WEBVTT 00:00:00.780 --> 00:00:09.419 2 Samuel chapter 9, and we're going to read that passage together, and Amy is going to come and read it for us. 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:10.640 So Amy, over to you. 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:19.940 David asked, Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake? 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.960 Now there was a servant of Saul's household named Zeba. 00:00:24.400 --> 00:00:27.620 They summoned him to appear before David. 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:31.339 And the king said to him, Are you Zeba? 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:34.340 At your service, he replied. 00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:42.740 The king asked, Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness? 00:00:44.260 --> 00:00:48.000 Zeba answered the king, There is still a son of Jonathan. 00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:50.359 He is lame in both feet. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.280 Where is he? the king asked. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:00.280 Zeba answered, He is at the house of Mekir, son of Amiel, in Lodabar. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:07.900 So king David had him brought from Lodabar, from the house of Mekir, son of Amiel. 00:01:07.900 --> 00:01:17.060 When Mehibosheth, son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour. 00:01:18.580 --> 00:01:19.900 David said, Mehibosheth. 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:22.680 At your service, he replied. 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:31.240 Don't be afraid, David said to him, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:39.540 I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you will always eat at my table. 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:47.460 Mehibosheth bowed down and said, What is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me? 00:01:47.459 --> 00:01:59.159 Then the king summoned Zeba, Saul's steward, and said to him, I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:10.539 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. 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:16.659 And Mehibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table. 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:21.199 Now Zeba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 00:02:22.399 --> 00:02:29.639 Then Zeba said to the king, Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do. 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:35.199 So Mehibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:43.619 Mehibosheth had a young son called Micah, and all the members of Zeba's household were servants of Mehibosheth. 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:49.000 And Mehibosheth lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king's table. 00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:50.859 He was lame in both feet. 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:56.919 Great, thank you so much, Amy. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:59.539 Let's just pray briefly as we come to look at God's word. 00:02:59.620 --> 00:02:59.959 Let's pray. 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:09.180 Father, we pray with the psalmist, open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in your law. 00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:13.740 Teach us, Lord, the way of your decrees, that we may follow it to the end. 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:18.780 Give us understanding so that we may keep your word and obey it with all our hearts. 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:23.960 Direct us in the paths of your commands, for there we find true delight. 00:03:24.760 --> 00:03:28.540 May those words be true for us this morning, we pray, as we come to look at your word. 00:03:28.540 --> 00:03:29.500 Amen. 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:30.360 Amen. 00:03:31.420 --> 00:03:32.820 We'll keep that passage open. 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:36.780 There's an outline on the inside of the welcome sheet if you want to follow along there. 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:41.560 And the slides will be coming up behind me as well, hopefully. 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:49.860 If I can put it this way, the key to understanding, I think, what God would have us learn from 2 Samuel chapter 9 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:59.360 is not to see ourselves as the hero, but to see ourselves in the place of the weakest person in 2 Samuel chapter 9. 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:05.700 We love, don't we, to read stories and listen to stories as if we are the hero of them. 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:13.319 We imagine ourselves to be Spider-Man or the rock or Storm or whoever it is. 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:20.399 Superhero movies are popular because we like to think that we are possible to be that superhero. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:28.819 You know, we would like to be better than we really are and think we're maybe only a spider's bite away from being able to climb up walls or whatever it is. 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:31.899 But that's not how to read 2 Samuel chapter 9. 00:04:32.099 --> 00:04:33.259 This is not Spider-Man. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:34.360 It's not a Marvel comic. 00:04:34.599 --> 00:04:42.259 But not only because 2 Samuel 9 is a record of historical events, but also because in 2 Samuel 9, God is teaching us that we are not David. 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:47.579 We're not even Ziba, but you and I are like Mephibosheth. 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:52.519 We are weak, crippled, and depending on others for help. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:56.159 Now, I know that's a really hard sell this morning. