Excuse me, 2 Samuel chapter 9.
I'm sorry, 2 Samuel chapter 9. You know, years ago, we had a
couple of ladies in our churches, they were bosses at some factories
that was down there, and they'd invite folks to come to our services.
And they'll say, well, you know, What do you have? How did you
service?" She said, well, our emphasis is on preaching. Now
if you want to come, of course we're going to sing, but our
emphasis is on preaching. That's the emphasis that we make.
And needless to say, most folks, that's not what they're interested
in. They want everything else but that. And one of my aunts
by marriage said one time, said, I love that new preacher we got.
He tells so many good jokes and he's so funny. Yeah, what's not to like? Comedian,
comedian. All right, let's read the first
13, well the 13 verses of this chapter and God willing I'll
come back and say something about them. And David said, is there
yet any left of the house of Saul that I may show 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, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is. 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. 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 Amel, in Lodibar. Then king David sent and fetched
him 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, Behold, thy servant And David said unto him,
Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy
father's sake, and I 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 should look upon such a dead
dog as I? 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
shall 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 15
sons and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's son. 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 birth feet." You know, it's been over 20 years
since I preached from this particular passage, and I know you're probably
familiar with it, very, very familiar with it. And we can
see in the subject of my message tonight is all of grace, all
of grace. You're talking about Old Testament
story. This is the salvation of, this
is called the salvation of the Lord, and completely and absolutely
of the grace of God with no help from anybody by no way, shape,
form or fashion. And we have three types in this
that I read to you tonight. We have David, he's a picture,
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mephibosheth is a type, picture
of us, sinners. And then this man was saved because
for somebody else, for the sake of another. So that's what we
are. We've got this wonderful King.
Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was King before
He came, He is King when He is here, and He's still King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. And we're still, just like Mephibosheth,
we're in need of a Savior. We're in need of being saved,
always. and then save for the sake of
another. And so let's see this glorious,
glorious illustration of salvation altogether of the grace of God. First of all, I want us to look
at that Bephibosheth was the king's enemy. That's the first
thing that he was, he was the king's enemy. And that's why
he said there in verse one, is there any yet left of the house
of Saul? Saul was an enemy, even Mephibosheth
was an enemy by relationship with another. Mephibosheth was
David's enemy, the king's enemy, even though his grandfather and
his father was enemies of David. Now, his father wasn't, but Saul
sought David, sought to kill him for almost 40 years. He hunted
him down like a partridge. I mean, he hated David. Threw javelins at David, tried
his best to kill David. He'd find out where David was
and he'd have his armies go over there and get him and David would
be gone. They would be gone. So Bephibosheth was the king's
enemy through the relationship of another. And through time
and time and time, that's why he said of the house of Saul,
house of Saul. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, we were all born the king's enemy. You didn't have
to do anything to be the enemy of the king. I didn't, you know,
our Lord Jesus Christ, always king. But he's, you know, I was,
he said, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject
to the law of God. And the king, when he did, you
notice here, the king didn't ask anybody to do anything. He
commanded, everything that was said in this chapter, it was
a command. That's why Ziba said, as thy
king hath commanded. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ is. He gives commandments. A sovereign
does not have to wait for permission to do anything. And the king,
he has the power and he can make a decision. You know, when he
sends out a commandment, it's done. And that's what they said
here. He said, is there any yet left
of the house of Saul? I've got an enemy. Has he got
any children left? Do we got somebody left somewhere?
And I'll tell you, I'll tell you something about Saul. I preached
through these books here a couple of years ago. Saul was an enemy
of God. There's no way in the world he
could have knew God. First thing was that he hated
David with a passion. And David was the man after God's
own heart. God's only said that about anybody
in the Scriptures other than his son twice about David. And David was the anointed king
of Israel. And Saul found that out and he
said, I got to destroy this man. Well, he was waiting on Samuel
to come up to offer a sacrifice. He said, well, listen, Samuel
ain't going to show up, so I'm going to offer one myself. Kings
don't offer sacrifices. The only one who can offer sacrifices
is a priest, one appointed by God. So he decided to offer his
own sacrifice. Then God said, I want you to
go down and kill the Malachites, and I don't want you to leave
any member of the Malachite in the tribe of Malachite living.
