2 Samuel chapter 9, this is such an amazing story. How many of you have ever heard a message on Bephibosheth before? How many of you ever have? One, two, three, four, five. How many of you have ever heard a two-hour sermon on Bephibosheth before? I didn't say I was preaching that. Two of you just passed out. All right, here we go, all right? 2 Samuel chapter 9, what an amazing story in the Bible. So you'll notice in verse 1, and I told you, I need you to pray for me through this message, because it might be that we're going to be here a while, we might tarry a while if you don't pray me to the next point pretty quickly as we go along. But I absolutely love verse 1, because let me tell you the story. Most of you understand, David becomes king. But David wanted to do something for Saul's family. You say, what does that have to, King Saul's family, what does that have to do with anything? Well, if you're a student of the Bible, you'd know that King Saul hated David. He hated him. He hated him so much that he chased after him to kill him. Like several times, like for a long time. But I love the fact that David said, I want to do something still. King Saul is gone. Jonathan's gone. I want to do something for King Saul's family. Watch this. Don't miss this. For Jonathan's sake. That's a beautiful picture of God offering a salvation for Jesus' sake. How many of y'all still with me? You better get with me quick or it's gonna be a long day for you, alright? Do you understand that? Not what I just said there, but the scriptural part. Do you understand that David said, I wanna do something for Saul's family, for Jonathan's sake. Watch this, this is not the message, but don't miss this. Especially teenagers and young adults in here. It grieves me when young people say, see, I don't want nothing to do with the church anymore because of what somebody did. No, I'm sorry for the somebodies that have tarnished the church and the cause of Christ. But don't blame Christ and the whole church because of one or two bad apples. How many of y'all still with me? You better get there quick, all right? You got to get with me. How many of you drank coffee this morning? How many of you drank coffee? How many of you are addicts? Raise your hand. It's a coffee. It's a coffee. Okay. All right. All right. All right. I had like only one cup today. I usually have three by this time, so I'm on slow mode right now, but you better catch up with me, all right? Do you understand that it's wrong For somebody I hear it sometimes and it's not all the time for sure praise the lord Thank god our young people grow up in our churches And unfortunately, they see sometimes those that are uh, and by the way, there's never any scandal with being associated with the name jesus christ Hallelujah to that right there And people say, I don't want to do the church because of what this person did, or what that person did. I told you all this is not the message, but it's obvious you're not praying for me. Because I'm stuck in a rut right now, all right? We're going to stay here for a while. Do you understand? It's wrong for us to throw the whole shooting match out because of one person or somebody that has done wrong. Don't do that. David said, I'm going to do something for King Saul's family for Jonathan's sake. And you keep serving Jesus no matter what any other person does because of what Jesus did for you. Don't blame somebody else. Don't blame your aunt, your uncle, your cousin, your grandpa, your grandma, your niece, your nephew, anybody else, your children, your co-worker, your boss, your employees. Don't blame anybody else. You do God's will for Jesus' sake. Boy, that's good right there. You better start smiling. It's going to be a long ride home. Now, you're with me. You understand, right? Isn't it amazing? David said, I want to do something for King Saul's family, for the house of Saul, for Jonathan's sake. And he comes across. I'm just restating the story so we can get these beautiful nuggets from God's word and make wonderful application in our lives this morning. And David finds out from Ziba that there's a man, there's a man in Lodabar. Lodabar, according to the commentaries, of course they're always right, not, but Lodabar was on the other side of the Jordan River. The idea was maybe perhaps the poorer part of town, whether it was or not is irrelevant. What we do know was that Mephibosheth was crippled in the battle. The idea is it was the same battle that King Saul, or perhaps it was certainly one of those battles King Saul and Jonathan were in, or maybe even, it could have been when they died because he was just a little one at that point, but five years old, lame from his feet, he was crippled from the war, is the idea. Crippled during the battle. And David said to Ziba, I want you to go to Lodabar, and I want you to get Mephibosheth, and I want you to bring him to my place. I want you to bring him to the king's palace. Boy, can you imagine? Look, let me see who can relate to where I'm going right now. How many of you watched Tom and Jerry when you were a kid? Say, who in the world's Tom and Jerry? Okay, you're like me. You got issues. You're