After 19, 2 Samuel 16, this is
the prelude to the message this morning. After I read and lead
us in prayer, I ask Brother Henry and Brother Stan to receive the
morning altar. 2 Samuel 16. Now, you may or
may not know the story here, but David was exiled He was the
king, the rightful king, and he was exiled on the run for
quite a while from Saul at one point and from even his son Absalom
at one point. I believe it's at this time.
And when David, who was a man after God's own heart, he was
down in a certain place, came to this place of Bahur, and let's
read there in verse five, a certain man came out to meet him. King David came to Behurim. Behold, thence came out a man
of the family of the house of Saul," that is, the former king,
whose name was Shimei, the son of Jireh. He came forth and cursed
still as he came. The whole time he was walking
out of his house toward David. He was cussing old David. There
you are, you old blankety-blank. And he threw rocks at David,
stones at David. And in all the servants of King
David, all the people through rocks, cursing, carrying on through
rocks at the service of the King, all the people and the mighty
men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei
when he cursed, Come out, come out, you bloody man, you man
of, you son of the devil. My, my, this is serious. The
Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of
Saul, in whose stead you have reigned. And the Lord hath delivered
the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. Absalom was
pursuing David. And behold, thou art taken in
thy mischief, because you are a bloody man. You are no good
son of the devil. That's what he was saying. Cussing
him, throwing rocks at him. Imagine that. God's king. God's anointed. That's who he's
cussing. Then said Abishai, the son of
Zeruiah, unto the king, this is one of David's faithful men,
why should this dead dog curse my lord, the king? Let me go
over and take his head off. And the king says, what have
I to do with you? Now, you don't have any part
here in this matter, is what he's saying. Let him curse, because
the Lord said unto him, curse David. Who shall then say, wherefore
have you done that? The Lord said it. That's the
reaction of a true man of God. God's in this. David said to
Abishai and all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth
of my bowels at his absalom, he seeks my life. How much more
now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone. Let him curse.
The Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will
look on mine affliction, that the Lord will requite me good
for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went
by the way, Shimei went along on the hills, sighed over against,
cursing and throwing rocks and casting dust, kicking out. And the king and all that were
with him, they were weary. And they refreshed themselves.
Now turn over to 2 Samuel 19. Now look, here David comes back
to the throne. He comes back to the throne. He's made king. And here comes
this Shimei fellow. Oh, you reckon the king's going
to do it? I look at it, this is a picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ, this is a picture of us, where we one time had no
dealings with the gospel, didn't care for God's Christ and for
the gospel and God's people and cussed it and threw rocks at
it and reviled it and so forth. And now, we come back to the
game. Look at this, this is, bless
you, verse sixteen, second Samuel nineteen. Well David came back
to the throne a sitting on the throne and here comes shimmy
out a son of Jira a Benjamite which was of Bahuram. He hasted
in a hurry and came down with the men of Judah to meet King
David coming back in the Jerusalem to reign. There were a thousand
men of Benjamin with him and Ziba the servant of the house
of Saul. Remember that name too. And his 15 sons and his 20 servants
with him and they went over Jordan before the king came to the king.
and then went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household
and to do what he thought good. And Shimei, the son of Jireh,
fell down before the king as he was come over Jordan. And
he said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity upon
me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely
the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem. that the
king should take it to heart. Forget it, please. Forgive me. Forget it. Thy servant doth know
I have sinned. I know it. Therefore, behold,
I am come the first. I am the first down here of all
the house of Job to meet my Lord the king. And here this same
fellow speaks up. Then Abishai, the son of Zeriah,
answered and said, Shall he not be put to death? Kill this dead
dog. be done with it. David didn't
need this guy, did he? Didn't need him the first time,
he sure doesn't need him now, and he had every right to kill him.
Look at what the Lord's Anointed says, verse 22. You've got no
right in this matter. You shut up. What have I to do
with you, son of Uriah, that you should this day be an adversary
unto me? Shall any man be put to death this day in Israel?
