Good morning. I won't be so vain
as to express my frustration over the ball game last night. You know, I was lying in bed
and thinking, why do I even care about stuff like that? And everyone
was able to answer the question. If you turn to 2 Samuel, Chapter
16. I'd like to read the first four verses
of 2 Samuel, Chapter 16. Before we start, we're so glad
to have Cody and Wynne with us. Where's Wynne at? Oh, okay. Did y'all have a fight this morning? 2 Samuel 16, beginning in verse
1. And when David was a little past
the top of the hill, you remember he's fleeing Jerusalem because
Absalom, his son, is after him to kill him. And when David was
a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba, the servant
of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of asses saddled, and
upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches
of raisins, and a hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of
wine. And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these?
And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride
on. and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat,
and the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink."
He's come to help the king. And the king said, And where
is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. And you remember who this is.
This is Mephibosheth. You remember the story of Mephibosheth.
For he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the
kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Ziba, I'm
sure he was heartbroken over this. Behold, thine are all that
pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. He gave Ziba everything that
belonged to Mephibosheth, thinking he was a traitor. And Ziba said,
I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my Lord,
O king. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. Lord, we come with thanksgiving
for our Redeemer and the salvation that's in him, the forgiveness
of sins that's in him, the perfect righteousness that's in him.
Oh, Lord, we give thanks for him. And Lord, bless this time together.
We pray that you'd speak to us from your word. Reveal thy son
unto us. We pray for this time, the time
in the worship service. We pray for our dear friend and
brother Cody, that you'd enable him to preach your gospel and
give us hearing ears. And be with all your people wherever
they meet together. And Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing,
and we pray that we might be found in thy son. In His name
we pray, Amen. Now I've dealt with Mephibosheth
many times over the years, but I don't think I've ever dealt
in detail with Mephibosheth after 2 Samuel chapter 9. Now let me remind you of what
took place in 2 Samuel chapter 9. Would you turn with me there?
I'm just going to spend a couple of minutes on this. Now when David's speaking, he
has become, at this time, the most powerful man in the world. And that's not an exaggeration.
The scripture says, the fear of David came upon all nations. I love thinking about that. David
being the most powerful man in the world. And from this position
of power, He remembers a covenant that he'd made years and years
before. Now in verse 1, it says, And
David said, Is there any that's left of the house of Saul, that
I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now remember, the house
of Saul, enemies of David. Saul was certainly his enemy.
David was good to Saul, but Saul wasn't good to David. And turn
with me to 1 Samuel chapter 20. Here's the reason why he said,
is there any of the house of Saul I can show kindness for
Jonathan's sake, his dear friend, Jonathan. Verse 11, 1 Samuel
20. And Jonathan said unto David,
come and let us go out into the field. And they went out, both
of them into the field. And Jonathan said unto David,
O Lord God of Israel, I don't even know what to say about that.
Jonathan speaking to David. And I guess he knew him as this
great type. I don't even know how to explain
that. He said to David, O Lord God of Israel. Somebody says,
tell me what that means. I'm just going to read it. That's
all I can do is read it. There you have it. And Jonathan
said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my
father about tomorrow, any time, or the third day, behold, if
there be good toward David, and I then sin not unto thee, and
show it to thee, the Lord do so much and more to Jonathan.
But if it please my father to do thee evil, then I'll show
it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace.
And the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
And thou shalt not only while I yet live, Show me the kindness
of the Lord, that I die not. But also thou shalt not cut off
thy kindness from my house for ever. No, not when the Lord hath
cut off the enemies of David, every one of them from the face
of the earth." Now, Jonathan understood what was going to
happen with David. He knew that God would destroy all of his
enemies. And he says, I want you to remember
me and my house in mercy. Go on reading. Verse 16, so Jonathan
made a covenant with the house of David saying, let the Lord
even required at the hand of David's enemies and Jonathan
caused David to swear again. Now you promised me you'll always
be merciful to my seed. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again because he loved him for he loved him as he loved
his own soul. Now there's the covenant that
was made. Now turn to 2 Samuel 9, all of
David's enemies had been cut off. And David said, from this
position of power, is there yet any that's left of the house
of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And that's
the gospel, isn't it? Salvation for Christ's sake. I think of God the Father saying,
is there any of the house of Adam that I can show him kindness
for Christ's sake? Verse two, 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. This is the same one we
just read of in chapter 16 of 2 Samuel. 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. But he's lame on his feet. He
can't work for you. He can't battle for you. As a
matter of fact, all he can be is carried. He's a pure charity
case. Nothing he can do to add anything
to you. He's lame on both of his feet.