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:02.060 It makes the message of 2 Samuel 9 the opposite of whatever else it is that you're going to hear all day. 00:05:02.779 --> 00:05:07.560 The passage is not going to be saying to you, listen, be the best that you can be and that will be enough. 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:08.599 It's not going to say that. 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:12.220 It's not going to say, rely on yourself and that will be enough. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.600 It's not going to tell you that you're the captain of your soul or the master of your fate. 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:21.240 And it's not because it's against the idea of us taking personal responsibility for our actions. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:21.920 It's not that. 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:25.820 It's not because God doesn't think that we should try our best or do our best. 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.640 Actually, I think that idea belongs to Christianity. 00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:29.900 It's borrowed by our world. 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:41.699 Rather, the point is that 2 Samuel 9 reminds us that the key to life, the key to life in this world is receiving the undeserved kindness of God. 00:05:42.719 --> 00:05:44.179 That's the key to life. 00:05:44.699 --> 00:05:52.560 It's owning our weakness and accepting that what we really need is the undeserved kindness of a king. 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:55.879 Now, with that in mind, let's have a think about this guy, Mephibosheth. 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:01.139 Mephibosheth, if you've been tracking along with the story, is in a precarious position. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.019 Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan. 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.920 He is the grandson of the old king Saul. 00:06:07.420 --> 00:06:10.920 And Ish-bosheth, the wannabe king of Israel, was his uncle. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:18.659 Now, in those days, to be a child from the old dynasty was by definition risky and not without reason. 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:24.460 So his grandfather, Saul, had been out to kill David on numerous occasions. 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:26.140 And David is now the king of Israel. 00:06:27.580 --> 00:06:31.660 In the end, Saul was wounded in battle and fell on his sword to finish him off. 00:06:31.700 --> 00:06:33.100 And so he is now dead. 00:06:33.780 --> 00:06:38.920 His father, Jonathan, was a good friend of David, but he also was killed in battle and he is dead. 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:44.640 His uncle, Ish-bosheth, had tried to split Israel and take 11 tribes away from David. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:51.919 He ruled a rebel group away from the new king, but it all ended badly and he was murdered in his bed by his own soldiers. 00:06:52.219 --> 00:06:55.339 So Ish-bosheth is dead as well. 00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:02.560 Now, if you are looking at that kind of family tree and seeing what's going on, by all accounts, Mephibosheth knows, doesn't he? 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:04.599 I'm on borrowed time here. 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:07.659 I am in the wrong family, in the wrong kingdom. 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:13.560 But as you read 2 Samuel chapter 9, you realise that actually it's even worse for Mephibosheth personally. 00:07:14.280 --> 00:07:17.700 Because on top of everything else, he is unable to walk. 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:21.160 We are told that he is crippled in his feet, verse 3. 00:07:21.880 --> 00:07:30.879 It's a reference back to 2 Samuel chapter 4, verse 4, when we're told that his nurse dropped him as a child, breaking his feet and rendering them useless for the rest of his life. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:37.159 A point which gets repeated throughout the chapter, as Amy read it, you might have noticed it, almost to the point in which it makes you slightly uncomfortable. 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:40.639 And we'll come on to look at that in a bit more detail in a moment. 00:07:40.719 --> 00:07:45.800 But just pause with me here for just a little while and think, what would it have been like to be Mephibosheth? 00:07:47.219 --> 00:07:49.620 Can you put yourself in Mephibosheth's place? 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:52.100 He's a child of the enemy. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:58.100 All your close relatives have been executed or killed in battle, even by their allies. 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.540 Mephibosheth could literally trust no one in the world, could he? 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:05.460 And also, on top of all of that, he is physically weak. 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:08.760 He is lame at a time when that was not understood and not accommodated. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:15.120 He had no one to trust, but he had to trust somebody, someone to take care of him. 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:21.480 Mephibosheth is, in our passage, the definition of what it means to be weak and vulnerable. 00:08:23.320 --> 00:08:27.280 I guess he would have tried to hide his identity as well. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.519 I think that's why you find him in this place called Lodibar. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:39.179 Everybody who knows the story about Saul and his nurse dropping him and all of that would know who Mephibosheth was. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.559 So he was living in Lodibar in an insignificant place in the northeast of the country. 