Now you remember in our last
lesson, David had returned to Israel. And the very first thing
he did when he returned to Israel was show sovereign mercy to Shimei. You remember Shimei had thrown
rocks at David. He cursed David as he was leaving
Israel during Absalom's coup attempt. And we looked at Shimei,
a picture of a sinner who comes to the Lord begging for sovereign
mercy. Now in this lesson, We're going to see nine common characteristics
of objects of mercy. And the first one is this. An
object of mercy, sovereign mercy, loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not taken up. He's not into
this for religion. He's not interested in possessions.
He's not interested in gaining some position in the kingdom
of God. He's taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here,
verse 24, 2 Samuel 19. The son of Saul came down to
meet the king, and neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard,
nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the
day he came again in peace." Now, while David was in the wilderness,
Nebuchadnezzar still had plenty to eat, he still had a fine house
to live in, he was comfortable, but he wasn't happy. He was not
happy. He mourned the whole time that
he was not in the presence of David. And that's a picture of
the mourning that a believer feels when we're not in the presence
of our Lord. The songwriter said, how tedious
and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. And
the reverse is true too. Palaces would prisons prove if
Jesus would not dwell with me there. And imagine what a condition
Mephibosheth was in at this time. He didn't have David's presence
for quite a while. He hadn't combed his beard. He
hadn't trimmed his beard. He hadn't taken a bath. He hadn't
washed his feet. The man is a mess. He looked bad. He smelled bad.
And that's exactly how a child of God starts to smell and how
he starts to act when we've not been in the presence of the Lord.
Every believer is still offensive in ourselves. Now, in Christ,
we're pure, spotless. But in ourselves, we still have
Adam's old nature, and we're offensive. We're smelly, offensive,
and our conduct and our attitude is deeply and negatively affected
when we're not regularly in the presence of the Lord. So the
object of sovereign mercy loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly,
an object of sovereign mercy will be tried while they're in
this world. They receive sovereign mercy.
abundance, but they will still be tried in this world. Look
at verse 25, And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem
to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest
not thou with me, Mephibosheth? And he answered, My lord, O king,
my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will
saddle thee, and ask that I may ride thereon, and go to the king,
because thy servant is lame. And he has slandered thy servant,
unto my lord the king, but my lord the king is as an angel
of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes." Now this was a real trial for Mephibosheth. Having
someone who's close to you lie on you and treat you badly, that's
a trial. And it hurts. It hurts. But during
this trial, Mephibosheth's love for David never waned. His circumstances
did not affect his love for David. And objects of God's sovereign
mercy will be tried. Our faith must be tried because
trials reveal true faith. But true faith, yeah, it may
waver. I mean, you have to admit, the
strength of your faith may go up and down some, but it will
not fail. True faith will never fail because
the Lord will speak to it. He won't allow it. It's faith
in Him. So objects of sovereign mercy will be tried in this world.
An object of sovereign mercy has complete confidence in submitting
to the Lord Jesus Christ. An object of sovereign mercy
always knows we are totally dependent upon God's sovereign mercy and
we wouldn't have it any other way. That's the way we want it.
Look here at the end of verse 27. Do therefore what's good
in thine eyes. That's total submission to David's
will and David's decision. Mephibosheth totally submits
to David's rule and he will gladly do whatever David decides. He is perfectly fine with that.
