Well, friends, would you turn in your Bibles to Samuel 16, and we're going to look particularly at verses 1-4 this morning of this passage. I won't read them again. We'll come to them now. We read them in our reading, and we'll come to them in a moment or two as we consider these things. Just a brief reminder of the context and the situation. Where was David going? Well he was traveling over the Mount of Olivet and down towards the land of Benjamin. Now you might think from the circumstances of what is happening and what we have looked at in this passage in previous occasions that that was perhaps not the wisest route to take. Because if he goes in that direction and comes to the land of Benjamin, to a large extent he is going into what we might call enemy territory. Because those who were the most sympathetic to Saul, who was a man of Benjamin, were the Benjamites. And therefore, any political unrest after the attack and events that we have looked at with Absalom seeking to take the empire from David and his trickery, this would be the most likely place to get there. Well, before he gets there, only a little beyond the summit of Olivet, he meets up with Ziba. Now we'll come to Zeiber in a moment or two. Let me remind you that he is on flight from Absalom and the details of chapter 15 cover the events over a very short distance. And as we come into chapter 16, we're not actually that much further on his journey. But a lot happens in this chapter. And we won't cover it all today, either this morning or this evening. We'll only deal with part of it. But David has met up till now three great friends. Itai the Gittite. Zadok and Abiathar with the Ark of God, and then Hushai the Archite. We'll have more to say about Hushai a little bit later, possibly a bit tonight, maybe on a future occasion. They were David's friends. And we find that in spite of the difficulties that he is facing, God's hand is upon him and God is with him even through this time of trouble. And although this is part of God's judgment on David for his great sin with Bathsheba and the inevitable consequences, David is not abandoned. God's judgments are remedial. They are corrective. They are discipline. Now discipline can be positive and negative, but when it is negative, it is there to restore. And when God disciplines His children as He does frequently, He does it because He wants to strengthen them and encourage them and build them up in their most holy faith. Now in chapter 16, we meet some of David's enemies. You might think from our reading that Ziba has come with a great gift. Well, we'll talk about that in a moment or two. That it seems as though Ziba has come with a friend. And of course, as a friend. And of course, for those of you who will remember, you'll remember back to 2 Samuel chapter 9. You'll remember the events of David and his asking to show kindness, covenant faithfulness. It's the Hebrew word hesed, which means particularly, it's that particular covenant faithfulness word, which is used of God's kindness and faithfulness to his people for Jonathan's sake. And David hears from Ziba about Mephibosheth, who is lame on his feet, and he invites Mephibosheth to come and to live in the palace. And Mephibosheth comes with great fear, but receives great blessing. And it's a wonderful picture, Old Testament picture of God's gospel grace to men and women. Now I know not everybody sees that. But I hope I made that clear when we looked at that some weeks ago, some while ago, when we looked at that passage. A wonderful, wonderful chapter speaking about these things. And Mephibosheth eats at the king's table as one of the king's sons. And Ziba is put in charge of all of the goods of Mephibosheth, to care for them and to provide for Mephibosheth and to protect him and keep him safe. So this man who is lame on his feet, and they didn't live in those days with wheelchairs and crutches and all the kinds of things we have today, but he is cared for. David appoints Ziba to be the man, to care for him, and for Ziba's servants to be his bodyguard and to keep him safe. Ziba had been Saul's servant. 2 Samuel 9 verses 2 and 9, but now put in charge of Mephibosheth. Ziba, we notice from 2 Samuel 9 and verse 10, the end of the verse, was a very wealthy man and a very influential man. And he is actually given great power by King David. And now here is David in great need in chapter 16, in the passage before us. And who should meet him in his great need but Ziba? And he comes with a gift, what seems to be an outstandingly generous gift, of food and sustenance for David's followers. And at first sight, And when we read it before we know the rest of the story, which of course we meet later in the account, which we'll come to, it seems a wonderful provision. But we will see that subsequent events will show that this was nothing less than scheming manipulation by cyber. So let's look at this for a moment or two this morning. Firstly, here is a wicked plan, a wicked plan, verse 1. When David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them 