I love that song. I feel like this happens more often than not, but as I listen to that song, in that first verse, I think, man, I've got to say something about that when I stand up. Then the second verse comes, and I'm like, no, no, I need to say something about that. I'll stand upon His merit. And it keeps going, and then it gets to the end, and it says that the Lamb is all the glory.

What a thought. If you would open your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 9. 2 Samuel chapter 9. I recently have been living in these Old Testament pictures. And the one I'm going to look at this morning may be my favorite. In this moment, it's my favorite. So much so that There are times I wish that every time I stood up that this is what I could preach from with David and Mephibosheth.

It's that because this is a story that speaks of our God and King through His sovereign grace and mercy alone has pity upon a lame sinner and that's done through the covenant that He has with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's where I find my hope my peace and my comfort. And I pray that that's why we're all here this morning. For the comfort that comes from the sovereign grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that's what we've come for because that's all I've got. That's all I have. Let's read these verses in 2 Samuel chapter 9.

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 in 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 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. 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 Lodabar. Then king David sent and fetched him out of the house of Makar, the son of Amel, from Lodabar.

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 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, shalt 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, shalt eat bread away always 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 servant, so shall thy 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.

Saul was the people's king. He had been rejected by God for disobedience and rebellion. The people wanted a king. God had given them judges and said, I will give you a king. But the people said, we want one right now. Give it to us now. We have to have a king. So the Lord said, OK, you can have this man. And through his disobedience and rebellion, he was rejected.

And when the time came, David, who had been anointed of God, a man after God's own heart, He reigned over all of Israel at this time. One of David's first acts as king was to inquire of the house of Saul. Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?

Throughout history, and we see it in the scriptures plenty of times, that when A new king took over, a new family became in power, their first act. And what many would describe as the most important they could do as a king is they must destroy the house of the old king. This is something that to us, it seems seems pretty harsh, you know, to go find all the men, the women, the children, all of them of this other house and destroy them completely. But at this time, not only was it accepted, it was understood the most likely trouble to come to a new king would come from the family of the old king. And so what would happen here is David, by his right and his power, he would destroy that whole house.

But because of a covenant that he had made in the past, a covenant that he had made with Jonathan, the old king's son, before Mephibosheth was even born, he made this covenant that he would have kindness. upon his family. And the story that we don't have time to go into of Jonathan and David's relationship is one of such love between these two.

And in this story, I'll go ahead and say this. David is a picture of God. Jonathan is of the Lord. And we get to be Mephibosheth in this. That sounds really tough. We get to be the lame The crippled one who is run away and has nothing. But throughout this story at the end, if you can see it, boy, it's a glorious thing to be Mephibosheth. Apart from the king in this story, Mephibosheth is the one who gets everything. But Jonathan was the son of Saul. And David, despite being so great, I'm sorry, Jonathan and David's relationship came through David's actions with Saul.

Saul was the rightful king. David was the anointed king of God. And we know all the story of David and Goliath and how David continually did things for Saul. David interpreted dreams of him, helped him out. Saul, through Goliath, I think that was what I did here last time, for 40 days Saul was humiliated. And this boy David shows up and saves the day, saves his kingdom for him, and does all this.

And through that, Jonathan, it says, Jonathan's heart was knit with David. He loved him as his own soul. That's a love that I can't comprehend. He loved him more than he loved himself. And throughout all of David's travails that Saul, the king, tried to, every way he tried to kill David, he did everything he could. And Jonathan constantly warned David and he chose David over his own family, over his father. And one day in a field, he took David out in the field and he said to him, I know you're the rightful king.

We're all going to die. Saul, myself, our family's going to die. But David, please, would you, once you've killed all your enemies, once you're on the throne and the most powerful man in the world, would you please have mercy, kindness upon my family?

And this covenant is such a picture, I'm getting ahead of myself, but this is a covenant of between God and the Son. God chose a people, gave them to His Son. He chose a people. But the only way these people could be saved was by the work of the Son. You talk about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and salvation through that, and that's this story.

