Fetching Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about fetching grace?

Fetching grace refers to God's unmerited kindness and salvation offered to sinners, as illustrated in 2 Samuel 9 with David and Mephibosheth. Fetching grace is exemplified in 2 Samuel 9, where King David seeks out Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, to show him kindness despite Mephibosheth's disability and former enmity. This act represents God's grace in reaching out to sinners who cannot come to Him on their own. Just as David sent for Mephibosheth and brought him to his table, God through His Spirit fetches us to Christ, ensuring that we partake in His grace and mercy. The concept of fetching grace emphasizes that our salvation is initiated by God, showing that He is the one who actively brings us to Himself.

Q: How do we know God's grace is for everyone?

God's grace is universally available to all who are spiritually needy, as portrayed in the story of Mephibosheth. The narrative of Mephibosheth illustrates that God's grace reaches out to those who are downtrodden and hopeless. In the text, Mephibosheth is presented as lame and living in Lodibar, a place devoid of sustenance, symbolizing humanity's spiritual plight. Despite his condition, David's covenant with Jonathan ensured that Mephibosheth would receive grace and mercy. This points to Christ's redemptive work, where He extends grace to all who recognize their spiritual need, ensuring that the offer of grace is indeed universal for the elect. All who come to Christ in humility and faith will find His grace sufficient.

Q: Why is covenant mercy significant in Christianity?

Covenant mercy signifies God's enduring commitment to His people, illustrating His promises through Christ. Covenant mercy is foundational to understanding God's relationship with His people. In the sermon, the covenant made by David with Jonathan serves as a picture of God's covenant with His Son, Jesus Christ. This covenant is not merely a promise but a bond that guarantees grace and mercy to the descendants of those God loves. Isaiah 42 speaks of the Lord giving His Son as a covenant for the people, ensuring that those He represents will receive the sure mercies of God. As believers, understanding covenant mercy helps us grasp the security of our salvation; it underscores that our acceptance before God is based on Christ's faithfulness, not our own.

Q: What does the story of Mephibosheth teach about our natural condition?

Mephibosheth's lameness represents humanity's spiritual deadness and inability to come to God on our own. In the story of Mephibosheth, his physical condition is a metaphor for humanity's spiritual state. Lame from a young age and hidden away in Lodibar, Mephibosheth symbolizes all of us who are spiritually crippled by sin—unable to come to God without His intervention. Romans 5:12 illustrates that through Adam's sin, death spread to all men, which leaves us spiritually incapacitated. Just as Mephibosheth could not walk or move toward David, we too cannot reach God on our own. Therefore, it is only through God’s fetching grace that we are brought to the King. This teaches us about our complete reliance on Christ for salvation.

Q: How does fetching grace relate to the concept of election?

Fetching grace exemplifies the doctrine of election, showing that God chooses and draws individuals to Himself. Fetching grace directly correlates with the Reformed doctrine of election, as illustrated by King David’s choice to bring Mephibosheth to his table. This act of grace was not based on Mephibosheth's merit, but solely on David's covenant with Jonathan. In a similar way, God elects individuals according to His purpose, not because of any foreseen merit, but out of His mercy. John 6:44 states that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them. This highlights that it is God's initiative and power that fetches the elect to Himself, showcasing His sovereign grace in salvation.

Q: What is the importance of humility in coming to Christ?

Humility is essential as it reflects the recognition of our spiritual condition and need for grace. Humility is crucial when approaching Christ, as demonstrated by Mephibosheth's reaction upon being summoned to David. He came before the king with a sense of unworthiness, referring to himself as a 'dead dog.' This illustrates a profound recognition of one's sinful state and total dependence on grace. In the modern context, many may approach God with an air of entitlement, failing to grasp the depth of their need for redemption. True humility allows us to receive God's grace, acknowledging that we bring nothing to the table and can only rely on the King’s kindness. It fosters a heart posture that is open to receiving the life-giving grace offered in Christ.