200 loaves of bread, and 100 bunches of raisins, and 100 of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. That sounds in its isolation very innocent. But what is Ziba doing? He was put in charge of all the riches, all the affairs of Mephibosheth. What is Ziba seeking to do? Well, we will find out as the story unfolds, and I have in a sense to react to that, although we haven't got there in the account. But Ziba wants to ensure control, secure control of all of Mephibosheth's estate. And he wants to be sure that whoever wins the battle, Ziba will not be out of favor with the victor. So if David wins the battle, he's won David's favor. If Absalom wins the battle, he's still got Absalom on his side. So whether David or Absalom emerge successful from the conflict, it doesn't matter to Ziba. He wants to keep in with both of them. And he is unconcerned who will prevail, so long as he still retains his power and his influence. Ziba was only thinking of me first. And so he comes out to meet the fugitive, that is David, with a well-timed present. And he poses as one who is concerned for David's welfare. Now remember, Ziba was Mephibosheth's servant. So who had provided these provisions? Well, we know later in the story exactly what had happened. They belonged to his master, Mephibosheth. Thomas Scott, quoted by A.W. Pink in his excellent book on David, says this, selfish men are often very generous in giving away the property of others for their own advantage. You understand? Here is Ziba actually acting in a very, very selfish manner. He is giving away the property of Mephibosheth on the pretense that it was a gift from him to David in order to keep an other with David. And it wasn't from his riches, but from Mephibosheth's. And we know that from what we learn later in the story. You see, Ziba has an end in view. Ziba is full of avarice and pride. Zeiber is a man of greed. He plots and he plans with very great care. It all gets exposed a little bit later in the story. We haven't got there yet, but we'll come to it. Here is a man with 15 sons and 20 slaves, and he wants to increase his power base. Now that could be very useful in the current climate in Jerusalem at that time. He'll keep all his options open. David wins, he will be safe. If Absalom wins, Ziba will be back in Jerusalem with Mephibosheth by then and will pledge loyalty to the traitor. But if neither wins, he's still in favor with the house of Saul. You see how clever he is, how scheming he is. He thinks he cannot lose, that whatever happens, his wicked plan is about to be fulfilled. That's why I call it a wicked plan. Secondly, here is a cruel deception. Verse 2. The king said to Ziba, What meanest thou by these? The king is suspicious. Ziba said, the asses be for the king's household to rise on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. David is naturally cautious. He asks the meaning of this unexpected gift. He knows that the most faithful of his servants can change sides. He'd met that with Ahithophel. We're going to learn more about Ahithophel a little bit later in chapter 17. But Ahithophel, who had been David's counselor, had changed sides. But also David knows that appearances can be deceptive. How is he to assess the situation? Zeiber at the moment gets away with deceiving David and disarms his unease. So what has David, what has Zeiber done? Well, he has done two things. He has deceived David and he has deceived Mephibosheth. Firstly, he has deceived David. Zeiber seeks to ingratiate himself with David. He knows how generous David had been to Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel chapter 9. and that although Mephibosheth had expected to be cast out, David doesn't do that. He receives him into the palace and he showers him with goods. You see, Ziba knows what kind of man he's dealing with in David and he takes advantage of it. And so he offers this gift as from himself, when in fact it was provisions that David had provided for Mephibosheth, and where Mephibosheth is, Mephibosheth, you understand? And we'll see that shortly as we go through the account. So he's deceived David, but he's also deceived Mephibosheth. Again, we know that from later on in the story. Mephibosheth has no idea that this is what Ziba was up to. In fact, later on when Mephibosheth finds out, Mephibosheth is horrified! Ziba achieves his evil ends, at least for the time being, and Mephibosheth can do nothing about it yet. Matthew Henry in his wonderful old commentary says this, whatever Ziba intended in this present, God's providence sent it to David for his support. So God's providence overrules the deception of this man, a wicked plan, a cruel deception. Thirdly, a treacherous lie, verse three. The king said, and where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem, for he said, today shall the house of Israel restore to me the kingdom of my father. You see, David is surprised that Ziba has left Mephibosheth alone in Jerusalem when he should have been there to protect him. Ziba's responsibility was to be Mephibosheth's bodyguard with his servants. In fact, why had Ziba come at all when that's where his responsibility lay? 2 Samuel 9 verse 10 tells us that so, so clearly as David had set this in arrangement. 