And in this, I want to look verse by verse, just quickly, because I don't want to... There's so much in this. I said I could preach out of this every Sunday. There's so much in this. But I just want to highlight some things so at the end of this, maybe we can find comfort in this. Maybe we can, the Lord will make us to understand it's such a great thing to be Mephibosheth.

And that's only because of who the king is. Look in verse 1 here. 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? I'm going to show someone kindness or mercy because of Jonathan's sake. Verse 3 says, And the king said. This is important for us to realize this is the word of the king. A powerful word from the king.

David in this moment is the most powerful man in the world. All of his enemies have been made his footstool. David can do anything he wants. And what does he decide to do? In his first act, one of his first things he does as king is he inquires, is there someone in the family of Jonathan that I can have mercy upon? Our God is merciful. And because he's the king, what he decides to do is going to be done.

We like to think of ourselves in certain circumstances having a powerful word or authority in our words. I have children that are supposed to listen to everything I say and do it. And despite if I have something to say to them that is out of love, that is for their best interest, it is for their safety, it's for their good, and there's no negative that can come from it. My Word still does not have the power to make them listen to me. It doesn't have the power to make them do what I want them to do, despite being what is best for them.

We don't have that authority, but thankfully, our God does have that authority. In the way David had that authority, David here says, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show kindness? In this request, he is going to find out if there is anybody and he's going to do what he wants with that person. Where the word of the king is there's power, authority and total sovereignty.

There's no council. There's no conference. There's no bargaining. There's no discussion. The king speaks from his sovereign throne and what he decrees, what he declares will be done. Our God is infinitely sovereign over all of His creation. He created us. He reigns in total authority in heaven and in earth. And He will show us this, whether it's in this life or in judgment. Nebuchadnezzar is a great example of this. At his time, he was the most powerful king or man in the earth.

And he had a dream and he was told by Daniel, what does this dream mean? And Daniel said, you know what you're going to do? One day you're going to say, I have done all this of my own will. And when you say that, God's going to strike you down. And of course, I know Nebuchadnezzar and what I would have thought in that moment would be like, well, not now I'm not. Not now that you just told me what's going to happen to me. If I do it, I'm not going to do it now.

Well, however long it was later, one day he woke up and looked around at his kingdom and said, look what I have done. And in the moment, He lost his mind. His fingernails grew as talons. His hair grew as feathers. And he started to eat grass in the field. And it's as if everyone forgot who he was.

And then in the Lord's mercy, because this is what Nebuchadnezzar needed, he opened his eyes. And what did Nebuchadnezzar say among other things? At the end he said, no one can stay the hand of God. He's all-powerful. He's in command. That's what God does. And we ask, don't give me trials, don't give me tribulations, don't put me through these things. But if that's what we need to be shown who He is, that's what we need. That's what we want. So He reigns in total authority in heaven and earth. Our God is sovereign in His providence.

There may be second and third causes, but God is always the first cause of all things. I've told the story many times of going to a funeral of a family member of my wife's, of a young person who killed themselves. And hearing the person stand up and the first thing they said was, God didn't want this to happen. I mean, if that's true, I have no hope, no comfort of any kind and I have nothing. Thankfully, it's not true. God is the first cause behind everything. And we don't see it.

We just know that. The things that happen, you go through a list of some of the people that are going through trials and tribulations. Of just a list of four or five people, we say, everybody in this room right now has a trial and a tribulation they're going through. They do. And if you think you don't, it's coming around the corner really fast. But God is the cause of that. He's the first cause. Our God is sovereign in salvation, in providence, in salvation.

What about Jonah? The Lord said, you've got to go to Nineveh, and you've got to deliver my message. And Jonah thought, you know, I don't think I'm going to go to Nineveh. And he got on a ship, and not only did he not go to Nineveh, he went the opposite way. Well, is there anyone in this room, if you could write down a thousand ways that Jonah would be shown that he needed to go to Nineveh, would anyone have written down, you know what we should do?

