It is not from poverty; he can give these things. Had he left them as he found him, he'd still be barren, and so would we. Romans chapter fifteen verse four: For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. This is the kind of stuff we're supposed to read and come away with hope from. We're supposed to say, "Lord, I'm having trouble with my walk." And the king says, "I invite you to sit at my table." Nonetheless, this is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston.
Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Second Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Now, here is Pastor Rick in Second Samuel chapter nine, with the conclusion of his study called "Conquest and Kindness." Verse two: There was a servant from the house of Saul whose name was Ziba.
So when They had called him to David. The king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" And he said, "At your service." Then the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet." What condition allowed Mephibosheth? Into the fellowship of the king, because he's going to end up in the fellowship with the king. What, what condition allowed it? Because he has nothing to offer.
Grace, the grace of the king. Actually, in Mephibosheth's case, the grace of the king voided execution. He is a descendant of Saul. He can stir up trouble and make a claim to the throne. He, by other kings' standards, should be executed to eliminate any idea of using him to overthrow the throne of David.
It is grace. The grace of the king that voids out execution—that's me. That's you. That's what I mean. What voids out our execution as guilty sinners before a holy God?
It is grace. As I mentioned, he had nothing to offer the king. He's an invalid. As people, he could not survive on his own in this economy. There was no way he could survive on his own.
And we're going to hopefully open a lot of this up. According to the customs and the demands, the kings would eliminate them. We're going to see this in Athaliah. She was a witch in the northern kingdom who forced herself on the people. She becomes queen for a while.
Second Chronicles twenty two.
Now, when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah. That is an indication that this was how they did it back then. If you were a threat, if you had a claim to the throne, many of them would wipe out that purge that line. Not always, but it was not uncommon, and would not have even been frowned upon. People would have understood they're protecting the throne.
Who's going to stop them? It says here, Ziba tells David. Jonathan, who is lame in his feet, why this detail right now? I think it's mean-spirited. I don't think it has nothing to do.
He's there any descendants of Saul, Mephibosheth? Why does he have to tell him he's lame in his? Why doesn't he also tell him how long his fingernails are? Which at some point is going to be part of the story, not this evening later on. Anyhow, here is Jonathan's son, lame in his feet, a type of mankind.
With a broken walk, well, you know what that means. We all try to walk the right way before God, but our walk is broken at times. He is not able to go to war. He is unfit to receive anointings according to the laws Leviticus twenty one. No man of your descendants in succeeding generations who has any defect.
May approach to offer the bread of his God, that would spill over into other areas of anointing.
So he was at a great disadvantage; he was handicapped, we would say, and very mindful of it. How was he treated by people? Because he was this way since he was a child. You know, we'll cover that in a minute. Verse four.
So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Indeed, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Amiel, in Lodibar." David is getting things done. I've got this covenant with Jonathan, and I am going to get it done. And he is there. Where is he? Lodibar means pastureless, barren.
Mephibosheth is a handicap who is wasting away, even though he was once royalty, a prince. Lo debar, he lives in a land barren. That is the meaning of that place. And knowing the whole story of this man, is it not striking to know that he is unable to walk well? That he is in a place where he cannot produce anything.
It is part of the story. Verse nine. Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Micah and the son of Amiel from Lo Debar.
So David acts upon his good intention. It's very easy to say to Jonathan, "I, you know what, I'm going to do this. I want to do this for you," and then never do it. It happens too often. People make these.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that, and they never deliver. And so the Bible is very much vocal about be careful about the promises you make. There are some folks if they help you do something, they think you now owe them. You know, you're driving along, you get a flat tire, and your neighbor pulls up and he helps you with the tire, and and then they drives off, and then your neighbor comes knocking on your door a few days later.
Hey, I'm painting my house. Come help. Remember, I helped you fix your tire.
Well, I ain't going to help you paint your house. Um, nope. That's some people think they do something for you. There's a string attached to it. That's not grace.
Grace does not expect something in return. Read thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. You know about love. How it does not parade itself. It does not expect these things.
It's different if you enter into a contract. I'll fix your tire. The mob does that, do they not? The mob does a favor for you, then you're on the you're now on the roll. They'll show up.
Hey, I need a favor, and it's going to be a crime. Verse six.
Now, when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face, prostrated himself. Then David said, "Mephibosheth," and he answered, "Here is your servant. There he is before the king, broken from his youth." Sound familiar? That's us. Um.
He's broken before everybody. He stood before really, but he's standing before the King. And in type, of course, David in type is the Lord, the King, and we are Mephibosheth. You cannot dismiss the similarities. The parallels are clear once you lock in on them.
And he went through life this way. Defective. He was defective because of somebody else. Just like us, Adam and Eve made us defective. We had no say so in this.
