All right, now let's turn back
in our Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 20. 1 Samuel, chapter 20. Now, it's probably a pretty good
guess to say that you've not heard much preaching out of this
chapter, 1 Samuel 20. I don't ever remember hearing
a message from this particular chapter. But we find that as
we go through a lot of these Old Testament books, don't we?
But one of the things that's sort of surprising about this
one, this particular chapter, is there's a passage of Scripture
that is so important, not that the rest is unimportant, but
when you connect it with something I know you have heard. Now, every
one of you have heard messages on Mephibosheth. You know who
Mephibosheth is. As over in 2 Samuel, that's Jonathan's
son who was still in David's kingdom after Jonathan had gone.
Mephibosheth, who was dropped by his mother and he was lame
on his feet, David commanded his captain to go fetch him. In fact, when we first moved
to Albany, a group of the people that came into the church down
there told me that the first gospel message that they ever
heard was won by Pastor Mahan called Fetching Grace. Fetching
Grace. Because that term is used in
2 Samuel 9 concerning Mephibosheth. Go fetch him. Now it is a great
picture of how God sent his son to go fetch his people. That's
how he saves us. He fetches us. We don't come
to him of our own will. He comes to us and brings us. He fetches us. And it's a great
picture. But here in 1 Samuel chapter 20 is the foundation
of the blessings and the favor that David showed Mephibosheth
years later. And it's in the covenant of love
and kindness that Jonathan and David made between each other. I've entitled this message, The
Kindness of the Lord. I hope tonight we'll learn a
little bit about kindness. the kindness of the Lord, not
just the kindness that we think of between human beings, but
the kindness of the Lord. And this is found beginning here
at verse 14 of 1 Samuel 20, and I want to get to that, but let
me just read these verses. There's a few observations we
want to make. The first thing, this chapter opens up in verse
1 with showing once again Saul's injustice against David. You know how Saul, the throne
has been taken away from him. David has been anointed as king.
Saul would not accept God's commandments, God's will. He was a disobedient,
unbelieving, fleshly, envious man. And here we see his injustice
against, not only just that he hates David and he's envious
against David, But he acts in injustice against David, unrighteously. And it's so apparent. It says,
And David fled from Nioth in Ramah. You remember he was there
with the prophet Samuel in the school of the prophets and how
God turned the wrath of man into praising him and allowed David
to escape. And it says, He came and he said
before Jonathan, What have I done? He's talking to Jonathan, the
king's son. And he's asking, What have I done? What is my
iniquity? What sin have I committed? What
is my sin before thy father that he seeketh my life? What have
I done to your father that he hates me and seeks to kill me?"
Now, David was not a sinless person in himself. He's not saying,
I'm sinless before God or anything like that. David was a sinner
saved by the grace of God just like you are and I am. He had
no claim upon God's mercies or God's grace. No claim upon salvation,
but Christ and Him crucified. The one who hadn't even yet come
in time was David's Savior. The one whom David pointed to
and pictured and typified and prophesied of, the one whom we
look back upon who had finished the work, He's our Savior. And
David was just like any other sinner saved by the grace of
God. But he was a sinner saved by the grace of God. And here
what he's simply saying and expressing to Jonathan is this. He had given
Saul no just cause to seek his life. And he was right. David
had not treated Saul unjustly or even with disrespect. You're going to see later on
in these years that David is running. They were years. that
David was running away from Saul and Saul fleeing after him, trying
to kill him, David had several opportunities that he could have
put that man down in the grave. And he didn't do it. He didn't
do it. Saul's condition was his own
fault. He was mad not at David, ultimately, but mad at God. He
just didn't like the way things had turned out, but it was his
own fault, his own disobedience. And I see this a great spiritual
illustration of man's natural hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. We had no just cause to hate
or seek to murder the Lord of Glory. In Psalm 69, that psalm
that expresses the suffering Savior on the cross, dying for
the sins of His sheep, He made this statement in verse 4, He
said, They hated Me without a cause. There was no cause in Him. to
hate Him. There was every cause to love
Him and to serve Him. And in John chapter 15, when
He was expressing the hatred of the world for Him and His
disciples to His disciples, He quoted that Psalm 69. He said,
They hated Me without a cause. You see, natural man's hatred
of Christ, hatred of the truth, he hates the truth. We hate it
by nature because it exposes us for what we are. It exposes
all our false refuges. That's what's happening to Saul.
