Let's turn in our handbooks again,
please. Psalm number 129. Psalm 129, with St. Justin Stanton. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? devote that sacred head for such
a worm as I. At the date for crimes that I
have done he groaned upon the tree amazing pity grace unknown
and love beyond degree well might the sun in darkness hide and
shut his glories in Christ the mighty maker died
for man, the creature sinned. But drops of grief can ne'er
repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself It's
all that I can do. Amen. Amen. Alright, look back here with
me. Verses together. And you know the story of how
Saul was removed from his kingdom. And God anointed David, a man
after his own heart, to be king. Now David was king over all of
Israel. And the first thing he done,
one of the first acts he done, was he said, is there anyone
of the house of Saul left that I may show kindness to? And do it for Jonathan's sake.
And you're talking about a picture of the grace and mercy of God
given us and a beautiful picture of Christ in our salvation. This
is one of the most glorious ones in God's Word. And there's the
first thing I want you to notice down here in verse 3. You know,
he wanted to know if there's any left of the house of Saul
that he may show kindness for Jonathan's sake. And he asked
Ziba, and Ziba said, yep, he's got one. God won. And the king said, here's the
first thing, the king said, whenever the king says something, where
the word of the king is, there's power. There's authority. There's total sovereignty. When
the king said, when the king speaks, everybody knows that
whatever he says to do, that's what you do. And there was no
counsel here, no conference, no bargaining. No bargaining. I mean, men will always bargain
with God, especially when they're in trouble. If you'll get me
out of this trouble, I promise I'll serve you. Promise that
I'll start going to church. They'll make all kinds of promises.
Get out of trouble. Forget it. It's called, what
they used to call it, foxhole religion. Foxhole religion. But here, you know, there's no
counsel, no bargaining here. No, no. Uh-uh. The king speaks
and he's speaking from his sovereign throne. And what he decrees,
that's what's going to be done. And our God, God himself, God
himself, bless his name, our God and the God of the Bible
and the God we worship is infinitely, infinitely sovereign. I mean,
beloved, he's no pretender. He's no spectator in his own
world that he created and upholds by the word of his power. And
he is infinitely sovereign. He's the one that created everything. You know why the creation is
the way it is? Because God said this is the way it's going to
be. He said let there be light, and there is light. Let there
be trees, there is trees. Let there be a chicken, there
is a chicken, a bull, whatever it was, God said let there be,
and it was. He is sovereign over creation.
And He reigns, reigns, and I don't have no problem with this, with
all authority in heaven and earth. And it's a problem to me to believe
in the sovereignty of God and yet be bound by such fears and
anxieties over things that God himself is controlling. And I
tell you what, He's got authority in heaven and earth. Oh listen,
our God, we got Him right here. Where's your God at? Our God's
in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases.
That's what He does. He told old Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar
said this after God put him out for seven years like a beast
in the field. He come back and said, I know
this, that all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he started with me. And he says, and he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And ain't nobody can reach out
their hand and say, what in the world do you think you're doing?
That ain't going to happen. That ain't going to happen. And
I'll tell you what, he not only is sovereign over his creation,
but he's sovereign in his providence. And you know what providence
means? It just means God's governed what he created. That's all it
means. That means God's doing the governing.
And I told you that here the other day, I said, what schedule
are you running? I'm running on God's schedule. Running on God's
schedule. Well, how do you know what it
is? Every day, when I get to the end of the day, I know it's
God's schedule for me. You know? We're purposed to do
something one day and then God will come along and He'll change
our purpose and change our will and something will come up. We
got to do what come up that day, that right then. And I tell you
what, that's what he says. Look over in Isaiah 45. I saw
this and I hadn't thought about this in a long time. Isaiah 45.
He was talking about God. Sovereign. And I tell you, look
what he said here in verse 5. I think it's verse 5, yeah. I
am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside
me. Listen to this. I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun from the west, and that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord, and there is none else. Now listen to this now.
I form the light, and I create darkness. I make peace, and I
create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Now what is he talking about?
He said whenever things come that don't suit people, God said
I'm the one doing it. I'm the one doing it. And there's
folks that get mad at God because He does something in their life
and they can't get over it. They can't get over it. And here's
the most blessed thing of all. You know God uses second and
third causes. He is second, third causes. But
he's the first cause of everything that happens in this world. No
matter where it's at on this planet, he's the first cause.
