We're going to be looking at
chapter 9, 2 Samuel chapter 9. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? 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? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Matur, the son of Amiel in Lodibor. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Matur, the son of Amiel from Lodibor. 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, 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. And he bowed
himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest 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 pertaineth unto Saul and to all his house. Thou therefore and thy sons and
thy servants shall till the land for him. 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 hath fifteen sons and
twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
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 Zibbaseth were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame
on both his feet. This might well be one of our
favorite chapters in 2 Samuel when we read the story about
Mephibosheth. But first of all tonight I want
to call your attention to David's question in verse 3 to Ziba. In verse 3 he asks, Is there
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? He calls what he proposes to
do, this is the point I want you to notice, he proposes to
show the kindness of God unto him. If there were any of the
house of Saul alive, that I may show the kindness of God unto
him. He calls what he wants to do,
what he proposes to do, the kindness of God. Then tonight, I want
to show some parallels between the kindness of God that David
showed to this man and the kindness of God that is shown by David's
son in saving his people. You know, David was a type. He was a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was also, David was a father
of the Lord Jesus Christ, In fact, he is called the root and
offspring of David. Root, that's in the ground, isn't
it? That's before the offspring.
That's before the plant, the root. The Lord Jesus Christ is
both the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning
star. That's what the Lord says in
Revelation 22 and verse 16. You know, when our Lord was here
in the flesh, the religious leaders, they were baffled by one of the
questions that the Lord put to them. He asked them one day,
whose son is Christ? Whose son is Christ? In other
words, they studied the Old Testament. Whose son is Christ going to
be? Whose son is Christ, the Messiah?
Christ is just a Greek. a word for the Hebrew word that's
translated Messiah, the anointed. Who's the father? Whose son is
he going to be? And you know, they immediately
could answer that question, couldn't they? I mean, it didn't take
them a minute to say, well, he's David's son. They knew that. They knew what the scriptures
taught, that it would be David's son who would be the Messiah. The Messiah would be David's
son, but then The Lord followed up that question with this question. You say he's David's son? Yes. How then doth David in spirit
call him Lord? How then doth David in spirit
call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto my
Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy
footstool. If David then called him Lord,
how is he his son? They couldn't answer. They couldn't
answer at all, could they? They knew the Messiah would be
David's son, but when he asked them, well, how then does David,
speaking of Christ, how did he say, the Lord said unto my Lord? How did he call his son his Lord? Well, they didn't understand,
did they? That the Messiah is both God and man. He's the root
of David, that is, he's God, the creator, but he's also the
son of David, the offspring of David. He's the son given, and
he's the child born, as that prophecy in Isaiah says. The
son of God is given, the child, is born. The God-man came into
this world. Now, I want us to think tonight
also of the fact that, you know, we read of the sure mercies of
David. What does that mean? The sure
mercies of David. Well, again, that name David
there refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sure mercies
of David are all the benefits and blessings of salvation. When a person looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ in faith and trusts in Him as his Lord and Savior,
then the sure mercies are yours. And they're sure because the
Lord Jesus Christ is the surety of the covenant. Remember what
David said in 2 Samuel 23, these be the last words of David. Though
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation. So I want to point out to us
tonight seven parallels or seven likenesses between what we read
here about David, what he said he wanted us to do to show the
kindness of God unto any of the house of Saul, the likeness,
likenesses I should say, between David showing kindness to Mephibosheth
and the Lord saving a sinner. Seven things I'd point out to
us. First, the kindness of God. The kindness of God that David
bestowed originated with him. You see that in verse one? And
David said, Mephibosheth, he didn't originate this. No, this originated with David. It will be bestowed upon one
of the house of Saul, but the kindness, the kindness of God
