Let's turn together to 2 Samuel
chapter 21. 2 Samuel chapter 21. I never get tired of thinking
about, singing about, hearing about, preaching about God's
free grace. The grace of God that bringeth
salvation has brought salvation to me and saved me by his great
mercy. For nearly 37 years now, I have
found by day and by night that God's grace is indeed, as he
declared it to be, sufficient. And as it is sufficient, it is
amazing, sweet, and precious. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
to you the unsearchable riches of Christ." Here in 2 Samuel
21, we have a beautiful, beautiful picture of God's amazing grace. David killed all of Saul's sons. Everybody in the house of Saul
had been put to death, now listen, by the order of God. It was not
a matter of vengeance on David's part. David loved Saul. It was
a matter of justice on David's part. God commanded him to kill
all of Saul's sons except one. Just one. Just one. Just one. Look in verse 7. But the king spared Mephibosheth. And as we're going to see here
in just a little bit, this was the most unworthy of all Saul's
sons. This was the one son who could
not do a thing for David. This is the one son of Saul who
could not in any way bring any benefit to David. 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. All Saul's sons were killed,
but the king spared Mephibosheth. Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter
20. Who is this Prince Mephibosheth?
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. He was the last surviving
member of Saul's royal household. When the news that Saul and Jonathan
and all of Saul's sons who had been with him on the battlefield
were slain in the battlefield of Gilboa, when that news reached
the palace, Mephibosheth was just five years old, just the
age of our granddaughter, just five years old. And his nurse
picked him up and was fleeing to protect the child. And as
she did, she tripped and fell and fell on that little boy and
broke his legs. And he became lame on his feet.
Well, she carried this crippled son down into Lodibar in the
house of Maker. But 16 years had now passed since
David made a covenant with Jonathan, Saul's son. Now, you'll remember
that David and Jonathan loved one another. David said, Jonathan's
love to me was beyond the love of a woman. Now let this perverted
society do what they want to with it. Jonathan and David set
before us a great picture of our Redeemer and God's covenant
grace. The love of God the Father and
God the Son, one for another, and the love of His people in
His Son. David loved Jonathan, and Jonathan
loved David. So dear was David to Jonathan's
heart that Jonathan, when he knew that God had given the kingdom
to David, he knew he was going to have to die for David to get
the crown. He knew he had to die or David could not sit on
the throne. So knowing that God had given
the kingdom to David, Jonathan knew and was willing that the
Lord take his life. But before Jonathan died, Jonathan
and David met in the field one day, and they made a covenant.
Look at verse 14. I'll read part of it to you.
1 Samuel 20. And thou, Jonathan said, shalt
not only while I yet 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 has cut
off the enemies of David, everyone 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 calls David to swear again because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved
his own soul. This covenant, we just read back
in 2 Samuel 21 verse 7, is the Lord's covenant. It was designed
and intended by God to be such. Now 16 years have passed, and
David is determined to fulfill his covenant promise to Jonathan.
Turn now, if you will, back to the passage we read earlier in
chapter 9 of 2 Samuel. David sought the last survivor
of his dear friend and companion, and he sent for Mephibosheth
and brought him to the palace. When Mephibosheth first learned
that the king was looking for him, can you imagine what went
through his mind? Can you imagine how terrified
he must have been? David's looking for me? All my
brothers are dead. All my uncles are dead. All my
kinsmen are dead. Surely he intends to kill me
too. And finally, he came to David's house, fearful and trembling. He fell before David, expecting
to be slain. What a surprise. David showed
nothing but mercy and kindness to him. made him as one of the
king's sons to sit at his table all the days of his life. Now,
follow along in this ninth chapter, and let me show you here how
the marvelous grace of God towards sinners in Christ brilliantly
shines in this story. I'll call your attention to four
or five things. Number one, Mephibosheth was in a horrible,
very miserable condition when the king sought him out by his
goodness. He was altogether unworthy of
David's attention, or of David's regard, or of David's favor.
But David showed him kindness. He showed him mercy. And though
you and I are totally unworthy that God Almighty should look
our way. Unworthy that God Almighty should
even remember our names. God Almighty. has shown us nothing
but kindness and mercy all the days of our lives for Christ's
sake. A preacher, that's not all I've
ever known. Oh, hear me, if you ever come to know the Son of
God, that's all you'll ever know. That's all you'll ever know.
