Let's turn to 2 Samuel, the 21st chapter of 2 Samuel. 21st chapter of 2 Samuel, beginning with verse 1. Now listen,
listen carefully. Then there was a famine in the
days of David three years, year after year. And David sought
the face of the Lord, inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered,
It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibbonites. And the king David called the
Gibbonites and said to them, Now the Gibbonites were not of
the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites.
And the children of Israel had sworn unto them. And Saul sought
to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.
In other words, Israel made a covenant with the Gibbonites that they'd
protect them. They wouldn't hurt them, wouldn't
harm them. But Saul went back on that covenant and slew them,
just massacred them. Wherefore David said unto the
Gibbonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make
the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
And the Gibbonites said to David, We'll have no silver, nor gold
of Saul, nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man
in Israel. And he said, Well, what? Ye shall
say, That will I do. Tell me what you want." And they
answered David, they said, the man that consumed us and that
devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in
any of the coast of Israel, let seven men of his sons... Now when we say sons, we mean
sons and grandsons. When they talked about a man's
sons, they meant his grandsons, his sons and grandsons. Let seven
of his sons be delivered unto us, and we'll hang them. And we'll hang them up unto the
Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose." And David
said, I'll give them to you. But here's that That severe judgment,
the Gibbonites said Saul was a bloody man, his house was a
bloody house, his rule was a bloody rule. And he broke the covenant,
he destroyed our people, now we want vengeance. And David
said, what do you want? They said, we want seven of his
sons, grandsons, and we're going to hang them. And David turned
them over to him. But here's a tremendous three-letter
word. The king spared Mephibosheth. The king spared Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. He was Saul's grandson.
He was Jonathan's boy. And the king spared him because
of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan,
who was the son of Saul. Now, here's an awful judgment. that has fallen on the house
of Saul, an awful judgment. And yet David deliberately spared
one of the key individuals. Saul's number one son was Jonathan,
and the number one grandson was Mephibosheth. But Mephibosheth,
in this judgment and vengeance and slaughter, was spared and
delivered. and lived on happily until he
died, eating at the king's table. I see in this story of Mephibosheth,
we meet him often in the book of 1 and 2 Samuel. And the Lord
God, in this inspired volume, devotes a lot of space to this
man Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is mentioned over
and over again. I really don't know the meaning
of his name. Someone said a shameful thing, but I haven't been able
to find that. Maybe some of you can. But the
story of Mephibosheth and this mercy which David showed to him,
bestowed upon him, this mercy, this deliverance, this deliverance
of Mephibosheth, when he should have been hanged with the rest
of Saul's sons, David delivered him, spared him, showed mercy
to him. This deliverance starts way back,
way back up. It really starts before Mephibosheth
was ever born. This whole thing. That which
was done on this day, when Mephibosheth would have been hanged with the
rest of them, would have died in that terrible fashion, in
shame and reproach, the vengeance of God upon a house Instead of
hanging there, he was sitting over here at the king's table,
eating the king's food, spared, shown mercy. He didn't deserve
it any more than they deserve. He didn't deserve mercy or grace.
But this whole thing goes way back before he was born. Now,
this is what I preach about all of us. One of these days, the
wrath and judgment of God is going to fall on the house of
Adam. going to fall on the descendants
and the sons and daughters of Adam. And they're going to be
hanged under the judgment and wrath and vengeance of a holy
God. God said, vengeance is mine, I'll repay, I'll repay. We spit in God's face and shook
our fist in the face of God and said, we'll not have this man
reign over us. And our father Adam, and then
when God sent his beloved son into this world, the son of his
love, the Holy One, we took him with wicked hands and nailed
him to a cross and laughed while he died. And laughed while he died. And
God's going to deal with this human race. God's going to hang
them to a tree. But he's going to spare some
folks. I expect to be spared. I expect when that awful judgment
comes and the vengeance of God and the scourge of his wrath
passes through the land, I expect to be spared. Not because, as
they say in Isaiah 28, I've made a covenant with death. Not because
I've made an agreement with hell. But because before I was ever
born, There was a covenant made between the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit, which by his grace and mercy included
me. Now let me tell you about Mephibosheth, this man here,
this man that was a recipient of King David's mercy, King David's
special favor, King David's special love. He said, take these seven
boys, but don't take Mephibosheth. Nobody can touch Mephibosheth.
