Samuel chapter 9 and verse 1. Let's read together. 2 Samuel
9 and verse 1. We're still in our
Hebrew study of course. We got to that little verse in
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 32 where Paul began to speak of all the
Old Testament fathers and prophets. He said, time would fail me to
tell of David. And time may fail us also to
tell of David, but if you're gonna tell of David at all, you
have to tell of Mephibosheth. You can't tell of David without
talking about Mephibosheth because Mephibosheth is sitting at his
table. And in verse one of chapter nine,
it says, 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. 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. Before he
even said what his name was now, he said, he's lame. That's how
he was known. He was known as the one that's
lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house
of Makir, the son of Amiel in Lodibar. Then king David sent
and fetched him. out of the house of Makir, the
son of Ammiel from Lodibar. 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. And David said unto him, fear
not. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan, thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the
land of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually." And he bowed himself and said, what is thy servant
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Mephibosheth is the greatest
rags to riches story I've ever heard. He went from poverty to immense
wealth in a day, in a moment, in a turn of the King's will.
He was lame on both of his feet. How do you know he was poor,
Chris? Well, he was lame. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't
work. He was the son of a conquered,
devastated household. As long as Saul was king, Mephibosheth
probably did okay. He was of the king's household
then. But Saul was dead, and all of
Saul's lands and goods went to the new king. Verse seven, we
saw that David said unto him, fear not, I will surely show
thee kindness, and I will restore thee all the land of Saul. It
was David's to restore, it was David's to give, that's my land
now, I'm gonna give it to you, I'm gonna restore it to you. Not only was Mephibosheth poor, But he was miserable, he was
running scared. The reason David said fear not
in verse 7 is because Mephibosheth was scared to death. That's why
he said it. It's because there was bitter
enmity between the house of Saul and the house of David. There
was a long war that was going on between the houses of Saul.
and David. And David, as the conquering
king, it would have been expected of him to kill all of Saul's
sons because they're rivals to David's throne. In 2 Samuel 4.4, you back up
a few chapters and let me read this to you. It says in Jonathan,
Saul's son, and this is during the account of when David and
Saul were fighting and their men, their followers were fighting
amongst one another and David had become victorious. The Lord
had given David victory over Saul and his followers. And Jonathan
Saul's son had a son that was lame of his feet. There he is
again, identified the same way, not by name. And he was five
years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. The tidings have come that this
thing's over. We're vanquished. We're beat.
We better run. 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. So Mephibosheth was lame. Why? Because he fell. He was lame because of a fall. In Adam, you and I fell. When he fell, we fell. Why did
Adam fall? What was the first thing Adam
said? There was fear associated with it, wasn't there? God said,
where are you, Adam? And Adam said, I was afraid,
and I hid myself. That's what Mephibosheth, that's
what his family was doing too. And they were running from the
king. And so was Adam, so was Adam. We fell, and because we fell
in Adam, we can't walk before God in anything, not in the condition
that we're in by nature. We can't walk before God. We
don't have any fellowship with God. And we lost everything,
just like Mephibosheth and his family, lost everything. We did
pretty good as long as Adam was king, and Adam was king. God
said, I give you dominion over all of my creation. But now, after the fall, Mephibosheth
is an outcast and a fugitive. And at least in his own mind,
he's a fugitive. He didn't know about something
that happened before he was ever born. We're going to talk about
that in a little bit. He didn't know. All he knew was,
Saul, my granddaddy's not on the throne anymore, and I'm in
trouble. I'm in trouble. And he was poor. He was unable
to work. lame on both his feet and couldn't
do anything about it. Couldn't do anything about his
poverty. That's how we are by nature. That's why we're pictured
as beggars by the highway side begging like Bartimaeus. Because
we're poor, we're bankrupt spiritually, and we can't do anything about
it. We can't work. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. The more we do, the more we sin.