We should have a whale swallowing. And for three days he can live in the whale. Would anybody have ever thought that's the way we should do it? No. But through that story and what Jonah learned in it, there's no better way for it to have happened. And that whale spit him out and Jonah came out of that whale and said, I guess I need to go to Nineveh.

It says in the Scriptures, the Lord says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. His authority as the king is he can show grace or mercy to anyone he wants. And we'll see this more, but I want to put it out here right now. When he says, I will be gracious or I will show mercy, what that means is he's going to be gracious and he's going to show mercy. And that person who's the object of it, they're going to get the mercy and they're going to get the grace.

It's a gift of God. I had someone recently tell me that I needed to clarify that to make sure people realize, because sometimes people think a gift is something you got to receive, or you got to open it up, whatever. That's not how this gift worked. This gift is a work of the Spirit that is put in you.

When He declares you're going to get mercy, the mercy is all of you. It's what you get from him. You can't turn it down. You can't get away from it. So it's the king said this, and in verse 3, And the king said, Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? This word kindness is mercy. David the king was a man of mercy. The house of Saul was David's enemy, as we've said, and they deserve no mercy or pity. But David found it in his heart to show mercy to someone. Our God is holy, righteous, and just, but He is merciful. In this phrase, He delights to show mercy, that word delight is not one I use often. I don't think of that. It's not something I normally use in my vocabulary. But do you know the time that I use it the most?

There is a dessert that my sister makes that's called caramel delight. And every time we have a holiday, she'll send out a message or call or we'll talk and she'll be like, is there anything you want for Thanksgiving? And I will start to open my mouth and she hadn't had a period there. She'd had a comma and I almost tried to interrupt her, but she finishes her sentence with, don't worry, I'm making caramel delight. And it makes me smile every time. And I'm so excited about it. And there's all these desserts. It's all I want to think about is caramel delight. I want it.

That word that the Lord Jesus Christ delights to show mercy is something to think that our Lord not just does show mercy to his children, it's not just that he wants to show them mercy, but it gives him delight. It's a joy to him. Now, everyone here has people in their lives, whether it's a loved one, a child, whoever it was, that we really do enjoy doing things for them. You know, I don't do things for my children out of obligation. Now, there are times I do that because I don't want to do some things, but there are moments where I enjoy seeing them happy. I enjoy moments where I can do something for them. I delight in it.

But to think that our Lord in glory, that He is excited, that's what He joys in. To give us mercy, to be gracious to us. That's an amazing thought. Something that we can't wrap our heads around, but one day we'll see. And part of why we don't understand that is because Adam's race, our race, is a fallen, rebellious race that deserves no mercy.

God is not indebted to sinners, but he has determined to show mercy to some. This story of David and Mephibosheth. You know, I've never, not one single time have I ever looked at this story, thought about this story, and thought to myself, you know, what David should have done in this situation was what he did. I've always thought David was the one who was doing the kind thing to Mephibosheth. We as sinners, we have no claim on anything. We don't deserve it. We don't have any merit. We don't have anything. But the king decided that he wanted to do something for someone that they didn't deserve.

The language of religion nowadays is merit, rewards, service, all these things. But the language of true redemption is just mercy. That's all it is. It's mercy. It says in the scriptures, I obtained mercy. Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. My pastor Gabe uses this little short story to explain mercy all the time.

And I love it that there was a young man who had been found guilty. He was standing before the judge and the judge was about to sentence him for his just awful heinous crime. And he was there. He was guilty. There's no way around it. And the judge stood up before I declare the sentence. Is there anyone who'd like to say anything?

And the father of that young man who was guilty stood up and he said, Judge, Is there any place for mercy in this? And the judge said, sir, your son doesn't deserve mercy. Into which the father said, if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. Mercy is something that we don't deserve.

We need to see and we'll look more at Mephibosheth here. The important part of understanding who Mephibosheth is, and what he is, and by the depths of him, what kind of person he is, is an understanding that we have no right or claim to mercy. It's mercy because we don't deserve it.

