Let's open our Bibles again here
to 2 Samuel chapter 9. Many of you will remember the
comedian from the 70s. He had a routine. They made commercials
out of it. He was on TV a lot in the late
70s. His routine, I don't remember
his name, but he said, you can call me Ray or you can call me
Jay or you can call me Johnny or you can call me Sonny. But
you don't have to call me Johnson. Remember that guy? Well, I thought
of that routine when I thought of the title for this message.
You can call me Mephibosheth. I'd like to have the blessings
from God our King that Mephibosheth had from King David. And that's
what we're going to look at here this evening. Now, verse 1 in
2 Samuel 9. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him
kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now, you know the story. David,
many years ago, had been anointed king, and now he has finally
taken the throne in Israel. David is sovereign over the whole
land of Israel. And the common practice at that
time was for the new king to kill all the relatives of the
former king. so that no threats to his throne
would ever arise. And David definitely had the
right to do that. He's God's anointed. Saul shouldn't be king. Saul's dead. None of Saul's descendants
should ever be king. David is God's anointed. And
David asked this question, is there any left of the house of
Saul? But not for the reason people thought he might be asking
that question. David's looking for someone to show kindness.
Now why is David doing that? Well, it's because of a covenant,
a covenant between David and Jonathan. David could destroy
the house of Saul, but instead he chose to display sovereign
mercy. He's going to display covenant
mercies. Look over at first Samuel chapter
18. Now Mephibosheth, his story of grace began a long time before
he was ever born. It began in 1 Samuel 18, verse
1. And it came to pass, when he
had 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. And Jonathan
stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it
to David. and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and
to his girdle. He gave those things to David
and entered into this covenant with him. Now look over a few
pages at chapter 20 of 1 Samuel. Here's more about this covenant
that Jonathan and David entered into. In verse 11 of 1 Samuel
20. And Jonathan said unto David,
Come and let us go out into the field. And they went out, both
of them, into the field. And Jonathan said unto David,
O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my Father about to-morrow
any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good toward
David, and I then sin not unto thee, and shew it thee, the Lord
do so, and much more to Jonathan. But if it please my Father to
do thee evil, then I will shew 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 yet live, show 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 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. So these two men
entered into this covenant that David, he knew would be king.
And then when he became king, he would show kindness to the
house of Jonathan. And David, when he becomes king,
is going to show kindness to someone for Jonathan's sake. He's not going to show anyone
of the house of Saul mercy because they deserve mercy. David loves
Jonathan and he made a covenant with Jonathan So David's going
to have mercy on someone for Jonathan's sake. Now our God
is King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. I heard today that
this nut job, Gaddafi, went into the UN and was introduced by
his cronies as the King of Kings. How brazen that is. I just don't even have the word
for it. Our God is King of Kings. Lord of Lords, He's sovereign
over all. He does according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou?
He's sovereign. And that means our God does what
He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases. He's sovereign. And because He's sovereign in
all things, of course, He's sovereign in salvation. Now the injustice? God could damn the entire human
race and be just, couldn't He? If He did that, He'd be just.
Adam's fallen race doesn't deserve mercy any more than Saul's house
deserved mercy from David. Every son of Adam is an enemy
of God. But it's God's character to be
merciful. And God's going to be merciful
to someone because God's going to show covenant mercies to His
people. And if you're a child of God
tonight, Your story began a whole long time before you were born.
It began in eternity. It began in a covenant of grace
between the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son who love
one another like David and Jonathan loved each other. The Father
has given everything to the Son. Just like Jonathan gave all his
garments and his bow and his sword to David, the Father has
given everything to the Son, put all things in his hand Put
the entirety of this covenant into the hand of our surety.
And the Father, in this covenant, promised to save a people for
Christ's sake. It's always for Christ's sake.
Not because these people deserve any mercy, because they don't.
He's going to show them mercy for Christ's sake, because of
the blood and the righteousness of God's Son. And the Father
loves the Son. And He loves the people in His
Son and He saves them and loves them and does everything He does
for them for Christ's sake. Look over in Ephesians chapter
4. It's for Christ's sake. It's like Gary said in the study.
We have nothing to do with it. It's for Christ's sake. Ephesians
4 verse 32. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, Even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. Why did he forgive you? For Christ's
sake. And everything that we're ever
going to have, or ever hope to have, from God, it's for Christ's
sake. It's all for Christ's sake. Just
like Medivishev, everything he's ever going to have is because
of Jonathan's sake. David gives him everything for
Jonathan's sake. Now, verse 2, back in our text.