And you'll discover that everything God has done for you, even when
you live with your fist shoved in His face, He did for you because
of His kindness and mercy toward you for Christ's sake. This name,
the name Mephibosheth, it's a name that I can wear, and I've been
taught to wear, and I'm thankful I've learned to wear it. Mephibosheth
means shameful. shameful. We teach our children to be proud
of themselves. Be proud of who you are. Be proud
of your name. Be proud of where you come from.
I hope God will teach you to be
ashamed of yourself. Ashamed of who you are. Ashamed
of what you do. Ashamed of where you come from.
Ashamed of your name. Shameful. We are all as an unclean
thing. From the sole of our foot to
the crown of our head, there's nothing in us but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. Our best righteousnesses are
but filthy rags. Like the leper, we are all defiled. Like the harlot, we are all corrupt. We're a shameful thing. Well,
may this name be given to the sons of Adam. Trace out the history
of mankind, and you trace out the history of a shameful thing. Mephibosheth was not only a shameful
man, he was the king's enemy. You see, Mephibosheth was the
son of Saul, a natural enemy to David. And he was hiding from
David, waiting for an opportunity, just waiting, just waiting. Maybe yet, maybe yet, God's going
to restore the crown to my head, and I'll reign as king. And that's
the attitude of every human being by nature. We are enemies of
God Almighty. The carnal mind is enmity. It doesn't mean the carnal mind
is at odds with God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Man by nature hates God. I know
some of you are sitting here this morning and maybe what I'm
saying to you is strange to your ears. You say, I don't hate God.
You don't hate your thoughts about God. You don't hate who
you think God is. You don't hate God that you can
carry around in your hip pocket as a good luck charm and rub
in like a radish foot whenever you need it. No, no, you love
that kind of God. You can use it. You can use it.
But God on his throne with you in his hands, who has the right
to do with you what he will, when he will, and always does? No! I won't have it. Oh, you will have it, like it
or not. Mephibosheth was the king's enemy. He despised the
fact that David sat on his throne. Every time he heard David's name,
his teeth gritted and gnashed his teeth in bitterness. David
was king. That's what ought to be mine.
the right to rule. David doesn't have any right
to rule. But David had nothing but kindness for Mephibosheth. Had no purpose for Mephibosheth
but goodness. You see, though we are by nature
the enemies of God, hiding from God, the Lord God is not now
and never has been the enemy of his people. God Almighty loved us with everlasting
love before the world began and set his heart on us. And he said,
I'm going to do Don Fortner good because my son died for him.
He reconciled to me. My son died for him because I
love him and because I'm determined to be gracious to him. And I'm
going to do him good. Well, the years rolled by, and
the ages rolled by, and nations arose and nations fell, and families
arose and families were dissolved. 1950, June 10th, down in Bladen
County, North Carolina, in a little old shack on a tenant farm, a
fellow named Don Fortner was born into this world. Why, that's
insignificant. I was a nobody born to a bunch
of nobodies. All my family was just nobodies.
Just nobodies. Nobodies. Nothings. I was named
Don. Not because there's anything
significant about it. The name means one of two things. You
can take your choice. A mighty ruler or a little brown
stranger. It's just insignificant. Name's
Fortner. Our family came from Germany,
I'm told. I haven't traced out the family
tree. I'm scared to death to do so. But I know this, we used
to be trolls. Insignificant things. Oh, no. No. Nothing insignificant about
this man's name. You see, God Almighty wrote my
name in the book of life from eternity and made a covenant
with his son and said, I'll do him good. And he started doing
me good back yonder in eternity. And he brought the world into
being because he was determined to do me good. And he brought
his son into the world to redeem me by his blood because he was
determined to do me good. And he ruled all things in time
because he was determined to do me good. And while I walked
through the days of my rebellion with my fist shoved in his face,
gnashing my teeth, blaspheming his name, saying, No! I will
be my own God! Get out of my face! He was determined to do me good,
and do me good he did. You see, God never was the enemy
of his own, though we despised him. And he is ever beseeching
lost, lame, languishing sinners to be reconciled to him. But
there's a problem. We never will. We never will. You'll never take your fist out
of God's face. Oh, you may hide it under a pretty garment of
religion. But the dagger's still in your hand. You'd kill him
if you could. You won't do it. Won't do it.
