Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiber. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Hod Neibert. I'm speaking this morning from
2 Samuel, chapter 9, and I've entitled this message, The Shameful
Thing. I want to tell the story about
a man by the name of Mephibosheth, and his name means the shameful
thing. It is taken from the word which
means disappointment, that which causes shame. Can you imagine
going through life with a name like this? You introduce yourself
as the shameful thing. If they had therapists back then,
I'm sure he would have needed one. Mephibosheth was the son
of Jonathan. Jonathan was King Saul's son
and the best friend of David, and Jonathan gave him this name,
Mephibosheth. Now, we read in 2 Samuel 9, verse
1, and David said, King David, is there yet any that's left
of the house of Saul? Now, remember who Saul was. Saul
was David's enemy. He hated David, and he wanted
him dead. He was jealous of David, and
he was always trying to kill David. Now, Saul has been dead
now for many years. The house of Saul was David's
enemy. And what David says, and when
David says this, he is the king of Israel. He is the most powerful
man in the earth at this time. As a matter of fact, 1 Chronicles
4.17 says, And the fame of David went out into all lands, and
the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. Now, when David is speaking at
this time, he's speaking with no enemies. He's the most powerful
man in the world, and he defeated all of his enemies. And now he
says, and David says, Is there yet any that is left? of the house of Saul, that I
may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake." Now, Jonathan was David's
best friend. David has been dead, or Jonathan
has been dead for a long time. And after all of David's enemies
are defeated, he starts remembering this covenant that he made with
Jonathan many years before. And that's why he says, Are there
any left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And more on that in a moment.
So we read in verse 2, 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. Now, there was a former servant
of Saul when Saul was in power by the name of Ziba, and he had
the information David needed as to whether there was anyone
left of Saul's house that he could show kindness to. So verse
3, And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul? my enemies, that I may show the
kindness of God unto him." I don't want to just show human kindness,
I want to show the very kindness of God. If there's any left of
the house of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's
sake. And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son
which is laying in his feet. He's not worth much. He's crippled. He can't work for you. He can't
serve for you. He can't benefit you in any way.
He's crippled. He's lame in both of his feet.
And if you read the history of this young man, Mephibosheth,
he was lame because of the fall. You see, when he was a little
boy, when the tidings came that Saul and Jonathan were killed,
Mephibosheth's maid picked him up to run, thinking she had to
flee the country because they thought all the house of Saul
would be killed. She dropped Mephibosheth at this time, and
he became lame through a fall. There's strong typical significance
to that. Lame through a fall. So, Ziba
says, yes, there is one, but he's lame in both of his feet. 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 Amorel, in
Lodabar. He is in the house of ruin. He
is in the house of no bread. He is in a place where he can't
even eat. He is in a bad shape where he's
at. Verse 5, Then King David sent
and fetched him. out of the house of Makah, the
son of Amelieb from Moabar. Now, it would have done no good
for King David to invite him to come. If you say, Mephibosheth,
if you can make it, I'm going to have mercy on you. No. King
David went and fetched him and brought him to himself. 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. You see, he was scared to death.
He knew that he was of the house of Saul, David's enemies, and
for all he knew, David was calling him in to put him to death, to
execute him. So he was scared to death. All
he could do was fall on his face and do reverence. And David looked
upon him. the son of Jonathan. And I have
no doubt when he looked at him, he thought of Jonathan, his father. And he thought of that covenant
that he made with Jonathan. He saw Jonathan in that boy's
face. So as he fell on his face and
did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth, shameful thing. And he knew his name. And he
answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not. No doubt he was trembling in
fear, wondering what's going to take place. Am I going to
be put to death? But David says, Fear not, for I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore
thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually. Can you imagine how shocked Mephibosheth
was to find out that he was going to eat at the king's table continually? Now, this story actually begins
in 1 Samuel chapter 18. I'm going to read some scriptures.
Now, this is right after David had defeated Goliath. And Jonathan
witnessed all this. Remember, Jonathan was Saul's
son, and he saw how David had defeated Goliath, and he admired
and loved him for working out this great victory for Israel.
And we read in 1 Samuel 18, verse 1, And it came to pass, when
he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, David speaking to
Saul, The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David,
and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. They became the best
of friends. Jonathan loved David. Jonathan
admired David. Now, remember, Jonathan's father
was Saul, and Saul hated David. He was jealous of him. Let's
begin reading in verse 5 of 1 Samuel, chapter 18. And David went out,
whether so ever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And Saul sent him over the men
of Ur, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people,
and also in the sight of Saul's servants. The servants of Saul
all admired and loved David because of this great victory he had
wrought for Israel in defeating the giant. And it came to pass
as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of
the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of
Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tablets,
with joy, and with instruments and music. And the women answered
one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands. And Saul was very wroth. And
the Satan displeased him. You see, he was jealous. He wanted
the glory to go to himself. And he said, they described to
David ten thousands, and to me they described the thousands.