That's a big statement. David, whatever you decide, I'll
be happy with that. That's a big statement. How can
Mephibosheth willingly submit to David like that? Because he
has total confidence in David. He loves David and he's totally
confident in him. And an object of God's sovereign
mercy will totally submit to the rule of Christ. A believer
desires to submit to the Lord's will, even when it hurts. This flesh may, you know, fight
against it a little bit. It takes grace. But a believer's
desire, an object of sovereign mercy, their true desire is to
submit to the will of Christ. An object of God's sovereign
mercy is willing to submit to God's rule and is not afraid
to leave himself totally in the hand of the Savior. He said,
no man can pluck them out of my hand. I'm perfectly content
to be there. Perfectly. I'm satisfied with
that in His hand. Fourth, an object of sovereign
mercy knows this. He's never worthy of the least
of God's mercies. Look at verse 28, Mephibosheth
said, For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord
the king. Yet didst thou set thy servant
among them that did eat at thine own table. What right, therefore,
have I yet to cry any more unto the king? Now Mephibosheth acknowledges
he's unworthy because of who he is. Who'd he come from? Saul, David's enemy. He's unworthy
because of who his grandfather is. And that's what we all are,
every one of us. We're unworthy because we're
in our Father Adam, who rebelled against God. Yet, the Lord shows
sovereign mercy, doesn't He? He shows sovereign mercy. But
even after the Lord's been so merciful to us, in ourselves,
we're still laying on both our feet. Adam and Phoebus just start
this out. He said, I had to send somebody
to get me an asteroid on. because thy servant's lame. You've
shown sovereign mercy to me, but in myself, I'm still lame
on both my feet. And every object of sovereign
mercy can say with Mephibosheth, the Lord has blessed me so abundantly. What right do I have to ask for
even more blessings? What right do I have? Every believer
recognizes, or at least we should recognize, we've already received
so much sovereign mercy We don't have the right to ask for more.
But we do. We cry unto Him for mercy. We're
totally dependent upon Him. And He's commanded us to continue
to cry unto Him. Look in 1 Peter chapter 5. Our Lord is so gracious, even
after He's abundantly blessed us with sovereign mercy, He's
told us to cry unto Him for more. 1 Peter 5, verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. I'm sorry, let's go back up to
verse 5. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility. What have you got to be proud
of? Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud,
and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you."
We continue to beg him for mercy because we know we always need
more. We're never sufficient in ourselves. And a believer
knows this. There's no use in pretending
that we have any merit of our own. We can say with mischievousness,
we were all but dead men before thee, yet not only has the Lord
spared us, He's given us a seat. This morning, you have a seat
at the table of grace. He's given us a seat. The one
who taught me how to beg at his feet at the table of grace, he
gave me a seat. And in this flesh, we still complain
about our troubles, don't we? But in our heart, we know we
shouldn't. We know we shouldn't. We have
nothing to complain about because we know this. God does all things
well. He works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. For those objects of sovereign
mercy, He's working all things together for good. We have nothing
to complain about. Absolutely nothing. And Bephibosheth's
answer of faith exposes old Ziba. Remember how Ziba went and told
David, well, Bephibosheth, he's saying, oh, this day the throne's
going to be returned to me. Well, Mephibosheth's answer exposes
Ziba's lie. Why would Mephibosheth want to
kill David? He already has everything David has. David's given him
everything. What could he gain by trying
to kill David? He already has everything because
of that covenant between David and Jonathan. Because of covenant
mercies, sovereign mercies, he can't want more. And the truth
exposes a lie. will bring all sorts of accusations
against God's elect, but none of them will stick. None of them
will cause a child of God to be condemned because the Lord
Jesus Christ, this is the truth of the gospel, the Lord Jesus
Christ has already paid for those sins. They no longer exist. So they cannot condemn a child
of God. Who is he that condemned it?
It's Christ that died. So Mephibosheth, he showed a
picture of true faith. He gave the answer of true faith.
