Often try to pick songs. Of praise and admiration worship to begin with, and then the second song is always begging the Lord either come Holy Spirit Heavenly Dove even me. Even me, let the blessing fall on me nearer still nearer close to the heart. And whenever we stand in this position. As you sit there and listen. It's the time that I need him to be the nearest. It's the time I need his presence, and you need his presence.

It's the time that we're desperate, more than ever, in order to see him, because if we don't see him, we have no resting place in this life. You can have everything the world has to offer, but the scripture says, if a man gain the whole world and lose his soul, what shall he give in exchange for his soul? But oh, and the Lord whispers sweet peace to the souls of his people. what rest there is, what hope there is. We can unplug, if you will, from the world around us and have a moment of just sitting at his feet like Mary did. That's my hope tonight. That's my hope tonight. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 18.

Does it amaze you that every time you find something in scripture new for the first time, you'll say, well, I didn't realize that that pointed to Christ. I never saw that before. Does that amaze you? Every time that you open up, it seems like there's always something new, it's always fresh, it's always, what did Christ say in the volume of the book that's written of me? He told the Pharisees, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which speak of me. Do you find that amazing that everything written in this book is about him?

Now, you can take a physical, You can take the physical. As we go through Proverbs, I went through Proverbs and false religion, and it meant nothing like it means now. It was a bunch of rules and guidelines and laws and statutes to follow in order to have a more successful life, in order to have a more healthy life, in order to have a more prosperous life, and that's not why Proverbs was written at all.

The Proverbs were written about Jesus Christ. They're the proverbs of Jesus Christ. They're the mystery. They are the secret of the Lord. And the scripture tells us in Psalm, the secret of the Lord is with his people and he will show unto them his covenant. He will show unto them his covenant. So as you look at this tonight, I saw something I've never seen before. Never heard anybody ever express it before. And I'm happy to share it with you.

If the Lord be our helper. But we can only see spiritual things by his power and his grace. If he sends his spirit, gives us life first and foremost, gives us faith to believe. It's the only way we can see spiritual things. You know, even as a believer, you can't choose to see something spiritual. I love our complete dependency upon our God. Even after salvation, we can't be like, okay, I'm going to find something spiritual here. No, you're not.

We're beggars from the time that we are born spiritually to the time that we take our last breath physically and awaken his likeness. And then we'll just praise him throughout endless ages. But that's our desire tonight is that he would reveal himself. That's what we pray. Lord, show us your face. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove. Give us your quickening power.

If you don't, we're gonna be dead. Our minds are gonna wander. We're gonna miss it. We're gonna miss it together. So here we are in Proverbs 18, and I want to read, well, before I read, I wanna say this, I forgot to say this, and this is important because I've already said that we have the physical, we have the spiritual, but they that are dead, I didn't mention this before, but they that have not been called out of darkness into the light, all that they can see is the physical.

They can't see anything spiritual. They might try to find something mysterious that nobody else may have not found. They might try to give you different passages that link together and they say, look what I found. That doesn't make it spiritual. It's still just a black and white book to those who have not been called out of darkness. into light.

And I can give you a verse or two on that. It says in Ephesians 4, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. And verse 20 is our hope, but ye have not so learned Christ. You haven't learned Christ that way.

You've learned the truth. What did Christ say? He shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I remember a time whenever I used to misquote that, it would say, you shall know the truth, the truth shall set you free. It says make. That's a big difference. You set something free, you can open the door, but you make it go free? That's totally different, isn't it? I love that. It'll make you free, and if the Spirit hath made you free, you're free indeed.

The good news is we've not learned so Christ, because the scripture says, They all shall be taught of God. They all shall, all my sheep, all my sheep will be taught of me. They will learn by his spirit. Now let's read this together. Proverbs 18, we're gonna read verse 14 to the end of the chapter, and I'm only gonna look at one verse tonight, but you'll see a lot of back and forths again, contrast, different things as we've seen so much in the last few chapters, but he says here, verse 14, the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear.

The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. He that is first in his own call seemeth just, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth, and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. The poor useth in treaties, but the rich answereth roughly.

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. That's what I want to look at tonight. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Now, whenever I study, you all know very well that I don't use big words whenever I stand up here, nor do I attempt to use big words, because I don't think that that's how preaching should be done. I think that words should be very simple and simple to understand. So I always look up the words regardless of what the words are in the scripture, in the verse that we're looking at, and I try to find out what each verse means. And by his grace, I feel that he has revealed what this verse means, and it is not what I thought, and it's probably not what you thought, because I've never heard it before.

