The Blood Covenant | Part 2

This Christmas, we celebrate that we are in the King's family.

Listen to Adrian Rogers. A blood covenant was made. Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring Profound Truth simply stated by pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. A blood covenant is a biblical principle that unites two people together for life. But the blood covenant is not just a biblical principle, it's the subject of the Bible.

It's the secret of our blessing and the source of our boldness. Jonathan and David's blood covenant in 1 Samuel chapters 18 and 19 is a picture of the blood covenant God made with us. Jesus entered into a blood covenant with God the Father on our behalf. We are in the King's family. Whether we feel it or not, our sonship is a matter of the blood covenant. If you have your Bible, turn now to 1 Samuel chapter 18 as Adrian Rogers shares the powerful conclusion of the blood covenant.

Now you have to get the background. Saul is the king. Jonathan is the king's son.

Therefore, Jonathan is the heir to the throne, very much like the crown prince of England. But Jonathan loves David. He admires David. David has come fresh from Bethlehem with a victory over Goliath.

He has come fresh from the Father. He has the oil, the fresh oil of anointing upon him. And Jonathan knows that David is God's anointed and appointed king. He knows that David is really the rightful heir to the throne even though Jonathan is the king's son. And when Jonathan sees the beauty of David, he wants to yield his life over to David and he makes a blood covenant with David. But then when David receives so much praise, Saul became insane with jealousy and now Saul the king wants to kill David. And so there goes out a royal edict that David is to be killed. Now Jonathan hears about that and Jonathan tells David, he says, David, you hide yourself.

My father wants to kill you. And David now is fleeing for his life. But there's a battle and Saul and Jonathan are both slain and David who is God's anointed and appointed king comes to the kingdom.

Now in the change of kingdoms, there's panic I say in the royal household. And there's a nurse there who sees Jonathan's son. Now remember that David has made a covenant with Jonathan. This nurse in the royal nursery chamber sees this little baby boy there. His name, Mephibosheth. He is Jonathan's son. This nurse, all she knows is that there's another king.

He's going to come and he's going to take vengeance. So she takes the little baby out of the crib and begins to run to hide the baby. Now she trips and falls and her body falls on this little baby. And he is crippled. But she wants to hide him from David and from the vengeance that David would have. And she goes out to a place. The name of that place is Lodibar, L-O-D-E-B-A-R. Because she's trying to hide this little baby. And this baby grows up crippled.

And there he is growing up with this lesson. Fear David. Hate David. Fear David. Hate David.

And there he is dragging his crippled limbs behind him, eating dust, breathing dust, a prince in exile. Now David is the king. And then David says something extremely interesting. And David said, I'm reading 2 Samuel, chapter 9, verse 1. And David said, Is there any yet that is left of the house of Saul, now here's the key word, watch it, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul? But now listen to this, that I may show the kindness of God unto him.

And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. Now David wants to show kindness, the kindness of God to Mephibosheth. He'd never met him before, but he is in covenant with Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan. And so David says, Go fetch him.

Go bring him. And so they send a royal entourage, the king's horses, the king's men, out to Lodibar. He's brought before King David. He casts his crutches aside, he falls on his face, and he begins to tremble like a bird in a trap, caught.

There he is on the floor. And David says to him, with a note of love in his voice, Look, if you will, in 2 Samuel 9, verse 7. And David said unto him, Fear not, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness, now watch this, for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore unto thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shall eat bread at my table continually. Here's what he said to this man who's expecting death. I want to restore your inheritance. I want you to dine at my table.

I want you to be like my son. When Mephibosheth hears this, he can hardly take it in. He can't understand it. Look in verse 8, and he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I? I am a dead dog.

I am as good as death. Why would you want to give me back my inheritance? Why would you want me to eat at your table? Why would you want me to be as your son? I can imagine David explaining it and saying to him, Now, Mephibosheth, I want you to understand it's not a matter of your worthiness.

As a matter of fact, I'm not even doing this for your sake. I'm doing this for the sake of your father, Jonathan. I am in a blood covenant with Jonathan.

I am bound by a blood covenant. Now at this moment, Mephibosheth has a decision to make. He up to this point had seen David as an enemy and as a threat, and he's been running from him.

Now he has a decision to make. If he wants to, he can ratify the covenant. No longer is David an enemy. Now David is a friend. No longer is he out of fellowship with David. He's in fellowship with David. No longer is he running from David.

He is running to David. He must change his mind about David, and he must accept the covenant by faith. Now notice, he must change his mind about David, and he must accept the covenant by faith.

You know what that is? It's the terms of salvation in the New Testament, repentance and faith. Repentance means a change of mind.

When we change our mind, we take a new king into our lives, and his name is Jesus. Now, of course, Mephibosheth ratified the covenant, something he had to learn about. Once he ratified the covenant, there is a transformation that takes place.