Second Samuel chapter four. Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened as she made haste to flee that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
He's a little tight, depending on people to care for him, and he ends up like this, broken. He has no entitlement, but he doesn't seem to have any bitterness either. He's displaced as a prince. He understands the power structure. The way he talks to David, he is totally submitted.
He doesn't have this sense.
Well, I'm entitled to this. My dad was king before you. That would have been dumb. And there were some whom I even tried such a thing. But here he is, a handicap before the king, and he doesn't yet know that this king is loving on him and going to look out for him.
It is a beautiful illustration of the sinner made helpless. And worthless before a king who can do something for him. Again, someone else cost him his health, but it made him a candidate for the king's grace. That's us. Tragedy didn't put him beyond the king's reach.
Born into the wrong kingdom. Under Saul, unable to walk, unprofitable. Colossians chapter one, verse ten. Paul says to the church at Colossi that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Two things that stand out in significance there to that verse in Mephibosheth is walking and being fruitful.
And he had come from a barrenless place where he was wasting away because he could not walk. And still the king sought him. First John chapter four verse nineteen. We love. Him because he first loved us.
David initiated this. Christ initiates it with us. We're supposed to initiate it with unbelievers, and then we are supposed to set a garrison with fellow believers because fellow believers don't always walk well. They demand grace, just like if you have a pet, it demands care. John's Gospel, chapter six, verse forty-four: No one can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
And that's what we're seeing acted out before us. David is the one that drew Mephibosheth to him, and he is going to be the one that cares for him. What would have happened if Mephibosheth did not accept the invitation? He'd not be at the king's table. What would happen if we give the invitation to come to Christ and they don't accept it?
They're not going to be at that banquet in heaven. And when we talk about the sitting at the table in those days, they weren't furniture tables as we have. They pretty much sat on pillows and rugs and floors. And but it's still referred to as the table because of what is placed before them. In verse seven.
So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather. And you shall eat at my table continually." David tells him, "Don't fear, because he's afraid he's going to get killed, executed, because of who he belongs to, and that is the house of Saul." And David is assuring him, "I'm going to show you kindness, and I'm going to restore to you." Of course, you know one of the things we think about is what the locusts have eaten. I will restore to you.
Well, God doesn't have to do that in this lifetime to fulfill that promise. He can wait. If you live to be. Ninety and not a hundred, you get to heaven and have restoration. If you live to be a hundred instead of a hundred and ten, you get to be.
It's not a time thing with God. The King's salvation, it is not from poverty. He can give these things. Had he left him as he found him, he'd still be barren, and so would we. Romans chapter fifteen verse four.
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. This is the kind of stuff we're supposed to read and come away with hope from. We're supposed to say, "Lord, I'm having trouble with my walk," and the King says, "I invite you to sit at my table." Nonetheless, first Corinthians ten eleven.
Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages will come.
Okay, when Paul writes these two letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, who is he talking to mostly? Gentiles. He is taking the Old Testament characters, and he is saying this belongs to you just as much. You have been grafted in. You are every bit a part of the family of God.
This wasn't some United descendant of Abraham.
Well, Paul cleared that up. What makes you a descendant of Abraham is not physical DNA; it's spiritual DNA. It's got to be faith. You can be a Jew according to the flesh and not a child of Abraham, child of faith in that sense. Verse eight.
Then he bowed himself and said, "What is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?" Well, dead dog is no use to a king. And Mephibosheth knows this is his humility. We don't again read a negative word about him. We do read about someone saying negative things about him. And but the king did not call him a dog.
Audience with God will never leave us self impressed. You will not get up from your knees and say, "You know what? I am pretty good." Did you hear that prayer? The sentence structure, the verb noun agreement. I mean, it's so self.
Of course not.
Well, we don't have time to go through all of them, but I can mention them. Job says, "I have heard of you by hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in the dust and ashes. Compared to God, I man, I am hated. I am that.
The contrast is that different." Then is Isaiah in the year that he saw King Uzziah in the year King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord high and lifted up, sitting on the throne. The train of his robe filled the temple. Then what it goes on in the story? Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. He did not say, "Well, I'm Isaiah, the prophet.
I'm a prophet in the palace." Then is my favorite, as the other two are also. When Simon Peter saw it, the miracle of the Lord, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He saw what Jesus could do, and he knew that I am not worthy of this. And so, if we remain self-impressed afterwards, after an audience with God, maybe we really haven't met ourselves, O God. Verse nine. And the king called to Ziba Saul's servant and said to him, "I have given to your master's son all that belonged to Saul and to his house." Verse ten.
You therefore and your sons and your servants shall walk.
Now, sir, pardon me. Shall work the land for him. We pause there because he can't do it himself. We continue, and you shall bring in the harvest that your master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's son, shall eat bread at my table always.
Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. What? How did he get? He was a servant of Saul. How did he get to have all these sons?
Which means he has all these wives and all these servants himself. Evidently, he did well after Saul's death. He somehow capitalized on that, and. I don't think David missed it either. But David, I'm got.
