Last week we spoke on the subject of a gracious Christ and a gracious church. Lord willing, this morning we want to speak on the subject of a gracious king and a humble servant. A gracious king and a humble servant. Boy, it looks kind of sparse down here, guys. All you guys are upstairs and I was thinking about that a little while ago. You're listening, I'm glad to hear that. I think that you're all being very selfish because I finally figured out why you're upstairs. If Jesus comes back during the rapture, you want to get ahead of us. Yeah, I knew it. All right, it's good to be in the Lord's house. A gracious king and a humble servant. 2 Samuel 9, we will read the whole chapters, not very long, and we want to look at the account of King David and Mephibosheth. King David and Meshibeth. I'm going to have to get that right because I've got that name written down a lot in my notes, Mephibosheth, so I want to make sure I don't butcher that every time. 2 Samuel 9, verse 1. 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 Mekur, the son of Emul in Lodabar. Then king David sent and fetched him out of the house of Mekur, the son of Emul from Lodabar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence and 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 pertain to Saul and to his house. Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had 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 that dwelt in the house of Ziba, were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table and was laying on both his feet. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we ask for your help today, and Lord, I pray that this wonderful picture of a gracious king, King David, unto Mephibosheth, would speak to our hearts and cause us to see the graciousness of our king, Jesus. Lord, we would see you clearly manifested and typified in this passage. Lord, we are Mephibosheth. Lord, we are the unworthy servants. But Lord, You are the gracious King. So help us to see that this morning. Help us to rejoice in the grace of our God that has reached down unto us and set us in high places. And we here now as Your children, as sons of the King, we sit around Your table. We look to You. We feast upon You this morning in Your Word. Speak to us. Help us to rejoice in the grace of our God. And I pray for any that are lost this morning, Lord, that they would see the wonderful grace of Christ. Lord, I pray that any that are before you this morning who sense their great unworthiness would see, Lord, that that is the first step. That is the place you bring us to before you reveal your marvelous grace. In Jesus' name we pray, and amen. Now this account of King David expressing great grace here toward Mephibosheth is a wonderful picture of the grace of God in our life and the salvation of our souls. It just doesn't take much spiritual sight, does it, when you read this passage to see God's grace It just doesn't take much to see it, does it? Because it's right there, so evident. There we are as Mephibosheth, helpless and lame, but Christ the Son of David has mercy on us. The Word of God seems to go out of its way to portray the kindness and grace of our God in very great contrast to man's total undeservedness. It's in seeing the condition of Mephibosheth, that we get a clear view of the richness of God's grace. It's in seeing the condition of Mephibosheth that we see the kindness and grace of David. And so may we not forget the helpless state that Christ found us in and lifted us up. And let us also at the same time not live in the past and feel defeated. But let us enjoy the Lord's table today and feast on the goodness and riches of His grace as humble, thankful and joyful servants. Let's start looking at this passage. First of all in verse 1 there are some things we want to notice. We find here that David is the one that seeks to find one who is a descendant of Jonathan. David takes the task to find some of Jonathan's house because of his word and promise. because of the covenant that he made with Jonathan. Now, we're not going to go back and look at that for the sake of time, but in the book of 1 Samuel and chapter 20 and verse 14 through 17, David makes a promise to Jonathan to show not only Jonathan kindness, but also his household kindness. Listen, likewise God the Father made a covenant with God the Son and we as the children of God are blessed because we are in Jesus. You see, all the blessings, the position as one of David's own son, the provisions as one of David's family. All the promises awarded to Mephibosheth are because of him being from Jonathan and because of the covenant between David and Jonathan. Can't you see? That is clear, isn't it? And how it typifies us. The Word of God says in Ephesians 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 2 Peter 1, 3, "...according as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us unto glory and virtue. Everything we have is because of who Christ is. Everything we are, that we receive, is because of the promise between the Father and the Son and the holy covenant that they made. And because we are in Christ, we are blessed. In verses 2 through 5 we see that David is seeking after Mephibosheth. David is the one that sends the servant that retrieves Mephibosheth. So David sends a servant, you go get Mephibosheth. Likewise, Christ is the one that sends His servant, the Holy Spirit, to retrieve us and to bring us unto Christ. Christ is the Good Shepherd. He's the one that seeks after His sheep. The sheep are not in pursuit of the shepherd, but we went every one to his own way, and Christ the Good Shepherd came and sent for us. We were lost in sin and shame, going away from Christ, everyone going his own way, but Christ sent His Spirit. What I also love about this is notice where David finds Mephibosheth. Notice where Mephibosheth is living, where he's hanging out at. He's in a place called Elodabar. Elodabar means