We can't work our way into the favor of God. This is us spiritually
by nature. When our father Adam was king,
we were heirs of all of God's goodness. If Adam never fell,
we would have been born in the garden or somewhere near there
perhaps. I don't know how big the garden
was. Maybe the Lord Would have eventually let us go over all,
but if there's no fall, then there's no enmity, no sin. We would have inherited what
Adam did. God said, of all that I've created,
I've provided a lush, beautiful garden for you. All you gotta
do is just enjoy it. Just take what you need, take
what you want. God had given Adam dominion over all of his
kingdom and every good thing to enjoy. And we would have inherited
that and benefited from it as his sons. But Adam sinned against
God. He vaunted himself as a rival
to God's throne. And God rejected Adam as king,
just like he did Saul. That's what he said. God said
to Saul, I've rejected thee as king. And Adam was cast out of
paradise and because he was, We're affected by that too, just
like Mephibosheth was counted as being of the household of
Saul. Born rebels would be rivals to
the throne of God. Isn't that what Adam was? What
did Satan whisper in their ear? You shall be his gods, knowing
good and evil. Rivals to the very throne of
God in our own minds and hearts, enmity, enmity against God. And that was Mephibosheth. But
we fell and are lame on both of our feet, unable to do anything
about it. And there we'll stay. There we'll stay until and unless
the king says, go fetch him. Go fetch him. Mephibosheth, when
David sent and fetched him, where was he living? Did you notice
the name of the town that he lived in? Lodabar. It means without
pasture. That's where you and I live by
nature, without pasture. King David wrote in Psalm 23,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Do you remember the
next line? He maketh me to lie down, where?
In green pastures. David said, go fetch him. He's
in the land of no pasture now, but I'm going to do something
about that. And that's where we're born in
the land without pasture. But then the Lord sends and fetches
us and maketh us to lie down in his green pastures. Is that
where you are? You think about that now. And
I'm not talking about in a physical sense. We enjoy, our earthly
pastures are pretty green, aren't they? But we're talking about
spiritual pastures now. Oh, the lush and wonderful. Mount Zion is beautiful for situation,
isn't it? Beautiful for situation. We dwell
in the pastures of God. He makes us lie down there. He
leads us beside still waters. He restores our souls. Why did David do this for Mephibosheth? Because of something that happened
before Mephibosheth was ever born. Before he was ever born. In 1 Samuel chapter 20. We don't
have time to read that entire chapter, but let me give you
a synopsis of it. And if you want to take the time
later, I think you'll be glad you did. This is the reason why
David said what he did in verse one of our text. Is there anybody
that I can have mercy on. But it's got to be somebody of
the house of Saul. It's got to be somebody, I want
to have mercy on somebody for Jonathan's sake. And in 1 Samuel
20, we see the origin of that. David and Jonathan, Saul's son,
Jonathan, entered into a covenant. And in that covenant, Jonathan
swore to David that he would he was in Saul's house, he was
Saul's son, and one of his honored sons, one of his close, one of
his chief sons, and he was close to Saul. And Jonathan said to
David, whenever Saul plans some mischief toward you, I'll come,
I'll sneak out, and I'll come tell you about it so you know
what's going to happen. And I'll try He tried to thwart Saul in
harming David. Saul was all about killing David.
That's all he, he woke up thinking about how am I gonna kill David
and went to bed thinking, how am I gonna kill David? But Jonathan
said, I'll be there and I'll listen and I'll hear and when
there's a plan, when there's something, when there's a threat,
I'll come tell you about it. But he said this, David, you
promised me this, that when God defeats all of your enemies,
and you read the chapter, you see the language of it. He didn't
say if, he said, when God defeats all of your enemies, remember
me and have mercy on my household. Show kindness to my house. Would
you do that? And David said, I will. And they
entered into a covenant with one another. And Mephibosheth
was already blessed right there before he was ever born. He was
already taken care of before there ever was a Mephibosheth.
Do you see the gospel in that? God said to Jeremiah, before
I formed you in your mama's belly, I knew you and I sanctified you.