No. The kind and merciful and gracious
King David is on the throne now. And anybody that comes to King
David will get mercy. And grace, do not I know that
I am this day king over Israel? Sure, I've got a right to kill
this dead dog, but I'm not going to. I'll get me greater glory
by not killing this dead dog. Therefore, the king said unto
Shimei, you won't die. And the king swore it unto him,
I swear you won't die. Verse twenty-four, now remember
this now. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet
the king. And since the king, since David
had left, old Mephibosheth had neither dressed his feet, trimmed
his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed
until the day he came again back to the kingdom. And it came to
pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king
said unto him, Where you been, this Phibosheth? See, this Ziba,
a man tricked him, a man that was supposed to be a friend and
a servant, tricked on Phibosheth, lied on him, lied to him to the
king, about him to the king. But Phibosheth was faithful.
He was faithful, but this man lied on him, bore false witness
against him, Ziba. And David said, Where you been?
What you been doing? And he answered, verse twenty-six, My Lord, O
King, my servant, deceive me. Thy servant said, here's what
he said, he said, I'll saddle me an ass and I'll go. Now, Mephibosheth
was lame, couldn't walk. And this servant of his that
David put in charge of Mephibosheth, or to serve him, he said to Mephibosheth,
I'll get, it's a horde, I'll get a horse that I may ride on
and go to the king. And I'll tell him, You couldn't
come because thy servant is lame. But, and Mephibosheth said to
David, he slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. He told
bad things about me. He said that I was rising up
against the king. That's what Ziba said about Mephibosheth. He slandered me. But, look at
this, look at verse twenty-seven. Here's another faithful servant.
But my lord the king is as an angel of God. You do what's good
in your own eyes. You do what's right. I know you'll
do what's right. All of my father's house were
but dead men before my Lord the King, yet didst thou set thy
servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right
therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the King? I've got
so much mercy up to this point that I don't deserve any more.
And the king said unto him, Well, we just won't talk of this matter
any more. You and Ziba divide the land." Does this sound like
somebody familiar to you? David's son? Remember when he
was going to divide that baby? Where do you reckon Solomon got
some of his wisdom from his daddy? He said, Well, we'll just divide
this thing. I don't know who's right and who's wrong here. We'll
just divide between Ziba. We'll look at the answer of God's
true servant here. Mephibosheth said unto the king,
Let him have it all. For as much as my Lord has come
in peace unto his own house, you're the only one I want."
You reckon David knew who was right then? Let him have it all. Let them,
let the world have it all. Take the world, but give me Jesus. That's what the psalm says. Well,
you remember that story now after we get into this morning's message. You remember that well. what
happened that happened later on after the story i'm going
to relate to you okay let's sing number 497 turn with me to 2nd samuel chapter
9 2nd samuel chapter 9 if you've got a bible follow along
with me 2nd samuel chapter 9 Once again, I want to bring you
an Old Testament type of picture which clearly, so very clearly,
reveals the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
pictures the condition of a fallen man and his only hope of salvation. Now, this is probably my favorite. I said that last Sunday morning.
Right now, this is my favorite, this story of Omah Phibosheth.
If men and women would ever come to realize that the salvation
of their souls is completely in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he can do with them as he will, when he will, how
he will, then they quit all these religious games and come begging
for mercy, come sit quietly and listen, calling upon God to actually
save them. Now, look here with me in 2 Samuel,
look over chapter eight with me, first of all. David, the
king, replaced Saul, who was the usurper to the throne. You
may remember that the people had Samuel as their king, as
their prophet. He ruled them well, but the people
weren't satisfied with Samuel. They wanted a king like everybody
else has. So God gave them Saul, and Saul reigned and ruled cruelly
over them, like a tyrant. But he wasn't God's king. God
had him a king. God had him a king from the start.
King David. If the people had waited patiently
on the Lord, they'd have got King David when it was time.
You know, in a hurry. They wanted him a king. They
got one. But God was replacing Saul. He'd got rid of Saul. Killed
Saul. And King David, now, is coming
to the throne. And verse 13, to slay everybody that was against
his kingdom. And David got him a name when
he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of Saul. He got him a name which was above
every name, above every king on the earth at this time. David.
Everybody knew King David. Eighteen thousand men he slew,
and he put garrisons in Edom. throughout all Edom, put he garrisons.
