WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 Now, if you want to take a Bible from the sides, if you don't have one, we're going 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:11.839 to be looking at first, second Samuel, sorry, chapter 9, that story that we read together 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:23.480 that is sandwiched by two other chapters, chapter 8, obviously, and chapter 10. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:31.240 So, shadows, we know that shadows can be quite frustrating, and just ordinarily in 00:00:31.240 --> 00:00:37.000 life, because we know what they are, we know what they point to, but they often leave us 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.200 with an incomplete picture, sometimes with questions and sometimes with frustration, 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:48.719 unless we can see the real thing of which they are a shadow, obviously. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:54.399 And the Old Testament can be a bit like that for us, because we're really told that it's 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:57.560 a shadow of the things that are to come. 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:02.560 And in order to make sense of a lot of the Old Testament, it's important that we look 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:08.879 at it through the lens of Jesus Christ, who is the real thing, to whom all the New Testament 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:09.879 points. 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:13.519 And even then, it can be quite hard work for us. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.599 If you're reading through the Old Testament, you'll have known that. 00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:21.119 There's a lot that we find difficult, a lot that is troubling, a lot that we find from 00:01:21.119 --> 00:01:31.560 our twenty-first century Western cultural background difficult to take on board. 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:37.159 But we wrestle with that, and we work through it, and we see it through the lens of Christ. 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:42.560 And what we have been seeing, and what Cori was speaking about last week from 2 Samuel 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:48.680 7, was the significance and the centrality of God's covenant with His people. 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:55.480 God's promises, God who promises into the chaos of life and into the chaos of what we 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:04.120 see around us, and His unflinching commitment to rescue us, to rescue our people, to forgive 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:11.680 and to love His people, to take us from death, spiritual death to life, and never to let 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:12.680 go of us. 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:15.360 That is the covenant that He makes. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.360 That's the promises that He speaks to us. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:25.760 And that is the centrality of the message, even as it comes through the Old Testament. 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:33.840 And the Old Testament is a revelation, a progressing revelation of His character and His purposes, 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:39.960 particularly obviously to that ancient Near East culture, a culture of kings and wars 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:48.600 and brutality, one that we're not common with, one that we don't necessarily understand. 00:02:48.600 --> 00:02:56.080 But He took a people from such a culture and environment, and redeemed them and brought 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:03.040 them back to Himself, and enabled them and commanded them to live in a right and in a 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:08.920 just way, as an example to the nations around them. 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:14.759 To serve and to love their God, their Savior and provider, to live at peace in the land 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:19.839 that God had given them, surrounded often by God's enemies. 00:03:19.839 --> 00:03:26.759 They didn't do it very often, and they didn't do it very well very often. 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:32.799 But nonetheless, we see what it is pointing forward to, and we see Jesus Christ, as we 00:03:32.799 --> 00:03:36.599 look through the lens of Jesus Christ, we see what God is doing. 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:44.519 What God is, what in shadow He is wanting us to encourage, us to think about. 00:03:44.519 --> 00:03:47.039 And there's two kind of areas in this. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:53.879 We're not going to look at the broader chapters around chapter 9, but I'll just mention them 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.959 and the broader context. 00:03:56.959 --> 00:04:00.799 Because what we have is two kind of aspects of what God is doing. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:09.480 We have what God is doing in a kind of global way, which is maybe less personal, but nonetheless 00:04:09.480 --> 00:04:10.640 very important. 00:04:10.640 --> 00:04:17.040 We have God's global work in shadow revealed in these chapters, but we also have God's personal 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.240 work for us revealed in shadow. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.879 So what we recognize, particularly from chapters 8 and 10, because these are chapters that 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.719 just work through some of the victories that David had as the King, defeating some of the 00:04:32.719 --> 00:04:37.560 enemies who would have wished to annihilate God's people. 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:45.120 What we see, what God is doing is He's establishing a kingdom with David as the great King. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:46.680 So He's establishing a kingdom. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:54.319 He's establishing a king, a people under this King, and a homeland somewhere to live. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:58.040 So what we're seeing in these chapters and in many of the chapters around the life of 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:07.439 David, that God is developing, building a person to follow, someone to follow, a righteous 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:10.759 King, King David, and somewhere to call home. 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:16.000 So very simple things, things we understand, things we can grasp, someone to follow and 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.959 somewhere to call home. 