And 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. Now Jonathan did have one son
left, Ziba told David. But he's not much. You don't
really want this fella. He can't add anything to you. He's helpless. He's lame. Look
back at 2 Samuel chapter 4. He's lame. Part of Mephibosheth's
story is that he became lame in a tragic fall when he was
just a young child. 2 Samuel 4 verse 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had
a son that was lame on 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 that she
made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. And his name
was Mephibosheth. Part of Mephibosheth's story
is that he became lame in a fall. So if you're a child of God,
part of your story is a tragic fall that happened a long time
before you were born. It didn't happen when you were
a child. It happened a long time before you were born. It happened
in Adam. When Adam sinned, he fell. He fell from righteousness to
unrighteousness. He fell from holiness to guiltiness. He fell from being a friend of
God to an enemy of God, hiding from God and blaming his sin
on God. Adam fell from life to death. And every one of Adam's descendants,
every one of us, fell in him. When Adam fell, we died. We didn't just become lame like
Mephibosheth. We died. Every one of our faculties
was affected in this fall. We died. We're dead in trespasses
and sin, ruined by the fall, helpless and hopeless, unable
to add anything to God. Someone would tell the Lord,
you don't want them. They're not much. They can't
add anything to you. And that's what Ziva told David
about Mephibosheth. But look at verse four. And 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. Davis says, where is he? There's
one left. Where is he? Well, he's in Lodabar. And you know, as well as I do,
the word Lodabar means no pasture, the place where there's no food.
He's in the house of Maker. And the word Maker means sold.
He's sold. And he's in the house of Amiel,
which means wearied. Now that's such a clear picture
of us. We're in the house of Maker,
sold under sin. In the house of Amiel, wearied
with trying to keep up, keep the law, please God, keep obeying. Wearied in Lodabar, a place where
there's no pasture. Well, he's down there in this
bad situation. What's David going to do about
this now? Well, David's not going to leave him there. David's going
to show mercy to this man. He's going to fetch him. Look
at verse 5. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Maker, the son of Aniel from Lodabar.
David didn't send an invitation to see if old lame Mephibosheth
would like to come meet David at the castle. He didn't send
an invitation wondering if Mephibosheth might take the first step and
then David would come get him. David sent and fetched him. He
fetched him. He brought Mephibosheth where
he was. And this is such a clear picture
of us, isn't it? We're sold under sin in a place
with no pasture, weary, unable to do anything for ourselves.
That's no place for sheep to be. Sheep need pasture. So God
sent and fetched us to himself. Thank God for fetching grace. Aren't you glad God didn't send
you an invitation to see if you might be willing to take a step
towards him or see if you might be willing to meet him halfway? No. God sends his servant and
fetches his sheep, comes and gets them and fetches them to
himself. God lovingly draws his people
to himself irresistibly with his love and his grace. God and
His power makes us willing to come to Christ. Now, I know that
the Lord sends His servants to preach the gospel. But the fetching
of God's sheep is a work of God. He didn't just, the Father doesn't
just send servants to fetch His people. The Father sent the Son
to fetch His people. Now, remember, we're sold under
sin. We can't just stroll out and go free. Whoever fetches
us must pay the price that's on our heads. So Christ, God's
Son, came where we were and He became what we are in order to
redeem us from the curse of the law. He became our substitute
and took our place under the wrath of the law so we could
go free. Christ came, He suffered, He
bled, and He died to pay the penalty so we could go free.
And then he imputed his perfect righteousness to us to make us
fit to be fetched into the presence of God himself. Thank God for
fetching grace. He came and brought us out and
he made us fit to come into the presence of God Almighty. Now, verse 6. Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David,
he fell on his face and did reference. And David said, Mephibosheth,
And he answered, Behold thy servant. Now, I tried to imagine how terrified
Mephibosheth had to be when David's servants showed up down there
in Lodabar and said, Come with us. I mean, that guy had to be
terrified. And he comes and he falls on
his face before the king. I can just see David sitting
on his phone. Mephibosheth? I mean, the guy just melted.
Oh, he just he knew he should be killed. He knew that's the
custom. That's what he deserved because
of who he was related to. He didn't know anything about
this covenant between David and Jonathan. And that's the way
a sinner comes to God. We don't know anything about
this covenant. We don't know anything about covenant mercies.
