2 Samuel 9, this is probably
a favorite of many of yours, one of the favorites of all of
us, isn't it? It's been a long time since we've
looked at this together, a long time. You're with me, first of all,
at 1 Samuel 18. We'll go back here and look at
David and Jonathan. David and Saul and Jonathan represent
someone else in the story. David was God's chosen king,
and Saul was on the throne at that time, and Saul hated David
and sought to kill him. He was his enemy. Jonathan was
Saul's son, and yet he loved David, and David loved Jonathan. And these three are a picture
of our God. David is God. Saul is Adam. who died and rebelled against
God. He was a little king, but he
rebelled against God. And Jonathan is Christ, who calls
himself the Son of Man. The Son of Man, not Adam. The Son of Man. And Jonathan,
as you know, died in battle defending Israel. And David honored, extolled
Jonathan and remembered a covenant that he made with Jonathan. Okay? I just told you the whole
story. But 1 Samuel 18 is the story
of David and Jonathan. In verse 1, it came to pass that
David made an end of speaking unto Saul. The soul of Jonathan
was knit with the soul of David. Jonathan loved David as his own
soul. And down in verse 3, Jonathan
and David made a covenant. They made a covenant together
and he loved him as his own soul. Who did? Both of them loved each
other so much. Jonathan loved David more than
he loved himself and David loved Jonathan. He even said it's more
than the love of a man and his wife. And this is a picture of
God the Father and God the Son. Their love for one another. God
loved His Son. Martin used to say, God loved
His Son so much that He made a whole world, and He made a
whole world full of people for His honor and His glory and predetermined
every one of them to be just like His beloved Son whom He
loved so much. And the Son loved the Father.
And they made a covenant. The Father and the Son made a
covenant long before the world. ever existed. All right? And this is called the covenant
of salvation, the covenant of grace, in which God the Father
would make a world, make a people, they would be fallen like Adam,
like Saul, enemies of God, like Saul, but
God, like David, merciful, kind, gracious, loved. would save some
of these fallen ones, some of these sons of Adam, would save
them by His mercy, by His electing grace, by His Son coming down
here to earth and dying in their stead, being their substitute,
being their sin offering, being their burnt sacrifice, paying
for their sins against God. There are two covenant heads,
Adam and Christ, right? God, the first covenant was a
covenant of works. God said to Adam, do this and
live, or don't sin, you won't die. Do what I say and live. Rebel against me, die. What happened? Adam was, we were all in Adam.
He's our father, all of us. What happened? Adam sinned. In Adam, all die. And every one of them are born
enemies of God. God's not the enemy. God's not
the enemy. You understand me? Man's the
enemy of God. But God, rich in mercy, in this
covenant long before, had another... He knew all this was going to
happen because He purposed it. And this was all purposed and
ordered in Christ before the world began. God gave and elect
people as the stars of the sky, as the sands of the sea, a people
He set His love upon, a people He purposed to have mercy and
grace upon, to save them from their sin. And He sent their
covenant head, Jesus Christ, a Son of Man, but without the
seed of man, a sinless man, a woman's seed, without sin. to be their
covenant head. And it says, the Lord in Psalm
42 says, the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. Displeased
with Adam. And Adam all died, but in Christ
all made alive. I just told you the gospel. And God said, all that are in
my son, all that my son came to live for and die for, I will
spare them. I will have mercy upon them.
I love them freely. They're my children. I will adopt
them. I will give them new birth in
time by this gospel coming. And they will be with me forever. They are my children. I love
them. I purpose to save them for Christ's sake. Because of my son. He's going
to do it all for them. They don't have anything to do
with it. Okay. Okay. So David and Jonathan loved
each other like the father and the son loved each other before
the world began. And they made this covenant together. And here's
what Jonathan said to David. Promise me you'll show kindness
to my seed, to my house. Promise me you love me. I love
you. We love each other. We're as
one. Promise me that when I die, This is what Jonathan said today,
when I die, you'll show kindness to my house, my seed that come
from my bowels for my sake, for the love you have for me and
I have for you. And David said, I'll do it. And
he kept confirming this with him that Jonathan kept saying,
promise me, David said, you have my word on it. David was a man
of his word by now. And our God cannot lie, will
not lie. God who promised us salvation.
