Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9. Anybody who's ever preached the
gospel loves to preach from this passage of scripture. And anybody
that believes the gospel finds their story in this scripture
as clearly as any other scripture. This is the story of Mephibosheth.
Now let's read it together. And David said, is there any
that's left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was at 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? That word kindness is the word
that's generally translated mercy. Is there any of the house of
Saul that I may show the mercy of God unto him? And Ziba said
unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, lame on his feet. Now, this is a man that can't
do you any good at all. He can't work for you. He can't
fight for you. He's lame. All he would ever
be is carried. Nothing more. Lame on both of
his feet. And the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he's in the house
of Maker, the son of Amalel in Lodabar. Then King David sent
and fetched him out of the house of Maker, the son of Amalel from
Lodabar. Now, when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he had to
be carried in by others, He fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth.
And the answered, behold thy servant. And David said unto
him, fear not. 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. His response, he bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldst 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 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 always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons
and 20 servants, then said Ziba unto the king, according to all
that my lord the king hath commanded his servants, 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 Micah, 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 his feet
were miraculously cured. Doesn't say that, does it? He
remained lame in both of his feet. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the high and the holy name of your son. And we ask that
for his sake, your favor, your saving grace, your mercy might
be extended toward us. Just as Mephibosheth found favor
in David's sight for Jonathan's sake, we ask that we might find
favor in your sight for thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ sake. Lord,
we ask that we might be enabled to hear your gospel in the power
of your spirit. Speak for Christ's sake. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness. We pray for cleansing. We pray
that we might be found in thy dear son. Lord, Speak to each heart here
according to your will. You know our needs. You know
our need. Meet our need. Lord, give us
what you know we need. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. David is speaking from a position
of power. We saw that in the eighth chapter
last week. He's speaking from a position
of power. At this time, he's the most powerful
man in the earth. The scripture says that the Lord
brought the fear of David upon every nation. Now, when I was
a kid, we always heard about Alexander the Great. You probably
remember that. He was the most powerful man,
conquered the world. Well, David had the same position
at this time. This was way before Alexander the Great. And David
was speaking from a position of power. And what does he say
from this position of power? Verse one, 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, Saul was David's enemy. And whenever a new king came
into power, what did that new king do? He would destroy his
enemies, make sure he didn't have anybody rising up against
his throne. Now, David says, is there any
of the house of Saul, not that I can kill, but that I can show
kindness to, for Jonathan's sake. Now, Jonathan was the son of
Saul, and years before this took place, Jonathan and David had
made a covenant together. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 20. The friendship between Jonathan
and David is one of the most beautiful things in the scripture.
I love to read about it. But look here in verse 12. Verse Samuel 20. And Jonathan
said unto David, O Lord God of Israel. You know, I don't even
know what to say about that. I don't know how to comment on
it. But Jonathan said this to David. He called David, O Lord
God of Israel. We know David was just a man.
We know David represented the Lord God of Israel, didn't he?
The son of David, the greater David. And this is the way Jonathan
addresses him. Now, I don't even know what to
say about that. I don't think anybody else does.
But there it is in holy writ, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
And I don't... And Jonathan said unto David,
O Lord God of Israel, when I've sounded my father about tomorrow,
anytime, or the third day, and behold, if there be good toward
David, and I then sin not unto thee, and showeth thee the Lord
do so much more to Jonathan, but if it please my father to
do thee evil, then I'll showeth thee, and will 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 forever. No, not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one of them from the face of
the earth. You see, Jonathan knew David was going to come
to this position of power. And he's saying, would you please
remember my children? So Jonathan, verse 16, 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, because he loved him, for he loved him as his
own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, tomorrow is the new
moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
And that's when he was going to warn him about what took place.
But here, this covenant was made years before where David agreed
to show mercy to any of Jonathan's descendants. What a beautiful
picture of the covenant of grace. Verse two. Second Samuel nine. And there
was of the house of Saul, remember David is wanting to, David's
remembering this covenant. I love to think about this. He's
now the most powerful man on the earth. He doesn't have any
enemies. And he remembers this covenant and he wants to keep
this covenant. Verse two. And there was of the
house of Saul, a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they
called him unto David, the king said unto him, art thou Ziba?
