Chapter 4, verse 1, And when
Saul's son heard that Admar was dead in Hebron, his hands were
feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. And Saul's son
had two men that were captains of bands. The name of the one
was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rehman,
a Beerothite of the children of Benjamin. For Beeroth also
was reckoned a Benjamin. And the Beerothites fled to Gittaium,
and were sojourners there until this day. And Jonathan, Saul's
son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years
old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan 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." Now, I would venture to say that everyone
here knows very well the story of Mephibosheth. He is a famous
picture. of God's covenant mercies in
our Lord Jesus Christ. We won't spend a lot of time
with Mephibosheth this morning. We'll see him several more times
through our study in 2 Samuel. But we'll say this, that the
first thing that we learn about Mephibosheth is how he became
lame and when he became lame. He became lame through a fall
that happened when his father died. And you know the picture. This is how each one of us became
spiritually dead. I would say spiritually lame,
but we're not lame, we're spiritually dead. It trespasses in sin. We
became sinners through the fall of our father Adam. When Adam
fell, he died spiritually. He became dead. And Adam, our
father, was our representative. We were in him. Whatever he did,
we did because we were in him as our federal head, our representative.
And when Adam fell, We fell. When Adam died, we died. We received
a nature that was dead and trespasses and sin. Now we're born with
physical life, but don't ever confuse physical life with spiritual
life. Don't confuse physical life with
a free will, because we don't have that. We have physical life,
but we're born into this world just like Adam lived after the
fall, dead, with a nature that's spiritually dead and completely
sinful. We're born with a nature that
cannot please God and will not please God unless he seeks us
first in mercy and grace. And that's the story of Mephibosheth,
how David sought him in covenant mercies. Now, in the rest of
this chapter, there are three results. Picture here of Adam's
fall. After Adam's fall, the nature
of man became contrary to God. And that's what we see here in
the fall of Adam. First of all, all the actions
of all men became sinful in Adam's fall, as a result of Adam's fall.
And I wish I could paint the picture of sin as black and dark
and filthy as it really is. And this is what we're filled
with, is sin. There's not just some sin in
us. You know, there's some good and
some bad. We're filled with sin. Totally depraved. Everything
man does is filled with sin. Because we're filled with sin.
You know, we see someone do something. We think, wow, that was nice.
That was really nice. And God sees that. That act that
we thought was so nice, God sees it as iniquity. God sends men
to hell for doing what we think is nice. Now that's so, because
everything we do is polluted with sin. God sees sin as it
is. We're filled with sin. Sin is
all we know, so we don't always recognize sin when we see it.
But God does. He recognizes and sees sin for
what it is. In Genesis 6, verse 5, God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that
every imagination, every imagination of his heart and his thoughts
was, you know, his heart was only evil continually, continually. Noah included every man. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And in our text, we see a fulfillment,
another illustration of this dead, sinful, depraved nature. How that everything man does
is sinful. Look in verse 5. And the sons
of Rehman the Barothite, Rechab and Beanna, went and came about
the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a
bed at noon. And they came thither into the
midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat,
and they smote him under the fifth rib. And Rechab and Beanna
his brother escaped. But when they came into the house,
he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew
him, and beheaded and took his head and got them away through
the plain all night. Now you see the wickedness of
these men? They came and they killed the
king while he was sleeping. It wasn't that they killed him
in battle. They killed him while he was sleeping. That's the wickedness
of man. It's the evidence of their death
in Adam. Didn't Adam do the very same
thing? When Adam rebelled against God,
what was he doing? He's rebelling against the kingship
of God. That's what he was doing. He
would have killed God if he could. That's what these men did. They
killed the king, rebelling against the king's royal authority. So,
first of all, the fall of Adam made all the actions of all men
sinful. Second, the fall of Adam made
all the thoughts of men sinful. Not just our actions, but our
thoughts. became sinful and contrary to
God. Look in verse 8. And they brought
the head of Ish-bosheth unto David, to Hebron. And they said
to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul,
thine enemy, which sought thy life. And the Lord hath avenged
my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. And David
answered Rechab, and Beanna his brother, the sons of Rimen, the
Berephite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath
redeemed my soul out of all adversity. When one told me, saying, Behold,
Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took
hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would
have given him a reward for his tidings. How much more, when
wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon
his bed? Shall I not therefore now require
his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?" These
men thought They were doing David a service by killing the king.
They thought by killing the king, they were earning a reward from
David. David told him, you're not doing me a service. What
you did was wicked. I'm not going to reward you for
a wicked thing. Your reward will be death for this wicked act.