And all they of Edom became David's servants. And the Lord preserved
David with us wherever he went. And David reigned," verse 15,
"...over all Israel. And David executed judgment and
justice unto all his people." David reigns. King David. Now, as we said in the notice
last week, a king back in these days was an absolute monarch. I mean, they had all authority
given unto them. If they did not like a man or
a woman or a young person, they could merely say, snuff him out. I don't like the way he looks,
kill him. That's how much power kings had
back in these days. And David was such a man. We
saw that back there, didn't we, in chapter 16. They said, kill
him, let's cut his head off. David is reigning. He's God's
king. Saul, the former king, is dead
now, the pretender. He's dead. But David is the king
now. Now look here. That's telling
you who David was. Now look in chapter 9 with me,
beginning with verse 1. So David's sitting on his throne,
and he's got peace. There's peace in his kingdom,
and he's sitting on his throne. He's gotten rid of all of his
enemies. all over, all the house of Saul.
Now, the disposed king, his family, they were always enemies of the
king. But David got rid of them all. Got rid of them all, all
his enemies. Now he's sitting on the throne, and one day, this
sovereign, powerful, the mightiest king upon the face of the earth,
with the mightiest kingdom, he said this. He just up and said
this one day, verse 1. And David said, Is there yet any left of the
house of Saul that I might show kindness for Jonathan's sake? The word there is mercy, kindness. Now, picture this now. Saul was
his enemy. And when a king came to his throne,
he wiped out all of his enemy, else they would rise up in rebellion
and try to get him off the throne. So they just wiped him out. And
King David's sitting on his throne one day, and he said, Is anybody left from Saul's family? Anybody? I think I'll show mercy. Now, Terry, he didn't have to,
did he? And why did he? He just decided
to do so, didn't he? He just up and one day said,
I'm going to show mercy. That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to show mercy. He remembered somebody that Jonathan will get
into that in a minute. He just up and decided to show
mercy. Nobody persuaded him. Nobody came in and said, You
really ought to show some mercy to to Saul's family. Don't you
remember? Nobody. There's no logic in it.
He could have. Nobody could do the king any
good. Good. He had everything sitting back
happily. Probably a table of banquet spread
before him and wives and and all of this and that and the
other, and he didn't need anybody or anything, did he? This is a picture of God Almighty.
God reigns. You're talking about an absolute
monarch. This is what this world is ignorant of, isn't it? This
is what the world and its preachers have lost, the kingship of God
Almighty, the absolute sovereign rule and control of God Almighty,
that God is God. Whom he will, how he will, when
he will, as he will, doesn't he? Cannot I do with my own as
I will, says the king? Yeah, he can. He's God. He's sitting on a throne. He's
not worried. He's not needing anybody. Nobody
persuades him to do anything. Uh-uh. Right? But God, who is rich in mercy,
one day said, now this was a long time ago before anybody ever
came around. I'm going to show mercy. I'm going to have mercy. They're going to rebel against
me, and there's a room full of them right now. Rebels. Shake
their feet. Some of them are still shaking
their feet. And he saw that. That it was
coming. They're going to rebel. They're going to spit. They're
going to kill your son. They're going to want to usurp your authority.
They're enemies of the king. The carnal mind and natural man
is enemy of the king. What do you need with anybody,
God? don't need a thing, but I'm going to show mercy. Why? He's a great God. He's a great
king. Why did David do it? He's a great
king. David's a kind, merciful, gracious king. Not persuaded,
and that's what God said in there in Exodus 33. He said to Moses,
he said, I will have mercy. I will. But it's on whom I will. I'll have it on whom I will whom
I will. Salvation is of the Lord. So
here's the story. The king sitting on his throne
decided to have mercy one day. Just up and decided to have mercy
one day. Now look down at verse three
with me. He said, I'm going to show kindness or mercy. Now he
had a servant. Verse two, it was the house of
the soul. It was of the house of Saul, a servant whose name
was Ziba. Remember that name? Ziba. Now, he was of the house of Saul,
too, it says here. I just noticed this this morning, Rick, when
I was reading this. Ziba was of the house of Saul, too. He
was supposed to be killed, too. And when they called him unto
David and they said, Are you Ziba? He said, Yeah, I'm your
servant. I'm Ziba. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
or mercy of God, just like God does unto him? Is there? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan. You remember that name. Jonathan
had the sun. But he is lame on his feet. John you have John there's a
there's a person left is a fellow down there. The son of Jonathan
I believe is who it was but. King, he's lame. He's a poor, miserable little
beggar and a cripple. He's lame on both his feet. Not
much. Let me show you. This man was
lame. This man was lame as a result
of a fall that he took a long time ago. Look back in chapter
9 with me. Well, not chapter 9. Chapter
4. Chapter 4 of 2 Samuel. Chapter 4. Now, when Saul's son
heard, verse 1, that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were
feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. Now, Saul was
getting a lot of trouble from here and there. God was taking
him off the throne. And everybody was running. Everybody that had
anything to do with Saul's family was running from David and his
men and the enemies of Saul and so forth. They were running from
them. And down to verse 4. Saul's son, this was a friend
of David, Saul's son, he had a son that was lame of his feet.