Open your Bible, please, to 2
Samuel chapter 9. I want to talk to you this morning
about fetching grace. David talked to you about calling. I want to talk to you about fetching
grace, God's fetching grace. One of us, a dear sister, now
gone to be with the Lord in the church triumphant, heard Brother
Jack Shanks preach a message on this chapter years ago down
in Arkansas. And she never forgot it, loved
it. Someone asked her one time, a
preacher came here, and how do you manage to remain so faithful?
You're always here, old, tired. A lot of times you don't feel
good. And she said, well, I know I
ought to be here, and I need to be here, and I want to be
here. And that brought her. That brought
her. God bless her. Now she doesn't
feel bad anymore. She is eternally well and happy,
not tired ever again. And I'm happy for her. And one
day I'm going to see her again. And the reason I'm going to see
her again is because of this fetching grace. I talked to you
about this, my fetching grace. 2 Samuel 9, verse 1. And David
said, after he became king over all Israel, he was putting down
his enemies in full control. He said, is there yet any that's
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 to him, Art thou Ziba? And he
said, Thy servant is he. That's me. And the king said,
Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God to him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. King said
to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, behold,
he's in the house of Maker, the son of Amul in Lodibar. Then King David sent and fetched
him. vexed him out of the house of
Maker, the son of Amel, from the land of Lodibar. Now when
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to
David, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said,
Mephibosheth? And he answered, Behold thy servant. David said unto him, Don't be
afraid, if I may paraphrase. Fear not. Don't be afraid. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father. Thou shalt eat bread. at my table
continually. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant, that thou should 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 all his house. Thou therefore,
and thy sons, and thy servants, shalt till the land for him.
Thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shalt eat bread, always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and
twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. And asked for Mephibosheth, and
said, The king, he shall eat at my table as one of my own
sons, as a king's son. And Mephibosheth had a young
son whose name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. And so Mephibosheth dwelt in
Jerusalem. For he did eat continually at
the king's table, and was lame, in both his feet, and was lame
in both his feet. Now, just a brief introduction,
and then I want to name you a few things. The Lord Jesus Christ
once said, Moses wrote about me. In another place he said,
all the scriptures speak concerning me. Psalms, Prophets, Law, all
concerning me. And in another place he said,
consequently, he said, you search the Scriptures.
Search them. In the Scriptures you think you
have eternal life. You're always searching the Scriptures.
You think you have eternal life in the Scriptures. But they are
they which testify of me, and you will not come to me. that
you might have life. The Scriptures testify of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the story of the Holy Scriptures. Now the Old Testament, not only
that, but the Old Testament form of worship was, the Hebrew writer
said, merely a shadow of good things to come. It was to be
taken seriously, and it was to be carried out precisely as God
ordained, because it was a shadow of heavenly things, real things,
substantial things. But that was just a shadow. The
tabernacle, a shadow of good things to come Christ, and the
temple, and the priesthood, and the sacrifices, and the offerings,
and all the feast days pointed to Christ. They represented Christ. They told us of Christ. And if
you didn't see that, you didn't understand anything about God
and sin and salvation, because they were just mere shadows of
good things to come. And then again, you get to the
wilderness journey and the manna, the smitten rock and brazen serpent. Noah's Ark, all these things. They were shadows of Christ,
pictures and types of the Lord Jesus Christ. This book is about
Christ. I want to tell you one other
thing this morning and then we'll look at our text. In the amazing providence of
God, there are men that we read about their lives, and what comes
to our mind is Christ. We see in these men pictures
of Christ, the story of Christ. Abraham and Isaac going up on
the mountain, you cannot but see Christ. And Christ said concerning
that day, Abraham saw my day. He rejoiced to see it and it
sure made him glad. Christ! We look at Abraham and
Isaac going up that mountain with the knife and the fire and
the wood. And the little boy said, where's the sacrifice?
You can't worship God without a sacrifice. Abraham stopped. They just stood there and talked
a while and sat down. Abraham said, God will provide
a sacrifice. And He did. And He did. But we
see the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed by the Father for our redemption. Then we see stories like the
one before us. David and Mephibosheth. Just
a few brief verses. What an amazing amount of pictures
and shadows, types, stories of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let
me tell you, I'm going to do like one old preacher said one
time, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to preach and then
I'll preach it to you. This is what I'm going to preach to you. I see in this chapter, I see,
first of all, a glorious king, a ruler. His enemies couldn't
stand before him. That's the first thing, a glorious
king. And I see a covenant of mercy, a covenant of mercy. And I see man's natural condition. what we are by nature. I see
that in this story. And I see where men by nature
live in this story so plainly and clearly. I see what is so
desperately missing in our day. I see the power of the King's
Word, the power of the King's Word. And I simply mean by that,
go fetch Him. And it was done. And I see a
sinner brought to the Savior. And I see that sinner living on the King's grace forever. Now, first of all, I see a glorious
King. David was a glorious King. He
was a man of war. God was with him when he went
out into battle. God was with him when he fought
the huge Philistine, Goliath, and brought him down. God was
with him when he was guarding his father's sheep and delivered
a bear into his hands. Delivered a lion into his hands. God was with him. And when he
was king over Israel, God was with him in the same way. Nobody
could stand against him. He delivered Israel and conquered
his enemies and they all stood back because David was a mighty
king. He ruled over all Israel. and
his enemies cannot stand before him. I know a greater king whom
he is a type of." This man, David, the Bible said, was a man after
God's own heart. But I know another king who was
not only a man after God's own heart, he was God. This other
king. And the Bible says concerning
this great king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can't imagine
what we'd like for him to be. This is what he is. He's the
only potentate, King over all kings, Lord over all lords. That's who He is. He rules and
reigns in heaven above and on this earth, and does according
to His will. That's Jesus Christ. That's Mary's
Son. That's Jesus of Nazareth. He
rules. He reigns. He's the King. He
is the King. God the King. From Jerusalem above, He rules
over all things. He said before He left this earth,
He said, all power is given unto Me, all power in heaven, all
power in earth. You go preach, I'll be with you.
I have all power. Something will happen. And he said in his high priestly
prayer before he left this earth, he said, God has given me, the
man Christ Jesus, the glorious God-man, power over every man,
every woman in this world. I have power to give eternal
life to as many as the Father hath given. That's the Christ
of Scripture. We don't have the liberty except
at the risk of losing our souls. We don't have the liberty to
think of Him as we would. We must think of Him as He's
revealed in this book. He's the God-man, the gloriously
unique God-man. Rules and reigns over all things. He sits on the throne of David
today. ruling and reigning. He, as God
hath made Him to be, upon His ascension into glory are both
Lord and Christ. Lord and Christ. Lord over all. All right. I see secondly in
this chapter, I see a covenant of mercy. And that's the only
kind of mercy God knows anything about. Covenant mercy. Covenant grace. David made a covenant with Jonathan. Not only as long as Jonathan
lived, but his descendants afterwards, to love him. David made a covenant
with him. You find that in 1 Samuel 20
verse 14. He made a covenant with Jonathan
and his house. David swore to Jonathan in love
that he would care for his house. Now, Isaiah 42, just a moment please. Isaiah 42. I see another covenant, of which
that was just a type. I see another covenant. And it's concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I won't read these first
few verses, which need to be read, but I'm going to skip them
to conserve time. Isaiah 42, 6. The Father talking about the
Son. I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, will hold
thine hand and keep thee, give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light to the Gentiles." What does that mean? A covenant
to do what? A covenant for what purpose?
God gave His Son to be a covenant for the people, to satisfy God
for the people, to represent the people before God. And they
entered into a covenant. And the story is like this in
Philemon. Lord, whatever, Father, whatever
you require of them, I'll pay it. Whatever they owe, I'll pay
it. Charge it all to me. A covenant. A covenant. God's mercy and grace is covenant
mercy and grace. It's not a wishy-washy thing.
That's why it's called the mercies of God, the saving grace of God.
The sure, sure mercies of David. Covenanted together, the Father
and the Son. It's sure. It's certain. The
outcome is not in doubt, not in question. It's absolutely
certain. All those whom Christ came to
represent, and to be their substitute and to be their surety, they
shall receive the sure mercies of David." No doubt about it. No doubt about it. A covenant
of mercy. Christ's covenant to redeem and
perfect and bring into glory all of those given him by the
Father. And all the mercy and grace of
God is covenant grace. The sure mercies of David. Three,
I see also man's natural condition. Lame in both his legs, both his
feet. Lame. Turn back to chapter 4
and verse 4. Chapter 4 and verse 4. Look at verse 4. And Jonathan
Saul's son had a son, was lame in his feet, because when he was five years
old, The tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel,
and his nurse took him and fled. Saul had been conquered. Jonathan
was dead. They were the enemies of David,