Man's thoughts are not God's thoughts. Man's ways are not
God's ways. Men think they do God a favor. by coming to church on Sunday.
You know, look at me, I'm sacrificing, I'm getting up early instead
of sleeping in, coming to church on Sunday. I think they're doing
God a favor. Men do many things in the name
of religion that they think pleases God, that they think eventually
will earn them a reward in heaven or whatever they think. But man's thoughts are not God's
thoughts. The men who killed our Lord Jesus
put Him to death in the name of religion. Look at Matthew
chapter 7. And they did that because of
the fall of Adam. When Adam fell, all of our thoughts
became sinful and contrary to God. In Matthew 7 verse 21, Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name
done many wonderful works? All these things we did, we thought
were going to earn us a reward. And then, while I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. These were not good works. God
called them iniquity. These things that men thought
was going to please God and get them reward. Our Lord calls iniquity. Look at John chapter 16. Verse 1. These things have I
spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put
you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think he doeth God's And these things will they
do unto you, because they've not known the Father, nor me."
They do all these things in religion, or these activities, but they
don't know God. Men think that they're doing
something holy, when in fact, they're working iniquity. Because
when Adam fell, the thoughts of men became contrary to God. Third, the fall of Adam brought
the judgment of God and eternal death upon all men. Look in verse
12, back in our text. And David commanded his young
men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their
feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they
took the head of Ish-posheth, and buried it in the sepulchre
of Abner in Hebron. Now, the fall of Adam made all
men guilty before God. What these men did They were
guilty and they were put to death because of it. And that's the
way we're born. Guilty in Adam. We were shapen
in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me? Even
Mama is sinful. All men, including our mother,
they're sinful now. All men. And scripture says the
wages of sin is death. That's the result of sin. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. Look at Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 29. To being filled. Notice the things
here we're filled with. Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. full of envy,
full of murder and debate and deceit, malignancy, whisperers,
back biters, haters of God. And there's the root of the whole
problem right there. Haters of God. Despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things. You know, the evil things that
you've got to do are not good enough. You've got to be inventors
of evil things. Inventors. I lost my place. Inventors
of evil things. Disobedient to parents. without
understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit
such things are worthy of death." Men know this in their nature.
They know those people who commit those things are worthy of death.
Yet, not only do they do the same, but they have pleasure
in them that do. That's our nature. And that's
the end. of all flesh, the way of all
flesh is eternal death. Those who commit these things
are worthy of death. Now, is there a remedy? That's our
nature. That's who and what we are. Is
there a remedy? Is there a way my sin can be
cleansed and I can be brought back to God? Is there a way?
Yes, there is. through a Redeemer. Not through
anything we do, through a Redeemer. Back in our text, in verse 9,
did you notice what David said here at the end of the verse? As the Lord liveth, who hath
redeemed my soul out of all adversity. That's the title of the lesson.
The Lord, who hath redeemed my soul. That is how we're Our sin
is cleansed and we're brought back to God through the doing
and the dying of our Redeemer. Now look back in Genesis chapter
48. This is the first time the word redeem is used in scripture.
Genesis chapter 48. Beginning in verse 15. And he
blessed Joseph, this is Jacob blessing his son, and he blessed
Joseph and he said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk, the God which fed me all my life long and to this
day, and the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lands. The angel which redeemed me from
all evil. Sounds like Jacob and David are
preaching the same message, aren't they? They are. They are. There's only one message of the
gospel. There's only one message that
saves because there's just one Redeemer. Her message is all
Him. There's just one message. And David and Jacob, separated
by all those years, are preaching the same message. The Lord hath
redeemed my soul. Now, you are familiar with the
law of first mention. That whatever a word means, the
first time it's used in Scripture, that's what it means all the
way through God's Word. Well, what does it mean here
as Jacob uses it? Well, Jacob speaks first of the
God which hath fed me all my life long and the angel which
redeemed me. Well, that angel is the messenger
of God, but he's not talking about a created being, is he?
That's a capital A. He's talking about a specific
person. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the messenger
of God, the word of God. He's the one that redeemed me.