Notice in verse 24, he says the word friendly. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. That is the Hebrew word ra-ah, ra-ah. And that word means to be bad or to be evil. A man that hath friends must show himself to be bad or to be evil. Now, what does that mean? Think about that just for a moment. Now, that doesn't make a lot of sense to us, does it? There's literally no other definition for that particular word. Now, why did they put friendly? I'm not sure.

It was ordained of the Holy Spirit of God, so we don't question it. And we know that there's a spiritual side and a physical side. But what is he talking about here? Well, remember we started this whole entire message by saying, in the volume of the book it's written of me. Because the next part is, there is a, singular, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

And might I remind you that Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the triune Godhead. That's three, triune Godhead. A man that hath God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit must show himself not just to be a sinner, not just to be bad, but to be evil.

Lord, I'm evil. I'm wicked. I'm vile beyond measure. The word sinner has been so watered down that people don't hesitate but to say that they're sinners. I know people that's, It doesn't bother people. They don't understand how repulsive that is to the Lord. But what he's saying here is, if you want God to be your friend, he's going to have to reveal to you how evil you really are and how evil I really am. And until he does that, we won't have him. We can't come to him unless he reveals what we are and who we are.

You find that interesting? The word is Raha, to be bad or be evil. All my life I've heard in religion, the irreligious and the religious alike, they said, I heard somebody say it today, as a matter of fact, didn't even know I was going to be speaking, or they didn't know I was going to be speaking on this. They said, a man that has, he said, if you want to have friends, you're going to have to show yourself friendly. I'm like, yeah, that's Proverbs 18,

24. I know exactly where you got that from. It's passed around. People don't mind saying that. You want friends, you have to be friendly.

Well, what's the spiritual meaning? The spiritual meaning is, is if I am expected to have Christ, I have to be made a sinner. I have to be made evil. I have to be made completely desolate and empty and void of life, and he's gonna have to give me all life. Otherwise, I'll never come to him.

Yes, there's the physical. Obviously, if you're not friendly to some people, they're not gonna be friendly back. It's a, Depends on what culture you go to. Some people are more friendly than others. It's just how life is. But brethren, if that's all we focus on tonight is we need to be more friendly to people so they'll come in and hear. We need to be more friendly so we can get more people in. That's not the message. The message is there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Now why? Why is there a friend? That's singular. There is a, I wish it would be capitalized because it's the Lord. You know, it's the Lord has to be. Who else is it going to say? Who else is he talking about? There is a friend, Solomon speaking. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. There's a friend that is our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Is it true that if you're friendly, or you must be friendly to have friends? Well, sure it is, but what does that have to do with eternal life? What does that have to do with salvation? You know, we can talk about being more friendly to get numbers up.

Yeah, I despise that kind of stuff. I didn't go get the job done. Preaching on what you should do and should not do has not saved anybody ever. The Lord only saves by his gospel according to his will. So my hope tonight is that we can enter into this together and I have some, I really believe the Lord gave me a message on this. So where's the spiritual? Well, if you desire to come to Christ, if you desire and I desire to come to Christ, come to the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's who Christ is, the full triune Godhead bodily.

I've gotta be made a sinner. And I love the fact that if you're made a sinner, if you're made to feel evil and wicked and putrid, if you're made to smell yourself and you who, there's some of you know what I'm talking about. You smell yourself. It's like everything that I wanna do that's right, I can't do it. And it's like I just, you loathe yourself.

But the Lord doesn't ever make sinners that he doesn't give faith to believe in his son. imagine how terrible that would be for the Lord to make us centers and just leave us to the at that point for years and years and years and you're without any hope of salvation whatsoever what mercy it is that he instantaneously always gives repentance and faith on the spot it's never one and then the other we're given now a lot of times we'll see ourself a center first and because we'll cower, but then the gospel comes again, and we see him, and it's like you had it all along, you gave us faith to believe, but just hearing it again, there's rest, there's peace, there's comfort. Man that hath the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit must show himself as the wretched, vile, evil, wicked creature that he is. he or she must be made to see God is absolutely sovereign and holy and just, and we are powerless, we are sinful, and we are liars. That's as simple as I can put it.