Unless God does something for you. Look in verse 3, chapter
9. As I already told you, Mephibosheth
became lame through a fall. The king said, Is there not yet
any of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness, show
the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan has a son. which is lame on his feet. That's a pretty good description
of us. God created man upright, but we became helpless, lame,
cripples through the sin and fault of our father Adam. And
now our Lord declares no man can. No man can. That's a word of ability. No
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw
him. You cannot come. Oh, but preacher, I have a free
will. Exercise all you want to. You can't come. But it's my choice. Make all the choices you want
to. You can't come. I have folks sitting here today
who are glad to meet you out in the hallway after service
is over and tell you they tried for years to come and couldn't
come. They tried for years to believe and couldn't believe.
They chose a long time ago to have Jesus save them, but they
couldn't come. Why? Because no man can come. He hasn't the ability in himself
to lift up his heart by his head and say, here God, I'll serve
you. He hasn't the ability. He serves
himself. Unless God Almighty does something
for him. Mephibosheth. like you was in
a far country. Look at verse 4. The king said
unto him, Where is he? And Zibas said unto the king,
Behold, he's in the house of Mekah. He's down there in the
house of that man whose name means sold. Who lives down there
in that land called Lodibar, where there's no bread, nothing
to eat. Mephibosheth was far away from
the king, far away from Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice, the place
of blessing, the place of worship, the place of peace. He was down there in sold land. We sold ourselves for nothing. Hollywood likes to make movies
about men who made a deal with the devil and sold their souls
to hell. You sold your soul to hell for
nothing. And you do it all the time. With
every breath you breathe, with every thought of your mind, with
every emotion of your heart, you're choosing continually to
sell your soul to hell. Sold. What you going to get for
it? Look what my lovers gave me.
Look at the world. It's mine! Look what I've gotten. I've grasped it with both hands,
and I've accumulated so much! husk that's why I need, just
air, just vanity, nothing else, nothing else. You see, hear me,
you who choose to live afar off from God without Christ, God
help you to hear me, you've chosen to live your life and spend your
life for a land called Lodibar where there's no bread, nothing
to satisfy, nothing to satisfy. If you can refrain from lying,
if you can refrain from lying to yourself, listen to me, listen
to me, if you can refrain from lying to yourself, I ask any
man or woman here, who does not know Christ, raise his hand if
he's found anything to satisfy him. You want nothing else? Oh, I've got it all! Well, maybe. Now! Now! No brand. Nothing here to satisfy. Oh,
but if God gives you grace now, to eat that bread which is eternal
life, Jesus Christ the Lord, you'll never hunger again. If
He gives you grace to drink of this well of life called the
Son of God, you'll never thirst again. But outside Him, there's
no bread. No bread. Here's another thing. Look at
verses 4 and 5 again. The king said to him, where is
he? And Ziba said to the king, behold,
he's in the house of Mekah, the son of Amiel in Lodibar. And
the king sent, now watch this, the king sent and said, Mephibosheth,
won't you please come up here and let me be your friend and
you be my son? Mephibosheth, if you'll just
decide to do so, come on up here and be my child. Mephibosheth,
if you'll let me, I'll bless you. You know what Mephibosheth would
have done with that? I'll tell you what he'd have done. He'd
have done with it just what you do, with every word from God.
I don't believe it. He tricked me. Ain't so. But
that's not what David did. David sent and fetched him. I wish you could write that in
16-point type in the middle of your Bible and underline it,
boldface it. Fetched him. Fetched him. We don't use that word much in
our fine, refined southern culture these days. But when I was a
boy, it was used all the time. My grandmother or aunt would say
to me, go out there and fetch some water. You know, I never,
I'm talking about when I was just a shaver. I never had a
doubt what they meant. Never had a doubt what they meant.
They didn't mean for me to go out there and try to persuade
the water to get in my bucket and come in. They meant, son,
you got yonder to the well, to the spring house, and get a bucket
and get me some water. And when you get it, bring it
back here. That's what the word fetch means. Fetched him. Fetched him. Fetched him? What if he doesn't
want to come? If he gets there, he'll want
to come. What if he prefers the house
of Maker and the land of Lodomar? Oh, if he ever gets to the king
palace, he's going to prefer that. David sent and fetched
him. David sought Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth
didn't seek David. David chose Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth
didn't choose David. David called Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth
didn't call David. And David fetched Mephibosheth
to him. Mephibosheth didn't fetch David
to him. Oh, blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest. Isn't that a great word? causes to approach unto thee. I'll preach it the way you talk.