Any son, either hath the Son, hath life. He that believeth
on the Son, hath life. God can't lie. And God will save. He already
has purposed it. He is, and he shall say, for
Christ's sake. Can we say, can we say that too
much? Do you see why we preach Christ? Okay. So this love Jonathan and
David had for each other is a beautiful type and picture of the Father's
love for Christ and the covenant they made with each other. Go to 2 Samuel 9. Go to 2 Samuel
9. Go to our text. Okay? This covenant
represents the eternal covenant of God's grace in the Father
and the Son they made together before the world began. And God
purposed to save every single person that Christ came and lived
and died for, for Christ's sake. All right, now David is on the
throne. David is now on the throne in Israel. He's reigning. The
house of Saul is his enemy. Right? You remember, Saul wanted
to kill David, and everybody was with David. And that's a
picture of mankind. It's just so, people. It's just
so. Romans 8 said, The carnal mind
is enmity against God. Enemy of God. David was nobody's
enemy. Like Joshua, he was nobody's
enemy. But everybody else was his enemy. You see, God's got to... And
we are by nature. We're born like that. You know
what? This lame man here, he's Saul's grandson. He was born
a son of Saul at enmity against David. And if David had done something
for him, he'd have died. David had to kill him. Because
he's just like his brothers. You're going to see in a little
bit that David brought seven of his brothers and killed them
all. You hear me? That's the God of
the Bible. But David's a merciful man. David's
a kind man. David's a gracious man. David's
a loving man. Fault didn't lie in David. It
lied in those that were his enemies. Alright? David is on the throne. He's reigning and ruling. The
house of Saul is his enemy. And most of them has been destroyed
by this time. Not all of them, some of them.
And David is thinking about his beloved friend named Jonathan,
whom he loved. And look at verse 1. David said,
Is there yet any left of the house of Saul that I may show
him kindness for Jonathan's sake? David is thinking about his beloved
Jonathan. and the love they have for each
other, and that covenant that they made together. And he said,
is there any left of the house of Saul? I have purposed, I have
determined, I am going to show kindness. That word is mercy.
David purposed in himself to show kindness to someone in the
house of Saul for Jonathan's sake. And what does the Scripture
say? Romans 9, like 2 Samuel 9. Romans 9, he
said to Moses, I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy, and
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. So then, it is not
of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but what? Right. How many people in religion can
quote that? How many would? How many love
that? We love that, don't we? As said, if David hadn't
purposed to show kindness and mercy to this man, he's going
to die at the hands of David. But David said, I'm going to
show kindness. I am kind. I am merciful. I can
do this. That's who I am. I'll do it to
whom I will. He didn't send out and ask anybody
who wanted to get mercy. No, no. None of the House of
Saul would have applied. None of the House of Saul would
have said, I need mercy. No, no, no, no, no. Nor would
we have. Our Lord said in Isaiah, He said,
I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them
that sought me not. David said, when you said seek
me, that's when I started seeking you. So David purposed to show kindness. And one of the servants named
Ziba, David said, are you Ziba? He said, yes, I am. Verse three,
the king said, is there any of the house of Saul that I may
show kindness of God unto him? Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan. Jonathan hath the son. What do you think David did? Jonathan has a son? Yes. that he's lame on his feet. You don't need him. No, but he needs David. Jonathan has a son. He's lame
on his feet. How did this happen? Back in
chapter 4, When tidings came of Saul and Jonathan being killed,
and David is now the rightful king, people were fleeing, okay? And
the nurse for this young boy, he was Joshua's age, five years
old, Joshua Montgomery. Five years old, his nurse took
him up to flee. Melanie, you brought this up.
She should have fled to David, shouldn't she? She should have
taken that child and fled to David. Not run from the king,
run to him. They're the enemy. But she fled
with this boy thinking she's going to be killed too. No, he's
merciful. You need to flee to him. Don't run from him. Run
to him. Even though you're an enemy. Well, in the process of this
running, The boy fell. I don't know if he's on a horse
or a mule or whatever, but he fell, okay? Five-year-old boy.