I need a savior. I need a redeemer. I need a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And I love looking up that word sticketh. Only place in the Bible it's mentioned, sticketh. knit together was one of them. And the way it describes another part is it's like Velcro that can't be pulled apart. I like that one pretty good too, which is still stuck together.

But that's our Lord. He said, I'll never leave you. You can't get rid of me. It's what he's saying. In the Old Testament, you remember whenever the Lord told his children of Israel, he said, your sin hath separated you from your God. Do you remember that? Your sin hath separated you from your God. Later on, he says, in your sin and your iniquity, I'll remember no more. Why?

Because I found a ransom, not for your sake, but for my sake. So no matter what I do, the sin that I see, he does not see it, it's gone because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. No matter how evil I see myself, I have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. No matter how wicked I see myself as being, where sin doth abound, grace did much more abound.

I love the word much there. Didn't just more abound it, much more abound. That's why the Lord said, I can do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think according to the power that worketh in you. The Lord can do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. If you're asking this much, he can do exceeding abundantly above that.

If you're asking, what are you asking? Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, the sinner. He can do exceeding abundantly above that, all that you ask or think. Why? We have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. We gotta see the Lord is absolutely sovereign.

And the believer knows that if hell is the place that I find my home, it'll be all my fault. It'll be my sin. It'll be my sin that separated me from my God. It'll be all my fault. But if I find myself kneeling at his feet, glorified in his presence, he gets all the glory, all the glory.

Brethren, the only way We can come to Christ as mercy beggars. Understand we're not sinners because of what we do, we're sinners because of what we are. We're guilty just for breathing the air. Why? Because we're sinners breathing air. Think about that. People don't talk about how bad and ugly this sin really is.

I like the word evil here that he used because I've never really thought of us being evil before, but that's the fact of the matter. Our nature is evil in his sight. Oh, I need a substitute more today than I did yesterday, and tomorrow I'll need him even more. The more he reveals about how bad I am and how good he is, I need him more and more. You know, the good news is mercy beggars need God to completely save them, and he never turned away a mercy beggar. Did you know that? Not one time.

Even the Syrophoenician woman that came up to him said, Lord, have mercy upon me. My daughter is gonna die. He said, I come not but for the lost house of the children of Israel. It's not meat to take the children's bread and cast it unto dogs. She said, truth, Lord. But even the dogs desire the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Are you a dog desiring a crumb from the master's table? Hmm.

Titus 3.5 says, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy, according to his mercy, hath he saved us.

Don't you love the fact, and this is just truth, don't you love the fact that God's elect are rendered powerless? We come into this world thinking we have some form of power. It's not taught to us. We just gather the information because of what we are. And as we get older, our children will start exercising that power and you have to smack them back in place a little bit, metaphorically or literally, you know, depending on the circumstances. And It's because they're exercising what they think is their power. They're testing their boundaries. And that's what we do with God by nature.

We think we have some power. But whenever the Lord comes to a sinner and he shows them what they are, we are rendered powerless, meaning he has all of it. If you are drowning and you're paralyzed from the neck down, that doesn't accurately fit the description of how powerless we are. We're powerless. We're going down.

We're going to die unless he does all the electing, all the saving, all the calling, and all the keeping. Why would he do that? Because to his people, he's a brother. He's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. We're made to rest in him alone, his sovereign power, his perfect will, his determinate counsel before time ever began. We're made to rest in him alone.

I love the fact that in this gospel, the gospel, there's no work to be done. You say, well, why does people come to church then? Because there's no work to be done. Why do people give their time? Because there's no work to be done. Why do people serve one another? Because there's no work to be done. Why do people talk about the Lord outside of the church? Because there's no work to be done.

Do we see that? I love that. It doesn't make sense to the flesh. Like, well, why would you do anything then? I'm doing everything. I'm resting, not working. By God's grace, he's allowed us to rest in him. What a place to be, isn't it? Resting in Christ alone.

His ways are ordered in all things, and sure, we're made to completely depend on the covenant of grace before time ever began. The everlasting covenant's what it's called in scripture. This is the covenant that had a single determining factor, the lamb. The election of God, electing a people, electing Christ, Christ is called the elect one. He's the elect lamb. It was God's election. The lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He is the primary subject. He is the sum. He is the alpha and omega of this covenant.