Lance was in our home day before yesterday. Left yesterday morning. Come to get his car. Now his
daughter was in intensive care for six or seven weeks. She's at home now. Doing very
well. But you know what he said? He
said that you know she was out there and this woman was taking
them hiking and took them way up in the mountains and said
she slipped on that ice and fell. He said God in his providence
put her there and he was responsible for her falling. I'm going to tell you something
that Bruce Crabtree told me yesterday. And he knows the people involved
in this. A man and a woman had a son,
17 years old, who had bad depression. Bad depression. And they was
learning the gospel, learning the Christ, and learning about
God, and learning about Christ. Through some men that was meeting
with them, and teaching them, and instructing them. They came
home one afternoon, and there hung their son, in the garage,
hung himself. You know what the mother said? She said, God's sovereign in
everything. And her son hanging there dead. And then folks can't trust God?
I don't understand it. You say, I couldn't have done
that. I doubt if I could have either. But what else you gonna say?
Is this an accident? Did God forget to watch over
that boy? Was God being cruel to his mother
and daddy? God will let a man... Listen. If either God runs everything
or He don't run nothing. Ain't that right? He controls
all things or He don't control nothing. And then he's sovereign in salvation
and I really like that. Not of him that willeth, not
of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth mercy. I tell you Jonah found that out
when he was down there before God put him in the belly of that
whale. He said, oh this I know. The salvation is of the Lord. And I'll tell you what, we're
all going to learn that. We all learned it by grace. There's
going to be a lot of people learn that by judgment and justice. And then look what else he said
here in verse 3. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? Oh my. This word kindness is
mercy. This word kindness is mercy.
David was a king and he was a man of mercy. You remember he had
Saul where he could have killed Saul twice. And he wouldn't do
it. He was a man of mercy. Man of
principle. And the house of Saul was David's
enemy. Oh, he hunted David like a partridge. He hunted David like a rabbit.
Trying to kill him all the time. And so Saul, David's enemy, he
didn't deserve any mercy. He didn't deserve any pity. But
David found it in his heart to show mercy. To show mercy to
son of the house of Saul. And that's why he said, listen,
is there yet any that I may show the kindness of God unto him? You know when God is holy, God
is righteous, God is just. But thank God He's all so merciful
and all so gracious. And He just delights to show
mercy. He keeps mercy for thousands. Great is His mercy. And I tell
you what, here we are, Adam's race. Adam's race is a fallen,
rebellious, race and nation, none of us, none of us deserves
no mercy whatsoever. And God does not owe a sinner
anything in this world, not any, He doesn't. But bless His name,
He's purposed and He's determined to show mercy to some of that
fallen bunch. You know what religion says?
Oh, you got merit. You got something going for you.
You got something going for you. You got some merit. You got some
worth. And then they talk about rewards.
You know, you need to start getting busy for God so you can get all
the rewards you can get. But you know what the language
of salvation is? The language of God is? The language
of the Bible is? Mercy. Mercy. Mercy for sinners,
huh? Paul said, I obtain mercy. The Lord be merciful me. That's
what the sinner says. And I tell you what, I want to
find out if there's one I can show the kindness of God to.