Apparently he broke his back, crushed his hips or whatever.
He was lame on both feet, it says. He became lame as a child. From a child, and now in this
story he's an adult, he can't walk. He cannot walk. He never has. He cannot walk. He's lame, okay? And that's what happened to us.
And Adam all died. We fell in Adam. We were lame
by the fall. Adam ran, hid from God. And all of us are born dead in
trespassing sin, dead through a fall. We're born lame. We can't
walk by faith. We're born blind. We're born
deaf. Enemies of God. Haters of God. Won't come to
God. This young, this man couldn't
come to God if he wanted to. David. He couldn't have come
to David if he wanted to. If you'd ask him, won't you come?
Take the first step. He can't take the first step.
He cannot come. And I just believe, him being
a grandson of Saul, I don't think he's willing to come. If he's
like the rest of Saul's sons, he thinks, I ought to be on that
throne. Right? And every person in this room,
before you heard the truth, you thought you were somebody. You
had full of pride. And if you were in religion,
you actually thought that God needed you, or you accepted Him. That you ought to be rewarded Thought free will, didn't you?
Anybody? Anybody admit it? The only reason that this lame
fellow came to David is David fetched him. Look at it. It says in verse 5, the king
David sent and fetched him. What's that mean? I love these
old It's not a country say, it's a Bible. He said, fetch me that.
Fetch me that. That's just a good Bible. It
means go get it and bring it to me. It means lay hold of it. Don't ask it. It means pick it
up, grab hold of it, hold it tight, and bring it to me. When you fetch something, you
don't holler at it, hey, hey, please. I want to, but I can't. It means you go where it is and
you pick it up and you take it. Right? How plain could the truth
be? Our Lord said, Christ said, all
that the Father giveth to me will come to me. Why? Well, He said before, He
said, no man can come unto Me except the Father which hath
sent Me draw him. What's that mean? Fetch. Fetch. Go get it. Now, who did David
send to fetch this fellow? Some little effeminate fellow?
Some little, you know, fellow, nice, like agag, came delicately? Is David like that? Is David
like that? Did David take what he wanted?
Did David do as he pleased? Was David powerful? Huh? Was David able? Yes, he was. Our God is able. David, read on in 2 Samuel about
David's captains, his mighty men. Just start reading. They were powerful men. I think
he sent two of his most trusted servants, two of his warriors,
two of his captains, two of his men bold, two sons of thunder. You know, that's who Jesus Christ
sent. You think of James and John as
two little weak fellas? Our Lord said that of John the
Baptist. Who'd you go to see? A prophet? Huh? I tell you, he
ain't more than a prophet. Even Herod feared John. Anyway, David sent two of his
most powerful and trusted men. He said, mercy, truth, righteousness,
peace. Go down and arrest that man. Go down and lay hold of that
man. Don't ask him. Pick him up. and bring him to
me. I am going to show kindness."
So they went down to that house. They didn't knock on the door.
