Well, let's go to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. In the last
part of chapter 11, we have an account of the consequences of
the miracle of the raising of Lazarus. I was rereading this
Yesterday was my, well, shall we call it my least favorite
day of the month when I have to have my infusion. And so I
have several hours to spend. And yesterday, it was actually
not too bad yesterday, and I'm thankful for that. I had an opportunity
to do some studying and I was left alone, of course, in the
room, aside from a nurse ducking in every once in a while to make
sure I was still breathing. But I had my laptop and I was
able to get some work done. And actually, I think God gave
me a message yesterday for you as I sat there for a few hours.
just studying the Scriptures, and I hope that this will bless
you as it blessed me as I studied this. As we look back in chapter
11, we find as a result of the resurrection of Lazarus, there
were two results. One of the results, at least
two results that I want to mention tonight, One of them is in verse
45, and I'll just go back and read 11-45. Then many of the
Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did,
believed on him. The evidence before them that
Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God, and that
he had unusual supernatural power, was right before them. It was
unmistakable and undeniable. Lazarus had been dead four days
as we have been studying and the Lord Jesus raised him from
the dead and many believed on him. Now it wasn't the fact that
they just saw the miracle that led them to believe because neither
being a witness to a miracle will lead to faith, nor will
even the Lord sending some kind of hardship to you lead to faith. This coming Lord's Day, we're
going to be back in Revelation chapter 16, and we'll find that
though God sends these awful judgments to people, we'll read
that yet they repented not. And so we've got to remember
this, neither faith nor repentance, though they're necessary. Oh,
they're vital. But neither one of them are initiated
by us, and they don't happen because we witness something
either good or bad, or due to us having something good or bad
happen to us. That doesn't result in faith
and repentance. That's the gift of God. That's
the grace of God. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. It's what the Scripture says.
And faith is a gift of God. Ephesians 2 says that. But, the Lord does use these
things to fulfill His purpose. And it was the purpose of God
that in people witnessing the resurrection of Lazarus, it was
the will of God that that would be used to get their attention
because the Lord has got to get our attention, doesn't He? That's
for certain. I mean, we're on our way to a
godless eternity. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. And unless the Lord does something
for us, unless He interrupts our pathway, unless He just gets
right in front of us, we'll just keep on on the broad road that
leads to destruction, and that's what will happen to us. We'll
be destroyed. So the Lord's got to do something
to get our attention. And he has a multitude of ways
of getting our attention, doesn't he? And in this situation, with
these many, in verse 45, many believed on him, that which he
used was the Lord Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And the
Spirit of God used this to kind of get the interest of these
folks, and the Spirit of God did a wonderful work within them
to enable them, to bring them to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because it does say they believed
on Him, and to believe on the Son of God. Now, it's the most
reasonable thing in the world to believe on Christ, isn't it?
It's the most reasonable thing in the world, and yet we won't
do that if left to ourselves. The Lord Jesus said in John chapter
five and verse 40, and ye will not come to me that you might
have life. And he's saying, I have life,
I am life. I am life. I am eternal life. I have spiritual life. I have
everlasting life. And here I am. I am life. I am the way. I am the truth.
I am the life. But you won't come to me. And
that's the way we are. That's another evidence of our
depravity. Thank God He overcomes our unwillingness
and He makes us willing. Psalm 110 and verse 3. He makes
us willing in the day of His power. And here many believe
on Him. Many believe on Him. The Spirit
of God revealed the wonders of Christ Jesus to them. Their eyes
were open to Him. Their ears were open to Him.
And something else was open, their heart. Their hearts were
open to Him. Like the Lord opened the heart
of Lydia in the book of Acts chapter 16. Here the Apostle
Paul and Silas, they passed by and here were some women having
a worship service, having some kind of prayer meeting. The apostle
begins to preach the Word of God. And then it says, of lady
whose heart the Lord opened. The Lord opened her heart. This
is what we need. This is what we need. We need
an operation of the heart. We need the Lord to do something
within us. And He did for these people.
And they believed on the Lord Jesus. And so the miracle of
the raising of Lazarus was a savor of life and the life for some. But others who witnessed the
exact same manifestation of the power of Jesus of Nazareth, others
who observed the exact same circumstances, who stood and watched the same
miracle, They left this group. After all, here's a group of
people rejoicing in Christ Jesus. They're magnifying the Lord.