Verse 3, keep going. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show him the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. You know, this story would work fine if Mephibosheth wasn't lame. I mean, it really would. You would look at this and still think David could, you know, by right as a king and the power, he could go kill Mephibosheth or he could do what he wanted to him. But the fact Mephibosheth is lame just shows us even more this is us.

Turn back here to 2 Samuel chapter 4. Look at the story of Mephibosheth. chapter 4, verse 4 in 2 Samuel. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. Now, this is our story, okay? And for all that we'd like to go on and on about ourselves, our entire story can be summed up just like Mephibosheth's here in what is eight lines. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel.

This is that his grandfather, father, they were all dead. 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. Our lives are one of we've got death coming to us. So we run away from the king. And in doing so, we fall down and we're lame and helpless. That's us. We're lame through a fall. In Adam, our fall of our father, this is our condition, lameness. And all our faculties, everything about us, are all affected by this fall. And in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. Turn with me to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. As you're going to Romans 3, let me read a couple other verses.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. I don't know about you all, but as a young person hearing the gospel, I always unanimously thought when I heard that verse or something like it, how in the world is that fair? How is it fair that through the fall of Adam that I have to bear that burden?

I always thought it. I thought it's not fair. I mean, anything in life. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where something happens and you're near them or around them and you get lumped in with it. You're like, I didn't do anything. Why are you calling me this?

Well, another verse, let me read it to you. Romans 5 says, Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Now, okay, wait a minute.

So you want to, or you, I should say me, I want to argue with the fact it's not fair that by one person's actions we can be found to be sinners? Well, does that also mean we want to find fault that by one man's actions that we could get glory? I mean, if you can't accept that through Adam we're all a fallen race through sin, you can't come to the other and say by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ we can be righteous.

Now, I don't understand all the details of that. I'm not smart enough or wise enough or dedicated enough or whatever it is to truly understand how all that works. I can't wait to the day that this will be lifted and I'll be able to understand it all. But one can't be separated from the other.

Now, Romans 3 here, where I told you to turn, look at verse 9. I'm reading this so we can all understand. This is going to be 11 verses here so we can all see who we are. Now, I'm using Mephibosheth in this, but this is who we are. Verse 9 of Romans 3 says, No, and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.

As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Okay, we put it out there. There's none righteous. None of us are righteous. But just in case you weren't sure what that meant, verse 11 says, There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. So this is not only is there none righteous, but only thing we've ever done is we've just we've never thought about seeking after God. We never wanted to. We're like Mephibosheth. We ran the other direction.

Verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of ash is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it is saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. These verse tell us that not only that we have accepted or hopefully we do that we are sinners because of the fall of Adam, but we are also sinners because of all of our actions and who we are.

This is so clear and You know, this is kind of one of those things that it comes and it comes right, just hits us between the eyes. Well, what is our natural reaction when someone says something negative about us? Well, let's change the angle so that that doesn't hit us between the eyes. I don't want to deal with that one. Well, this just keeps coming from every angle over and over again. Any of these, maybe we can come around and be like, you know, you know, I don't always do this.

Well, then we just get the next verse and it just smacks us across the face again and be like, well, okay, that one, you know, A sinner is a sinner. One sin makes you a sinner. I repeat this constantly. Once you have done something, that's who you are. A person who has killed someone is a murderer. It doesn't matter if they don't kill anymore, they're still a murderer.

You know, if you're born into a certain family, I'm born into it as a coffee. I'm always going to be a coffee, even if I change my name, even if I deny them, even if I don't go, that's who I am. We are sinners by birth and by actions, both of those things. This is who we are, which means that what is happening from the king to Mephibosheth, from God in glory to us, is even more amazing.

So when David made this decision and said he was going to do something, it makes it even greater because he's doing it for someone who doesn't deserve it. Mephibosheth here didn't, he wasn't just lame. He was lame because he was running away. Every action of Mephibosheth said, I want nothing to do with David.

Every action that we have, apart from God's grace and mercy, is all saying, I will not have this man to reign over me. I want to be my own God. I want to have my own will. I want to make my own decisions. I am in charge. That's what we want. Even knowing the gospel, that's what our actions tell us so often. Let's keep, you guys stay here. I'm going to read just a touch here because we're going to come back to Romans in just a second.