They didn't stand outside the door hoping that Misfitship would
let them in. No, sir. They broke that door
down. And I just believe that Misfitship,
that's his name, and his name means something if I have time,
I'll tell you. I believe the fifth ship was
shaking. When they came and they broke
that door down, and the fifth ship said, fifth ship, is that
you? Yes, it is. So you're coming
with us. And they went over and got a
hold of him. Don't you see that? They went over and picked him
up, and one of them put him in his arms, and they walked out
of that door with him. They didn't ask him anything. What do you think is happening
to Mephibosheth? This is the beginning of him. When he finally
comes to see and hear the king's voice, he's broken. He may have
been an enemy before, he's being broken. He's being shown that
the king is not in your hands, you're in his. To do with as
he will. He didn't ask him. He fetched
him. And brothers and sisters, that's
how God saves every sinner. He purposely saves. You know
that? He fetches. He fetches. Where was it? He
said he found him in a place called, in the house of a man
named Maker. That means a seller. A man who
sells things. And the son of Amul. That means
people of God. And Lodabar, which is a house
of no bread. So he's in a place where there's no bread. He's
supposed to be among the people of God, but they're not. They're
enemies. And he's this man that sells things. And that's all
of us. We've sold ourselves to sin,
sold to the devil, and all that. Supposed to be the people of
God. We're not. A sheep without a shepherd. A
place of no pasture. And the Lord sent and fetched
us. David sent and brought him, now
verse 6, here it is, when Mephibosheth, the son of John, the son of Saul,
was come unto David. How did he come? How did he get
here? David fetched him. David brought
him, or he wouldn't have come. He couldn't come, he wouldn't
have come, okay? He wasn't asked, he was fetched. John and I love Psalm 71. It says, Thou hast given commandment
to save me. You're my Lord, you're my salvation,
because you've given commandment to save me. If He hadn't, I wouldn't
have come. I wouldn't be here. If the Lord
hadn't revealed Himself to me, I'd be an Armenian preacher like
everybody else right now. I'd be standing up here telling
you, what are you going to do with Jesus? You know, if the
Lord hadn't chosen me to reveal the truth to me, I'd be up here.
Now won't you accept Jesus? So he came because David fetched
him. And we come because the Father
gave us to Christ and the Holy Spirit comes through the preaching
of the gospel and sovereignly and powerfully fetches us and
brings us and lays hold of us and arrests us and brings us
to Christ. And the first thing is we fear
him. Look at verse six. When Mephibosheth
came, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, was coming to David, he
fell on his face and did reverence. He fell on his face. We sure labor that point a lot,
don't we? Fear of the Lord. Because David
said it, the transgression of the wicked, what all I see going
on today, tells me, says within my heart, there's no fear of
God. But this is a thing that all of God's people have and
characterizes all of God's people. They fear the Lord. And we'll
never quit fearing the Lord until we be with Him in glory, until
we just like Him. All right? So he fell on his
face and did reverence. Now he doesn't know what David's
going to do for him, does he? He doesn't know. He doesn't know if David's going
to kill him or make him alive. Does David have that right? Does
David have that right? Does David have the power? Is
anything up to Mephibosheth at this point? Did David ask Mephibosheth
anything in the whole course of this? No! And he doesn't know what he's
going to do. But he just knows that his hands,
his life is in this king's hands. His life, his breath is in the
king's hand. And he fell on his face and did
reverence. And David said, I believe he was expecting him
to speak in anger and wrath. To cast him out as one of Saul's
sons. But he heard a voice. He heard
kindness in David's voice. He heard mercy in David's voice.
He heard love in David's voice. He heard salvation in David's
voice. Like Mary, when Mary came to
that tomb. And our Lord said to Mary, I believe he has his head hanging.
I believe he's down. He is. He's on his face. And
when David said, Mephibosheth, I think he looked up like our
Lord when the Lord had that woman caught in the act of adultery
and stooped down. I know she had her head hanging
in shame, in fear. She doesn't know what he's going
to do. And he said, Woman, Woman, Mephibosheth, he heard the kindest, sweetest,
most tender voice he'd ever heard. When this world hears the voice
of God, they're going to hear it like they've never heard before. When God's people hear it, we're
going to hear it like we've never heard before. Enter, thou blessed
Father, into the kingdom that I prepared for you before the
foundation. I love you. Mephibosheth. And he looked up. Behold, thy servant. I'm yours. And David said, fear not. I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan, thy father's sake. I will. Fear not, I will. I have purposed. I have chosen you. I will have
mercy upon you. I will be kind to you. I have
set my love and affection on you for Jonathan's sake. And this is what we find out,
isn't it? The Father, if God loves us, is for Christ's sake.
We find out it's all for Christ's sake. All through the Scripture
it says that, doesn't it? Ezekiel 36, the Lord said over
and over again, He said, I'm not doing this for your sake.
You profaned My name. You sinned against Me. You brought
shame upon me. I'm doing this for my sake. I'm
doing this for my name's sake. He said you're going to loathe
yourself. Everything you think about that you did, you're going
to be ashamed of yourself. But you're going to rejoice and
you're going to glory in my grace that I do for Christ's sake.