2 Samuel 9 verse 10. Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till for the land for him and shall 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 15 sons and 20 servants. So here is Ivor going out of his way to blacken the name of Mephibosheth and the character and motives of Mephibosheth. He knows that David has no way of checking up on this at the moment because he's on the run from Absalom out of Jerusalem. He knows also that if he plays his cards right and says the right things, David will react with an instant decision, hopefully in his favor. David, Ziber's answer is a downright and deliberate and a willful untruth. It was a monstrous lie and it was a slur on the character and heart of Mephibosheth. Now we find that in greater detail when we find out in 2 Samuel 19 and verses 25 to 26, which we haven't got to yet, but if I might just briefly read them so that you understand what I'm saying. When David comes to Jerusalem to meet, or when Mephibosheth comes to meet the king after the king's return, He says to him, Wherefore wentest thou not out with me, Mephibosheth? And he said, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will saddle thee, and ask that I may ride thereon, and go to the king, because thy servant is lame. And he has slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in thine eyes. For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king, yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? Mephibosheth, as it were, mentally not physically because he was lame on his feet, but he falls at David's feet and Asks that whatever David does and even even if David rejects him and throws him out he has he has nothing to answer for because he was loyal to David and Mephibosheth had wanted to go with David but Ziba had nicked the donkeys and the provisions so that Mephibosheth who was lame on both his feet couldn't do that and Now we'll come to that in more detail when we come to 2 Samuel 19. Now if David had stopped to think for a minute, he would have seen through the absurdity of Ziba's accusations. Mephibosheth was not after the reign of Saul. He was Jonathan's son, and although he was Saul's grandson, it was Jonathan, Mephibosheth's father, who had been such a friend and help to David. Mephibosheth's gratitude we see in both in 2 Samuel chapter 9 and then later of course in 2 Samuel 19. Mephibosheth's gratitude is heartfelt when David brought him into the palace. If he was going to do anything, if Mephibosheth was going to do anything, he had no concern to restore Saul's rule and reign. That had caused him enough trouble already. That was how he ended up lame. Jonathan had never been king. This charge of Ziba's was groundless. And David should have seen through it, but he didn't at the time. And even if Absalom did gain the victory, he was not going to re-establish the house of Saul. So Ziba's charges are groundless. And remember that it was Ziba who had taken the donkeys of Mephibosheth so that Mephibosheth couldn't have got away even if he wanted to. a wicked plan, a cruel deception, a treacherous lie. Fourthly, a heartless manipulation. Verse four, then said the king to Ziba, behold, thine are all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, O Lord the king. David reacts immediately without checking up on Ziba's story. He can't do it at the moment anyway, and he makes a judgment on the basis of one side of the story. David says what Ziba expected and wanted to hear, and Ziba turns to him with fawning obedience. I'm sorry, but I describe Ziba as a heartless creep. Do you understand what I mean by that? Now eventually, in chapter 19, he is revealed for the heartless manipulator that he is. And Mephibosheth is seen to be utterly devoted to David and completely loyal throughout. Now it is significant that Ziba's and his men do not go with David, but stayed behind. We know that from 2 Samuel 19 verse 17, we'll come to that later. Ziba is not moved by loyalty to David at all, he is simply seeking to protect his own sin. He was filled with greed and his own gain. Now my friends, we're going to see tonight more details of those words we were sharing with the children a moment or two ago, Satan finds the mischief still for idle hands to do. We'll see that tonight in more detail as we take the story a little bit further. But in Dale Ralph Davis' wonderful commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel, I commend his commentaries. They're a bit American and some of his illustrations you need to understand American culture, but he has some wonderful insights. He's a brilliant Hebrew scholar, Dale Ralph Davis, and yet he doesn't overwhelm you with that. It's a very easily readable. I highly commend his commentaries on 1 and 2 Samuel. And he says, what he calls Zibaism is still with us today, he says. Every time we