And he said, thy servant is he. The king said, is there not yet
any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God
unto him? Now that's some kind of kindness,
isn't it? That's some kind of mercy. I
want to show him the kindness of God. And Ziba said unto the
king, Jonathan hath yet a son. He does have a son, and he's
lame. on both his feet. Now this is
the type of man we're talking about. He cannot work for you. He cannot fight for you. He'll
be nothing but a burden. He's lame on both of his feet
and all he can be is carried. Now this man was lame through
a fall. Isn't that amazing? The scriptures.
This man was lame through a fall. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 4. This is after the news that Saul
and his sons were dead. Mephibosheth's nurse picks him
up because they're going to flee because they think we're going
to be put to death too. Because everybody in Saul's house was
expected to get killed after Saul was killed and David was
all of a sudden put into power. Look in verse 4. And Jonathan,
Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five
years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel.
And his nurse took him up and fled. And it came to pass as
she made haste to flee that he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. His name means shameful thing. What a name to give your kid.
Shameful thing. I mean, what possessed Jonathan
to name his boy shameful thing? Well, because of this story,
this glorious gospel story. Lame through a fall. Now, we're
not going to understand the gospel without understanding the fall. This is so very important. What
happened in the Garden of Eden? Now there's a saying that is
so true, if you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. Now let that sink in. If I don't have a correct, God-given
understanding of the fall, what took place in the fall, I'll
never understand the gospel. I'll have so many errors and
so many wrong views. So really, this is the ABCs right
now. This is fundamental to an understanding
of what Christ did. I'm gonna have to have some understanding
of what took place in the fall. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
two. This man was lame through a fall. Verse 15, and the Lord God took the man
and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. I think it's interesting that
work was before the fall. Work's a good thing. It was before
the fall. He was put in the garden for
this purpose. So never have a bad attitude.
We can never have a bad attitude about work just through this.
This is a good thing. Verse 16, and the Lord God commanded
the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. For if you do, doesn't say that,
does it? It says in the day that you eat
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Not if you eat, in the day you
do. Now God could have prevented
the fall. He could have made it to where Adam never fell,
but he didn't according to his wise and holy purposes. What
would we ever know of grace if there were never a fall? What
would we ever know of the mercy of God? What would we ever know
of the forgiveness of sins? These things would glorify God
if there were no fall. Now, God purposed the fall. It was all a part of his plan.
He said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Aren't you glad God controls
everything? You know, with regard to everything that's ever taken
place in your life, everything, God's in control of it. He's
the first cause of all things. He's before all things. Now, look in verse 25. I think this is interesting.
This lets us know what they were like before the fall. And they
were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
You know why? They didn't have an evil nature.
Now, I don't want... If everybody in this room was
naked, there would be some real issues, problems. I mean, because
of a wicked, evil nature, and clothes are given as a response
to the fall of man, aren't they? That's their original. They tried
to come up with their own clothes. But at this time, you can't imagine
this, but they didn't have a sinful nature. They never thought, never
suspected anything sinful. They had innocent natures. Now,
I don't believe they had holy natures. Holiness cannot go bad. Holiness cannot corrupt. They
had innocent natures that could fall and did fall, but they didn't
have holy natures. A believer has a holy nature.
Adam and Eve never had that. You see, we're more secure as
believers than they were before the fall, aren't they? But anyway,
here they are, naked and not ashamed, verse 1 of chapter 3.
Now the serpent was more subtle, was more deceitful than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the
woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? Now think about that. Did God say that? No. He said, of every tree you may
freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
that tree is forbidden for you to eat it. So he, right off the
bat, changed what God said. What God says is not up for vote. It's not negotiable. It's not
up for change. And Satan tried to change what
God said, this deceitful worker. Now let's go on reading. And
the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. No, God didn't say that. We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it. lest you
die. Now this is interesting. Probably you would be better
off not touching it. If God said don't eat it, you'd
probably be better off not touching it. But did God say don't touch
it? No, God did not say that. I think
this is where touch not, taste not, handle not religion was
born during the fall. He said don't touch it, don't
touch it. Verse four, and the serpent said unto the woman,
here's the lie, you shall not surely die, for God doth know
that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened
and you'll be as God's, knowing good and evil. Now, what he's
saying is right now, your goodness is just robotic. You're doing
nothing more than obeying your nature. God created you upright,
and you're upright, and there's really no moral goodness to it. It's not like God. You see, God
knows the difference between good and evil. And He chooses
the good over the evil, and that's what makes Him God. Now, if you
have a choice to make, If you have a will and you exercise
your will to choose good over evil, that'll make you like God. That'll make you a better person.