And if you go on reading the history of this, the reason he's
lame on both of his feet, he is lame through a fall. Now,
when his nurse heard that David was coming, She was scared to
death because Saul had been killed. And the custom at that time,
you kill everybody of the house of the former king, and it was
David's responsibility, so they thought, to kill everybody of
the house of Saul because David is now king, the true king. And
so when Mephibosheth's nurse heard that David was coming and
Saul was dead, she thought, we're all gonna be put to death. So
she takes off running, she drops him. She drops him and he becomes
lame through a fall, which the typology is so obvious. You and I are lame through
a fall. We're sinful through a fall.
We can't do anything through a fall, the fall of our father
Adam. Verse 4, And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba
said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Maker, the
son of Ameliel, in Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, the son of Ameliar from Lodabar.
I love that. He fetched him. Somebody once
called this fetching grace. Aren't you glad that the Lord
fetched you? I need him to fetch me, to come after me because
I can't get to him. What if he would have invited
Mephibosheth? Come on. Could he do it? No. He was lame in both his feet. Verse 6, Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face and did reverence. Now he didn't know what was going
to happen with him. He thought, maybe he's going to kill me.
As a matter of fact, I dare say that's what he thought was going
to take place. He was at the house of Saul. And 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. Now evidently he was scared to
death. Put yourself in his place, I would be too. And David says,
Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy
father's sake. and will restore unto 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 should look upon such a dead
dog as I am? He couldn't find any reason why
David would be so merciful to him. And that's the response
of the believer to the grace of Christ. Why me? Why would
he look in such mercy on such a dead dog as me? I think the
end of this chapter is so interesting, and I'm so thankful for this
ending. Verse 13, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did
eat continually at the king's table. And what's the last thing
that's pointed out about him? Now, if I was telling this story,
I would say somehow he was miraculously cured. All of a sudden, he can
get up and run. Kind of like Forrest Gump or
something like that, you know, when he was able. But that's
not The way this ends, he remained lame in both of his feet. And that's the way the believer
feels, lame in both of his feet. Now, what a glorious gospel type. So, why this deception? Turn back to 2 Samuel 16. Now,
a lot of time has taken place. A lot of water's gone under the
bridge in David's life. David goes from this position
of power to all the sudden, he's in trouble. The sin with Bathsheba
and Uriah and all the consequences of that had come crashing down
on him. Now, instead of the most powerful
man in the world, he's fleeing for his life, scared to death
of his own son, because his own son was going to kill him and
become the king. My, how things have changed. And he's leaving Jerusalem at
this time. Verse 1 of chapter 16, And when David was a little
past the top of the hill, behold Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth,
met him with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred
loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches of raisins, and a hundred
of summer fruits, and a ball of wine. And the king said unto
Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The ashes be for
the king's household to ride on, and the bread and the summer
fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine such as be faint
in the wilderness may drink. Now, Ziba was gambling here. He was gambling. He figured that
probably Absalom would be defeated. I have no doubt about this, men,
that if he thought Absalom would win, he would have sent this
stuff to Absalom. He was making a gamble that David's
going to come back victoriously, and he's making a political maneuver
to get himself ingratiated with the king once again. So, verse three, and the king said,
and where's thy master's son? Where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba
said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. For he
said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom
of my father. I'm going to become king again,
my rightful place. Now, what an ungrateful monster
that after David would treat him so kindly, And now he turns
around and says, I'm going to take his place. Now the house
of Saul is going to be restored to the kingdom. David's gonna
be vanquished and I'm gonna be king. Now there's one problem
with that story. It's not true. He's being slandered. Mephibosheth
is being slandered this time. Ziba is telling a lie on him. There was no truth in this at
all. It was a complete misrepresentation
of what had taken place. Mephibosheth, one of these things,
sent to David. And Ziba became an opportunist.
