Second Samuel. Chapter eight. Second Samuel chapter eight. Now the usual way that. Most of us end our prayers. You may have heard me end that
prayer by saying, for Christ's sake, amen. For Christ's sake. And unfortunately,
we say that so much that I believe it loses its meaning by our redundancy
saying the same thing over and over again. And worse still is
the fact that many people today even use that phrase as a curse
word or a byword, don't they? You hear, oh, for Christ's sake. I want you to listen to these
scriptures. Scripture says, by Him, by Christ. were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created by Jesus
Christ and for Jesus Christ, and he is before all things,
and by Jesus Christ all things consist. Listen to this. Paul said God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you. Listen to John. John said, I
write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
you for Christ's sake. You see, the fact of the matter
is that all things are for Christ's sake. All things. The only reason
this world was created and still exists today is for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. You understand
this and you'll understand the mystery of the universe. You'll
understand all things if you understand it. So look back,
look with me at 2 Samuel chapter 8 and I want to show you by God's
grace and by his mercy, his help. I want to show you an Old Testament
story that illustrates how salvation is indeed for Christ's sake. Look at 2 Samuel, chapter 8,
verse 1. It says, After this it came to pass
that David smoked the Philistines and subdued them, and David took
Mithagama out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote
Moab and measured them with a line, cast them down to the ground
in the last part. And so the Moabites became David's
servants and brought gifts. Verse 3, David smote also Hadadizar,
the son of Reho, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border
at the river. And when his David took from
him, this fellow, a thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen,
twenty thousand footmen, and David huffed all the chariot
horses and reserved of them for a hundred chariots. And when
the Assyrians of Damascus came to help Hadesar, David slew the
Assyrians, twenty-two thousand of them, and David put garrisons
in Syria of Damascus. And the Syrians became servants
to David and brought gifts. And the Lord preserved David
wherever he went. Look down at verse 13. And David
got him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in
the Valley of Salt, being 18,000 men. And he put garrisons, strongholds
in Edom. Throughout all Edom put he garrisons,
and all they of Edom they became David's servants also. And the
Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And David reigned over
all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all
his people. What we have a picture of here
is an absolute monarch. We don't know anything about
this today, except maybe we just ousted a monarch of sorts in
this Noriega. A monarch back in these olden
days was someone who had absolute authority and power. In the old
days, kings had power to kill or keep alive at a word. They
just spoke the word and somebody was put to death or kept alive
or made rich. He could give to them the half
of his kingdom or made poor, have everything taken away from
them. And in our story here, David
is the king, the absolute monarch. David reigns. Now, if you're
familiar with the scriptures at all, you'll remember that
Saul, King Saul, was the king. Man's king. Men wanted a king
other than the prophet Samuel. So God said, OK, I'll give you
what you want. And he gave him a king who ruled
over them with an iron hand and mistreated them. But David, the
scripture says, God sought him a man, a king, after his own
heart. God had a king. His name was
David. And now the pretender is dead. The people's king is dead. David
reigns. God's king. He reigns. So up
one day, here King David, and they saw something of how many
people he ruled over and reigned over, and something of his power.
So David is sitting on his throne, ruling his kingdom. And look
at chapter 9 with me, 2 Samuel chapter 9. But King David, this
mighty and powerful, all-powerful monarch is seated on his throne. And he up in one day just decides, I think I'll have mercy. I think
I'll show some mercy. I think I'll show people what
I'm like, that I'm a merciful king. And David said in verse
1, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? Now, understand
that back in these days, when a king was disposed or overcome
by a stronger king, everybody in that king's family, including
the king, was killed, was put away. They were considered to
be enemies. He couldn't keep sons of the
former king around. They might create an insurrection
or rebellion against the new king, right? So everybody and
everything that had to do with the old king who was displaced
by the new king was killed, done away with. But here, that's something
different. We have a kind and merciful king.