say something to someone to make an impression upon them, we are guilty of Zibaism. And he describes it like this. And I hope this isn't too near the bone in one sense, and yet in another sense, it's a very real matter. Ralph Davis says this, why I have to ask myself, do I tell a troubled friend that I am praying for him? Now he's not saying we shouldn't say that, and I hope we do say that to people. No one can deny that such assurances can genuinely encourage other believers in their distresses. And sometimes that is my purpose. I want him to know that he is not forgotten. But that is not the only reason, says dear Ralph Davis. Enter Zeiber, he says. If I make my point to communicate such concern, such friends will likely think well of me as a caring person. And though there are no big bucks in it, my Christian stock will go up a bit. Thus my piety serves myself. You understand what he's saying. Why don't I simply pray for that friend and not tell him? Why? Then there will be nothing it for me. Now my friends, Davis is not saying that we shouldn't say to people that we pray for them. I hope we do. And I tell people when I pray for them, but I make sure that I do pray for them. I never say to people that I pray for you and then I hope by God's grace, I hope by God's grace, I never say and then forget to do so. But I have a list of people we pray for. My wife and I, we pray for people regularly. And there are a whole list of people we pray for. And when I see them, I say, I've been praying for you. And I say, how are you doing? Give us the information, update us. Why? Because we want to pray with understanding and intelligence. We don't want to just say, Lord, bless so and so, bless this man, this preacher, this servant of God. We want to know details. We want to meet them. We want to have fellowship with them. And I'm not saying this to, build up my credit or anything, just giving as an illustration. A few weeks ago, just before Liz had her operation, we had a family around who were working in Africa and they came over here on furlough and they came to us and we had a meal and we talked to them and we found out about their work and things and now they've gone, but we can pray more intelligently for them with more understanding and there's nothing wrong with that. But Dale Ralph Davis goes on to say, and this has hit me more and more over the last few days as I've been thinking about this and as I knew I was preaching on it here, he said this, I agree, this is Dale Ralph Davis, I agree with old Rabbi Duncan, who looking back over decades of his life confessed, I have never done a sinless action during 70 years. My friends, I'm older than 70. And I think I can say that. And I don't say it with pride. Pride is a terrible thing. Can I actually say that I've ever done anything from a purely and solely and simply sinless? Well, of course I can't, because I'm a sinner. I've never done anything that is sinless. I've sought to strive to be holy. I've sought to strive to live a godly life. but I know I've not done it, and I feel the sense of that failure, and the older I get, the more I feel the sense of that failure. Can I ever do anything that is sinless? No, never. I can never make myself satisfactory to God. Only the grace of God can make me what I am, and it is only by the grace of God. My friends, that's a wonderful comfort to all of us, or should be. If you don't know the Lord, my friend, you need to know the Lord. You need to get right with Him. You need to know that all your sins are covered by the precious blood of Christ. You need to know that the gospel is the wonderful gospel that brings us into the presence of God and His glory. But my friends, the best of us, even the best we do, is tainted by sin. And our Lord made that abundantly clear, didn't he, to his disciples when he said, when you have done all, all you can say is, Lord, be merciful to me, an unprofitable sinner. My friends, that's all we can say because all that we ever do that is of holiness and of godliness is of the grace of God. My friends, that is wonderful. That is wonderful. That is gloriously comforting. That is assuredly great. My friends, it is God on whom we rely. God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in all the glory of his triunity. What a God, what a gospel, what grace. Well friends, as we draw this to conclusion, and forgive me, for the time, but let me give you four simple matters of application. I do this briefly. Firstly, look beyond outward appearances. Look beyond outward appearances. That's one of the reasons why we read those few verses in John chapter seven this morning. Verse 24, judge not according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Those are the words of our Lord. not according to appearance, but with righteous judgment. Look beyond the outward appearance. 