“From Lame to Prince” (2 Sam 9:1-13)

A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, was mayor of NYC during the worst days of the Great Depression / He was called “the Little Flower” because he was only 5’4” / always wore a carnation in his lapel

He was a character / he used to ride the NYC fire trucks / raid speakeasies with the PD / take entire orphanages to baseball games / even go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935 / the mayor turned up at a night court in the poorest area of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge / took over the bench himself

Within a few minutes / a tattered old woman was brought before him / charged with stealing a loaf of bread / She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her so she brought her into her home / her daughter was sick / and her two grandchildren were starving to death / The shopkeeper / from whom the bread was stolen / refused to drop the charges. “It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor.” The man told the mayor. “She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.” LaGuardia sighed / He turned to the woman and said, “I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail.”

But even as he pronounced sentence / the mayor was already reaching into his pocket / He pulled out a bill / tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit, and furthermore, I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

That poor / little grandmother left that courtroom with $47.50 in her pocket / fifty cents of that being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner / Around that courtroom some seventy petty criminals / people charged with traffic violations / even NYC policemen / each of whom had just paid fifty cents / gave the mayor a standing ovation!

That is the very essence of God’s saving grace! / Grace recognizes our wretched condition / pays our debt / Gives us more than we could ever have imagined / John Newton got it right when he wrote song Amazing Grace!

Text we will read is one of the clearest pictures of amazing grace in the Word of God / God uses David / Mephibosheth as a picture / where He paints an illustration of what grace is all about / In this text / David rescues a man from a hopeless situation and forever changes his life

I want to consider this in 2 ways / one gratitude for what God has done in our lives / but also how we can impact someone else’s life / possibly change their life forever

2 Sam 9:1-13 1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. 3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”

4 “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” 5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. 6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.

David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. 7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” 8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” 9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.) 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

I. GRACE EXTENDED (vs 1-5)

A. THE REASON FOR THIS GRACE

1. vs says / David wants to show someone of Saul’s family kindness for Jonathan’s sake

a. Kindness = goodness, mercy, favor, loving kindness (Happens to be OT word for grace)

1. Grace can be defined as unmerited love and favor of God toward the undeserving

b. David’s desire to do this / went against the norms for those times

Just as Kim Jon Un / psycho in N Korea / killed many of his fathers military men, to prevent dissension, or an uprising, many kings also totally eradicated the families of their predecessors to ensure no on would launch a rebellion / or claim for the throne

2. David did this for 2 reasons

a. His relationship with Jonathan (1 sam 18 “they were closer than brothers”)

b. He was fulfilling a promise made years ago that he would not kill their offspring (1 Sam 20:13 & 24:20)

1. Here we see this grace being extended because of another! True nature of Grace

3. God extends His grace to the descendants of Adam / we do not deserve it / He extends it because of Another

a. We get grace / because of Jesus

B. THE REACH OF GRACE

1. When David decides to extend grace / he does so without any limitations 1 David asked, “Is there anyone…

a. Not people of certain criteria / soldiers / intellectuals / people of ability / anyone!

2. God’s grace also knows no boundaries

a. He extends it to all / regardless of pasts / racial / social standings / all are qualified to be saved!

1 Cor 1:26-29 Says He will save anyone who will come!

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

3. Where was Mephibosheth when David found him?

a. 4 “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

1. Interesting / Makir = Sold / LoDebar = No Pasture / Both describe his condition

2. He was injured in a fall / A son of a king / now separated / hiding / afraid / Mephibosheth = Shameful

a. Lost / with no way to help his condition / no hope

b. Eph 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

1. Thank God He extends His grace to all those in that condition / no limit on who can call on His name

a. Eph 6:37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

C. THE RESPONSE OF THIS GRACE

1. David hears of this man / hears he is crippled / and he says bring him to me

a. Not concerned with his background / abilities / appearance / potential / usefulness / 4 “Where is he?”

1. 5 So King David had him brought

b. Grace says same thing / not concerned about current condition / I’ll take him just as he is….

