2 Samuel, Chapter 9. 2 Samuel,
Chapter 9. 2 Samuel 9. When I read this, You'll see what the message is
going to be. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, and the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba?
And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there yet
any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God
unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Emel, and Lodibar. out of the house of Makar the
son of Amel from Lodibar. Now when Mephibosheth the son
of Jonathan the son of Saul was come unto David, he fell on his
face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
and he answered and said, Behold thy servant. David said unto
him, Fear not, 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.' And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant,
that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am? Then
the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I
have given unto thy master's son all that pertain to Saul
and to all his house. Thou therefore and thy sons and
thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring
in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat. But
Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread all the way at
my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants,
so thy son's servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. And
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, and was lame on both his feet. Our father, our gracious, gracious
father, in the name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who lived our life and died our
death, put away our sin, made us acceptable and righteous before
you, is to his blessed name we come. All we praise and bless
your name for your great and abundant grace and mercy that
you give us every day, how you preserve us and keep us, uphold
us by your free grace, not because of our works or our merit or
anything we say or do, but just because of your grace, just because
for Christ's sake, just because it pleased you to do so. And Lord, we want to honor you
today, magnify your blessed grace, see sinners brought to faith
in Christ, see the saints edified and built up in the faith. And
for those among us who are weak and sick in body, whose body
just seems to be failing them and they're very weak and very
tired and very painful, Whatever may be their physical ailments,
Lord, we pray for your great and abundant mercy on them. Lord,
you can restore them. You can touch them. You can make
their bodies to be stronger. And Lord, for those who are down,
discouraged, depressed, we ask Lord for your Holy Spirit to
cause the light of God's countenance to shine upon them. And Lord,
receive our prayers. receive our offerings, receive
our praise, and we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. That's a good one. Now, look back with me a second,
Samuel. Look back with me a second, Samuel. Bring a message that I haven't
preached in years and years. It's been on my heart for a few
days. And it shows us entirely the
salvation by the free grace of God. And when we look in the
scriptures, you know, we see so many pictures and types of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And here in this particular chapter,
David, is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ because he himself
called himself the son of David according to the flesh. And of all the scriptures and all
the word of God this is probably one of the best illustrations
of God to save sinners given by Christ given in all the holy
scriptures. I mean this is just so obvious
you know you just have to And it's a favorite, one of my favorite
messages, though I don't preach it as often as I should. But
you know, the scriptures are full, full of prophecies and
promises and pictures of God's grace given to us in Christ and
his free grace. Our Lord himself said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
son of man be lifted up. He said, as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the heart of the belly of the fish, even
so must the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. And it said, even then, Paul
says, that rock that followed them in the wilderness, that
rock was Christ. And so I want to use in eight
words, eight words out of this chapter. to describe this business
of salvation by grace. Salvation of an enemy of God. Salvation to one that God intended
to save. And that shows us a wonderful
picture of us. And David said here, said, is
there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house
of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, I thought 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 kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame, on his feet." Now we'll
use eight words out of this chapter. And the first one's this, to
show you that salvation is of the Lord. And verse 3, it said,
And the king said. And the king said. That's the
first word we want to use. And when the king says something,
wherever there's a king, where the words of the king is, there
is power. There is authority. That's what
the scripture said. Where the word of the king is,
there is power and authority. All power. Absolute sovereignty. And that's what David here is,
is a very wonderful picture of our Lord Jesus. The king said
it. And the king said it. And when the king says something,
something's going to happen. And there is no, he went, there
was no council here, was no corporate effort here, no bargaining here,
no conference here. And the king said it. That's
all that needed to be said. Excuse me. And the king speaks. from his sovereign throne. The
king speaks from setting up on his throne. And that's where
David is sitting on his throne. Our Lord is sitting on his throne
and he speaks from his throne. They asked David, they said in
Psalm 115, David, where now is thy God? And David said, our
God is in the heavens. And he does whatsoever he pleases
in the earth and the sea, in all deep places. And God, he
hath declared the ending from the beginning, saying that all
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Now look
with me over here in Isaiah 45. We're talking about the King.