That will increase your goodness if you can just do this, to choose
the good over the evil. Now, right now, there's nothing
to you. You just obey your nature. You're
like a robot. There's no moral goodness about
this. But, oh, you know, that sounds
good, doesn't it? That sounds good. It sounds good
to me right off the bat. I mean, sure it'd be better to
choose the good over the evil. That would put me in a better
state. It made sense to her. But remember, the things you
naturally think and the things I naturally think, they're wrong.
You believe that about yourself. The things we naturally think,
you can count on it, they're wrong. We're to go exactly with
what God says, but she didn't. She didn't. This made sense to
her, so what'd she do? And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, a tree desired to
make one wise, the pride of life. That threefold temptation, the
lust of the flesh, John tells us of it, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of sinful flesh, the lust of the eyes, being more
concerned about what men think than what God thinks, the pride
of life, the desire for power. She wanted to get a higher position,
didn't she? The pride of life. This was a
tree desired to make one wise. You know, our Lord dealt with
the same things when Satan tempted Him. Only, unlike Eve, He defeated
the serpent. He was tempted with the same
things. The lust of the flesh, the bread, the lust of the eyes. If you're the Son of God, prove
it. Jump off and let us see. The pride of life. I've got all
this power. I'll give it to you if you'll
fall down and worship me. And the Lord answered every one
of these temptations with an it is written. Oh, how important
the scripture is. But at any rate, Here she is. She sees this take place. And
she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. What happened? Nothing. I'm no different. She gives to her husband. And
he ate. And their eyes were opened. Now
remember God said in the garden in the day you eat. Adam was
the representative. Adam was the one who fell. Eve
didn't even fall until Adam fell. That teaches us something about
the gospel, doesn't it? Salvation in Christ. Damnation,
condemnation, and Adam. When he fell, I fell. When Christ
obeyed, I obeyed. Salvation in a representative.
Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he ate and what happened? Their eyes were both opened.
All of a sudden they knew they were naked. That had never been
an issue before. And so they go and try to make
themselves a covering. I mean, this is the fall. Adam
no longer loved God after this. He wanted to hide from His presence.
He used to relish being in His presence. Now he wants to get
away from Him. He doesn't want to be anywhere around Him. He
goes and hides in the garden. When God confronts him, He said,
The woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit and I did
eat. He blamed God for what took place. Can you see? He became
spiritually dead. Spiritually dead. He no longer
was what he once was. He no longer loved God. He didn't
even have the ability to love God. He became spiritually dead,
spiritually evil. What can a dead man do? He can't
believe, he can't repent, he can't love. Totally depraved. That's what happened to Adam
through this fall. And Mephibosheth represents that. He became lame through a fall. Now remember this thing of the
fall. The fall means that I'm born into this world totally
depraved. Now does that mean I'm hanging
out in porn shops and robbing banks and murdering people? No,
it doesn't mean that at all. That's not what total depravity
means. Now, apart from God's grace, that's exactly what you'll
do, no doubt, but that's not what total depravity means. Total
depravity doesn't simply mean that you're out committing all
these monstrous acts. It means every aspect of your
humanity is under the dominion of sin. No such thing as free
will. You've got an evil nature. Your
mind is not the mind of Christ. Your affections, you hate what
you ought to love and you love what you ought to hate. You're
born evil. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, if you're
wrong on that, you'll believe salvation by works in some form. If you believe in salvation by
works in any form, that means you wrong on the fall, doesn't
it? And if you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. That's so significant. Mephibosheth
was lame. He could not walk because of
the fall. Well, let's go back to 2 Samuel
chapter 9. Yes, Jonathan's got a son, but
he's lame on his feet. He became lame through a fall. And the king said unto him, verse
four, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Makir, the son of Ammamel in
Lodabar, the place of no bread, the pastureless place. Not only
was he lame, he was in a place where he couldn't get anything.
He couldn't do anything. Now, what did David say regarding
him? Verse five, then King David sent
and fetched him out of the house of Maker, the son of Amiel from
Lodomar. He sent and fetched him. Now that's a word we don't use
much now. My grandfather used to use it.