like me, amen? Boy, can you imagine Mephibosheth sitting in his house in that royal chariot pulling up to his little place there in Lodabar? He looking out the window. You say, did that really happen? I don't know, but it makes for a really awesome sermon illustration. The reality is the chariot pulls up at Mephibosheth's house. And somebody knocks on the door. You know, Mephibosheth is scared to death. He hadn't paid his taxes. Don't get nervous. I'm not a tax collector here this morning. But man, he's like, man, he's nervous. Why are they here for me? And Mephibosheth, and the zeba says, hey, the king wants to see you. Woo, mercy doggie man, this is good right here. He said, the king wants to see you. And so, Mephibosheth gets in that royal chariot. How many of you, let me use a vehicle illustration. How many of you know what a Ford Pinto car is? How many of you know what a Ford Pinto is? I had the kissing cousin called the Mercury Comet. How many of you know what a Mercury Comet is? Mine was puke green in 19, none of your business. No, it was 1983. I was a teenager, 16 years old. My dad gave me my first car. It was a Mercury. You say, what in the world is a Mercury Comet? It's a piece of junk, amen? But that was my car. And I loved my little car. But can you imagine a royal chariot pulling up? How many of y'all ever rode in a limousine before? How many ever rode in a limousine? We got anybody in this church, limousine owners? Anybody? Anybody? Oh, God, they pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Anybody? All right. All right. And man, the chariot comes and takes Mephibosheth to the king's palace. And Mephibosheth is absolutely petrified. He's terrified. I was going to say terrified and petrified at the same time. So I said, he's terrified. He's just petrified. He is just nervous as all get out. You know why? Because he thought that King David was going to take vengeance on him because of his grandpa. He was fearful. And we know that's true because David said, listen, fear not, Mephibosheth. Oh, listen to me, son. I got some good news for you. You're going to sit at my table continually. You're going to be one of the king's sons. Can you imagine Mephibosheth saying, eh, I'm not interested. No thanks. We know nothing about Mephibosheth's response. All we know is that Mephibosheth responded. I love this. Mephibosheth said, behold. This is the last point in the sermon once I get there in a couple hours. I love what Mephibosheth said. He said, behold thy servant. Now, he was fearful, but he responded like a servant. He responded in humility, and King David brought him to the palace, and he said, you're going to eat at my table continually, and when you get to the end of the chapter, the Bible says, and by the way, God always keeps his word. Always. You may say, no, my circumstances tell otherwise. I'm telling you, your circumstances don't dictate the character of Almighty God. God always keeps his word, always, all the time, 100% of the time. God always keeps his word. And at the end of the chapter, the Bible says, in verse 13, if you still have your Bibles there, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table. and was lame on both his feet. You know, Mephibosheth was never healed of his physical infirmity, but he was given something a lot better than that. He was given a promise by the king that you're gonna dwell, sit at my table. I want you to get this. It'll be one of the points in the sermon this morning. David promised it, verse seven. Look at it, please. And thou shalt eat bread at my table. How often, church? Continually and then in verse 13, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem for he did eat. What is the church? continually at the king's table What a beautiful picture of the wonderful grace of God Can we look at this story this morning and make application tying in New Testament verses to consider how applicable this is to every single person in this room? No matter how old you are, no matter your background, no matter where you've been, no matter who you know, who you don't know, wherever you're at in life, this story is applicable to you. Let me give you five statements. Number one, Like Mephibosheth, but spiritually man is crippled by sin. Mephibosheth was crippled by a fall. It wasn't of his own choosing. It was during the battle, during the war, but Mephibosheth was crippled by a fall. You and I this morning, we are crippled spiritually because of sin. I don't say that lightly. I drive a school bus in Rhode Island. I did it here in New Hampshire in Salem for about 10 years. Now I do it in Rhode Island. I drive part-time for a bus company. I pick up boys and girls and sometimes you pick up people in wheelchairs and we bring them to school. And we just, we had the Trenton Gospel Crusade. I meant to tell you about this in the beginning and maybe later on, maybe today, I'll tell you an update on what the Lord did in Trenton. There was one lady that came in Trenton two weeks ago. We had our 10th crusade. We had over 125 people saved during that week. We had an amazing week. One of them was a lady named Kimberly. Kimberly moved to Trenton, New