You were holy before you ever existed. Does that do anything
for you? This is why David said what he
did in verse one of our text. Is there any left of the house
of Saul that I might show mercy? My friends, let me tell you something
tonight. My God delights to show mercy. I don't believe that I
can, that I need to even hesitate to say that God's favorite thing
is to show mercy to a sinner. You can't read his word and not
see that. He delights to show mercy. And you and I, we're not looking
for mercy by nature. We're not looking for it. Mephibosheth
wasn't looking for that. He was running from David. And
we don't deserve mercy. It's expected it would be right
for David to kill. That was customary for him to
kill all of Saul's household. They're open rebels to the throne
of David. We don't deserve mercy, but God
made a covenant with his son long before we were ever born,
before we were ever born. And according to the terms of
that covenant, God is looking for sons of Jonathan, sons of Adam, sons of Abraham, sons of promise,
that he might have mercy on them. Why? For Jonathan's sake, for
Christ's sake. David didn't even know who Mephibosheth
was now. He didn't know that there was
a Mephibosheth, but he said, I'm going to have mercy on somebody
for Jonathan's sake. You know why God have mercy on
you? Not because there's anything to you. Not because there was
something attractive about you, not that you recommended yourself
somehow or attracted his love to you. He had mercy on you for
his son's sake, for Christ's sake. He's gonna glorify his
son. And when I say his favorite thing
is to save sinners, the reason he saved sinners is to glorify
his son. That's the business that God
is in. He's gonna glorify his son, and the way he does that
is by saving sinners by his precious blood. He sent his son to this earth
to die that he might be just and justify sinners, Paul said.
He has set forth Christ to be a propitiation for sins. Why?
That he might be just and justifier of the ungodly. How can God justify
the ungodly and be just? Christ. His son's got to come
down here and pay for their sins and live for them. Be their righteousness
and their sin offering. That's how God can be just. That's
how God can do right and still save you. It's right to save
you because Christ bought you. It's right to save you because
you deserve it in Christ. His works are your works. He
is your righteousness. And he's going to show mercy.
He said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. God going
to show mercy to somebody. Are you interested in mercy? And I'll tell you this, he's
gonna have mercy on an innumerable company, multitude of sinners. Are you interested in sovereign
mercy? It started a long time ago, my
friends. Before Mephibosheth was ever
born, Jonathan said, would you have
kindness? on my family. And David said, I will, I will,
he swore. He entered into a covenant. Let
me read it to you in spiritual terms. 2 Thessalonians 2.13,
Paul said to the Thessalonians, we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you. In the beginning was God, in the beginning, John 1.1, in
the beginning. And way back then, before we
were ever born, God chose us. And Paul said, he chose you to
salvation. He chose to save you, chose to
show kindness unto you for his son's sake. Before you were ever
born, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, a sinner that's chosen by God in eternity will be sanctified,
set apart by God in time, and given faith, belief of the truth. You're gonna believe on him by
his grace. Faith is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. Where unto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what God did before we
were ever born. He chose us and called us in
time and sanctified us and gave us faith. Ephesians 1.3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. When did he do it? According
as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. That's what he said to Jeremiah.
I've sanctified you before I formed you in your mama's belly. That's
what holy is, that we should be holy. Set apart, called out,
separated by God for himself. predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." Mephibosheth was predestinated
wasn't he? In an earthly sense. Before he ever existed David
said, I'm going to have mercy on him. He promised Jonathan that he
would. According, why did he do it?
Paul, according to the good pleasure
of His will, because He wanted to. That's why God does things,
because it pleases Him. According to the good pleasure
of His will. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will, who I want to, who it pleases me to have mercy on. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Do you see why He delights to
have mercy? Because it redounds to the praise of the glory of
His grace. wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in Christ, for
Christ's sake. That's why David blessed Mephibosheth
and gave him everything. You're gonna sit at my table
and enjoy all the blessings of the kingdom. When Mephibosheth met King David,
what happened? Look at verse five. Back in our
text of verse five, Then David sent and fetched him out of the
house of Machir the son of Ammiel from Lodibar. 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. You see how Mephibosheth came
into the presence of David, but what initiated their meeting
to begin with? David fetched him. Is that what
happened to you? Isn't that what we just read?
He predestinated us in eternity. He chose us from the beginning
and called us. That's the calling of God. He
fetched us. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. He said, follow me. And we did.
He called us. He fetched us by his grace. Ephibosheth,
again, he wasn't looking for David. He was hiding from David.
David was looking for Ephibosheth. What happened in the story of
the Good Samaritan, do you remember that? That man's laying there
bleeding, dying in a ditch, and the Pharisee passed by and looked
at him and turned the other way, and the Levite, same thing. And
then the Good Samaritan came by and it says these magical,
wonderful words that I love. He came where he was. That's
what he needed. He came where he was. He needed
somebody to come where he was, because he couldn't go anywhere.
He couldn't take the first step, as religion loves to say that
sinners need to do. Take the first step. No, the
good Samaritan came where he was and lifted him up and put
him on his own beast and took him to the inn and paid his way
and told the innkeeper, if he owes you anything else, put it
on my tab. Is that what happened to you?
