Amen, indeed. Please be seated. And we come to God's Word, the sermon text in particular. From 2 Samuel chapter 9, the first 13 verses. Hear the Word of God. And David said, is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, I am your servant. And the king said, Is there still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? Ziba said to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. The king said to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, he is in the house of Makir, son of Amiel at Lodibar. Then king David sent and brought him from the house of Makir, the son of Amiel at Lodibar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth, And he answered, Behold, I am your servant. And David said to him, Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, all that belong to Saul and to his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. And all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both feet. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And we know that all of it is given by inspiration of you, and that you will bless it to us. Father, bless it to us. Change our hearts. Conform us to Christ. Give us grace. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. It's easy to receive this story about David and Mephibosheth. David here, who has come to the throne, Saul, the previous king, is dead, and with him his son Jonathan, David's best friend, and now David here is showing kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan's lame son. And as I said, see it as a parable of mercy and kindness, I see I should be like that, and quickly pass on to the next chapter. David was merciful and kind, I should be too, and that is certainly true. David's conduct here is godly. It is an example to us of godliness and love and mercy. But you can be merciful and kind only if God has been merciful and kind to you in Christ. You can be an agent of mercy only if you are an object of mercy. This chapter shows us the precondition of living out that lesson on mercy. This chapter is a lesson in grace. Mephibosheth shows us the picture of man in his sinful condition. Mephibosheth was not created lame. It happened early in his life when there was a fall. A fall, my friends. Look back if you have your Bibles with you. 2 Samuel 4, verse 4. Yes, verse 4 of chapter 4. Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel that they were dead. And his nurse took him up and fled. As she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. Why did she flee? Because it was the tradition, the tradition, it was the practice in the ancient Near East that when somebody defeated, somebody from one house defeated another house in battle and there was going to be a change of ruling families, the new ruling family murdered the entire old ruling family. Why? Because you don't want children in the old ruling family growing up and becoming a center of dissent and people rallying around that person and then maybe killing you later on with their supporters. So you kill the whole family. And so the nursemaid is thinking, she's thinking, he's a dead boy. I've got to get him out of here. So she flees with him and falls on his feet and he is lame in both feet. He becomes incapacitated through a fall. He was as a human being ought to be when he was born and then he fell and he was disfigured. Mephibosheth is a picture of you and me in our sinful condition. Adam was as a human being ought to be and he fell and we all fell in him and were disfigured in sin, incapacitated in sin. And it says, and his name was Mephibosheth. The name Mephibosheth means a shameful thing. Shame is the condition of those who live for sin instead of for God. Psalm 31 says, do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called on you. People who call on the name of the Lord have nothing to be ashamed of. Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in their grave. It is a shame to be made in the image of God and yet live as an animal for your belly. It's a shame to be made to be exalted, noble, dignified in the image of God, and yet lower yourself in this way. You know, when President Clinton, this story came to mind, when President Clinton was leaving the White House in the year 2000, right, 92 to 2000, I've got that right, He has been president of the United States for eight years. He's up there. What was he doing? They were stealing the White House china. Many of you remember this. What a shame. You're up here and you're lowering yourself to this. And we're the same way and many times worse. made in the image of God, lowering ourselves in sin, made to be a prince in the kingdom of God, and yet living like a grasping orphan. And yet in our sin, this is how we are. And Mephibosheth is disabled in both of his feet. Sinful human beings are spiritually crippled as well, unable to do any good. And notice it says he was lame and it stresses at the beginning and end of the chapter, in both feet. Man apart from God cannot walk in the ways of the Lord, cannot even limp in the ways of the Lord. We are incapacitated. Romans 8 says, the carnal mind is at enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of the Lord, nor indeed can it be, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. We cannot please God in our sin. And Mephibosheth is disinherited. His father is dead, his grandfather is dead, and he's lost all his lands. Sinful man was made in the image of God. And in the image of God, therefore, Adam is called a son of God in Luke's gospel. So we're made sons in God's household over the earth. We were made to possess and administer the earth the way a son administers his father's estate. But we are disinherited by the fall. And we are orphaned, made to be sons of God, but we were orphaned by the fall. without God and without hope in the world. And Mephibosheth is subject to death at the hands of David simply because he is the grandson of Saul. This was the practice, as I said, simply because he is descended from Saul He can expect death. And so too, we, simply because we are descended from Adam, we're in Adam, we inherit Adam's sin, we are subject to death at God's hands. And he says he lives in lo dibar. Lo dibar in Hebrew means a place of no pasture. Pasture in the Bible is a sign of blessing and provision from God. Think of Psalm 23, the Lord leads me in paths of righteousness. