Now let's turn to 2 Samuel 9,
verse 7 for our text. 2 Samuel 9, verse 7. And David said unto him, 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." Now, the
background of this story goes back several years. In order
to understand what David is doing here, we have to go back to a
time before David was king of Israel. Back to the time when
Saul was still the king, back to the time when Saul was in
a reasonable, safe position. His son Jonathan, his family
was about him, he was in power, he was ruling over Israel, but
his armies were threatened by an unusually tall and mighty
giant. If you'll turn back to 1 Samuel,
chapter 17, in 1 Samuel 17, verse 55, is where this story that
I'm using tonight as my text really begins. In 1 Samuel, chapter
17, verse 55, And when Saul saw David, here's
the young man, David, some say in his late teens, some say in
his early twenties. But when the young man David,
Saul saw him go forth against the Philistine, against Goliath
the giant, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner,
whose son is this boy? And Abner said, the first time
that Saul had seen him, David was to take Saul's place. Saul
was to lead the throne in disgrace, disowned, a rebel against God. David had been anointed king
by Samuel to reign over all of Israel. This was the first time
that Saul had ever seen David, and he wanted to know who he
was. And Abner answered. Abner was Saul's captain, his
general, chief in command. Abner answered, As thy soul liveth,
O king, I cannot tell, I do not know. And the king said, Inquire
thou whose son this strictly is. And as David returned from
the slaughter of the Philistines, Abner took him and brought him
before Saul with the head of the Philistine, Goliath, the
giant, in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son
art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the
son of thy servant Jesse of Bethlehem." He came to pass when he had made
an end of speaking unto Saul. Now watch this. "...that the
soul of Jonathan," now this is Saul's son, Jonathan, "...the
soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David." This is the
first time that they had met. And Jonathan loved David as his
own soul. And Saul took him that day and
would let him go no more home to his father's house. He took
David into his own home. Then Jonathan and David made
a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. From the first
time that these two young men met, they formed a holy and strong
affection for one another. Now, if you'll turn over to 1
Samuel, chapter 20. Now, Jonathan found out, as the
days passed by, that his father Saul was not in the will of God,
that he was not doing the will of God, that his father was a
rebel, and that God had departed from him and God would remove
his spirit from him. And when Jonathan knew that God
would eventually take the kingdom away from his father, And it
would not become Jonathan's, but that David was to be the
king. Jonathan knew that. He found
that out. He knew that one day David would
sit upon the throne of Israel, upon the throne of his father.
And so in chapter 20 of 1 Samuel, verse 11, Jonathan said to David,
David, come and let us go out into the field. And these two
young men went out into the field. both of them into the field.
And Jonathan said, David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded
my Father about to-morrow, any time, or the third day, and,
behold, if there be good toward you, David, I then sin not unto
thee, and show it to thee. The Lord do so and much more
to Jonathan." But if it please my father Saul to do thee evil,
then I will 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
yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord David, that I die
not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my
house. Now watch this, and remember
the scripture that I read a moment ago about David showing kindness
to Jonathan's house. When David became king, the first
thing that he inquired was, is there any of the house of Saul
yet living that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
And they said, Jonathan hath a son. Now here's where it all
started, back here in 1 Samuel 20. And Jonathan said, thou shalt
not only show me kindness, 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." 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 he loved
his own soul. Now that's where we take up our
scripture in 2 Samuel 9. The battle had been fought and
Saul had been killed. Jonathan had been killed. And
as far as anyone knew, all of the house of Saul had been destroyed. And now David, anointed earlier
by God to be king over Israel, David at last sat upon the throne
of Israel. And David asked, Is there any
left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? Verse 2, And there was of the
house of Saul a servant by the name of Ziba, and they sent for
him. And he came before David, and
David said, Thou Ziba, and he said, Thou servant is he. And
the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that
I may show him the kindness of God." And Ziba said, Yes, Jonathan,
your friend, has a son. And that son is a crippled boy. He cannot walk. He's laying on
both his feet. And David said, Where is this
boy? And the servant said, This boy is named Mephibosheth, and
he's in the house of no pasture. He's in the land of no pasture.