the enemies of the throne. And this man, this person took
him and fled to save his life. And she fell. He fell. He became lame. And his name
was Mephibosheth. And he was lame in both his feet. From five years old, The rest
of his life, he was lame in both of his feet. He could not walk
to come and go. He had to be taken where he would
be taken and where others would have him to be taken. He could
not go on his own. He had not the ability. Now the
picture there is in Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into this world, and death by sin, death passed
upon all of us, for all of us sinned in Adam. We're crippled. We're dead in trespasses and
in sins. We're alive to the glories of
the world, the wonders of the world, the beauties of the world,
but we're dead to God by nature. We can't see the beauty and the
glory of God. You know how to tell that? If
it were not so, every time, the first time, the very first mention
of Christ and His redemptive glory, men would fly to Him. They don't fly. They don't see
the beauty of it and the glory of it and the need of it. They're
dead. Spiritually dead. They have eyes,
Christ said, but they can't see. They have ears, Christ said,
but they can't hear. They have minds, but they cannot
receive and understand spiritual things. They're dead, spiritually
dead. Consequently, they love darkness
rather than light. This is a really, if it could
sink in, this is a shocking thing. It means that when you and I
were born into this world, We'd rather here be deluded by lies
than told the truth about God and ourselves. And it's so. We love darkness rather than
light. And Christ said, this is your
condemnation, that lights come in the world. But you love darkness. You love darkness. You love the
traditions of the elders and the lies of your forefathers.
You love darkness. And you persecute the prophets
of God. Man's natural condition. The
Bible says he has no natural ability to come to Christ. He is physically disabled, spiritually
disabled, I mean. Full spiritual disability. Paul writes it out in Romans
like this. Without strength. Spiritually
without strength. That's what dead is though, without
strength. Without strength. That's what
we are by nature. We have not the strength that
comes of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have not the ability. We must
be born of God. We must be quickened by the Spirit
of God. Fourthly, this is the next thing
I see. I see where natural men live.
And this is sad. I see where natural men, they
live in the land of Lodibar. That means a land of no pasture. And in the spiritual realm, that
means it's a land of death. It's a land of starvation. Men don't have Christ. And men
live on the husk of this world. Lodibar, a land of want and need,
a land of starvation and death. And that's where we all live
by nature. If God had not fetched us, we would have still been
there today living and hoping and trusting, going about our
own way, but in the land of death and in the state of death. All is vanity, vexation of spirits,
said the wise man. And men live on elusive dreams. I've been somewhat surprised.
I shouldn't be, I guess, but somewhat surprised recently at
the number of young people, young girls, famous, all kinds of money,
everything they could desire, and yet they just can't stay
out of the rehab places. They're just in and out. What's
wrong with them? There is something in a man that
this world can't satisfy. Augustine said it like this,
he said, the soul of man will never rest until it comes to
rest in Him who made it. Never rest until it comes to
rest in God. Something in us. Something in
us. Men by nature, you can give them
all that their arms can hold, all that their hearts can desire
of this world, and there's still something missing. Still something
missing. The richest, fullest man in this
world, if he has not Christ, has something missing. And that
something missing is the very purpose for which he was created,
to know God, to love God, to glorify God, and to enjoy God. That's missing. God consequently says, there
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. The fullest life
without Christ is a life without man's greatest need. It doesn't
have the Lord. It doesn't have fellowship with
the God who made him. It's a sad way to live, but that's
where most people live. They live on the husk of this
world. That's what they desire. Even getting into religion, that's
what they desire. Health and wealth and prosperity
and happiness. Physical thing, material thing.
But that's not what this life is all about. The Bible said,
seek ye first. First. God and His righteousness and
all these other things will be added to you, given to you. You'll have a place to live.
David said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread. But we've seen hundreds of people
who forsook the Lord and sought their happiness in this world.
And they're just as good as dead right now. And they don't have
real happiness. And they don't have real peace.
They were made to know God, to love God, to glorify God. They're
not going to find peace until they find God. And I see a wonderful
word here. We are dwelling in the land of
Lodibar. We're just eating the husk of
this world. And we're crippled in both our feet. We can't come
to God and Christ. Have no desire to come. And the
good news comes. Go fetch Him. Go fetch Him. Salvation's of the Lord. Go fetch
Him. Bring Him. And they fetched Him. Brought Him right up to the King.
He bowed down in reverence like the old leper in Matthew 8. Bowed
down and worshipped. Did reverence. That old leper bowed down and