And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Maker. Then king David sent and fetched him out of the house. David sent and fetched him. King David purposed to show mercy to someone of Saul's house. And when he heard that Jonathan had a crippled son in Lodabar, David sent after Mephibosheth and fetched him.

I love it. That's not a word I don't I've heard people use that word. I don't ever use the word fetch, but I love the concept of fetching someone. The Lord of glory is love and love must be expressed. The Lord of glory and his sovereign mercy determined to show mercy to a fallen race. He set his love and affection on lame sinners and sent his only begotten son into the world to be our savior. So many people think that they play some part in salvation.

Mephibosheth has to be lame here, so everyone who reads this story has to understand Mephibosheth couldn't come to the king. Lame gives him one strong characteristic that determines that he cannot come. He was dependent upon someone else to bring him.

Mephibosheth's story, which is, it continues after this, and David I'm going to do this real quick. But David, his own son Absalom, basically comes behind his back and David has to flee out of the city. And the moment that happens, Mephibosheth says, I want to go with him. I'm going with the king. He's my king. I'm going with him. And he tells Ziba and he says, get me a donkey. I'm going with him. Get all the stuff we've got. Send it out. I'm going to be with David. And Ziba turns on him and leaves him and takes all the stuff and tells David. And he says, this is for you. And David says, where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba says, well, he decided that he was going to take the throne himself and he was going to get rightfully was his through his grandfather Saul. And David's angry about it.

And what does Mephibosheth do in that? Because he couldn't come on his own. This shows that we see it later on. Mephibosheth wanted to come to the king at this point, and he couldn't. And so what did Mephibosheth do? He didn't wash, he didn't change clothes, he didn't trim his beard, he didn't do anything. And when David came back, still angry at him, found him and realized through the conversation that the only reason Mephibosheth didn't do it is because he couldn't. Even if we wanted to, which we don't, Even if we wanted to, we could not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of who we are, what we've done, our sin, we cannot stand before a holy God. Sin must be punished. That is so clear. A holy God. We sang the song, holy, holy, holy. He is so holy, he cannot do anything other than just destroy sin immediately. And because of that covenant and what the Lord Jesus Christ did, it's why He had to do it.

He had to become a man so He could do what we couldn't. You know, He didn't sin. He wasn't born of Adam, and He didn't do any of these actions we did. So we had a wholly perfect sacrifice. And He died deserving or getting what we deserved, and His righteousness that He deserved, He gave to us. I'm so thankful that the Lord has shown us we can't come to Him and we're dependent upon Him. We're lame. So we fetched Him. Christ came where we were, became what we are, and by His obedience and death honored the law, satisfied justice, and enabled God to be just and justifier of all who believe. You're over here in Romans 3.

Look at verse 19. Now remember, we just went through all that we just said right above here about how awful we are and sinners we are and all those things. Verse 19, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.

Verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. And finally, verse 26, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. All of the things He did, Him fetching us, Him coming into where we are, all of these things, all might be so that we would be saved, we'd be found in Him.

We don't stand before a holy God and say because of someone else. No, we want to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be in Him despite all the things we say. Man, I am. We're going to come in just a minute. We're going to come to the point of fearing God and fearing the King. I am so afraid of standing before a holy God apart from just being in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That famous story of where the song was written, where this great storm blew up a couple hundred years ago, the window was open and just out of nowhere, the lightning struck, the wind blew and it was crazy outside. And when he went over to shut the window, the moment he did it, the bird flew in right in there. What a picture, the song into his bosom do I fly. I just want to be in his bosom.