He's in the land of Lodibar, a poor land, a land of no pasture. And David said, We'll go and
get him. And David sent and fetched him out of the house of Micah,
Maker, out of Lodibar. And when Mephibosheth, the boy
lame on both his feet, came before King David, he bowed and did
reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
and he said, I'm your servant. This is the grandson of Saul,
David's enemy. This is the son of David, the
son of Jonathan, David's friend. And David said, Mephibosheth,
don't be afraid. I'm going to show thee kindness,
for Jonathan thy father's sake. and I'm going to restore unto
thee all the land of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually.' And Mephibosheth bowed himself before
David, astonished at this decree, and he said, What is thy servant,
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?' And
David made it clear and plain that he was showing mercy and
love for Mephibosheth because of Jonathan. Mephibosheth became
the son of David's love, the son of David's love for Jonathan,
the son of David's love for Jonathan, the love which David had for
Jonathan brought mercy to Mephibosheth. Now, this is a beautiful picture
of God's grace toward me and God's grace toward you, and I
want to bring out three or four things. Let's look at the covenant. Now David and Jonathan went out
in the field. These young men loved one another.
They were the greatest friends in the word of God. I cannot
find love like this anywhere in the word of God except the
love which God has for us and the love which Christ has for
us. But these two young men loved
one another. The scripture says their love
was greater than the love of a man for a woman. Their hearts
were knit together. Their souls were knit together.
Jonathan loved David as he loved his own soul. And Jonathan took
David out in the field, and I guess they shook hands or embraced
or something, but they made a covenant. And Jonathan said, David, you're
going to be the king. I know you're going to be the
king. My father's going to be killed. I'm not going to be the
king. I'm going to be killed, too.
I know that. You're going to be the king. I see that. I understand
that. Evidently, God had revealed it
to him. Now, David, I want you to promise
me I'm going to make a covenant with you, and I want you to make
a covenant with me based on your love for me and my love for you.
After I die, I want you to show kindness, the kindness of God. toward my family. Will you promise
me that?" And David evidently wept. I'm sure that he did, because
David knew what God had ordained him to be and to do. And I'm
sure David wept, and I'm sure David knew that Saul would be
slain and also Jonathan would be slain, and I'm sure that he
wept over it. But he also promised Jonathan
that he would care for and protect and provide for his house in
the event of Jonathan's death. Now way back yonder, before the
world began, back before the world was created, back before
Adam was created, Almighty God made a covenant with his son. Almighty God made a covenant
with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Hebrews, you'll find in chapter 7 verse 22, that Jesus
Christ is called the surety, Hebrews chapter 7 verse 22, Jesus
Christ is called the surety of a better covenant. Better than
the covenant God made with Adam, better than the covenant of works,
better than the Mosaic covenant, better than the covenant God
made with Abraham, better than the covenant God made with Noah.
Jesus Christ is the surety of a perfect testament or covenant,
an eternal and everlasting covenant. Hebrews 7.22, By so much was
Jesus made a surety, a surety of a better covenant. He is called
the surety of a better covenant. And then in Hebrews 8, verse
6, the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as the blood of a better covenant,
the mediator of a better covenant, in Hebrews 8, verse 6. But now
hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator, he is the intercessor. of a better covenant which was,
not will be, was established upon better promises. And then
if you'll turn to Hebrews 13, verse 20, you'll find that his
blood, the blood which he shed on Calvary, is called the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Now, my friends, God is a covenant
God. Now turn to Hebrews 13, verse
20. And now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Out here in the field stand two
men, and they build a covenant, they establish a covenant. They
lay down a covenant between them based on affection, based on
love. and you can find no stronger
base for a covenant. You can find no stronger foundation. These two men loved one another,
and Jonathan said, David, will you protect my house after I'm
dead? David said, Jonathan, I will
protect your house after you die. I will protect your house. That's a covenant based on love. Back before the world began,
the father made a covenant with the son, called in the Scripture
the better covenant the everlasting covenant, called in the Scripture
the new covenant, new because it was revealed last of all. But Christ is called the surety
of that covenant. His blood is the blood of that
covenant, and he is the mediator of that covenant. Now, my friends,
there are not many people who know this because there are not
many people who take the time to study God's But God has always
accomplished his purpose and his plan and his work through
a covenant. You'll take your concordance,
and you'll have to get an exhaustive concordance because one of these
little concordances in the back of your Bible won't handle it.