I even want you to kill their cattle. He got down there and he started
looking at all them big fine sheep. Look at them big fat cattle. He said, oh my. I said, why kill
them? He carried them back. Then Samuel
came up to him and said, what's this bleeding that I hear? He said, and then you know what
he did? This is what a king's enemy does. He said, it wasn't
me, it was the people that made me do it. That's why we always
got an excuse, don't we? Always got an excuse. But oh
my, then look at me to tell you something else about. He was
the king's enemy. And then he said on his left
of the house of Saul that I may show kindness unto him for Jonathan's
sake. And then the king, when Ziba
came and he asked Ziba, he said there in verse three, he said,
Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame
on both feet. Well, how in the world did he
become lame on both his feet? How did He become lame on both
His feet? Through a fall. Through a fall. You look with me over here in
2 Samuel 4. In verse 4. You know, He's lame on both feet. And look what it said here. 2
Samuel 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, when they both were slain out
of Jezreel. And his nurse took him up because
he said, boy, they're going to come get him too. They'll kill
him. He's one of Saul's children,
grandsons. And she made haste to flee that
he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. He became lame through a fall.
And you know how you and I became lame? Through a fall. And you
know, why do we call it a fall? When Adam sinned, why do we call
that a fall? Well, Adam stood up here, God
made him, and every time God done something, He said, it's
good, it's good, it's good. Then He created Adam out of the
dust of the earth, and there he stood, a man, an inanimate
object. He was a man standing there,
inanimate object, had no life until Christ walked up to him
and breathed in his nostrils and he became a living soul.
He said, let's make him in our image. Well, the thing is that
God gave him one commandment and he was up here walking with
God, commuting with God. He was innocent, come from the
hand of God, made by God, and he was way up here walking and
talking with God, and his wife, deceived by Satan, ate a piece
of fruit, and it didn't hurt her, never had no effect on her. She wasn't the one with the commandment,
don't you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil. He was given to Adam, because he's the head. And so
it never affected his wife and he looked at his wife and said,
see, I told you. It makes you wise. I'm smart
now. It gives me eyes. I can see things
now I never saw. And it tasted so good. Here,
Adam, go ahead. When Adam done it, he went from
way up here all the way down to there. And when he went down to there,
You and I went down with him. Went down with him. And that's
why we call it a fall. Adam stood before God, communing
with God. And now he went to hide from
God. He did deliberately, this was
a deliberate act on his part, to partake of that forbidden
fruit. He fell from the standing of life to death. fell from fellowship
with God to estranged from God, to hiding from God who made him.
And every single son of Adam since then have been affected,
and listen to this, infected with the sin of our father Adam. Let me tell you something. Would
you teach your children to lie? But have you got a child that
don't lie? Huh? You're not teaching your kid
to use bad language. And I'll tell you something else
about them, just to show you how sin has so affected us and
infected us. You leave your house one of these
days and say, now listen, go all over the whole house, but
don't you dare go in that room right there. You know what they're
gonna do? Just as quick as you pull out
the drive, boy, they're gonna go in that room. That shows you
that we was born with rebelliousness, with an enmity in our heart,
with sin in our mind. You don't have to do a thing
in the world to sin, just breathe. How many sins you reckon we commit
in a service? I tell you, I ain't never preached
a message that didn't have sin in it. It's like one fella left
the pulpit and he said, a woman ran up to him and said, I want
to tell you, I want to be the first to tell you that was the
best message I ever heard. She said, you're too late, the
devil's done told me. That's the way it is, ain't it?
He's going to tell us. And we are disobedient, rebellion. The scripture says we love darkness
rather than light. Oh, the poison of Asp is in our
lips. And our Lord Jesus Christ looked
at him and said, you will not, you will not come to me that
you might have life. You won't do it. You won't do
it. You won't do it. Then look what David said down
here in verse four, back over in 2 Samuel 9. So his lame, and
he came lame through a fall, had no ability to walk. No ability
to walk. And look what it said, And the
king said unto him, Where is he? Where is he? I'll tell you something about
our king. He don't have to ask where we
are. You know, God said, Adam, where are you? God knew exactly
where Adam was. He wanted Adam to know where
he was. He wanted Adam to know where he was. And that's the
way it is here with David. David, I'll tell you what, he
said, where is he? And you know what, the first
thing he said, oh, he's off in a far country. Said he's in the
house of Maker, the son of Emiel in Lodibar. He was in a far,
far country. And Lodibar, of course, it means
a place of no bread, no pasture. You can't live there. You can't,
there's no bread there. There's no comfort there. There's
no encouragement there. There's nothing to eat there.