And I tell you, God has been kind. Oh, how kind He's been
to us. And then look what He says, and
the king said, and then Ziba said there in verse 3 in the
last part to king under the king Jonathan hath yet a son which
is lame on his feet he's lame on his feet oh my Ziba the servant
of the house of Saul told David listen there's one there's one
he's called Mephibosheth He lived down in Lodibar. Lodibar means
a land of no brand. And he was a cripple. Couldn't
walk. And why couldn't he walk? You
know why? Because of a fault. Look over
here in 2 Samuel chapter 4. 2 Samuel chapter 4. You know why he was lame on both
his feet? Why he couldn't walk? And you know he had a fall, he
fell when he was just a lad. Look what it says here in verse
4, 2 Samuel 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had
a son that was lame on his feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse
took him up and fled. And it came to pass, as she made
haste to flee, that he fell and became lame, and his name was
Mephibosheth. Became lame through a fall. And
you know, when we talk about Mephibosheth being lame through
a fall, that not only describes Mephibosheth, but that describes
all of us. You know, we fell, when we fell
in our father Adam, and became sinners because of Adam, and
death passed upon us because of Adam's sin. And I tell you
what, beloved, God Himself, we fell so far, fell so far, that
we did not know how to get up we did not know how far we had
fallen and I still as after all these years of all the preaching
and all the studying I still stand astonished that I fell
so far and Christ came so far to come where I was and where
you was to come all the way down and do something for you that
you didn't even know you was falling until he picked you up
he didn't say get up and walk he said come here I'll come and
get you oh my you know when we fell in
our father Adam all of our faculties were affected Everything, our
hearing, our searing, our speech, our affections, our understanding,
our emotions, our wills, everything about us was affected. And what God has to do, He has
to take all that awful effect and undo it. How does He undo
it? Through His blessed Son and regeneration. that we still have the effects
of that on us oh my and that's why we say in our flesh dwelleth
no good thing people don't get bothered you know there be people
get upset about that that's one thing about God's people is they
know that really in their flesh there ain't nothing good to be
found in it now then look what happened here in verse 5 He said
he's down there in Maker and Lordy Bar and the house of Maker.
He didn't even have his own place to live. This is what happened
here now. I love this. Then King David
sent and fetched him. Then King David sent and fetched
him. Go fetch that for me. You know the king said go fetch
him for me. Oh my. That's what God did for
us. He had to come and fetch us. We wouldn't have never come if
he hadn't have come. If Christ hadn't have said go fetch him
and bring him, we would have never come. But oh my! And I tell you, they brought
him. I mean, was there any doubt that Mephibosheth wasn't going
to come before the king? Was there any doubt that he wasn't
when David said, go get him, go fetch him, go bring him here?
And oh my! And I tell you what, he brought
him there. He brought that crippled son and sent him, brought him
before David. And the Lord of glory, our blessed
Savior, He is love. And God's love must be expressed. And God in His blessed sovereign
mercy determined to show mercy to a fallen race. And He sent
His affection on lame sinners. And He sent His blessed, eternal,
only begotten Son into this world to be our Savior. To be our Savior. Huh? Oh my! Ain't that what He says when
the fullness of time was come God sent forth His Son made of
a woman? And then when it came He says
when we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Christ came where we were became
what we are And by his obedience and death, he took God's holy
law, the commandments that we had all broke and he took them
up there and he magnified them. And he honored them. And he upheld
them. And then, beloved, he yielded
himself to justice as if he himself had not kept that law and died
in the room instead of those who did not keep that law. And then he enabled by that,
he enabled God himself to stay just and stay holy and come and
justify wretched, black, miserable, God-hating, Christ-rejecting
sinners and made them lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does it in such a way
that he saved God. Christ sits at his right hand.
And every one of us is saved as much by the justice of God
as we are by the grace of God. Ain't that right? That's why
justice can't come get us. He ain't got nothing against
us. Who's gonna lay anything in charge of God's elect? Christ died we're not only did
he die but he rose again what's he doing now he's pleading us
in our case and called before God and oh listen now what happens
and he sent his Holy Spirit to us and called us and made us
willing in the day of his power now look what he says here in
verse 7 and David And then you know, he said in verse 6 that
when the son of Jonathan came, he fell on his face and did reverence. Oh my! He was afraid! He was
afraid in the presence of the king. He thought, boy, this is
going to be the end of me. And look what David said. David said unto him, verse 7,
Fear not. Oh my, I tell you something,
David said this, he says, you know he reverence David, he honored
David, bowed before David. And David says, don't be afraid,
you have no cause to be afraid, there's no reason for you to
be afraid. No reason for you to be afraid. I'm going to show
you kindness. And I know this, that men and
women who know something, about God, and His holiness, and His
glory, and His power, and His majesty, and His sovereignty,
and His rights, and His power. We bow down and give Him reverence
too. We reverence Him. Oh, we reverence
Him. We're not going to make any jokes
about God. Not going to make any jokes about
grace. Not going to make any jokes about
salvation. Oh, we're not going to say anything
for what would honor Him and do reverence to Him and submit
to Him and honor Him in this way, huh? And I tell you what, I want to be reverent in His
fear, in His presence. I do know that. And then look
what He says there in verse 7 again. He said, David said unto Him,
Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy
father's sake." David said, I didn't fetch you to bring you over here
to destroy you. You don't need to be afraid. I'm going to show
you mercy. And you know why I'm going to
show you mercy? Because of your daddy. Because of your father. I entered into a covenant with
your father. And look with me over here. Let me make sure.