You've got to get Strong's or Young's exhaustive concordance. And look up the word covenant,
and you'll find how that the God of glory, the God of heaven,
always works through a covenant. In Genesis 6, let's look at just
a few examples. In Genesis 6, verse 17. In Genesis 6, verse 17. Now listen to it. And the scripture
says, God is speaking to Noah, and behold, I, even I, do bring
a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein
is the breath of life from under heaven. and everything that is
in the earth shall die. But with thee, Noah, will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons
and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee." That's the covenant.
That's the promise. And that's the way God performed
it. He made a covenant with Noah and with his wife, including
his three sons and their wives. And all the rest of flesh upon
this earth died. God kept his covenant. Now did you know at that same
time God made a covenant with Noah on behalf of you and in
Genesis chapter 9. Turn over there with me in the
ninth chapter of Genesis and verse 8 through 15. Now here's
a covenant that God made with Noah after the waters receded. And he made that covenant with
Noah and you and me at the same time. Noah was our representative
at that time. God was talking to him for us. to us through him. In Genesis
9, verse 8, now listen to it, And God spake unto no one, to
his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant
with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living
creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, of every
beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of your
heart to every beast of the earth, I will establish my covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of a flood." There'll never be another
one, God said. Neither shall there any more
be a flood to destroy this earth. Never. That's God's covenant. Can't be broken. And God said
this is the token of the covenant. This is the pledge which I make
between you, between me and you and every living creature that's
with you for perpetual generations. I do set my rainbow in the clouds,
and every time you see it, it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth." That's God working. And it shall come
to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow
shall be seen in the cloud, and I'll remember my covenant, which
is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh,
and the water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh,
and the rainbow shall be in the cloud. And I look upon it, that
I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Now
then, if you turn to Genesis 12, or Genesis 15 rather, God
made a covenant with Abraham. Genesis 15, 18. God called Abraham out of his
father's house, out of the land of idolatry, heathen, out of
worship, made him a great people. And God says, I'm going to bless
you, Abraham, and bless your seed, and I'm going to bless
those that bless you and curse those that curse you. And Genesis
15, 18, in the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham,
saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." That's my covenant. Abraham was the father of the
Jewish nation, and God made a covenant with Abraham concerning the Jew
right there. I give them this land, God said. That's a promise. That's as sure
as the covenant of the rainbow and the cloud. And then if you'll
turn to Exodus chapter 2, and I could take you through the
Bible, and not exaggerating one bit, I could preach from now
until sometime tomorrow morning on nothing but God's covenant
promises to David, to Noah, to Abraham, to Israel, and all the
way through the Word of God. But every time God acted and
every time God performed a deed or a purpose and carried forth
his plan, it was always established on a covenant and through a covenant. Look at Exodus 2, verse 24. Now listen to this. And God heard
their groaning. This is Israel down in Egypt.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant
with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon
the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Now Moses
kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of
Midian. And God came down and said, Moses, go down to Egypt
and get my people. Why? God remembered the covenant
that he made with Abraham. People didn't deserve to be delivered.