You see, God's judgment against Saul and his commissioning and
anointing David to be king was exposing Saul for what he really
was, a failure. And that's what we are by nature.
That's why we need salvation. We are abject failures. We're
failures under the law. We can't keep the law. There's
none righteous, no, not one. We're failures in every way.
That's why we need Christ. That's why we need mercy. That's
why we need grace. And our Lord quoted that to His
disciples. Natural man's hatred of Christ
is most vile and most unreasonable. And so it underscores the greatness
of God's grace when we consider this. Let me read you from the
New Testament in Romans chapter 5. And this is why we of all
people who know the Lord, of all people, should be so dedicated,
so obedient to the Lord. He says here in Romans 5 and
verse 8, "...but God commendeth His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He gave His life for
sinners. And He says, "...much more than
being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. For if when we were enemies..." Now you see, somebody
says, well I know we're all sinners. Not only were we sinners, it
says we were enemies of God. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." That's the
kind of people God saves. Look back at 1 Samuel 20. Now,
here in the next few verses, David recognizes something that
every person ought to recognize. Every sinful man and woman ought
to recognize and live with every day, and that's how fragile life
is. He says, and he said unto him,
verse 2, God forbid thou shalt not die. This is Jonathan speaking
to David. He says, behold, my father will
do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me.
In other words, Jonathan was going to be privy to all of Saul's
plans because Saul didn't know at this point that Jonathan had
dedicated himself to David and had accepted the fact that David
was going to be king. And he says, and why should my
father hide this thing from me? It is not so. Now, Jonathan wasn't
stupid. I've read a lot of commentators
who say, Jonathan, he was real naive here. You know, because
I mean, Saul had already tossed a javelin, a spirit, David, on
two occasions. And he put him up in the front
of the army trying to kill him, saying, Jonathan, you know, can't
you see what your father... Jonathan always felt up until
one point that he could change Saul's mind. And what you're
going to see there is we can't change our own mind, let alone
another person's. It takes the work of God. But
look at verse 3, David swore him over and said, Thy father
certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes. So
David thought that Saul knew about Jonathan. And he said,
Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as
the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between
me and death. That's how fragile life is. David
realized that. They're just a step between me
and death. And that's the way it is with
you too. I don't care how young you are, how old you are. They're
just a step between you and death. And that's why our most urgent
need is salvation. Our most urgent need is the forgiveness
of our sins. Our most urgent need is to be
found in Christ. We need that more than anything
else in this world. Right there. We may get our minds
on other things that we need, and that's okay. But our most
urgent need is Christ and His blood and righteousness. They're
just a step between me and death. Here in verse 4, in the next
few verses, David puts Saul to the test. Jonathan, verse 4,
then said, Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth,
I will do it for thee. That's Jonathan's submission
to David, because he knew David was going to be king. Verse 5,
David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and
I should not fail to sit with the king at me, but let me go,
that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at eve.
And on the new moon, that was the first day of the month, and
they held a feast with the family or with the court in sacrifices. And he says in verse 6, if thy
father at all missed me, then say, David, earnestly ask leave
of me, that he might run to Bethlehem in his city, for there is a yearly
sacrifice there for all the family. If he say thus, it is well, thy
servant shall have peace. But if he be very wroth or angry,
then be sure that evil is determined by him. So he puts Saul to the
test. As I said, Jonathan, he was convinced
that Saul wouldn't kill David, so David proposes this test.