And David says, is there anybody left of the house of Saul that
is the former king? Look at it, what he says, verse
one, that I might show him I'm going to show mercy to someone
of the house of Saul." Now, David wasn't persuaded to do this,
was he? It just appears that David, up
in one day, said, I think I'll have mercy on someone. He wasn't
persuaded to do so. No one talked him into it, and
there's no apparent logic to what he's about to do. to show
mercy to some enemy of his. There's no logic to that. It
doesn't make good sense, does it? Well, God Almighty is king. He's absolute ruler, absolute
monarch and controller over all the universe. And man, natural
man, is his enemy. Oh, yes. The scripture says the
carnal mind, the natural man, is enmity against God. You don't
believe so? Ask somebody what they think
of a sovereign God who chooses or rejects whom he will. Ask
them. They'll show you they don't like
that king, that they are enemies of that king. Right? Well, God
just up and one day said, I'm going to show mercy. I'm going
to show mercy. Is there any left of the house
of Adam? I'm going to show mercy, and
look at the key there in verse one. David said, I'm going to
show mercy for Jonathan's sake. Jonathan's sake. And we'll find
out who this Jonathan was in a minute. But God, in the same
way, nobody persuaded God. Who was his counselor and told
him what to do? Nobody persuaded God to do this,
and it didn't make good sense for him to show mercy to a people
that had rebelled against him, did it? Doesn't make sense. If
you know the kind, merciful God, it makes sense. You know his
character, you know how he is. But he just happened one day
to say, I'm going to show mercy to these rebellious people, these
enemies. I'm going to show mercy. God
said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, on whom I
will have mercy. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. From first to last, he plans
it, he executes it, and he carries it out. He sees it through. So
look at the story. Look down at verse 3. Well, David
called his servant Ziba to him. And in verse 3, David said to
his servant, excuse me, David said to his servant, Is there
not yet any of the house of Saul that I might show the mercy and
the kindness of God unto him? Is there any left? And Ziba said
unto the king, Jonathan has yet a son. The king's ears pricked
up then. You'll see why in a minute. He
said, Jonathan has a son, but he's lame on his feet. He's not
worth anything. He's lame. You don't need anything
with this fellow, King David. He's useless to you. He's lame
on both of his feet. Well, look at how this young
man became lame. Look back at chapter 4 with me.
Look at 2 Samuel, chapter 4. This young man became lame on
his feet through a fall. He fell and became lame on both
of his feet. Couldn't move, couldn't walk,
couldn't do anything. Look at chapter 4, verse 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had
a son. He was lame on his feet. Well,
it happened when he was five years of old that when tidings
came of Saul and Jonathan, that is, Saul, his grandfather, and
Jonathan, his father, were killed. And tidings came of their death
out of Jezreel. His nurse, his nanny, took him
up, picked him up when he was just a five-year-old boy, and
it came to pass that she was running out of there, making
haste to flee, that he fell. And he became lame. And his name
was Mephibosheth. Now, I don't know, she may have
tried to put him up on a horse or something, and he fell. At
any rate, this young boy fell, and it broke his legs or his
back or something, and he couldn't walk. He was lame on both of
his feet through a fall. The Scripture says that we've
all fallen in Adam. We fell in the beginning, in
the beginning. We fail. In Adam, all died. The scripture says in Romans
5 verse 12. In Adam, our legs, our faculties,
our talents became useless. We're lame. Isaiah said in chapter
1, he says the whole head is sick, the heart is faint. From
the sole of the feet to the top of the head, there's no soundness
in us. Through the fall, we have eyes, our faculties are useless.
Our eyes are full of adultery. Our head is sick with sin. Our
heart is faint, ready to quit. Our tongues utter deceit. There's
poison of aspen in our lips. Our throats are as open as sepulchers.
Our feet are swift to run mischief. Our hands are swift to shed blood.
Our will is bound by sin. Our imaginations are evil continually. Our affections are unnatural.
Our thoughts are not God's thoughts. Our ways are not God's ways.
We are dead in trespasses and sin. That's the natural man. That's what the scripture said.
Through the fall of Adam, we died. We became lame, useless. Useless. Lame on both of our
feet. Well, look at verse 4 with me. Well, the king said unto
Ziba, his servant, Where is he? Where is this fellow? And Ziba said unto the king,
verse 4, Chapter nine, back to chapter nine, I'm sorry. The
king said, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Maker. Now that means in ruins. That's what the word means. He's
in ruins. He's in the house of Maker. He's
the son of Amiel. Now that means children of God.