There is nothing that we have to do with this covenant physically. There's nothing we have to do with this covenant spiritually. He did it all. And we are the benefactors by grace alone. We're dependent upon his covenant by his determinant counsel. God saw the blood when he elected his people and he was satisfied then. He sees the blood now and he is satisfied. And he'll always be satisfied with the blood. He'll never be satisfied with you and I and what we are in this flesh.

But what, I love the fact what 2 Peter 1, 4 talks about. It said being made partakers of the heavenly nature, the spiritual nature. I love that. You made partakers of the new nature in Christ. Partakers of his nature. So he looks at us, he sees his son. It's in him we live and move and have our being. Our friend that sticketh closer than a brother made that accomplishment himself. This covenant was between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Had nothing to do with our works. Had nothing to do with our choices. Had nothing to do with our righteousness. Had nothing to do with our hair color, our skin color, our accent, our bloodline. Had nothing to do with our law keeping. Had nothing to do with our religious background. Had nothing to do with our etiquette or our mental capacity, our IQs. Had nothing to do with us or anybody else. Had everything to do with Christ. Everything to do with the Father. Everything to do with the Spirit. God chose to save his people from their sin. That's a covenant. That's the covenant we hope in. This is why it's the covenant of grace.

And the best example I can give you, and I thought about having us turn, and we still yet may, but I don't wanna turn us all over the place, so I'm just gonna tell us about it, is David and Jonathan. David and Jonathan. I read about David and Jonathan today, and the Lord showed me things about them I'd never seen before. After David had killed Goliath, He goes into the tent with Saul and it says that the hearts, let's see, how does that read? Yeah, Jonathan and David's hearts were knit together. Jonathan's heart was knit to David's and David's was knit to Jonathan's.

And I'm sure there's somebody out there that tries to pervert that, but it's the Lord giving love, brotherly love one to another. He shed the love of God in their hearts. When he did that, though, Jonathan now understands something very important, and I wanna try to explain this without giving too much history, but I want us to see the big picture after it's all done, if the Lord would help us to see that. But Jonathan is next in line to be king. That's Saul's son, Saul's king, but now David's the anointed king. You remember, Saul wasn't a man after God's own heart.

He'd wanted to do what he wanted to do. He did that which was wrong in God's eyes. And so Samuel was told to go anoint one of Jesse's sons. You remember we heard that maybe last Sunday or the Sunday before where he goes down and Samuel gets there and sees the oldest son. He says, this must be the one, the anointed one of the Lord. It's this strapping man, you know, he thought it was it.

He said, no, that's not it. And he went down the line through all of them. And he said, is there none else? And he said, well, there's one more, but he's just a lad. And he said, go fetch him. And he came to him, he said, that's my anointed, the shepherd, King David. And he was anointed on the spot.

So now the kingdom has been taken from Saul, not yet, but it's been foretold it's going to be taken from Saul. And it happens, God's word will not return void. It happens at the end of first Samuel, very last chapter is whenever it happens. And the second Samuel chapter one is where David's lamenting. He's weeping over Jonathan and Saul that both died in battle. Um, actually Saul committed suicide. I guess that's beside the point, but that shows you that the Lord's hand wasn't on him. Point I'm making.

Uh, Jonathan gives David his robe, his girdle, his sword, and his bow. Now he's the prince of Israel. Now I want us to sink in, okay? He's the prince of Israel. He's the second in command to his father as far as his standings go. If his father was to die that day, Jonathan would be made king. And yet, knowing that David was the anointed one, he gives to David his bow, his sword, his garment, and his girdle. strips himself completely and gives it all to David.

Why would he do that? Because God gave him faith to believe. That's the only explanation we can come up with. God gave him faith to believe. They hadn't met before that day. The chapter before ends with David cutting off Goliath's head. He's going to bring it back to Saul. He gets there and that's the beginning of the chapter, the very first verse. I believe it's chapter 18, verse one. It says that Jonathan's heart was knit to David's. Lord did that. The Lord did that. They made a covenant. That was the token of the covenant. The covenant is not fully revealed until 1 Samuel chapter 20. And it reads something like this.

And I'm going to kind of paraphrase just a little bit when David, he needed his life saved by Jonathan and Jonathan saved his life over a couple occasions from Saul of all people, his own father, he had to save him. And without giving too much detail, because it's not necessary, Jonathan saves David's life. And Jonathan says this, that he makes David swear this, he said that, you would not cut off the kindness of the Lord from my kin, or me, after Saul is gone, or after I am gone. So if I die, you're gonna take care of my kin. And if something happens to you, I'll take care of your kin.