And I tell you, he was like a sheep without a shepherd, a son without
a father. And you know it's like the prodigal
son. That prodigal son, he took everything that his father had.
And this is us by nature. God gave us everything that we
have. Every breath we breathe, He gives
us. Every heartbeat, He gives us. If we ain't got anything
that He didn't give us, even if we was unconverted. He took
his father's living, and away he went. He said, I'm gonna be
independent from daddy. I'm gonna be independent from
my mama. I'm gonna go out in the world and I'm gonna enjoy
myself. I don't want to go to church.
I don't want to have anything to do with anybody. I'm gonna
go out here and have me a great time. Well, he did. He went out
and I mean, he spent money. Oh, he just spent money and he
went to having a big time, running around with women, drinking,
having him a big time. And then all of a sudden, he's
broke. Run out of money. Well, I'm going
to have to find me a job. Well, there wasn't no jobs to
be found. I got a bunch of hogs that need to be fed. So he went
over there and he started shucking corn, feeding them hogs, feeding
them hogs. And they wasn't paying him enough
to feed him, so he started eating that stuff he was feeding the
hogs. And when he was doing that, his
clothes had got all rotten on him. Clothes got all stinking
on him. And he got to thinking. And the scripture said, he said,
My father, the servants in my father's house, got bread to
eat and spare. What in the world am I doing
here? And he said, I'm going to go back to my father's house.
And you know what his father was doing? He was up on top of
the house. He's walking back and forth across
that. Looking, looking, looking. And he saw a little dot on the
horizon out there. He kept watching that dot and
he got closer and closer and closer. Oh, that's my son. That's
my son. He run out there and fell on
his neck and kissed him. And you know what his son said
to him? He said, Father, I've sinned against heaven and I've
sinned in your sight. Make me as one of your hired
servants." You know what his father said to him? He said,
this my son was dead, now he's alive. This my son was lost,
and now he's found. And he said, I'll tell you what
you do. Took him in the house, go kill me a big old fine fatted
calf. I want him to eat the best beef
we got. And he got up there, boy, and then his daddy said,
Get, I want that best robe over there. I want the best they got
we got here. And now listen to this. He said,
now tell him to stretch out his arm and help him put in his head.
Hold it for him so he can get it. No, no. The father said,
put it on him. And that's what God has to do,
has to put it on us. Then he said, bring some shoes. I want the best shoes in the,
we got. Put them shoes on his feet. Service
wears, go barefooted. Sons wear shoes. and then go
bring a ring, put it on his hand. I want you to know that we're
in a covenant together. And boy, oh boy. And that's the
way it was here with David. He's coming home. He's coming
home. Oh, he was broke, hungry, far
off. If he had said, go over there
and tell Mephibosheth, to get to me the best way he knows how.
You reckon the fifth chef would have made it? Huh? You know, if he had a win,
he'd had to crawl. He'd had to crawl. Couldn't walk. Couldn't walk. And then look
what it says up here in verse three. And he was sought out by the
king 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 I tell you,
the king, and the king said, and that's what you see how the
king, and the king said. Whenever you, the scriptures
tells us that the, where the, where the voice of the king is,
the word of a king is, there's power. And here's King David
when he says something, it's got all the authority, it's got
all the power, he is the total sovereign in that place. He didn't say, he didn't ask
for no counsel. He said, what do you think ought
to do with anybody left in the house of Saul? He didn't ask
for no counsel. He didn't ask for no corporation.
He didn't ask for him to, you know, tell him, you know, we
need to strike a bargain here. If he'll do this, then I'll do
that. And if he'll make a move here,
I'll do that. You know what I call that? I call that a checker player. That's what God is. To most people,
He's a checker player. You know, He plays checkers.