The people didn't deserve to be delivered. They were down
there in an idolatrous country, practicing idolatry with the
people of that country. But God remembered his covenant
with Abraham. God's going to do his will and
keep his covenant. Now turn to 2 Samuel and chapter
23. 2 Samuel chapter 23, verse 5. Now these are the last words
of David. Brethren, when you believe in
God's covenant, you're in good company. You keep in company
with a man after God's own heart, because David believed in God's
covenant. David knew that his God was a
faithful God and a God who worked according to a covenant. And
when he made a covenant, he'd keep it. He'd keep it. And these are the last words
of David, the last words he spoke before he died. Verse 5 of 2
Samuel 23. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. It's a complete plan. There's
nothing left out of the blueprint. There's not a bolt or a nut or
a piece of wood left out or a brick or a block. It's ordered in all
things, and it's sure. And David said, And this is all
my salvation, and this is all my desire, although he make it
not to grow. That is, it doesn't look like
it's being fulfilled right now. It looks like everything's against
It looks like the whole thing's falling to pieces, but that's
all part of God's covenant and part of God's plan, and God's
covenant is working out according to schedule. Now, here's what
I'm saying. God made a covenant with Abraham, God made a covenant
with Noah, God made a covenant with David, God made a covenant
with everyone with whom he's ever worked. And back yonder
before the foundation of this world, the Father made a covenant
with the Son, and he gave to the Son a people. And the Father,
if I were to paraphrase it, I would say something like this, back
before the foundation of the world, to Christ who became the
surety, to Christ who is the mediator, based upon his blood,
which is the blood of the covenant, God-established and everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, known unto God from
the beginning of all his works, and he said, I do hereby give
unto my Son a people. Countless beyond the stars of
the sky, countless beyond the sands of the seashore, I will
love them in my Son, I will elect them in my Son, I will redeem
them in my Son, I will accept them in my Son, I will glorify
them in my Son, and I will make them join heirs with my Son."
And the Lord Jesus Christ said, I covenant on my part to go into
their world in the fullness of time, in the fullness of thy
time, and I will take upon myself their flesh, and I will be their
representative, and I will face the law for them, and I will
take their sins in my body and go to the cross and die under
thy wrath, separated from thee." as a sacrifice, as a sin offering
for those people. I will redeem them. I will take
upon me the responsibility of working out for them a perfect
righteousness. And I will take the responsibility
of bearing the full weight of thy justice and of thy wrath.
I will take the very bitterest dregs from the bottom of the
cup of thine indignation. I will walk the winepress of
thy wrath alone. I will fulfill for them before
thee all that the law demands and justice requires." And the
Holy Spirit said, Father, I hereby covenant on
my part that those whom thou hast given to the Son, and those
whom the Son will represent, and those for whom the Son will
suffer, and those for whom the Son will die, and those for whom
the Son will rise again, and those for whom he will intercede,
I will call." I will go to the house of no bread, I will go
to the field of no pasture, I will go to the dunghill dwellers,
and I will quicken in them life, and I will take thy word and
plant the seed of truth and the seed of life, and I will convict
them of sin, and I will convict them of their inability, and
I will reveal to them thy Son the Savior, and I will reveal
in them Christ as the only hope, and I will bring them to a successful
and faith, and they'll love the Lord Jesus Christ with all their
hearts." I hope you don't turn your face away from that too
quickly. I hope you don't just turn up your nose and say, well,
that's his Calvinism showing. I hope you don't turn away and
say, well, that's just that whole cold, hard doctrine. It ain't
cold and it ain't hard. It's sweet and beautiful. Noah
thought it was mighty sweet when he was in that ark floating up
on the top of those angry waves. I'm sure he lifted his eyes to
heaven and said, thank God for thy covenant. Thank God for thy
grace. Thank God for thy covenant, mercies
which cannot fail. I know when Abraham, I know many
times when he was out there in the desert, having no city in
which to dwell, having no place to call his own, owning no property
and no land, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God,
did he stand out under a starry sky many nights and lift his
eyes to God and say, Thank you, Lord, for your covenant. I know
that you'll take care of me. I know that you can never fail.
I know when he lifted his son Isaac off that altar and stood
him aside and embraced him and slew the lamb in his place, he
lifted his eyes to God and said, And David, seventy-five years
of age, lying on his deathbed, his sons were gone, his daughters
were gone, his kingdom was crumbling about him. He was a weak, frail
man that could find no heat and could find no hope, and he lifted
his eyes to heaven and he said, God hath made with me a covenant! And it cannot fail. It cannot
fail. And right now you've got a strong
mind and a strong body. And right now you've got your
children about you, you've got a good job and you've got a good
home and you've got a nice car and you've got a good bank account,
and everything's just rosy. But a week or two ago I was down
in Madisonville, Kentucky. And I spent the morning in an
old folks' home. There was a man in the church
down there that owned a rest home, and I asked him if I could
come over and spend the day with him and him just take me around
and let me visit some of the people and show me the kitchen
and show me the office and show me just exactly how a rest home
is run from beginning to end. And he took me there, and I spent
about three or four hours, and I learned how you start one.