Jacob has seen this angel. He wrestled with him all night
long. He could say with Job, I know my redeemer liveth. He
touched me. I've never been the same. I know
he liveth. And he's the one who redeemed
me. Well, how did he redeem me? He
tells us, God which fed me, he says, that word fed is shepherded,
shepherded. Now, what's a shepherd do? So
the shepherd leads the flock, doesn't he? He leads them in
and out. He leads them to pasture. He leads them to the still, deep
waters. He leads them. He protects the
sheep. He feeds the sheep. He keeps the sheep from wandering
off and getting lost. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
Good Shepherd. But not only does He lead His
flock, not only does He protect His flock, not only does He feed
them and keep them from getting lost, the Good Shepherd giveth
His life for the sheep. That's how the sheep are redeemed,
through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the word
redeemed here, as Jacob uses it, means to act as a kinsman,
the kinsman redeemer. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
our kinsman redeemer. He became flesh and bones, took
upon Himself our flesh, yet without sin, so that He could be our
near kinsman. And he paid the sin debt of his
people with his own precious blood. And brethren, those people
are redeemed. They're completely, entirely
redeemed. Now how effective is the sacrifice
of Christ? How effective is the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus? Jacob says, and David says, he
redeemed me from all evil. All of it. Look at Titus chapter
2. They're not the only ones who
say that. Titus chapter 2. Let's begin in verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearance of our great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity. He came to redeem his people
from all iniquity. David said in Psalm 130, he shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities, because with him is plenteous
redemption. Plenteous redemption. There is
no sin left in anyone for whom Christ died. There's no sin left
to the account, to be charged to God's elect, because when
Christ died, he redeemed his people from all of their sins
forever. Therefore, it is impossible for
any of God's elect to suffer eternal torment for their sins,
because Christ already suffered for them. He already put those
sins away under his blood, all of them. All of them. Now, if
you're redeemed, you are redeemed from all of your sin. Because
our near kinsman gave his life to put away our sin, he paid
the ransom price in full. Now, I want to tell you, I like
the sound of that. Do you like the sound of that?
Complete redemption. Redemption from all of your iniquities
in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you like the sound of that,
maybe you're wondering, where can I get that? Where can I get
that redemption? Where can I find that redemption?
Is it in our good works? Is it because we do something
that would make God say, I want to redeem that person? No. Is
it in our repentance? If I cry enough tears and I'm
sorry enough for all my sin, is that where I can find redemption?
No, it's not in that. Christ died for, and he redeemed
sinners. No one is redeemed because they
did anything good. Because I just showed you, we're
full of sin. We're incapable of doing anything
good. So it's not because of something
we did. Jacob says, the Lord redeemed me from all evil. He redeemed me from all of my
sin. He redeemed me from all of my wickedness. He redeemed
me of everything that I am by nature. So this redemption is
not found in anything we do, because we're sinners. Redemption
is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you need redemption
for your sins, go to Him. It's found in Him. Look in Romans
chapter 3. Romans 3 verse 24, being justified freely by His
grace, how? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. That's where redemption of all
of our sin and all of our iniquity is found, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's free. It's freely given
to His people. Not because we earn it, it's
freely given out of the riches of His grace. Now, I want us
to consider for the rest of our time the redemption that's in
Christ Jesus. I have nine points. They're all
short, but it was difficult for me to limit myself to these nine.
The word redeem in one form or another is used 139 times in
scripture. It was hard for me to just talk
about nine. We're going to talk about nine of them. The first
one we've seen. Christ has redeemed His people
from all evil. All of our sin has been put away
under His blood. Second, how did Christ accomplish
this redemption? God's holy. God did not just
ignore the sin of His people. God made His Son to be sin for
His people. God wasn't playing the game.
It's not a religious game when we're playing a pretend game
of redemption. At Calvary, God was redeeming his people from
their sin, and he did it through a substitute. He made his son
to be the sin of his people. He actually became sin, and God
fully punished him for the sin that was laid on him. He didn't
spare him one drop of his wrath. The Lord Jesus suffered the full
penalty of the broken law. He suffered every strike, every
stroke. He suffered and he died to satisfy
God's holy justice. Now that's no small price. Look
at 1 Peter chapter 1. That is no small price. Forasmuch as you know that you
are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers,
but you are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. You remember David
redeemed his wife, Michael, for 104 skins of the David went out
and killed those Philistines. Christ loved his people so much,
he gave his own blood to put away their sin. Christ loved
his people so much, he didn't kill someone else. He gave himself
to die for the sins of his people. That's where redemption is found
in Christ Jesus. That's how God redeems his people.
Third, in Christ we're redeemed from the curse of the law. Galatians
3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us. He suffered that curse for his
people. Now, what is the curse of the
law? We don't understand how wonderful that verse is unless
we understand what is the curse of the law. The curse of the
law is death. The law demands death for sin
in Christ. were redeemed from death. Look
at Psalm 103. In Christ we are redeemed from
death. In verse 2, David says, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities. who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction." He redeemed the life of his people
from destruction. He redeemed us from death. Now,
if you care to turn over to Hosea, if you're here Wednesday, you
may still have that bookmark, Hosea, Hosea chapter 13. In verse 14, I will ransom them
from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction.
Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. Christ is the death
of death because he died in the place of his people. He died
so that none of his people will ever taste death. In Christ,
death is swallowed up in victory. He redeemed his people from death.
Fifth, he redeemed us from separation from the Father in Adam. Adam had fellowship with God
at one time, didn't he? But when Adam sinned, he lost
that fellowship with God. He was thrust out of the garden.
God put an angel there with a sword that turned every way to keep
him from coming back. Adam was separated from God.
And we're separated from God because of our sin. Isaiah 59,
verse 2, your iniquities have separated from you and God. God
didn't separate himself from you. You separated yourself from
him because of your sin. Well, is there a way back? Is
there a way for that to be restored, what we lost in Adam? Yes, there
is. Through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Revelations 5, verse 9. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou hast slain, and hast redeemed us to God." We've been
brought back to God. You redeemed us to God by Thy
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and He redeemed
us to God. He redeemed us from our separation
from the Father. Six, he has redeemed us from
eternal torment. Now, how did he do that? By suffering
eternal torment and agony for his people. He suffered the punishment
of his people. He suffered separation from his
Father. And no one for whom Christ died
can suffer for sins he suffered for. Justice will not allow it. He suffered eternal torment,
so his people never will. Seventh, this redemption in Christ
Jesus is eternal. It's eternal. It'll never go
out of style. It'll never lose its power. Let me read this verse
to you, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. Chapter here. But Christ. being come, and a high priest
of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." This redemption is eternal. If you look over
at Isaiah 43. This redemption, this eternal
redemption, is for a specific people. Christ didn't come and
die hoping beyond hope that someone, anyone, somewhere, someday, maybe,
would accept him. He came to redeem a specific
people. Isaiah 43, verse 1. But now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name, and thou art mine. He called his people by name.
He redeemed them on purpose. He goes on, verse 2, and tells
us nothing you go through will ever separate you from Christ. Nothing you ever go through,
as horrible and as hard as those trials may be, going through
the flood and the waters and the fire, will ever cause you
to lose this redemption that Christ purchased for you. When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through
the waters they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior, because I redeemed you on purpose." This redemption
is for specific people. And ninth, there is no chance
of failure in this redemption. Look over a page of Isaiah 44,
there's no chance that this will ever fail. In verse 6, thus saith
the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts, I am first and I am the last, and beside me there is
no God. Does it sound like to you he
didn't fail? He's the first and the last. He's the King of mystery.
He's the Lord of hosts. Beside Him, there is no God.
There's no rival to His power. There's no rival to His authority.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Now, I want to make this applicable
to us. To us right here this morning.
I want to make this applicable. Something you can take home with
you. First, redemption is for sinners. It's for sinners. Then
don't deny your sin and your guilt. Admit your sin and come
to Christ begging for forgiveness of your sins. Forgiveness of
sins is only found in Christ. He came to redeem sinners. Then
come to him as a sinner begging for forgiveness. Second, this
redemption has already been accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ. Then
quit trying to impress God. with your filthy rags of righteousness
and your filthy rags of your work and come to Christ and beg
to be clothed in His righteousness. Don't try to accomplish what
Christ has already accomplished. Come to Him and beg to be clothed
in His righteousness. Third, redemption is free. We read that being justified
freely by His grace. It's in Christ Jesus. If it's
free, quit trying to earn it. Quit trying to earn something
that's free and just beg God for His free gift. Four. Redemption is accomplished. It's finished. It's eternal.
It's from all iniquity. It's complete. There's nothing
left to be done. Then rest. Rest in Christ. It's such a blessing to be able
to rest in Him. Fifth. Then live for Christ. He's redeemed you from death.
He redeemed your life from destruction. He's given you life. You're not
your own. You're bought with the price.
Then live for Him. You live in Him and you live
for Him. Sixth, be thankful. Be thankful. The Lord saves you, Bob, you. He died for you. Wayne, He had
mercy on you as He hung there on Calvary's Cross. Your name
was on His heart. Be thankful. I was talking with
Cheryl Dodson yesterday. He said, the more I hear the
gospel, the more I know I don't deserve this. Be thankful. Be a thankful people. And last,
be diligent to worship Him. We lost fellowship with God in
Adam. In Christ, we're brought back
to the Father. We're able to come into His presence,
crying, Abba, Father! Then worship Him in spirit and
in truth, begging to allow you to worship Him. This that we
have here, Sundays and Wednesdays, is a blessed privilege. You can't
find this everywhere you go, but the Lord's given it to us
here. Be thankful and be diligent to worship Him. He's worthy of
all of our worship. I hope the Lord blessed that
to you.