He didn't come to that poor, bleeding, dying man and say,
there's an end down the road if you can just get there. Or
I'll tell you what, you take the first step and I'll get you
the rest of the way. No, he took him there. He did everything
necessary to save him. Is that what the Lord Jesus did
for you? Everything. Salvation's of the Lord. That
was Jonah's cry. Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord comes and seeks his
lost sheep. He said, I left the 99 and I
went and found my lost sheep and I laid it on my shoulder
and I came home with it rejoicing. And I said to all my neighbors,
rejoice with me because I found my sheep, which was lost. Is
that what he did for you? He's going to have to seek his
lost sheep. Where is he? In the land where there's no
pasture. And he brings us into his fold and makes us to lay
down in the very pasture of God. All spiritual blessings. That's
how green this pasture is. All blessings. Paul said, all things are yours
in Christ. All things are yours. God has a world because he has
a people. A people. What did he say? The meek shall inherit the earth.
That's just a picture. Not this sin-wrecked earth. His
new earth where he dwells. We're going to live with him
forever in glory. But the Lord, he fetches us,
doesn't he? He fetches his sheep. And then look at verse six. What
did Mephibosheth do? Now, when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell
on his face. What would you have done if the king had fetched
you? And you knew that what he ought
to do is cut your head off because you're of the enemy's household.
The natural man is enmity against God. And what he ought to do
is kill us and put us in hell. That's what he ought to do. Is
that fair enough? That's what he ought to do. What would you
do if he called you into his presence? I tell you what you
best do, you best fall on your face before Him. He is to be
had in reverence, the psalmist said. Of all those that are about
Him, He is to be had in reverence. Religion can jump and holler
all they want to. My God is to be had in reverence. All who come to Him come the
same way. They come on their face. They
come in the dust where they belong. That leper in Matthew chapter
eight, it says he came and worshiped him and said, Lord, if you want
to, you can make me clean. And then look at what David said.
Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, he called him by
name. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
know my sheep, and they know me, and I call them by name. Has he ever called your name?
It's one thing to say that was a good message, I enjoyed the
message. Was it a message from God to you? Have you ever heard
God call your name by the preaching of the gospel? Verse seven, David said unto
him, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. That's what the Lord
says so many times, doesn't he? Isn't that what he said to John
when John, John in Revelation, he did the same thing. He said,
I saw, I saw the Lord and I fell at his feet as a dead man. And
the Lord said to John, fear not, fear not. For I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan's sake, thy father's sake, and
will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father. Don't miss that last end. The
Lord Jesus Christ restores all that we lost in Adam, doesn't
he? He restores everything we lost. What did we lose in Adam?
Well, the blessings of God temporarily, sure, no question about that,
right? I mean, Adam was in the garden. He was in a plush and
wonderful place, a bountiful place where he had everything
he needed. No good thing will God withhold from those that
love him, from his children. He said, if you know how to give
good things to your children, don't you think I know how to
clothe you and feed you and give you what you need? That's restored
to us. That's restored to us. Not the
wicked now. Those who are in rebellion yet
against God, they live and they breathe in God's air and they're
thieves to breathe it. They're using God's earth and
they're stealing from God because they're outside. It's not restored to them. They're
using it for their own benefit and not giving God the honor
for it. That's why it's thievery. But Adam, that's restored to
us. All good things in this world are ours to enjoy. All things
work together for our good. Temporal, but let's get to the
good part. Spiritual blessings in Christ.
You think about what's good for our soul, he won't withhold from
us. Oh, it may not be good for the
flesh, or it may not seem good temporarily all the time, does
it, what he gives us, but it's good for your soul. It's good
for your soul. Restore, what are we losing,
Adam? Communion and fellowship with God. That's restored, isn't
it? We have fellowship. John said,
our fellowship truly is with the Father and with His Son,
Jesus Christ. We walk in the light as He is
in the light, and we have fellowship with Him, no question about it.
It's not perfect fellowship, but that's restored. But notice
this, everything that we lost, we're not afraid of God anymore,
not in this sense, are we? We reverence Him still, always,
ever, always will. We'll always bow and give Him
glory. We'll always be casting the crowns
at His feet, right? He always is worthy of our reverence
and always will be. But we're not scared of God anymore.