He knew Mephibosheth couldn't get to David. He wanted David
to bring, or he wanted Ziba to bring him a mule that he could
ride on to meet David with these things. Ziba says, no, I'm just
going to bring them myself and I'm going to get the credit and
I'm going to be in a good place. And I hate, look in verse four. Then said the king to Ziba, behold,
thine are all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. You get all
the stuff that was his. I'm taking it all away. He was
so hurt. And Ziba said, look at the way he couches this in
his religious language when he was just a deceiver all the time.
I humbly beseech thee that I might find grace in thy sight, my lord,
O king. Boy, doesn't he sound good. Now
turn to 2 Samuel chapter 19. Now, Let me tell you ahead of time,
Mephibosheth has been slandered. He's been misrepresented. Same
thing's going to happen to me. Same thing's going to happen
to you. It's part of this thing we call life. Bad stuff is going
to happen. And even though he was in this
good place at the king's table, Bad stuff is gonna happen to
him, and indeed it did. He lost everything through this
transaction. David gave it all to Ziba. Now,
2 Samuel chapter 19, beginning in verse 24. Now, at this, we're skipping
over a whole lot of things that have happened, but Absalom's
been slain. He's no longer in power, he's dead. God had determined
evil against him, and indeed that is what had taken place.
And he had been put to death, and David is returning to Jerusalem
as the rightful king. Verse 24, And Mephibosheth,
the son of Saul, came down to meet the king. And the whole
time the king had been gone, He had neither dressed his feet,
nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the
king departed into the day he came again in peace. He was in
mourning the whole time he was gone. Ziba slandered him. Ziba said, he's trying to take
the kingship. But it was nothing but deceitful
slander. He had been mourning the whole
time. Verse 25. And it came to pass,
when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king
said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant Ziba deceived me,
For thy servant said, I'll saddle me an ass that I may ride thereon,
and go to the king. Because thy servant is lame,
and he has slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. What he
told you that took place did not take place. But my lord the
king is an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes. Now, what a response. I have
been slandered, but you're the king. Whatever you do in your eyes,
whatever you want to do is good. I'm not going to try to defend
myself. It was slander, but here's something
that a believer, and Mephibosheth is the type of a believer, here's
something a believer will not do. They're not going to say,
Lord, I've been done wrong. Give me what I've got coming.
No. Because you know what you've
got coming. If God gave you what you deserved, even if you have
been slandered, what you really are is worse than how you've
been slandered. He knew that. He knew that. A believer's not gonna come into
God's presence and say, oh Lord, do this for me because I've been
slandered, I've been deceived, no. He says, you're the king,
do whatever is right in your eyes. That's all I want done. I'm not going to try to plead
my merit. I'm not going to try to talk about how Ziba has misrepresented
me. I'm in your hands. You're the
king. Do whatever seems good in your
eyes. Now, here's something about a
believer that you can't say about an unbeliever. We believe that
whatever the Lord does is right. Whatever happens to us, whatever
He does is right. We believe that. We rest in that. And we don't come pleading, give
me what I got coming. Oh, if He gives me what I got
coming, He'll send me to hell. Even if Ziba did lie about me,
Ziba doesn't know me. I'm worse than Ziba represents
me. Whatever you do, is right. I'm not going to make any case
for myself. I'm not going to say, do this. No. Whatever you
do is right. Verse 28, For all of my father's
house were but dead men before my Lord the King. I was part
of a cursed house, yet Didst thou set thy
servant among them that eat at thine own table? You show me
such grace. What right, therefore, have I
yet to cry any more unto the king? I don't have anything to
say. Whatever you do is right. And the king said unto him, why
speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, thou and
Ziba divide the land. Now, all of a sudden, Ziba doesn't
get it all anymore. He said, you're all gonna split
it. You can have half and he can have half. Now, you know
what I would have responded to that? It ought to be going to
me. Why that? I mean, why does he get half?