We're not talking about this weak-kneed old man and this fella
in a wheelchair that God's, somebody's gotta help him out and gotta
figure out how to get God to do something. Oh, let God, let
God. Oh, I could just hear somebody
say, oh, King, we're gonna let you go and let you do. No, that's
not, that don't work. God is high and lifted up. He sits on a throne and begs
no leave to be there. And I tell you what, until this
generation finds out who God is, they gonna go on pretending,
gonna go on playing church, gonna go on dressing up for God. And
look what he said here in Isaiah 45 in verse six and seven. that they may know from the rising
of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me,
from the time the sun comes up till it goes down. And I am the
Lord, and there is none else." Now listen to this, I form the
light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. And that's who we're talking
about here. When the King says something.
Look with me also over here in 1 Samuel 2. Look here in 1 Samuel
2. Look what happens over here. We're talking about God. We're
talking about a sovereign when the King says, and I know this,
beloved, can I do, our Lord Jesus says this, can I not do what
I will with my own? And here he says in 1 Samuel
2, in verse 6, look what it says. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave,
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, the Lord
maketh rich. He bringeth low, and lifteth
up. He raises up out of the poor, out of the dust, lifts up the
beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes. Well, well, I lost my place here. And make them inherit the throne
of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and
He has set the world upon them. That's God we're talking about.
And that's why I said in the King, and we use the word King.
Let me tell you some things about God. God is absolutely sovereign
in all of creation. There's no such thing as evolution.
They keep talking about things that happened millions of years
ago. There wasn't nobody millions of years ago but God. They keep
talking about what happened 10,000 years ago. How do they know?
And I heard a fellow talking yesterday what's going to happen
in the next 10 or 10,000 or 20,000 years on the earth. And I thought,
I just said, I ain't listening to another word you got to say.
I just turned it off. You know what God said? God said
that God created the heavens and the earth. He said, let there
be light, and there was light. And He separated the light from
the darkness. And He brought up the mountains out of the depths
of the sea. And He broke up the fountains of the deep. And then
He caught all the water. And then He said, I'm going to
put some fish in the sea. And I'm going to put some beasts
on the earth. And I'm going to put some trees on the earth.
And everything's going to have its seed in itself. God made man out of the dust,
and that's why He says, you know, He said, He'll take, raise up
man out of the dust. And I tell you, He didn't ask
nobody to help Him. He didn't say, well, who am I
going to help figure me out how to make this outfit? Who's going
to tell me how to create the earth and what to do with it?
And I tell you, He's also absolutely sovereign in how He governs this
world in His providence. And providence just means that
God provides and governs everything in this world. And I know this,
He does all things, all things after the counsel of what? His
own will. There may be second causes. There
may be third causes. But I know this, beloved, whatever
happens in this world, God's the first cause. You may die
of cancer, but God's the first cause. You may die of a heart
attack, God's the first cause. That's just the way he's pleased
to take you out of this world. And I know this, with all this
politicking going on, and all the lies we're being told, and
all the promises we're being made, you know who's going to
be the next president of the United States? I'm going to vote. I am going to vote. I'm going
to exercise the power and right that God's given me in this country.
But you know who's going to be next president? Whom God raises
up to sit on that throne. And I'm going to say, well, it's
the Lord's will. Let His will be done. And I'm
glad that that's that way. I am glad that it's that way.
And I tell you this, here's the kicker right here. This is the
one that you got to nail down. God is absolutely sovereign in
all salvation. The salvation is of the Lord
from Alpha to Omega. Now I tell you what, God don't
ask you to, He don't wait for you to ask you, you know, He
don't say, well, and this is what gets me. This really, really,
people think they're patronizing God. Oh, I'll go for mama's sake,
or I'll go for daddy's sake, or I'll go so they'll leave me
alone. But I'm telling you something, salvation is of the Lord. If
you're ever saved, God's gonna have to save you. If you ever
know God, God's gotta make himself known to you. If your heart's
ever changed, God's gotta change your heart. If your mind ever
knows God and that darkness is driven out of it, God's gotta
drive that darkness out of it. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. If you ever have life, God's
the only one that can give you that life. He will have mercy
on whom he will have mercy. He will have compassion on whom
he will have compassion. And the purpose of God according
to election might stand, he said, of the elder shall serve the
younger. And Jacob have a loved, and Esau have a hated, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. It's not of him
that willeth, but it's of God that showeth
mercy. And people say, well, what? God ain't right to do that.