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:24.279 And we see He's also in doing so in establishing a king and a kingdom and a people. 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:32.719 He's also establishing a society that was to reflect God's character, was to reflect 00:05:32.719 --> 00:05:34.519 what it meant to be a follower of God. 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:40.679 So in chapter 8, for example, at verse 15, we're told that David reigned over all Israel 00:05:40.679 --> 00:05:46.319 and David administered justice and equity to all his people. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:53.439 So there was to be this reflection of the character of God in the society in which David 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:59.959 was to be king, a loving, secure, just and fair society. 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:06.920 And it was to be a society that was founded by God and in reliance of God. 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:13.680 Again in chapter 8, you see in verse 6, we're told the Lord gave victory to David wherever 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.079 he went. 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:20.319 And then also in verse 14, the same words I said again, and the Lord gave victory to 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.680 David wherever he went. 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:31.920 So it was to be a people that followed a righteous king who was dependent on the living God 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:37.560 to give them victory, reliant on God dependent on His grace. 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:44.040 And that kingdom and that king and that people was to exist in the face of brutal opposition. 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:47.360 And we see that right throughout the Old Testament. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:49.840 The surrounding nations were having none of it. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:55.399 They were having none of this lordship of this unique, exclusive God of Israel. 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:56.919 They wanted their own idols. 00:06:56.919 --> 00:06:58.519 They wanted their own rulers. 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:02.919 They wanted their own choice of how to build society. 00:07:02.919 --> 00:07:07.079 And they would have nothing to do with this God of Israel. 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:09.639 And they worshiped their own idols. 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:17.639 In fact, often they wanted to annihilate with an underlying spiritual opposition from Satan, 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:22.839 annihilate the seed of the women and the people of God in the Old Testament. 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:28.959 So there's much of war and killings and kill or be killed. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:34.279 And there was much desire for the destruction of God and His lordship, His exclusive claims 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:36.879 and His people. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:43.479 So there's this global shadowy picture in the Old Testament of a kingdom, a people, 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:48.160 a king and a homeland, somewhere to call home. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:52.759 And if we look at it through the lens of Christ, if we take it into the New Testament and we 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:57.640 remember the claim of Jesus in John chapter 8 verse 12, which is, I am the light of the 00:07:57.640 --> 00:07:58.879 world. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:06.640 And He's speaking that very much into His own people who were in the shadows. 00:08:06.640 --> 00:08:09.439 And He comes and claims to be the light of the world. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:16.279 And we know and we've seen before that Jesus is the greater Son of David, that He is the 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:17.680 David that is to come. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:24.120 He is the great King who is to be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament kings and none after 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:25.120 Him. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:28.480 He was God, but also one of us. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:35.440 And so we're to recognize in Jesus and in what Jesus established this moving forward 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:42.400 of the trajectory of a king, a people and a homeland, somewhere to call home. 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:44.040 He is to be our king. 00:08:44.040 --> 00:08:48.040 He is to be, how can we say, our idol as it were. 00:08:48.040 --> 00:08:49.320 He's our hope. 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:50.600 He's our Savior. 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:51.600 He's our God. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:56.680 And we're to see Him in that light just as the people were to see David as their king 00:08:56.680 --> 00:08:59.440 in that same light. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.840 But we see something far greater in Jesus Christ, someone who alone is worthy, someone 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:07.320 who alone provides for our deepest needs. 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:12.759 Our warrior king who's already fought the battles that we can't fight, who's already 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:18.879 gone plunged into death and defeated it and removed its sting, and who is with us and 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:25.480 who will never leave us, who provides us with a home and who provides us with a people to 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:27.720 worship Him with. 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:28.720 He's the man. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.840 And I think it's easy for us to lose sight of that. 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:39.720 It's easy to lose sight and to lack enthusiasm for this King of kings, this Lord of lords 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:43.920 who is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament that we struggle with. 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:45.560 We find difficult. 00:09:45.560 --> 00:09:47.399 We don't always understand. 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:51.440 But it was a trajectory pointing forward to Jesus Christ. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.280 And the kingdom that was being established in shadow has been established by Jesus Christ 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:03.759 and He will return to usher it in all its fullness. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:06.639 So easy for us to forget that. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:12.000 And He's the one who meets us and meets our deepest needs, just as this people looked 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.679 for peace and looked for belonging and looked for security and looked for a homeland. 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:20.759 These are the things. 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.639 These are the things you're looking for and I'm looking for in life. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.120 We're looking for that belonging, that acceptance, that security. 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:39.439 We're looking for that love that surrounds us and that takes us and that walks with us. 00:10:39.439 --> 00:10:45.199 And we find in Christ we have that without an end date, with no eviction notice, with 00:10:45.199 --> 00:10:47.159 no borders for us. 00:10:47.159 --> 00:10:56.519 But we have that family and that ground that we build, the houses on that we live in today. 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:01.879 That ground, scarred by sin, will be reclaimed on the day He returns. 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:06.879 And we will live in it and stand on it as we're standing on it tonight forever. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:15.519 Homeland, His creation, renewed and revitalized for us to be living in with His people, with 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.159 Christ as King. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:27.000 And that all happens in the context today still of spiritual darkness and opposition 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.519 and enemy territory. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:34.000 So this evening we can't get away from the reality of evil and we can't get away from 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.919 the reality of darkness. 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.960 And we can get away from the reality of the battle that we face with our own hearts and 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:48.080 our own sin, but sin leads to death and destruction and the annihilation of all that God is setting 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.960 up. 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:57.960 And we see and we recognize and we battle with daily His Lordship and with His greatness. 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:03.440 And we deny that and we recognize not only on our own hearts but in the society in which 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.960 we live that Satan rails against God at every level. 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:14.080 And darkness is a reality that we face daily. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:21.879 But we need to remember that in Christ a war has been won and in Him we also can win the 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:22.879 battles. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.200 But there's no point in pretending that battles aren't there. 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:30.720 There's no point in pretending that darkness and evil isn't real, either in our own hearts 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:36.080 or in the world in which we live, because that is the reality that God has made clear 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.480 to us through His Word. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:45.080 So there's this kind of cosmic picture of a king and a kingdom and a people and a homeland 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:51.320 which just soaks through everything that's being taught in the Old Testament, being fulfilled 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:53.639 in Christ. 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:59.720 But that can seem a little bit distant sometimes from us and it can seem a little bit maybe 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:02.800 just far away. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.919 And so what we have in the middle of these two chapters, chapter 8 and 10, we have something 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:16.279 very personal in shadow pointing to the relationship that Jesus wants with us also. 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:23.399 It's a beautiful cameo of the relationship between David, a new relationship between 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:28.319 David and Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:36.560 And so it moves from looking at what the covenant of God is in kind of macro terms or in global 00:13:36.560 --> 00:13:42.240 terms to look at what the covenant of God looks like with you and me in our own lives. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:43.920 And that's very important. 00:13:43.920 --> 00:13:47.240 It's what the covenant looks like at eye level. 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:54.440 So what we have is kind of a grace oasis in the middle of the shadows of the Old Testament. 00:13:54.440 --> 00:14:04.080 We have a shaft of light in the Old Testament attic as we look at this chapter, a sunspot 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:09.080 in the shadows of the Old Testament garden. 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:16.280 And it's a picture of God's covenant love for you and me as believers and also of God's 00:14:16.280 --> 00:14:21.080 covenant love that we should show to others. 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:26.600 And a recognition of that challenge personally in our lives. 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:32.160 So the background of the story of chapter 9 is really quite simple. 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:35.560 And it goes back to a couple of events. 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:43.440 Well in one way it's just David's recognition of God's covenant love for him. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:49.040 In chapter 7 of 2 Samuel, verse 28, David in the prayer that Cori read last week, and 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:53.399 now, Lord God, you are God and your words are true and you've promised this good thing 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:59.199 to your servant, and it speaks about his covenant love and the amazing revelation that he's 00:14:59.199 --> 00:15:01.279 given in that covenant. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:06.159 But it also goes back, and if you turn with me to 1 Samuel 20, we looked at this a while 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:13.360 ago, the relationship between David and Jonathan, and the covenant love that they shared together 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:22.600 and the covenant they made to one another in 1 Samuel 20 and verse 14. 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:24.759 We have these words. 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:30.360 This is Jonathan, who is, and David, they're about to separate, and Jonathan recognizes 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:34.519 that David's going to become the king, and that Saul and Jonathan and his family are 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.519 not going to be the next in line for the throne. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:42.320 And he says, if I am still alive, David, show me this steadfast love, remember that 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:46.879 Hesed love, that covenant love, show me that love of the Lord. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:51.560 It was something they had experienced, something they knew, and something that was important 00:15:51.560 --> 00:15:59.680 to them, that I may not die and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever. 00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:05.400 And so they made this covenant together because of the steadfast love of God for them. 00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:10.960 They had a steadfast love for one another, and Jonathan was saying, show me that Lord's 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.639 covenant love, and don't cut me off. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.879 You'll have every right to cut me off because that's what you do to the descendants of the 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:20.560 king that you've deposed. 00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:27.320 But don't cut me off for the sake of the covenant and for the sake of God's love that you've 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:30.240 received also. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:36.879 And that was the kind of relationship they had, a tremendously deep covenantal, loyal 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:44.559 love and forgiveness that they shared because they'd experienced it from God. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:50.919 So Jonathan made this, or David made this covenant with Jonathan and promised and made 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:59.200 an unbreakable commitment to protect him or to protect his offspring, care for them and 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:01.480 to love them. 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:13.519 And that's what's outworked in this chapter, Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, Saul's grandson. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:19.640 Fantastic picture of God's covenant love, God's hessed love, God's grace outworking 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:25.200 in the way David dealt with him. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.200 He calls for him. 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.799 He says, is there someone? 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:32.240 Is there someone that I can show, it's that same word, show this covenant kindness? 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:36.200 Is there someone I can show this covenant kindness to for Jonathan's sake? 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:39.319 And he recognized that relationship. 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:40.319 He calls for him. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:46.839 Twice he calls for someone to get Mephibosheth here. 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.119 And then he brings Mephibosheth to him. 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:55.000 And it's a hugely unexpected relationship between the two. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:00.960 He loves this descendant of Saul, who in the ancient Near East tradition, he has every 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:08.720 right to destroy as a potential suitor to his throne. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.319 He's anonymous. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:13.400 Nobody really knew he lived or he was existed. 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.359 His lineage was one that made him hide. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:17.880 He was the grandson of Saul. 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:23.440 And his injuries made it very difficult for him because we're told that he fell, he was 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:28.160 dropped by his nurse when he was just a baby because they were running away from other people 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:29.960 who would have sought his life. 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:35.880 So everything about his life, even the injuries they had reminded him who he was and reminded 00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:38.480 him of the danger that he was in. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:42.240 And he himself had no self-respect. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:45.080 He calls himself in verse 8, a dead dog. 00:18:45.080 --> 00:18:48.880 Why should you regard a dead dog like me? 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.840 He comes from low to bar, which means nothing. 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:53.839 It's the name of the place. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.159 There's a few places like that in Scotland. 00:18:56.159 --> 00:18:59.720 There's a dull, there's a boring, and there's a bland. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:01.079 All name places in Scotland. 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:02.559 Well, this is low to bar. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.119 This is nothing. 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:05.119 Nothing happens there. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:12.199 And you know, there's a message in that that was the kind of, that was where he was coming 00:19:12.199 --> 00:19:13.199 from. 00:19:13.199 --> 00:19:19.639 There was nothing in his life, nothing in his experience that really made him someone that 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:25.320 David the King would have any interest in whatsoever. 00:19:25.320 --> 00:19:27.520 But what does David say to him? 00:19:27.520 --> 00:19:31.200 Well, it's very reminiscent of God, isn't it? 