Well, listen. God's made this move. Now, it's
up to you to make your move. And God's going to move, as you
know. And you make a move, and I'll make a move, and we'll make
a move. And after a while, whichever one of us makes the last move,
that's the way it's going to come out. Now, that's, listen. God's not a checker player. No, no. No, no. All they needed to know was the
King said. And that's what we get up and
say, the King said. You know, I'm going to stop preaching
and tell you a story. I was years and years ago, I
went to what they called a fundamental, premillennial, independent, Baptist
even air-conditioned Baptist church. I got there and they'd have me
preach pretty often. And I was not a pre-millenniast
at all. You know, they'd try to explain
it to me what it was and that's neither here nor there. But anyway,
I got, you know, they say that Christ was going to be a coming
king and he'd set up his reign for a thousand years on this
earth. So that means he's going to get off his throne in glory,
come down here and take an earthly kingdom, sit on an earthly throne,
and have people gather around him and offer sacrifices again. And I thought that's the craziest
thing I've ever heard. And they always talked about
the coming king. Well, I got up and I preached
from Acts 17. where Paul stood up and said that there is another
king, even one Jesus, and I preach that Christ is king right now
and that you've got no options. Either you bow to him or you
reject him. Either you come to him or he's
the judge of all the earth. He's the one that's got all the
power and all the authority. Well, I'll tell you what, the
next Sunday, they said, this man's a heretic, And we want him out of here.
How many are going to vote? Even little bitty kids raise
their hands. I was much better off out than I was in. But that's
what I'm talking about. They talk about a coming king.
If Christ not, David the king said, And you go through the
scriptures, and when Christ did something, He didn't ask people
to do it, He commanded them. Even when He fed the 5,000 or
4,000, He said, He commanded them to sit down. He said, 50,
I want 50 in that row, and 50 in that row, and 50 in this row. He didn't say, would you all
please sit down now? I'd love for you to sit down.
Oh, would you, Harry, please, for me, would you sit down? He
said He commanded them to sit down. Christ don't ask people
to do anything. God don't ask people to do anything.
God issues commands. And that's what the preachers
did. They said, Thus saith the Lord. And that settled the issue
right then and there. Oh, that settled the issue. And
I tell you, Mephibosheth... Let me tell you something. Here's
David having this conversation with Ziba. And you know what?
Mephibosheth didn't have a clue that death talked about him.
He didn't know what was going on. His salvation was being talked
about and being done and was going to happen and Mephibosheth
didn't have a clue. And ain't that the way it was
with us? We did not know what was going on until We were saved. Till God saved us by His grace.
Mephibosheth's sitting there. He's over there. They're over
here talking about Him. David's talking about showing
kindness. David's talking about saving
Him. David's talking about doing good by Him. The king is. And
Mephibosheth's sitting over there. He's either laying down or sitting
in a chair because he can't walk. And I'll tell you something else.
He wasn't seeking the king. He didn't know. He was scared
to death about the king. He said, if a king ever comes
after me, since I'm his enemy and I'm Saul's granddaddy, he
said, grandson, there's no telling what he'd do. He was totally
and absolutely unaware of what was going on. Let me show you
something over here in 1 Samuel 2. Go all the way over to 1 Samuel
2. You know, And that's the way
it is with us. I mean, you know, when Job, Satan
and God had a conversation two times, Job did not have a clue
that they was having this conversation. But it was about Job, and Job
was the subject of the conversation, and Job, what happened to him
was the result of those conversations between God and Satan. And God
and His Son and the Holy Spirit And I don't know how else to
say it, they entered into a covenant before the world ever began.
Before God ever created a star, before he ever said, let there
be a sun, God gave us grace in Christ before he ever done anything
in this world, he gave us grace in Christ before he ever, ever
said, let there be light. Huh? Now I didn't know anything,
we didn't even exist, the world didn't even exist. But he said,
I'm gonna create me a man. And he's gonna fall, but I'm
gonna create me another man. And this man's gonna be a sinless
man. A holy man, a perfect man, a God-honored man. He's gonna
be the son of God. And I'm gonna make him a man.
And I tell you what, I'm gonna give that man, because I gave
him grace in Christ, I'm gonna give him a people. And what Adam
did, he said, I'm gonna restore that which I took not away. We lost life in Adam. We got
life in Christ. We lost light in Adam and went
into darkness. Christ came and he's our light. We lost our standing with God
and in Christ, we've got a standing, perfect standing. Oh my. But look what it said here in
1 Samuel 2 and verse 6. This is what God does. This is
what we're talking about now. The Lord killeth. The Lord killeth. God come into your home, take
somebody out of your home, it's the Lord that does it. It's not
bad luck. It's not misfortune. He said,
the Lord kills, and the Lord's the only one that makes life.