and how you get the folks there and how their bills are paid
and how you feed them and all these different things. And I
went from room to room and I saw some awful, unhappy people. And I thought to myself, one
of these days I'm going to be real old. Good possibility my
wife will be gone, my children will be gone, if God pleases
to work it that way. And I'll be in some home sitting
in a room by myself in a rocking chair, feeble, trembling, and
old. Nobody to come see me, nobody
to care. No mail, no telephone calls,
no business, no appointments, no preaching services, nothing. Everything gone, every body gone,
all alone. Now then, what are you going
to hold to? I can lift my eyes to heaven
and I can say God's made a covenant. in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
made a covenant and he's faithful. And though my mother and forefather
forsake me, and though all men forsake me, and though I stand
alone wherever it might be, I have a covenant in Christ Jesus the
Lord. And God will not fail. And maybe
I'll be in a hospital room somewhere and the doctor says I've got
cancer or heart trouble and I've got a few hours to live. And
the family comes around and they look down at me, but there's
no words they can say because I'm alone with God. And then
everybody goes out, and the doctor stands and takes my pulse, and
shakes his head and turns to the nurse and says, I don't think
he's going to make it. And there I am facing judgment,
and there I am facing eternity, and there I am facing the grave,
and there I am facing a meeting with the Holy God. What am I
going to claim then? Am I going to reach out and grab
hold of my works? Am I going to reach out and grab
hold of my righteous rags? Am I going to reach out and grab
hold of the good deeds I've done? No, sir. I'm going to lift my
eyes to heaven and say, Father, Let Christ stand for me. Let
Christ stand for me. He's my mediator. He's my high
priest. He's my covenant charity. He's
my guarantor. Don't look at me, look at Christ. A covenant may not mean much
to you right now, but I'll bet you a dollar and a half and a
cow and a calf it will someday. I'll bet you it will someday.
And you can laugh at this preaching, you can talk about your free
will, but I don't want to stand on mine. My free will can't even
cure a toothache, much less save my soul. I'm going to look to
the will of God. I'm going to look to the will
of God, not my will. It's too fickle and frail. It's
too feeble and foolish. I'm going to look to his will.
Thy will be done, O God, not my will. Thy will. And then notice
how Mephibosheth, turn back to 2 Samuel 9, and look how Mephibosheth
is a picture of the sinner. First of all, whose son was he? He was the son of Saul, that's
what he's called. He's called the son of Saul.
Who was Saul? He was David's enemy. Whose son
are we? Adam's, God's enemy. Adam tried
to dethrone God. Saul tried to keep David off
the throne. Adam tried to keep God off the
throne. And we're the son of Adam. This boy Mephibosheth,
what happened to him? Turn back to 2 Samuel 4. This
is one of the most interesting things in the world. And this
is one of the reasons why I knew that Mephibosheth was a type
of the sinner. This is how that I knew that
I could take this picture here and preach the gospel. Because
when Ziba, the servant, came to David, David said, Is anybody
left of the house of Saul? And Ziba said, Jonathan hath
a son called Mephibosheth, but he's lame on both of his legs. Not crippled on one leg, not
hobbled, not inconvenienced. Can't walk. Totally helpless. What happened to him? Well, watch
here, 2 Samuel 4, verse 4. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had
a son that was laying on his feet. He's five years old. When the tidings came of Saul
and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up to
run, and it came to pass that she made haste to flee that he
fell. I don't know whether he fell
down steps or fell off a wall, but he fell and became lame on
both his feet. And his name was what? His name
was Mephibosheth. That's what happened to him.
He fell. What happened to me and you? We were lame through
the fall. Brother, back yonder when Adam
sinned against God, I didn't lose one eye, I lost both of
them. I didn't lose the use of one leg, I was lame on both my
feet. I became totally disabled. As
far as God is concerned, as far as truth is concerned, as far
as righteousness is concerned, as far as holiness is concerned,
in the fall of Adam I became lame on both my feet. And then
he lived in the place, 2 Samuel 9, he lived in where? Where did
he live? And I looked up the word Lodabar,
and it means without pasture. It comes from two Hebrew words.