God's going to save folks whether they want to be saved or not.
Well, sort of. And when he saves you, oh, you're
going to want his grace and his salvation. Causes to approach
unto thee. I'll touch on a message for tonight.
Absalom wanted Joab to come to him. And Joab wouldn't come. Absalom sent word again. Joab,
Absalom's looking for you. Joab ignored him again. Absalom
sent word again. And Joab never answered him.
Never even looked his way. But Absalom figured out a way
to cause him to come to him. He burned up everything precious
to him. And Joab came and said, why did
you bring up that battlefield? He said, because I want you to
stand right here. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest. by the sweet, irresistible constraint
of omnipotent mercy and almighty grace causest to approach unto
thee." Oh, I'm so glad he forced me yet, aren't you? I'm so glad he got hold of my
heart and calls me to come to him. I've told you before, but it
bears repetition. Besides, I like to tell the story.
Shelby and I had been dating just a couple of weeks, 35 years
ago. And I brought her home one night
and said, I want to marry you. And she looked at me and she
said, you're crazy. You don't know what you want. You don't
have any idea what you want. 17-year-old boy. And so I started working on her.
I'd drive clean across town. I'm talking about five, six miles
across town and meet her early in the morning to carry her books
a half a block to her class. Take her out to eat. Every time
I get a chance, I'd either get a strawberry or vanilla milkshake.
It's the best I could do, but I'd get whatever she wanted.
Take her everywhere I could go. Spend every minute I could with
her. open the door for her, stand and wait until she got seated,
just I did everything I could to convince her that I'm just
what she wanted. About a year later, we were up
in Spruce Pond, North Carolina, my aunt and uncle's house. I
knelt down beside the couch. Everybody else was going to bed.
I said, Shelby, I love you with all my heart. And I want you
to be my wife. Will you marry me? Man, she about
jumped off the couch to say yes. What happened? What happened? Did you change? No! No, no, no,
no. I changed her. I worked on her
will. And now she, who just a little
while earlier would not have me, is willing with all her heart
to have me. And wanting me just as much as
I wanted her. What happened, Todd? What happened to you? You rebel? You God-hater? You wretch? What happened to
you? Who spent your whole life saying,
no, I will not believe on the Son of God. I will not have this
man rule over me. Did you change your mind? No. He changed it. He changed it. It made me women. in the day of His power to believe
Him. This man Mephibosheth came before
the king and threw himself down at David's feet. And when he threw himself down
at David's feet, as he lifted his eyes to David, He learned
what he really was. He said, who am I that you should
have mercy on such a dead dog as I? David, in all your splendor and
majesty and wonder and power, what do you want with the likes
of me? And if ever you find yourself
at the throne of God Almighty in His glorious great goodness,
you'll find out who you are as you look upon His Son. Folks say I don't like to hear
that Fortner fellow. He never makes me feel good about
myself. Oh, if God Almighty ever shows
you who you are, you'll be thankful somebody reminds you constantly
who you are. Constantly. Just a dead dog. Just a dead dog. Just a dead dog. Came hard to get Buzzard Street
to meet. Just a dead dog. But Lefebosheth was received
by David just like he was in all his deformity. He came to David laying on both
his feet as a dead dog and there he sat. And David said, you stay
right there. From this day on, you're going
to sit at my table, eat bread at my table, as one of the king's
sons. Ziba! Who is this Ziba? Well, that's one of Saul's servants.
He hadn't changed anything. He just changed his colors. You
read the book of 2 Samuel, you'll find out Ziba, he didn't care
a thing on earth for David, didn't care a thing on earth for Mephibosheth.
He was Saul's servant. David just happened to be king
over him, so he had to do what David said. Ziba, you and all
your house. You serve Mephibosheth. And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Our Savior says to all hell and
to all the universe, you serve my people. And serve us well
they do in all things. And Mephibosheth, being received
just as he was, was received all together for the sake of
another. Look at verse 7, chapter 9. And David said to him, Fear not,
for I will surely, I will surely, is that a good word? 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. David received Mephibosheth only
because of Christ, of Jonathan. He didn't even know Mephibosheth.