They're blessing His name. And here's a group of people
who are unbelievers, and they can't be comfortable in that
atmosphere. Oh, it isn't that they're irreligious, but they're unbelievers. They
don't see the glories of Christ. They don't see the beauties of
the Son of God. They don't see that He is the
promised Messiah. They don't see that the things
that He does, He does by the power of God. And that He is
Himself, God, manifest in the flesh. And here's all these many
people rejoicing in Christ Jesus. And these other people who are
unbelievers, they said, we can't stay in this atmosphere. We can't
stay with this group. We're not comfortable. And so
verse 46, some of them went their ways to the Pharisees. And they
told them the things that Jesus had done. You see, This miracle of the
raising of Lazarus, while to some it was a savor of life and
life, for others it was a savor of death unto death. Exact same
circumstances, same event, the same one raised Lazarus from
the dead, different results. If God leaves us to ourselves, we'll do like this group in verse
46. That's what we'll do. So my advice to you tonight,
to all of you, to you who are watching, ask God, oh God, please,
would you not leave me to myself? Don't leave me to my ways, don't
leave me to my thoughts, Don't leave me to my designs, my own
will. Don't do that, Lord. Because
if you do, I will most surely perish. I need you to do something
for me. That's what we need. It isn't,
I need to do something for God. God needs to do something for
me. That's what's got to happen. And so these people, They run
off to the Pharisees. And then we're told, and I'm
not gonna review all of this, but in verse 53, here's what
the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, this is what they did. Then from
that day forth, they took, all of them, the Sanhedrin, they
took counsel together for to put him to death. And then down
in verse 57, now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had
given a commandment that if any man knew where he were, he might
show it, or he should show it, that they might take him. Here's one group that honored
the Lord Jesus. And here's another group who
wouldn't honor Him. Let me say this to you, would
you honor the Lord tonight. I want to honor Him. You want
to honor Him? Believe Him. That's right. Believe Him. We're not talking
about a great work. We're not talking about, well,
leave here and go out here and do magnificent things. Believe
Him. That is a magnificent thing.
That's a wonderful thing. And let me tell you how vital
this is. Without faith, you can't please
God. And here's what we have in these
two groups. You've got one group who honored
Christ. They believed Him. And here's another group that
dishonored Christ. They didn't believe Him. They
didn't believe Him. You see, unbelief always dishonors
the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of worshiping the Son
of God, instead of casting their poor souls on Him, they dishonored
Him by their unbelief. And here's this group, they had
their intentions to put Him to death. What a sad commentary. on the attitude of man and the
behavior of man, rather than worship the giver of life, they
meet to destroy him. So, here's the way chapter 11
ends. It ends with a great many people
doing dishonor to the Lord Jesus Christ. But, get to chapter 12, we're
presented with a somewhat different picture. The Holy Spirit would
have us to know that though many dishonored the Son of God, the
Father makes certain that we understand many did honor Christ
Jesus. They worshiped Him. They magnified
His name and they praised Him. And as I read through yesterday
again, and we've all read John 12 many times, I'm sure, but
as I read through this chapter again yesterday, I found at least
eight ways in which the Lord Jesus was honored. Now, before I get to those, I
want you to keep with a couple of passages in mind. The first is found back in John
5. If you would go back to John
5. And I want you to keep in mind the context. John 5. And we, of course, already
studied this. In John 5, the Lord Jesus healed
a man who had been lame for 38 years. He healed him on the Sabbath. And the Savior said to him, he
said, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And the man rolled up his
mat, put it under his arm, started walking away. And the Jews came
up to him and said, hey, you can't carry your bed. It's the
Sabbath. Who do you think you are carrying
your bed on the Sabbath? Anybody knows that's wrong. Well, he said, well, I tell you,
a man healed me. He told me to rise and take up
your bed and walk, and that's what I did. They said, well,
who did it? He said, I don't know. I don't
know. Then the Lord Jesus found him.
Found him in the temple. He finds his lost sheep now.
He finds his lost sheep all over the place. And this man, you
know where he finds them? He finds them in the temple.