All we know is I'm guilty. I'm fearful. I'm just fearful
of God's justice and his wrath against my sin, and I fall on
my face in the dust doing reverence before the Sovereign. And those
are the people. If God brings a person to his
feet with their face in the dust, that's a person God intends to
show mercy to. He doesn't fetch you to his throne
to show his justice. He'll do that in judgment. He
fetches people to his throne to show them mercy. And that's
what happened to Mephibosheth in verse 7. Here Mephibosheth
is just melted in fear. And David said unto him, Fear
not. And Mephibosheth had to wonder,
am I ears working right? Fear not. For I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. And I will restore
thee all the land of Saul thy father. And thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually. Fear not, David said. Isn't that
sweet words? to hear from the Sovereign. Look
over Revelation 1. You know, this is something that no child of God ever gets
over. The fear and reverence of the
Lord. And how sweet it is to hear the
Master say, fear not. Now, here's John, the disciple
that was so close to our Lord. In Revelation 1, verse 17, when
John says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." Just like
Mephibosheth was at David's feet as dead. I fell at his feet as
dead. And he laid his right hand upon me saying, fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive evermore and
have the keys of hell and death. Fear not. And that's the same
thing David told Mephibosheth. Fear not. I'm going to show you
covenant mercies. for Jonathan's sake, for your
father's sake, because I loved him, because I entered into this
covenant with him. I'm going to restore to you everything
that Saul lost when he disobeyed God. And you're not going to
be like Saul. You're not going to lose it because
you're going to eat bread at my table continually, every meal. And that's what God tells his
people in the gospel. Fear not. I'm going to show you
covenant mercies for Christ's sake. I'm going to restore to
you everything that you lost in your father, Adam, when he
sinned against me and disobeyed. And you can never lose it. Once
God restores it to you in Christ, you'll never lose it. You'll
never go hungry because I'll feed you with Christ, the living
bread, continually, every meal. Now, verse eight, I love Mephibosheth's
response. And he bowed himself and he said,
what is thy service? that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am." Mephibosheth says the same thing every child
of God says repeatedly. Why such mercy to me? I'll never
know. Why? Why would you even think
on me? Why would you look on me? Don't you have something better
to do than think on me? I'm just a dead dog. Well, that's
what every one of God's people are. They're just dogs. Isn't
that what the Syrophoenician woman said when her daughter
was possessed of that devil and she came to the Lord wanting
to cast him out? And he says, it's not right for
me to give the children's bread to the dog. And she says, that's
true. I'm a dog. I'm just waiting for some crumbs.
She found out the same thing Mephibosheth found out. That
dog's going to have a feast. He's going to have a feast. She's
not just going to get some crumbs. She's going to have a feast.
Eat at the king's table continually. Now verse 9, Then the king called
to Zipoth, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto
thy master's son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house.
Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants 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
She'll eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and
20 servants. Now Ziba is a wicked man. I don't know. I think this is
true. He's always, even after David
comes to be king, he's always referred to as Saul's servant.
He never does become David's servant. He's always Saul's servant. He's always a servant of the
wicked one, the wicked man. And Ziba is a wicked man. But
he is going to do the will of King David. He's going to take
care of everything that's been given to Mephibosheth. And that's
a picture of this world. This world is a wicked place.
Yet it serves God's people at the will of the Lord, providing
the things that are necessary for us to live in this world.
Crops grow and farmers get heads of cattle and they do all these
things so you can be fed. That's this world working together
to feed you, to clothe you, to house you. But where do the real blessings
come from? Mephibosheth had all these blessings. Ziba and his
sons, his servants are taking care of all these things. But
where do his blessings come from? No matter what crops you bring
in and put in the barn and all these things, Mephibosheth is
going to eat at my table, David said. Well, the world provides
these physical things that are necessary for us to live on.
But your real blessings come from the table of the Lord. That's
where they come from. Ziba took care of everything
that belonged to Mephibosheth, but Mephibosheth's meals came
at David's table, at David's expense, when David served him.
Now, verse 11, Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all
that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant
do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my
table, as one of the king's sons. Now Mephibosheth's not eating
at the king's table on a temporary visa. He's a citizen. He's a son with all the rights
of a son. You know, there's privileges
of sonship. Last Saturday, I was over at my mom's house and what
sons do, you go look in the refrigerator, right? No one ate cookies. You know, she had this nice meal,
you know, there's no cookies. And she said, son, would you
like me to make you some cookies? And I said, have you ever known
anybody that would say no? I mean, yeah, I mean, I hate
it, but yeah, I would. And she did. And I got to eat
the dough and eat the warm cookies, all that I wanted. There's privileges
of sonship. Well, God's people are sons and
daughters. You're not put on probation at
the king's table. You're a son. You have a seat,
a permanent seat. You're not in God's presence
on a green card that you've got to get renewed every so often.