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:46.159 Middlesbrough or something like that. 00:08:47.299 --> 00:08:48.179 He's in hiding. 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:56.739 Now, if 2 Samuel was the Hunger Games, then Mephibosheth is the guy that they all hated, who's wounded and immobile and just waiting to be finished off. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:57.359 He's a nobody. 00:08:58.179 --> 00:08:59.559 And he's lost and weak. 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:04.839 And the big surprise of 2 Samuel 9 is that it starts off, if you look down at verse 1, with David saying, 00:09:04.979 --> 00:09:10.059 Who is there in the house of Saul that I can show kindness to for the sake of Jonathan? 00:09:11.539 --> 00:09:14.259 That the backstory to that is in 1 Samuel chapter 20. 00:09:14.379 --> 00:09:14.859 It's so important. 00:09:14.939 --> 00:09:15.939 It's worth turning to it now. 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:20.580 If you want to turn back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 20, it will come up on the screen behind me. 00:09:20.940 --> 00:09:24.140 But what we find is that David is talking to his best friend, Jonathan. 00:09:24.140 --> 00:09:31.860 And it's this tense conversation because he knows that David's David knows that Jonathan's father, Saul, wants to kill him. 00:09:32.140 --> 00:09:35.520 So he's asking Jonathan to help him out by finding out for sure whether that's the case. 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:40.520 Jonathan knows that David is going to be the next king in the place of his father. 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:42.620 And so he asks him this. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:43.560 What does he say? 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.860 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 14. 00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:53.400 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord's kindness as long as I live so that I may not be killed. 00:09:53.900 --> 00:10:01.320 And do not ever cut off your kindness from my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth. 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:04.260 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, 00:10:04.260 --> 00:10:07.320 May the Lord call David's enemies to account. 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:14.160 And Jonathan and David reaffirm his oath out of love for him because he loved him as he loved himself. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:15.980 There they are. 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:17.299 They're making a promise to one another. 00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:22.279 Jonathan is asking David to make a promise to love him and his family after him. 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:25.480 And back in 2 Samuel chapter 9, David is keeping that promise. 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:31.679 He's looking for someone from Jonathan's family so that he can show them kindness. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:36.839 So he calls a guy called Ziba, who is Saul's former servant, and they ask him. 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:44.139 And he knows about Mephibosheth and knows where he is and calls him so that in verse 5, Mephibosheth is collected and brought to the king. 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:45.859 Now, I don't know. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:46.899 The story doesn't tell us. 00:10:46.959 --> 00:10:49.659 But I can imagine that at this point, Mephibosheth is terrified. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:50.500 I mean, imagine. 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:52.740 You know who you are. 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:53.620 You know where you're from. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:56.039 You've been hiding away as the grandson of the wrong king. 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:03.759 You've seen enough of history documentaries to know that when the new family takes over the kingdom, all of those from the old family are destined to die. 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.879 And now the king has called you into his presence. 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:09.120 Ah, you must be thinking. 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:12.820 Ziba has blown your cover. 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:16.639 And now you are called into the presence of King David. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:16.840 David. 00:11:17.259 --> 00:11:22.319 So in verse 6, when Mephibosheth falls flat on his face and pays homage in front of David, it's no surprise, is it? 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:24.439 He calls himself David's servant. 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:26.299 All of that makes sense. 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.179 But it's what comes next that's going to be the surprise for Mephibosheth. 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:30.199 Look down at verse 7. 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.139 This verse 7 is the heart of the whole story. 00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:37.279 The passage is designed around verse 7. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.039 Let me try and show you that so that you can see it. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.039 The way the writer has put his material together puts verse 7 right at the center of what's going on. 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:49.779 So before verse 7 and after verse 7 come Mephibosheth's responses to David. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:54.259 In verse 6 and verse 8, you see him responding to David. 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.179 Then outside of that, it's a guy called Ziba, the servant of Saul. 