2 Samuel chapter 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? 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. And the
king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Matre, the son of Amiel in Lodibar. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Matre, the son of Amiel 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? Then the king called to
Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy
master's son all that pertaineth to Saul and to his house. Thou
therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land
for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's
son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shall eat bread always at my table. Now Zeba had 15 sons
and 20 servants. Then said Zeba 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. And
Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mitcha. And all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at
the king's table and was lame on both his feet. May the Lord
bless the reading of his word to us today. This is one of my
favorite stories in the Old Testament. Our text is verse 13 of chapter
9, So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at
the king's table, and was lame on both his feet. Eating at the
king's table. I want you to picture in your
mind this man, Mephibosheth. Well, first of all, picture a
king's table. Some of you set a beautiful table,
especially on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. And yet, can you
imagine what a king's table must look like with all of the adornment,
all of the ornaments, and all of the food that is at a king's
table? And you can read about Solomon's
table, how his table was set every day, how much it took to
set his table. David's table must have been
a beautiful table, every day set, and all of his sons What
a blessing that is for any father to have all of their sons and
their daughters around their table. But there's one man there. You see him in your mind, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. How did he come
to sit at the king's table? And I want us to think about
this, of course, as how you and I, how sinners come to sit at
the king's table, to eat at the king's table. For remember our
Lord He said this, I say unto you that many shall come from
the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. So as we think about Mephibosheth
sitting at the king's table, I want us to think especially
about us, how it pictures and is a beautiful type of how we
come to sit at the king's table and to sit there with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. and all of these Old Testament
saints and New Testament apostles and saints and all of the saints
and the martyrs and those down through the years. How it is
that we come to sit at the King's table, to eat at His table. We
do so in the same way that Mephibosheth came to sit at King David's table. Now I want to mention to us three
things. Now this message, there's so
much here. For time's sake, I want to mention
three things that had to take place before Mephibosheth sat
down at that table. And as you think about these
three things, as I bring them to our memory, we will see that
the same three things had to take place and has to take place
for any of us to come and sit at King Jesus' table. Number
one, before Mephibosheth could come to sit at that table, There
had to be a covenant made. There had to be a covenant made. If you notice in the first verse
of the chapter that we read, David asks this question and
at the same time he makes known his intention and that was to
show kindness. He's the king and he desires
to show kindness to some but to show kindness to those that
he shows kindness for Jonathan's sake. You notice that? 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? He would do this. David would show this kindness
because we know there was a covenant made between Jonathan and David. David will show this kindness
to any that are left of the house of Saul, because there was a
covenant made between David and Jonathan, and for Jonathan's
sake, he will show kindness to this one. Now, I don't know about
you, I hope this is true, but we have come, I have come to
love this word covenant. I've come to love this word,
haven't you? and what it means and what it teaches to us from
the Word of God. We love to sing about it. In
that hymn we oftentimes sing, On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand. You remember one verse of that
hymn goes like this, His oath, His covenant, His blood supports
me in the overwhelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. His oath, And yes, God
did take an oath. And yes, He has a covenant. And
yes, His precious blood was shed. I read the story yesterday for
the first time about Martin Luther and a particular dream he said
that he had. But he said that he dreamed one
night that he saw Satan. And Satan was there and there
was a long tablet, a long scroll, I believe the word was. It was
wide and it was long. And on that scroll, Satan had
registered every sin that Martin Luther had ever committed in
thought, in word, and in deed. Every sin was there. And Satan
was standing there ready to write again. And Martin Luther looked
at him and said, right there at the bottom, the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin. That settles it, doesn't it?
His oath, his blood, His covenant supports me in the overwhelming
flood. Well, let's look at this covenant
that existed between Jonathan and David. This covenant that
brought Mephibosheth to sit at the king's table. Keep your places
here, but turn back just a few pages to the first book of Samuel
chapter 20. First Samuel chapter 20. You
see, in every covenant, there must be at least two parties.
Some might give a definition of the word covenant, a contract,
a contract. And in every contract, there
has to be at least two parties. And in every covenant, there
are two parties. And in this covenant, the two
parties, David, Jonathan, these are the two parties in the covenant.