Look at verse 8. He says, Therefore thou shalt
deal kindly with thy servant, for thou hast brought thy servant
into a covenant of the Lord with thee. Now that's referring back
to the covenant that Jonathan and David made before. The covenant
of love. That covenant which pictured
the covenant between Christ and his people. Which is a covenant
of love. It's a gospel of love. Now, it's
not love without justice. I was talking to a fellow about
that today, you know, talking about how people want to hear
about the good things, but they don't want to hear about the
wrath, you see. Well, the gospel preaches out both. The gospel
tells us how God can be both a righteous judge and punish
sin, as well as a loving, merciful Father. And the answer is through
Christ. But this covenant between Jonathan
and David would stand. And he says, look here, he says,
notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself,
for why shouldst thou bring me to thy father? What David is
saying there is he's putting his own life on the line. He
appeals to Jonathan's oath of covenant before, and he says,
look here, he says, if there be any iniquity in me, any iniquity,
he says, back up here, he says, deal kindly with me. Now that
word kindly is a very strong word. And it means more than
just amenities. It means more than just acting
pleasantly. It means a promise to give loyal
love and devotion. That's what that word kind and
kindly means. A promise to give loyal love
and devotion. It's the kind of love that God
promises to His covenant children in Christ. And it's proven in
that he sent his son to die, 1 John 4, 10. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins, the sin bearer who satisfied justice on our behalf. And David
appeals also to his own innocence. Again, David, he wasn't a sinless
man, but here he's referring to the issues of Saul's hatred
for him. I haven't done anything to cause
this, and here we see David as a type of Christ. Christ himself
was perfectly sinless in himself, and he was innocent of all within
himself. He had to be a sinless person
in order to be our Savior. He had to be a sinless person
in order to be made sin for us. In other words, to go to the
cross as he was held accountable and responsible for our sins
charged to him. And according to the terms of
the everlasting covenant of redemption, Christ put his own life on the
line as the innocent sacrifice for our sins. He became a curse,
but for us. He became guilty by imputation,
and he laid down his life. Now look at verse 9. Now here,
Jonathan's love for David, here are pictures of believers' love
for Christ. Listen to this, verse 9. Jonathan
said, far be it from thee. For if I knew certainly that
evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would
I not tell it thee? I would tell you." Jonathan's
saying, I'll do everything I can for you. And then said David
to Jonathan, who shall tell me? Or what if thy father answer
thee roughly? In other words, when you go through this test
and you find out, who's going to come and tell me this? He
knew if Jonathan came and told him, Jonathan would be exposed.
So if your father is angry, what's going to happen? Well, look at
verse 11. And Jonathan said unto David, Come, let us go out into
the field. And they went out, both of them
into the field. And Jonathan said unto David,
O Lord God of Israel. Now what he's saying, he's declaring
an oath here. And he's saying, as God is the
God of Israel, when I have sounded, literally searched, if you got
that in your concordance, when I have searched my father, about
tomorrow anytime or the third day and behold if there be good
toward David and I then send not unto thee and show it thee
and he says the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan in other
words if if his favor towards you and I don't come out and
tell you then you let it be on my head and he said but if it
pleased my father to do the evil then I will show it thee and
send thee away that thou mayest go in peace as the and the Lord
be with thee as he have been with my father." Jonathan loved
God, and he loved David, God's anointed man. And he loved him
more than his own father. That's exactly right. Christ
said that to his disciples when he said, I'm sending you out
as sheep among wolves. They're going to persecute you.
They're going to bring you up before the council. He said,
I'm telling you, if you don't confess me before men, I'll not
confess you before my father. He said, I didn't come to send
peace, bring peace, but a sword to set a man at variance against
his own household. And then he said that he that
love with father, mother, brother more than me cannot be my disciple. He's not telling us that we are
not required to love our parents and love our earthly family,
but he's saying this. He's saying two things. Number
one, realize that our love for Christ and His truth and His
people eclipses all of that. Not even to compare. And secondly,
the love that we have for Christ and His truth and His people
is forever. Those earthly relationships will
be dissolved. So Jonathan is expressing that
here. That's the love of a believer
for his Savior, for his King. Now, in these next verses, Jonathan's
love for David, and it pictures a believer's love for Christ.