And this is what happened. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan. That is when they heard that
Saul and Jonathan had been killed and everybody in the house of
Saul was going to be killed too. Everybody in that family, Jonathan's
family, got up and took off running. And his nurse, this young man's
nurse, this boy's nurse, took him up, grabbed him up in her
arms. And fled. Maybe she put him on a horse
or a chariot or a wagon or whatever. I don't know. And it came to
pass that she was making haste to flee out of that place that
he fell. She dropped him off the wagon
or the horse or something. But he must have broke his back
or something. And he became lame. And his name
was Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. He became lame
through a fall. He fell, and he lost the use
of his legs. He couldn't go anywhere. He had
useless legs by a fall. Now, if you read the Bible at
all, you know that mankind had a fall, back with Adam. And Adam all sinned or fell from
grace, from God, fell by sin. And what he derived from that
fall was useless faculties. Useless, talent, everything about
him, the scripture says, is lame, useless, worthless. He's no good. It's an awful hard language.
Listen to the scriptures. Listen to all these scriptures.
The scripture says, they have eyes full of adultery. Man's
eyes are no good anymore. Full of adultery. They're darkened,
too, Stan. They're in darkness. Can't see
things like they should. His head is sick, the scripture
says. His heart is faint. The tongue, he says, utters deceit. The lips, the scripture says,
poison of asps, awful, just cursing in bitterness. Their throats,
the scripture says, are open sepulchers, nothing but filth
and dirt coming out. Their feet, the scripture says,
swift to mischief, swift to run into trouble. Their hands are
swift to shed blood, the scripture says. What can we get into today?
The will, the scripture says, is bound in iniquity. The imagination,
the Scripture says, is evil continually. The affections, the Scripture
says, are unnatural, don't love the right things, the right one.
Their thoughts are not God's thoughts. Their ways are not...
He's lame. Worse. Man's dead. Dead. Dead to God or anything
good. Dead in trespasses and sin. That's what the Scripture
says. That's us by nature. Right? Lame on both feet. Do you notice that? It says that
Mosebyshev was laying on both feet, not one. Not that he was
just dragging one. He could get along pretty good
on the other. No, both feet. He couldn't move. He couldn't
move. OK, now look back at verse 4
with me. Well, this servant said, Jonathan
has a son, but he's laying. He's no good. He's no use to
you. He's laying on both his feet. He can't move. Now, King
said unto him, Where is he? But, but, where is he? And Zabba said unto the king,
Wherefore, behold, he is in the house of Maker." You know what
that means? That means in ruins. He's the
son of Amel. You know what that means? It means the former son of God. And he lives in a place called
Lodimar. You know what that means? A place of no pasture, no bread.
King, now there's a lame fellow down here. But he lives and he's
in ruins. He used to be the son of the
king, Saul, but now he's in a place of no pasture. He's of no use
to anybody. He's lame. He's in ruins. Former son of
God, but now he's worthless. He's no good. He's in a place
of no pasture. And that's mankind. That's a
perfect picture. Man was once upright. Evolutionists say we
started out on all fours and are going upright. No, it's the
other way around. We started out upright and we've
ended up on all fours, haven't we? But man is in ruins now. This former son of God is in
ruins. Look around you. Look in yourself,
full of misery and wickedness and so forth. Former son of God,
and worse, the worst thing of all, is we dwell in a place of
no bread. We're without hope, without God,
without Christ, without strength, without a care for the things
of God. Forget God and the gospel. Man's in a place of no bread,
no pasture. Don't want God, don't want Christ.