Who art thou that replies against God, dude? You dare to tell God
what's right and what's true and what He ought to do and what
He ought not do? You think you're smarter than
God? You think you can stand up and tell God what He ought
to do, what's right and what's wrong, and how He ought to deal
with this world? You know what happens? People
do that. That's what old Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I
should obey him? Three days later, he was at the
bottom of the Red Sea. Oh, listen, listen to me now. Listen to this glorious hymn. Great God, how infinite are thou? What worthless worms are we?
Let the whole human race bow and give their praise to thee.
Thy eternal throne has stood, ere seas and stars were made. Thou art the ever-living God,
where all the nations dead. Eternity, with all its years,
stands present in thy view. To thee there is nothing old
appears, great God, there's nothing new. And the king said, and we're
going to wait. on his will, and the king said. Now look what another word we
find here in verse three. And the king said, is there yet
any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God
unto him? Let's use that word kindness,
that I may show the kindness of God unto him. And the word
kindness here is the same word as mercy or pity. David called
it God's loving kindness. O LORD, if thou shouldst mark
iniquities, who would be able to stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Let Israel hope in the
LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy. There is mercy with
the LORD. Mercy, merciful, O how merciful! O how merciful thou art! He delights,
God absolutely delights to show mercy. He delights, He enjoys,
He rejoices to show mercy. And I tell you what people, and
this is a lot of people talk about serving God. We need to
start serving God. They talk about getting their
rewards. You know, I know when you, I know he's going on to
get his reward. Oh, the Lord's going to give
him this reward. You know, some people say, well, I'm going to
get this crown, that crown, another crown. And they're waiting to
get up there and get the rewards. They're going to have a bigger
mansion than somebody else is going to have. And they talk
about laboring in the kingdom of God. But you know what the
language of the scriptures is? Salvation is of mercy. Salvation is of grace. You know
the only person who got a reward in the scriptures? was our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. And you know what His reward
is? It's us. And when we get there, we're
going to be His reward. When I lay my trophies down,
you ain't got no trophies. What trophies have you got? What
trophies do I have? Oh, listen, the language of salvation
is mercy. Paul said, I obtained mercy.
I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was injurious,
but I obtained mercy. That publican, after that old
Pharisee started praying and bragging about himself before
God, that publican said, Oh Lord, smote on his heart and said,
be merciful to me, the sinner. And Paul said, the Lord grant
mercy under the house of Onesiphorus. Oh, listen, beloved. Titus said, according to his
great mercy, the Lord has saved us. And I tell you that the people
want to bargain with God. I talked to a fellow the other
day, got religion in jailhouse. He said, I got religion and I
got saved in jail. He said, everybody gets religion
in jail. You don't get jailhouse religion.
And a lot of folks get religion on the battlefield. Oh, listen,
I tell you, everybody, almost everybody gets religion when
they're in a war, when they're in a battle. Lord, if you'll
just let me get home, let me see my mama again. Oh, please
let me go home, see my mama, see my daddy. If you'll just
let me go, when I get there, I'll serve you. They get home,
they done forgot God. Oh my, Lord, if you'll just heal
my, my baby's sick. Please heal my baby, and I'll
start going to church. Oh, listen. That's not the way salvation
works. There ain't no bargaining. There ain't striking no bargains
with God. There ain't no promises that you can make God. I know
one thing, they said, let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace that we may have time mercy in the time of need. And I'll tell you something about
God. And you know this, God is not now, was not and is not now
and never will be indebted to the sinner in any way. He'll
never owe anybody anything. And I know that anything short
of being judged and being condemned and being cast away, anything
short of that's mercy. Now listen, the king said, Is
there anybody I can show some mercy and pity to? Is there anybody
here today that God could show some mercy and pity to? Huh? I'll show mercy, and I'll tell
you what, you're talking about good news. That's good news for
me. That's good news for me. Let me give you another one.