In the fullness of time, He's going to show us the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us for Christ's sake. And furthermore, So he's saying
to Mephibosheth, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to show
you kindness. Mercy. I'm going to spare you. Mercy. For Jonathan's sake. For Christ's sake. And I will
restore all the land that saw thy father. I'm going to restore
everything you've lost. You know, because of Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ, our covenant head, everything we lost in Adam. Adam lost fellowship with God.
He lost communion with God. God kicked him out of His presence.
He lost the favor of God. He lost the understanding of
God, the life of God, the holiness of God. And Jesus Christ came
to restore all of that for God's people. Fellowship with God. Truly our fellowship with the
Father. Why? For Christ's sake. He said, if
I go to my Father and your Father, Communion with God? He said,
The Father heareth you, and you pray through me. Favor with God. Life of God. Holiness. Because
Christ, as He is, so are we. That's not all. Look at verse
7. He said to Mephibosheth, and.
As if that's not enough? He saved his life. He's restoring
everything he lost. He said, Thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually. He said, You're going to sit
right beside me from now on, like one of my sons. And then what? Verse 8, He bowed
Himself. And he said, and this is what
all of God's people say to Christ, and shall say, what is thy servant?
That thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am. A dead
dog? A dead dog? You shouldn't say
that about yourself. How many in here would stop on
the side of the road and pick up a dead dog that's been run
over by a car several times? How many? have been there for
days, stinking, rotten maggots. Can I make this picture clear
enough here? How many of you would stop your
car and get out and pick that dead dog up and take it home
with you and put it up to the table with you? Come on now. I'll tell you who would. Bonnie,
if it was Zoe, if it was Jake, If it was Bodie,
if it was Dempsey, and he lying there dead, would you do it?
If he's stinking dead, would you do it? Take him home with
you? Yes, you would, wouldn't you? And brothers and sisters, we
can't say it clearly enough. We can't say man's state clearly
enough, and such were some of you. Stinking! Oh, he shouldn't say that, preacher.
God said it. He said their righteousness are
like minstrel's cloth to me. How vile can you get? Who keeps
those? But God. You see, this world
is not full of nice people God needs. This world is full of
awful people that need God. And Brother Patrick, he's going
to destroy the whole lot. He doesn't need it. By God! Fetches! What are they like?
Dead dogs! If Chip was on the side of the
road, would you stop? Margaret Mack is right beside
the Fiddler Chef right now looking at his Savior who picked up that
dead dog. He's sitting at the table with
Him right now. What's He doing? Singing His
praises. Who loved Him and washed Him
from His sin in His own blood. Who found Him. Who chose Him.
Who fetched Him. Who brought Him. Or He wouldn't
have come. Who set His love on Him. Sovereign love. Can I say it
loud enough? Open the windows. This is it. This is salvation. This ain't
some old-fashioned Old Testament story. This is the salvation
of every dead dog sinner God chose before the foundation of
the world. Didn't need one of them. They're
dead dogs. Old Brother Maurice Montgomery
used to say, that was his saying. I'm just a dead dog sinner. You
can't get any more graphic than that, can you? See, God looks
on the heart. All these people and their facades
of religion, all their dressed up and their phylacteries and
all that, God sees through it. Man can't. Man's impressed. God's angry. Oh, boy. Old Mephibosheth knew he ought
to kill me right now, but he showed mercy on me. Why? Why
did he show mercy? Ask Mephibosheth, why are you
spared? Why are you sitting at this table
today? For the rest of his life, he sat there at that table. Ask
him why. He'd tell you, it's for my father
Jonathan's sake. If it wasn't for Jonathan, I
wouldn't be here. Every one of God's people in
heaven, if it wasn't for Christ, I wouldn't be here. Can't say that loud enough, clear
enough. And you know then David not only
that, David in the rest of the story says that David gave orders
to Ziba who was a wicked man, Ziba who pretended later to be
a pious man, who lied on Mephibosheth. He gave orders to Ziba and all
of Ziba's servants to wait on Mephibosheth the rest of his
days. You're going to serve him his
food? You're going to bring him everything? You know, the whole
world exists. Man, if I could shout right now,
the whole world. Christ, He said, I gave Ethiopia
for you, Egypt for you, for your ransom. He said He raised up
Pharaoh and all of Egypt for His people. Who were His people?