I want to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be in my own sin. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. He then sent his Holy Spirit to fetch us, to call us, make us willing to come to him. Galatians 1, it says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. The Psalm says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

Mephibosheth wanted no part of being anywhere near David. But once that messenger came, He knew there was no point in resisting. There's no point in fighting. Not only can he not fight, he doesn't have the ability to fight. In that moment, wherever this servant's taking him, whatever's going to happen, he's in the hand of the King. The next thing here, you can turn back with me to 2 Samuel. Look at verse 7. And David said unto him, Fear not. Fear not. Can you imagine how afraid Mephibosheth was the moment the messenger from the king showed up? He had run away at five years of age. And at this point, you know, he's much older than this. Years have passed.

And I promise every day he had the thought in his mind, looking around, is today my day? He didn't know any different. He thought that they were looking for him. He thought his judgment was going to show up at any moment. Every heir in the past, every heir of the old king all had the same fate. Death was coming. Judgment was coming and he couldn't fight it. He was just going to be sitting where he was and when it came, it came. And the moment that day came, you know Mephibosheth was afraid. He was so afraid and the journey Let me explain this.

When David says to him, fear not, I have a tendency to think that from his journey from Lodabar to the king, that there were many thoughts that had gone through his head, many conversations he had heard between the messengers and things through this long journey.

And it wouldn't have mattered anything that anyone have said to him. I'm not sure if one of the servants of David had said to him at one point, don't be afraid. It's okay. Whoever said that, the only person who could ever quell his fears was the king. If a servant had said, don't be afraid, he could have been lying, he could have been deceived, all of that. There was only one person who had the power and authority to make Mephibosheth realize, this judgment is not going to fall upon me. As a sinner, You can hear as many people as you want from a pulpit, from your family, from a friend say to you, don't be afraid. You've got nothing to fear.

All these things when it comes to salvation. But until the one on the throne, until the one who has the authority to determine if you will die or not says, fear not, you are going to fear. Until the day comes where the child of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ, And they're looked upon in him. And I see the one I love. I see righteousness. Until that moment, there will be great fear of the Lord.

Mephibosheth, in front of the king, was afraid. That was his enemy, his house's enemy. Therefore, he fell on his face before the king and did reverence. David said, You have no cause to be afraid. I will show you kindness. I pray that that is our reaction to the kindness and being brought by the king. Mephibosheth did not argue. He did not give his merit. He did not say, I didn't I didn't really agree with what Saul was doing. He didn't have any reason as all he did was fell on his face and he just begged for mercy.

Men and women who know something of God's holiness, their own nature and sin, and what the law and justice of the king demand, have every reason to be afraid in his presence. God will punish sin. The soul that sinneth shall surely die. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Only the king can cause us not to fear. Alright, look at verse 6 with me again.

Now, when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell on his face. He did reverence. Verse 7, And David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. Until this moment, Mephibosheth was probably thinking to himself, why in the world is he going to show me kindness? Why is he telling me to fear not? I deserve death.

I've been expecting it. I haven't done anything. I haven't put anything on paper. I haven't said anything. I haven't done anything that would give a reason for the king to be merciful to me. None of it. David said, I have not fetched you to destroy you, so you need not be afraid.

I will certainly show you mercy for the sake of Jonathan, your father, whom I love. Before Mephibosheth was born, David made that covenant with Jonathan, promising to show mercy to Jonathan's sons because of his love for him. Before the foundation of the world, God the Father entered into an everlasting covenant of mercy with the Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him a people out of Adam's race, making Christ the surety and redeemer of those people. Seeing what David did for Mephibosheth is an amazing thing.

One who he should have killed, could have killed. And not only that, I'm not sure I often I think that another scenario in this is David doesn't have to go kill him. He can just ignore him. Mephibosheth is in Lodabar out in nowhere doing nothing and hiding. David could leave him alone.

And a lot of people would have actually classified that as mercy. You know it, really. For someone who deserves death to not receive death, that's mercy. But because of the covenant David had made, because he loved Mephibosheth's father, he loved Jonathan.

That's not what he did. And you know something else? I have plenty of examples of my life where I've said something that I would do that I don't follow up with that. This covenant between David and Jonathan was one between just the two of them with no witnesses, nothing written down, and they just shook hands in a field.