That's where he found his lost sheep. He found them and he revealed
himself to them. And the man went out and they
said, well, who healed you? Who told you to roll up your
bed and walk on the Sabbath day? He said, Jesus did. Jesus did. And so then they confront the
Son of God. And he said, verse 17, but Jesus
answered them, my father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore,
the Jews sought the more to kill him because he had not only broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, that means truly, truly, amen, amen. He says, the son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the father do, for whatsoever
things, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the
son likewise. In other words, what he's saying
is, I don't do anything independent of the father. I work with the
father. I do things consistent with His
will. He says, for the Father loveth
the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth. And
He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment under the Son. That all men,"
this is what I'm getting to, that all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son,
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. You see, it was
ordained in old eternity. Before God ever made anything,
the Father ordained, and the Son, and the Spirit. They all
ordained that everybody honor the Son of God. Because in Him
would dwell all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. For God is Spirit. God has no physical being to
Him. But God joined Himself to a physical
being, man. He's the Son of Man. He's the
Lord of Glory. And the Father and the Son and
the Spirit have ordained this, all men honor the Son as they
honor the Father. And you know what? All men will. All men will honor Him. They
will honor Him in believing Him and bowing to His Lordship and
resting in Him for all of their righteousness and all of their
salvation, or they will honor Him at the judgment when He forces
them to bend the knee and to acknowledge He is the Lord to
the glory of God the Father. And then He casts them into hell.
but everybody's gonna honor the Son. Oh God, help me to honor
Him right now. Right now. That is salvation. To honor Him right now. And here's the second passage
I want you to look at. It's in 1 Samuel chapter two. The book of 1 Samuel chapter
two. Look at verse 22. And I want
to keep this in the context, and so I'll read several verses
here. Verse 22, 1 Samuel 2, 22. Now
Eli was old, very old, and he heard all that his sons did unto
all Israel, how they lay with the women that assembled at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. He said unto his
sons, why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings
by all this people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good
report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to
transgress. If one man sin against another,
the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the
Lord, who shall entreat for him? That's a good question. You ought
to underline that. If a man sins against the Lord,
and we all have, who's going to entreat for us? Who's going
to speak to God for us? Who can go into the presence
of the Holy One, the everlasting God, and speak to Him on our
behalf? Who shall entreat for us? The Son of God. The Son of God. There's one God and one Mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Read on. Notwithstanding,
these boys they hearkened not unto the voice of their father,
because the Lord would slay them. God had purposed to kill them. They were cursed. That's right. They were given over to judicial
blindness. And even though Eli rebuked them,
They couldn't hear what he said. No, they couldn't. Because God
so dealt with them in a judicial, judging way, their doom was sealed. Verse 26, the child Samuel grew
on. And he was in favor both with
the Lord and also with men. And there came a man of God,
a preacher, an Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they
were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him out of all
the tribes of Israel to be my priest on that errand, to offer
upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And
did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings
made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore, kick ye
at my sacrifice and mine offerings. Why do ye treat the things of
God with contempt, which I have commanded in my habitation? and
honors thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the cheapest
of all the offerings of Israel my people." An offering that
was to be offered to God, a meat offering, the offering of an
animal to God, instead of burning it and consuming it, they cooked
it and ate it. It belonged to God. And Eli,
he didn't even rebuke them, but he sat in on the meal. That's
what happened. He ate the roasted lamb Himself. It belonged to God. And this
is what the Lord is confronting Eli about. Verse 30, wherefore
the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house
and the house of thy father should walk before me forever, but now
the Lord saith, be it far from me, for them that honor me I
will honor. Underline that if you haven't
already. Them that honor me I will honor,
and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. They'll
be dealt with accordingly. That's what he's saying. Back there in John 11, you got
a group of people who would not honor Christ Jesus. They wouldn't
honor Christ Jesus. And God says, if they don't honor
Me, they don't honor the Son. And if you don't honor the Son,
you despise Him. See, there is no middle ground
here. No, there isn't middle ground. They're in three groups.
Those that love the Lord, esteem the Lord highly, and worship
the Lord, and those who hate Him, and those who dishonor Him,
and then those who are kind of in the middle. There is no middle
group. Either for Him or against Him.