I want you to see the transformation. Most of you will in II Samuel chapter 9, beginning in verse 9. Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son, that is, to Mephibosheth, all that pertaineth to Saul and to all his house. That is, I am giving him all of the wealth that his grandfather king had. Thou, therefore, and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him. Just take care of all of this land that belongs to him now, and thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, shall eat bread always at my table.

Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Can you imagine the transformation? See what a day brought forth. Yesterday, he was living in Lodi Bar, dry and dusty on the backside of nowhere, dragging his crippled limbs behind him, eating and breathing dust, and now this morning he awakens on silken sheets. He's in the palace. He has servants who are coming saying to him, would Mephibosheth like to awaken this morning? Is my Lord Mephibosheth ready for his bath this morning? What would my Lord Mephibosheth like for breakfast this morning? The king and his sons are waiting for you to breakfast. You're coming to breakfast in the palace.

Mephibosheth can hardly take it in. There he is, now in the palace, now a king's son. He comes down to breakfast and there's the king. He's sitting on the right hand of the king. There are the king's sons. There's that table groaning with food. There's that white linen tablecloth, and his limbs under the tablecloth can't even be seen at all.

He's sitting there with the rest of them. Mephibosheth is thinking, I can't understand this. I don't deserve this. Yet it's because of a blood covenant. It is a covenant that my father made with David. I can't completely understand it, but I can't deny it.

Here I am. Pass the biscuits. And as David passes the bread to Mephibosheth, there's a scar on David's wrist, the mark of the covenant. And it dawns on him the power of a blood covenant.

What a transformation takes place. The next time, dear friend, we have the Lord's Supper, you'll understand what Jesus said, likewise also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Now, here's the third and final thing I want to lay upon your heart. What I want you to do, I want you this Christmas season to understand the saving power of the blood covenant. God was made flesh that there might be a blood covenant with you. The Savior is pictured 2,000 years ago. Jesus entered into a blood covenant with God the Father for the sons and daughters of Adam on the cross a blood covenant was made. You say, who was on that cross?

God and man. God and man? The blood of God and the blood of man were mingled on the cross. You say, but God doesn't have blood.

He did when Jesus was on this earth. Acts chapter 20, Paul told the Ephesian elders, feed the church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood, but God's own blood. The blood that coursed through that infant in Mary's womb was the blood of God, because he's the virgin born son of God. But Jesus was man also. He called himself the son of man. He was a human, as fully human as if he were not God at all, as fully God as if he were not human at all. And on that cross, when that blood flowed, there was a covenant being made between God and man. The blood of God and the blood of a human were mingled there upon that cross.

The Savior is pictured here in this story, but not only is the Savior pictured, the sinner is pictured. Mephibosheth, friend, pictures you. He pictures Adrian.

Think of him. He was deformed. How was he deformed? He was crippled by a fall. We're all crippled by the fall. When Adam fell, we fell with him.

Mephibosheth was so crippled that he could not come. He had to be found. He had to be taught. He had to be brought. He had to be taught.

So with all of us. Friend, thank God that God sought us, just as David sought Mephibosheth. He was deformed. He was dethroned. He was heir to a kingdom, but he lost his kingdom. God created man to rule and to reign here upon this earth. We were meant to rule, but we lost our inheritance. Not only was he deformed, not only was he dethroned, but he was dead. He was as good as dead. The sentence of death was upon him, for he said, why should you look upon such a dead dog as I am?

Listen to me, my precious friend. Without Jesus, you are a dead dog. The wages of sin is death.

The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. Mephibosheth, deformed, dethroned, dead, and deceived. Why was he deceived? Well, he feared David. He hated David. He thought David was his enemy when David was really his friend.

Why? Because he was in ignorance. He didn't understand the blood covenant. I was on an airplane one time. I sat down beside a man. He got on with a cup full of alcoholic beverage.

I don't know why they let him on the plane with it. I could tell he was a little loud, a little belligerent, so I just thought I'd be quiet and wait for my moment. I was reading a book by Vance Habner called Repent or Else.

After a while, he started the conversation. He said, is that a true book? I said, what do you mean a true book? He said, what is that about, repent or else? I said, well, it's a book about God.

It tells us if we don't repent of our sin, we're going to die and go to hell. He said, God. God. Mister, he lifted his voice. He said, let me tell you what I think about God. He said, let me tell you what I think about the devil. And let me tell you what I think about everybody else.

By this time, everybody on the plane is looking at the two of us. And he says, God said, I hate him. He said, the devil, I don't care for him. And he said, I don't care for anybody else. He said, there's my God right there. And he held up that cup of whiskey.