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Safety, provision, and then Christ in John chapter 10, where he's presented as the good shepherd. What does it say there? He says, my people will go in and out and find pasture. They're safe. I provide for them because there's peace between us. They are mine and I am theirs. But Mephibosheth is living in a place called Lodibar, a place of no pasture. This world, my friends, provides nothing to satisfy the human soul. It provides many good things. The Lord gives bountifully to us, and we enjoy these things as from Him, as ways of worship. We worship Him in the enjoyment of our meals. We worship Him in the enjoyment of our clothing, of our entertainments, of one another, and so forth. But these things do not satisfy. only as far as they point to Him and our ways of enjoying Him. Christ alone is the bread of life. If we're looking for our pasture in this world and from this world, we will be desolate because it is a place, apart from Christ, of no pasture. And then we come to David. If Mephibosheth is a picture of man in his sinful condition, of us in sin, David is a picture of Christ. When Mephibosheth was called before David, he expected death. So he abases himself. He can't run away. He's lame in both feet. So he has no choice but to come to David when David calls him. And he bows himself low and says, I am your servant. He expects death. But David deals with him graciously. And he deals with him graciously because of the covenant, the covenant he has. with Jonathan that he made back in 1 Samuel 20. Oh, let's look at that. 1 Samuel, we're in 2 Samuel, we go back to 1 Samuel 20, verses 14 to 17. And here is David and Jonathan, the two fast friends, making a covenant with each other. And Jonathan knows that David is the anointed. Jonathan knows that David will follow Saul on the throne, not him, Jonathan, the son. And he's fine with that. He's fine with it because that is God's will. He loves God more than himself or any earthly privileges. 20 verse 14, if I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord. that I may not die, says Jonathan, and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David, which he understands includes his father. from the face of the earth. And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies. And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him. And he loved him as he loved his own soul. And David remembers this covenant. And for the sake of that covenant, he blesses Mephibosheth. And he receives Mephibosheth to the royal table in verse 10. Verse 10 of our passage, and you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. This indicates peace. In the ancient Near East, you share a table with somebody. That is a gesture of peace. It's a covenant of peace. He's making peace with Mephibosheth, as Christ makes peace with us. He receives Mephibosheth into his family. Verse 11, then Ziba said to the king, according to all that the Lord commands your servant, your servant will do. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table Like one of the king's sons, David receives him into his family as Christ adopts us as sons of God. And he restores Mephibosheth's lost inheritance, verse seven, and David said to him, do not fear, for I will show kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. He restores his land. He goes better than just receiving him into his house. He gives him, he restores to him all the years that the locust has eaten, as it says elsewhere. in Joel. The whole story is a picture of God's saving grace. What does it tell us about saving grace in this passage? It tells us first of all that saving grace is undeserved. Mephibosheth had nothing to offer David. David's not thinking, OK, I'm newly on the throne. My authority isn't really firmly established. I've got to start making deals. I've got to start making alliances. Here's Mephibosheth. He can give me something. I'll give him this. No. Mephibosheth has nothing to offer David at all. Neither do those whom God redeems have anything to offer God. What God gives us is entirely by grace. We have no favors in the past, and no service in the future to offer him. All the service we give him is God's grace working in us. In the past, we have sin, we have rebellion, we have unfaithfulness, and yet he graces us, he gives us. Romans chapter 11, who has ever given to God that God should repay him? And saving grace is God's initiative. David sought out Mephibosheth. Look at the first words, the first words David speaks, the first words in the conversation between them are between David. David seeks out Mephibosheth, not the reverse, and David initiates the conversation. Mephibosheth was in hiding, like Adam in his sin in the garden. Adam was