Dead dog centers. The whole world exists. And you
tell the world that, they'll hate you for it. But so. And they did. Zizibah and the
rest of them. And so, verse 13, it ends. Mephibosheth
dwelt in Jerusalem. There he is. In Jerusalem. And
he ate continually at the king's table. Just like the king said.
You look and that's where you'll find him. Look at that, he's
laying on both his feet. But, those feet are under the
table. And if he needs to go somewhere,
I believe David himself will pick him up and carry him. You know he's carried us all
our day? From the cradle to your hoary head, he said, I'll carry
you. And I've got to bring this up, I've got a few more minutes.
That's not the end of the story. You know that Mephibosheth, he's
young here, he's early 30s probably. He married, he got married, and
he had children. And they're told of in other
places in Scripture, all right? Well, something happened. David
went, remember, because Absalom went in exile, and had lots of
enemies. Alright, now David's coming back
after all of that, after Absalom, that's another story. Absalom
was killed and hung in a tree and David's coming back to Jerusalem
and Ziba that waited on Mephibosheth, he resented that. He resented
Mephibosheth. And Ziba came to meet David when
he's coming back to Jerusalem and David said, where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba said, I heard Mephibosheth
say, now I'm going to be king. Now that David's gone, I'm going
to be king. And David said, well, you take
everything that belonged to Mephibosheth. You take it all. So I relied on Mephibosheth. And you go back, keep going,
and all right, now David comes into town, and here comes Mephibosheth.
And Mephibosheth said, David said, why weren't you there to
meet me, Mephibosheth? And Mephibosheth said, Ziba lied
on me. He slandered me. He said he was
going to saddle me a horse and put me on. I'm lame. He said
he was going to saddle me a horse and put me on it and bring me
to you. He lied on me. He left without
me. Okay? Alright, two men saying
different things. Right? And our Lord, when you
come to Christ, the Lord brings you to himself, your troubles aren't over. Our
Lord said, you're going to have tribulation in this world. Because
God chose you, because God had mercy upon you, because God made
you His elect. And the world's going to resent
you and the Lord's going to hate you like Ziba did with Mephibosheth.
And they're going to slander you and they're going to lie
on you and tell things about you that aren't so. And he said,
blessed are you when men say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my name's sake. Does the Lord know who he is? Yes, He does. I'll tell you how.
I'll tell you how He knows. You've got two men saying two
different things. And Ziba brought all these gifts
and all these presents. And Ziba said, Oh, I do obeisance
to thee, my king. Thou art my king. Thou art my
king. And here comes Mephibosheth.
And Mephibosheth hadn't shaved, hadn't washed, hadn't trimmed
his beard, hadn't done anything like that. He's humbled himself
since the day that David was gone. When David left, Mephibosheth
fasted and was dirty and he came to King David like he came to
begin with. He came back to David just like
David found him in the first place. A dead dog. Are you with me? All right, David
said, two men saying two different things. He said, both of you
divide it all up. I don't care. Take it all. Take
it. Both of you divide it up. Ziba said, that sounds good to
me. Stuff. Mephibosheth said, let him have
it all. I want you. My King has come and you're the
one I've been waiting on. Let Him have all that stuff.
You're here now and you're the one I've been waiting on. Now
you want to tell me who loves David? You want to tell me who
David saved? You want to tell me who the true
Son of God is? Who the true Child of God is?
Who the true Christian is? It's the one that's waiting on
Jesus Christ to come. The one who saved death. The
one that saved that dead dog sinner. And we go to Him today
like we did when He found us. And we say, take all this stuff. They can have it. Let the world
have it. All I want is You. That's how
you know. Okay. Let's sing a closing hymn.