One means without, and the other pasture. It was just a dry, deserted,
desert wilderness. That's where that old crippled
boy lived. He lived in a place of no pasture,
no springs, no grass. No pasture. Somebody said, in
the house of no bread. Where'd God find this old cripple
Mephibosheth, lame from the fall of Adam? He found me dwelling
in the dunghill. He took the beggar off the dunghill
and made him a king. And then Mephibosheth had no
hope except in David's mercy. Now, verse 8, I'm going to quickly
close. Listen to his gratitude. He looks
at David. David tells him what he's going
to do. I'm going to show you kindness, I'm going to show you
mercy, I'm going to show you grace for Jonathan's sake." I
love Jonathan, and because I love him, I love you. And God looks
down at this old sinner right here and he says, for Jesus'
sake, for the sake of my son, the son of my love, this is my
son in whom I am well pleased, this is my beloved son, and I'm
going to show you kindness for his sake. for your works, not
for your good deeds, not for your tithes and offerings, not
for the gift of your talents and your heart, I'm going to
show you kindness for Christ's sake, as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you." That's what the Scripture says. Be you kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And that's what David said. He said, Who am I that you should
look upon such a dead dog? He said, I'm doing it for Christ's
sake. Now, brethren, every believer, Mephibosheth knew what he was
delivered from, the place of no pasture, the place of no bread,
the place of no grass, the place of starvation, the place of desert,
the place of deserted wilderness. He was brought from nowhere to
somewhere. He knows what he was saved from,
and Mephibosheth knew who saved him. It was David. David could have left it there.
Actually, David could have killed him. Isn't that right, Charlie?
He was the son of Saul, he was next in line for the throne,
and David could have rightly destroyed him, rightfully killed
him. and put him out of it. That's
what those old kings used to do. When a king came to power,
he destroyed the whole household of the preceding king, that he
might not be a threat to his throne. That's what God could
have done with you. You were a threat to the throne
of God in Adam, your father, and God could have slain you.
But Mosebesheth knew who saved him, and he knew what? The third
thing, he knew what he was delivered from, he knew who delivered him,
and he knew why he delivered him. For Jonathan's sake, David
made that perfectly clear. Who am I that you should show
kindness to such a dead dog? My favorite sheriff, you're going
to sit at the king's table and be one of the king's sons and
eat the king's food. But I want you to remember this.
I loved your daddy. And back on the one day in a
field, I took him by the hand and I promised him before he
died I'd be good to you. I'd be good to you. Now friend,
if you're a sinner saved by the grace of God, you know what God
saved you from. He found you on the dunghill.
He found you in the cesspool. He found you in the place of
no pasture. He found you helpless and hopeless
and lame on both your feet. And you know who did it. God
did it by his grace for his glory. And you know why he did it. He
did it for Christ's sake. Because Jesus Christ loved you,
and because Christ God loved the Father, the Father loved
the Son, and because the Son came down here and took your
place and died for your sin, and God, for Christ's sake, only
because of Christ, not because of who you are, not because God's
got a weakness in his righteousness and holiness, he did it for Christ's
sake. There's no weakness in God's
righteousness. And God can send you to hell
just as quick as he can send the devil to hell. except for
Christ, who is the mediator of that divine, holy, eternal covenant
that was made back yonder before the world had a being. Our Father, help us to be students of the
Word, and not only students of the Word, but students of Christ. Help us to look for the beauty,
thy beauty in him, thy grace in him, thy love in him, Help
us as we read Thy Word to see Christ in every page, Christ
in every story, Christ in every act of mercy and every act of
grace. Who are we? what are we, sons of our father
Adam, rebels, a threat to the throne and the kingdom of God,
dwelling in the place of no pasture? And yet by thy grace thou hast
come and fetched us, by thy Spirit thou hast called us, and thou
hast brought us to the table of the King, and made us sons
of God, and we have the privilege of continually feasting at the
King's table. because Jonathan died for us. Our Jonathan, the Lord Jesus
Christ, died for our sins. And because you love him, you
love us. Make this real to us and personal
to us. If it ever becomes personal to
us, we'll never leave it. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.