He deceived you. He deceived me. Why would he
get half? Now, why did David do this? Because
David is testing Mephibosheth. Does Mephibosheth delight in
the blessing or the blesser? The benefit or the benefactor? Now look at his response, and
this is so beautiful. Verse 30, And Mephibosheth said
unto the king, Yea, let him have it all. He can have every bit
of it, I don't even care. For as much as my Lord the King
has come again in peace unto His own house. Now, here is the
believer's satisfaction. And I don't need anything else.
Christ has come again in peace, having accomplished my salvation
by what He did without me having anything to do with it. and I
don't need anything else. He can have it all, as long as
my King has come in peace. All of his joy was found in the
King returning in peace. Now, when Christ returned to
the Father in peace, having accomplished my salvation, I don't need anything
else. Mephibosheth said, let him have
it all. I don't care. I don't need that. I have all
in Christ. And there's one more time that
Mephibosheth is listed in the scripture. Turn with me to 2
Samuel chapter 21. This is the last time we read
of Mephibosheth. Now remember, Mephibosheth, his
name is hard to say. It means shameful thing. I would
just call him shameful thing. But I've often thought, what
a name to give your kid. Shameful thing. Kind of like
Hosea naming his two boys not loved and not sought, interesting
names. But we take that name for ourselves,
don't we? Shameful thing. But the whole
point behind Mephibosheth is he teaches salvation because
of a covenant. Salvation because of a covenant
that was made before he was even born. That's what David spoke
of when he said, although my house be not so with God, yet
hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. And sure, and this is all my
salvation and all my desire. And I can say from the depths
of my heart, me too, David. Me too. This is all my salvation
and all my desire. Now remember, the point is salvation
through a covenant made before we were even born. Now look in
chapter 21 of 2 Samuel. 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's for Saul and for his bloody house
because they slew the Gibeonites. Now, if you read the book of
Joshua, you read where, and as a matter of fact, I preached
on this not that long ago, where the Gibeonites deceived Israel. They said, you remember the message
where they came with dirty clothes and moldy food and said, we've
come from a far country. And they deceived them because
they knew Joshua would kill them if they thought they were from
a near country. They deceived them. And they entered into a
covenant with Israel. you're going to be, Israel said
to them, you're going to be ewers of wood and drawers of water
in the house of God and you've got to protect, and Israel is
going to protect you. You're going to be our slaves
and we're going to protect you. They entered into a covenant. And
you'll remember when they were attacked, that's when Joshua
said, son stand still and the son stood still and they saved
the Gibeonites. Now this is over two hundred
years later when this takes place. When the Gibeonite covenant was
made two hundred years before this, but here Saul has mistreated
and misused the Gibeonites. And the king, verse 2, 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 that they had
entered this covenant. And Saul sought to slay them,
and he zealed to the children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore
David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And
wherewith shall I make atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance
of the Lord? They were in trouble, because they had broken this
covenant. And that's why the Lord sent
this famine. Verse four, and the Gibeonites said unto him,
we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house, neither
for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, what
ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the
king, the man that consumed us, and that devised against us that
we should be destroyed from remaining any in the coasts of Israel,
let seven of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them
up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose.
And the king said, I'll give them. You find me seven of his
descendants, and I'll hang them and put them to death. Verse
seven, but the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son
of Saul, because Mephibosheth was so loyal. Didn't read that right, did I?
Why was Mephibosheth spared? There's only one reason given. 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. Now this was a one-sided covenant.
Completely one-sided. Didn't have anything to do with
anything Mephibosheth agreed to do. It was wholly because
of that covenant with Jonathan. Even after all this, the one
reason, and this is where the believer finds safety and security.
The one reason for salvation is for Christ's sake. Because
of his agreement with his father to save the very chief of sinners,
all of the elect, all of his people. Salvation for Christ's
sake. And if Ibisheth was satisfied with
that, I am too. Thank you.