The king stood between them and Mephibosheth. The king said,
you can't have him, he's mine. But I tell you when all this
started, if you turn back to 1 Samuel 20, clear back to 1
Samuel 20, before David ever became king, before David ever
mounted the throne, before Mephibosheth was ever born, and somebody said before he was
ever a gleam in his daddy's eye, Way back, Jonathan. There were
two young men, David, who was destined to be king, and Jonathan,
Saul's son. And they were friends. They loved
each other. It said Jonathan loved David
like his own soul. He gave him his own personal
sword, gave him his armor. And Jonathan knew David was going
to be king. He knew that. He knew his father's
house was a bloody house. He knew God had removed his presence
and mercy from Saul. He knew Saul was headed for destruction
and himself, too. And one day he took David out
in the field in 1 Samuel 20, verse 11. Jonathan said, David,
come, let's go out in the field. And they went out, both of them,
into the field. And Jonathan said, David, O Lord God of Israel,
When I have sounded my Father about tomorrow at any time, or
the third day, and behold, if there be good towards you, David,
I will send, and then I send not unto thee, and show it to
thee, the Lord do so, and much more to Jonathan. But if it please
my Father to do thee evil, I will show it to thee, and send thee
away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with you,
as he has been with my Father. And thou shalt not only while
yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord that I die not. But
now watch verse 15. But also, David, 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 from the
face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, saying that the Lord even required at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan called David to
swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved
his own soul. He said, David, the Lord's going
to bless you and bless your house. And when all of your enemies,
including my father and the rest of them, are destroyed, I want
you to promise me that you'll show mercy to my house. And standing
out there in that field, David and Jonathan made a covenant,
and David shook hands with Jonathan, and he said, I'll show kindness
to your house." Well, my friends, before I was ever born, back
in the council halls of eternity, God made a covenant. God made
a covenant with one whom He loves, His Son, the Lord Jesus. If you'll
turn to Ephesians 1, I'll read you about that covenant. I said
in the book of Hebrews that the blood of Christ is the blood
of an everlasting covenant. In the book of Hebrews that he's
the surety of a better covenant. His blood is the blood of a better
covenant. And his blood speaketh better
things than that of Abel of the old covenant. But here in Ephesians
1, 3, it says, Blessed be the God and Father by Lord Jesus
Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his own will. to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the Beloved." Now, two other scriptures turn to
Galatians 1, verse 15. And Paul writes the same thing
about himself. He says in Galatians 1, 15, But
when it pleased God, who separated me, who chose me, who set his
affections upon me from my mother's He called me by his grace and
revealed his Son in me." Now turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
13. And here Paul says that about
the church at Thessalonica. He says in 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13, "...but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation." So all of this, just as those
two young men, Jonathan and David, David already anointed of God,
already appointed for the kingship, already predestined to be the
king. Jonathan shook hands with him
and said, when you come to be king, I want you to promise me
you'll show mercy to my house. And I'll tell you this, that
God Almighty has anointed and appointed the Son of David, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be King of kings and Lord of lords, giving
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every nail bowed, every tongue will confess that he is Lord.
He will have preeminence, and all his enemies shall be destroyed.
But in that covenant of mercy, in that covenant of grace from
before the foundation of the world, the Heavenly Father gave
to his Son a people. of people upon whom he would
bestow his love and his mercy and the grace of his covenant.
And I say this, by his grace he included me, and by his grace
he included you. He chose us, we didn't choose
him. He set his love upon us. Mephibosheth wasn't seeking David,
David was seeking Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth didn't send David
any resumes. or brochures or cries for help.
He'd done a high thing, and David sent for him. Why'd he send for
him? He made a covenant. He made a covenant. And the reason
judgment fell on the house of Saul is the breaking of a covenant.
And the reason judgment is falling on the house of Adam is because
of the breaking of a covenant. God said, eat that tree and die.