Here's what Jonathan does. He appeals to the covenant of
the kindness of the Lord. And you know what? We do that
all the time. I preach that all the time. I'm preaching tonight
the covenant of the kindness of the Lord. I do it when I preach
the gospel. The covenant of God's kindness. Listen to this, this
covenant, in verse 14, he says, and thou shalt not only while
yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord that I die not, but
also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house forever,
my family, my descendants. No, not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth.
So Jonathan made a covenant. The concordance, your concordance
there might say, Jonathan cut a covenant. That's the way they
would express it. Like it's cutting stone. Like it's etched in metal. Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, saying, let the Lord even require it at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan calls David to swear
again because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved
his own soul. Just talk about this just for
a few minutes in closing. First of all, this covenant kindness
is from the God of all grace. You notice there, he mentioned
in verse 14, the kindness of the Lord. You notice how the
word Lord, the name Lord there is in all capitals. Maybe you
can remember that from past messages or past lessons. Anytime you
see that name Lord in all capitals, Who's he talking about? That's
Jehovah. That's the God of the covenant. That's the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. That's the same God who spoke
to Adam in the garden and said, I'm going to send the woman saved,
and he's going to bruise the head of Satan. That's the one
whom Abel looked to. That's the one who gave promise
to Abraham, confirmed it through Isaac and through Jacob. That's
the God who justifies the ungodly. It's the God of justice and strict
righteousness who always judges according to truth and cannot,
cannot excuse or look over sin. He's the God of the covenant,
and Jonathan speaks of kindness from such a God. How can such
a God show kindness to a sinner? That's the issue of the covenant.
And this word kindness, in the Hebrew Bible, this word is difficult
to translate into English. Kindness really doesn't do it
justice because we really have no precise equivalent in our
language for this word. We really don't. Sometimes it's
translated loving kindness. We'll see that. Sometimes it's
just mercy. Sometimes it's translated as
steadfast love. sometimes loyalty. In the New
Testament, the equivalent would be simply grace. Grace, undeserved,
unearned favor. But the full meaning of this
word cannot be conveyed to our little old minds without some
explanation, because we don't have a real equivalent for it.
And what it refers to, this kindness, refers to God's covenant love
and loyalty for His chosen people. Sometimes, as I said, the words
translated mercy, another time it's translated goodness, and
sometimes great kindness. But I think about the psalmist.
In Psalm 23, the great shepherd's psalm, in verse 6, when he made
this statement, closing out that psalm, And he says, surely goodness
and mercy, that's what we're talking about, kindness, shall
follow me all the days of my life. Now, if this kindness,
if this goodness and mercy would fail to follow me all the days
of my life, then this word could not be used to express it. It
has to follow me all the days of my life because of what it
is. And he said, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever, the household and family of Jehovah,
Christ our Savior, forever. This word is used only in cases
where there's some unbreakable tie between the parties concerned. And that's what Jonathan is expressing
here today. This is an unbreakable tie. And
even Jonathan's death will not break the tie. That's what he
says here. He says, when I die, He says,
you continue this kindness to my house. Isn't that something? You see, our death will not break
the tie that binds us to Jehovah. Our death will not break the
tie that binds us to Christ. The silver cord will break, the
hymn writer said. Well, that's our connection with
this earth. But the red cord of the blood
of Christ will never break. Surely, goodness and mercy will
follow us all the days of our life, not just this life, but
the next too. You see, this word is never used
of kindness in general or just kindly deeds. If you show a particular
kindness on a particular day to a particular person in need,
that's good. That's all right. But that's
not this kind of kindness. This kind of kindness would demand
that you take that person into your household, take care of
them, put them up, and make them a member of your family. Forever. No strings attached. Not because
they earned it or deserved it, but just because you have a kindness
towards them. You ever done that? Well, no,
we haven't. God did. When He took you in,
when He took me in, the most rotten people on earth. Sinners
who deserve nothing but his wrath and his justice and yet he took
us in. That's what this kindness is.