That's what the Savior said. Moses said to the Levites, or
to the children of Israel. He said, who is on the Lord's
side, come over here. You're either over there or you're
over here. And if you're over there, he told the Levites, draw
your swords out, because that's the enemy. Are you with us or are you against
us? That's the question, see? The issue is honoring Christ
Jesus. And back over here in John chapter
12, now I'll give you this. I want you to look at honor poured
out upon the Son of God. And this is what, oh God help
us to honor Him. God help us to honor Christ. And this stands out against what
happened at the very end of John chapter 11 where people dishonored
Him. I'll give this to you quickly
because I want to go back and make a few additional comments
on the first couple of verses. Number one, eight ways he's honored
in John chapter 12. Number one, he was honored with
a supper in Bethany. Verse one, then Jesus, six days
before the Passover, this is the fourth Passover he has observed
in his public ministry. So six days before that fourth
public or Passover during his public ministry, he came to Bethany
where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from
the dead, and there they made him a supper. We're going to have a dinner. And various guests were involved,
but the guest of honor for this dinner is the Lord Jesus Christ. And wouldn't that be, that's
a way to honor him. Honor him. We're gonna honor
you with a feast. Number two, Mary honored him
by anointing his feet, verse three. Then took Mary a pound
of ointment of spikenard, very costly, anointed the feet of
Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled
with the odor with the fragrance of the ointment." I tell you, where Christ Jesus
is honored, it's like a wonderful fragrance for the rest of the
people of God. We just enjoy the fragrance of
it. Number three, Verses 12 and 13. The people of Jerusalem honored
him when he entered into the city. Look at verse 12. On the
next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches
of palm trees and went forth to meet him and they cried, Hosanna! That means save us now. Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord." They honored Him when
He entered into the city. And we'll be dealing with these
in more depth in the next few Wednesday nights. And then, in
verses 17 and 18, many honored Him by wanting to meet him. They
wanted to meet him because they heard about the resurrection
of Lazarus. They heard what he did. Look at verse 17. The people,
therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of
his grave and raised him from out the dead, bear record. In
other words, there's a bunch of people there that said, they
started telling other people, you should have seen it. You
should have been there. It was unbelievable. This man
had been dead four days. See that guy eating at that table
right there? Yeah. He was dead. I'm telling you,
he was dead. And he had been dead four days. And Jesus of Nazareth raids him
from the dead. Verse 18, for this cause the
people also met him. They said, we want to meet him.
for that they heard that He had done this miracle. Listen, I
want to meet Him. I want to meet the one who raises
the dead, don't you? That's who I want to meet. Because
maybe He'd do something for my poor soul. If He could do that
for Lazarus, a man who stunk, a man who had no hope, if He
could do that for that guy, Maybe He'll do something good for me.
Huh? Don't you look at it that way.
Maybe He'll do something good for me. I know He's the Savior
of sinners. I know He shed His blood. The
Bible tells me He died for sinners. I want to meet Him. Oh, I want
to meet Him. They honored Him. Number five. In verses 20 and 22, the Greeks
who came to the Passover, they honored him. They said, we want
to see him. Look at verse 20. There were
certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.
The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee
and desired him saying, sir, we would see Jesus. And Philip
cometh and telleth Andrew. And again, Andrew and Philip
tell Jesus. They say, we want to see Him.
That previous group said, we want to meet Him. And these folks
said, we want to see Him. And I want to see Him too. I
want to see Him too. I want to see Him with eyes of
faith. And I'll tell you something else.
I want to see Him with these eyes. someday, don't you? I want to see Him with these
eyes. That's what Job said. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and the worms destroy this flesh, this body. In my flesh I shall
see God. I want to see Him. That's what
he said. I want to see Him. That's what these people said. Now watch
this, number 6, verses 28 through 30. The Father honored him. These others honored him, but
in verses 28 and 30, the Father honored him. Father, Jesus prayed,
glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The Father honored him. The people therefore that stood
by and heard it They said, they thundered. Others said, an angel
spake. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. The Father
honored Him by speaking to Him and of Him. Number seven, go
over to verse 38. Isaiah honored Him when he saw
His glory. Look at verse 38. Verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the
saying of Isaias, Isaias the prophet, might be fulfilled,
which he spake in Isaiah 53 verse 1, Lord, who hath believed our
report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
because that Isaias saith again, he had blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart. that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
that I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw His glory." That's back in chapter 6 of Isaiah. "...and
spake of Him." And then one more. The Son of God claimed honor
for Himself. Look at verse 44. Jesus cried. This is the very end of His public
ministry. The rest of the time He's going
to spend with His disciples, up until the time of going into
the Gethsemane to pray, and then His crucifixion. Jesus cried
and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but
on Him that sent Me. And He that seeth Me, seeth Him
that sent Me. I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not,
for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken
the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken
of myself, for I am not the only one. But the Father which hath
sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I
should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." Listen, if you
would be honored by God, you want God to honor you? you better
honor His Son. Now that is the bottom line right
there. If you want God to honor you,
you honor His Son. As we think back on John 11,
we know the resurrection of Lazarus pictures the new birth. Agreed?