I gotta say, when we get deeper into this in later chapters, David's gonna mess this up. He's gonna drop the ball on this. He's gonna lack discernment when it comes to Ziba. And his relationship with Mephibosheth, and we'll we'll cover that later. We could write it off and say, "Well, he had so many other things going on that he didn't apply himself," but it still is going to be a disappointing outcome.
Verse eleven. Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do." For as Mephibosheth said. As form of Mephibosheth said, the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons.
Well, just keep in mind, Ziba is one of the creeps of the Bible. He is a self-serving, opportunistic liar. And when we're done with him, you won't have to take my word for it. If you're not familiar with him, you'll see it. Mephibosheth, verse twelve.
Had a young son whose name was Micah. It's a variant of Micah. And all who dwelt in the house of Zebah were servants of Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table, and he was lame in both his feet.
So here is the picture of Mephibosheth dining at the table of David, with his lameness hidden. Because as they sprawl out on the floor, everybody looks alike. You can't tell they're not standing up. If it were a wooden table like we have today, or some other piece of furniture, his lameness would be hidden by the table at the royal banquet. When the Holy Spirit repeats something in a short period of time, four times, as He is doing here, it is obvious that He intends to grip our hearts with an important truth.
Four times He mentions sitting at the table. Let's go back and see where they are. This might take a little time. It won't because I am a professional. Don't try this at home.
Verse seven: You shall eat bread at my table continually, and then it comes up again in verse eleven. He shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons. And then again in verse fourteen he shall, for he ate continually at the king's table.
Now I know I missed one, and came comes before verse seven.
Well, it'll be a homework assignment to see if if you can get it done. We'll move on because we're almost out of time. Whew! It's in there four times, and I know someone's itching to yell it out. Just let me suffer, okay.
John's Gospel, chapter one, verse fourteen, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So I mentioned that you can hear a sermon, and maybe I've done it myself, but not likely. I'm I'm kidding. You can you can hear a sermon, and it's all true. The points, the judgments are true, but there's just no grace, and that eventually we discover as those who sit in the pew that we want grace too. We want love.
We want to hear it come from the pulpit. We don't want just hard facts from the Bible. We want to see the love in the characters in the record that has been given to us. It continues in John chapter one, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. How can you really administer the truth without grace?
Because within that truth is grace. In fact, it doesn't work. If all we have is truth, and we becomes academic and not spiritual, so we cannot escape the matching attributes of our King Jesus and His grace. Just to review, a type of mankind in verse three, in that He was could not walk. Broken from his youth, as in chapter four, giving us the story of when he was dropped or fell.
Verse three again, his walk was not something that was pleasing. Again, chapter four, helpless because of someone else. Verse four of this chapter, he lived in a barren land, not close to the king. Verse three again, he was not beyond grace. Think of that; had nothing to offer, but grace reached him nonetheless.
Verse four, he was made eligible for grace by the king. Second Chronicles twenty two.
Will we mention Athaliah? That she murdered anyone that might have claimed to the throne, and so what we have here is grace voided out execution, which is the same for us. Though your sins are red as scarlet, I will wash them. I'm adding, commentating as I'm quoting the verse. Though your sins are red as scarlet, I will wash them, and you will be white as snow.
Purposefully paraphrasing that. Chapter verse five of this chapter, grace cancels separation. Same with God. I do wrong before God. He is so ready to take me back.
God, it's not like you know what you messed up, and I'm so sick and tired of that. I've got nothing more to say to you. That is never Jesus Christ, because we are predestined in Christ. He already knew when He saved us that we'd be goofballs later on. At the same time.
It is called recurrent cleansing. It is the grace of God. Otherwise, if grace comes through the law of if if righteousness comes through the law, then what is grace? That's what Paul was telling the Ephesians. By grace you are saved, not as yourself.
You kind of hesitate to want to say this to some folks because they're going to abuse it, but the righteous won't abuse it. The righteous will embrace it and get back up and get back into the fight. Verse seventeen, grace because of another grace. Verse eleven, grace created fellowship at the king's table in spite of his lameness. Grace again, and at the king's table forever.
So the four times we read about him at the king's table: verse seven, verse ten, verse eleven, and verse thirteen. We never find him angry. We never find him bitter, even though he was wronged by life—a tragic life—and he never looks for material possessions. And the last thing to say about Mephibosheth for this evening's consideration is: he will die without notice. When he dies, the Bible won't say it.
Doesn't have to say it. His grace was all over his life. I think it's a beautiful story. This man. This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio.
Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the Book of Second Samuel, which details the reign of David as king of Israel. There are so many life lessons to be learned during these years of David's life. We're glad you've tuned in to hear more from God's Word. This radio ministry comes to you from Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you're interested in Accessing more messages, just like this one, you can listen online or download these messages at CrossReferenceRadio dot com.
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