Now this morning we have a lesson
that is universally loved by dead dogs. Dead dog sinners love
the message of covenant mercy in Christ. Dead dog sinners love
to hear mercy for Christ's sake. And that's what we have in our
lesson this morning. What I want us to come away with
this morning is an understanding. Of what kind of mercy does it
take to save a dead, helpless sinner? What kind of mercy will
save a sinner like that? Now, you remember back in chapter
7, we had the Savior promised. In chapter 8, we have a picture
of the Savior coming and going to war. Now, in chapter 9, He
can show covenant mercies. That's what we see here in chapter
9. It begins in verse 1, 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? Now, David is king. He's sovereign
over all of the land of Israel. He's conquered every enemy, and
the common practice is for the king, the new king, if he's from
a different house, from a different family, to kill all the relatives
of the former king so that no threats will ever rise to his
throne. And certainly David had the right to do that, didn't
he? He's God's anointed. Saul's not. David is. So Saul
and none of his house should ever ascend to the throne of
Israel. They should be put to death. But instead, David is
determined to show mercy. He's determined to show kindness.
The word kindness there usually is translated in Scripture, mercy. He's determined to show mercy
to someone. But why? Why is David determined
to show mercy? It's because of a covenant. It's
because of a covenant made years ago between David and Jonathan. David could destroy the house
of Saul. He could absolutely do that.
But he chooses instead to show sovereign mercy because of covenant
mercies. If you look back in 1 Samuel
chapter 18, this is when Mephibosheth The story of grace and mercy
began. It began a long time before he was born. In 1 Samuel 18,
verse 1, it came to pass when he made an end of speaking unto
Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David.
And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that
day and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then
Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own
soul. Look over a few pages of chapter
20, verse 13. Jonathan says, The Lord do so,
and much more to Jonathan. But if it please my Father to
do thee evil, then I will show it thee, and send thee away,
that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as
he hath been with my Father. And thou shalt not only while
I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, but
also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever.
No, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, every
one of them from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a
covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require
it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved
his own soul." Now, years later, this covenant was made years
ago. before Mephibosheth was ever
born. And this is years later. Now Mephibosheth is grown. He's
no child. He's grown. He's got a son of
his own years later. But David had not forgotten his
covenant. There's a few of you in here
that began your Sunday school career in Miss Janet's class.
And when you were three years old, she taught you covenant
means promise. All these years later, David
had not forgotten this promise, this covenant that he made with
Jonathan. And David is determined to show
kindness to someone for Jonathan's sake. For Jonathan's sake. Not
because this person deserves mercy, but because David loves
Jonathan. And he made a covenant with Jonathan.
That's why David's going to show mercy. Now, verse 2. There was of the house of Saul
a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him
unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said,
Thy servant is 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. David says,
I'm going to show the kindness of God unto him. David's not
going to show the kind of mercy that men show, the kind of kindness
that men show. Men are kind to their friends. Men are kind to people who can
help them, who can add something to them. David's going to show
mercy to an enemy. David's going to show mercy to
someone who cannot add to his greatness or to his power or
to his wealth in any way. Yeah, there's one left. Jonathan
has a son left, but David's not much. He can't add anything to
you. He can't come serve you. He's
lame on both his feet. The name Mephibosheth actually
means shame or a shameful thing. There's no glory about this man. He's shame. He's full of shame.
He's a shameful thing. And he's lame on both of his
feet. Now look back in 2 Samuel chapter 4. We saw this a few
weeks ago. Mephibosheth became lame as a
result of a fall that happened in his father's death. In verse
4 of 2 Samuel 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had
a son, which was lame of his feet. He was five years old when
the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. 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, shameful name. He became lame in this fall,
and he has been living in shame and in hiding ever since, from
the time he was five years old. because he knew this new king
should execute him. And he's living in shame and
in hiding, he's lame, he's no good. And verse four, the king
said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Maker, the son of Amiel, in Lodabar. David said, where is he? Well,
he's in Lodabar. Lodabar means no pasture. He's down there in the place
of no pasture, no bread. Nothing growing there. It's all
dead. And he's in the house of Maker. And that means sold. He's
been sold into sin, sold into fear and shame and death. That's where he is. He's fallen
clear from being the grandson of the king to the house of no
bread. Living where he's been sold into
fear and shame. But David is not going to leave
him there. Look at verse 5. Then King David
sent and fetched him out of the house of Maker. the son of Amiel
from Lodabar. You'll notice David did not wait
for Mephibosheth to come to him. It never would have happened.
They're enemies. Mephibosheth is afraid of David.
He never would have gone to David. He did everything he could do
to avoid David. He wouldn't have gone to David.