That's my God. And he said, as far as he is concerned, talking about God, he can go to, and I'm not going to finish the sentence because the children are here. And he said, as far as the devil is concerned, he can go to the same place. And he said, as far as all these people are concerned, they can go to the same place. And he said, I'm going to drink this till I die, and that's where I'm going. I just thought I better be quiet for a while. I waited till he settled down.

His name was Montoya. And I said, you don't hate God. He said, yes I do. I said, no you don't. He said, how do you know I don't hate God?

I said, you don't know enough about him to hate him. See what had happened to this man. He told me, his wife had gotten into a false cult.

The members of that false cult had told him, because he was not a member of that false cult, that he should leave him and take the children also. And that was the God, the caricature of the God that he knew, which wasn't the God of the Bible at all. I said, mister, you don't hate God. You hate your idea of God.

Let me draw a picture of you. And I got a yellow pad and began to doodle and made some circles and talked about body, soul, and spirit, and then I talked about how Jesus died and so forth. Before we got off that plane, he prayed and asked Christ into his heart. We got off the Phoenix airport. He found me, put a bear hug on me, and said, mister, I love you.

I love you. Because he found Christ. Found the Savior.

I thought so much of the story of Mephibosheth. Here was a man, thought he hated God. He thought God was his enemy.

And there are people like this who come to church and they listen to a preacher preach, and they find themselves running from God and fearing God and afraid of God. God is love. God loves you. And God has made with his son, the Lord Jesus, a blood covenant on your behalf.

Now let me show you one other thing. Remember, friend, that our salvation is because of what Jesus did. Remember what David said is, then it left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness. Now listen to this, for Jonathan's sake.

Remember that? That I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake. What does Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 tell us? Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Now listen, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

See, are you getting it now? Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you, you're not worthy. I'm not worthy. We're dead dogs. We're deformed. We're under the sentence of death. We're fearing God and hating God. But God is in a covenant with his son, the Lord Jesus. And God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us.

It's not a matter of our worthiness. Notice what Mephibosheth had now. He had the king's forgiveness. Rather than judgment, he has a fortune restored. He had the king's fellowship.

To eat with a person is the most intimate fellowship that human beings can have. And he said here that he shall eat at my table continually as one of the king's sons, continual and intimate. We have the king's fortune. He says, restore to him everything of his rightful inheritance. Ladies and gentlemen, because of the blood covenant, the meat shall inherit the earth. God gave it to Adam.

Adam lost it. Jesus has restored it. We're heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only do we have the king's forgiveness, not only do we have the king's fortune, not only do we have the king's fellowship, but friend, we're in the king's family. David said, Mephibosheth, I want you to be like one of my sons.

Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Do you know what the devil will tell you sometime? The devil will tell you, you are not worthy. Don't argue with him. You will lose the argument. You are not worthy. Point him to the blood covenant and back out of the argument. Let him take up his argument with almighty God and the blood covenant. You say, well, I don't feel it.

It's not a matter of your feelings. It's a matter of the blood covenant. We say sometimes I fail. We all do. Come with the blood covenant and remind God of his loving kindness. Have mercy upon me according unto thy loving kindness. Friend, when you're in the blood covenant, enjoy the fellowship of this person.

Share the wealth of his possessions and rest in the shadow of his protection. Aren't you glad for the blood covenant? Aren't you glad? Why? Why Christmas? Why Christmas? Because, friend, Jesus came to earth to shed his blood, to make a blood covenant that we might enjoy what we have with our Lord.

Remember Mephibosheth? When he was faced with the love of God, he had to believe and ratify the covenant. He had to take David as his king now.

There's a change of kings. He had to yield to David. Are you willing to yield to Jesus? That's called repentance and faith. Turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus.

Do it now. Let me lead you in prayer. Would you pray this prayer, dear God? I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I need to be saved. Father God, I'm so grateful that Jesus shed his blood for me and I know, God, that you will forgive me for Jesus' sake because of his shed blood and because of the covenant made at Calvary. Now, Lord Jesus, just as I am, I come.

Amen. If you just pray to receive Jesus Christ into your life today, we want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on the website. You'll find answers there that you may need about your newfound faith.

There's a response section. You can share your testimony with us. Let us know how this message has impacted your life. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click on the tab that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you. Now, if you'd like a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and order The Blood Covenant. This message is also part of the powerful Christmas series, God in Human Flesh. For that complete collection, all four dynamic messages, call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio. Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. As you go about your day today, remember these words from Adrian Rogers, Jesus came to earth to make a blood covenant that we might enjoy what we have with our Lord.

Share the wealth of his possessions and rest in the shadow of his protection. Thanks for joining us in the scriptures today and be sure to tune in next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. I like what a friend on Facebook said about these messages from Adrian Rogers, instructive and encouraging. I'm also grateful they always end with an invitation for people to receive Jesus Christ as their savior. Well, we are honored to invite people into a relationship with Jesus at such a time as this.

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