I mean, that's basically how it shook out. And it said again, it's 1 Samuel 18, one, that David and Jonathan's soul was knit together. Now here we have a couple of pictures of the covenant that's given. David did nothing to earn this favor of Jonathan.

So we have the mercy and the grace that our Lord shows to us in order to given us his robe of righteousness, girding us, giving us the sword of the spirit, hamlet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness. Those are all metaphors for what the Lord has given us spiritually. We know that. But that's the pictures here.

I want to focus, though, on our Lord, on the message. And I don't know that I gave the title. It's coming to Christ. coming to Christ. I've probably waited a long time to give that title, but. uh, coming to Christ. And I want to stay focused on that because everything that we're looking at, I'm hoping at the end, we'll understand. I've mentioned how vile we are, how sovereign he is, how incapable we are of getting to him and how he must draw us because we're dead. That was the first and foremost, most important part thus far.

Now we're seeing the covenant being implemented between David and Jonathan. That's the second most important because that covenant comes to pass. And when that covenant comes to pass, it's found in 2 Samuel 9, so there's eight chapters from the time that David is mourning the loss of Jonathan to the time that he said unto Ziba, which was one of Saul's servants, is there any left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And I don't wanna miss that point right there, because that's extremely important.

Not for Saul's sake, not for the child's sake or the young man's sake, Jonathan's sake alone. Now, coming to Christ is not coming to Him, having something that we bring. It's begging for the covenant of grace. It's begging for the finished work of Christ. It's begging for the blood. It's being a mercy beggar. Somebody says, I don't wanna be a beggar. You'll never have Christ. We have to come begging. That's how the Lord's ordained it. And if you can, you will. And if I can, I will. But if I can't, I won't. If I cannot, I will not. It's a gift of grace. Ask yourself this question. Why did Jonathan not kill David? He would have had the kingdom. Think about it. If Saul would have died, Jonathan would have had the kingdom.

Well, the Lord told the father, I love this, the Lord told the father, he said, I come to do thy will, O Lord. I come to do thy will. Why did the Lord go to the cross and endure the agony that he suffered and the shame and the guilt that he took our place and bore our sin in his body on the tree? Why did he become a curse? Why? To please the Father, to save his people from their sin. I come to do thy will, not my will. Oh, he said, Father, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine. be done.

Why did Jonathan not kill David? Number one, it wasn't God's purpose. But number two, God gave Jonathan a heart for David, a heart for the truth. Whatever God said, Jonathan was perfectly fine with that. David wept, this is important, I forgot to mention this in 2 Samuel chapter one, that's why I said I didn't wanna bounce around a bunch because it would be, and hopefully I'm easy to follow tonight, I'm trying. But it says, when David was weeping, he said these words exactly.

Thy love surpassed woman's, women's love. Now what does that mean? And again, somebody's gonna pervert that, but here's what that means. He'd never seen devotion like that before, not even in a woman. That's what he's saying. The devotion that Jonathan had to him in forsaking his own father and the kingdom and all the power and the money and everything that he would have had as new king, he forsook all of that because of the love he had for Christ and the love that he had for David that God put there. He said, I've never even seen love like that in a woman.

That much devotion, that much faithfulness. Well, back to Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel chapter nine. Why did David remember Mephibosheth? Why didn't David just let it go? Jonathan wasn't gonna hold him accountable. Saul wasn't gonna hold him accountable. Because Saul, because Jonathan and David swore before the Lord. They swore before the Lord.

They didn't just swear to each other. Last night I saw someone sworn in without a Bible. And I wondered, who are we swearing to? Think about that. No Bible, we're not swearing to God, we're swearing to each other. Well, I can break promises to you and not be held that much accountable. You break promises to God, that's a problem. Thankfully, we're under grace, not the law.

I'll put it that way, but you get what I'm saying. You get what I'm saying. Anyways, this covenant was a reflection of the everlasting covenant. It wasn't about David and Jonathan at all. It was about the Lord showing mercy on whom he will show mercy and being reflected in the Old Testament. You know the story.

Mephibosheth was dropped when he was an infant running from the Philistines that were coming in by a nurse, a handmade nurse that was fleeing, dropped him, he became lame on both of his feet. Now, unlike Mephibosheth, you and I are born lame on our feet, we're born impotent, we're born unable to walk to God, we're unable to crawl, we're unable to speak because we're dead in trespasses and in sin, as I've said before.