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.200 He says, don't be afraid. 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:35.520 Fear not. 00:19:35.520 --> 00:19:41.440 Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of the covenant. 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:46.600 So there's this, he had every right to be afraid, he's called into the presence of the 00:19:46.600 --> 00:19:47.600 King. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:51.599 He said, don't be afraid, I'm going to show you kindness. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:20:02.240 And then there's this outstanding generosity that is just poured out on Mephibishith. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.119 It must have been unbelievable. 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:11.759 The restoration of all his grandfather's land fellowship at the King's table. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:16.119 You will eat with me every single night at my table in Jerusalem. 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:21.959 This who would go and plant crops for him and harvest these crops so that he would have 00:20:21.959 --> 00:20:23.199 an income. 00:20:23.199 --> 00:20:25.919 He was treated like one of David's sons. 00:20:25.919 --> 00:20:30.639 He was to sit with my sons at the table. 00:20:30.639 --> 00:20:32.239 He had no rights to any of that. 00:20:32.239 --> 00:20:35.519 It was absolutely beyond his wild of dreams. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:37.279 He must have pinched me. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.000 What's going on here? 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:43.119 What on earth is happening? 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:50.239 And we find here in the personal outworking of the covenant in shadowy form in the Old 00:20:50.239 --> 00:20:56.799 Testament, the glory of the reality that we have in Christ, as we shine the New Testament 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:59.639 light of grace in it, we see it. 00:20:59.639 --> 00:21:03.599 We see this incredible insight. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.879 I think this is David's finest hour. 00:21:06.879 --> 00:21:11.319 I don't think he ever tops this hour, this particular passage. 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:14.240 This is when he's most like Jesus Christ. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:19.000 I know we talk about David as being a type of Christ, but I think he's also here an 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:25.319 exemplar for how it is to act as a Christian and how it is to reflect God's love. 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:26.639 And it really is his greatest point. 00:21:26.639 --> 00:21:32.279 I know it's shadowed between these global pictures of victory in chapters 8 and 10, but 00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:38.159 it's also before his miserable collapse into lustful and loveless sin with Bathsheba. 00:21:38.159 --> 00:21:41.039 It's finest hour. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:47.480 He's most like the Christ that he points towards. 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:53.680 And it speaks also, doesn't it, the fact that we are Mephubishith. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:59.240 In many ways, as he is the great King, we are Mephubishith. 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:02.599 By nature, you know, we have nothing to offer God. 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:03.599 We're hopeless. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.960 We have no rights before him. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.319 And that's worse than hell does. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.359 He didn't have rights to claim before God. 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:17.279 He couldn't bring him a CV and say, except me, there's nothing. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:22.319 I mean, grasp the reality of that. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:30.559 And I wonder who of us, I hope we don't, but I wonder if there's anyone who shares the 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:35.519 same self-loathing of Mephubishith. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.679 You know, why should you regard me a dead dog? 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:41.160 Maybe feeling like a dead dog this evening. 00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:42.160 Maybe. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:45.840 That's the one verse that stood up, stood out tonight when we read it. 00:22:45.840 --> 00:22:48.400 How can I associate with that? 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.799 Low self-esteem, worthless, insignificant, damaged goods. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:23:00.200 If you're a Christian, can you re-evaluate your worth in the light of Jesus Christ and 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:04.400 the light of God's covenant, He said, love for you. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:06.160 Soak up His promises. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:08.200 Hold on to them. 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:09.200 Hear them. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.200 Repeat them. 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:16.279 And if you're not a Christian and you feel like that, your world is broken. 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:18.680 And it can be like that for you. 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:24.640 Hear the invitation of Christ and see the shadow of Christ and the way David treated 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:33.319 Mephubishith and come to Him and accept His grace and His love. 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.440 Don't be afraid. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.920 Don't fear, but rejoice. 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:39.360 Isn't that such an echo of how God speaks? 00:23:39.360 --> 00:23:41.560 It's what God speaks all the time. 00:23:41.560 --> 00:23:43.160 Don't be afraid. 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:50.680 And can we grasp something which in shadow is shown to us here of what we have as believers, 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:59.759 you know, feasting at the table of the King, resources, adoption, unbreakable love, His 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:06.720 own company in our lives beyond what we can ask or imagine that lies ahead for us? 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:12.440 And just as I close, we are Mephubishith and we can see that here, but I think we are also 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:13.440 David. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.440 Nah, okay. 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:19.559 You've got to watch how you connect these things. 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:25.279 And I know people say that David is a reflection or is points towards a type of Christ and 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.279 is the great Christ. 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:27.279 I know that's true. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:28.279 I know that's the case. 00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:31.519 But is he not also a sinner saved by grace? 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.640 He is the great King. 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:40.920 He's the forerunner of the Christ, but he is also a sinner saved by grace. 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:46.360 And therefore an example, who himself had to show this hessed love, who had to show 00:24:46.360 --> 00:24:48.440 it as a believer. 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:50.120 And he did in this occasion. 00:24:50.120 --> 00:24:54.920 It was the highest point of his life because he was most like his covenant God when he 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:59.480 did this, because he understood who he was and who God had saved. 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:04.480 Him as a lowly shepherd had no place to be the King and he recognized he'd been forgiven 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:06.720 and brought into this place. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:10.680 And so as we understand God's covenant love for us, this is why it matters. 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:15.960 Because if we understand it, if we understand who we were and what we were and what we didn't 00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:20.960 have before Christ came into our lives and what it is to be rescued and forgiven and 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:27.759 redeemed and brought back, then it changes how we live and it changes how we act towards 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:28.759 others. 00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.400 It means that you and I live in covenant love with one another. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.480 It means we share hessed love together. 00:25:35.480 --> 00:25:37.440 It means we love others like that. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:43.039 So we love others like David loved Mephibishith and like David loved Jonathan and like God 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.160 loved David and Jonathan Mephibishith. 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:47.240 And that's how we live our lives. 00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:53.039 That's how we move out of the shadows ourselves and that's how we begin to reflect what we 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:54.879 are as children of the King. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:00.080 It's a wonderful place to be that we... 00:26:00.080 --> 00:26:01.080 The... 00:26:01.080 --> 00:26:09.240 Our eyes are opened to see more clearly how much we've been loved sacrificially and how 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:17.360 much then we are called to love sacrificially and love differently from what we do naturally 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:20.480 or what we see in the world around us. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:28.480 We are to be David because we have been Mephibishith and that's how we live our lives and that's 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:32.519 what the covenant speaks of and that's what we celebrate when we do the Lord support together 00:26:32.519 --> 00:26:39.440 this new covenant, the outworking of all of this Old Testament picture. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:46.960 You've got to live your religion deep inside when you try for the kingdom on high by His 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:55.200 grace, by His grace, Van Morrison, great words, by His grace. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:56.200 May we do so. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:57.200 Let's pray. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.480 Father God, help us to live by Your grace. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:07.480 Help us to live in the shadow, the light of the shadow of Your covenant which is unpacked 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:13.120 in these Old Testament pictures and which point us to the great outworking and the new 00:27:13.120 --> 00:27:14.120 covenant of Jesus. 00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:18.559 His blood was shed, His body was broken for us. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:23.679 And help us to understand the depth of Your love and the provision of Your love and what 00:27:23.679 --> 00:27:25.079 it means for us. 00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:27.759 We've all got great weight on our shoulders. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:31.559 We've all got great concerns and great anxieties. 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:36.279 And we all got maybe great fears about waking up tomorrow and what tomorrow holds. 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:39.559 But remind us Lord of who we are as Your children. 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:45.039 Because of what lies ahead, remind us that it is unspeakably great, that it is beyond 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:49.039 what we can ask or even imagine and that eternally. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:54.000 And help us to live in that perspective of being covenant children of the living God. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:59.240 And not only with that future perspective, but may it affect and challenge how we live 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:02.559 now with one another, even without enemies. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:09.919 Because in a sense, this picture is of David with an enemy, at least a potential enemy, 00:28:09.919 --> 00:28:15.159 one who could have challenged his place for the throne. 00:28:15.159 --> 00:28:22.159 And Lord, remind us that You ask us to love You, to love one another and to love our enemies. 00:28:22.159 --> 00:28:25.679 We can't do it without Your Holy Spirit, without Your grace. 00:28:25.679 --> 00:28:29.960 May we be dependent children this evening, we ask, in Jesus' name. 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:32.960 Amen.