pastureless. pastureless. This is where Christ found us. We were wandering in a place that was dry. We were wandering in a place that could not feed our eternal soul. But since Christ has drawn us unto himself, we have found green pastures. In the great shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are led unto green pastures. And Jesus said that he is the door, and if any man enter in by him, we shall be saved. We shall go in and out and find pasture. Now, not only is Mephibosheth found in a pastureless place, I don't know what other word to use for that, pastureless. I don't know if that's a word or not, but it gets the picture. Not only is he found in a pastureless place, he's also found lame on his feet. Now, we won't go back and look at how he was dropped from a child and why he's lame, but know this, he's lame on his feet. He is unable to bring himself before the king. Even at the king's bidding, he still cannot go to the king. He has no power of his own. He has no power of his own but must be dependent upon someone to even carry him to the king. Even though the king commands Mephibosheth to come, Mephibosheth cannot come unless one sins for Mephibosheth and carries Mephibosheth. It reminded me of the one man who was lame and remember the four men who brought him to Jesus. He could not bring himself to Jesus. The four men carried him to Jesus and laid him before our Lord. Listen, even when the invitation to come to Christ came to us, we found that of our own we did not have the power to come. We needed divine help. We needed the Holy Spirit to draw us unto the Lord. Now, at that moment, we didn't know what was happening, did we? We may have thought, well, I'm coming to Jesus. But it was the Holy Spirit drawing us unto our Lord. And as we look back, we know that it was the grace of God, the power of the Spirit that drew us unto our Lord. The Word of God says that no man can come to the Father unless the Father draws him. Our sinful, corrupt, and crippled nature hindered us from coming to Christ. But God's grace sends the Holy Spirit and draws us by the goodness and power and might of the gracious King. Now when Mephibosheth comes we find in verses 6 through 8 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, comes to David. He falls on his face and does reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth, and the answer is, Behold thy servant. Mephibosheth here falls before David in fear and in humility and reverence. David calls him by name. Then he says, Behold your servant, your servant. What can a man in Mephibosheth's case, what can he do for a king? Nothing. He's a servant in need, but he's a servant in need. He has the heart of a servant, but it's not what the servant can do for the king. It is what the king does for the servant. And David blesses him. And David calls him out by name. Listen, Christ does not bring us into his kingdom to just see what all we can do for him, though we should do for our Lord when he puts us in his kingdom. We serve King Jesus in his kingdom, but what a blessing it is to be in it. And we are unworthy recipients of such great grace. And I love how David called him by name, for the Lord calls us very specifically, doesn't he? He calls His own out by name. I've heard the testimony of so many people who have testified to the grace of God and how the Word of God was being preached and they felt as though God was speaking directly to them through the Word of God. Like they just knew the preacher had them on their mind and He was talking directly to them, but it wasn't the preacher, it was the Holy Spirit and the Word of God speaking directly to us as though God is calling and singling us out. And indeed, you know what? He was. He calls him by name, Mephibosheth. The Lord calls His own sheep by name and leads them out, He says in John 10. How wonderful it was when He heard the voice of God calling us out directly and we knew that He knew us. Now indeed we are the servants of our Lord, but when we look back on our life We know that it was all of God's grace that has brought us to where we are, that it was Him that drew us unto Himself. We are not here this morning because we are worthy, or because we invited ourselves in, or because we climbed the palace walls and snuck in. We are here, dear children of God, because we are in Christ by God's wonderful grace. The Word of God says, But to us there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in Him. And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. Oh, what grace we have experienced this morning! What wonderful grace to earn such unworthy servants of His. Listen, David lets Mephibosheth know that he is blessed for Jonathan's sake. He says, Mephibosheth, you're here because you are one of Jonathan's. We are here this morning because of Christ and because of Christ alone. We are here because of Christ and what He has done for us and because of who Christ is, not because of who we are. Let us never forget that all the spiritual blessings, all things we have are because of Christ. And no matter how long we've been feasting on the riches of the King's table, let us remember that it is for Christ's sake that we are here. It's because we have received the blood of the Son of God by faith and we belong to Him. Mephibosheth in verse 8. responds and says, what is thy servant? In essence saying, King David, who am I? He knew, he could see the grace of the King. That's the proper response that we should never lose. We should never lose sight of that. We should always be in wonder of God's grace and say, who are we? that you would call us by name, that you would invite us to the palace, that you would put us in your kingdom, that you would set us at your table, that you would treat me as one of your sons. Who am I? Who are we? I mean, when we look out on the world and we see the destitution, we see the despair, we see the sinfulness, and we know that by