1 Samuel 20. Look over here at 1 Samuel 20. Look at this covenant that they
made. David and Jonathan. Oh, they
loved one another. But look what happens here now.
Oh, he said, I'm going to show you mercy for the sake of your
father, Jonathan. And I love Jonathan. Jonathan
loved me. And he says here in verse 13, And Jonathan is protecting David
and telling him to get away because his father means to kill him.
And he said in verse 13, the Lord do so much and much more
to Jonathan, but if it please my father to do thee evil, then
I will show it thee and send thee away, that the Lord be with
thee as he has been with my father. And thou shalt not only, while
I yet 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,
from my children, people in my house. No, not when the Lord
hath cut off the enemies of David from every one off the face of
the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, that the Lord even required at the hands
of David's enemy. And Jonathan calls David to swear
again because he loved him for he loved him as he loved his
own son. He said, you swear that you're going to let me live and
you won't kill me because you're the king now. And will you show
kindness to my house after I'm gone? And David said, because
I love Jonathan, I'm going to show you kindness. God said,
because I love my son. I love my son. And for my son's
sake, I'm going to show you kindness. Before Bephibosheth was born,
David and Jonathan entered into a coven. David promised to show
mercies to Jonathan's sons because of his love for him. And before
the foundation of the world, God the Father Entered into covenant
with God the Son. And I tell you what, He gave
a people out of Adam's fallen race to His blessed Son. To be
their surety. To be the one to save them from
their sins. I tell you what, Christ says
this, All that the Father giveth Me, they're coming to Me. And
I came to give, I'm going to give eternal life to everyone
that the Father, He's given me power over all flesh that I should
give eternal life to who? To everyone that He gave me.
And He said, I don't pray for the world, I pray for them that
you gave me out of the world. Oh my, He entered into a covenant
for us and He loved us with an everlasting love. And the mercy
and kindness of God to sinners, God shows to sinners is because
of His love for Christ. Here, what, three or four weeks
ago I preached on why does God bless us? And remember I said,
for Christ's sake, everything's for Christ's sake. And if God
does something for Christ's sake, it's eternal. He said, my sheep,
they hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life. and they
shall never ever perish and God for Christ's sake just
like David for Jonathan's sake I'm going to show you kindness
and as long as Christ lives God will keep us saved If Christ
wasn't on that throne, and listen, when he gets off that throne,
that's when it's really going to get wonderful. When he rises
off that throne and comes back, this is really going to get happy
then. And then let me wind it up with this.
Oh, he showed him, you know, because of a covenant, showed
him kindness for Jonathan's sake. And then look what he said down
in verse, he gave, you know, he gave Mephibosheth, everything
that belonged to Saul, all of his houses, all of his land,
all of his wealth, gave it all to Mephibosheth. But look what
it says here in verse 13. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
now listen to this, for he did it continually at the king's
table and was laying on both his feet. And David said he set
him there as one of his sons. Now let me say, he ate at the
king's table all the days of his life. And let me tell you
this, when he's at that table, his feet are under that table,
and you can't see his lameness. You can't see anything wrong
with him. And that's the way we are. We're
at the king's table, and you can't see anything wrong with
us. And we're eating at the king's table. Ain't that right? What a gospel. What a blessed
gospel we have. What a wonderful, wonderful Savior. Oh, bless His name. Do that for
us. Our Father, precious, precious
Father, our glorious God in heaven, in the precious name of Your
Son, thank You, bless You, praise You, Oh Lord, for touching my
heart with your blessed gospel. Thank you for speaking to me.
I pray you spoke to everyone else. But Lord, I'm in such need
of you and your grace and mercy. And so Lord, I pray that it was
a blessing to others. But thank you for allowing us
to gather around the King's table again. And there's nothing that
anybody can see wrong with us when we sit at the King's table.
We thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
Thy great salvation so rich and free. I'll see you next Wednesday
night going up to