Down here in verse 4. I think it's verse 4. No, yeah,
no, in verse 3 again. And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet." King, kindness,
and lame. Lame on both feet. What in the
world does this tell us about? This describes Mephibosheth and
his condition. He can't get up and come to the
king. King got to go get him. King got to fetch him. King got
to go after him. And look over here in 2 Samuel
4, in verse 4. Look what happens here. Oh, he was lame. That's us. That's
us. We was crippled. We became lame
through a fall just exactly like he did. And through the fall
of Adam. And look what it said in 2 Samuel
4, 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son. that was lame of his
feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jethreel. 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. And you know how we became lame
on both of our feet? Wherefore, as by one man, one
man, Adam, sin came into this world, And death passed upon
all men. Why? Because of all sin. Where
did we sin at in Adam? Where did we fall at in Adam?
How can God judge us for our sin in Adam? Why did we grow
up to be sinners? Because we're related to Adam.
How did we grow up to be rebels? Because we're related to Adam.
And so by one man's disobedience, we were all made sinners. So
by the obedience of one, shall we all be made righteous. By
one man, we lost everything, and by another man, we restored
everything. By one man's disobedience, we
all fell and became sinners. By one man's obedience, our Lord
Jesus Christ, we all became obedient and became righteous by one man's
obedience. Huh? Oh, listen, you know, there's
three R's in the scriptures. And let me give them to you.
You all probably know them. Man's ruined. That's lame. He's lame. he's crippled, he's
crippled, he's crippled in his mind, he's crippled in his heart,
he's crippled on his feet, he's crippled in his will, he's crippled
in every aspect of his being and he cannot undo what happened
to him in that fall, he can't undo it. He can't undo it. Oh, Evan, you know what God said
about man? That's why he destroyed the earth
with the flood. Every imagination of the thoughts of man was only
evil. How often? Continually. And we know people like that
today, ain't it? You know, even us as believers, what goes through
our brains is awful. So you imagine what it's like
for somebody who don't know God. Huh? And I tell you more without
the scriptures talks about of being without natural affection. And do you know what else it
says about us? We have the poison of snakes under our lips. Oh
my, do you know what this tongue, how the danger, the poison that's
in this tongue? The poison that's under these
lips? The thing that comes out of our mouths? The things that
we say about God, the things that, you know, we, there's enough
poison in our lips, in our tongue, to absolutely destroy somebody. We can destroy their character.
We can destroy their reputation. We can absolutely have so much
poison in us that we're like a, you know, a baby, they say,
well, you know, a little old baby copperhead, about that long. You say, it can't hurt nothing.
Let him bite you and find out. And that's the way it is with
this tongue. We got enough poison in our that we are trying to
absolutely kill God if we could with it. Use his name in vain. Use it as a cuss word. Use it
as a byword. Use it to tow our hatred for
God to show our hatred for one another. Show our hatred for
racists. Show our hatred for people that's not like us. Pride of race, pride of grace,
pride of face, pride of place. And what in the world's a man
had to be proud about? One worm bragging on another
worm? Oh, listen, and having eyes full
of adultery. I'll tell you what, the eyes
running here and yonder looking after everything, but what, looking
to everybody but God. And that's why God said, your
thoughts are not my thoughts. You don't even think like I do. Oh, my thoughts are higher than
the heavens. You can't even get your thoughts
above your head. Can't get them out of your heart.
Can't get them out of your mind. My thoughts are above the heavens. And you know what our Lord said?
This is again, this is the kicker. He says, you will not come to
me. that you might have life, your
will. Oh my. And then look where he
said he was at. Where's this, where's this, where's
this, where's this man at? Where's this Mephibosheth at?