So David didn't wait for Mephibosheth to come to him. David didn't
send a message to Mephibosheth. You show me that you're willing
and you take the first step toward me and then I'll come the rest
of the way. Wouldn't have happened. Mephibosheth is lame on both
his feet. He can't take the first step
to David. He's lame. So David fetched him. David did not send an invitation
and say, Mephibosheth, would you like to come up to my castle?
He fetched him. Mephibosheth did not have a choice
in the matter. Look over in Ecclesiastes chapter
8. If you have not underlined this verse, underline it. This
is something we need to know. Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verse 4. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? where the word of the king is
their power and no one can save the king, what are you doing?
Mephibosheth didn't have a choice in the matter. David sent a command,
you fetch him and bring him to me. Now poor Mephibosheth, oh,
he's full of fear. He's full of trembling and with
good reason. He knew who he was and he knew
who David is. He knew David should put him
to death and he comes to David full of fear. In verse 6, 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. Now Mephibosheth came and fell
on his face. He did reverence. And that word
reverence is worship. He did worship before David.
He did obeisance before David. He's full of humility. He's full
of fear. There lays Mephibosheth. He's
lame on both his feet. He's not getting up by himself.
He's laying there with no dignity at all. There he lays, a lump
of useless human flesh at David's feet. And David says, Mephibosheth? Now, who knows the tone that
David spoke with? You know, a lot of the writers
say it was a powerful, you know, it always portrays a powerful
voice. And it probably was. It's the
voice of the king. This is the voice of the king,
the sovereign. And I'm sure to Mephibosheth,
that voice sounded like it thundered. But I know this. There was compassion
in David's tone. Compassion. He said, one of the
writers, I don't know if it was Gill or Matthew Henry, said David
said, Mephibosheth? Like he couldn't believe it.
Like he's, this is the son of my dearest friend. I can't believe
I see Mephibosheth. Now you imagine what Mephibosheth
looked like as he lay there. I mean, he's a mess. He wasn't
washed. He stank. His hair wasn't combed
and cut. His beard wasn't shaved. He'd
been living a hard life and it showed on his body. You know,
you see a homeless person. You can tell they're living a
hard life. It shows on their body. That's
what Mephibosheth looked like. David didn't see any of that.
He saw through all that. When he saw Mephibosheth, he
saw Jonathan. When I see Maggie Kendall, you
know who I see? I see Terry. Don't you see that? I see Terry.
When I see Ben Simpson, I see Adam. That's who I see. I see
Adam. I told Jan, I thought, well,
this is a good illustration. I told Jan my illustration yesterday.
She said, when I see Ben, I see Jackie. It kind of ruins my illustration. But you get the point. It's a
family thing that you see there. When David saw Mephibosheth,
he saw his dear friend, Jonathan. And he loved him. There's no
violence in his voice. None at all. Why? He loved Jonathan
as he loved his own soul. And that love is poured out on
this poor, lame, shameful man, Mephibosheth. But all Mephibosheth
knows is fear. He said, behold, thy servant,
he's just trembling. And David tells him in verse
7, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan
thy father's sake, and I will restore unto thee all the land
of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Now when Mephibosheth heard those
words, fear not, he had to be shocked. He had to think, did
I hear that right? Did my ears play a trick on me? David tells him, Mephibosheth,
there's no reason for you to fear. None at all. I'm going
to restore to you everything your father lost, everything
your grandfather lost. It's all yours. Only better. All the lands and the houses
and the money and the servants, it's all yours. Only better. You're not going to eat at the
table of Saul anymore. You're going to eat at my table
continually. Every meal. And Mephibosheth
just couldn't believe it. He knew he did not deserve any
blessing from David. He just couldn't believe it.
Look what he says in verse 8. And he bowed himself and he says,
What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? Why such mercy to a dead dog
like me? Now that tells you Mephibosheth's
estimation of himself. I'm a dead dog. A dead dog is
useless. It's just useless. A dead dog
can't play fetch with. He's dead. A dead dog can't jump
around and get all excited and lick your face when you come
home. He's dead. He just lays there stinking because
he's dead. The term dead dog is a term the
Jews use as a term of derision. That's how Mephibosheth held
himself and his family tree in derision. I'm a dead dog. But David's not done. He goes
on in verse 9 and he says, 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 unto 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." Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then
it says, "'Ziba unto the king, according to all that my lord
the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do.' See
where the word of the king is, there's power. "'As for Mephibosheth,'
said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's
sons." David says, "'I'm not just giving back Mephibosheth
everything that's all lost. I'm making him one of my own
sons, one of my sons. Now, Mephibosheth is still Mephibosheth. He's still lame on both of his
feet. Look at verse 12. 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 he was
lame on both of his feet. Mephibosheth's nature is unchanged. He's still lame. But when he
sits at the king's table, those lame legs are covered up. And
he sits there as the king's son. Now that's a good story. For
a few minutes, I want to see if the Lord will enable me to
preach, to really preach, the gospel of God's grace from this
story and answer this question. What kind of grace saves the
sinner. Well, first of all, saving grace
is covenant grace. Saving mercy is covenant mercies. Mephibosheth's story of grace
began a whole long time before he was born in a covenant, an
agreement between Jonathan and David. Every believer's story
of grace began many years before we were born. It began before
the world was created. Our story of grace began in eternity
past, when God the Father entered into a covenant with God the
Son. In that covenant, the Father gave the Son a people to redeem,
and the Son in return agreed to be surety for those people.