Right? Without God, without hope, without
help. Well, not entirely. Look at the
story. Look at verse 5. So King David
said, Where is he? Who is this fellow? His name
looked up, he's lame on both his feet. He's living down there
in a house of no bread, no pasture. He's the former son of the king,
but he's worthless to nobody. David said, fetch him. Go get
him. Now wait a minute, can he? You
don't let... Get him! Fetch him! Now think about this. The foodie chef wasn't looking
for David, was he? If he could run, he'd run. He'd
have been out of there by now. But he failed. He probably stayed
right where they put him. lame on both legs. If he could run,
he was the enemy of the king. The king didn't need him. He
was the enemy of the king. He was scared. He was probably
hiding. And that's what Adam did, didn't he? In the garden.
Hiding. Sinners aren't seeking God. There's some people in here
right now that don't, they're not seeking God. Not seeking God. I care anything
about God. God who? Jesus Christ who? Who
cares? There's some people in there
here right now that have that very attitude in their mind and
their heart. But bless God, if he's seeking
you, he's going to have you. And you know what he's going
to have to do to get you? He's not going to ask you if you'll
accept Jesus. He'll come down and get you, fetch you. And after he fetches you, you're
going to be the most grateful person ever walked on the face
of the earth for fetching you, for fetching you. Mephibosheth
wasn't looking for David. He wasn't looking for David.
He was hiding from him. Besides, if he was, he couldn't come.
Like that man that said he had a rabbit dog with no legs. And
he had a rabbit dog with no legs. Are you listening to me? Maybe
this will get your attention. That man had a rabbit dog, had
no legs. And ridiculous. When the man
said, a friend of his said, well what did you name him? He said
I didn't name him anything. He said he wouldn't come if I
called him anyway. He wouldn't come if I called
him anyway, he had no legs. Well if a famous chef wouldn't
have come to David if he could, he had no legs. He was lame.
And man can't come to God. He has no legs, no will, no desire,
no faculties. Doesn't want God. He's on his
merry way, dead in trespassancy. And if he wanted to, which he
doesn't, he couldn't anyway. No man can come unto the Father,
but he'd be fetched. God come to him. Well, old David
sent for Mephibosheth. Now picture this. He sent down.
He said, go fetch him out of the house of Maker. Get him out
of ruins, this former son of Amiel. Get him from that place
of no pasture. Get him. Go get him. He's mine.
I've set my affection on him. David sent for Mephibosheth,
and I just imagine he sent two of his strongest, most trustworthy
and faithful servants. Sent two strong men. Get him.
What if he doesn't want to come? What if he puts up a fight? Get
him. So he sent two of his powerful,
strong men down there. You reckon there's any possibility
that Mephibosheth wasn't coming? No. So here these two strong
men came down there. And back then, when the king
sent somebody to go get somebody, they didn't go down there. Knock on your heart's door. We're
from the king. And we open the door. You ever
feel the shift? No, no. Where is he? He's back in the back. Came back
there, and there he was, paused, sprawled out in a blanket over
him, maybe. You ever feel the shift? Yeah. You coming with
us. You coming with us. Don't want
to. You coming. Pick that old boy up. How about
you, Terry? What'd God do for you when he
dealt with you? Come ask him. Terry, would you
like to accept Tell him I got you, didn't I? He didn't want
it. You weren't looking for him, were you? You were running the
other way as fast as you could. As fast as you could. That's
me. Dead to God. Alive under this world. Dead
in sin. Trespassing in sin. I blessed
God and he came to me. He said, you're coming. Don't
want to. Yeah, you are. Here I is. You're coming. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me," the Father said. Christ said,
all of them. Why? He sends two strong men.
He sends the Word. The Word won't return void. Sherry
Waterfield's men come back and said, King, we can't get him. Cut their heads off immediately,
wouldn't they? Well, I'll send somebody that
can. God sends his Word out. If he sends it and puts his Word
set on you, you're coming. I don't care what
you do. I don't care where you go. You are coming. Boy, that
gives me hope for my lost friends and loved ones, doesn't it? You're
coming. He sends his word. He sends his Holy Spirit. You
talk about powerful. It never fails. The Holy Spirit comes to get
his people whom God gives into his power, and he gets them.