He used to be a fine man, fine. He used to be of a royal household,
but now He's in ruins, the son of Amul, and he's in a place
called Lodibar. That means a place of no bread. He's in ruins. He used to be
a man of royalty and a fine family, and now he dwells in a place
of no bread, no help, a barren land. We see the perfect picture
of man here. A man used to be of a royal family. He used to be the perfect son
of God. Adam was a perfect man, created
upright in the image of God himself, a perfect man. Now, where is
he now? He's in ruins, isn't he? And he dwells, where does
man dwell? Where do we dwell now? In Lodibar,
a place of no bread, no pasture, a wilderness is where we dwell,
isn't it? Without God, without hope, without
Christ, men are in this world. So, so, here's this picture here. Down in this little hole in the
wall, this little lame fellow, and here the great and mighty
King David reigns. And he says, look at verse five,
King David sent and fetched him. See, I'll tell you what, go get
him. Go get him. David sent and fetched
this fellow. Now, Old Mephibosheth, you've
got to understand that in the context here. Mephibosheth wasn't
looking for David. Oh, no. Oh, he wasn't looking
for David. He's David's enemy. He's of the
house of Saul. He's hiding. He's hiding away. He knows he's the king's enemy,
and he'll be put to death if he shows his face. He wasn't
seeking after David, and even so, men by nature aren't seeking
after God, are they? Nobody looking for the God of
the Bible, the Scriptures, the Holy God. The carnal mind, as
I said, is enmity against God. When God came looking for Adam,
Adam was doing what? Hiding. Hiding. He was afraid. He was afraid. Besides, Mephibosheth couldn't
have come to David if he wanted to. He couldn't. What if he did
want to come to David? He couldn't move. He was lame,
right? He couldn't take a step. David
couldn't send his men down there saying, I'm going to finish it.
David would like to see you. See you later. And go on back.
I can't get there. How am I going to get there?
I'm laying on both my feet. Somebody is going to have to
go get him. Going to have to pick him up
and take him all the way to see the king. He's laying. He can't
move. Can't move. And that's men. That's men. Christ
said, can come unto me, except the father which has sent me
fetching, fetching, because he's lame, he's dead, and trespasses
the sea, he can't move, can't take the first step toward God. So, David, this kind and merciful
king, he sent for Mephibosheth. And I'm just surmising here that
David sent some some strong men. David had a lot of people, servants
of his, powerful men, surrounded the throne of the king. And I'm
just surmising here that David got his best men to go get this
fellow. He looked over there and said,
whatever his name was, Joel, you go get him. And Isaiah, you
go get him. Now, Joseph, you go get him,
and so-and-so, you go get him. He sent his best men down there
to fetch this fellow, his best men. And even so, God the Father,
He sent strong men to come and fetch sinners. He sent, first
of all, the apple of His eye. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He sent Him down here to fetch
us. by saving grace, didn't he? To do for us what we could not
do, to establish righteousness, to shed his blood on behalf of
the broken law, on behalf of us for the broken law, and to
present us holy and unblameable and unreprovable before the Father. And he said his word. He sent
his prophets, didn't he? He sent Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Go get him. Go get him. It's in his word to fetch his
people, to convict of sin, to convince of our need of Christ,
and to point men to Christ. And then he set the Holy Spirit
down, didn't he? He set the Holy Spirit down to womb them, to
convince them, to convict them, to draw them to Christ by faith. Now, do you reckon that there's
any possibility that old Mephibosheth wasn't coming? Now, listen. David's king, I mean absolute
sovereign king, and he says to his most powerful men, there's
a lame fellow down there named Mephibosheth in the house of
Maker in a place called Lodabar. Y'all go get him. I want him. You reckon he was coming? You
better believe it. There's no possible way that
Mephibosheth wasn't going to show up. They went down there.
These men went down to that picture, this scene now. They went down
to the house. Back in then, they didn't knock
on the door. They just opened the door up. In the rule of a
king, his messengers opened up. Thus said the king, Fibbership,
you're coming with us. They didn't say, no, Fibbership. Now, would you like to accept
King David as your personal king? Would you if you make a decision
for King David, he'll have mercy on you. That's not what they
did. They went in there, opened that
door. Mephibosheth? You Mephibosheth? That's me. You're coming with us. You're
coming with us. Now, he was probably scared to
death. And well, the powerful call of God's word, even so. When God's word comes into power
and when God sets his affection before the foundation of the
world on an old sinner, an old lame sinner like Henry Soar or
Joe Parks, whoever, you're coming. You're coming. It ain't no possibility
he doesn't ask for your permission, doesn't ask for your acceptance.