Right? It pictures the new birth. You
must be born again. The reason is because We're spiritually
lifeless. There's an absence of a life
of God in the soul. We died in Adam. So the resurrection
of Lazarus, it pictures the resurrection. At the very beginning of John
chapter 12, here's a picture of the result of regeneration,
the result of the new birth. You know what it is? We have
fellowship with the Lord. We have fellowship with the Lord.
Look again at John 12, verses 1-3. Then six days before the
Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had
been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him
a supper. Watch this. Here are the three.
Here are the brothers and the sisters. Martha served. She wasn't ever rebuked for serving.
Serving is a good thing. Serve the cause of God and serve
others. I wonder how much service we
do for God. Worship, singing, reading, praying,
talking about Him to others. What about serving others? Where
to serve others? We're not to be selfish people,
folks. We're to be serving others. And
Martha, she was a server. She was a server. You might be
amazed at how much you would encourage somebody, or lift somebody's
spirit, just do something for somebody else. You know, there's
an old saying, if you want to make yourself happy, make somebody
else happy. Martha was a server. That's an
honorable thing, to be a server. Well, that's Martha. Then here's
Lazarus. You know what Lazarus did? He
just sat there and ate. But boy, was he ever a witness. Oh, he was a tremendous witness.
Just his very presence, seated at the table. This was the guy
who was dead. And now look at him. He's eating
lamb chops. He's feasting. He's sitting there
with Jesus. And that is utterly amazing. He's sitting at the table with
Jesus. But he's a sinful man. I know,
but Christ is the Savior of sinners. And there the Savior is sitting
at the table, and Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table
with Him, with Him. And then there's Mary. She took
a pound of ointment, very costly, a pound of spikenard, ointment
of spikenard, it cost her about a year's, the average wages of
a year, it cost her about a year's wages. She anointed the feet
of Jesus for his burial. We find from another passage,
wiped his hair with her feet. The house is filled with the
odor of the ointment. We'll look at that later, but
I want to focus on Lazarus for just last little bit here. He's
sitting at the table, fellowshipping with the Lord. You see, this
is the result of regeneration. That's what this is a picture
of. It's a result of the new birth. As a result of what the
Lord does for us in redemption, He does a work within us in regeneration. And then the result of regeneration
is we have fellowship with the Lord. That's what I read to you
in 1 John 1. We have fellowship with the Lord.
We have communion with Him. This is the result of the new
birth. I've gone a little long, but I want you to look at a couple
of verses. Psalm 94. Psalm 94. I was up there at the infusion
center almost seven hours working yesterday on this message, so
you can at least sit in here for a few more minutes on this. Psalm 94. This is a very powerful
verse of Scripture. I want to make application of
it to all of us. Psalm 94 and verse number 20. Watch this. Shall the throne
of iniquity have fellowship with thee, have fellowship with God?
And talking about the throne of iniquity, our hearts, hearts
which desire or frame or design mischief of God's law? Listen, can a man sit at a table
with the Lord of glory? Somebody whose heart is the throne
of iniquity. Can we have fellowship with the
Most High God? And the answer is yes. Through
Christ Jesus and His bloody sacrifice. We can have fellowship with the
Lord. Lazarus, there's no indication that... There's Lazarus. He's
in the presence of the Lord of glory. He's in the presence of
the Son of God. Sitting there at that table.
Relaxed. Enjoying the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm sure he was worshipful.
And he adored the Son of God. But he was at ease in his presence. Because he's the Savior. He's
the Savior. Now we know God can't have fellowship
with a wicked sinner, and a wicked sinner can't have fellowship
with God, except through the bloody death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me give you one more passage
of Scripture. And I've just got to go to this.
2 Samuel chapter 9. Let me tell you about another
man that sat at a king's table. A man by the name of Mephibosheth.