But the trial's not over yet. Look at verse 29. And the king
said unto him, Why speakest thou any more by matters? I have said
thou and I have divided the land. Now, I used to think that David
made a mistake here. When he made this statement,
I thought, well, David's just showed a weakness as a man and
he can't decide what to do. He's just going to let him split
it and try to make everybody happy. That's not what he's doing,
I was wrong. David is going to reveal true
faith here. This is the trial continues and
this trial is going to reveal who truly loves David. Who loves
the stuff and who truly loves David. And when the Lord sends
a trial, he sends it to strengthen our faith and to reveal true
faith. Ziba. He's a character, isn't he? But
this is going to draw this David didn't make the statement to
Ziba, did he? He got nothing to do with Ziba. That covenant
didn't concern Ziba, it concerned Mephibosheth. And this trial
is sent to Mephibosheth. And if you look over 2 Kings
chapter 3, or 1 Kings, I'm sorry, 1 Kings 3, I kind of wonder if
Solomon didn't learn something from his father David here. Then came there two women, they
were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. And one
woman said, O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house,
and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it
came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this
woman was delivered also, and we were together. There was no
stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And
this woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it.
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while
thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her
dead child in my bosom. And when I arose in the morning
to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had considered
it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is my son, and
the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead
is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before
the king. Then said the king, Well, the
one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead.
And the other saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son
is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought
a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the
living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the
other. Then spake the woman, whose living child was unto the
king, for her bowels yearned upon her son. And she said, O
my Lord, give her the living child, and I know I slay it.
But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide
it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child,
and I know I slay it. She is the mother thereof. And
all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and
they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was
in him to do judgment. I think Mephibosheth may have
learned from David. David's doing the exact same
thing here. He tells Mephibosheth, you and Zabba are just divided.
That way everybody would be happy. If all Mephibosheth cared about
was the houses and the land and the food and the servants, he
would have protested losing half, wouldn't he? But that's not what
he does. Because all he cares about, this
brings us back to our first point, all he cared about was David. It wasn't the stuff, it was David. Look at verse 30 in our text. And Mephibosheth said unto the
king, Yea, let him take all. Forasmuch as my lord the king
is come again in peace unto his own house, let him take it all. All I care about is the presence
of the king. The stuff doesn't matter. Because
Mephibosheth loved David. And the trial ultimately revealed
true faith, didn't it? True love. Who truly loved David.
And that's why the Lord sends trials to us. To strengthen our
faith and to reveal true faith in Him. Now what about Ziba? Seems like Ziba got away with
it, didn't he? Seems like he got away unpunished. For now. For now. We see people do things. They're wicked and they're evil.
And it seems like There's no repercussions for it. They got
away with it. They did. For now. There'll be
a day of reckoning in the future. But they did get away with it
for now. And Ziba went away with at least some of the wealth.
Now, how much ever of it he had, I don't know if he had half of
it or I don't know what he had. But whatever he took with him
was ill-gotten gains. I can assure you of that. But
we never read of Ziba. being in the presence of David
again. We never read of Ziba having fellowship with David
again. Who's the richer? This lame, humble man who's sitting
there, hasn't taken a bath in all this time? Or proud Ziba,
who's got all the riches? Who's the richer? The poor, humble
child of God? Or the rich business tycoon,
full of himself, sitting there counting his money? Who's the
more blessed? The object of sovereign mercy
who lives from paycheck to paycheck or the man who's rich and increased
with goods, going to tear down his barns and build bigger ones?
Who's the more blessed? Is it the rich man or is it Lazarus
full of those sores laying outside his gate and the dogs are licking
his sores? Who's the more blessed? The object of sovereign mercy
is always the one that's the most blessed because he has Christ. He has it all. And that's the
way Mephibosheth felt. Now the fifth thing, an object
of sovereign mercy knows, no matter how long he's believed,
no matter how long he's been in the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of God is not dependent upon him. No matter how long he's
believed, he's always the one dependent upon God. Look at verse
31. And Barzillai, the Gileadite,
came down from Rogelum and went over Jordan with the king to
conduct him over Jordan. Now, Barzillai was a very aged
man. He was four-score years old.
He had provided the king sustenance while he lay at Maanaim. Remember
when David was hiding out laying there in Maanaim? He had nothing.