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:00.120 He is talking to David. 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:06.500 Then in a circle outside of that is David's intention to keep his promise to David by showing kindness. 00:12:07.599 --> 00:12:11.120 So everything that the author is doing is zooming you in on verse 7. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.340 And look at verse 7. 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:14.200 Don't be afraid, David says to him. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.879 For I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:23.620 I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul and you will always eat at my table. 00:12:24.899 --> 00:12:28.340 Put yourself in Mephibosheth's place and that's amazing news, isn't it? 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:34.700 Through no merit of his own, only because of a promise made to David well before Mephibosheth was on the scene. 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:37.220 Mephibosheth doesn't just get to live. 00:12:37.660 --> 00:12:43.960 Instead, he gets his land back and he gets Ziba employed as a servant to take care of it. 00:12:44.160 --> 00:12:47.640 While he himself lives in the palace and eats with the king. 00:12:48.800 --> 00:12:53.960 You know, the hideaway cripple living in fear of his life has become the king's son. 00:12:55.160 --> 00:12:59.600 Living in the palace with a steady income from the land being worked on his behalf by servant Ziba. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.220 The last couple of verses summarize it, don't they? 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:04.259 Look down at verse 11, just partway through the verse there. 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:09.019 So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:15.480 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika and all the members of Ziba's household were servants of Mephibosheth. 00:13:15.920 --> 00:13:20.040 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king's table. 00:13:20.180 --> 00:13:22.300 He was laying in both feet. 00:13:22.299 --> 00:13:27.399 I want you to try and just feel the drama of the story if you can for a moment. 00:13:27.959 --> 00:13:35.579 This transformation that happens for Mephibosheth, poor, hiding and helpless, yet shown incredible kindness and mercy. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:41.099 He's provided for and welcomed so that the one who is in hiding is now welcomed. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.759 The one who was eating alone in the dust is now eating at the king's table. 00:13:46.359 --> 00:13:47.500 It's an awesome story. 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:54.740 But let me show you that it's even better than just a story of a king being kind, because notice how David's generosity is framed here. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:56.259 Look at the word that's used. 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:57.039 It comes three times. 00:13:57.139 --> 00:13:57.940 It's there in verse one. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:13:59.039 To whom can I show? 00:13:59.100 --> 00:14:00.279 The word is kindness. 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:02.139 It's repeated in verse three. 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:04.779 To whom can I show God's kindness? 00:14:04.980 --> 00:14:05.899 Again in verse seven. 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:08.679 Don't be afraid for I will show you kindness. 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.700 Now kindness in English language is a bit of a weak word, isn't it? 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:15.080 Even be kind. 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:17.580 It's what parents say to their children. 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:19.800 But in the Bible language, it's an important word. 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:25.240 It's the Hebrew word hesed here, which is often translated steadfast love or loving kindness. 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:27.960 It's a particularly important kind of love. 00:14:28.300 --> 00:14:31.480 It's a promised love, a covenant love. 00:14:31.780 --> 00:14:35.240 It's a love which is not about gooey feelings, which is how we often define love. 00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:37.600 But it's a love which is about commitment. 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:39.340 It's a proper love. 00:14:39.400 --> 00:14:40.920 It's a love which keeps its promises. 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:48.059 It's a love that's real, a love that perseveres even when it's difficult because it's rooted in a commitment, not in a feeling. 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:53.799 And that commitment here, that promise was the promise made to Jonathan way back in 1 Samuel 20. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:04.879 And that promise, that hesed promise of love now means that Mephibosheth gets to sit at the king's table as David acts with loving kindness rooted in the promise. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:09.779 Now, if you look at verse 3, you'll notice that this hesed, this kindness of David has a particular source. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:12.059 It's God's hesed, he says. 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.939 In other words, David is not unconsciously doing this. 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:22.200 He is self-consciously behaving towards Mephibosheth in the way that God has behaved towards him. 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:26.700 David has received hesed, loving kindness from God. 00:15:26.700 --> 00:15:30.660 And he is now showing it to Mephibosheth, the kindness of God. 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:35.120 Let me say this is a bit of an aside really here. 00:15:35.160 --> 00:15:39.259 But let me say this is one reason why the Bible takes marriage really seriously. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:40.780 Have you thought about that? 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:45.240 Perhaps you've wondered, why is the Bible so hung up on marriage? 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.879 Why does the Bible instruct Christians to only marry Christians, to restrict sex for marriage, 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.680 and tell Christians that divorce is serious and to be avoided? 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:58.000 Well, it is because love in the Bible is this kind of love. 00:15:58.359 --> 00:16:05.500 It's not a passionate feeling of desire, but love in the Bible is a God-like lifelong commitment of a promise. 00:16:06.179 --> 00:16:08.699 A promise that outlasts the feelings of desires. 00:16:08.839 --> 00:16:10.839 It smooths over the lumps and bumps. 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:14.879 A love like that is a God-like love. 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:19.500 We have received hesed from God and we show it to others. 00:16:20.019 --> 00:16:21.719 And that's how David loves here. 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:29.980 And back in 2 Samuel 9, this hesed love of David for Mephibosheth brings to light what I think is the intention of this whole story, 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:36.899 which is that you and I see that in Bible terms, we are God's Mephibosheths. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:38.279 It's us. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:40.040 You know, think about it. 00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:41.460 The similarities are obvious. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:46.720 Before God, our position is as precarious and flimsy as Mephibosheth's. 00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:50.000 We too are from an enemy family, aren't we? 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.740 We live for the wrong king. 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:53.980 We do what we want instead of what God wants. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:56.700 We walk away from him, not towards him. 00:16:56.899 --> 00:17:03.759 And we come from a generation of that, from a human race that has done that ever since Adam and Eve. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:09.839 Giving God just as much passing attention as we think will give us a free pass on judgment day, 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.240 but not so much that we can honestly say that we live for him. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:18.160 I think if you like to put it this way, we hide away, don't we, in spiritual low D bars. 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:20.740 We think, well, no one will find us here. 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:24.359 Our family tree is bleak and full of death. 00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:31.500 Children of a dead king and a dying humanity, which consistently shows this is not our place and sin has no future. 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:35.319 On top of all that, we're not just crippled in our feet, are we? 00:17:35.539 --> 00:17:37.559 Spiritually, we're described as being dead. 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:41.740 Ephesians 2 says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:47.460 We're not just unable to move towards God, but we are without any impulse to do it. 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:52.380 Now listen, if you are understanding what I'm saying here, it's going to be a bit uncomfortable. 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:56.380 All this kind of talk of our weakness and our sinfulness is not easy to listen to. 00:17:56.380 --> 00:17:58.560 It's not actually that easy for me to say either. 00:17:59.660 --> 00:18:04.020 You know, we think, don't we, in our modern speak, that this kind of language ruins our self-esteem. 00:18:04.140 --> 00:18:04.980 Oh, don't tell me that. 00:18:05.620 --> 00:18:08.900 Oh, don't tell my children that I'm a sinner or that they're sinners. 00:18:08.980 --> 00:18:09.840 It will ruin them. 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:14.500 You know, we live in a world where we are encouraged to tell ourselves every day how brilliant we are. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.800 But the Bible's point in confronting us with this dire assessment of our spiritual state 00:18:19.800 --> 00:18:24.800 is not because it wants to ruin us, but because it wants to show us the remedy in Christ. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:33.039 Maybe this is just me, but I tend to think that we approach the Bible like it's a self-help manual, don't you? 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:38.099 You know, you read the Bible and you're looking for a verse that will kind of lift you up or spur you on. 00:18:38.859 --> 00:18:41.599 You know, moral guidance and tips maybe for knowing God. 00:18:41.879 --> 00:18:42.919 But it's not like that. 00:18:43.099 --> 00:18:46.839 The way to read God's word really, in some ways, is as a medical assessment. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:51.940 You go to the doctors and you have a test and you receive the results. 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:54.259 And that's in some ways what God's word is. 00:18:54.360 --> 00:18:59.720 And it is a devastating diagnosis, a devastating diagnosis. 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:03.380 But it is given to you by the one who has the cure. 00:19:03.380 --> 00:19:11.340 So God this morning calls us spiritual Mephibosheths hiding in low debars. 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:13.700 And he calls us into his presence. 00:19:13.820 --> 00:19:17.780 The Lord Jesus, the real king in David's line, calls us into his presence this morning. 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:18.460 What does he do? 00:19:18.500 --> 00:19:19.120 What does he say? 