Jersey from Guatemala six weeks before. She knew no English whatsoever, no English at all, not one word. She came, somebody knocked on her door, invited her Monday night to the Gospel Crusade. She came, somebody interpreted her in the service. After the service, with tears coming down her face, Kimberly trusted Christ as Savior. By the way, isn't that exciting? Kimberly has a niece named Scarlett. Scarlett's 13 years old. Scarlett cannot walk on her own. Scarlett cannot talk. Scarlett doesn't have those abilities and those faculties that you and I, most of us it appears in this room, that we have this morning. Last Sunday, I was in Trenton, New Jersey, and I drove the van to pick her up, her family up, and I picked Scarlett up at 13 years old, and I put her in her car seat on the van so Scarlett could go to church with her aunt. Scarlett has physical infirmities that none of us in this room, myself included, can understand anything about. I can't understand that. Scarlett doesn't get to choose yay or nay. She just comes. She goes wherever her aunt brings her. So Mephibosheth was crippled by a fall. He was able to talk. We have words in the Bible. He was able to respond verbally. He was able to do that, but he was crippled by a war. You and I this morning, every one of us in this room, we are crippled by sin. If you think this morning you've never sinned, the Bible says you are deceiving yourself. We all know, you're here this morning, the Bible says in Romans 3.23, for all have what? Sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've all missed the mark. Whether you think it's not as bad as somebody else's sins or you think there's categories or degrees on that, which there are not, the reality is the Bible says all have sinned. Number one, man is crippled by a fall. How many are with me so far? Raise your hand. Praise the Lord. Number two, man is called by the Supreme King. Man is called. Mephibosheth was sought out by the king. And I've got some super good news for you this morning. God loves you and God has called you out. And let me just make this very clear this morning. Hear me well. This call and this invitation is for everyone. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. God's seeking for you. He wants you. He knows you by name. He knows every hair on your head. Some of us got a few. Some of us got a few left. We were talking about, us men were talking about gray hair in the foyer before church started. I don't know why. What a depressing topic. Some of us aren't like Brother Philbrick and don't have any gray hair yet, but he'll get there one day, amen? But hey, listen, I'm just telling you something. God knows you, he knows your name, he knows where you're from, he knows what you've been through, he knows everything that's gonna happen in the future. He knows it all, but God is seeking for you. King Jesus is calling for you. Aren't you glad about that? He cares about you. You don't know what I'm going through. You preachers talk like everything is all hunky-dory. I don't have to know the circumstances. I just like to embrace the character of God. And our God, our King, our Supreme King is calling you out. He's seeking for you. When Mephibosheth got to the king's palace, King David said, he called him by name, he said, Mephibosheth. Man is called by the Supreme King. God's calling. God's looking for you. He's knocking on your door. The book of Revelation tells us that Jesus stands at the door. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, if any man, if any man, if any man, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you've been. It doesn't matter what you've been through. We had an evangelist come from Duluth, Minnesota. His name is Tyrone Walker. I had Brother Tyrone give his testimony on Monday night in Trenton. Tyrone was in the gangs in Chicago and then in Minnesota, and he was in the gangs, and he was in prison for a lot of bad things. But while he was in prison, King Jesus was seeking for him, and Tyrone found Jesus, and Jesus changed his life. And Brother Tyrone and his dear wife brought their seven kids to the Trenton Gospel Crusade, and he testified about the grace of God in his life. And God, he believes God's leading him to come to Trenton to help start the Trenton Baptist Church. Oh, man. Hey, listen, don't underestimate what God could do. You know, Tyrone is a modern-day example of the Apostle Paul. You know, if the Apostle Paul, right after he got saved, walked into our church here this morning, he'd be like, man, that's one bad dude right there. Man, that's a rough dude right there. Hey, that's the way Paul was when he got saved. That's the way Tyrone was when he got saved. Isn't it amazing what God can do in changing a life? Ain't no tellin' what God can do. I said number two, the king, the supreme king is sought for him. The man is sought. He's called by the supreme king. Number three, the maker cared for all the supplier provision. The king made all the provisions. I love this, I love this. There was absolutely nothing that Mephibosheth could do for himself. Nothing. He was helpless. And that's part of our problem today in society. We