He applies the word to their heart, breaks their old hard
hearts that don't give a care for God and suddenly make them
interested. Takes these old eyes that are dull and blind and just
grubbling along like pigs in the waller, you know, in sin,
and all of a sudden opens them to see God, see themselves. Look, where am I going? Look
at me, I'm filthy, dirty. Why? Wash me in the blood of
Christ. Save me from this untailored
generation that's headed toward hell at breakneck speed. Save
me! That's what the Holy Spirit does
when he sets his heart and his mind on somebody. And he gets
them. Yeah, he does. You're looking
at the toughest nut in the bunch. He gets them, Henry, he gets
them. He can even make a preacher out of them, of all things. Oh, let the Father fetch him.
Fetch him. I wouldn't have come. I wouldn't
have killed. I don't care what these hucksters say to this generation. You do not choose God Almighty. You better hope He chooses you.
It's not within your power. You can't put this thing off
when you're good and ready. No, it's in God's will and in
God's power. The only reason anybody is willing
is they're made willing in the day of God's power. That's what
the Word of God says. You better hope. You better be
crying out right now, Lord God, I hope I'm one of yours. I hope. Well, look at this. Let's hurry.
Look down at verse 6. I want him to fit in with Phibosheth,
the son of Jonathan. Son of Saul was coming to David. He fell on his face. He came
in there where that king was. He realized. He realized who
he was. He realized, hey, I'm an enemy.
I'm Saul. I'm the son of Saul. Everybody
else has been wiped out thus far. I'm the only one left. I'm the only one. Surely. He's going to kill me too, and
he has a right to. I'm an enemy of the king." So he heard of
David. Everybody heard about David. And has not this gospel
sounded all over the world? Yes. Paul said, barely. They've
all heard. Everybody's heard. Everybody knows. You know who
Jesus Christ is. Everybody knows who Jesus Christ is. At least
they know something about somebody named Jesus Christ, and something
about salvation, God, and so forth. Everybody's heard of David.
And Mephibosheth had heard about David. He's the king. Yeah, I
heard about him. But he was in his own little
world, see, until somebody came and got him and brought him up
there. And now he's sitting in front
of the king, standing in front of the king. He said, I heard
about you, but the half hadn't been told. I've heard about you,
but now I see you. You are king, aren't you? And
I see myself. I am lame, aren't I? And I'm
a dead dog if you don't do something for me. He fell on his face. And if you're going to be saved,
You're going to have to come down off your high horse. I'm
going to have to come off of my high horse and fall on our
faces before this holy God and beg Him. I don't care what we
think, what preachers say. This is what God says. Fall on
your face. Take your place on your face
before this holy God. And he fell on his face and he
did reverence and worship. What are we doing in here? Playing
religious games? No! We're here to worship this God
who fetched us. That's what this bunch of people
are. These are people who've been fetched, financially been
fetched. And we're here to worship Him
and thank Him for it. Thank you for fetching me out of the mire
and out of the mud. And look at what old David said.
Here he is now. Picture this. Picture this. He's standing before
this most powerful king on the face of the earth. He's his enemy.
And David said, I'd like to hear him say this. And
you know what, though? I have heard a voice similar
to this. Yeah, I have. I've heard a voice.
He speaks to him kindly. He should have said, that's me.
You die. No, that's not what he said.
Mephibosheth? And he answered, Yeah, here I
am, David, here I am. We're buddies, aren't we? You
used to like me. No. Behold, your servant, your slave. He spoke to him personally. Act
like you know him, Perry. Mephibosheth didn't know much
about him, about David. But David knew all about him,
didn't he? He took note of it. He had decided to have mercy
on this old boy. But he was scared nonetheless. And the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I don't care what you
know, who you know, what you've done, who you are, where you
are. If you don't fear God, you're a fool. A fool. If you're living your life without
God, you're a fool. You're hanging over hell on a
cobweb. My fiddle chef found out who
David was and who he was, and he said, oh, I'm your servant. Verse seven, look what David
says to him. Now here's the key, the whole
story. Look at verse seven. David said unto him, don't be
afraid. Don't be afraid. Now I bet you
if his knees could move, he was laying there, if they could move,
they'd be knocking. He probably was visibly shaking under that
blanket. My fiddle chef, he is. Don't be afraid. It's alright.