And they ate it and they died. But our hope is not in that covenant
of I hope is in that covenant of mercy, that covenant of grace,
with the shaking of the hands, I don't know how to describe
it, between the Father and the Son, in which he gave him a people. And just as David carried out
that covenant toward Mephibosheth, Almighty God is going to carry
out his word for his son. All right, let's go back now
and see about Mephibosheth. how we're described again in
his life. Turn to 2 Samuel 4, but back
there before he was ever born, before he was ever born, before
David was ever king, David was a stripling of a lad, a very
young man, just one of the leaders in Saul's army. Jonathan didn't
have any children. And he promised to bless, he
promised to show mercy to Jonathan's house when he got to be king. Listen to me a moment, just let
me fill in, we can't read all of it. Saul was dead, King Saul
was dead, Jonathan was dead, and David grew stronger and stronger,
and finally Abner was killed. And when that happened, the descendants
of Saul, you see, when a new king came into power, all the
sons of the old king were put to death, because they were threats
to the throne. And so when they heard that Saul
was dead and Jonathan was dead and Abner was dead, then they
started fleeing the lame. They started leaving as rapidly
as they could. In verse 4 of 2 Samuel 4, and
Jonathan, Saul's son, and this is Jonathan to whom I referred
a moment ago, he had a son that was lame on his feet. How did
he get lame? Listen. He was five years old. five years old, when the news
came of Saul and Jonathan being killed out of Jezreel. And his
nurse, I don't know how this happened, but his nurse took
him up, a five-year-old boy, and it came to pass as they made
haste to flee, that he fell. Now, how he fell and from where
he fell, I don't know. My guess is it's putting him
up on a camel or up on a chariot or somewhere, trying to get out
of town. trying to get out of the place,
and he fell and became lame on both his feet. Evidently his
hips, pelvis, or something was shattered. And here a five-year-old
boy, when they tried to flee, fell and became lame, and he
never walked again. And I'll tell you, that's us
in Adam. Old Mephibosheth was lame through
the fall. And I'll tell you, that was us.
In Adam and in our birth, we were born lame. We were born
in sin. Turn to the book of Psalms, chapter
51. This is what David says about
it. You see, all this goes back to
Adam's fall. We were lame through the fall.
It goes back to Adam's fall, and Adam all died. By the disobedience
of one, we were made sinners. In Adam, death passed upon all
men. Psalm 51, David said in verse
5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me. You see, my friend, Mephibosheth,
on the outward appearance, sitting there, appeared to be just like
anyone else. But when everybody else stood,
he remained seated. He was lame. He couldn't walk.
He had no strength. And we appear to be all right,
but until something is required of us, then our lameness shows.
When something is required, something spiritual, something having to
do with God is required of us, we can't fulfill it, we can't
produce, we're lame. And in Psalm 58, Psalm 58, verse
3, see what we call good is evil. What God calls evil, we call
good. Psalm 58, verse 3, it says, "...the wicked are strained from
the womb." They go astray as soon as they're born and speak
in lies. The fall affected every faculty of our being. When Phibosheth
is a picture of our fall, it rendered him helpless as far
as walking. But the fall has affected all
of our being. We have eyes, but we see not.
We have ears, but we hear not. We have mouths that are full
of cursing and bitterness. Scripture says our whole head
is pain, our whole heart is sick. Our throat is an open sepulcher.
Our tongues are set on fire with hail. Our hands are swift to
shed blood. Wicked and evil is our imagination. Our minds are enmity against
God, and what strength we have leaves us walking in darkness." And so here he is, Mephibosheth,
here he is, lame on both his feet. And I'll tell you this
about him. He was not only lame on both
his feet. and crippled from that fall.
But he was residing in a house called Lodibar, which is a house
of no pasture. He was living in poverty. That's
the man. So now, 2 Samuel 9, David comes
to power. And I want you to read about
his coming to power, this providence and sovereignty of God in bringing
to pass his purpose. So David's sitting on the throne
in his glory, earthly glory, no kingdom like it, no kingdom
like it, surrounded by all of his princes and captains and
generals, and their swords laid aside, they whipped everybody.
They quieted the enemy. And David sat on his throne,
and David remembered his covenant. And David said in chapter 9,
verse 1, is there any that is left of the house of Saul, is
anybody left, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Years ago, a long time ago, a
lot of battles ago, a lot of bloodshed ago, a lot of heartache,
a lot of trials back yonder. I made a covenant. David, I can
just see him sitting there, I can imagine myself there, recalling
that meeting in the field and the shaking of his beloved friend's
hand. And he said, Anybody, does anybody
know, if there's anybody left of the house of Saul, I made
a covenant I'm going to fulfill. And one of the servants, there
was of the house of Saul a servant named Ziba. And when he had called
unto David, he said, May I speak? And the king said, Are you Ziba?
And he said, I'm Ziba. 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, Jonathan has a
son. Your friend Jonathan has a son,
and he's a cripple. And the king said, Where is he?
Ziba said, He's in the house of Mater. the son of Amiel in
the place of no pasture, Lodibar. Now, here's what I like. Then
David the king sent and fetched him. Let me tell you something,
my friend. I know we go through a lot of
religious commotions and make a lot of decisions, and man is
naturally inclined to religion and to the happy hunting ground
and all these other things. But in this matter of salvation,
in this matter of divine mercy, it's the king dealing with folks.