don't want to admit the fact that we are helpless in ourselves. There's this macho man image that looks at our muscles in the mirror at the gym. And is so proud that that little grape got a little bigger in the last week or two. And the reality is, man is so impressed with himself and God says, I'm not impressed with you, I created you. I even created you in my image because I love you and I want you to bring honor to me. I want you to please me. But mankind today has this macho man image like I'm some tough guy and I'm not listening to nobody. You better thank God to let you breathe one more time. But the king had made all of the provisions. God made all the provisions. King David made all the provisions. Mephibosheth couldn't get there by himself. You can't get to heaven by yourself. You can't do it. You can't go to heaven by being a member of this church. You can't go to heaven by being baptized as a baby. You can't go to heaven because of communion. You can't go to heaven because of confessing to the priest. You can't go to heaven by confessing to the preacher. You can't go to heaven by any work you can do. You only get there because the king made all the provisions. If you're saved this morning, can you remind yourself that you are absolutely helpless without God? You need him more than breath to breathe, you need God. The king made all the provisions. He still does the same thing today. Number four, the master claims us as his son. Mephibosheth became one of the king's sons. The Bible says there, Verse 11. He shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons The bible says in john chapter 1 in verse 12 But as many as received him to then give you power to what to become the sons of god Even to them that believe on his name Now if you're saved, you know what i'm talking about when I say this to you When you got saved God wrote your name in the lamb's book of life How many of you are saved this morning? How many of you know it? You're saved and you know it. Glad you're saved. You're not bragging on yourself. Bragging on the goodness of God and you know it. Look, when you got saved, God put your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Are some of you about my age when the eraser mate pen came out? Does anybody remember when it became popular? We just thought that was like the coolest thing since sliced bread. I mean, you can take a pen now and you can erase it. Hey, listen, there's nowhere in the Bible that God says, when you get saved, you do something wrong, I'm gonna erase your name out of there. Now, I'm going to say something publicly. I've been preaching for 40 years. I'm going to say something publicly. I've only said maybe about a handful of times. How many of you will promise me you'll never tell anybody else what I'm about to tell you? Promise me. Raise your hand. I'm not going to tell you. OK, I'm not going to tell you. OK, I'll tell you anyway. My middle name is Calvin. I don't want you to tell anybody that. Now, it's my dad's first name, but my name is John Calvin Barnes. How many of you know why I'm nervous to tell you that? How many of you know why I'm nervous, OK? You promised me you'd never tell anybody. Don't tell your preacher that I'm a Calvinist, OK? Because I'm not, all right? That's only my middle name. Some of y'all are laughing at me. Now you're praying I don't get kicked off the pulpit. John Calvin Barnes. Hey, when I got saved, he wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. My name is there. I think even the Calvin's there, amen. I'm not sure, but I'm glad I have a last name different, amen. It kind of brings a little more polish to my name, amen. Hey, listen, if you're saved this morning, when you got saved, you became one of the king's sons. And listen, hold on to your seatbelt. He gave you an invitation to sit at his table. Please don't miss this continually. There's a whole nother message. Maybe I'll preach it tonight. I think too many Christians are having a meal at God's table like they do at home nowadays where it's not even at the table anymore. It's kind of some fast food thing at a TV thing at the TV every day. Y'all listen to me now. We're not coming to the table anymore. I mean, y'all know what I'm talking about. Remember meals at the table with the family? I grew up in Long Island, New York. I told you that already. On my mom's side of the family, my stepdad was Italian. We'd go to New York City for meals. I'm telling you something folks, they had a spread. How many of y'all know what a spread is? I'm talking about a spread. Y'all don't know what a spread is until you go to a meal where you've ate and you have to, you take time out and you come back a half hour later and you eat again. They had a spread. I fear that so many Christians aren't coming to the table to have a meal with Jesus until they're starving to death and they absolutely have nothing else to do. How many of y'all know what I'm talking about right there? Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Yes, he can. Didn't David say in Psalm 23, thou furnished a table before me in the presence of my what? I think one of our problems as Christians today is we forget that there's a table still there. Now, I was on Long Island last week, and one of my good buddies is starting a church there. His name's Jeffrey Ulysses and his wife made some fried chicken. It's probably going to be one of the meals at the marriage supper to the lamb. I'm not really sure about that. Y'all pray for me about that one. Amen. But she made some fried chicken. I mean, listen, I mean, there's there's KFC fried chicken and there's real fried chicken. I mean, I don't know what I'm talking about. By the way, if you didn't have breakfast, I apologize for the food illustrations. I only have 10 more before the sermon is done. All right. So just kind of stay with me. But she said, Miss, oh mercy, I'm forgetting her first name. Mrs. Ulysses. She said, now she said, now Brother Barnes, you're part of the family now. Oh, listen to this. She said, you're part of the family now because my wife, she said, my husband let me make you some of my cornbread. Now listen, you can go to your Boston market and get some cornbread or you can have some real cornbread. Don't be offended about Boston Market, okay? Pray for them. They should be sued, but pray for them, all right? She made some cornbread like I've never had in my life. And she made so much food, I couldn't, you know what I'm talking about? You couldn't even eat it all. It was amazing. Look up here, Christian. God has promised you a seat at the table. Does that do something for you? Does that motivate you? He has invited you to his table. to feed you, to provide what you need. He knows what you need. You may know what you think you need, but what you want, you want all the tough stuff that tastes good. But he has placed you at the table continually. Your place is there. Yours is there. I said number four, the master, the king, claims us as his son. Number five, man should commit or respond to being a servant. I told you this already and I'm almost done. Mephibosheth said, behold thy servant. Every one of us in this room should respond to our great God. If you have salvation this morning, you and I should respond gladly. Listen, lock, stock, and barrel. I was preaching in Canada a couple weeks ago, and they have an interpreter. How many of y'all ever had messages where people interpret? And I was preaching away, and I was amazed how many things I say that they don't have words for in French. That means the terminology I use, it's like, needs some serious Ebonics issues, right? I got, I'm not really good with the English language. But I said, I used the term lock, stock, and barrel. And my preacher friend, brother Philly, on the pastor there, he said, I don't know how to say that in French. I said, just make something up, brother, just make something up. Hey, when you got saved, listen, every bit of you, lock, stock, and barrel, there I was with that. I actually remember where I was going with that. Every bit of you ought to respond because of the great salvation is given you with, behold, thy servant. I am here to serve you. Whatever you want, whatever it is, today, next week, next month, the rest of my life, I understand I'm robed in this flesh. I understand my flesh still wants to do what I want to do. But whatever you want me to do, I'm all in. It is reasonable, Romans says, for everybody that's saved to present your body a living sacrifice. I am here to lovingly remind you this morning that every single saved person in this room ought to be fully committed, heart, soul, body, all, every bit of your fiber, lock, stock, and barrel, to saying, I am your servant. I am your servant. That's just reasonable. Well, he might call me to go. Are you nervous where he's going to call you to go? You're in the center of God's will. You're in the best place you can be. Well, I don't know that I'll make a lot of money. I'll close with this illustration. How many of you have ever heard a preacher say that before? And he was liar, liar, pants on fire. How many of you? All right, I will do the best I can to close with this story. November 22, 1982. I was 13 years old, a week before my 14th birthday. I remember that day as if it was yesterday, because that was the day that God called me to preach. You say, how do you know? Look up here, I'm gonna give you the most polished answer you ever heard in your life. I just knew. And I still know. God called me to preach that day. Sure as I'm saved, sure as I'm standing here right now, I know that's what God's called me to do. God may not call you to do that, but that's what God called me to do. And I was 13 years old. And I went back, I was in Boston, Massachusetts. Our pastor took us to a meeting, and I heard Dr. A.V. Henderson preach. And I came home, and I went into the house, and my dad was in the backyard. My dad was very successful in his work. My dad was a very hard worker, very, very hard worker. And he had a big job, he made good money. He had a big responsibility in Suffolk County. And and and I I was I knew I didn't I didn't know what he was gonna say But I wanted to tell him what God called me to do and my dad was in the backyard working in the garden It was one of the three houses in New York that had