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:25.620 He says, listen, there is an ancient promise for me to show you loving kindness. 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:32.339 And it's not just that he's going to share a bit of his food with us, but he's going to share himself with us. 00:19:32.879 --> 00:19:39.459 The Lord Jesus, sent in the likeness of sinful humanity to purchase forgiveness and righteousness through his death on a cross. 00:19:39.919 --> 00:19:47.559 He calls us to himself and says, come, sit at my table like my son and my daughter, 00:19:48.379 --> 00:19:52.459 restoring to us the place that he has made for us, his kingdom of goodness and grace. 00:19:52.460 --> 00:19:56.480 What is the source of all this goodness that we're invited to, to enjoy? 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:57.700 Where does it all come from? 00:19:58.039 --> 00:19:59.680 What is the basis of this? 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:02.079 Hesed. 00:20:03.360 --> 00:20:07.120 Steadfast love of God himself based on an ancient promise. 00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:09.539 Relied on and built upon for thousands of years. 00:20:09.660 --> 00:20:11.880 Saving people from every tribe and language and nation. 00:20:12.100 --> 00:20:15.100 Saving the unworthy and the undeserving from every corner of the globe. 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:18.120 That's what's going on in 2 Samuel chapter 9. 00:20:18.860 --> 00:20:21.240 David shows Hesed to Mephibosheth. 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:25.880 As a witness to the fact that God shows hesed to you. 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:29.839 Let me give you three implications of this story for us this morning. 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:30.799 The first one is this. 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:31.359 Joy. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:32.519 Joy. 00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:36.720 It's worth looking closely at how Mephibosheth talks in verse 8. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.620 Look at what he says. 00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:42.539 What is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me? 00:20:42.980 --> 00:20:44.900 In a bulk, don't we, Mephibosheth's language. 00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:49.280 We're encouraged, I think, rightly to see people's identity not in their disabilities, 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:54.420 but to see the person who is no more or less valuable than any other person made in the image of God. 00:20:54.500 --> 00:20:55.380 People matter, don't they? 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.640 Whoever they are and whatever they're capable of. 00:20:57.660 --> 00:20:58.340 And that's right. 00:20:58.700 --> 00:21:02.960 Actually, David here is being very countercultural in his approach to disability. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:06.340 He's giving a dignity to Mephibosheth that would have been very surprising. 00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:13.319 But the offensiveness of the way Mephibosheth describes his disability is pointing to a very important point. 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.940 Mephibosheth knew that he was in his culture and his time a dead dog. 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:19.700 He couldn't be a king. 00:21:20.100 --> 00:21:21.640 He couldn't lead an army into battle. 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:24.100 He couldn't hold the hand of his son and teach him to walk. 00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:25.380 He couldn't work. 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:27.000 He couldn't provide for himself. 00:21:27.100 --> 00:21:28.019 He couldn't provide for others. 00:21:28.019 --> 00:21:32.940 He was, by definition, a burden, an unholy burden, as his culture saw him. 00:21:33.619 --> 00:21:39.359 But the wonder of the story is because King David, at a time when kings wanted beautiful and strong people sitting at their table, 00:21:39.819 --> 00:21:45.019 adopts the crippled Mephibosheth and has him sit at his table. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.799 In Isaiah and Jeremiah, you're told that that's what the Messiah will be like. 00:21:49.139 --> 00:21:52.299 Takes the lame and the crippled and makes them leap for joy. 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:54.619 That's what Jesus does. 00:21:54.619 --> 00:22:00.279 Taking what the world looks at as despised and unlovely and unworthy and reaches out and restores. 00:22:01.019 --> 00:22:05.539 And because of that, Mephibosheth's joy in verse 8 is not by pretending that he's not lame. 00:22:06.659 --> 00:22:10.519 He's not trying to imagine that David saw past his crippled feet to some inner beauty. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:18.459 The point is that Mephibosheth's joy is that David's loving kindness seats dead dogs at his table. 00:22:18.719 --> 00:22:19.659 That's what it does. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:20.919 That's his joy. 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:29.340 And so for us this morning, our joy as Christians doesn't come from us trying to pretend that we are less sinful and broken than we really are. 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:32.120 Or trying to dress ourselves up with nice words. 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:36.380 The truth is that you and I are spiritual dead dogs. 00:22:36.860 --> 00:22:40.880 People who are so sinful and so broken that we struggle even to love ourselves. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:45.880 But the truth is that God loves us with a hesed promised love. 00:22:46.780 --> 00:22:51.880 Not with gooey feelings of romantic love that we're so obsessed with, but with an unshakable covenant for the undeserving. 00:22:53.280 --> 00:23:02.160 And seeing that combination, our dead dogness and his hesed love for dead dogs like us, gives us joy. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:03.160 Joy. 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:03.240 Joy. 00:23:04.620 --> 00:23:09.400 Because we know that God sees the worst of us and still seats us at his table. 00:23:10.320 --> 00:23:12.580 Let me try and say it like this to try and make the point this morning. 00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:14.580 I think some of us are miserable Christians. 00:23:15.560 --> 00:23:22.740 Some of us have very little joy because we never engage with how undeservingly brilliant the gospel is. 00:23:24.060 --> 00:23:27.700 Either we see our sin but stop short of seeing God's love for sinners. 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:31.880 So we just think we're terrible people and we don't imagine that God could love us. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:37.440 Or we kind of forget our unworthiness and imagine that God's done quite a good job of getting us on his team. 00:23:38.080 --> 00:23:43.240 But those thoughts are not only wrong, but they are thoughts that make you miserable. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:44.100 Miserable. 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:49.519 Because the truth is if you're a Christian this morning, God heseds you in Christ. 00:23:50.080 --> 00:23:54.759 He is drawn to you, crippled and blind and sinning and sinned against as you are. 00:23:54.759 --> 00:24:01.619 You know, the key to joy in the Christian life is not to tell yourself that you're brilliant, but to realise that God loves you. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.099 Even you as a sinner. 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:05.000 Even me. 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:07.140 You know, we sing with joy with John Newton. 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:08.039 We're going to sing this in a minute. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:11.799 I was, I was once was lost, but now I'm found. 00:24:12.140 --> 00:24:14.140 Was blind, but now I see. 00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:16.319 That's the joy of the Christian life, isn't it? 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.059 The second implication here is confidence. 00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:21.099 Now stay with me. 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:23.740 I know you're running out of energy, but stay with me for a moment. 00:24:23.740 --> 00:24:28.019 I think Mephibosheth is and isn't like us in the story. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:32.160 Because the story is way, our story is way better than Mephibosheth's. 00:24:32.420 --> 00:24:36.519 You know, Mephibosheth, notice at the end of the passage, he's seated at the table of the king, but what? 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:38.099 He's still lame, isn't he? 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:45.460 David's love is able to sit him at his table, but it is not able to change Mephibosheth in any kind of meaningful way. 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:49.480 But God's hesed love for us in the Lord Jesus Christ is not like that. 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:52.680 So David's steadfast love is a shadow of God's love. 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:55.559 But if you like, it's a pale shadow of God's love. 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:04.079 While David invites Mephibosheth to come and eat with him, God in his covenant love and kindness comes and eats with us. 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:04.660 Yeah. 00:25:05.019 --> 00:25:12.400 So not only do we get to dwell with God eternally, but before then, God comes to dwell with us internally. 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:13.519 Understand? 00:25:14.460 --> 00:25:16.759 God by the Spirit comes and makes his home with us. 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:25.460 So that God doesn't only treat us like sons and daughters, he actually makes us into sons and daughters by coming to dwell in us by the Spirit. 00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:32.740 He doesn't leave us in the lameness of our sin, but he transforms us to live lives that please him and give him glory. 00:25:32.740 --> 00:25:41.539 So much so that our confidence for the future, our hope for security comes not from digging into our own loveliness, our own strength, not wondering if we can make ourselves fit for God, 00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:48.579 but knowing that God in his hesed loving Christ has come to dwell in me by his Spirit now, today. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:57.200 So that I'm invited to come to him to sit at his table because he has come to live in me. 00:25:57.640 --> 00:25:59.099 Which brings us confidence. 00:25:59.579 --> 00:25:59.779 Isn't it? 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:00.440 Confidence. 00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:00.559 Confidence. 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:03.880 Now where does confident Christianity work out? 00:26:03.940 --> 00:26:06.440 Where do you see and experience confident Christianity? 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:12.420 Let me tell you, I think you see it in the gathering of the local church in coming here. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:15.620 Imagine the story went like this. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.960 Mephibosheth gets called into David's presence. 00:26:19.500 --> 00:26:28.000 David says, listen, because of a promise I made to your father before you were around, because of that promise, I'm going to show you kindness, even though you don't deserve it. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.539 Mephibosheth thinks for a minute, goes, oh, that's wonderful. 00:26:31.339 --> 00:26:31.720 That's wonderful. 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:37.579 I've been eating dirt in Lodibar, and now you're offering me a place at the table of the finest food in all the kingdom. 