Not only was Mephibosheth lame on his feet, but now he was the enemy of the kingdom because he was Saul's only living relative that had a claim on the throne. He had a claim on the throne because that was Saul's grandson. Regardless of his lame state, regardless of his impotency, he's still alive, he still has a claim on the throne. Now back during this time, if you had a claim on the throne, the king would certainly kill you. First chance that he got so that you couldn't rise up against him or rise up a revolt against him and say, hey, I have a claim on the throne and people rally to your cause.

They would have been destroyed. That wasn't the purpose of David because of the covenant that was given. Mephibosheth has found his way all the way down to mature, which means sold. So he's sold into bondage, he's sold into slavery, he's sold unto death. Were we not sold under the law, the scripture says? Were we not sold into death? And we're laying on both our feet and can't fix it, and we're enmity against the king. The law says death, and that's the king's law of judgment and justice. There's nothing we can do to change it. We can't approach the throne, nothing we can do.

He's in the land of no pasture, was the next part. Lodabar, that's the name of it. Lodabar means no pasture, no bread. So he's a wandering sheep without a pasture. He has no hope of feasting on the things of the Lord. That's what the picture is here. Why? Because he's dead.

And one day, David remembers the covenant that was given. Aren't you glad our Lord never forgets the covenant that was given? I like whenever the scripture says, when it uses terms like the Lord will remember something, like he forgot. No, he's just trying to relate to us because we do forget. He's saying, don't worry, I've not forgotten it. That's for us to understand. He didn't forget. David remembered the covenant. He sent Ziba down there, whenever he told him about the Pibosheth, he said, go and fetch him.

Now what a picture of the Holy Spirit going to exactly where we are, down in the valley of death and nowhere, being sold out to sin and Satan and self and under the law, no hope, in bondage. Not because only what we do, but what we are. Every time we try to do something to fix it under the law, we just add to the mountain of iniquity that was already against us. Yet our David, our king, because of a covenant, says, go fetch him. And the Spirit of the Lord comes. and fetches us out of that dark, dreary place, the desert of nothingness, and brings us into his presence.

And oh, the first time we see him, and you remember the first time you heard the truth, the Lord had actually opened up your eyes, and you looked, and you beheld him with faith and repentance, and the trembling that you felt, you fell on your face, spiritually speaking, before him.

Your body might not have moved, and that's probably the best that it didn't, but you fell right on your face, spiritually speaking. Lord, I am unworthy. Mephibosheth said, behold thy servant was his words. Mephibosheth goes into the presence of David, falls on his face, behold thy servant.

And I love the words that David said to him, and if we could hear these words from our Lord, what comfort, peace, and hope we would have. Fear not, for surely I will show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. He was a friend that stuck closer than a brother. He was a friend that stuck closer than a brother. And just as our Jonathan, the Lord Jesus Christ, sticks closer than a brother, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords has already said, fear not, I have put away your sin, not because of a covenant that you entered in with with me.

He said, I'll disannul your covenant with death and with hell. He said, but the covenant of grace that I entered in before time ever began, the one that I give to you freely by my choice, my grace and mercy alone, David said, fear not, for behold, I will show thee kindness, not for your sake, for Jonathan's sake. I love the words that Mephibosheth says next. He says, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? And just like our Lord and Savior, David doesn't acknowledge his words.

David looks to Ziba and he says, till his land, bring him food. And as for him, give him a robe and a ring. He's gonna eat bread continually at my table. And that's exactly what happened. And I love the very last verse of 2 Samuel 9, it says, and Mephibosheth did eat at the king's table continually and was lame on his feet. Here's a picture. He's still lame to himself. But if the Lord has shown me anything, it's that there's tapestry and there's tablecloths and things like that in the king's court. It's just like, it's fancy. Therefore, Mephibosheth would have been no doubt the first one there and the last one to leave. How do I know that? Well, because his infirmity would have been covered by the tablecloth. That's a picture of the blood of Christ.

Nobody could accuse him of being lame, even if they thought he was lame. They couldn't say anything about it. He was under the king's protection. But the king had it covered, just as he has your sin covered because of the covenant of grace. David had Mephibosheth's feet covered. Nobody could see it. And he'd eat bread continually at the king's table.