Paul said, I come boldly to the throne of grace because I come
there in Christ. My sins are gone. I don't come
presumptuously. I don't come proudly, but I come
not being scared of God. He's my father. That's restored. That fellowship with God, that
relationship, if you will, with God is restored. But notice something
else. We have something. What did Paul
say in Romans 8, 37? We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. Not only did Saul say, I'm gonna
restore to you all the land of your father Saul, everything
that you would have inherited had there not been a fall, had
there not been, had Saul not been the evil man that he was
and brought all this to pass. The Lord brought all this to
pass because of Saul's evil. I'll restore unto thee all the
land of Saul thy father and here's something that Mephibosheth never,
never would have experienced. You're going to eat bread at
my table. We're more than conquered. Everything that we lost in Adam
is restored and something more. Do you know that we're one with
God now? Adam wasn't one with God. But
the Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John 17 that they may be one
even as we are one. That's something we never would
have experienced in Adam. We have blessings that I can't
even begin to name in Christ that are over and beyond what
we lost in Adam. A sinless righteousness that's
infallible. Adam was righteous and holy before
the fall, but obviously it wasn't infallible. Now, we're the very
righteousness of God in Christ. You don't have to worry about
50 million eons from now falling like the fallen angels did, because
we're the very righteousness of God. His righteousness doesn't fail. Not only is everything we lost
restored, but there's an and. There's an and. And he said,
fear not now. And Mephibosheth obviously was
afraid of David and rightfully so. But let me say this about
that. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. If you don't
fear God as a sinner before God, you're a blithering idiot. Is
that what the book said? No, I didn't make that up. The
beginning of wisdom, the very basic start, you're beginning
to commence to get started to know something when you fear
God. Before that, what are you? An idiot, an absolute blithering
idiot. And I'll tell you this, if you
don't fear God, you'll never hear him say, fear not, fear
not. By nature, we have every reason
to be afraid of God. He said, I hate all workers of
iniquity and vengeance is mine. We've challenged his throne. Well, the easiest way to describe
it is Calvary, isn't it? At the cross, we saw what we
did do and would do and shall do if we don't know him to God. On that day, God submitted himself
into our hands and we showed God what we thought of him. And
everybody that's in a church somewhere tonight that's preaching
some false gospel, everybody in this world that doesn't know
God, if He came and submitted Himself into their hands tonight
to do with Him as they would, do you know what they'd do? Exactly
the same thing. Oh, how I love Jesus, do you
now? Then why did you spit in His face? Why did you rip the
beard out of His face? Why did you hit Him with a stick
and punch Him in the face? hit his back with the cat-o'-nine-tails.
Why did you push that crown of thorns down on his head until
the blood ran down his face and mock him and say, hail the king
of the Jews? Why did you nail him to, oh,
how you love Jesus, is that right? Something doesn't add up, does
it? We showed God what we thought of him when he gave us the freedom
to do that, if you call it freedom. We despise God by nature. And Paul said, of how much sorer
punishment shall they be thought worthy who have trampled under
their feet the Son of God? What do you think God's going
to do to you if you be found before Him guilty of murdering
His Son? The fear of God is the beginning.
That's the beginning. And in verse 8, Mephibosheth
bowed himself. You want to hear what a sinner
will say when he sees that he murdered God's son? When he sees
himself as God sees him? It'll go something like this.
What is thy servant that thou shouldest even look upon a dead
dog like me? A dead dog. Those folks, when
Peter was preaching in the book of Acts, they said, he said,
you killed the prince of life. And he preached the gospel to
them and brought it home to them. The Lord pierced their hearts.
It says they were stabbed in their hearts. That's God that
does that. We can preach, but God's got
to stab you in your heart. And they said, men and brethren,
what in the world are we going to do? We've killed God's son. Have you ever been to that place? A dead dog. I'm vile. I'm a stench in the nostrils
of God. Have you ever smelled a dead
dog? Just a little picture of what we're like to God by nature.