Uh-uh. You must be accepted in the beloved.
And he sends his word, and he got you, didn't he? He stopped
your wild career. We call it the irresistible grace
of God. You know, they came down there
and they said, Bishop, you're coming with us. And what did
he say? I guess I'm going with you. He
didn't say, I don't want to go. I'm coming. I'm coming. And that's what we say when God
sends his word with power and convicts a sinner, you need Christ. I do, don't I? And you're coming
to Christ. Believe a will. Believe a will. Well, here he is. They bring
him down to the throne. He brings this old Mephibosheth
down. Look at verse 6 with me. Now, when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell
on his face. He fell on his face and did reverence. He did reverence. Now, old Mephibosheth
heard of David. This thing wasn't done in a corner.
When the king took over, everybody knew about it. This thing wasn't
done in a corner like Paul said it, this thing, Christ coming
and dying and rising again. It wasn't done in a corner. And
Phibosheth, he'd heard of David, and these soldiers came down
to get him, and now they bring him in here before this king,
this mighty monarch. And he'd heard of David before.
He knew him. Perhaps he'd never seen him.
Now he sees him. comes in before this mighty monarch,
who he'd heard of before, but now he's forcefully brought in
and made to behold this king. And he sees him, and what does
he do? What is his first reaction? Fell on his face before this
king. Why? He knew who he was. I'm Saul's grandson. I'm the enemy of the king. I'm
the enemy of the king. I'm worthy of death. Everybody
else has been killed but me. I deserve it, too. I'm an enemy."
And he fell on his face in reverence of the king. And what did Job
say? Job said, I've heard of you before
with these ears. And perhaps some of you have
said the same thing at one time. You heard about God. But finally,
in God's power, In his mercy and grace, he brought in, and
you see him as he is. Now my eyes seeeth thee, Job
said, and what did he do? He said, I hate myself. Peter saw it, didn't he? When
he saw that majesty of God, when he saw Christ still the water,
he realized whose presence he was in, and he said, depart from
me, Lord, I'm a sinner. Oh, he realized he was in the
presence of holiness and all power. Depart from me, Lord,
I'm a sinful man. And all saints, after they've
heard of God, heard of Christ, they've been fetched by His grace,
and they see the King, realizing who they are, sons of Adam, enemies
of God, worthy of death, worthy of hell, that the wages of sin
which they've earned is death, and they deserve to die. And
every one of them, without exception, when they see Him as He is in
the Word, Bow down before Him. Reverence Him. Worship Him. We
are the true circumcision, Paul said. We worship God. How? On our faces. Not standing up. You know, there were two men,
Christ said, came into the temple one day. One of them ran right
up front and said, I thank Thee, O Father, that I'm not like other
men. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and so forth. And
God said, Rejected. Rejected. And another man sat
in the back, wouldn't even look up, beating on his breast. Oh,
God have mercy to me, a sinner. God said, Accepted! Accepted. Do you see? And the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Why, you know, people may, why
are you always harping on the sovereignty of God and election
and all these things? Why are all the newspaper articles
about the same old thing? Because we're trying to show
this generation of blasphemers that God reigns, and we're to
bow before him as sinners. That's the only hope of salvation.
Right? The fear of the Lord is a beginning
of wisdom. Moses, Abraham, Job, David, Paul,
Peter, keep naming them, they feared God more than anything
else. Feared him. Scripture says a
wise man feareth him. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord. We're to take our place on our
face as sinners. I reject this modern-day gospel
and so forth as asking men to accept Jesus. I reject it as
blasphemy and heresy. And we tell, we proclaim to this
generation to bow down before a sovereign. Well, here's the
picture. Here's the picture. These soldiers
come in and get this little, this little lame fella. Dirty,
little lame fella. Probably couldn't work. He probably
very poor. Well, it says he was a house
of no bread. Probably laying on a little blanket over in the
corner in some little hole in the wall. And these mighty fellas
come in and open the door and pick him up. You Mephiboship?
Yeah, you're coming with us. And they get this little fellow,
and they put him on a chariot with his little blanket, and
take him down to the king's palace. And here they bring him in, walk
through those giant wooden doors, and then they walk down this
corridor, and then they walk in and open the door to the king's
court, carrying this little fellow on their arm. And he looks around them. This
dirty little lame, poor little fellow. Enemy of the king now.