And you know this story well. 2 Samuel chapter 9. Yes sir, Lazarus
had fellowship with the Son of God. Set up to the table. Boy, what
a privilege. But you know the Lord Jesus said,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice,
Open the door. I'll come in. I'll enter in.
You know what He says? Sup with Him and He with me. That's utterly amazing. I'll
sup with Him and He with me. Lord, You mean You'd sit at my
table? You'd fellowship with me and
I can fellowship with You? Oh yeah! Oh yes indeed. This is the magnificent grace
of God here. And then look quickly. 2 Samuel
9. Look at verse 1. David said,
Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Remember, they had made
a covenant. They had made a covenant. Jonathan and David made a covenant
with one another. And I'll tell you something,
God's faithful to His covenant. Verse 2, And there was of the
house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when he had
called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba?
And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the very kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan, hath yet a son which is lame on his feet? He became
lame when he was five years old. His nurse was carrying him and
news came that his daddy and his granddaddy had died in battle. She dropped him and he became
lame on both feet. Five years of age. The king said
unto him, verse four, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Maker, the son of Amul in Lodibar,
a place of no pasture. And King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Maker, the son of Amul from Lodibar. Thank God for fetching grace.
Grace that comes and gets us. I like that. The word fetch means
lay hold of, means to seize, to take out of, to carry away,
to take possession of, to bring forcefully. That's what grace
does. Brings us to Christ Jesus forcefully. You're coming. But you know the
amazing thing is, He makes us willing to come. It makes us willing. I don't
know about you, but the Lord didn't pick me up by the nap
of my neck and jerk me into the Kingdom of God. No. He said,
come to Me. I said, Lord, I'm coming. Why is that? Because He fetched
me. Thank God for fetching grace.
It's the sweetest thing in the world. Sweetest thing in the
universe and all of God's creation is the effectual grace of God
to sinners. Fetching grace. Now, verse 6,
when Mephibosheth, you know what his name means? A shameful thing. That's what his name means, a
shameful thing. When Mephibosheth, the son of
Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell on his
face and did reverence. Well, I reckon so, he's in the
presence of the king. And David said, Mephibosheth,
And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, don't be afraid. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. Lazarus, sit down here at the
table. Somebody pass the rolls to him.
Pass the lentils to him. Can't you just picture that in
your mind? What a wonderful, blissful scene. Now here's Mephibosheth. He bowed himself. He said, What
is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as
I am? Is that the way you feel? You
come to the Lord's table as it were. Here we are at the Lord's
table. Don't I like feasting on heavenly things? Feasting
on the bread of heaven, drinking in the wine of the gospel, the
elixir of God that makes the soul happy, sins forgiven, righteousness
established, everlasting life brought in, everlasting salvation
through the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm drinking
in the elixir of the wine of the gospel. And I'm such a dead dog. The
king said to Ziba, Saul's servant, he called to Ziba, Saul's servant,
he said unto him, I've given unto thy master's son all that
pertain to Saul and all his house. Thou therefore and thy sons and
thy servants shall till the land for him. Thou shall bring in
the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat. But
Mephibosheth, thy master's son shall eat bread always at my
table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, saith the
lord, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. David
come in, sat down at the table, and somebody brought Mephibosheth
in and sat him down. And they talked to one another.
And Mephibosheth wasn't afraid. He wasn't fearful for his life.
Because the king said, I'm going to look after you. And I'm telling
you, the king of kings has said to you, you who believe him,
you don't have to be afraid. Sit at my table. I'll take care
of you. Verse 12, Mephibosheth had a
young son whose name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table. But guess what?
He is still lame on both his feet. And there sits Lazarus
at the table with the Lord of glory. But he's still just an
old sinner. Yeah. The Lord spends time with
sinners. The Pharisees, that's what they
said of the Savior. The Pharisees said, He eats and
drinks with sinners. Yeah, right there's one, Lazarus.
He's eating and drinking with Him. And you know what? Those of us who've been saved
by His grace, He fellowships with us every day. Your private
devotions, when you read the Word of God, when you pray to
Him, go home tonight, you put your head on your pillow and
you begin to speak with the Lord, you're fellowshiping with the
King. What about that? Fellowshiping with the King.
Well, let's sing number two. Love divine. This is love divine. Divine love.