And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David
from that day forward. He was jealous of him, and he
wanted him put to death. Now, we read in 1 Samuel chapter
19, and Saul spake to Jonathan. Now remember, Jonathan loved
David. And Saul spake to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants,
that they should kill David. He went and David murdered, executed. And Jonathan, Saul's son, derided
much of David. And Jonathan told David, saying,
Saul, my father seeketh to kill thee. Now, therefore, I pray
thee, take heed of thyself unto the building, and abide in a
secret place, and hide thyself. He's out to get you. And I'll
go out and stand by my father in the field where thou art,
and I will commune with my father thee, and what I see I'll tell
thee. I'll tell you what my father's
intentions are." So he finds out that his father's intentions
were to kill David. So he goes out to speak with
David in the field, and this is where that covenant took place
in 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 11. 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." He calls David, O Lord God of Israel. Now, that shows us the typical
significance of what is taking place. As we're going to see
in this story, David represents God the Father. Jonathan represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. Mephibosheth represents the sinner
that God saves, and Ziba, the servant, represents the work
of God, the Holy Spirit. But he says to David, O Lord
God of Israel, when I sounded my father about tomorrow, any
time of the third day, and behold, it will be good toward David,
and I will send not unto thee, and sayeth he, the Lord do so
much and more for Jonathan, may I be punished. But if it please
my Father to do thee evil, then I'll show it thee, and send thee
away, and thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as
he hath been with my Father. And thou shalt not only," listen
real carefully, thou shalt not only while I let live, show me
the kindness of the Lord. Remember how David said, I want
to show the kindness of God to somebody of the house of Saul.
He says, thou shalt not only while I live show the kindness
of the Lord, but I die not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy
kindness from my house forever. I want you to show kindness to
my descendants. Know not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth.
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let
the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. And
Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him,
for he loved him as his own soul." a covenant made before Mephibosheth
was ever born. So many years pass, and Jonathan's
prophecy has come true. All of David's enemies are defeated. The Lord is with him, and the
Lord has made him the most powerful man in all the earth. And in
2 Samuel 8, we read about David subduing all of his enemies. And then after all of his enemies
are subdued and the Lord has wrought this great victory for
him, he remembers this covenant. 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, as I said, in this story,
David is a type of God the Father. Jonathan is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Mephibosheth is a type of the
sinner that God saves, the shameful thing, lame in both of his feet,
unable to do anything, lame through it all. And Zadar is the type
of the Holy Spirit who goes and fetches Mephibosheth and brings
him to the king. Now, mercy was determined before
Mephibosheth was ever born. It was determined because of
this covenant that David had made with Jonathan. Jonathan
said, you have mercy on my descendants, even after I'm dead. David remembers
this covenant, and he's determined to show mercy to whoever Jonathan's
descendants were. Now, David remembers this covenant
with Jonathan, and he says, are there any? of the house of Saul
that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake." And God the
Father, just like David says this, God the Father says, are
there any of the house of Adam, the fallen house of Adam, ruined,
lame, unable to save themselves, are there any of the house of
Adam that I can show kindness to for Christ's sake because
of a covenant made before time began. Verse 2, 2 Samuel 9, and
there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him
unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said,
Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any? of the house of Saul, that I
may show the kindness of God unto him." Remember how Jonathan
said, I want you to show the kindness of the Lord to my descendants.
Is there any of the house of Adam that I can show the kindness
of God to him for Christ's sake? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath a son which is lame on his feet. He was crippled. He couldn't
work. He was from the house of no bread. He couldn't sustain himself.
All he could be is carried and supported. There's nothing he
could do for you except being a means of magnifying your great
mercy, because there's nothing he could do. He's lame through
a fall. He can't work. He can't fight
for you. He's worthless in and of himself,
lame through a fall. And that typifies the sinner
that God saves. When Adam fell, he became lame. He became dead. He became unable
to serve God. He became unable to obey God,
the inability as a result of this fall. And all of his descendants
are born lame, crippled, unable to walk in God's commandments.
Here we have Mephibosheth, lame in both of his feet. Now, then
King David sent out and fetched him out of the house of Boca,
the son of Moroniath, and Moldavar. King David sent and fetched him. He did not invite him to come. He did not encourage him to come. He sent and fetched him and brought
him back to himself. It would have done, before this,
no good at all if King David would have said, you're invited
to come. If you come, I'll feed you for the rest of your life,
because he couldn't get there. This is what I call fetching
grace. Thank God for fetching grace. You see, this man's mercy and
salvation had already been determined before he was ever born. And David said, go fetch him
and bring him to me. And that's exactly how God's
grace works. Here I am, lame because of a
fall, unable to walk in God's commandments, in myself, nothing
but sin. And God the Father says, go fetch
him. Whom he did foreknow, then he
also fetched. whom He did predestinate, whom
He also fetched. Whom He called, whom He also
fetched. Whom He justified, whom He also
fetched. Whom He glorified, whom He also
fetched. Go fetch Him and bring Him unto
you. This is the call of fetching
grace. It's an invincible and irresistible
call. Just like when our Lord called
Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth.