Didn't even know his name. Oh, but he knew Jonathan. And
he loved Jonathan. And because of Mephibosheth's
relationship with Jonathan, David said, I'm going to show you kindness.
Now listen to me. God Almighty receives us graciously and shows
us kindness only for Christ's sake. Only because of our relationship
with Christ. Only because He chose us in Christ. Redeemed us in Christ. Put us in Christ. And He only
knows us. Listen now. Listen now. I'll
give you a chapter and verse when I get done preaching if
you want me to. He only knows us in Christ. That's the only
way He knows us. What does he say to the wicked
on the day of judgment? Depart from me, ye cursed! I never... What does he say? ...knew you.
Well, wait a minute. He knows everything about them.
Knowing about them and knowing them is two different things.
He knows us in Christ. And accepts us in Christ. And blesses us in Christ. Look in chapter 9, verse 9. Mephibosheth
was reconciled to the king by the king's own act. The king
called Ziba Saul's servant and said unto him, I have given unto
thy master's son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house.
Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land
for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's
son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shall eat bread all the way at my table. Now Ziba had
fifteen sons and twenty servants. Mephibosheth got a whole lot
more in David than he lost when Saul fell. And you and I, oh,
we got indescribably more in Christ than we lost in Adam. We lost all things with regard
to our physical state and our moral state before God and lost
all claim to life on this earth in Christ. The Lord restored
us to life and restored us to favor and restored to us all
his creation. and gave us his son forever with the assurance that
that which he's given he'll never take away. And under the king's table, I
read this early last week. I forgot exactly what it was
now. I sat and meditated on it. Anybody see my feet? Anybody out there see my feet?
No, they're hidden. You can't see them. And Mephibosheth sitting under
David's table, in all his deformity, just as crippled as he was when
he first met David, but his clubbed feet nobody can see. And listen to me, listen to me. In Jesus Christ, God's darling
Son, all my deformity, all my deformity is taken away
and forever covered from the eyes of God my Father. He sees
no blemish in me. No fault in me. Here's something else. Mephibosheth
enjoyed perpetual fellowship with David. The other sons might go elsewhere.
I don't know about them. As well as I do know a lot about
them. But Mephibosheth, He enjoyed perpetual fellowship with David.
He was never, never, never pushed out of David's house. Absalom
was banished, not Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth sat continually
at the king's table. Oh, I love to walk with my God
and know his warm embrace. and see his smiling face. But when I do not feel his embrace
and cannot see his face, I am still in his embrace and the
object of his smiling face. Nothing ever changes, not with
him, not with him. Let me show you something else.
We don't have time to look at it. But over in the latter part of
2 Samuel, David was driven out from Jerusalem
and driven out of his throne. You know the story. Absalom was
finally killed and the throne was restored to David. And the
people said, let's speak a word and bring back the king and David.
And all his men came back to Jerusalem. And as he's coming
over the brook Kidron, from which he had fled away, all Jerusalem
came out to meet him. And here comes old Canaver, Ziba,
and his sons. Oh, hail, King David. We're so
glad to have you back. Wish he was dead, but we're glad
to have you back. Hate you, but we're glad to have you back.
Deceiver. David said, where's Mephibosheth?
And Ziba said, well, you know Mephibosheth, he saw a son. And when he heard that Absalom
had driven you out of town, he said, oh, today the Lord's going
to restore me to the throne. And when David heard that, he
said to Ziba, He said, everything I gave Mephibosheth is yours.
You can have it. Everything I gave him. And then
he came on into Jerusalem. And David saw Mephibosheth. He
said, why didn't you come meet me? Why didn't you come meet
me? And Mephibosheth said, oh, my
lord, my king, my servant Ziba deceived me. And he went out. And David said, Mephibosheth already gave Ziba
everything that was yours. Now watch this. Mephibosheth
said, let him have it all. My king's come. Here's my bread. I don't want
anything else. He is my life! I don't want anything else. Let
Ziba have all. My Lord, my King has come to
me. Take the world, but give me Jesus. All its joys are but a name. Let me tell you something. You
can have it all. You can have it all. I don't
envy any man anything. Nothing. Nothing. You can have
it all. Every bit of it. All his fame. All his property. All his power. All his influence. You can have
it all. Every stitch of it. Christ is mine. Eternity is mine. Life is mine. That means all things are mine. Thank God for that grace and
mercy that fetched me to Him. I pray you'll do the same for
you. Amen.