Just a little picture, just a little illustration. You can't come
within three blocks of one without smelling it. In Isaiah chapter
one, turn there with me. Isaiah chapter one. This is God speaking to the nation
of Israel. He says in verse 4, Ah, sinful
nation. A people laden with iniquity,
heavy with it, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors,
forsaken the Lord, provoked him. Look at verse six, from the sole
of the foot, even under the head, there's no soundness in it, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying, stinking sores. And they've not
been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Now look at verse 12, when you come to appear before me, who
hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Who are you
to come into my presence? That's how Mephibosheth felt. Who am I to come into the presence
of the king? You should have killed me out
there in Lodabar. You should have just sent somebody
to chop my head off out there. What am I doing even coming into
your presence? Bring no more, verse 13, no more,
Vaynerblade. Incense, your incense stinks
to me. That's what that means there.
It's an abominate, it's disgusting to me. That's what it said. Your
new moons and your Sabbaths, your holy days, your calling
of assemblies when you gather together to so-called worship,
I cannot away with its iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your
new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They're
a trouble unto me, I'm weary to bear them. This is God talking
to the religious sinner. They come to the solemn meetings,
they keep the feast days, they're burning their incense, aren't
they? God said, it stinks, it makes me sick. And when you spread
forth your hands, verse 15, I will hide mine eyes from you. I can't
stand to look at a dead dog, can you? When you make many prayers, I
won't hear you. I won't hear you. You won't hear
that preached many places with you. Most so-called preachers
preach that God's just dying to hear from you. Not my God. Not outside of Christ. Not from
you. You better have somebody make
an intercession for you, because your incense stinks to God. It
makes him sick. Your hands are full of blood.
What are we gonna do about it? Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed.
Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Do everything
you're supposed to do. There's the law. But Lord, we
can't keep your law. We can't wash ourselves. We can't
be clean. How are we gonna be clean? Verse
18, come now. Are you a dead dog? and you know
it, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. What
are we gonna talk about, Lord? Your sins and how they can be
as scarlet and yet be made white as snow. There's the gospel.
And though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come. and buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Come, God says, come unto me. David sent and fetched Mephibosheth.
Come here, don't be afraid. Got something I want to tell
you. Got something I want to talk to you about. So though
we're vile and stinky, though our sins are as scarlet, they'll
be white as snow. Just come to the king, come to
the king. I'm repulsive to look at. A dead dog is, it makes you
sick just to look at it. Look at Ezekiel chapter 16. In verse eight. Now, when I passed by you and
looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love. And
I spread my skirt over you and covered that nakedness. Yeah,
I swear unto thee and entered into a what? A covenant with
thee. saith the Lord God, and you became
mine. You became mine. When David entered
into that covenant with Jonathan, Mephibosheth became David's. David had a natural born son
named Absalom. You remember him? Had to kill
him because he was such a vile, wretched rebel to the throne. But because of that covenant
between David and Jonathan, now he's got another son. He said,
you became mine. Then washed I thee with water,
yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil, and I clothed thee also with the badger's skin,
I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with
silk, I decked thee also with ornaments, I put bracelets upon
thy hands, and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your
forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon
your head. And you were decked with gold
and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen and silk and
brodered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey. You sat at the king's table and ate an oil, and was
exceeding beautiful. And thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness. which I had put
upon thee, saith the Lord God. I'm a dead dog, that's all right.
I got a necklace for you and some earrings and some clothing.
But I stink, that's okay, I'm gonna wash you. You're gonna
take a bath. John said unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own precious blood. Yeah, but Lord, there's something
else about me. I'm worthless. I'm lame on both
my feet. I can't do anything for you. Religion says we're saved to
serve and I can't, I can't serve. I'm lame. Forget about what religion
says. The Lord Jesus said, I didn't
come down here so you could do something for me. I came not
to be ministered unto. I came to do something for Look
at verse 9, read verse 9 in our text. Go back to 2 Samuel 9,
verse 9. Let me read you what I just said
in this story. Now the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house. And Ziba
ended up later, if you read the rest of the book of 2 Samuel,
Ziba was jealous over this. Who is Mephibosheth? He don't
deserve all that. And he ended up plotting against
him eventually And Ziba said, I'm sure saying in his heart,
he can't do that. David said, I've already done it. I've given
it to him. It's his already, before Ziba even found out about
it. I've given him all the land. And look at this, unto thy master's
son, all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. And look
at verse 10, thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall
till the land for him. Didn't God say, I'll give nations
for you? Does not God use this world and all of their, even
their evil, he turns it to our good. They exist for us. It's just the truth. It's just
the truth. He said, I'll give nations for
thee. And thy master's son, he's gonna
have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Zabba had 15 sons
and 20 servants, and they were all at Mephibosheth's disposal. You're gonna serve Mephibosheth
from now on. The Lord didn't come down here
for us to serve Him. He came down here because we
needed Him, not because He needed us. He doesn't save us to serve.