And that down said, and down here in verse four, first, second,
second Samuel nine. And he said, he said, where is
he? The king said, where is he? Oh, he's in the house of Mekiah,
the son of Amel in Lodibar. What's Lodivard? That's a place
where there ain't no pasture. Ain't no grass. There ain't no
bread. It's a desert place. It's a desolate
place. And that's where we are. We're
like the prodigal son was. We're broke. We're hungry. We're in the pig pen. We're on
the dung hill. And we can't get out. And we
can't get up. And we can't do anything. but
sit on the dunghill and live in the hogpen. But look what
happens now. Here's the fourth word. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of the people. Oh, I heard David Edmondson preach
this other day about Jack Shanks talk about fetching grace. Well,
this is fetching grace. And the king says, sit and fetched
him. Festive Not only where he lived
but from where he lived not only in the condition is in oh You
see this key this key purpose to show mercy to someone of Saul's
house and You know what he did. He said his infections on this
Mephibosheth Mephibosheth oh my And you know
something else Saul was an enemy of King David He tried to destroy
David time and time and time and time again. And one thing
the kings do, and they still do it over in the Eastern nations,
in the Mideast, if there's any enemy that you've got of a person's
house, you kill every male child you can get your hands on so
he won't come back and get you later. And that's why they killed
all the males. Because they knew that they had
vengeance in their heart, they was an enemy and they'd grow
up and they were going to get even with you. But that ain't the way God does.
Oh, we was all enemies. But he said, God said, go fetch
him. He said his servant where Mephibosheth
lived, and he called him, and listen to me, he had to bring
him because he couldn't come by himself. He couldn't walk
over there. Oh, the Lord of glory determined
to show mercy. Let me tell you something, God
is love. Ain't that what the scripture
said? God is love. And he could not have damned
everybody for love demands expression. If you got love, it has to be
expressed. And since God is love, His love
must be expressed. And you know where love is expressed
at? It has an object. Love has an object. In this particular
instance, the more unworthy the object, the greater the glory
of love is shown. And the more unworthy an object
is, the greater the love and mercy that's manifested towards
it. You know, when we were yet without strength, In due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. And God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, what glory. Oh, you know
how God said, I'm gonna show you my love. I'm gonna commend
my love to you. I want you to understand the
depth of my love for sinners. He said, I'm gonna commend it
to you that while you're sinners and you are sinners, you're lame,
you can't come, you're dead and you're corrupt. He said, but I'm gonna commend
my love to you. I'm gonna show you how much I
love you. I'm gonna give you my son and
he's gonna die for you while you're yet a sinner. And that's what David's done
here. The Lord set his affection on you and I. And the scripture
says, he took not on him the nature of angels. What did he
do? He took on him the seed of Abraham.
He became one with us in the likeness of sinful flesh. And
oh, beloved, he sent his son, bless his holy name. He sent
his son into this world to do what? To be our savior. He ain't gonna try to save. He
ain't gonna make an effort to save. He's not gonna try to do
his best to save. He sent Him to be a Savior. And
if He's a Savior, there is gonna be people saved. The very fact
that He's called a Savior tells you that He's gonna save. And I tell you what, and here's
the thing. He came where we were, where we are, and became what
we are, Our Lord Jesus Christ did and he worked out for us
a redemption that would satisfy God and put away all of our sins
and make us acceptable in the sight of God once and for all.
And then as King David here says, sin and fetched him, the Holy
Spirit, God sent the Holy Spirit to go and fetch us. He sent him
to fetch us. Oh, Paul said it like this, when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and
listen to this, and called me by His grace. Huh? Before you was formed in the
belly, I knew you. Huh? Let me show you something
over here in 1 John 1. Look with me in 1 John 1. Let
me show you something. Here's, here's the way this works.
I believe there's a pretty good, this is a good illustration of
the way this works. Philip said, you know, I found
him, look what he says here. In verse 45, 1 John chapter 1
verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses, and the law,
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
Now, how does it say here that he found Jesus of Nazareth? Moses wrote about it. Well, how
does it say here that he found him? Well, look back up there
in verse 43, and it'll tell you. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Phila, Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith
unto Philip, follow me. And then Philip went and said,
we. That's the way it works. He finds
us, and then we say, oh my, we found him. Philip went and said,
we found him. But you look at verse 33, and
it says that the Lord Jesus findeth Philip. He found Philip before
Philip said, I found him. That's the way it works. We say,
oh, listen, I know that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God.