So the importance of the word is that it stands more than any
other word for the attitude which both parties to a covenant ought
to maintain towards each other. So it describes first and foremost
God's love and loyalty to his people in Christ. And that's
the basis and source of our salvation. It's God's grace. It's God's
covenant love. And it also is to describe our
love and loyalty to Christ and His people as the fruit and response
of His love to us. How are we to forgive as Christ
forgave us? How are we to love as Christ
loved us? Who did He love? Romans 5. We
just read it. Enemies. You see, we always,
by nature, this is us by nature now, this is the flesh, we always
look for some qualification in the object of our love. God never
does when it comes to this human race. The only time you see God
seeing any qualification in the object of His love is the love
between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. This is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." God loved, the
Father loved the Son because He deserved to be loved. The
Son loved the Father because He deserved to be loved. And
the Spirit loved because He deserved to be loved. But you see, when
it comes to sinful man who has no claim upon God's love and
mercy, God never looks for a qualification in the object of that love. Because
if He did, there'd be no kindness of the Lord for us. There'd be
no love for us. That's right. You say, well,
speak for yourself. Well, OK. I'll speak for myself. You better start speaking for
yourself, too. We don't deserve it. You know that. So it describes
this love. It describes the steadfastness
and persistence of God's sure love for His covenant people
in Christ. God's loving kindness is that
sure love which will not let his people go. I mean, he's not
going to let us go. Christ said that. He said, in
my Father, we're in his hand, and no one can pluck them out
of his hand. He holds on to us. And even when
we're unfaithful, and even when we're selfish and rotten to the
core, he remains faithful still to us. God's loving kindness
is that sure love that won't let us go in light of what we
are, and I'm talking about even as saved sinners, in light of
what we do, in light of how far we fall short of the glory of
God. If God is never going to let
us go, then His relation to His people must be one of loving
kindness and mercy and goodness, all of it entirely undeserved,
all of it. You see, that's not the way men
preach today. Men preach today, they're all
the time bargaining with God, they're all the time giving to
God to get back. I told a fellow today, he was
talking about giving, and he said he's tired of hearing all
these preachers say, well, you give a hundred, you'll give back four
hundred. And I said, well, that's not giving. He looked at me,
I said, that's investing. That's an investment. That's
the way you do stock market. They think God's no more than
the dowel. But see, that's not giving. We give out of a heart
of love. And we know that whatever we
give doesn't even begin to commence to get started. To pay in the
debt of love we owe God. That's something, isn't it? This
is a kindness And loving kindness that is shown towards us against
the light of truth that says if we got what we deserved, it
would be nothing but destruction. But God shows us kindness. Look
at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And that's
what Jonathan is talking about today. Now you think about it. Here Jonathan's daddy is trying
to kill God's anointed king. Back then, when you killed one
king, you killed his whole family, because you didn't want his children
coming up later and coming after you or your people. And that
was considered justice in that culture. We can argue all that
about situation ethics all you want, but I'm telling you, this
is the case. Jonathan is asking David for undeserved covenant
love. He's his father's son. And he's
saying, David, because of what my daddy is doing to you, I don't
deserve any goodness from you. But I love you and we've made
a covenant. And you love me. That's what David told him. Look
at Ephesians 2 and verse 4. It says, But God who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. That's
the kindness of the Lord that we're talking about. His great
love. Not just a common love. Not a human love, a great love
wherewith he loved us, sinners. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, are you saying,
and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Think about Mephibosheth. He
was made to sit at the king's table all the days of his life
because of the kindness of the Lord given to Jonathan. And that's
how we're made to sit at the king's table eternally in glory,
because of the kindness of the Lord given to us in and by Christ
and Him crucified. You see, it's His blood and His
righteousness, isn't it? Look at that. Yet, we must always
be aware, lest we think that God is content with less than
righteousness. Now, this kindness, look over
at Jeremiah chapter 9. This kindness now, remember what
it said, this kindness, is not an unjust or unholy love