And several men sent David food and provisions. Well, this Barzillai
was one of them. He sent David a lot of provisions,
for he was a very great man. And the king said unto Barzillai,
Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live that
I should go with the King unto Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore
years old, and can I discern between good and evil? Can my
servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more
the voice of singing men and singing women? Wherefore then
should thy servant be yet a burden unto my Lord the King?" Now,
Barzillai had no joys left in this world. He can't taste good
food. He can't hear good singing. And
the Lord brings every believer to this point so that we are
ready to leave this world. Look over in Ecclesiastes chapter
12. Verse one. Remember now thy creator
in the days of thy youth, when the evil days come not, who are
the ears drawn nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them." I cannot tell you how many times Jim Meadows quoted
that verse to me, those evil days when he had no pleasure
in them. And all he was waiting on was
to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better. And this
is what Barzillai is saying, David, I'm not smart enough to
be an advisor to you. My mind is not what it once was. I can't discern good and evil.
And let me make this comment to our young people. Your mind
won't always be this sharp. You won't always have as many
days on this earth as you do today. Seek the Lord today. Seek Him while you've got a mind
and any understanding. Seek the Lord while you're still
able. So, Barzillai said, David, my
mind's not what it once was. I can't contribute anything to
you. I've got no ability left. I'm unfit to serve you in any
way. The oldest, most solid believer,
who's solid in the faith, always says that about themselves. That's how you can tell a believer's
grown in grace, when he says, I'm nothing. I don't have any
ability to serve the Lord. I'm not smart enough to be in
any service of the Lord. I'm not able to discern what's
going on. I'm unfit to serve the Lord in any capacity. That's
the person. And while that's true, that's
the only kind of person who's capable of serving the Lord.
One who knows he's not able in himself, because that person
will depend upon the Lord. Sixth, an object of mercy is
not interested in rewards. They're interested in Christ,
who is our exceeding great reward. Look at verse 36. Thy servant
will go a little way over Jordan with the king. And why should
the king recompense it me with such a reward? Barzillai wasn't
interested in a reward. He sent food and supplies to
David and he said, David, it's no big deal. It was my joy to
give that to you. I did it out of love. Whatever
I did, I did it out of love. Doesn't he sound like those believers
in Matthew 25 and the judgment? Lord, when do we see you hungry
or thirsty or naked or sick or in prison and did anything for
you? When do we do that? They weren't interested in rewards,
were they? They did what they did. They gave out of what they
gave out of love. And just like Barzillai, every
believer can say this. When I've done all, whatever
it is the Lord's put to my hand to do today, when I've done all,
I'm nothing more than a burden to the Lord. He's got to carry
me every step of the way. An object of sovereign mercy
is not interested in a reward. Just like Mephibosheth and just
like Barzillai, he just wanted to be with David. That's all
he cared about. Because he knows this, there's
no greater reward than being with the Lord Jesus Christ. None
greater. Seventh, an object of mercy is
not afraid of death. Look, he says in verse 37, he
says, let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again that I
may die in my own city and be buried by the grave of my father
and of my mother. This old believer, he's not afraid
of death. He's not afraid of the grave
because the Lord's taken the sting of death away. He's not
afraid. He doesn't have dread of the
tomb. The Lord's already risen from the tomb. There's no fear
there. To the object of mercy, there
is no fear of dread. fear of death or dread of the
tomb. We look forward to it. To be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord. There's no fear in death. Eighth,
an object of sovereign mercy. We'll pray for others. Especially
their children. We know this. God's going to
save his elect. Every one of them. God's going
to save them. But that doesn't give us a fatalistic attitude.
We just say, well, whoever's going to be saved will be saved.
Nothing I can do about it. No. We pray for the lost. We pray for our loved ones. Nobody
else can save them. Nobody else can help them. And
we pray for them. And that's what Barzilliai does
here. Look at here, verse 37, that I may be buried by the grave
of my father and my mother. But behold, thy servant Shemham.