You're a son, a daughter, and you have free access to the father. Your seat at that table is there
to stay. It's your father's table. You're
a son. Now, verse 12, And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was
Micah. And all that dwelled in the house of Ziba were servants
unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table, and was lame
on both his feet. Now Mephibosheth ate every meal
at David's table. But no matter how many years
he sat there at that table, he was still lame on both of his
feet. David couldn't do anything about Mephibosheth's paralysis. He was still lame. Now God's
children eat every meal at the table of the Lord. We eat from
the green pastures of God's Word. We drink from those deep, still
waters. We're still lame on both feet,
aren't we? We've been given a new nature, a nature that's holy,
that's righteous, that loves God. But we still carry around
that old dead nature that makes us lame. We're the sons of God. But it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We're still lame in ourselves.
We're still dead in ourselves, even though we have life in Christ. And Mephibosheth was always lame
on both his feet. And no matter how long you may
live in this world, we will be lame on both our feet. I can
promise you that. But these covenant mercies for
Mephibosheth don't end here. Forty years pass. Every meal,
Mephibosheth's eating at the king's table. David's son Absalom
comes up over the course of 40 years, stole the hearts of the
men of Israel from David. And he made plans for a bloody
coup against his father. Look over 2 Samuel 15. 2 Samuel 15 verse 13. And there came a messenger to
David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. And David said unto all his servants
that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee, for we
shall not else escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest ye
overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city
with the edge of the sword. And the king's servants said
unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my
lord the king shall appoint. And the king went forth, and
all his household after And the king left ten women, which were
concubines, to keep the house. And the king went forth, and
all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far
off." They even had to escape to a place that's far off. Now,
while this is going on, old Ziba is still around. And Ziba's an
opportunist. He'd been serving Mephibosheth
for these forty years. Now, I'm just confident he hated
every minute of it. chafed at having to serve Mephibosheth,
this lame fellow. And now he saw a chance to improve
his situation, make himself rich. Look over another page at 2 Samuel
16, verse 1. And when David was a
little past the top of the hill, behold Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth,
met him with a couple of vassals saddled. And upon them two hundred
loaves of bread and a hundred bunches of raisins and a hundred
of summer fruits and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto
Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for
the king's household to ride on, and the bread and the summer
fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine that such as be
faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, And where
is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. For he said, Today shall the
house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then the
king said to Ziba, behold, thine are all that pertain to Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech
thee that I may find grace in my sight, my lord, O king. Now, all that's a lie. Mephibosheth
never intended that. We'll see this here in a second.
But David believed it. Now, to make a long story short,
we won't take the time to read all this. David's armies came
and this man Absalom died fleeing from David and from these men.
And now David's back on the throne. And here comes Mephibosheth in
2 Samuel 19. 2 Samuel 19, verse 24. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul,
came down to meet the king, and had 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 Mephibosheth
hadn't done these things, washed his feet or trimmed his beard
or washed his clothes, because those are signs of true, genuine
mourning. Mephibosheth mourned without
the presence of David. Mephibosheth found out, what
a believer could say, that palaces do prisons prove. If Jesus does
not dwell with me there. He still dwelt in this fine house.
Had his fine farm and everything he used to have. But he's miserable. What changed? David wasn't there. The presence of David is what
he desired. And that's what the believer,
all we desire, is the presence of our Lord. And if you don't
think that's true, let him depart for just a moment. And you'll
long for him. You'll long for him. And Mephibosheth
is miserable without David. So verse twenty-five, 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 me an ass, 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 David says, why didn't you
go with me, Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth said, I wanted to
go, but my servant tricked me. He went and left me behind. Now
for 40 years, Mephibosheth had enjoyed the bounty of David's
table. And he was willing to go out
in the wilderness and suffer with David too, for David's sake.
There's a quote I have from Pilgrim's Progress, and this is what Mephibosheth
is willing to do. If you'll go with us, you must
go against wind and tide. You must also own the truth in
his rags as well as when in his silver slippers, and stand by
him too when bound in irons, as well as when he walketh the
streets with applause. Well, that's Mephibosheth. He
was with David when he walked the streets in applause, and
he was willing to go out in the wilderness and suffer with him,
but he couldn't. because his servant tricked him.
Now look, hold your place right there. Look back at chapter 15
of 2 Samuel. King David has this effect on
men, that they're willing to follow him and suffer with him
out in the wilderness. This is interesting. 2 Samuel
15, verse 19. Then said the king to Attei,
the Gittite, wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to
thy place and abide with the king, meaning his son Absalom. For thou art a stranger, and
also an exile. Whereas thou camest but yesterday,
should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I
go whither I may? Return thou, take back thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee.