or mercy or goodness. You see, this is no sentimental
kindness that just feels sorry for people. You know, you can
feel sorry for people and show them kindness, and that's all
right. But this kind of kindness can't do that because it's from
a holy God who's just when He justifies. And there's no reference
to any sentimental kindness here, no suggestion of mercy apart
from righteousness and justice established. Listen to this in
Jeremiah 9 and verse 23. He says, Thus saith the Lord,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, Jehovah
our Savior, which exercise lovingkindness." Same word. Lovingkindness. But look what's next. Judgment. "...and righteousness in the
earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Now, how in the earth? Did the Lord exercise
loving kindness and judgment and justice for me? And all you
have to do is turn your eyes to Calvary and see the Lord of
glory hanging there on that tree, suffering all that agony unto
death for my sins laid to his account. Look at the blood that's
pouring from his hands and his side and his head, his feet. Look at the sayings that he spoke
when he spoke on our behalf. And he said, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? It was because of our sins laid
upon him. He was made sin. Look at the
book of Titus. Look over here at Titus chapter
3. I want to read you this one, verse 3. Listen to how he describes
it here. For we ourselves, Titus 3 and
verse 3, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers or various lusts and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Sounds like
King Saul, doesn't it? Sounds like me. Sounds like you. Without God. But look at, but
after that, the kindness and love of our, of God our Savior,
toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, not of works, you see, but according to his mercy he
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost
which he shed on us abundantly, richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior." There is the kindness. You want kindness from God? You
want this kind of kindness. that Jonathan is beseeching David
for? You want that eternal? Look to
Christ. Rest in Him. He's the issue,
you see. And I like this. This kindness
that Jonathan's asking for, he asked for it not only for himself,
but his whole house. This is household kindness. This
is covenant kindness for all who are in the household and
family of God. Remember what he said there in
verse 15 of 1 Samuel 20. But also thou shalt not cut off thy
kindness from my house forever." Jonathan knew David was going
to be king, and so he intercedes for his family. And that's the
covenant promise that brought about David's blessings upon
Jonathan's lame, fallen son, Mephibosheth, in 2 Samuel 9. We'll get to that later on, but
you can read it for yourself. Mephibosheth. That's what we
are. We're all Mephibosheths, lame on our feet, fallen. But
He came and He fetched us because of His kindness, His covenant
kindness. Because we were members of a
household. And it's covenant kindness in the everlasting covenant
of redemption, grace, and love between the Father and the Son
that secures my salvation, my righteousness, and my eternal
blessedness for all God's elect. What is the church? It's called
the household and the family of God. Let me read one more
verse. Turn to Hebrews chapter 3. That's what the church is. It's
the household and family of God. The household and family of Christ.
And listen to what he says here. Who built that house? Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1. And here's the whole theme of
the whole thing. I believe it's going on between
Jonathan and David. Right here. This is the spiritual,
eternal truth and lesson of the whole thing. Wherefore, verse
1, holy brethren, how are we holy, set apart and separated
unto Christ by his grace? Partakers of the heavenly calling,
we've been brought into the fellowship of a heavenly calling. Now here's
what we do. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him
that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house."
Isn't that the way it should be? He says, "...for every house
is built by somebody, some man. But he that built all things
is God. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after. But Christ as a Son over his
own house, whose house are we." If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Members of
his household, evidence how we hold fast our confidence. What
is our confidence? Our confidence is not in the
flesh. It's in Christ and what he's accomplished and what he
is and what he's doing now and what he's going to do. And our
rejoicing, that's our glory. What Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory. save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Glory in Him. That's the household
of Christ. Just like Mephibosheth was a
member of the household of Jonathan and delivered and kept and abundantly
blessed by covenant kindness. The kindness of the Lord. We're
the same way eternally in Christ. So thank God for His kindness.