He agreed to do everything that was required to save them from
their sins. And friend, that covenant is
ordered in all things, and it's sure. because it's been ratified
in the blood of God's own Son. And the Father loves those people
for Christ's sake. Look over Romans chapter 8. He
loves those people for Christ's sake. It's all for Christ's sake. In verse 38, Paul says, 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 where? In Christ Jesus our Lord."
A man that tells you God loves everyone equally and just waiting
on men to accept him is lying to you. God loves people in Christ
Jesus our Lord. That's where his love is found.
And if you look over in Ephesians chapter 4, God saves those people
for Christ's sake. It's all for Christ's sake. In
Ephesians 4 verse 32, And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven The Father loves those people for Christ's
sake, and He saves those people. He forgives their sins for Christ's
sake. And this covenant, the covenant
of grace, is the only reason that God Almighty shows mercy
to a sinner. It's for Christ's sake. He should
destroy the house of Adam, but He shows mercy to some for Christ's
sake. And you'll notice in verse 8
when Mephibosheth asked, why such mercy? to a dead dog like
me. David didn't answer him, did
he? He didn't answer him. It's not you, Mephibosheth. There's
no reason found in you. There's no reason found for God's
mercy in a dead dog. It's for Jonathan's sake. And
there's no answer to the question, why such mercy to a sinner like
me? Other than this, it's for Christ's
sake. HB is for Christ's sake. It's
covenant mercies. And just like David saw Jonathan
when he looked at that shameful man, Mephibosheth. When God sees
his people, he sees his son. When he sees me, he sees the
blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am. That's because of the covenant.
Saving grace is covenant grace. Second saving grace is sovereign
grace. Now this is mercy. This is grace
from the king. David was king. Grace was his
to give and it was his to withhold and no one could question him.
No one dared question David. He's the sovereign. God Almighty
is the sovereign. He is absolute monarch and no
one can question anything he does. Nebuchadnezzar learned
that lesson, didn't he? No one can say to him, what doest
thou? And saving grace is the kind
of grace that shows me I'm in his hand to do with as he pleases. And if he damns me, it'll be
just, and I cannot complain about it. And if he has mercy on my
sinful, shameful soul, it'll be right because he's punished
my sins and my substitute. will be saved until they are
brought to the feet of this sovereign who does as he will with whom
he will. No one. Now you listen to me. God never has been and he never
will be obligated to any sinner. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. God will save one and he'll pass
another by. And the only reason is because
it seems good in his sight. And I'm here to tell you, I'm
so thankful. I love that truth. Because if
it was left up to us, none of us would choose him. None of
us would have salvation if it was left up to us to choose him.
Mephibosheth did not choose David. Mephibosheth ate at David's table
as one of David's sons because David chose Mephibosheth. Thank
God. that saving grace. Third, saving
grace is fetching grace. Now no one in this room ever
sought God until God sought you first and brought you to himself
first. He fetched us to himself by coming
where we are, by becoming what we are and taking our place before
God's and suffering the full penalty of God's justice for
what we are and by making us what He is. That's how He fetches
His people to Himself. And God the Holy Spirit calls
God's elect through the preaching of the Gospel, through what we're
doing right now. We call it the irresistible call
of grace. If God the Holy Spirit ever gives
you ears faith, to hear the gospel of God's grace is an irresistible
call. You don't have a choice. You
come to Him because He's made you willing in the day of His
power. He's given you life and you desire to come to Christ
begging for mercy. He gives you the desire for Christ
that's so strong you want nothing else but Him. Irresistible calls,
fetching grace, I know preachers go where God sends us, preaching
this gospel. But now it's God who gives the
increase. If the preacher is the one who called you, another
preacher can call you to go somewhere else. But if God the Holy Spirit
has fetched you, you'll never leave Him. Saving grace is fetching
grace. Fourth, saving grace is for the
guilty. It's mercy for the helpless.