This is Barzilliai's son. Let him go over with my lord
the king, and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. Now
we pray for our children and all the lost with good reason.
The Lord's able. He is able to save them and perhaps
he'd be pleased to do it. Look at verse 38. That's what
David says. And the king answered, Chimam
shall go over with me and I will do to him that which shall seem
good unto thee. He didn't say, I'm going to do
to him that which seems good to me. He said, I'm going to do
to him what should seem good unto thee. And whatsoever thou
shalt require of me, whatever you ask of me, that I'll do for
thee. Whatever you ask me, that's what
I'm going to do for him. Lord answers prayer. He hears
the prayer of his people and could be, he'd be pleased to
save those we pray for. Could be. The Lord will answer
our prayer, could be for our children, the same way that David
answered the prayer of this old believer. So we pray for them. And you know why we spend so
much time in prayer for them? They're just like us. They've
got my nature. I look at my children. I love
them. I can't even tell you. They've got my nature. So I pray
for them because I know this, just like their daddy, they need
sovereign mercy. And I pray for them. I know you
do, too. I mean, you can't help it. Well,
how do we know David kept his word? I can tell you David kept
his word. How do we know that? That he
partially I went back soon, I would imagine he died. How do we know
David kept his word to that man? Nobody was there holding his
feet to the fire. In David's dying instructions, his son Solomon,
first Kings two, he said, you remember this man. And you treat
him well. That because what his father
did, I told his father, I do it now. You keep my word. And,
you know, the rest in the rest of the historical account of
Scripture, we don't read Tim Ham's name one more time. Well,
how do we know David kept his word? How do we know Solomon
did what his father told him to do? Look at Jeremiah 41. Jeremiah 41, verse 17. And they departed and dwelt in
the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter
into Egypt. This land that they were near
there had been Chimham so long they call it the habitation of
Chimham, and it's in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is David's hometown. This is the place where he owned
land. And he gave Chimham property in Bethlehem that belonged to
David. And David's home became Chimham's
home. They didn't call this David's
home. They didn't call it the habitation of David. They called it the
habitation of Chimham because it's been his so long, that's
how it was identified. David gave property that belonged
to him. He didn't take property that
he won in battle that he took from the Philistines or he took
from the Amalekites or he took from somebody else and gave that
to Chimham. He gave Chimham what belonged
to him. What he gave Chimham cost him. It cost David. The
Lord Jesus Christ gave himself a ransom for the souls of those
he promised to redeem. In eternity past, God's Son told
the Father, I'll be sure to redeem you. I'll pay their sin debt."
And he came and he did it. And he didn't pay that sin debt
for that sin debt. He didn't pay that enormous cost
for something he took from somebody else. He gave his own life to
do it. And gave those people his righteousness. Gave it to them freely. He gave
to them what cost him. And they call his righteousness,
my righteousness. My righteousness. is the righteousness
of Christ that's been imputed to me. David gave him what cost
him. And ninth, look back in our text,
the final home of every object of mercy will be with the Lord
Jesus Christ in glory. Look at verse 39. And all the
people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over,
the king kissed Barzillia and blessed him, and he returned
unto his own place. Then the king went on to Gilgal,
And Jimham went on with him. And all the people of Judah conducted
the king and also half the people of Israel. Now this whole journey
started for David. Remember how he left over the
brook Chitron, went over that brook of filth and this horrible
place. He crossed that into the wilderness.
Now he comes back. Every single soul that crossed
over Chitron into the wilderness with David came back into Israel
over Jordan. Every one of them. Everyone who's
in the Lord Jesus Christ one day will cross back over in the
glory. There'll be no fear crossing
that brook Jordan. We'll be happy on the other side
of our Lord. And we'll be with Him eternally
for this one reason. We're objects of sovereign mercy.
And I would have it no other way. Would you? I wouldn't have
it any other way. All right. Well, I hope the Lord blessed
that to you.