hiding, go away from me. And God approached. Here, Mephibosheth is in hiding. He has only death to expect from David. And David approaches him. He's running from David in dread fear. And David says, Mephibosheth. He speaks his name. It's not a general call. If anyone out there is interested in a favor and anything I can do for them, form a line on the right. But nothing of this sort. He calls Mephibosheth personally and he speaks his name personally. It reminds us of John chapter 11 where Jesus approaches the tomb where Lazarus is lying dead, helpless, and Jesus says, come out and Lazarus revives and responds and comes out. And we think of John chapter 20 where the risen Christ is there with Mary and Mary doesn't recognize him, she can't see him. And Jesus says to her, Mary, and her eyes open and she sees the Lord. And then on Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus knows about Jesus and he's persecuting Jesus, he's persecuting the church, and Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus and he says, Saul, Saul! And Saul responds, Lord, and so too here Mephibosheth. Isaiah 65 says, I was sought by those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name. I can tell you, Scotland wasn't looking for Jesus when Jesus came to Scotland, right, where my people are from. But the Lord approaches, and he approaches us by name and personally, and calls us personally. out of our sin. So does sheep come looking for the shepherd? Not at all, no. The sheep wander far and away and the shepherd, the shepherd who understands the danger that they do not see and they do not understand, the shepherd seeks them and saves them. So too, Jesus, the son of David, seeks and saves us who were hiding and helpless. and saving grace is God's eternal plan. Mephibosheth's deliverance was based on something that happened before he was born, this covenant between David and Jonathan. And when that was done, Mephibosheth's blessing was arranged. It was a covenant between his savior, David, and his father, Jonathan. in 1 Samuel 20. So, too, there is a covenant of redemption between the Savior, Jesus the Son of God, and the Father. And the Father gave you to Christ to save you before you were born, before you were a twinkle in your parents' eyes, before the creation of the world. The Father gave you to the Son to be saved. Not because of your asking, not because of your love, not because of your deeds, not because of any worthiness in you. David did this because of his covenant with Jonathan, not for anything that is in Mephibosheth. Remember, Mephibosheth has nothing to offer. God's saving work is not a testimony to our worth and our deserving. but to God's grace in the face of our undeserving. That's what grace means. God's goodness to us in the face of and despite our undeserving. And saving grace is wonderful. It would have been a blessing to Mephibosheth simply to be left alive. Where is Mephibosheth? Okay, leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Wow, what a guy. This is no ordinary king. You'd think he'd go and kill him, but he said, I heard him say, leave him alone. Greater still, to have his lands restored, leave him alone. And by the way, give him back his lands. Wow, double wow. What a guy. But to bring him to live in the palace with the king, whom his grandfather made his enemy and tried on innumerable occasions to kill. That's even better, isn't it? But even then, if he had been left alive and brought into the palace to be allowed to crawl under the king's table and eat whatever crumbs and scraps fell to the floor, in the palace, mind you, from the king's table, instead of being killed, What a blessing, what a mercy. This was the attitude, I'm not making it up, this is the attitude of the Syrophoenician woman, remember? Syrophoenician woman, she's not a Jew, she's a pagan, she's a Gentile, and she wants Jesus to heal her daughter. He says, why should I give the food of the children to a dog, right? Because that's what they called the Gentiles. And she said, even the dogs are happy to sit under the children's table and eat what crumbs, what scraps fall to the floor. And he said, that is faith. That is faith. And he could have done that to Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth would have had every reason to be grateful. but to be fed at the table as a son, not just one special occasion, all your life, dining on the best food just as the king does. This is like Christ's love. We are spared our just punishment in hell. That's good. We are restored to Adam's dominion over the earth. We are given access to the presence of God, whom we had made our enemy. And moreover, we are adopted as sons and made joint heirs with Christ. John chapter three, my friends, maybe you're thinking the same thing. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God. That is the gospel. That is the fullness of the gospel. That is how saving grace is wonderful. Grace is not just getting, let's get this right, grace is not just not getting what you deserve, forgiveness of sins. It is also getting what you do not deserve, adoption, eternal enjoyment of God. As Ephesians 3 says, immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. More than we could imagine. More than we could ask. More than we could imagine. Immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine. That is the wonderful gospel. This is not a pretty picture that we see of ourselves in Mephibosheth. We have digital photography now. We have digital photography, and so we take a lot of pictures. I asked Abigail to take a picture of me the other day. I think I had the cat by my side or something like this. And pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I took several. You wouldn't have done that in my day, that costs a lot of money. But lots of them, and then you go through and you pick the best one. What does best mean? The most flattering one, right? Your eyes aren't half shut, you're looking square in the camera, you've got what you think is your best smile. You pick the most flattering picture. Here, God gives us a picture of ourself, and it is not flattering. We are shameful, spiritually crippled. impoverished, orphaned, condemned to die, unworthy of belonging to God, incapable of seeking God. And the sinful nature looks at that and we start touching up the picture, right? Photoshopping it, spiritually photoshopping it, as it were. And we say, well, I'm better than this, right? I mean, what about my ability, my ability to choose God? What about that? See, we always want to be in control. Grace means I'm not in control. Grace means I have nothing. I completely depend on God to give. But the what about me comes in. But that's our problem. Our problem in sin is we want to be in control. I don't want God in control. I don't want other people in control. I want to be in control. And the grace of the gospel is, praise God, good news. You're not in control. If you were in control, you'd be lost. God is in control. He's sovereign. He is wise, and He is good. He has all these things to you. But what about the good that I have done? Does that count for nothing? And you go back over your life, and you start rehearsing this. All these, what you think, are good things, which come very swiftly to mind. Nothing. The good things you've done, nothing. Isaiah 64 6, all our righteousnesses, all the things we think commend us or should commend us to God, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Anything commendable in us is traceable to God and His grace. The sin is ours. You might say, but God loves me. I saw it on a bumper sticker. I heard it in a song. God loves me. He loves me. Therefore, I must be lovely. No. It's a gracious love. It's a gracious love that He gives us. He says in His Word, even while we were yet sinners, that is, even while we were unlovely, Christ died for the ungodly. That is a gracious love. He places His love upon us. Who we are doesn't draw out His love. He places it on us graciously. Your redemption is not fundamentally about you. It is fundamentally about God, just as your creation was not fundamentally about you. God created you. At first, it was nothing, right? No you. There's no you to love. And He made you for Himself, for His glory. So, too, your redemption, which is your recreation. It's not about you. It's about Him. He recreates you. He gives you life. He redeems you. He gives His Son to die for you on the cross for Himself, for His glory. And you who are redeemed like it that way because you love Him above all things. Conversion is the experience of that shift from focus on you to focus on God. That's the conversion. And this picture that we have of ourselves humbles us. It reminds you of that humbling. The picture is unflattering, but it's accurate. And you are, you who know God, are delighted in how flattering it is to God and God's power and God's grace. That's what we like about it. Do you see your helplessness, brothers and sisters? David's words to Mephibosheth are Christ's words to you. Do not fear. You look at your sin and you think, how could God love this? You look at your sin, you say, I failed again. You look back over your life and you see regrets, you see failures, And God speaks your name over you and says, do not fear. Don't look at yourself. Look at my son Jesus, whom I've given to you and given for you, and in whom you are engrafted, and in whom you have life, in whom you have hope, your only hope. Your hope is not in what you look back over your life to see, or your hope is not what you look into yourself and see. Your hope is in Christ, and he is given to you abundantly and irrevocably. And eternally, do not fear. Come to me, he says, all you who are weary and heavy laden, heavy laden by what is past, heavy laden by what is present, heavy laden in what you anticipate will come in the future. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I, I promise, as God who cannot lie, will give you rest. Brothers and sisters, Mephibosheth is a story of grace and so it is a story of peace. Though your sins be as scarlet, rest assuredly they will be as white as wool in Christ. And so, as to that kindness that David shows and which we should manifest in our lives, you are free now to exercise that kindness. You are empowered in Christ to exercise that kindness. And as your heart grows in Christ, you are delighted to exercise that kindness. Let's grow in Christ. Let's seek him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and grow in him and in our delight and power and freedom to live in that kindness. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, We thank you for your grace to us. We thank you that you placed your love upon us from before the foundation of the world. That you brought us in, that you followed us in all our ways, that you gave us life, that you found us and filled us with your spirit. Father, remind us, we need reminding, remind us again and again that it is all You, it is not us. Let us lose ourselves, lose ourselves in You and thus find ourselves and live in peace and the strength of Your love. In Jesus' name we ask it, Amen.