He's the one that brings you down to the grave, and He'll
be the one to bring you up. And the Lord, if you're poor,
He made you that way. If you're rich, He makes you
that way. He'll bring you down, and then
He'll bring you back up. And listen to this. And I love
this right here. He raises the poor. Oh, how poverty
stricken we were. We had nothing. Oh, what did
we got? Oh, we had nothing. He raised
up the poor out of the dust. Lift up the beggar from a dunghill. You know what he does? Here,
get off. I'm going to take, he said, he
lifts them up. He lifts him up and he gets us off that dunghill
and he takes us over here. Oh, here's a bunch of princes.
What? Sit just right down among them.
That's what he did with me. Here I am sitting among a bunch
of princes and princess. Right now, God took me out of
dunghill and let me sit with princes right here. God did that. God did that. Ain't you glad
he did you that way? He picked us up. We were dead and He made us alive. He did it. He did it. Oh, and
then David said this here in verse 5. And I'll tell you, this
has been talked about so many times. And then King David sent
and fetched Him. Fetched Him. That's an old-fashioned
word. Yeah, that's an old-fashioned
word. People used to say that all the time. Would you fetch
me this? The only way I've heard fetch anymore is throw a ball
and fetch! Throw a stick, fetch! But now
people don't say, would you fetch me this? Would you fetch me that?
And they say, would you mind doing this for me? Would you
mind getting that for me? But they used to say fetch. Go fetch
that for me. When you're in town, would you
fetch me this, that, and the other? And I'll tell you. But
he fetched him. And let me tell you something.
David had to go send where he was. But Phibosheth couldn't
come where David was. And you know, here's the thing
about it. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He said this, No man can come
unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. And then
He said, But everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father,
you know what He'll do when the Father teaches you? and God teaches
you and all thy children shall be taught of God." Every single
one of them says, they come unto me. They come to me. They come
to me. Uh huh. And except he draweth. You know what it means to draw?
You know when Peter reached out, when he was in the garden and
he reached and got his sword and drawed his sword, he used
strength to pull that sword. And drawing is the same thing
that God, I say it this way, now you take it, like it, I don't
know, you know, But what I mean when he fetched you, he said
he'd come and get you by the collar, nap of your neck. He said, I'm
going to draw you. And believe me, you're coming.
You're coming. You know you read that the other
day, Lord seek, God says, seek ye my face. You know what we
said when he said that? Lord thy face I seek. That's
the effect you're calling. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. And what did he say? Causes to
approach unto thee. And old David said, listen, Mephibosheth
can't come to me, but I've got the authority, I've got the power,
and I've got the means to bring him to me. Oh, and here's another
thing about him. Here's another thing about him.
When he was brought to David, he was received just like he
was, in his deformity, in his lameness, he was received in
his deformity. And the thing is, is he could
not heal himself, He could not walk himself. He could not change
his relationship with his grandfather Saul, who was David's enemy.
He couldn't walk to David. He was lame on both feet, just
as I am without one plea. Oh, Lord, but that Thy blood
was shed for me. All I say, Lord, O Thou bidst
me come to Thee. Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come,
I come. Oh my. He was received in His
deformity and that's the only way God will take us. He'll take
us on the ground that He puts us on. He puts us as a sinner,
we're going to stand in that position right before Him. And
here comes Mephibosheth, his legs are just little old bitty
things. No strength in them, no ability
in them. And oh, it's like Bartimaeus said by the wayside begging.
And then he heard about Jesus of Nazareth coming. He heard
a big tumult going on. And he knew that when this Jesus
of Nazareth was the son of David. Because why? Because the scriptures
tells us that he was the son of David. God said, I'll raise
up a king to sit on David's throne forever and ever and ever. And
that's Christ. And he said, oh Jesus, the son of David. Have mercy on me. When he said
that, Christ stopped dead in his tracks. Have mercy on me. When you start asking for mercy,
you start seeking mercy, Christ is right there. And he stopped,
and then you know what the next thing says? They told Bartimaeus, be of good
cheer. He commands you to be brought. That's what it said, he commanded
him to be brought. And they went over there and
told old Bartimaeus, said, listen, the master called you. He got
up, couldn't see, blind as a bat, couldn't see a thing. Threw off
that old stinking garment that he had on. Come to the Lord,
said, what would you have me to do? I might be able to see. All right, go on, you can see.
But what I'm saying is this, that he commanded him to be brought.
And David had to go and get Mephibosheth, because Mephibosheth can't come
on his own. And God's got to come and get
us, because we will not come. He's got to make us willing.