grass in the backyard. Amen, but and he was working in the garden in the back and One of his buddies was with him and I went back there and I said dad something happened He said they have the meeting go. I said something happened. He said what's that? I said God called me to preach and Now, my dad's friend, you almost would have thought he knew what I was going to say because his response was so instantaneous. As soon as I said that, he just started laughing. By the way, how many of you think that was a very sinister laugh right there? I worked real hard at that. And he just started laughing. Don't you know you're not going to make a lot of money being a preacher? That's what he said. Well, first of all, I wanted to punch, I wanted to give him a gospel track. You know what I was going to say. Man, I was like, who do you think you are? Words that I used to use, amen. But God's grace has delivered me from such language, amen. But he started laughing at me. Don't you know you're not going to make a lot of money? And I thought to myself, man, I didn't think about that. You know, the running joke in our family is my siblings, I have four siblings that were in the Army and one brother that was in the Navy. And the running joke in our family is, I went the route to make money, so I chose to be a preacher. Okay, nobody here laughed, okay? You didn't seem to think that was very funny. That's the running joke in our family, right? Obviously, I didn't become a preacher. Look, some of you are going to laugh at about midnight, all right? Don't wake anybody up in the house, all right? But we joke about it. But you know what the reality is? Look, look up here. I wouldn't trade it for anything on planet Earth. This was the will of God for my life. I have great respect for my two brothers and my two sisters. Actually, five of them were served in the Army. Three brothers and two sisters in the Army and one brother in the Navy. I'm talking about my own siblings. I appreciate that they served our country. And one of my brothers served in Desert Storm, and I appreciate their service for the Lord in serving our country. But the reality is that wasn't the will of God for my life. You know, I saw my dad's friend about Long time, a couple years ago when my dad went to heaven, I was by my dad's side when we went to heaven and I preached my dad's funeral. Now I'm fast forwarding to 30 plus years later where this man who laughed at me in our backyard has seen our children that are now serving the Lord. Our kids aren't perfect. No kids are perfect. But we've got four sons that are married, and they're serving the Lord faithfully in churches just like this, and we thank the Lord for that. I wouldn't trade that for anything on planet Earth. You can keep your millions and keep it. Keep your millions. Keep your position. Keep your title. Keep whatever you want to. John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. He was talking about his spiritual children, but that certainly would be applied to your physical children as well. But here's my point. The reality is every saved person ought to respond with being a servant. What does God want you to do this week? Look up here, I'm almost done. What does God want you to do? Do you look up toward the heavens or you bow your head in prayer and you say, God, I'm your servant today. I am your servant. Here's a good prayer. Help me to cross the path of those whom Jesus were to help if he were in my shoes. Help me to cross the path of those that Jesus would help if he were in my shoes. Mephibosheth is an amazing character in the Bible. It's a beautiful picture of the grace of God. It's a beautiful picture of the fact that we've all been crippled by sin. We are helpless by ourselves. God has sought us out. God made all the provisions. First of all, have you responded with salvation? Are you here this morning? Are you saved? If you're not, King Jesus is seeking for you. If you're saved this morning, respond like Mephibosheth and be reminded that you've got a place at the table. I like the opportunity. We've had a busy home since since we got married 31 years ago. It's been nonstop too much. I understand it too much. But that's a wonderful time to sit at the table with the family. And maybe you don't have that here anymore with some. Maybe they've gone to heaven. Maybe they're strained relationships. But look up here. Look up here. I'm done. But if you're saved, there is always a place at the table that God has for you. Hey, look up here. Come back to the table. Come back to the table. He's got provision for you. No, you don't know. I need this. No, no, no, no, no, no. You need God. No, no, no. I need a car. I need a house. I need this. I understand those are possessions that are in some ways necessary. But no, no, no, no. You need God. How many got the message this morning? You just don't want me to start all over again. You're a great people. Love a great God who's made great provision and will continue to make great provision because he said continually. Let's stand together, please. Our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. Thank you for listening so well this morning.