Because it was His Word and because it was someone He loved, that covenant was going to be honored to its fullest. Because of that everlasting covenant of mercy with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of His people, the mercy and kindness God shows to sinners is because of that love for Christ. Anything that we have, we all have in Christ.

We don't stand before judgment saying that I have righteousness, even if He's given us righteousness. No way. We want no part of that. I'll come to this in a second. We want God to get the glory because He's deserving of the glory. The mercy and kindness God shows to sinners is because of the love of Christ. It is for Christ's sake. Turn to Romans 8. We're almost done here. Back to Romans.

You know, this reaction that Mephibosheth will give in just a few moments, where Mephibosheth falls down after David says what he says. And David says, fear not, I'm going to, not just am I not going to kill you, but I'm going to give you everything in your father's house. And I want you to sit at my table and eat with me and be an heir of the king, be one of my sons. Even through that, what Mephibosheth, once that happens, he says, who am I? I'm a dead dog. Why would you do this for me?

May that be our reaction when we see the mercy that our God has towards us. It is so prevalent today to see the opposite reaction to that. In religion, there's so many thoughts and actions that are more of this braggadocious, or haughty, or prideful, or this attitude that is so the opposite of that. And really that simply explains two things.

First, it makes it very clear that God has not shown a person who they are. For us, we have to see who Mephibosheth is. We have to understand that we're lame from a fall, that we can't come to Him. We have no characteristics. All we deserve is death.

And if you feel that way, and if you understand that, what the reaction is, is your fear. Your fear of God because you know what you deserve. You know, they always say that a person who's innocent isn't afraid. You know, if you're guilty, Man, any time in my life I've ever done something wrong, I am so nervous that, here's the best example.

I'm driving down here this morning, and I look down and realize I'm going too fast. And the first thing that comes to my head as I look in my mirror and I look around, is there a police officer around? I'm scared of someone who has the authority to punish me for what I deserve. So we see with our actions that first off, a person does not know who they are. And secondly, and much more importantly, They haven't seen who God is.

When Mephibosheth went before the king, from the time he left, everything that happened he was seeing and absorbing the power of the king. Someone came to get him and everyone in his city and town and his house all just got out of the way. The soldier of the king did what they wanted. They took Mephibosheth, put him on a horse or a donkey or whatever and said, come on. Actually, you know what? They didn't even say come on. They just grabbed the rope of the donkey and just pulled it. And Mephibosheth went where they went, and everywhere they went, the authority of the king's soldiers followed.

And as they approached Jerusalem, to the capital, to the city of the kingdom, they saw its vastness, its glory, how everyone's happy. Everyone loves being with the king. They come to the castle, and there's the king, to the palace. And they walk through, and everybody's looking at him. And I know the shame around him and thought that he comes in and He comes before the King and everyone, all of their actions are just emitting this feeling of like, that's the King. Like, I wouldn't say anything against the King.

Any person who has been shown from the Holy Spirit, from God Himself, making it known to us, revealing us, giving a glimpse of His glory, of His holiness, the moment it happens, it shivers, it sends shivers down the spine. I mean, it just makes you want to cower. You have no place to be in the room with Him, any of that.

We, by nature, want to grasp any glory, any credit we can. But when we see a holy God, whether He shows us in this life or the moment we see it is in judgment when we stand before Him, it will be the most obvious feeling you've ever had. to know who you are and He is. We may be able to argue with ourselves that I'm the chiefest of sinners. I can justify to myself looking around this room and I can find something that I think you're worse than me at.

I mean, I can, that's my nature. But I cannot argue in any way of an omnipotent, sovereign, holy God. Romans 8 verse 35. And in saying this, And I'll read this, but let me qualify. We're reading this because Mephibosheth in this moment has been said, Fear not. I'm going to show you kindness. This is what I'm going to do for you. And this is what we get.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. How are we these things? How are we a conqueror?

Through him that loved us. Verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Why should we not be afraid? Because once we are the object of His love, we cannot be separated from Him.

Not just once we are in glory, not just once He died on the cross and was raised from the dead, But from before time began, when God chose a people, from that very moment, because He is the King, because He is Omnipotent, because He is Sovereign, because of all those things, the moment He declares something or makes a decision, it is done.