He saves us because He loves us and wants to bless us. But
Phibosheth didn't have to do the dishes for King David to
win King David's favor or to bring him glory. What did he
have to do? Just sit there and enjoy what
the King gave him. That brings glory to the King right there.
It's his mercy and his grace that's his great glory. He saved
the people to the glory of his grace, to the everlasting glory
of his great name, that he might show his glory. Moses said, show me your glory.
And God said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. He didn't need somebody to serve
him. He has enough servants, doesn't he? David can do what
he wants to do. without Mephibosheth's help. Let's read on in verse
12. And Mephibosheth had a young
son whose name was Micah, and all that dwelt in the house of
Zabba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame
on both of his feet. He was still worthless. There's
still not anything to you and me, is there? There's nothing
to us. We're nobodies, nothings. Spurgeon said, be content to
be nothing, because that's what you are. But you know what's
wonderful? We're his nothings. We're his
nobodies. We're his lame. Mephibosheth. Lame on both of his feet. David
doesn't need us to serve, just eat at his table. Can we do that?
Is that enough, or we got to do something for God, you know?
That's the flesh. That's pride. Martha, Martha,
you're cumbered about much serving. Take a look at Mary over there.
She hath chosen that good part that shall not ever be taken
away from her. What's Mary doing? Sitting at
his feet, hearing his word, worshiping him. One thing is needful. One thing is needful. I'm past my time. Turn quickly
to 2 Samuel 21. I want to show you one quick
thing and then we'll be through. 2 Samuel 21. Verses 1-7, 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." So you see the picture here.
There's a famine and David sought the Lord. And the Lord said,
it's because of what Saul did. You made a covenant. You promised
the Gibeonites you wouldn't kill them. And Saul killed them. And
so verse three, David said unto the Gibeonites, what shall I
do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement that you
may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibeonites
said unto him, we don't want your silver or gold. We're not
going to have you kill any man in Israel. And David said, what
you shall say, that's what I'll do for you. And they answered
the king, the man that consumed us, and that devised evil against
us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the
coasts of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto
us, and we'll hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeath of Saul,
whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I'll give
them to you. But, you see verse seven, The
Gibeonites said, we want seven descendants of Saul, his sons
or grandsons or their sons, we want seven of them and we'll
hang them up before the Lord. And David said, I'll give them
to you. We made the promise to you and Saul broke it, 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. His mercy endureth forever."
When they were choosing who would be the seven, Mephibosheth was
not a candidate, not a candidate. Let me say this, that one day
there's going to be terrible judgment. Paul said in Hebrews 10 28, he
that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses have how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he
be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the son of God. Vengeance
is going to be had by God. Did you know that upon his enemies?
He's going to destroy his enemies and cast them into the lake of
fire, which is the second death. There's going to be great vengeance.
And you know why? Because of the breaking of a
covenant. That's why these seven sons of Saul had to die because
of the breaking of a covenant. Saul said, I won't kill you.
And then he did. He attacked them. And that's
why the seven sons of Adam and the seven is the number of completion.
Every one of them are going to die. because of the breaking
of a covenant. God said, this do and live. This
don't do and die. My law. We broke the covenant
of law, the old covenant. That's why there's a new one.
Because all of the sons of Adam must die under the judgment and
wrath of God. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord, because of the breaking of that covenant. All, seven
of them, all of them, but. somebody's going to be spared.
And do you know why that one is going to be spared? Because
of the keeping of a covenant. Because of the covenant between
Jonathan and David. Do you see the gospel here? All
of Adam's sons must die under the judgment and wrath of God
because we broke God's law. The old covenant of law, this
do and live, and we didn't. We broke His covenant and we'll
die for it, but there's another covenant. There's a new covenant. And that one was kept, not by
you, but by the King. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ has honored the covenant that He made with His
Father, which covenant pertain to you and I, Mephibosheth, the
dead dogs, Because of the keeping of that covenant, we will be
spared. He will have mercy on us for Christ's sake. That's
good news, isn't it? Let's bow in prayer.