It's not some peanut preacher talking a man into a religious
profession so he can brag about how many souls he won to Jesus.
It's not some Brother Barnard, you say, one-gallus, hitchhiking
evangelist coming into town and talking folks into making a religious
profession. This is the mercy of the King.
This is the purpose of the King of Kings. He has set his love
on a sinner from all eternity. He has made a covenant with his
Son from all eternity. He has purposed to populate heaven
with a people out of Lodibar, from every tribe, kindred, nation,
tongue unto heaven. And when the Lord God sets his
affection on a sinner from all eternity, he's going to call
him, he's going to fetch him, he's going to send and fetch
him, he's going to send his Holy Spirit He's going to send his
ambassador, he's going to send his word, just like he sent for
the Ethiopian Union, just like he sent for Lydia, just like
he sent for Matthew, just like he sent for Peter, James, and
John, just like he sent for Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.
You see, salvation is a deliberate act of God. Salvation is an act
of the will of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
a mighty miracle of God's grace. That's what I'm preaching, and
that's what I believe, and that's what this Bible teaches. That
God calls His sheep by name. He knows who they are, He knows
where they are, and when it pleases Him in His own good time, whether
they're 10 years old or 40 years old or 60 years old, in the land
of Lodibar, He'll send and get them. There's a covenant to be
fulfilled. There's a Redeemer to be glorified. There's an atonement which has
atoned. There's a ransom that's been
paid. And he's coming after you. You say, I'm not coming. You
will when he comes after you. You won't when I come after you.
I'll come knock on your door. Won't you please come to church?
No, I'm not interested. But I'll tell you, when he knocks
on your door, you'll come. If he said his love on you, you're
coming. He said, all that my Father giveth
me will come. They'll come, because he'll send
and fetch you. That's what it says here, David
sent and fetched you. And let me tell you something,
I not only believe in everlasting covenant, I not only believe
in God's elective grace, I not only believe in the effectual
work of Christ on the cross, but I believe in conquering effectual,
invincible grace. He'll call whom he calls, and
they'll come. My sheep will hear my voice,
and they're going to come. I don't know who they are, but
I'm looking for them. And when I find one and tell him the good
news, he's going to receive it with joy, because the Holy Spirit
accompanies that call. And the king sent and fetched
him out of the house of Macher, out of the house of out from
Lodibar. And brother, when Mephibosheth
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David, well, he didn't leap over a pew,
and he didn't start bragging on himself. He fell on his face.
You see, that's sinners that know who God is. They do reverence. They hit the dust. They fall
on their face and they do reverence. And David said, "'Mephibosheth!'
and he said, "'I'm your bond slave. I'm your servant. I'm
your slave.'" And David said, "'Don't be afraid.'" Who said
he was afraid? He was afraid. Men who know God
fear God. They fear God. Oh, they fear
the face of God. "'Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid,' David said. "'I'm going to show you kindness.'
"'Why are you going to show me kindness?' for Jonathan's sake. That's why I'm showing you kindness.
And don't you ever forget it. That's the only reason. If it
weren't for Jesus Christ, you'd be fodder for the fires of hell.
You can put that down. We can run around here talking
about who we are and what we've done and what we know and what
we've given. I'll tell you, David said, I'll
show you kindness for Jonathan's sake, and I'll restore to you
all that you lost in Saul, all that you lost in Adam. and you're
going to eat my bread at my table continually." And he bowed himself
and he said, this doesn't sound like the average testimony, does
it? What is thy servant that thou shouldest even look upon
a dead dog as I am? And the king called Saul's servant
said to him, I've given your master's son all that pertains
to Saul and his house. And you and your sons and your
servants will plow the land for him, bring in the fruits to him. Your master's son will have food
to eat. But Mephibosheth will eat bread
at my table. Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty
Ziba said to the king, according to all that the Lord hath commanded
his servants, so shall his servant do." Angels are servants to them
who there is a salvation. God is going to feed us and care
for us. And Mephibosheth had a young son, verse 12, whose
name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem
and ate and continued at the king's table. But he still retained
the marks of the fall. And that's something David couldn't
help him with. But I'll tell you this, our King
David, though through this life, we eat at the King's table, and
we're the King's sons, and we've had restored all that we lost,
we're still limp, don't we? We're still lame. We still retain
the results of the fall in these old bodies. But someday, We're
going to be rid of even that. Well, that's not the last of
that story, though. I want to tell you the rest of
it. You'll be patient a minute. King David had a son named Saul,
2 Samuel 15. And Saul, a lot of things happened
in the life of Saul, but Saul, here's what sums it up. Charlie,
here's a verse you quoted a few days ago, 2 Samuel 15.6. The
last line, the last line, Absalom stole the hearts of the men of
Israel. You want Absalom dead, he's the king's real son. The
king's such a busy man, and Absalom wanted to be king, wanted to
put his daddy David off the throne, so he'd sit at the gate of the
city. And when people came to see the
king, He'd stop them at the gate and he'd shake hands and ask
them what their names and what tribe you're from and he'd greet
them with a kiss and he'd say, where are you headed? They said
to see the king. He'd say, he doesn't have time to see you.