And you notice, in verse 20, I mean in 1 Samuel 20, first
of all just in verse 12 to see that this is Jonathan speaking. And Jonathan said unto David. So these words that we're going
to read, skip down now to verse 14. These words are the words
of Jonathan that he spoke to David in which they make a covenant
and David swears to it. Beginning with verse 14. Jonathan
says, Thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness
of the Lord that I die not. You see, Jonathan knew that God
had appointed David to be the king. Jonathan was a natural
heir of King Saul. He was the one who according
to the custom would have become king. But Jonathan recognized
that God had chosen David and David was going to be king. And
so Jonathan says, thou shalt not only while yet I live show
me the kindness of the Lord that I die not, but also thou shalt
not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when
the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, every one from the
face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David saying, let the Lord even require it at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved
his own soul." You notice that David, he swears to this covenant
because Jonathan knew that David was going to be king and he desires
that David, when he came to the throne, would not do what was
normal. I mean, all of Saul's house would
be viewed by the king as a threat, as a threat to their throne.
And so it was just normal in those days when a man came to
the throne where he would slay all of the men children of the
former king and Mephibosheth. He was one of those heirs, one
of those sons of Jonathan. But Jonathan makes this covenant
with David and David swears to it that he will show kindness
to his house. So I say unto you today, when
we think about Mephibosheth sitting at the king's table This covenant
had to be made first. It had to be made first. And
the same thing is true of you. The same thing is true of me.
The same thing is true of everyone who is born of the Spirit of
God. Everyone who is made one of God's children. There had
to be a covenant first of all made. And that covenant is referred
to in the scriptures as both a new covenant and an everlasting
covenant. It is a new covenant in the sense
that it will never grow old and there shall never be another
covenant. And it is an everlasting covenant
in the sense this covenant was made from everlasting, from old
eternity as we say sometimes. And this covenant was made between
God the Father and God the Son. In this covenant, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He stood as the surety for all that the Father gave
unto Him. In other words, He agreed to
come and fulfill all the conditions of the covenant. God will not
look to any of His elect to satisfy His justice for the simple reason
we couldn't do it. He never looked to us to satisfy
His justice. But He has always looked to His
Son who stood in our place in that covenant and agreed to come
and satisfy God's justice, fulfilling His purpose. Let's read. Just
take the time. Let's read about this new covenant
as you find it in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 31. What a blessing it is to look
at this new covenant. And this covenant is written
in terms that we would expect to find in the Old Testament
when God had committed the oracles, that is, the Word of God to the
nation of Israel. So it's written in terms that
we would expect in an Old Testament prophecy. But don't let that
house of Israel and house of Judah throw you, my friends.
This is a covenant with the spiritual Israel of God. Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt."
Now what was it about that covenant? That covenant said, do and receive
the blessing. That's what it was. It was a
covenant of works. And it was just like, now listen,
it was just like the covenant that Adam stood under in the
garden. And it depended upon their works. And if they broke the covenant,
then they would not receive the blessings. And notice the next
verse. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant
they break. Although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord. In other words, God did everything
for them. God blessed them. God was kind
to them. God was merciful unto them. God
showed Himself as a loving Father. The whole book of Hosea, the
whole book of Hosea, my friend, shows the love of God for His
people, for Israel of old. And yet they break His covenant.
They transgressed His law. Well, God says there's a day
coming when I'm going to make a new covenant. And thank God
it's not a covenant like that covenant, because that was a
covenant of works. And if there's anything true
about this covenant, it is a covenant of grace. Grace! Oh, how sweet the sound. That's
a charming word, isn't it? Grace. This shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord, I, and it's all I will. I will. what God will do. I will put My law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be My people. No question about it. I will,
they shall. I will, and everyone that He
has chosen shall. I will, they shall. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me. from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins
no more." Now, we won't take the time, but that's what Hebrews
is all about, isn't it? The letter of Hebrews in the
New Testament. And that very passage is quoted in Hebrews
chapter 8 showing us that that is the covenant that God has
made with us in Christ. It's called a better covenant,
and that's the covenant of which Christ is the surety. And yes,
my friends, He fulfilled all the conditions of the covenant.
He did. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness, a righteousness that when God reckons it to be
your righteousness, allows God to be both just and to justify
you. everlasting covenant. Before
Mephibosheth could ever sit at the king's table, there had to
be a covenant made. All right, here's the second
thing. Before Mephibosheth could sit at the king's table, now
listen, David had to come to the throne. When that covenant
was made, David wasn't on the throne. Mephibosheth's grandfather
was the king. For David to show kindness to
Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake and for Mephibosheth to sit at
David's table, David had to come to the throne. Now, let's think
about how David came to the throne. We all know he was born in a
family that was relatively poor and unknown. And yet, he comes
to the throne. How does that all happen? He
was tending sheep. He kept his father's sheep. How
in the world is someone who follows the Jews and those with lambs,
how in the world is that person going to come to the throne?
I'll tell you how. First of all, he's going to be
anointed. That's the first thing that happened.