originated with David. David said, is there yet any
that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness? You know, the salvation of God's
people, it originates with God. It doesn't originate with men. In 2 Timothy chapter one and
verse nine, the apostle wrote, who, and that refers to God,
the antecedent of that who there, who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Salvation, your salvation if
you're saved tonight. And your salvation, if you're
not saved tonight, if you ever are going to be saved, is a salvation
that was purposed, planned by God in eternity, purchased by
the Lord Jesus Christ when He came into this world and gave
Himself a ransom for many and applied to you by God the Holy
Spirit. So this kindness of God originated
with David and our salvation, my salvation, your salvation,
all of us here tonight who are saved, it originated with God. Before the foundation of the
world, before there ever was a star shining in God's sky,
God had already planned and purposed your salvation if you're saved
tonight. Your salvation originated with
God. Just as the kindness of God that
David shows here to Mephibosheth, it originated with David. Now the second thing, the kindness
of God that David bestowed fulfilled a covenant promise and an oath. This kindness of God that David
bestowed upon this man. It fulfilled a covenant promise
and an oath. David, the oath, I would mention
he swore to Saul. He swore to Saul that he would
not cut off his house. Saul recognized and confessed
there close to the end of his life, he realized that, yes,
it's God's purpose, David, you're going to be the king, but I want
you to swear to me now that you will not cut off all of my house. The Lord, that he would not cut
off Saul's seed. He took an oath, David did, and
he also had entered into a covenant with Jonathan that he would preserve
Jonathan's offspring. So the kindness of God that David
showed unto Mephibosheth fulfilled a covenant promise that he had
made to Jonathan, Mephibosheth's father, and an oath that he had
sworn to Mephibosheth's grandfather, Saul. How does that speak to us? The
salvation of God's people, It's part of an everlasting covenant. The covenant of God made before
the foundation of the world in which God the Father gave to
Christ his people and gave his son to be their surety. And also there's an oath involved
here. Let's look in Hebrews chapter
six. Hebrews chapter six. Verse 13, the scripture says,
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear
by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will
bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For
men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, and that hope of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, here's the third likeness.
The kindness of God that David bestowed came to one who was
surely in bondage. This kindness of God that came
to Mephibosheth, it came to one who was surely in bondage. You might say, well, what kind
of bondage was he in? Fear of death. Fear of death. And I say that because it was
a common practice when a man came to the throne for him to
eliminate anyone and everyone that might have a claim to that
throne. He would eliminate anyone who
might, and Mephibosheth had a claim to that throne. He was a grandson
of Saul. Saul was a king. He would have
been on the throne, but he had to have lived in bondage through
fear of death. And I just happened to read this,
I think it was yesterday or the day before. If you look in 2
Chronicles chapter 21, you'll see what I'm talking about. In
2 Chronicles chapter 21, King Jehoshaphat, when he died,
his son, Jehoram, became the king. Now Jehoshaphat, verse
1, Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his
fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram, his son, reigned
in his stead. And he had brethren, the sons
of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jhael, Zachariah, Azariah, Michael. Shephatiah, all these were the
sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. And their father gave
them great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things
with fenced cities in Judah. But the kingdom gave he to Jehoram
because he was the firstborn. Now when Jehoram was risen up
to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, watch
this, and slew all his brethren. You see, they had a claim to
the throne, too, if Jehoram were to pass away. And so to eliminate
them, to make sure that they didn't come claiming that they
had the right to be king, he just had them all killed. All
of his brothers here that are named, he had them slain. And
that was not unusual. You know, Gideon, we've all heard
of Gideon, how he was a judge and how he delivered. God used
him to deliver Israel. He had, I think it was 70 sons
by wives, but he had one son, one son by concubine. His name
was Abimelech. And after Gideon died, then the
people of Israel, eventually they came and they wanted Abimelech
to be their ruler, to be their judge, like his father had been. And he said on one stipulation, all of my half brothers, they've
all got to be eliminated. They've all got to be killed.