the grace of God, there we would be as all others, and that it's all of grace that has made a difference. And we echo continually throughout our whole life in wondrous awe of God and say, Who am I? Who are we? That you would so show such kindness unto us. You see, Mephibosheth could see the grace of the king because Mephibosheth could see clearly who he was. who he was. See, understanding who he was and his condition caused him to see the greatness of the grace of King David. Mephibosheth knows, as said, that he was blessed because of who he was in Jonathan. And he says this, he referred to himself, very strange language, but he says, as a dead dog. He says, but I'm a dead dog. I have no purpose. I have no use. He knew that He could not offer the king anything that would merit such kindness and mercy. And listen, if you're here and lost in your sin today, Don't think for a moment that you somehow must feel worthy to be accepted of God in Christ. None of us that are saved felt worthy when Jesus saved us by His grace. None of us had the feeling of, well, I deserve None of us had the feeling as though we were worthy to come to the King. None of us felt as though we should have been in His presence. I love how that the Lord Jesus, when He manifested His power and who He was in one of those first miracles when they drew the great multitude of fishes and Peter fell down on his face, He says, O Lord, depart from me, I am a sinful man. Peter did not feel worthy to be in the presence of Christ. And listen, that is how it is when God first gets a hold of our heart. We do not feel worthy to come to God. We know that we do not deserve to be in His presence, but we deserve to be out of His presence. Listen, when you come to that place, you are in a perfect place to see and understand the grace of the King and your need to have mercy. That's a great place to be. Mephibosheth could see that grace. None of us has said, when we were saved, felt worthy when Jesus saved us, and that is why it's called grace. We are thankful and forever will be for the grace we have received. You never feel worthy. Is there any child of God here today that think looking back and thinking of what all Christ has done? Is there any child of God today that feels like, boy, I'm worthy? There's not a one of us. But I'll tell you what we should be. Thankful. See, understanding the grace of God and the grace of the King produces thankful servants. humble servants. Understanding grace produces thankfulness and humbleness. I like what Brian Chappell said. He said, Scripture's denial that our best works are sufficient in themselves to please God or to compensate for our weaknesses makes our spiritual desperation more acute and thus our appreciation of grace becomes more Emphatic. Overwhelming gratitude for the spiritual deliverance our Savior alone provides will engender a humble and glad willingness to dedicate the strength of our lives to our Savior's glory. The children of God's wonderful grace are not motivated by some sense of inner worth of self, but we are motivated by the magnitude of the grace of the King. And I'm still in amazement today as I was yesterday. And it seems as though as each day proceeds, I tend to see how unworthy I am of the grace of God. And it seems like the more holy you grow in Christ, the more you see of the sinfulness of your flesh and realize you are not ever worthy. And so we exalt the grace of God by seeing our deficiencies, by seeing ourselves as what we were and what the flesh still is. And we magnify the grace of God by understanding from whence we came and from the flesh that still resides within. Our drive to serve our God is not to be accepted of Him, but because we see what great grace He has had upon us. Dear child of God, don't labor underneath the spirit of the law to be accepted of God. Labor underneath the power of the spirit of the grace of God. Be empowered by thankfulness. Be empowered by appreciation. Be empowered by the grace that you have seen God have upon your life. Those that can see the riches of His grace, I believe, serve the Lord with much more fervor and thankfulness. And if we are serving God half-heartedly in our life, we need a fresh view of the grace of God upon us. If we can serve God half-heartedly, we need a fresh view of the magnitude of the wonderful grace of God. And we will be empowered, no doubt, as we see that, to serve the Lord in humility and fervor and great thankfulness. Now another thing I love about this account is in verses 9-13, in verses 9-13 four times, actually four times from verses 7-13, we see reference to Mephibosheth eating at David's table. Four times we see that. Verse 11 says, eating at his table as one of the king's sons. So every time the family would get together, David's sons would get together, there would be Mephibosheth. Every time the dinner bell would ring, oh, they're ringing dinner bells or not. We ring the dinner bell at our house. We still do that. We have a bell. When it's time to eat, we ring that bell. It's too hard to yell all the time. Every time the dinner bell rang, all of David's sons would gather, the families would gather, and here would come Bephibosheth to sit at the table. David's sons and family would be in constant reminder. Constant reminder of the grace of his father towards Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, when he would come and would see himself sitting in the presence of King David and the presence of all of his sons and being as one of David's own, he would be reminded of the grace of the king every time he sat at the king's table. A constant reminder. When we come to the Lord's house and we sit in the Lord's kingdom and we sit here in the Lord's table, let us remember that we are sons and daughters of the King. Every time we feast on the riches of the Lord's gracious word, let us look around and see and be reminded that we are all here by the grace of the King. We