Fear not. I recall somebody else saying
that. The Lord Jesus Christ one time said, Fear not. Fear not,
little flock. You're shaking, aren't you? Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid the Father sent
me. Have mercy on you. Don't be afraid. And look, here's
the key. Verse 7. I'm going to show you kindness. But not for your sake, but Jonathan, thy father's sake. You remember that? You remember
that? I want you to turn over with me to 1 Samuel, chapter
20. 1 Samuel, chapter 20. Look at it with me. 1 Samuel, chapter 20. He said,
I'm going to show you kindness and friendship for Jonathan's
sake, your father. Not for your sake, Jonathan's
sake. Look over 1 Samuel chapter 20,
the beginning of verse 14. Now, Jonathan and David were
best friends. One place says that David loved
Jonathan more than his own soul. That's what it said there in
verse 17. He loved him as he loved his
own soul. They were fast, close, bosom
buddies, friends. He said they were both standing
out in the field. Now, David, King Saul, Jonathan's father,
was after David. He didn't like David. And Jonathan,
though, was trying to help David out. Look at verse 14. He says,
now, I'm going to help you out, but you're going to show kindness
to me if I do this. I want you to be kind to me in
my house. Not only while I yet live, show
me the kindness of the Lord that I die not, but also don't cut
off your kindness from my house forever. No, not when the Lord
hath cut off the enemies of David. When you come to your throne,
remember me, is what he's saying. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David saying, let the Lord even require it at the
hands of David's enemies. In other words, the enemies of
the Lord are going to fulfill David's covenant even. Verse 17, and
Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him. He
loved him as his own soul. Now, God Almighty made a covenant
with his son before the world began. The Scriptures is full
of this covenant between God the Father and God the Son. And
God the Father promised to give his Son a people, a people. God promised to show kindness
for these people that he'd given them in this covenant. And the
Son, what he was to do was to come down and to live for them
a perfect life, to establish a righteousness that God required
of men. and then go to the cross and
take on Him all of the sins, the rebellion, all the punishment
that those people deserve. Take it upon Himself and go to
the cross, and then God was going to kill Him in their place. And
those people bled. But God promised, I'll show mercy. I'll show mercy to everybody
that comes to Christ. Everybody that's in Christ, that
believes Christ, that trusts and looks to Christ, I'll show
mercy on them. Why? For Christ's sake. Why? Because I love my son, he said. Stan, he didn't save you for
your sake. No, he did not. You reaped the benefit, didn't
you? You got the privileges, the blessing. He saved you for
Christ's sake. Yeah, he did. It says that throughout
the Scripture. He saved them for his name's sake. He saved
them because of this agreement he made with his son. Remember,
he doesn't need us. We're lame. We're sinners. God doesn't need you. If he saves
you and saves me and anybody else, he'll do it for Christ's
sake. So what do we do? We come pleading
Christ. Christ. What do you think old
Jonathan thought here? What do you think old Mephibosheth
thought here? Oh, thank God for Jonathan. Didn't he? Thank God I'm a son of Jonathan.
And if you ever realize that salvation is only in Christ,
that you were damned and doomed, but God put you in Christ, you'll
thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ and for his gospel, for
his covenant. Christ was a lamb slain. He took
our punishment. Go on, let me hurry here, and
I'll quit. Look at this. Look down at verse
5. Verse seven, he said, I'm going to restore unto you. I'll
show you kindness and mercy, and I'm going to restore unto
you all the land of Saul, thy father. All of it. Everything your father had, I'm
going to give back to you. And the scriptures say, Terry,
that we recovered everything that we lost in the fall. Everything
that our father Adam lost. communion with God, the love
of God, the favor of God, the kindness of God, fellowship with
God, the things of God, spiritual life in Christ because of Christ. He's restored all of that. And he said, furthermore, verse
7, you're going to eat bread at my table from now on. From now on. And that's us, right
now, some of you eating at the king's table. Now, I recognize,
I realize the source here. I realize the earthen vessel.