Go fetch that for me. Go fetch that for me. Brother Mahan called this fetching
grace. I like this. You know, the gospel,
understand this, the gospel's not an offer. Go tell Mephibosheth
I'm offering him to be my son. It's free. It's an offer. What good would
that have done him? None at all. He's lame. He can't
get there. David said, go fetch him. Bring
him to me. That's what God the Holy Spirit
does. He fetches us. Fetching grace. He comes after
us in our deadness, gives us life. Go fetch him. Verse six. 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 looked at him. Now,
I don't know what he looked like. People have always presented
him as being a very scraggly, starving person. He may have
been. I don't know. I don't know what he looked like.
But I know when David saw him, I know who David saw. He went back years before, and
he saw Jonathan. At two he saw, he wasn't thinking
about Mephibosheth so much as Jonathan. He remembered that
covenant he made with Jonathan. Oh, aren't you thankful for his
memory? You know, David, how many times
did David plead the covenant? Remember the covenant. He'd say
to the Lord, remember the covenant. Lord, remember the covenant you
made with your son, then remember me. Now, here's Mephibosheth. And what does he do? He does
reference. He falls on his face and does
reverence. You see, he didn't know what
he was being brought in for. As a matter of fact, I suspect that
he thought he was going to be executed. That's what he thought
he was being brought in for. The king's enemies have been
found out. And what can he do? They drag him in, bring him in,
and he falls on his face and does reverence. And that's what
people do when they're confronted with who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. They fall on their face at his feet and do reverence. They
don't tell him what to do. They do reverence. They worship
him for who he is. He didn't say anything. Afraid
to speak before the king. He waits for David to speak. Verse six, 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. I'm sure he was quaking in his
boots at that time. He thought, it's over for me.
It's over for me. I've been found out. I've been
exposed. I've been in hiding all these years. I've been found
out. I'm going to be executed. And he says, fear not. Fear not, for I will. What's that next word? Surely. Surely, for sure. I will surely
show the kindness, mercy, the kindness of God because you've
got here, because you've asked for it, because you need it. No, he does it for one reason,
for Jonathan's sake. That gives me such hope. Be ye
kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's his reason, for Christ's
sake. And I will destroy all the land
of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
And he bowed himself and said, and this was his attitude, what
is more worthless than a dead dog? Now this was his attitude
about himself. And if you ever see who he is,
and you see, then you'll see who you are, and this is how
you'll see yourself. Just like Mephibosheth did. He didn't,
you know what? People who argue with sovereign
grace, they just don't have the view of themselves that Mephibosheth
had. They think they have something
coming, they deserve something. They don't understand anything
about who God is or who they really are. But Mephibosheth
did. And his response was, why? Why would you do this for me?
I don't understand this. Why would you have mercy on such
a dead dog as I am? Is that your response to His
grace to you? Why? Why me? Why would you look in favor toward
me? Well, David gives all the instructions
regarding Ziba, what he was to do for Mephibosheth. And I think
this is so interesting in verse 13. So Mephibosheth dwelt in
Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table. And the
conclusion of this story, I think is just amazing. What's the last
thing it said? He was lame. He was lame on both
of his feet. Now if I was writing the story,
like I said, I would somehow have him being nourished at the
king's table. His feet received strength and
he gradually became better and better. He could finally where
he could walk. Now that's the way I would end
it. But how does the Word of God end it? He stayed laying
on both of his feet. Now you know what the teaching
there is? Your nature, my nature, my sinful
nature does not get better. Somebody says, I've changed.
I'm just bad as I ever was. In my own experience, my own
sinful, evil nature, I'm still lame on my feet. And I realize
some people will say, well, Are you saved? I mean, what do you
mean by that? I mean, surely you've changed and done better
since you've been saved. Has the Lord done anything for
you? Surely you've, what is this? Well, when I read that he's laying
on both of his feet, you know what my heart says? Me too. Me
too. That is my honest experience.
Now I've got something that I didn't have before. I've got a new heart. One that was not there before.
I've got a new nature. I've got a nature that believes,
that loves God, that loves holiness. I've got this new nature that
I didn't have before. But that old nature is still
there and I'm still lame on my feet. Just like Mephibosheth
was. Now, I realize some people can have problems with this.
I was preaching in a place not too long ago, and there's a preacher
in the audience. And I was saying this, and he was getting mad.
I could see things coming out on his neck. Well, I'm sorry. If you're not like that, more
power to you. Good, I'm happy for you. I hope
you just float on up to heaven. But it isn't going to happen. He's lame on both his feet. Aren't
you glad that, you know what that lameness, my lameness, it
fixes me to where I can't look anywhere but Christ alone right
now. Amen.