worshipped and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. Oh, the power of the King's Word.
Mephibosheth could not and would not come before the King. His
nurse took him away, avoided the king, hiding from the king
because he was the king's enemy by nature. And yet, God had made a covenant. David had made a covenant with
Jonathan. God had made a covenant with
his son to love him. to care for him. And he said,
go fetch him. Told a servant, go fetch him.
And he went and fetched him. And he brought him before the
king. Brought him before the king. David said, bring him to
me. Fetch him. I'm going to show
him the kindness of God. The kindness of God I'm going
to show him. And that's what he did. He was
brought. Even so, sinners are brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They would not come by nature,
could not come by nature, but the Holy Spirit fetches them.
God the Father and God the Son send the Holy Spirit and He fetches
them, He brings them. And the word goes out long ago,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, John 17
too has power over all flesh to give life to the elect. And you could go on and on. John 6. John 5. 25. As the Father raises up the dead,
gives them life, even so the Son gives life. to whom He wills,
gives life to whom He pleases. Think about it. He gives life.
Right now, today, He gives life to whom He pleases. And if you
don't have that life, you ought to be responding with a broken
heart before going, Oh God, give me life! Give me life! You need life. Sinners are brought to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They could not and would not
come. They were lost. They don't know the way. They're
blind. They can't see the way. They're
deaf and they can't hear the way. And they're dead. They don't understand if they
did hear it, when they do hear it. Salvation is of the Lord. I'll tell you this, if God does
not fetch them, they'll perish in their sins. The other side of that is a word
from God. When you seek me with all your
heart, I'll be found of you. Encouragement. Do you want it? Seek it. Not half-heartedly,
but wholeheartedly. Number six, I see a sinner brought
to the Savior. And it's sure different than
what I see on television and all these people walking down
the aisles. I see a sinner brought to the
Savior with a different attitude than what we have in these modern
crusades. He comes with humility, the deepest
humility, with reverence and fear because he's an enemy of God
by nature. And another thing that's peculiar
about this man is he's He is amazed. He's amazed. He's amazed
at God's amazing free grace. Why this dead dog? Lord, why
did you ever come to me? I don't see that or hear much
about that in our day. Everybody thinks God owes him
a chance. Owes him something. But he doesn't know it's a thing.
But justice. Justice. And I see, lastly, I see a sinner
living and eating at the King's table. Eating at the King's table. And
that's what we do. We feast upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. All our neighbors, or neighbors
all around us rather, live on the things of this world, and
we live on Christ. They draw their joy and contentment
and happiness from the things of this world. We draw our joys
from Christ, knowing Him, trusting Him, resting in Him, our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the food for our guilty
souls. He is the bread of life and the
water of life. Saving faith lives upon Christ
alone and looks to Christ alone. and looks to Christ alone. For
every grace, even the eyes to see, we look to Christ. But you know another thing to
notice about this fellow? A lot of times when folks get
in religion, they just get so much better. They do whatever they want. They're
just powerful workers for the Lord. doing all this work for
the Lord. This old man never got any better.
All of his days he sat at the king's table, and all of his
days he was lame in both his feet. Folks get religion, they
just get to walk it around, they can do it on their own. They
have Jesus, they have everything, they can do it on their own.
Not God's people. They are as much dependent upon
Him today as they were the first day they were converted. They
are just as lame or more lame, if I may so speak, today than
they were ten years ago. Without strength, without Him,
we can do nothing. Arthur Pink said, We are nothing,
we have nothing, we can do nothing except in, by, and to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was lame all of His days. And I ask you in closing this
morning, do you have need of the King's mercy? Can you bow
before the King? Call upon the King. Worship the
King. Believe the King. I tell you what the Bible said,
take the water of life freely. Take it free. Oh, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Come ye buy and drink and eat
without money, without price. Take that water of life freely.
Like Abraham did a long time ago. Believe God. The testimony of God concerning
his son. Believe God. Believe and live. May God bless
these words to every heart, mine and yours. Okay then.

Fetching Grace

What does the Bible say about fetching grace?

How do we know God's grace is for everyone?

Why is covenant mercy significant in Christianity?

What does the story of Mephibosheth teach about our natural condition?

How does fetching grace relate to the concept of election?

What is the importance of humility in coming to Christ?

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Fetching Grace

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