1. So it is with grace / God see’s us / in spite of what we currently are

II. HOW GRACE IS EMBRACED vs 6-8

For just a moment, put yourself in the shoes of Mephibosheth / Last member of the house of Saul / Helpless / life is hopeless! / He is poor / Crippled since age of five when dropped by a nurse (2 Sam 4) / No access to wealth / Probably lived in fear of David / knowing your father tried to kill him / Then it happens / You hear chariots outside / They are asking for you / You are loaded up / taken to the man you feared / You arrive at the palace / no idea what’s going on / carried into the King’s presence / when it becomes nothing what you had imagined / notice how he embraces it

A. EMBRACES IT WITH A HUMBLE HEART

1. 6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.

a. He knows he could be deserving of judgment / but humbles himself

B. EMBRACES IT WITH A HAPPY HEART

1. 6 David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. 7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.

a. David was looking at Mephibosheth / but I believe he was seeing Jonathan

1. Just As God does with us

b. 2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2. David calls his name / speaks peace to him / restores all the glory / that once belonged to family of Saul

a. Icing on the cake / David promises him a place / at kings table

1. 11 So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

C. HE EMBRACES IT WITH AN HONEST HEART

1. He is overwhelmed / acknowledges he is undeserving of such love / mercy

a. He embraces it / knowing his life will never again be the same

2. What a picture this is of the lost sinner who encounters grace!

a. We know we deserve nothing but judgment / God calls us / we repent / humble ourselves

1. Then the King of Kings speaks / extends grace / restores to us all that sin took away

Think back to the day you got saved / do you remember the fear? Feeling of dread? Remember how God spoke peace to your soul? How you came with nothing? Yet left with everything? What an amazing Savior we have!

b. When His grace is embraced, everything changes

III. HOW GRACE IS EXPANDED

When Mephibosheth came to David / he did not get what he deserved / He received grace / When he received grace / he also received more blessings than he could have ever imagined / Grace was expanded / Notice what grace provided to Mephibosheth and what saving grace provides to you and me

A. GRACE PROVIDED A FUTURE

1. In Lo Debar he had nothing / poor / outcast / fugitive / no hope for a future

a. When he met grace / everything changed / Present needs were met / His future was secured!

1. 10 …And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.”

a. He had access to the King / eat there any time he wanted

2. Same for any who believe / we were lost / had nothing / no future

a. Met grace / we are promised security / home in heaven / promised His presence all the way to heaven

1. I was a nobody going nowhere / But now / by grace I am somebody / heading somewhere big!

B. GRACE PROVIDED A FAMILY

1. He was adopted out of Saul’s family / into David’s / Grace gave him a family

a. 11 So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

2. When a sinner responds to the gospel / they are immediately adopted into the family of God / we are to show people Grace / not because they deserve it / because we want to be like Christ

a. Let’s never forget what we are / Sons & Daughters of King of Kings / simply by the grace of God

C. GRACE PROVIDED FULFILLMENT

Mephibosheth was a nobody in a house full of somebodies / Imagine the scene / It’s suppertime in the palace / The royal family enters the dining hall / takes their places at the king’s table / Absalom – perfect handsome / David’s sons / David’s beautiful wives and daughters / Joab – General powerful strong / princes / princesses / statesmen / men of power / all taking their place / THEN as they are all sitting there / they hear the sound of a crippled man coming down the hall / Clumping of his crutches / dragging of his feet / He takes his place / with all the rights / privileges as the rest / He grabs a chair / takes his seat / the tablecloth falls across his legs / Instantly he looks just like the rest

1. Grace took a nobody / made him child of a King

a. He would have never known joy / happiness / fulfillment / contentment apart from the grace of King David

1. He knew he was a nobody / but when he sat at the table / He was just like everyone else

a. That is the power of Grace

2. God takes the sinner / gives him a seat at the Lord’s table

a. Takes outsiders / makes them children of God

1. This Christmas season / can you go out of your way / as David did / to do what you can / to make someone part of the family of God?

3. Make room for grace

a. Even after being adopted / still not perfect

1. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

2. Same is true of of every new convert / same with us / saved by grace / but still far less than perfect

a. Truth be told / we are all just of bunch of spiritual cripples / yet still welcome at His table

D. Thank God for grace! Thank God for His soul saving / life changing grace!

1. No wonder... it’s called amazing!

Have you been “fetched” by grace? / Has its power, promises and provisions been made real in your heart and soul?

Christmas season / something about receiving gifts / here is a free one / salvation

If you are saved by grace, you know what I am talking about.

If you haven’t, but you know the King is calling you to come to Him, the time to do that is now.

Are you saved, but not walking as you should be? Come to Him now and He will restore you to a place of fellowship

and blessing / Are you saved and grateful for it? Why don’t you come before Him and praise Him for His grace!

For other ask God to help you go out of your way / even in busyness of this season / to show God’s love to others