Mephibosheth is fetched, the shameful thing is fetched, and
brought into the presence of King David. Those six. Now, when
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to
David, he fell on his face and did reverence. That is the same
Hebrew word that's generally translated, worship. He knew
he was utterly in David's hand. He knew he was by nature David's
enemy of the house of Saul. He knew it was totally up to
David as to whether or not he'd be saved or destroyed. He knew
he had no control in this situation. He just fell down on his face
and did reverence. He didn't even say anything.
He didn't know what David was going to do with him. Now, when
a sinner is brought into the presence of God, when he's brought
by searching grace to find out who God really is, all he can
do is fall on his face and do reverence. He worships a sovereign. Now, this is what worship is.
You worship when you know you have absolutely no control, that
you're condemned, and there's nothing you can do to save yourself,
and you're in the hands of a sovereign God who can save you or burn
you, as He's pleased to do. It's totally up to Him. You have
no control. Have you ever been back to that
place? Well, that's where Mephibosheth was. He fell down on his face,
and he did reverence. He worshiped, and David said,
Mephibosheth. Shameful thing. And I know that
David remembered that covenant he made with Mephibosheth's father,
Jonathan. Mephibosheth. I believe that
when he looked at that boy, he saw Jonathan. And he answered,
Behold thy servant. Notice he didn't speak till David
spoke to him. He was afraid to. And he said,
Behold thy servant. And here's the gospel. David
looked at him. And David said unto him, Fear
not. He was scared to death. David
says, Fear not, for I will surely, no doubt about it, there's no
way we can mess this up, I will surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore to thee all the
land of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. And God the Father says to that
shameful sinner, brought before his presence for Christ's sake,
knowing that he is in his sovereign hands, God the Father says to
that sinner, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for
Christ's sake. You see, salvation is all together
for Christ's sake. That's why it's sure. God will
surely show kindness for Christ's sake. Ephesians 4.32 says, Be
kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven you. He doesn't forgive you because
you deserve it. He doesn't forgive you because you ask to be forgiven.
He doesn't forgive you because of anything in you. He does it
wholly for Christ's sake. Verse 8, here's the Phibosheth
response, And he bowed himself and said,
What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? He was amazed. You wouldn't find Mephibosheth
arguing with David, saying, you owe me salvation. No, he was
amazed that David would look in mercy and kindness at such
a dead dog as he. Now, let's consider how we can
see the gospel in this story. Mephibosheth's salvation was
determined before he was ever born. Did you know that God determined
who would be saved before time began? It's called election.
God chose the elect and gave them to Christ, and their salvation
was determined before they were ever born. Now, I realize A lot
of people argue with that, but God's people don't. We delight
in it, and we know the only reason why we're saved is because He
chose us. We don't give our free will the
credit or our works the credit. We know we're saved because He
chose us. Our Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. Now, Mephibosheth was lame. through
a fall. Unable to get to David. Unable
to walk for David. And every slave sinner is one
who is first lame by a fall. When Adam fell, I fell, and I
was born into this world lame on my feet. Unable to walk in
God's commandments. Unable to save myself. Lame. Philbishop was lame in both of
his feet. and an offer or an invitation
to come into David's presence would do him no good. He had to be fetched and brought
before David. Now, in the preaching that I
hear, There's something like this. God loves you, Christ died
for you. God wants to save you, but He
can't unless you come, unless you do something. His hands are
tied. He can't save you until you first
do your part. Why would God do Mephibosheth
any good? He doesn't do you any good at
all. He doesn't do you or me any good at all either. He must come and fetch me and
bring me to His feet, just like He did Mephibosheth. And there's
only one reason that Mephibosheth was saved and shown mercy to.
It's for Jonathan's sake, for Christ's sake. And I know that
the only reason God shows me mercy is for Christ's sake. Now, let's go on reading the
end of this story. Mephibosheth said, Why would you look upon
such a dead dog as I am? Then the king, called Desirbus,
our servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and all his house. He gave him
back everything. Thou therefore and thy sons and
thy servants shall till the land for him. And I said, bring in
fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat. All things
are working together for good to them that love God, to them
who have called according to his purpose. But, Mephibosheth,
thy master's son shall eat bread always. at my table. He's never going to leave my
table. He's always going to have the kindness of God shown to
him. 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 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 one son, whose name was Micah, and they dwelt
in the house of Ziba, were servants unto Mephibosheth. Said Mephibosheth
dwelt in Jerusalem. for he did eat continually at
the king's table, and was lame in both of his feet." What an
unusual rarity in the story. The last line is, he remained
lame in both of his feet. Now, he's been recovered at the
king's table. You couldn't see him, but in
his experience, he still remained lame. And in my experience, having
God's favor, I'm still a sinner in and of myself, and I still
need His grace and mercy. I still need to be saved for
Christ's sake. Thank God I'm covered at the King's table.
Now, we have this message on cassette, DVD. Or CBE, if you
email, or write, or call the church, we'll send you a copy.
This is Todd Maverick, praying that God will be pleased to make
Himself known to you. Amen. To request a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.