, The world is Lodabar, a place of no pasture. There's nothing
here that satisfies the soul. The older I get, the more I realize
that. Nothing satisfies the soul of
this world. Christ came into the world. He
came down to Lodabar to fetch us by his grace. Verse five,
then King David sent and fetched him. out of the house of Mekar,
the son of Ammiel from Lodabar. The things of this world, whether
they be pleasure, whether they be fame, whether they be fortune,
do nothing but leave an aching void in the hearts of men and
women. And regardless of how much of
this world's goods men may accumulate, their soul will still be filled
with nothing but emptiness. How many times do we turn on
the television or hear on the news where some famous person
who has all the world could ask for ends their life? None of these things. satisfy
men's souls. And regardless of how much of
this world's goods we may accumulate, nothing but emptiness. You know,
I was reading the story of the prodigal. I love that story.
I love to just read it. But it says that he filled his
belly with the husk that the swine did eat. It says he filled
his belly, but his empty heart cried, I perish with hunger. We can fill ourselves up with
all the things this world has to offer and we still perish
with hunger. For only hungering and thirsting
for the righteousness of God truly brings contentment, truly
brings comfort. I thank God He's showing me that. So many years we talked about
that. So many years wasted seeking the things of this world. There's
nothing in Lodabar. Nothing in Lodabar. Nothing in
this world that has satisfied the longing within. Nothing. Fourth question, how does God
save sinners? Well, verse 5 clearly tells us
that he sends and he fetches. That's a southern word, isn't
it? Fetches. I like that. Fetches. King David sent one
of his servants to deliver his word to Mephibosheth. And fetch
him. God still does the same thing
today. Still does the same thing. He
sends his servants to deliver his word. That's what we do in
here. Just voices, just voices, crying, sending, trying to stand as weak
and as we are to declare God's Word. Oh, my. Such responsibility. With power, the word is delivered
and the sinner believes the word and he's fetched by God's grace. I'm sure that Mephibosheth feared,
don't you? The king's coming. Oh, that's
not good. I'm his enemy. But he believed the word of God's
messenger. Do you believe the word of God's
messenger? Do you? It's a matter of life and death.
It's a matter of life and death. Christ says, come unto me and
I'll give you rest. There's no rest in Lodabar, but
there's perfect rest in the king's house. Perfect rest, there's
plenty of food at the king's table. last night and well this
whole meeting I've looked at the spread that this church has
graciously provided us visiting. Not like the King's table. Not
like the King's table. Plenty of food there. Come and
feast on the riches at the King's table. The King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. And his and David's table don't
even come close to his. Because he's the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. Have you been brought by the
King's fetching grace? Do you know that the Hebrew word
for fetch means to be carried? carried. It sure is. The only
way a crippled man or woman can be fetched is to be carried.
Isn't that right? The message heard by most today
is God's done all he can do. Now the rest is all up to you.
That's not good news. Does that bring you any comfort?
Rest is up to you. Oh, no, no, please. Now, I tell you, I don't doubt
that if a man who's truly lame can take the first step, that
he can walk anywhere he wants to. He can go anywhere he wants
to. The problem is taking the first step. He's lame on both
his feet. The problem's with the first
step. He got to be carried. Got to be carried. Natural men
and women are not only crippled, but they're dead in trespasses
and sin. As I said a moment ago, they
can only come to Christ after they've been carried to Him. We tell men to come to Christ
without moving a muscle, without moving an inch. We come right
here, don't we? We come in our hearts. Men say
come walk down the aisle to the front. There's no salvation down
here. No. We come right here. We come right
here. After we've been carried to Him.
After we've been paid a lot. We're not saved after, not only after we believe,
but we We believe because God's already done a work of grace.
He's already brought us. He's already fetched us. Fifth
question, what's the response of saved sinners who are brought
to Christ? It's always the same. Verse six, now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come brought and
fetched, carried unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence. The enlightened sinner always
finds grace at Christ's feet. Ain't that right, Cody? At his
feet. At his feet. That woman crawling
through that crowd that day, where did she touch him? She
touched the hem of his garment at his feet. That woman who wept
in Simon's house washed his feet with her tears and dried them
with her hair. David said, Mephibosheth? That really stuck out to me when
I read that. He called him by his name, Mephibosheth. Christ always calls his sheep
by name. John chapter 10 tells us that.