1 Samuel 16 verse 7, we haven't got to that yet, but here is Shimei who curses and he says, come out, come out, you bloodthirsty man, and thou man of Belial. Look beyond outward appearances. See beyond what people are saying and doing. Look beyond that. Secondly, don't be too easily taken in by the plausible stories of self-seekers and smooth talkers. Now my friends, that's much more easily said than done, I'm afraid. Because we often find, don't we, that we are hoodwinked by people who tell us yarns. And often people who, nice people, who can spin a yarn with a straight face are very deceptive. We need that wisdom which comes from above in all our dealings with sinful men and women, and with our own sinful hearts. Don't be too easily taken in by plausible stories and smooth talkers. Thirdly, Avoid making snap decisions. David made a snap decision here. He should have stopped and reflected and considered. I don't know about you, but do you ever impulse buy something and then when you get it home you find that it's useless or worthless? How often do we make snap decisions? Oh, that looks... and then we find that it's... not what it used to be. When I was a youngster, I remember doing this when I was doing my apprenticeship training. We would go down, a friend of mine, we often went down, particularly on, we did two days a week at college and then three days in industry. I did an apprenticeship which had that kind of thing in my engineering. days and when we were doing our two days in college we would go to the nearest little cafe just off the market in Leicester to have a meal and they did very cheap meals and so we could get a decent meal for a very cheap price and then after we'd had the meal we would go down before we went back for our lectures we would go down to the market and we would listen to these traders as they were selling people and we used to take delight with neither of us ever bought anything but there was a man the men there and they got these boxes of stuff, whether it had fallen off the back of a lorry I don't know, but you know, high-priced things and Kenwood chefs and I don't know whether you have that now, but things like that and they would be flogging them off and we would sit there and watch the crowds being manipulated by these people and they would say look here you can have this and we'll throw in this and we'll give them and they got it all together and then he would name the price and time and again the price that he was offering this as a bargain was actually more expensive than what they were sold if you went into Boots or well in those days Lewis's which was a big local store like Debenhams or something like that and bought it because you know and there they were and people were thinking they were getting a bargain but actually they were paying more than if they'd gone to the And we just sat there, we used to sit there and grin and smile. But my friends, that's what happens. Avoid making snap decisions. How much more with our dealings with other people? Psalm 116 we read this morning, verse 11. I said in my haste, all men are liars. Or Proverbs 14 and verse 15. Proverbs 14 and verse 15. Let me just turn that up for 14, 15. The simple believes every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. How easy it is to believe it. Try as far as possible to hear as many sides of the story as possible. When I was a young pastor and going to Dr. Lloyd-Jones Fraternal in London, he used to say to us many times as young men, he wasn't a young man, but when we were young men, when I was a young man, he used to say, listen, he said, brethren, there are always at least six sides to every story, not two sides, but six sides. And we only often, we only hear one side or maybe two sides at the most. He used to say, beware, as pastors, learn that there are often many more sides to the story than you know and you understand, and you need to be careful in making decisions, wisdom. Fourthly, remember that God alone has the knowledge and power to make perfect judgments. Remember that God alone has the knowledge and power to make perfectly right judgments. God never makes mistakes. Thank God for that. What a comfort in this confused and sinful world. When we're surrounded by zeibers and other evil schemers, when we're confronted with sin in all its corruption, When we're confronted with the temptation of the devil, Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. We'll talk more about that tonight. Our future and our destiny is not in the hands of men. It's in the hands of God. My friends, that's a wonderful comfort and assurance, isn't it? Are you a child of God? If you're a child of God, you're safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus. You have great confidence, you have great assurance, because God is your God. But if you don't have God, my friends, you have everything, everything to fear. I'm going to close by singing a setting of Psalm 119. We're actually going to sing another version of this tonight, because it is so appropriate to what we've been thinking of. Psalm 119, section 5, verses 33 to 40. Teach me, O Lord, the way of truth, and from it I will not depart, that I may steadfastly obey. Give me an understanding heart. 119, section 5. I love you.