And Attei answered the king, and said, As the Lord liveth,
as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king
shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy
servant be. Wherever you are, David, that's
where I'm going to be. And that's what Mephibosheth's
desire was. And that's the desire of every
true believer, wherever the Lord is. That's where I want to be. I mean, I was a little boy and
this, you know how you are when you're little and the thing that
scares you the most is hell, right? I didn't want to go to
hell. And my mom told me. Hell is where Christ is not. I want to be where Christ is.
Wherever Christ is, that's heaven. I didn't understand that then,
but I understand it now. And that's what Mephibosheth
found. Hell is where David was not. He desired to be with David. He was sold out for Christ. Or sold out for David, just like
we're sold out for Christ. But with all this going on, you
notice the total submission of Mephibosheth. He said, I've been
slandered, but you're the king. You do whatever you think is
good, and I'll agree with you. Whatever you say, I'll amen it. I wish I had that kind of submission.
That's grace. That is God's grace, that someone
can be that submissive to the master's will. Well, verse 28,
he goes on and he says, For all of 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 to cry any more unto the King?" Mephibosheth says, David,
you've already been so merciful to me. What right do I have to
ask for more? Isn't that the way a child of
God can pray? Lord, you've been so good to me. We sing that song,
Lord's been so good to me. What right do I have to ask for
more? But we do, don't we? Because what does a mercy beggar
do? Beg for mercy. But everything we ever receive
is mercy. The Lord's going to keep showing
those mercies. They're not deserved. They're mercies for Christ's
sake. They're covenant mercies. So,
verse 29, the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more
of thy matters? I have said thou and Ziba divide
the land. Now, David, just like any man,
cannot be a perfect type of Christ. He's tricked. He's made a mistake.
And he just, you know, he just divides the land between Mephibosheth
and Ziba and just, he says, I'm tired of thinking about this.
And we might be prone to say, now, wait a minute. That's not
fair. I was slandered. He lied and cheated. He gets
half my stuff. That's not what Mephibosheth
says. Look at verse 30. And Mephibosheth said unto the
king, yea, let him take it all. For as much as my Lord the King
has come again in peace unto his own house." See, all the
stuff, all the houses and the barns and the crops meant nothing
to Mephibosheth compared to David. Now, I know we need material
blessings to live in this world, and the Lord meets those needs.
And every one of us has more than we need, don't we? Every
one of us does. But to the believer, All this stuff is just stuff
without Christ. Take the stuff. Give me Christ
or else I die. Now, David did make a mistake,
didn't he? Not a perfect picture, but our
God is never fooled. He never makes a mistake. But
he does send trials, doesn't he? Reckon how we'd react if
the Lord took half everything we own. Hmm. What did Job say? Job didn't
lose half. He lost it all, except his wife
that was trying to get him to curse God and die. What did Job
say? Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. I'd like to say I'd react like
Mephibosheth and our brother Job. Take the stuff. My heart's
desire is to dwell with Christ in peace. But Mephibosheth's story still
doesn't end. Quickly look at one more place
in 2 Samuel 21. There's one more time we see
these covenant mercies. Save Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 21
verse 1. Then there was a famine in the
days of David, three years, year after year. And David inquired
of the Lord, and the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody
house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites,
and said unto them, Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel,
but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had
sworn unto them. And Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the
children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore David said unto the
Gibeonites, What shall I do for you, and wherewith shall I make
the atonement? that ye may bless the inheritance
of the Lord. And the giving night said unto him, We will have no
silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house. Neither for us
shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say,
that will I do for you. And they answered the king, the
man that consumed us, and that devised against us, that we should
be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel. Let
seven men of his sons be delivered unto us. and we will hang them
up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose.
And the king said, I'll give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's
oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of
Saul. The death sentence was over Mephibosheth,
the grandson of Saul, but he was spared for one reason. covenant
mercies because of the covenant between Jonathan and David. He
was spared for Jonathan's sake. His whole life long, he was covered
with covenant mercies. He was spared the death. He was blessed. He was fed. He's
covered with covenant mercies. So you can call me Mephibosheth. Like Mephibosheth, I descended
from a rebel, Adam. I'm lame on both feet, dead in
trespasses and sins, but God in His mercy has brought me from
the land of no pasture. He's redeemed me from the sin
that I sold myself to. He brought me from a weary land
to rest in Christ, made me a son, fed at the king's table, spared
the justice and wrath of God because of covenant mercies,
because of a covenant of grace between the Father and the Son.
So you can call me Pippa Schaft. Alright.