Untitled Sermon (2)

· The story has been told of a mother who sought from Napoleon the pardon of her son. The emperor said it was the man’s second offense, and justice demanded his death. “I don’t ask for justice,” said the mother. “I plead for mercy.”

“But,” said the emperor, “he does not deserve mercy.”

“Sir,” cried the mother, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask.”

“Well, then,” said the emperor, “I will show mercy.” And her son was saved.

· Can you think back to a time when someone was especially kind to you, even though you didn’t deserve their kindness? I am sure that if we all think about it, we can remember a certain time, or multiple times, when we were so undeserving, but someone chose to show us kindness in spite of our shortcomings.

· In , we see this kind of kindness. David has been named King. He has succeeded Saul, the one who was so threatened by David that he chose to become an enemy of the one who had vowed to be his servant. During this time, it was not uncommon for the new king, if the royal family changed, to have the remaining family members, of the previous royal family, put to death. However, David chooses to forego this. Instead, he chooses to offer kindness to any surviving members of Saul’s family. Even though Saul had become a sworn enemy of David, he looked past the evils perpetrated by Saul’s throne, and restore those who would accept his kindness.

VV. 1-3 – David Seeks to Fulfil his Covenant Promise

v David remembered his covenant with Jonathan, (), to show him kindness, and wanted the opportunity to fulfill it.

Ø Established on the throne in Jerusalem after having effectively put down both internal and external opposition, David was now in a position to fulfill his commitment to “the house of Saul” (v. 1).

§ He began a search for someone to whom he could “show kindness for Jonathan’s sake.”

· Ziba, a well-to-do (cf. v. 10) “servant of Saul’s household” (v. 2) who apparently managed the former king’s royal estate, was called in and questioned by the king.

Ø The repetition of David’s question in v. 3 significant in establishing the theme of this chapter.

§ It underscores that David was not an enemy of “the house of Saul” (v. 3); in fact, he was an agent of “God’s kindness”, working to benefit Israel’s former royal family.

§ There is also significance in the fact that Jonathan’s son was crippled. This is found in the fact that lame people were not ceremonially holy. There were blemished, damaged goods.

VV. 4-10 (Read vv. 6-7) – David Learns of Mephobisheth

v David learned that there was “still a son of Jonathan” (v. 4) apparently living with a wife and son (cf. v. 12) in a self-imposed internal exile.

Ø Mephibosheth was “crippled in both feet” (v. 3) as a result of an accident in early childhood.

§ David summoned him for appearance at the royal court. Appropriately—and perhaps somewhat awkwardly—the lame young man “bowed down” before the king “to pay him honor” (v. 6).

v David called out Mephibosheth’s name; in turn, Mephibosheth referred to himself as “your servant.”

Ø Here, we see great humility in the presence of powerful grace.

v David issued a magnanimous decree that changed Mephibosheth’s fortunes forever.

Ø First, David restored to the disfigured, exile “all the land that belonged to … Saul” (v. 7).

Ø Second, David gave Mephibosheth a privilege that seemed to have perished the day his father Jonathan had died, the right to board at the king’s table “always.”

§ Saul, before turning on him, had accorded David this same indulgence during his youth (cf. ); now David returned the favor.

Ø Third, David provided Mephibosheth with a large contingent of servants and material wealth.

§ He ordered “Ziba, Saul’s former servant” (v. 9) along with his “fifteen sons and twenty servants” (v. 10), “to farm the land” that had originally belonged to Saul “and bring in the crops” for Mephibosheth so that Jonathan’s son “may be provided for.”

v Mephibosheth’s response to the king’s generous pronouncements was one of abject humility. After bowing down once again before David, he called himself “your slave” (v. 8) and “a dead dog”.

Ø This poor cripple at Lodebar never supposed that David would show him favor.

§ Didn’t he belong to the rejected house of Saul? What could he expect from one whom his grandfather had hunted like a partridge on the mountains? Besides, his lameness made him unfit for court-life.

· We, like him, are the children of an apostate race; we have neither beauty nor worth to commend us.

Ø But Mephibosheth had been included in a covenant.

§ He might be unaware of it, but David could not forget.

· For the sake of the beloved Jonathan, David treated his son as a blood-relation.

· Nothing in the course of events could alter the sacred word that David had sworn to his departed friend.

v Mephibosheth I not unlike us. He was like a lost sinner.

Ø He was born in a rejected family.

§ As the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth was a member of a rejected family. He was a son of a prince, yet was living in dependence on others away from the city of Jerusalem.

· Every lost sinner today is born in sin, born into Adam’s family, and is thus under condemnation.

Ø He experienced a fall and could not walk.

§ Mephibosheth was lame, and could not walk.

· All people today are sinners because of the fall of Adam, and they cannot walk so as to please God.

¨ Instead of walking in obedience, sinners walk “according to the course of this world” (). They may try to walk to please God, but no amount of self-effort or good works will save them.

Ø He was missing the best.

§ Mephibosheth lived at Lo-debar which means “no pasture.”

· That is a fitting description of this present world—no pasture, no place for the souls to be satisfied. Sinners are hungry and thirsty, but this world and its pleasures cannot satisfy.

Ø He would have perished without David’s help.

§ We would never have heard of Mephibosheth were it not for the gracious steps David took to save him. His name was written down in God’s Word because David reached him and helped him.

· The lost sinner is in a tragic situation. He has fallen; he cannot walk to please God; he is separated from home; he is under condemnation; he cannot help himself.

v In this text, David mirrors the gracious Savior.

Ø David made the first move.

§ Salvation is of the Lord! He took the first step in His work on the cross of Calvary.

· David made the first move when he sent for poor Mephibosheth, just as God sent Christ to this earth to “seek and to save that which was lost”.

Ø David acted for Covenant’s sake.

§ This grew out of the loving promise that David had made with Jonathan years before.

· David had never seen Mephibosheth, yet he loved him for Jonathan’s sake.

¨ Like Mephibosheth, We are not saved because of our own merit; we are saved for the sake of Christ.

Ø We are forgiven for His sake. We are accepted “in the beloved”. It was part of that “everlasting covenant” that the Father should save for Jesus’ sake all that trust the Savior.

Ø It was an act of kindness.

§ Christ shows His kindness to us in saving us.

· Mephibosheth had no claim upon David; he had absolutely no case to present. Had he appeared before that throne asking for justice, he would have received condemnation.

Ø David took him into his own family.

§ Like many sinners today, Mephibosheth wanted to work his way into forgiveness (vv. 6, 8), but David made him a son (v. 11).

Ø David provided for his every need.

§ Mephibosheth would no longer live with “no pasture”; for now he would eat daily at the king’s table. And David gave to Mephibosheth all of the inheritance that belonged to him.

· So Christ satisfies the needs of His family. He has given us an eternal inheritance.

¨ If he gave us our rightful inheritance, we would go to hell! But in His grace He has allowed us to share in His inheritance, for we are “joint-heirs with Christ”.