And they bring him in. Down this hall to sit and there
he sits. The king! The king! And he looks around and the king
and lying down these walls are the king's mighty soldiers and
mighty men. And this little fellow thinks,
it's hopeless. I'm done. It's hopeless. He's going to bring men here
to make a mockery of me. Sure. Oh, what's the king going
to say? What's the king going to do?
Look at verse six with me again. Now, when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came into David, came into that
powerful palace, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, And I just know, I know David,
I know God, I know how he spoke to him. He didn't say, you Mephibosheth,
just like our Lord when he was here. You see, David spoke personally
to him. He was kind. He was a man after
God's own heart, David was. David said, you Mephibosheth. And my fellowship thought, he
acts like he knows me. He called me by name. You know,
kings back then, they didn't usually deal with some little
peasant like that. What did the king want to deal with a peasant
for? He got better things to do. He'd just send somebody down,
wipe him out. But he brings him in personally and sits him in
front of him and says, you can fellowship? He spoke kindly to
him. Acts like he knows him. And Jesus
Christ does the same thing. He calls his sheep by name. You
ever heard that voice? Some people in his day did. Zacchaeus,
you can come on down now. Mary, Mary. You ever heard that
voice? Philip, Philip. Henry. And he answered, I'm your servant. What did Paul say on that road
to Damascus? Who are you, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus. What are
you going to have me do? Anything. I'm your servant. I'm your servant. Behold, I serve. And David said unto him, verse
seven, fear not. Now he knew this little fellow,
he was probably literally trembling, just literally shaking in his
boots in the presence of this mighty king, you know. And David
said, he said, don't be afraid. He may have gone down and put
his arm around him, don't be afraid. Fear not. That reminds
me of when Christ said to that little band of disciples, he
said, fear not little flock, it's your father's good pleasure.
to give unto you the kingdom. He speaks peace. He spoke peace
to Mephibosheth's heart, calmed his fears. And if he's spoken
to you, he did the same thing. Spoke peace to your heart. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. The Lord pities them that fear
him. Like a kind and merciful and
gracious Heavenly Father, he pities them that fear him. Pities
them that fear him now. A man comes strutting up, calling
Jesus his personal Savior and his friend, his good buddy. He
accepted him, the wrath of God abides on that fellow. When a
man comes in on his face, bowing down before the sovereign king,
that king will pity him and show mercy to him. Yeah, he will.
So look at this. Here's the key to the whole story.
Verse 7. David said, Don't be afraid.
Why? I should be. I'm your enemy.
I ought to be afraid that you'd kill that guy. Now wait a minute.
Wait. Hold on. Don't be afraid. You see, I'm going to show you
mercy. I'm going to show you mercy for
Jonathan, thy father's sake. And old Mephibosheth heard this,
Jonathan? That's my dad. You know my dad? Oh, yeah. We
go way back. Me and Jonathan go way back.
Look back with me at 1 Samuel chapter 20. Here's the key to
the whole story if you're interested. 1 Samuel chapter 20. Here's the
key to the whole story. David said, Mephibosheth, Don't
be afraid. He said, I'm going to show you
mercy, the mercy of God himself. For your daddy's sake, Jonathan's
sake. You see, I know Jonathan real
well. I know him real well. Look back at, look at verse 14.
Verse 14 of 1 Samuel 20. David and Jonathan are standing
out in the field. Now, you remember that Saul pursued
after David. He wanted him dead. Because he
knew that David was the rightful king, that God had ordained David
to reign. And Jonathan loved David. Scripture
says he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan and David
were standing out here talking, and there's verse fourteen. And
Jonathan said, now something may happen to me. He saw something
was going to happen to him. He said, now you'll not, I want
you to show kindness. Now remember, Jonathan, made
a way for David to escape, to get out. Right out from under
Saul's nose. And Jonathan said, now for goodness
to you, you don't show kindness to me yet while I live. But also,
verse 15, thou shalt not cut off your kindness from my house
forever. No, not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth.
Jonathan knew that David was going to be king some day. And
Jonathan made a covenant, look at verse 16, there's the key.
Jonathan made a covenant agreement with the house of David saying,
let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved
him. He loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan made a covenant with David. David loved Jonathan as
his own soul and Mephibosheth his son. was shown mercy because
of Jonathan, because of this agreement. No other reason, no
other reason was Mephibosheth spared except for that covenant,
that agreement with Jonathan. David killed everybody else.