find each one of us from different places at different times, but all of us have been unworthy, and yet He drew us by His amazing grace. Let us not ever look around and look down on one another, but let us be constantly reminded that each one of us are partakers of the same grace. We are sons and daughters of the same King, and we sit at the same table in His kingdom continually. Now, another thing I want to take note here is that that which was lost through Saul is gained back through Jonathan. That which was lost through Saul is gained back through Jonathan. You see, he was instructed there to give back the things that was Saul's and to give back to Mephibosheth. And it's given back to Mephibosheth because, of course, of Jonathan. Likewise, that which we lost through the fall of the first Adam is gained back in the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we lost is gotten back. Not only that, but because of David's grace upon Mephibosheth, the servants of Mephibosheth are also greatly blessed and provided for because they were servants of Mephibosheth. And we find in verse 10 that as they labored in Mephibosheth's land that Ziba's family and his kin got to eat of the fruit of the land as well. Let me tell you what, when we experience the grace of the King, we are blessed not only with salvation, but listen, those around us are also blessed as well. Whenever we come into the good graces of the King, there will be many around us who will greatly benefit. When fathers come to Christ, children will be blessed because of it. When employers come to Christ, employees will fill it. When husbands or wives come to know Christ, their spouse will be richly blessed because of it. The grace of God that's poured out upon us overflows into other people and they see that grace upon us. all that would be in the kingdom and outside the kingdom would hear and would know of how far King David had brought Mephibosheth. And there would be many stories, there would be many people talking about, hey, did you hear about Mephibosheth? What about Mephibosheth? Would you hear about what King David did to him? Oh, did King David kill him? No, King David brought him into his own palace and King David set him around his own table. All the kingdom would hear of the grace of King David. Oh, we are testaments, we are testimonies of the grace of the King. When other people see and hear about the riches of God's grace in our life, let them not see us, but let them remember and let them see and behold the graciousness of the King and we are simply just His servants. In verse 12, we see that Mephibosheth had a young son. His name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house of Zebedee were servants under Mephibosheth. We don't know much about Micah, but Micah grew up seeing the grace of David upon his father. Every time he looked at his father, he would be reminded of the king's grace. I don't keep my past and the things I've done in the past completely sheltered from my children. I don't give them all the details, but I do want them to know God's grace. I want them to know how good the grace of the king has been to me. Mephibosheth's son would be raised in a house that would see the king's grace constantly. May our children see the grace of our God. Exalt God's grace before your children. Be a faithful, thankful, and humble servant. Remind your children that you belong to a gracious king, that you are simply a servant. and yet a son or a daughter, that you are blessed because of who you are in Christ. Never exalt the flesh, but exalt the Son of God. May we always see it was God's grace. And may we always live in the spirit of John Newton who said this, and I'll end with this quote, I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God that I am not what I once was. And I can say with the great apostle, by the grace of God, I am what I am. May God have His blessings on His Word. If you're here and lost, You will never feel worthy to come to Christ. You will never feel like you can approach the King. You will never feel worthy to come into His presence. But you see that salvation is indeed by grace and grace alone. We are unworthy recipients of God's grace, but we don't live in defeat and we don't continue to live in the past as God's people, do we? We are reminded of what we once were. But we are thankful now that we are who we are by the grace of God. And let us be humble, thankful, and faithful servants of the King. Let us pray. Father in heaven, have your blessings upon your Word. And I pray for those that are lost, that they would see the grace of Christ Those that feel a sense of their own unworthiness to come to Christ would see that that's the perfect place to be to come to Christ. Help them to see. Those that feel a great sense of unworthiness to be saved see that that's what makes us be able to be recipients of grace. for it is the humble that you lift up. And so, Father, I pray that you would draw the lost unto you this morning, and may their unworthiness see, yes, I need grace, I need compassion, and I need mercy. And may you draw them by your Spirit unto you, that they may flee into your presence, and fall before you in humble reverence, and say, who am I? And oh, may you pick them up and say, fear not, but dear child, sit at my table. And may they have the fear removed, and may it be replaced with a sense of thankfulness and praise to you, their King. And help us as those that have already tasted of the wonderful grace of God. Oh, may we walk in humility and never forget. Lord, your wonderful grace has been showered upon us. Let us not live in defeat and misery of what we once were, but let us rejoice in who we are in Christ and all the blessings we have in Him and the hope and the promises and the security of our future. as in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in whom we live and move and have our being. In His name we do pray, and amen.