And nobody in the palace has time to see you. I'll take care
of it for you. I'll help you with what you need.
If you just ask me, I'll do it. And he did that for a long time.
And he won the hearts of the people, never got to see David,
he was stopped by accident. And he literally stole the hearts
of the people, and he gathered a whole army of men with him,
and David got word of it, and David left the city. All right,
2 Samuel 16 now. Mephibosheth, what's he got to
do with this? He heard his master David had
left. And he called Ziba, the servant,
Ziba, and he said, Ziba, saddle me an ass and get some wine and
some raisin and some bread and all of the useful things. I'm going to David and I'm going
to take it with me. Well, it didn't work out that
way. Look at 2 Samuel 16. And when David was a little past
the top of the hill, behold, he saw Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth. who met him, and had a couple
of ashes 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 thee? And Ziba said, The ashes be for
the king's household to ride on. Probably had two of his household
with him or somebody. And the bread and the summer
fruits for the young men to eat. and the wine that such as be
faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, Where's your
master's son? Where's Mephibosheth? Now listen
to Ziba. Ziba said to the king, He's still
in Jerusalem. For he said, Today shall the
house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. He didn't
say that, but Ziba lied. I tell you, we're not going to
be without trials in this life. We're not going to be without
conflicts, misrepresentations and all that. Here was Mephibosheth
down in Jerusalem wanting to go to his king, and here this
man totally misrepresenting him. And then the king said to Ziba,
and Ziba said, Mephibosheth wants to be king in your place. And
the king said, Behold, thine are all that pertaineth to Mephibosheth. I am restoring to you everything
I gave Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech
thee that I might find grace in thy sight, O Lord my King." Isn't that sad? Ziba was deceitful,
oh, so deceitful. And Mephibosheth being lame was
misunderstood, lied about, left in Jerusalem. Well, David came
back. Now I want you to watch this. David came back. Absalom was killed. Read about
Absalom's beautiful head of hair. And I'd cut it once a year and
all, and that's what it'd be. Caught him in a tree. And Joab
and the men killed him. Of course, David wept. But David
came back into Jerusalem. Mephibosheth came to meet him.
Watch this, 2 Samuel 16. 2 Samuel 16. I beg your pardon, 2 Samuel 19. 2 Samuel 19. Verse 24, And Mephibosheth
the son of Saul, son of Jonathan, came down to meet the king. Now
watch this. He had neither dressed his feet,
nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his from the day the king departed
unto the day the king came back. He loved his king. He was so
devoted to David. Nobody knew. David didn't know
it. Ziba had lied about it. The king
of Paris, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the
king said to him, Wherefore when is not thou with me, Mephibosheth?
Why didn't you go with me? He answered, My Lord, O King,
Ziba deceived me. For I said to Ziba, I'll saddle
me an ass, that I may ride therein, and go to the king, because thy
servant is lame. But Ziba slandered thy servant
unto the Lord the king." But now watch these next few verses.
Here is the submission of this man to the will of his God, his
Lord. And here is our submission of
a believer. But my Lord the King is as an
angel of God. Do with me what's good in your
eyes. I've been misrepresented. I've been lied about. But you
are like the angel of the Lord. You do with me what you will.
Just do with me what you will. Because, verse 28, all of my
father's house were but dead men before you became king. And
yet didst thou set thy servant among them that it eateth thy
table? I don't have any claims on you. What right, therefore,
have I yet to cry any more to the king? Huh? What right have
I? I don't have any right. Do with
me what you will. You've already blessed me. You
know, if God doesn't give us another blessing, he's already
blessed us enough. If we don't get an... And that's
what Mephibosheth said. I don't have any right. Why do
I have any right to call... You've already blessed me enough. Now watch David. David is going
to expose this whole thing. You see, our God is omnipotent
and omniscient. He knows all things. But David,
you can't carry a type all the way. David is not God. And David
didn't know. Ziba told him one thing. Mephibosheth
told him another. Now you and I read the story,
and we know who is telling the truth. Mephibosheth was. But
David didn't. You can listen. I tell people
sometimes I listen to one person tell a story and another talk
about the same story. You wouldn't know the same story. And David
didn't know. So you want to know where Solomon
got a lot of his wisdom? Right here from his daddy David.