And like he said last night, I heard Scott Rich say that I
don't know how many times. He said, he saved me against my
will with my full consent. And I understand that clearly.
I understand that clearly. All right, he is received in
his deformity. And let me tell you something
else. He was received for another's sake. Ain't that what he said
up in verse one? That I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake. In verse seven, that I may show
him kindness for Jonathan's sake. Jonathan, his father's sake.
You know this story, this salvation for Mephibosheth began before
Mephibosheth was ever born. Mephibosheth hadn't been born,
didn't have any idea that he was even going to be born, Jonathan
didn't even. But you know why he was saved? Why David went after him? Why David saved him and David
brought him to himself? It was because there was a covenant
between Jonathan and David. Now look over here with me in
1 Samuel 18. 1 Samuel 18. He was received for
another sake. Look in verse 1. You know, and that's, it was
a covenant between Jonathan and David. And it came to pass when
he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan
was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him, loved
David as his own soul. And Saul took him that day when
Lot let him go no more home to his father's house. And then
Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own
self. Now listen, look what Jonathan
done. David was the rightful king. David was the one that
God anointed king when he was just a boy. And look what it
said here. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was upon him. David, you're the rightful king.
I know, I'm an heir to the throne, but God made you king. He stripped
himself off. He said, I'm gonna strip off
all, I got nothing worth wearing in the presence of the king.
Then look what else he said. Robe was on it and gave it to
David and his garments. You know what he did? He even
gave his sword to David. He said, I'm not gonna be your
enemy never again. I'm not gonna raise a sword against you. Then
he took his bow. And then he took his girdle,
that was his strength. He gave everything to David that
we had on him, that David, you're the rightful king. And I'm giving
myself and everything I've got up to you because of this blessed
covenant. And I tell you what, and that's
the way it was with us. You know what, God saved us for
somebody else's sake. Everything that we got and everything
we know and everything we have and everything we ever received
will be for someone else's sake, be for Christ's sake. Everything
God's ever done for us, every blessing we've ever had, God
does it for Christ's sake. If I'm blessed to preach, if
I'm blessed to understand a verse of Scripture, if I have anything,
it's because for Christ's sake. I've never done anything You
know, people say, well, you need to do this to get a blessing
from God. You need to do that to get a blessing from God. I
tell you what, if God ever gives anybody a blessing in this world,
He does it for Christ's sake. You'll never ever earn a blessing
as long as you live on this earth. God, the only reason He does
anything for anybody is for Christ's sake. Earn a blessing, earn a blessing.
Oh, how could you earn a blessing? God blessed us for Christ's sake. Everything we got, God gave it
to us. Everything we know, God taught
it to us. Everything we ever hoped to have and ever hoped
to enjoy, it was because of another. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. God, for Christ's sake, everything
He's done, I'll tell you a blessing. People say all the time, you
know, that God has got to get, oh, I want a blessing from the
Lord and I want to get close to the Lord so I can get a blessing.
Listen, you can't be closer to God than you are any son. How can you get any closer to
God than being any son? And oh my, Oh, and then that's what he said,
that I may show kindness. Show kindness. Davis said, oh Lord, according
to your love and kindness and your tender mercies, forgive
me of all my iniquities and my transgressions according to your
love and kindness and your tender mercies. Oh, that's what Davis
said. I've got a heart. I've got a
will, I've got a purpose, I've got a love, I've got a tenderness,
and I've got a kindness in me, and I want to show it to this
miserable, wretched, lame person that can't even come. I had to
go get him. Oh my, mercy, pity, grace. And let me show you something
else he did. When he got in David's presence,
took his true place, took his true place, he knew what he was.
Look what it says down here in verse 6, Now when Mephibosheth
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David,
the first thing he did, he fell on his face, and I talked about
this last night, did reverence, you know, feared the Lord. He
done reverence, he bowed down to him and had reverence for
David. David had all the power. David
had all the authority. And here he comes. And he said,
God bowed down with his face and did reverence. And he said,
David, David said, Befibisheth. And he said, Behold thy servant.
And you know why David said the first thing? It said unto him,
Fear not. You know why he said, Fear not?