You'll see it later on that David had all the sons of Saul killed,
but Jonathan. All of them, but Jonathan. But
David showed mercy for Jonathan's sake. Remember now, this little
fella's lame. He can't add anything to David.
David doesn't need this little fella. He can't help him out
in any way. He didn't need him. He was a
cripple. He was a beggar. But he showed kindness for Jonathan's
sake. He loved Jonathan with all his
heart. And he said, because of the love of Jonathan, I will
set my love on you. And this is the covenant of God
the Father with his son. God the Father with his Son,
with his Holy Spirit. God loves people. The love of
God is where? We read it in Ephesians 1, in
Christ, according to the covenant that God made with the Son before
the foundation of the world. The Father said, I'm going to
set my affection on some people. And he made a covenant with Christ,
and Christ said, OK, who are they? I'll go fetch them. And
the Holy Spirit said the same thing. Yes, I'll get in on this.
And the Father sent Christ down here to live for those people
and establish a perfect life as a man for some people, and
to die for some people. Sin had to be punished, so he
had to die. The wages of sin is death. He had to die. Now,
when old Jonathan was making this covenant with David, where
was Mephibosheth? He wasn't born yet, was he? He was in Jonathan. He was in
his lawn. He wasn't born yet, but he was
as good as born, because the covenant said at my house, everybody
comes after me, in me, going to be saved. And as far as we
know, this is the only son of Jonathan, and the rest of the
sons of Saul were killed, but this son of Jonathan was saved. Where was I when this covenant
was made, God the Father and God the Son? I wasn't born yet,
but I was in Christ. I was in the mind of the Father
then. And when Christ came down and lived a perfect life, where
was I? In Christ. When Christ was hanging on that
cross, being punished for sin, where was I? In Christ, being
punished for those sins. And when Christ went back to
the right hand of the Father and sat down, accepted of the
Father, where am I? In Christ, at the right hand
of God. But I wasn't born yet. It's all
right. God made a covenant. It's as sure as done and good
as done in Christ. God doesn't need me. Why'd he
do it then? Why does he save me? I've just rebelled against
him from day one. Ever since I was born, I was
kicking and screaming and crying against God and rebelling and
murmuring and complaining against his good providence. Why does
God need me, doesn't he? Why is he doing it for Christ's
sake? He loves Christ. Doesn't owe us anything but judgment
and hell. But he owes Christ because Christ
came down here and did it all. And he stays his wrath, for Christ's
sake. But that's not all. Look at this.
He told old Mephibosheth, said, I want to show kindness unto
you. Look at verse 7. For your daddy's
sake. I love you, daddy. I love Jonathan. Oh, how I love Jonathan. He's
the apple of my eye. I love him more than that love
that I have for Jonathan past is the love of a woman. I love
Jonathan. God says, I love my son. This
is my beloved son. I'm well pleased that I love
him so much. And in Christ, Henry, he'll love
us. He'll love us. And he said, I'm
going to show you kindness for Jonathan's sake, because I love
Jonathan. And not only that, verse 7. I'm going to restore
unto thee all the land that saw your father, your grandfather.
I'm going to restore everything that you lost. Everything. All right, listen to this now. He deserved condemnation and
death, and he got mercy. His life was spared. That would
have been good enough, wouldn't it? If King just said, I'm not going
to kill you, get out of my presence. Get on back home. I'm not going
to kid you, he deserved it. He's going back home now. It
would have been good enough, wasn't it? Mercy. He didn't deserve
that. But the king said, don't be afraid. He spoke kindly to him. That
would have been enough just to be kind to him and merciful to
him. But here he says, I'm going to give you everything that Saul had. You've got to picture this
situation now. This little beggar comes in before
this king expecting death and judgment. He just falls on his
face and the king says, Lefebvre, don't be afraid. What? Don't
be afraid. What? I'm going to give you everything
back your granddaddy had. I'm going to restore everything.
I'm going to make you rich. What? What? Can you picture this? And that's
what you'll do if you'll receive the mercy and the grace of God,
won't you? This thing will go a lot farther
from here than here, than I had knowledge. It'll go down to here.