The glorious part of that is, brethren, we get to feast on the king of kings and Lord of lords. We get to feast on the lamb, the bread of life. That's what we feast on as his people because of the covenant. We no longer have to eat the husks of the hogs. We no longer have to eat of the dry dust of the wilderness. We have a refuge. We have a sanctuary. We have a place of rest, a place of hope and a place of peace in the Lord Jesus Christ at his table.

If you're to have this friend that sticketh closer than a brother, you must be completely dependent upon him. Must be completely dependent upon him doing it all, bearing your sin, taking your guilt, taking your shame. You can have no righteousness whatsoever. If you desire to come to him, you can.

He says, come unto me, all ye that are labored and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Come, take of the water of life freely. Whosoever will, let him come. The Spirit and the bride say, come. We preach a whosoever will salvation, and the Lord's whosoever wills are the ones that will come, whoever they are. We don't know who they are, but if you desire to come to Christ, you can. The Lord said so.

That means you have to come completely empty, completely naked, completely bearing nothing in your hands, but just guilt and shame saying, Lord, I have nothing to bring you of any value, just my sin. And he says, what sin? Fear not. I've put away your sin. You shall not die.

That's a friend that stick a closer than a brother, isn't it? Friend that hath friends, man that has friends must show himself friendly. You want Christ? You got to show yourself as the wicked one, the evil one, not a evil person, not a wicked person, not a sinner, the sinner. There's a big difference.

Pharisees, they prided themselves all the time and saying, look at me, look at me, look at me. But you remember the one he was saying in the temple, Lord, I thank thee that I'm not like other men are. I pray, I fast, I tithe, I do this, I do that. But the publican wouldn't even look up to the ceiling, beat upon his breast, saying, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.

He might have said a sinner, but he meant the sinner, trust me. It's just how it is. I am the sinner. Glorious news of the gospel is the scripture says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul said that. We can agree with that.

As the Lord's people, can't we? What hope did Mephibosheth had? Well, he had none in himself. He was the enemy of the crown, and we're the same. Flesh is hostile against God, so what is our hope? God, who is rich in mercy, for in his great love, worth he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you're saved. By the finished work of Christ, by God's grace alone, we've been reconciled.

That means to be brought back in perfect communion, oneness. That's that sticketh part that I mentioned. We're stuck to him and he's stuck to us. We didn't do any of the sticking, he did it all. That's reconciliation. He brought us back into harmony with himself, peace. We have peace with God. We have peace with God. And if we knew the, uh, the wrath and the judgment that was really do us that Christ endured for us, hearing the words, you have peace with God. It would make our souls jump for joy. It would make our hearts rejoice because people have been reconciled.

They've been brought back to the table of the King, wearing his robe, wearing his ring, showing sonship. He says, you're not just a servant. We're heirs of God and joined with Jesus Christ. It's whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We're the adopted children of God by the covenant of grace. We bear his image. We have the red tablecloth of his blood covering our infirmity continually. And the very thing that separated us from God is gone. Absolutely gone. Now in closing I just want to read this one more time and elaborate and we'll close. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Coming to Christ is coming empty. He only fills empty vessels. You know it's impossible for us to come to him empty unless he empties us first. That's what repentance does is empties us. And that's why we become desolate, meaning empty. Without strength, we become impotent. Without hope, not seeing we are sinners, but seeing that we're the chief evil sinner.

Put as many, I guess that's adjectives that describe a noun, put as many adjectives on that as you want to. Evil, wicked, vile, corrupt. and it still wouldn't be adequate to describe what we are. What about describing Him, beautiful, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, King of Kings, Lord of Lords? There's not enough words to describe His glory. Just as there's not enough words to describe our badness, here's the great part, the badness is gone, His glory remains. That's the good news. Look to His glory, not to your sin. Look to Him. Look to Him.

For God committed His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If you desire to come to Christ, he has never turned away a mercy beggar. He's never turned away a mercy beggar. He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you see yourself as a sinner, you see yourself as a mercy beggar, that's actually your qualification, needing a savior. He's the doer of it. If you desire to come to Christ, come to him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved is what he said. Well, how do I come to Christ? You don't move a muscle. Come to him with faith that he gives, believe. Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful for the covenant of grace, Lord. What a glorious picture it is that you've given us in your scripture. Thank you for being a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, for being our father, for being our brother. for being our Savior, for being our Lord, for being our King, for being everything that you are to us and so much more that we don't even understand yet. Thank you. Bless this to our understanding for your glory in Christ's name, amen.