Now Mephibosheth lived under the sentence of death because
of who his father was. He deserved to die because of
who his father was. And Mephibosheth was completely
helpless. He was lame on both his feet.
He could never go anywhere under his own power. Every son of Adam
is under the sentence of death because of who our father is.
When Adam fell, we died in Adam. The house of Adam should be destroyed
because we're guilty. We're sinners. We've rebelled
against God's kinship. We deserve to be put to death.
And we're completely helpless. We're lame on both of our feet.
We cannot come to Christ that we might have life because we're
lame on both of our feet. And we will not come to Christ
that we might have life because we're dead. Spiritually dead. And we are all shameful things. But those are the people, those
people who are spiritually dead, those people who are lame on
both their feet. They know they're a shameful
thing. Those are the people who are candidates for mercy. Because
saving grace is for the guilty. Fifth, saving grace is undeserved
grace. David told Mephibosheth, I'm
going to show the kindness of God unto you. Not because you
deserve it, but because I love Jonathan. It's for Jonathan's
sake. One of the five points of Calvinism is unconditional
election. And I love that word, unconditional. I love both those words, but
in this instance, we're talking about unconditional. Unconditional
means there are no conditions for me to meet in order to have
it. And I'm so thankful for that. Oh, I love that. Because if there
were any conditions, that I meet, if there were even one requirement
that I had to meet in order to have God's mercy, I'd never have
it. It's unconditional. You and I
cannot do anything for God. We can't do anything to add to
Him other than add to the greatness of His mercy. That's the only
way you and I can add to Him. What condition can a dead dog
meet? A dead dog can't do any tricks.
You know, the preacher kind of talking and doing a trick. Come
down and accept Jesus as your personal Savior is a trick. Just
like our dogs, they sit and they get a doggy treat. It's a trick.
What trick can a dead dog do? Not one. Saving grace is undeserved
grace. It's unconditional. Sixth, saving
grace is restoring grace. Mephibosheth had restored to
him everything his household lost. Everything we lost in Adam
is restored to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only better. Only better. What we had in Adam,
we can obviously lose. What we have in Christ can never
be lost because it's for Christ's sake. It's based on His doing
and His dying. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. He's given us fellowship with
God. In Christ we can come before his throne boldly. And those
are eternal lessons that will never be lost. Saving grace is
restoring grace. Seventh, saving grace is adopting
grace. Where a believer is made part
of the family of God. And we eat at God's table as
one of his sons and his daughters. But it's not as one of his sons
and as one of his daughters. We sit at his table, the son,
the sons, the daughters. It's not like we're his sons. We are his sons. We are his daughters. A sinner is made part of the
family of God. Not like you're part of the family.
You're made the family of God. We're both adopted into his family
and born into his family. Saving grace is adopting grace.
Saving grace is providing grace. We eat at God's table continually. We're led in the green pastures
of his word continually. Every need that we have is provided
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. He is made unto us
everything we need. Saving grace is providing grace.
Ninth, saving grace is covering grace. After God saves a man
or woman, our nature is unchanged. We're still Mephibosheth, aren't
we? We're still nothing but sin. The nature that we received from
Adam is still Adam's nature. God's not going to affect or
change that nature. He gives us a new nature. We're
still nothing but sin, but all those sins are covered in the
blood of the new covenant. The blood of the new covenant
are covered, gone under His blood. Saving grace is covering grace.
And last, saving grace is eternal grace. And you know, when we
say eternal, we typically mean from this point forward, don't
we? Saving grace is eternal both
ways. It doesn't have a beginning.
It doesn't have an ending. It's eternal. And we'll see this
as we go through our study in 2 Samuel. David had several opportunities
to cut old Mephibosheth loose. Just cut some dead weight off
and get rid of him. And he never did it. For Jonathan's
sake. He always remembered Jonathan. Mephibosheth is going to go through
several trials. People are going to lie on him.
He's going to suffer loss. His enemies are going to threaten
him. Or his enemies are going to come and demand justice against
him. But you know what? He ate at David's table continually. Because saving grace is eternal
grace. And every believer is going to
suffer trials. Just like you said Wednesday
night. trial of Job's that's recorded in scripture. I want
his last one. We're going to suffer trials. We're going to
suffer loss. We're going to suffer people
lying on us and cheating us and all these things. But if you're
one of God's sons, if you're in Christ, this is what's going
to happen. You're going to eat at God's
table continually because saving grace is eternal grace. All right. Well, I hope the Lord will bless
that to you.