It is absolutely done. Let me read you something from Colossians 1, and this is the last thing I'm going to read. Colossians 1 says, "...in whom," in Him, in Christ, We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him we are all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible.

Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, and He is the head, of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

You know Mephibosheth, in this moment, had to be thinking to himself, once he was convinced that the king had given him his word, don't fear, I'm showing mercy to you, you are going to be sitting at my table as one of my sons. Once all that happened, you know Mephibosheth had to be thinking in his mind, How in the world is this happening to me? Is this real? How could this be?

But through that, through the covenant, what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross, what He did in His death, His burial, His resurrection, because of that, that's where we find our comfort, our peace. We find all of that. And He did it all. Salvation is completely of Him.

And to finish up, back in 2 Samuel 9, Verse 9 says, Then the king called to Zabba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son, I have given Mephibosheth all that pertaineth 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 always at my table. Mephibosheth found out he wasn't going to be killed, and he had to be over the moon about it.

But not only do we not face judgment for our sins, but instead we get something so far beyond what we imagined. We get everything restored to us. Everything that Jonathan had, that everything he had coming, he got it. He got all the land, all the things. And you know, I love the fact that Mephibosheth was given all this. And do you know all of that in the flesh to Mephibosheth was completely worthless? He couldn't till the land. He couldn't go get anything. He couldn't even get to it.

But the king provided the servants and the family and everybody to provide for him. Despite being in the flesh and what we have and going through this life, it's just nothing but one trial and tribulation after the other. But we have the promise of the king that we are being watched over, we are being taken care of, we are being provided for. Verse 11, then said Ziba unto the king, according to all my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons.

He's not just eating at my table as a guest. He's not just eating at my table because I feel obligated. He's not eating here and kind of has a smaller chair. He's sitting in a different place, none of that. He's sitting at the table as one of my sons. He belongs at the table. For Jonathan's sake, He sits here and he is a rightful heir just like every other son. Because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did, we are a son of God. I even like I say that and I kind of cower a little bit. I'm a little nervous to say things like that because it seems so unreal. All of those things because of him.

Verse 13, the close, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. For he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame on both his feet. He's still lame on both his feet. Do not ever forget throughout this whole story, nothing ever changed about Mephibosheth. He was always lame. He was always helpless. He was always unable to do anything on his own. Everything came from the king. But despite that, He will eat continually at the king's table.

David fulfilled every promise to Mephibosheth as God will fulfill every promise to his elect in Christ. For none shall ever perish, but shall be all made like Christ and enjoy his presence forever. There are so many promises in this book that are made to the children of God. There are thousands upon thousands of promises. Because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did, we get all of them. All of it.

You know, we joy and we comfort and we have these smiles on our face thinking about this. If you ask me right now, for all of us together to try to start writing down and thinking about all the promises he's made, we would get to the end of the day And as that one song says, in glory after 10,000 days, we will have no less days with him. We could write all day long everything we could think about. And what a joyous thing that would be to write down all these things he's promised us that we will get.

At the end of that, we would not have even touched all the promises that we get or how great they'll be. I pray that in this story, that every time we hear of David and Mephibosheth, we realize We glory in being Mephibosheth in this story. It's easy because of these stories.

You know what? Being a sinner in religion today is something that, you know, we don't want to be sinned. We don't want to sin. Obviously don't. God forbid that we would sin on our own just counting on His promise that it doesn't matter what we do. But all we do is sin. We do everything we can to not let other people see our sin, to hide our sin, to lie about our sin, all of those kind of things. But despite all of that, nothing matters because the King has made a covenant and we get all that comes from that covenant, from that promise.

It's so redundant. I just pray that the Lord would make us to see who we are and what He's done for us. And then just find comfort. I said that to me. All I've got is comfort. At the end of this, I pray we have comfort in Him. We realize what the Lord Jesus Christ and God, the King of glory has done and in that we find comfort and rest. All right.