That his sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep
by name and he leadeth them out. He carries them out. And when
the Lord calls us by name, our response is always the same.
Always the same. Just as Ms. Bibbischef's. Behold,
thy servant. I'm a servant. I'm gonna serve
you, Lord. God's enemy has now made a willing
servant. Only grace can make that so.
And just like Mephibosheth, the child of God has been made to
know that their life hangs on the mercy of the King. On the
mercy of the King. Salvation is purely a matter
of covenant love which is sovereignly dispersed on whom God purposes
to save. And we can see from this true
and amazing story that our redemption is by nothing praiseworthy in
us. No, we're spiritually helpless,
lame on both our feet, incapable of moving a single inch toward
God. Sovereign grace is the bed that
carries us to God. When the sinner's been fetched
by grace and enabled to stand before the King, what will the
King's decree be? Verse seven, and David said unto
him, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness. For Jonathan's sake. And will
restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt
eat bread at my table continually. No need to fear, no condemnation
now to dread. No, no, no. For the King of glory
is going to show his kindness to you for his son's sake. Notice that all the sinner lost.
Oh, and we lost it all. All that he lost will now be
restored. The very ones that were starving
in Lodabar now eat bread continually at the king's table. And I'm
going to tell you, I thought about this that day when Mephibosheth
was brought to King David. All Israel, all Israel was made
to know not David's love for Mephibosheth, but David's love
for Jonathan. on the day of judgment, all spiritual
Israel, who now see darkly, we see darkly don't we? We see through
a glass dimly. We'll clearly see God's love
for Christ. It was for Christ's sake that
this sinner was saved. And what's the response of all
God's Mephibosheths? Verse eight, and he bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant? What am I? Oh, that thou shouldest
look upon such a dead dog as I am. That's what the undeserving
sinner does. He bows himself in gratitude.
He bows himself in complete humility. This is how saved sinners view
themselves. I'm a dog. Why would you even
look upon me? Oh my. I don't deserve to be
looked upon. We view ourselves as dead, worthless
dogs. I'm a dog lover. We've got a
little old dog, not worth much. But you know, she does bring
me some joy. But a dead dog doesn't bring
any joy, too. No, it doesn't bring much. She
wouldn't bring much joy if she's laying there in my lap dead. How could any sinner How could
any of us think that in some way, any way, that we could deserve
God's mercy? That's what fetching grace is. It's undeserved grace. It's unmerited
grace. And even a dog knows his own
name. My name is Mephibosheth. And in and of myself, I'm shameful.
But for Christ's sake, I now sit at the king's table continually,
forevermore. I'm sitting there right now.
I'm fixing to sit down right there in a minute, Brother Mike,
but I'm going to be sitting at the king's table right now, feasting
upon the riches of his table. And just like Mephibosheth, all
God's children are going to have everything provided for them. Verse 10, Thou therefore and
thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him. For who? For Mephibosheth. And
thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have
food to eat. He's not going to do without
any more. He's not in Lodabar anymore. Mephibosheth thy master's son
shall eat bread always at my table. Well, the old saying goes,
we've all heard it, all is well that ends well. But here's the
beautiful thing about our redemption in Christ. All ends well for
God's chosen and elect people. Notice again verse 13. I'll wrap
this up. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem
for he did continually, he did eat continually at the king's
table and was lame on both his feet. Mephibosheth was in and of himself
still lame on both his feet. Beloved, without Christ, we can
do nothing. Brother Paul mentioned that in
prayer. Without Him, we can do nothing. We're still lame on both our
feet. But hear me well when I say,
nobody noticed Mephibosheth's lame feet anymore. You know why? Those lame feet were now covered
by the king's table. And everything was done for him.
Everything. I mean everything was provided
for him. Why? For Jonathan's sake. For Christ's sake. And so it
is with all gods. Are you my baby share? I am. I am. I'm lame on both my feet. But now I sit at the king's table. Again, thank you so much. I appreciate
so much being here. May God add his blessings to
the preaching of his word. Brother gay.