So I'm saying here that Mephibosheth, As long as he had a claim to
that throne, he had to live in fear because it wasn't unusual. It wasn't unusual for whoever
was on the throne just to make sure that no one else could come
and claim, well, I have a right to the throne. I have a right
to be king. Now, I point this out to us because
look with me in Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews 2, verse 14, Hebrews 2, verse 14, For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, now watch
this, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. That's just true of mankind in
general. In bondage, men are not so afraid
of death, but you see after death there's judgment. And men by
nature, are in bondage and fear of what's going to happen. And
Mephibosheth, no doubt he was in bondage through fear of death. And those that the Lord saves,
the same thing. We were one time in that condition
in fear of death. What would happen to you? What
would happen to me after we left this world? Man just seems to
know. even apart from the Word of God,
that there's going to be a judgment. A man's responsible. He's a responsible
being. And without a mediator, without
a savior, then certainly there's a certain fear looking before
judgment, bondage because of that fear. All right, here's
the fourth thing. The kindness of God that David
bestowed was upon one who had been injured in a fall, in verse
3. He was lame. And we know, it's
not in this passage but another passage, when he was five years
old, Mephibosheth, when he was five years old, his nurse picked
him up because all of his brothers, those that were kin to Saul,
they were being slain. And she picked him up to run
with him and somehow fell. And the scripture says that he
was lame. He was injured in a fall. Every one of us, every one that
God shows mercy to and grace and salvation, we too have something
to do with the fall, don't we? We do. We believe, as the scriptures
teach us, that Adam fell by his transgression in the Garden of
Eden. He fell. And as a result of that,
when we come into this world, we are sinners, born sinners. That's something that people
must recognize, isn't it? That people do not sin in order
to become sinners. People sin because we're born
sinners. That's our nature that we receive
from our father, Adam. And that all took place in that
fall there in the garden. Here's a fifth thing. The kindness
of God that David bestowed included the king fetching him, fetching
him. You know, in Ecclesiastes chapter
eight and verse four, we read where the word of a king is,
there's power. Now, David, he gave the command,
fetch him. Zeba, the servant, told David,
he's living in Lodibar. That's where Mephibosheth is,
in Lodibar. And isn't it interesting that
that means a house of no bread, a house of no bread. And that's
where every lost person is until God has mercy in saving them
in a place of no bread. And David gave the command, fetch
him. Now, there's no question he's
going to come. You say, well, what if, what
if the servant of David had got there and Mephibosheth had said,
I don't want to come. I'm not going to come. He didn't
have a choice in that. No. A servant would have picked
him up or somehow got ahold of him and brought him because the
king said, fetch him. And the point I wanted to make
here is the king made use of servants in bringing, fetching
Mephibosheth to him. And the king, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he uses servants, men who preach the gospel, in fetching
his people, in calling his people. You know, the apostle Paul said,
he wrote this to the believers in Corinth. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you through the gospel. And then in James, the
apostle said, of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth. The preaching of the gospel is
the means that God has chosen by which he calls, he fetches
his elect and brings them. And they come willingly, just
like Mephibosheth did. He knew where the king commands. Well, he's going to come, and
he did. And then a sixth thing, the kindness
of God that David bestowed, provided for the recipient's need. Verse
seven, he was now to eat continually at the king's table. Now, David
commanded this servant Ziba. Well, David restored unto him
all the property that had been Saul's. And David had it, he
had defeated Saul, it was his property, but he restored it
onto Mephibosheth and told Ziba to take care of the fields, to
plow, to do all the harvesting, and all the fruit is Mephibosheth,
but he's not going to be eating that. He had a son too, we read,
didn't he? He had a son by this time also,
Mephibosheth did. And give it to him. But Mephibosheth
is going to be eating at my table. He's going to put his feet under
my table for the rest of his life. Now, isn't that a picture
to you and I tonight that all of our needs, I mean, David,
the kindness of God that David showed to Mephibosheth met all
of his needs. And for you and I, God has promised
us also to meet every need that we have as we go through this
world. Every need, not necessarily everything
we want, but everything that we have need of, the Lord will
provide. And the seventh, the last thing,
The kindness of God that David bestowed produced reverence in
the receiver. You know, when Mephibosheth came
into the presence of God, what did he do? Well, he bowed, didn't
he? He bowed. And then when he heard
the good news, you're going to eat at my table for the rest
of your life, Mephibosheth, then he confessed, you know, why would
you show this mercy? as such a dead dog sinner as
I am. The reverence, the salvation
of chosen sinners produces reverence in our hearts, reverence of God. It's not fear, it's not a slavish
fear that God's children have of God, but it is a reverential
fear. And the scripture says that the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So what a blessing
as you read through this chapter, chapter nine, and see the likenesses
here. There's probably others that
you could come up with tonight or see, but I looked at these
seven things and the parallel between the kindness of God that
David showed to Mephibosheth and the kindness of God that
the Lord shows unto each one. that he saves. What a parallel
we see, what likeness we can see. I pray that the Lord would
bless these words to all of us here this evening. I'm going to sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.