But the food that's coming out of here is king's food! You're
kings and priests under God's description. We're eating the
food of angels. The scripture says, which things
the angels desire to look into. There's angels right now. You
may not give a flip for it, but the angels are saying, this is
a great story of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they're saying. While you hang your head and
say, oh, there he goes again. We're eating at the king's table
here. What do you think about it? I think it's mighty good. Mighty good. Old Phibishep did,
buddy. When he told him that, oh, look
at Verse 8. He bowed himself. He said, What
is thy servant? That thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog, dead skunk in the middle of the road. That was his opinion of himself.
What's your opinion of yourself? That's what he said. Oh, my. If you ever get a glance, oh,
my soul. Oh, my soul, that's what you'll
say to. That's what you'll say. He had great gratitude for great,
but that's not all. Look at verse nine with me and
I'll quit. Let's read down through here
and I'll quit. Then the king called Ziba, that old fella. And this serves this guy right.
Saul's servant. Now, remember, I told you both
these fellows from the house of Saul. Ziba was the house of Saul,
too. would he get? Now look, verse 9. The king called
Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy
master's son all that pertained to Saul and all his house. I
have given back to him everything that his father had. Thou therefore
and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him,
bring in the that thy master's son may have food to eat. But
Mephibosheth, thy master's son, he's going to eat bread always
at my table." Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants, thirty-five
people. We're going to wait on this one
fellow. Thirty-five people! You know, the whole world exists
for me, God's Son, and you people. A remnant throughout the whole
world exists. It's still standing. God's holding
this thing, keeping this thing from being burned up because
of God's people. They're waiting on God's people, serving God's
people. Thirty-five to one, that's the
ratio. Thirty-five to one. Then Ziba
said unto the king, verse eleven, You are. Whether you're a son
of him or a son of the devil, you are serving God Almighty.
You're doing exactly what he's got in mind. And God was said
unto the king, according to all that is to the Lord, My king
has commanded his servant, that's what I'll do, and they will.
As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he'll eat at my table as
one of the king's sons. Son of the king. Sonship. 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. That's the church, that's the
picture of the church. You dwell in the church, in Zion, the holy
city, if you're one of God's people, one to eat veg. And you
eat continually at the king's table. Good food. Good food. Royal fare. But look at this. But he was lame on both his feet. He was laying on both his feet.
He was the son of the king, yet he was still laying on both his
feet. You say, yeah, they know better
than I am. Those Christians that are believers,
they know better than I am. Right. But they're sons. They've been fetched. They don't
look any different. They're laying. They look pretty
much like you do. Yeah, I know that. But I tell
you what, the king doesn't see them. Their legs are under the
table. Their legs are under the table
right now. This may be the reason for pews instead of chairs. I
don't see any of your legs. You could be laying, you could
not, right now. Y'all look the same. Y'all on the same level
here, aren't you? Well, every one of God's people are in Christ. And our lower portion, our manhood,
is hidden with God in Christ. He doesn't see our sin, does
he Terry? He doesn't see it. We're at the table. We're in
Christ. Our legs are hidden. But we're still laying, aren't
we? We're still men, at best, worthless. Worthless. Thank God
we do. That's my story. In fact, I'm
no better than I was when I was 18 years old. When I was a wild
hellion. No better. Really. Outwardly I am. Outwardly more
moral and so forth. I look real square. But within,
I've still got all this corruption within me, but I'm fetched. I'm
sitting at the king. I'm in Christ. Why? For Christ's
sake, God fetched me and revealed the gospel to me, showed my eyes,
showed me who Christ was, gave me the faith to believe Him.
Now I'm sitting here eating and enjoying every minute of it.
And I hope he'll do the same for you someday. If he's got
his mind and eye on you, you're coming. And we're going to pray to that
end. We're going to pray to that end.
And God will fetch a few more from the feather shaft. Aren't
we people? Yeah, we are. I don't know who they are. I
have a pretty good idea about some folks. It's obvious the
way they live their lives and so forth, but I don't know. There
may be some real hypocrites in here that still need fetching.
There may be some people in here who have been going to church
a long time and still need fetching. Still need fetching. And I tell
you what, I want him to fetch me every day. I've been fetched
this morning. I realize that I need fetching
every day. Fetching from the world. And sat down and closed
in my right mind to listen to the gospel one more time. I guess
I've dashed my brains out in sin and this world. Well, stand with me now.