There were two women one time. They had babies at the same time.
And it was a famine. Now, this is an awful story to
tell, but it's true. It's a story that happened. And
one of the children died. I said, I don't know the whole
story. I'll have to go back. But one child died. And during
the night, this woman switched babies. And the woman whose baby
lived had the dead baby, and the woman whose baby died had
the living baby. And they came forth King Solomon.
King Solomon, David's son, sitting on the throne. Here's two women
claiming the same baby. One of them says, mine. The other
one says, it's not hers, it's mine. And she said, it's not
hers, it's mine. And she said, but it's mine.
Solomon said, let's be quiet. Hand me the baby. And he took
the little fella, little four or five-month-old baby, and held
it up in her hair. He said, give me a sword. Somebody
hand him one of those sharp swords. He said, I'm going to cut it
in half and divide it. One of you has one half and the
other has the other half. The real mother, the real mother
said, don't do that. Let her have the baby. Huh? Let her have it, don't kill it.
The other woman was satisfied to be killed. Solomon knew she
wasn't the mother. Solomon admitted that woman said,
don't kill the baby, give it to her. He said, here's your
baby. What David said here in verse
29, David said, Don't speak any more of the matter. I have said,
you and Ziba divide the land. You and Ziba divide the land.
Now watch this. Ziba lied on Mephibosheth because
he is willing to do that. If he had been telling the truth,
he would have said, Mephibosheth doesn't deserve any of the land.
I deserve it all. I stood with you and he didn't.
What did Mephibosheth say? And Mephibosheth said to the
king, Let him have it all. Let him have it all. My lord,
the king is come again in peace, and I'm not even interested in
that ranch anymore. I'm interested in my king. I'm
not interested in the ranch. I'm not interested in anything
material or physical. I'm just so glad to be at his
feet. Let old Ziba have it all. David
knew right then who the faithful one was. And that's the reason when we
come down to that last thing, and then what I started this
message over, the famine hit the land. Three years of it. And David said, Lord, what's
going on? And he said, well, the Gibbonites, they got a message
for you. And David went to them. What's
the message? They said, we demand the sons
of Saul. We're going to hang them. And David said, they're
yours. But there's one you can't have.
And that's Mephibosheth. You can't have him. Way back
before the foundation of the world, God set his love on a
people. And he says to Satan and to the
fires of hell and to the enemies, even of his own law and righteousness,
you can't have him. You can't have him. I made a
covenant. And just like old Mephibosheth, David said, You can't have him.
We've had our mountains and valleys, but he stood with me, and I stood
with him. And that's when David came to
die. The last words David spoke were these, Although it be not
so with my house, God made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, And this be all my salvation and all my
design." He knew something about covenant mercy. Do you? I believe
you do. I believe you do. There's a lot
of rest in covenant mercy. There's a lot of rest on the
word of the King and the name of the King and the purpose of
the King. That's where all of it is. Don't
you ever come to find any comfort in what you've done or what you're
doing. It's all in him. For Christ's
sake, let's pray together. Our Father, how we love thy word. Oh, how rich. This treasure house,
we go in and just look around and see all of the riches of
your grace. We see the portraits the pictures
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see the types of our Master,
we see all of these stories and illustrations and patterns of
your redemption, pictures of the covenant, these are such
rich treasures. Lord, anoint these dull minds
of ours and give us understanding. Revive these dull And let us
find in this word these treasures that you put there. Give me power
to preach them and our other men power to preach and teach
to find them, to see them, to lay hold upon them, to be enabled
to show them to the people that they may rejoice together. Look
what we found. Look what God has given us. Look
at God's mercy here and God's mercy there and God's mercy in
Christ. enable us to see it and to show
it and to preach it and to rejoice in it and to find some strength
and hope in your mercies. We are protected and hedged about
and shielded for Christ's sake. We know that. Just like Mephibosheth
of old who sat there trembling at the feet of the king and he
said, Who am I that you should show mercy to such a dead dog?
And the answer comes back, for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. I know that. May everybody here
know it. Realize it as never before that
we're accepted in the beloved.