When he was probably sent over and brought to David, the first
thing he thought was, David's going to kill me. That's the
only reason he could have me over there. He said, I'm the
only one left of the house of Saul and the king is finally
going to settle all the scores. He going to clean house. He going
to kill me. That's the first. And that's
why David said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And if he hadn't
said the next words, if all he had said is fear not, he'd have
been nervous as a cat. He said, oh my, when's the axe
gonna fall? When's the axe gonna fall? When's he gonna chop my
head off? But look what he said. He said, fear not. I'm gonna
surely, surely, surely, I love that word, surely. I'm gonna
surely show thee kindness for Jonathan, listen to this, your
father's sake. And oh my. And then look what he said. And
he sat down there and said, I'm gonna restore everything to you.
And in verse eight, he bowed himself and said, what is thy
servant that thou shouldest look? And oh my, a dead dog. That's what he said, I'm a dead
dog. I'm not even living. I'm like a dead dog. And I'll
tell you, there's nothing more stinking than an old rotten,
corrupt flesh. It's just whether dog, anything
else stinking. That's what he said. He said,
I'm a dead dog, a dog such as I. Oh my. And you know, you know
when he had a view of himself, a right view of himself? When
he come into David's presence. He did not have a right view
of himself until he got in David's presence. And we don't have a
right view of ourselves until we see Christ. In light of Christ,
we had nothing. In light of one another, you
say, I'm as good as you. Well, that don't amount to much,
does it? That's what people say. I'm as good as them. One time
there was these guys working on our house back years and years
ago, and I was having a meet, and I was going off to preach
that night, and I told them both of them was up on ladders, and
I said, fellas, why don't you all come out and hear me preach
tonight? They said, oh my goodness, that's just, I said, I don't
care a thing in the world about going to church, it's just too
many hypocrites. You know what I told them? I
said, two more won't make any difference. And don't you know, they come
to the service the next night. Two more won't make a bit of
difference. You know, and that's right, ain't it? Two more hypocrites
ain't gonna bother us. But that's what David, and that's
what Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, when he saw the Lord, that's
when he said, I'm undone. It's not seeing your sin and
then going to Christ. You won't see your sin until
you see Christ. And I tell you what, the more
you see of Him, the more you learn of Him, the worse you get,
the worse you get. And then let me show you this.
I've got to hurry. I'm preaching too long. I'll tell you what, I haven't
preached this in 20 years, so I'll tell you what, I'm going
to make up for lost time. I'm going to make up. Is that all right? I have more fun. I enjoy it. I enjoy preaching. I enjoy preaching
to folks who enjoy it. Listen, I'm happy. I'm a happy,
joyful person. Especially when you start talking
about grace and what God does and the King does. And then look
what he said, what he said here in verse 7 and 8 and 9 and 10. He said, Mephibosheth received
more in David than he lost in his father Saul. And he said
there in verse 7, I'm going to restore thee all the land of
Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
And then he said down in verse nine, the king called Uzziah
the Saul's servant and said unto him, I've given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to the house of Saul. And he says, now you
fellas go out and do everything that you can till the land, bring
in all the fruit. I want you to do everything that
you do. I want you to do it for Mephibosheth. He ain't going
to do nothing. I'm going to provide for him.
You're going to do it. You're going to do it. And I'll
tell you, I've given all of it, all of grace. Everyone's gonna
till the land for him. Everyone's gonna, they're gonna
bring in all the fruits. But look what he said there now.
And David said this, and down in verse 12, excuse
me, let me see. Where's it at there? It's the
king's son. The king's son, let me, where's
he? Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. Ephesiach,
down in verse 11, then says, Ziba unto the king, according
to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants,
he hath commanded, so shall thy servant do, and he shall eat,
and this is what David said, he shall eat at my table, and
listen to this, as one of the king's sons. He didn't even have a father,
didn't have nobody to do anything, he says, Now he gonna eat my
table. He gonna be one of my sons. Gonna
be one of my sons, huh? And I tell you, he went from
not having anything to having fellowship with the king. And
this says there in verse 12 and 13, listen to what it says now.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in verse 13, dwelt in Jerusalem for he
did eat continually at the king's table and was lame on both his
feet. He dwelt with the king in Jerusalem.
He ate continually at the king's table. And when he's at the table,
eating at the king's table, he was still lame on his feet, but
you couldn't see it. Because he had his feet under
the king's table. And as long as we were with the king, and
we sat at the king's table, ain't a thing in the world wrong with
us. And we just ate at the king's table. and we're going to hear
that from it again here just in a few minutes. Oh, what a Savior, what a Savior.
Lord bless you.