How do we know? Because he first found us. Oh,
my. Go and fetch him, David said.
And that's what the Holy Spirit does for her. Oh, that's what
he does for us. He comes and fetches us. He calls
us. And I'll tell you something. Oh my when he calls you when
he calls you He gives he gives a call that
works you can't find any place in the scriptures where he didn't
call somebody and they didn't come Zacchaeus come down out of that
tree he come out the tree Lazarus come out of that grave. Lazarus
came out of the grave. He went unto a mountain, called
unto him whom he would. And you know what those he did
call? They went up on the mountain
with him. Oh, hear that voice. Hear that call. There was a young
man, just a young lad, always sat on the front, right front
pew, Mr. Spurgeon said in his congregation.
And he heard Mr. Spurgeon say one time that God
calls his people, and when he calls, you'll hear. And he sat
there, buddy, and he sat on the front row. He said, I want to
be where I can hear and hear good. He said, if God calls,
I want to be there where I can hear him. And he sat on the front
pew, and he just sat and listened attentively. He said, I want
to hear. I want to hear. I want to hear. And oh, let me show you another
word back over here in 2 Samuel. Let me show you another word.
Look what it is. Verse 6 and 7. Now when Mephibosheth, David
sent and fetched him, and that's what God's got to go fetching.
Fetching grace. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, He fell
on his face and did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth? And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness, for thy father's Jonathan's
sake, and restore thee all the land that thou saw thy father,
and thou shalt be bred at my table continually. And he bowed
himself and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest
look upon such a dead dog? as I am." Oh, Mephibosheth was
afraid. He was afraid. Man, the king
had power of life and death in his hand. He had power. He knew that he was Saul's grandson. He knew that he was a rightful
heir to Saul's throne. But David was the king now. Saul
wasn't. Saul was dead. And he fell on
his face. He bowed himself. And then he
says, oh, why do you want to look upon such a dead dog as
I am? Have you ever felt like that
before the presence of God? Oh my, fell on his face. And that's what the scripture,
all the preachers, they stand up for God. God said, get down. Stand up for Jesus. Our Lord
Jesus said, Get down. Everybody you find that was saved
was at the feet of Christ or at the feet of the King. It's
coming down. It's getting down. It's coming,
as old Scott said, Get down in the dust and make your headquarters
in the dust. And he fell before the King.
Have you ever been here? HAS THE FEAR OF GOD'S WRATH AGAINST
YOU AND YOUR FAMILY OF ADAM? AND YOUR REBELLION, HAS GOD EVER
MADE YOUR SIN TO BE MANIFEST IN YOUR HEART? MADE YOU TO FEEL
YOUR OWN SIN? HAS YOUR SIN GRIPPED YOUR HEART? AND I'LL TELL YOU, A FELLA TOLD
ME ONE TIME, THERE'S A COUPLE OF PEOPLE THAT KNOW THIS, AND
I WAS A PREACHER, I KNOW THAT PREACHES THIS, THAT GOD, GOD
IS NEVER EVER manifested any anger toward his children. I'll
tell you one thing, he'll make you feel your sin. He that hath
the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God, the wrath
of God abides on him. And I know one thing, beloved,
I know that God has his elect and I know God called by his
grace, but he gonna make you understand something, that you
ain't got no right, that you know you're a dog, that you know
you're a sinner, and you'll feel that sin in your heart. And I
tell you, don't get no better as you get older. Have any of y'all got better
with your age? You feel more sanctified, more
holy than you ever did? You still feel like you got to
get down before the Lord? That's one thing, that's the
thing that's against this generation. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. And I tell you, then look what
David said, and he said in verse 7, David said unto him, Fear
not. God will never ever say fear
not to those who fear not, but only those who really fear. If
a man doesn't fear, God will never, he'll never hear say,
God will never, he'll never hear God say fear not. But you know
the only people he says fear not to? Those people that have
fear. And it says there that the David, Bephibosheth fell
on his face and did reverence. Did reverence. Holy and Reverend
is His name. And I tell you what, God, until
God knows the fear, until your heart knows the fear of God,
you'll never fall before the Lord. Never, just won't do it. My mother, I don't know how many
times she told me, she said, what in the world is there to
fear God for? She said, God is love. God is love, what's there to
fear God for? Well, fear him of judgment, fear his wrath,