Samuel was sent down to Jesse's house, David's father. And God
told Samuel, you go down there and I want you to anoint one
who's going to be the king, the ruler. I've rejected Saul. I've
put him away, and I want you to go to Jesse's house and anoint
the one that I've chosen to be the king." And the very first
one that Samuel saw was such a fine, handsome, nice-looking
man that Samuel said, my, that's him. That's him. And God said,
that's not him. That's not him, Samuel. Because
you see, Samuel, you look on the outside. I look on the heart.
And so they bring a second, a third. And finally, you know the story,
don't you? Samuel said, is this all of your
sons? Oh no, there's one out there
on the farm out there tending my sheep. Get him. Get him. Bring him. He came in and God
said, that's him. Take that all and pour it on
his head. He had to be anointed king before
he came to the throne. Before he came to the throne,
he had to defeat Israel's enemy. Remember at that time, Israel
had one enemy. They had a nation of enemies
around about them, but they had one enemy. All of their enemies
were symbolized, rather, in this one man who was a champion of
the Philistines, and his name was Goliath. Goliath. He was
a giant. And there was not one man, there
was not one individual in the nation of Israel who was a match
for Goliath. I mean, Goliath just came out
on the field, just presented himself there on the field, and
the army of Israel, they turned around backwards and started
to run. There wasn't one there until
David came on the scene. And David, before he came to
the throne, he had to defeat this arch enemy of Israel. And so he goes out, and he goes
out in the name of the Lord, and with that one stone, that
slingshot you remember, and that giant, he had armor, he had mail,
as they call it, you know, all over his body. But there was
one little place, I suppose, and God directed that stone that
came from David's sling, and hit him in the forehead, and
this big old fella fell down. And then David, you know what
he did? He took his sword, Goliath's sword, because David didn't have
one, and cut off his head. That had to take place for David
to come to the throne and Mephibosheth to sit under his table. David
had to be anointed king. He had to defeat Israel's enemy. And number three, he had to be
made king to come to the throne. Because as you read the story,
you realize that for several years, He was on a small throne. He ruled over the one tribe of
Judah. That was his tribe. But there
were those 11 tribes that followed the house of Saul. And it wasn't
until several years later that they came, the elders of those
tribes, they came and they anointed David again. And they made him
their king and he ruled over all of Israel. Now the same thing
is true concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, our king. It is true
that He was born King. Remember, that's what the wise
men said when they asked where is He that is born King of the
Jews when they came seeking for Him. But my friends, He experienced
these very three things that I've just gone over that David
experienced. Before the Lord Jesus came to
the throne where He is today, where He is today. Now as God,
He's always been on the throne. He's always reigned and ruled. everywhere, over everything.
But as the God-man mediator, He got to that throne where He
is today, the Father's throne, by having those same three things
happen to Him. He too was anointed. Not with
oil, but with what the oil symbolized. He was anointed with the Spirit
of God. You remember at His baptism where
we have the Trinity presented to us there. God the Father speaking
from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And there we have the Holy Spirit
who descends upon him in the form of a dove. And John said
he was given the Spirit without measure. When Samuel anointed
David with oil, I'm sure that cruise he had just had a limited
amount of oil. But my friends, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was anointed without measure with the Holy Spirit.
And there we have God the Eternal Son as man standing in the water
being baptized by John the Baptist. He had to be anointed. Number
two, he had to defeat our archenemy, our archenemy, Satan. He had to be defeated. The Scripture
says he was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And listen
to me, just as David took that giant's own weapon, his sword,
and cut off his head, So the Lord Jesus Christ took Satan's
own weapon. What was it? It was the fear
of death. He held us in bondage. Satan
held us in bondage with the fear of death. And how did the Lord
destroy him? By death. His death. He destroyed our enemy. He defeated
him. He gave him a death blow. And
third, he was made king. He was made king by the common
consent of the people, but our king, he's made king by God Almighty. Look with me in Psalm chapter
2. Ah, we love this psalm. Psalm chapter 2. Why do the heathen
rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and against His anointing. That's exactly what they did,
wasn't it? The Jewish leaders, the people,
all of them, imagined a vain thing. They thought that somehow
they were going to keep the Lord Jesus from that throne. They
imagined a vain thing. They gathered together against
the Lord's anointed, against Christ. And this is what they
said, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cards
from us. He, God Almighty that sits in
the heavens shall laugh. little old puny man thinks he's
going to overthrow God's purpose? What a joke. God will take them
in their own craftiness because when they condemned and crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ, they did exactly what His counsel had
determined to be done from before the foundation of the world.
Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in
his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion." David, as I said, he was made the king
by the common consent of the people. But let me tell you something.
God Almighty made Jesus king. And He is the only king. He is
the King of kings and Lord of lords. And all these potentates
These kings and presidents and prime ministers and senators,
all these men, my friends, they serve at His pleasure and they
do His will, all of them. He's king. For Mephibosheth to
come to sit under David's table, David had to be made king. He had to come to the throne.
And that's what it's going to take for you and me, for us to
come and sit under the king of kings table. There had to be
a covenant made. It was made. He had to come to
the throne. He's there. But there's one thing
else, one thing else that had to take place. Look with me back
in our text, 2 Samuel chapter 9. There's one thing left. In 2 Samuel chapter 9 and verse
5, then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of nature,
the son of Amiel, from Lodibor. Thank God for fetching grace. I like that word, don't you?
It's an old word. We find it in the King James
translation. The newer translations don't
use that word, but I like that. He had to fetch him. Fetch him! Fetch him! That's the command
of the king. Fetch him! He couldn't come by
himself. He was lame. Lame on both his
feet. If he's going to come, Someone's
got to bring Him. And the same thing is true of
you and me and every other sinner. If we are going to come, He's
got to bring us. Fetch Him. Fetch Him. Our Lord
said, No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath
sent Me draw him. And notice these things that
I find very interesting when we see Mephibosheth fetched into
the presence of David. I find it interesting that this
man, Mephibosheth, was lame because of a fall. Is that by accident? How did you become lame? How
did I become lame? How do all men become lame on
both our feet so that we cannot come to Christ unless He fetches
us, unless He draws us? That's what's called irresistible
grace, isn't it? Because of a fall. That's why.
Because Adam, our father, represented us. And way back yonder in the
garden, he disobeyed God. He fell. And we fell. And we
come into this world fallen creatures. And because we are fallen, we
are not able in and of ourselves to come to Christ. He must fetch
us. We were singing that hymn just
a little while ago. The dying thief rejoiced to see. that fountain in his day. And
there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away." And the
thought came to me how that thief must have felt. He rejoiced!
He rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. There he was on the
cross, dying just a few hours from eternity. And he was railing. At first he was railing upon
Christ along with that other thief. And then by God's fetching
grace, He said, Lord, remember me. He rejoiced to see that fountain
in his day, didn't he? Isn't it interesting that when
Mephibosheth came into the presence of God, do you know the first
thing he did? He didn't say, Lord or King, I want to make
a deal with you. I want to strike a deal. No,
no. The first thing he did, he fell on his face and did reverence. He knew who that king was. And he knew something of his
power, his authority. He had the power. David had the
power to strike him, cut his head off. He had that power.
This man recognized it. He fell on his face and did reverence.
And isn't it interesting, the first thing that David said is,
Mephibosheth? Called him by name. Isn't that
what our Lord said about himself as a good shepherd? I know my
sheep and I call them by name. And isn't it interesting that
The first two words after calling this name, David said, Fear not.
And isn't it interesting that the more that King David expressed
his kindness to Mephibosheth, just picture him, there he is
on his face, laying there before the king. And the king says,
Mephibosheth? And he said, Here am I, thy servant. Fear not. The more that David
spoke to this man and the more that he expressed and showed
his kindness to him, the more this man just, he just seemed
to kind of sink down a little bit further. He was already on
his face on the ground, but now he says, Lord, why would you
look upon such a dead dog as I? You see, the more that we
understand of God's grace, the more humility it should produce
in us. The more all to grace, how great
a debtor daily I'm constrained. The more we recognize of God's
goodness and God's greatness, the more we see the littleness
of ourselves and the greatness of our God. Can you see the parallel
between Mephibosheth and you? Between every sinner who sits
at the king's table, what had to happen? There had to be a
covenant. David had to come to the throne. David had to fetch
him. Didn't the hymn writer get it right when he said, why was
I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room, when
thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come?
T'was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly forced
us in, else we still refused to taste, yet else had we still
refused to taste and perished in our sin. The same grace that
spread the table the gospel feast. It gently forced us in, didn't
it? What does that mean? That means that he gets all the
glory. And you know the fact that you say, well, I guess Mephibosheth's
troubles were over. No. No. Not quite. He still was laying on both his
feet and he had to go through some things, didn't he? Had some
people lie on him. Experienced some loss. Experienced
some hardship. Some grief. But he ate. every
day at the King's table. And the same thing is true of
us. We're eating every day. Come and dine, the Master calleth.
Come and dine.