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:40.480 Ah, but no, not really bothered, thank you. 00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:42.259 I'm going to go back to Lodibar. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.220 Or, you know, maybe I'll turn up every now and again. 00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:46.079 You'd think he was insane, wouldn't you? 00:26:46.339 --> 00:26:47.279 You'd think he was insane. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:50.480 But actually, that's often what people do, isn't it, spiritually? 00:26:51.779 --> 00:27:01.740 The gathering of the local church is the opportunity for us to express what it is to be called by God into his presence, to eat at his table with one another. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:07.819 Don't neglect coming here, because this is where we get confident Christianity. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:09.940 I get a seat at the table. 00:27:10.639 --> 00:27:12.779 I get to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. 00:27:12.779 --> 00:27:16.879 I get to experience his hesed and dwelling in me by his spirit. 00:27:17.399 --> 00:27:21.139 So I'm coming to express that in the gathering of the local church. 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:23.279 The final implication is faith. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:23.839 Faith. 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:30.079 The interesting thing in the story is that Mephibosheth, all he has to do to take his seat at the table is to trust, isn't it? 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.940 He just has to take David at his word. 00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:35.399 Believe that he's going to keep his promise to Jonathan. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.039 Have faith in David's faithfulness to his promise. 00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:38.920 That's all there is. 00:27:39.899 --> 00:27:41.980 Actually, there's a twist in the story in a few chapters. 00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:47.319 If you stay with us in the series in 2 Samuel, David gets turned out of Jerusalem by his son Absalom. 00:27:47.460 --> 00:27:50.559 And it turns out that Mephibosheth thinks he might get the kingdom back. 00:27:50.779 --> 00:27:52.059 We'll find that out in weeks to come. 00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:57.299 But the point is that Mephibosheth is safe as long as he trusts David's promise. 00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:04.059 So for us, you will not benefit from the kindness of God unless you trust in the promise of God. 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:09.759 You will not be safe if you do not receive by faith what God is offering you by grace. 00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:11.500 Faith is not a work, is it? 00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:14.519 It's just the hand that receives the grace that God offers. 00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:18.920 Some of you have heard this promise time and time again. 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:21.279 In a way, you've benefited from it by being around church. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:25.380 But the truth is you've never opened the hand of faith to receive it for yourself. 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:27.460 You must do that. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:28.839 You must do that. 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:32.839 You must acknowledge, mustn't you, that by nature you're a spiritual Mephibosheth. 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:33.339 Mephibosheth. 00:28:33.339 --> 00:28:35.579 I am a spiritual Mephibosheth. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.159 I am precariously balanced in the wrong kingdom. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:44.299 Let me encourage you this morning to hear this news of a kind king and to put your faith in him, even this morning. 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:48.259 To come and take your seat at the table of the king. 00:28:48.740 --> 00:28:52.679 King Jesus himself, the one who loved you and gave himself up for you. 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:54.480 That you might be saved. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:29:24.460 Let's pray. 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:26.460 Thank you. 00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:27.460 Thank you. 00:29:27.460 --> 00:29:28.019 Thank you. 00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:37.440 Thank you that not only have you seated us at the table of the Lord Jesus and promised us a place in glory, but that by your spirit you have come to dwell in us now. 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:45.920 Thank you that we can say not only that you treat us like your children, but that you have adopted us as your children. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:55.400 Thank you that in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have all the great benefits of the gospel, of being yours, belonging to you. 00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:57.200 Oh, Lord, we pray. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.700 Help us by faith to grasp that great promise. 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:02.700 Help us by faith to grasp that great promise. 00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:10.180 And help us to live confident Christian lives, gathering together with great joy to remember what you've done for us and how you've loved us in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:10.180 --> 00:30:16.259 Pray, please, Lord, that these things might always be precious to us as we pray in Jesus name. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:17.360 Amen. 00:30:17.980 --> 00:30:18.380 Amen.