fear his holiness, fear his justice, fear his righteousness. The wages
of sin is death and you know the only people that can pay
that debt is the Lord Jesus Christ or you. Why don't men fear? And let me
give you another word. I've got to hurry. Let me give
you another word. And he said, and David said unto
him, verse seven, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake. I'll show thee kindness and mercy
for Jonathan's sake. Not because of who you are or
what you've done, but for sake of a Jonathan, for your father,
whom I love. And God shows us mercy for only
one reason. for Christ's sake. Y'all know
the story, I know you do, about David and Jonathan. Saul despised
David and wanted to destroy him. But Jonathan and David made a
covenant. You can read about it in 1 Samuel
1 18 and 2 Samuel, 1 Samuel 20. And they made a covenant between
one another. And David and Jonathan said this, he says, when I'm
gone, please, please, show kindness unto my house for my sake. And David did for Jonathan's
sake, and that covenant that they made and that love they
bore to one another. And everything that David did
for Meshivatheth has for the sake of Jonathan whom he loved.
And all that God does for us, all that God does for us is for
the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't that right? For Christ's
sake. God hath forgiven you for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. Everything
God does for us is for Christ's sake. If we're blessed today,
it's for Christ's sake. If God let us hear His voice
today, it's for Christ's sake. If God showed any grace to us,
it's for Christ's sake. If God keeps us in our right
mind, it's for Christ's sake. And when we go to glory, we'll
go there because of Christ. God gave us righteousness for
Christ's sake. We have nothing that God ever
done for us except for Christ's sake. He made us accepted. We're at in the beloved. I love the grace of God. I love the fact that God does
something for me because of somebody else. And because if he dealt
with me because of who I am and what I've done, I would have
been in hell years and years and years. I've done been in
hell long ago. But for Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake, I'm enabled to preach today. For Christ's sake, God gives
me a right mind and teach me the scriptures. And then look
what else it said here in verse 9 and 10. Then the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given, oh, I love
that word, given. I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and all his house. There therefore
thy son and thy servant shall till the land for him, and shall
bring in the fruits of thy master's son, that he may have food to
eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shall eat bread all the way at my table. And oh, he said,
I've given, I have given. Everything that David gave to
him, it was a gift. Everything that we've got, it's
a gift. And he said, all that pertained to the house of Saul,
he was my enemy. And Adam was God's enemy. And he said, I'm going to give
you everything. He got more back than he ever lost. All that we lost in Adam has
been given to us 10,000 times more. He said, I'm going to give
it to you. It's yours. And I'm going to
give you somebody to see that you get it. I'm going to give
you somebody to see that we get it. And then look what else it
said here in verse 13. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did continually eat at the king's table. Continually. Continually. How long did he
sit at the king's table? Continually. And is there ever a promise failed
of the hand of God's blessed word? He said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. We're going to
continually, continually, we're saved, and we continually eat
at the king's table. The king's table. And then let
me show you this in clothing. Continually. Oh, and grateful
that you continually with the Lord. And look what else it said.
And he was lame on both his feet. Two things I want you to see
here. First of all, he still bore the marks of the fall. That
is in my flesh. It's no good thing. But I want
you to know something else. That he's got his feet under
the king's table. And you cannot see, you cannot
see his lameness, the evidences of his fall, sitting at the king's
table. You can't see any evidence. You
know, God don't see any evidence of it. We do, but he don't. Huh? Oh, listen. We sat at the king's
table, and David treated him like there's
nothing, nothing ever wrong. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us to
preach your gospel today. God bless it, our hearts, our
minds, our understanding. Make it effectual. Lord, just
words of a man. Unless you make it effectual.
Unless you drop it in a heart, unless you put the seed there.
Only you can do that. Only you can do that. Do it for
Christ's sake. Amen.