It'll touch you. What? Me? And look at his, that's his
reaction there. Verse 8. He bowed himself and
said, what is that? That you should show such kindness
to a dead dog. I don't hear this reaction anywhere
today. Do you? Do you hear this reaction when
people are so-called getting saved, going down to the front?
I'm a dead dog! What does God want to have mercy
with a dead dog like me for? I don't hear that. Well, you'll
hear every one of God's people say it. True salvation puts a
man on his face. I'm a dead dog. What do you want
with me? What do you need with me? That's
what David said, but what is man that thou art but a God is
mindful on this world? Well, he showed great humility
and great gratitude for this grace. Christ said to whom much
is forgiven, he'll love much. Now, you reckon Mephibosheth
needed any reason from this day forward to serve David? He reckoned
somebody had to put some rules on his wall. Now, this is what
David says you're supposed to do. You're supposed to love him
with all your heart and all your soul, and not have any other
kings before David. Oh, no. David had endeared himself
to this man for the rest of his life. I'm your servant. Oh, yes. And not only this. Look at this.
Verse 9. Then the king called Ziba his
servant. It's all servants. Sit under him. Mephibosheth, all that pertains
to Saul and all his house. Thou therefore, you and your
sons and your servants, everybody here is going to wait hand and
foot on this old boy." The king was putting everything to use
for Mephibosheth. He employed everybody for the
blessings and the sake of that boy. All of them, you're going
to wait, you're going to bring in the fruits for him, your master's
son, they might have food to eat, Mephibosheth, he's going
to eat bread, always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. And Ziba said unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king has commanded his servants,
so shall I servant do. And the scripture said he's put
his angels charge over this. And he said the whole universe. is employed for the sake of his
people? For Christ's sake, yes. But then, in Christ, everything
is serving God's people. There's a remnant. If there had
not been a remnant according to the election of grace, we'd
be like Solomon of Gomorrah. God wiped this thing out a long
time ago. But according to that covenant with Christ, there's
a remnant that everything is serving. He gives his angels
charge over you, his servants charge over you. And as for Meshach
Pedershev, verse Said the king, he's going to
eat at my table as one of the king's sons. Oh boy. Not only was life given
to him, mercy shown to him, peace spoken to him, an inheritance
given, he was made a member of the family. An enemy. A member of the family. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God." Enemies! Sons of God? Enemies! Old Mephibosheth, we can't even,
yeah we can, we can enter into this, can't we? He thought, this is too good to be true.
And all, and you're giving me everything back I once had, that
my granddaddy had. He was a rich man. All of that,
and you're making me like that, your son." What do you reckon he said? I think
there wasn't much else. There wasn't anything he could
say. Praise, all praise, and honor
and glory be unto David. Take a look at verse 13 real
quick. Well, so Mephibosheth dwelt in
Jerusalem, and he did eat continually at the king's table. But he was
lame on his feet. He was still lame. He was still
lame. But you know what, though? Here's this big round table,
the king's table. And he seats everybody at the table for dinner
or lunch or whatever. And when everybody's seated at
that table, they've got their feet under the table. You can't
see it. They all look just alike. They
all look like king's sons, you see. And the scripture says your
life is hid with God in Christ. You've got your feet under the
table. God can't see your sins. He can't see your rebellion.
They're under the table, they're under the blood, is where they
are. We're still lame, we're still sinners, aren't we? But
our head, our sin is hid from God, from his eye. Oh, Mephibosheth
was safe. Over in chapter 21, like I said,
the rest of Saul's sons were killed, but Mephibosheth was
saved, he was spared. David agreed to let the rest
of them die, but he said, you don't touch Mephibosheth, you
don't touch him. He's mine. I said, my love. And we're eternally secure with
God in Christ. Christ said, I give unto them
eternal life and they'll never perish. And, you know, every
time, every time old David came to dinner, came to eat, he sat
down at that table and he looked up and he saw Mephibosheth. You know who he thought of? He was his son. He bound a boy
who resembled to him, didn't he? And he looked at him with
affection. And his love grew for him. And
his love, he loved him just like he did Jonathan. There's my boy. There's my loved one. My beloved. You see, I don't know if you
saw it or not, but God's love is for Christ's sake. God spares
this world for Christ's sake. And the only reason God Almighty
will spare you is for Christ's sake. I'm telling you the truth. Your soul is at stake. You've
got to come to Christ. You've got to know Him. You've
got to know Him. Stand with me and let's sing
that little chorus. you