Galen Call's Sermon Library
"The Kindness of God" - April 14, 1985 (PM Service)
That would be challenged by as well. Let's take our Bibles now and open them together to 2 Samuel, chapter 9. Chapter 8 of 2 Samuel is a summary of David's victories recounting the growth of his kingdom. Saul's warfare was basically one which was defensive by nature. He was often defending himself against some enemy of the Lord which would attack the people of Israel. David's was just the opposite, David's warfare was primarily offensive. David took the offense in moving out into his armies into the enemy's territory and claiming that for the Lord God. Probably the secret of David's success is found in the last part of verse 14 in chapter 8 where it says, "And the Lord helped David wherever he went." Undoubtedly that is the reason for David's great successes and for the enlargement of his kingdom. Now from that summary of his warfare we come in chapter 9 to a very specific instance that occurred regarding a man by the name of Mephibosheth. Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. And they called him to David and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" and he said, "I am your servant." And the king said, "Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who has crippled in both feet." Now we read earlier why he was crippled when Jonathan and his father were killed on the hills, the mountains of Jezreel and the word came back to home regarding their tragic deaths. The nurse quickly picked up this little boy who was five years of age at that time and in haste she dropped him. And we don't know any more details than that whether the dropping of the young lad caused his ankles to be broken or if she dropped him out of a moving cart of some kind. But the fact remains that that drop caused him to be crippled in both of his feet. And so the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is in the house of Makhir, the son of Amiel in low debar." Then King David sent and brought him from the house and Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. The thing that he expected was to be killed. That was the customary thing. When you were a member of a royal family that had been taken out of power, you were killed because you were potentially a threat to the new king. But he had a surprise coming. David said, "Mephibosheth," he said, "Here is your servant." And David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father, Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather's soul. And you shall eat at my table regularly, just the opposite of what this young man expected." Again, he prostrated himself and said, "What is your servant that you should regard me a dead dog like me?" He looked upon himself as of no more value than a dead dog, which wasn't worth a whole lot. And he said, "You have looked upon me with kindness." And the king called Saul's servant Ziba and said to him, "All that belong to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servant shall cultivate the land for him. And you shall bring in the produce so that your master's grandson may have food. Nevertheless, Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall eat at my table regularly." Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all the My Lord, the king commands his servant, so your servant will do." So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son, his name was Micah. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king's table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet. We see here a record of the special treatment of Mephibosheth, who at this time was probably around 20 years of age. The reason for his special treatment was because of his relationship, not just to Saul. That was significant, but especially because he was the son of Jonathan. You may recall that Jonathan was David's dearest friend. He and Jonathan were as close as blood brothers. He loved Jonathan. And when Jonathan was killed, you recall that David lamented loudly and lonely because of the death of this man who was as dear to him as a man could possibly be. And now here is Jonathan's son. And because of the covenant that he had made with Jonathan, David was kind to Mephibosheth. That covenant is found back in 1 Samuel, chapter 20. Back when Jonathan was befriending David, when Saul was after his life. In chapter 20 verse 42, Jonathan said to David, "Go in safety inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.'" And so that was the recounting of the covenant that these two precious friends had made together. They would look after one another's descendants and they had sworn before the Lord to keep that promise. And so that is the reason for David's inquiry. Now some 15 years or more, 20 years or more later, he wants to keep that covenant. I think furthermore, he wanted to attempt to end any conflict with Saul's house and thought that this would be a good way to do it. What we see in this chapter is what a great man David was. Not that he was so great in himself, but God made him great. He was a man after God's heart. He's a man who reflects here what he calls in verse 3, the kindness of God. David could, as well, have killed this man. That would have been allowable within the customs of that day. But God is so in his heart, and he is so after God's heart, that his desire is not to do that, but rather it is to show the kindness of God. This chapter also contains some wonderful spiritual lessons for us by way of application. David illustrates here the kindness of God in his actions. There are three applications of that that I want to make, and then we'll quickly be on our way. Application number one is this, that like Mafibisheth sinners are crippled, crippled in the sight of God. Here is a young man whose feet caused him to be unable to walk and to be normal. God has a report in his word on the condition of the spiritual feet of the sinner. Listen to these words, for example, from Romans chapter 3. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. That is God's description of the crippled feet of the sinner. He, furthermore, says in Proverbs 1-16, "For their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood." Proverbs 14-12, "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." That is the direction that the crippled feet of the sinner take him. And finally from Isaiah 53-6, this word from God, "All we like sheep have gone astray. Our crippled feet have led us away from the Lord." And so, like Mafibisheth sinners are cripples, cripples in the sight of God. But thank God the Christian can say as did David in the Psalm 56-13, "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living." He testifies further in Psalm 116, "For thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." David expresses there the experience of every person who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, the feet that were crippled and which led us away from God, our feet and whose ways were misery and destruction, our feet which were swift to shed blood, our feet which led us in the ways of death, those feet have been healed by the power of God. We have been delivered from death, from tears, and our feet from falling. Of course, man likes to think himself much differently than this. Humanism says that man is inherently good, that there is the spark of divinity in all of us, that that spark simply needs to be fanned to life in some way. Some say that Jesus came to show us how good man can be. Indeed, that is just the opposite. Jesus came that we might see how holy God is and how completely lost we are. Jeremiah had it right when he said, "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, not innately good, not with a spark of divinity." Although certainly, there is something of the image of God left in every man, but man by his nature is sinful and separated from God. Humanists try to tell us that man is evil from his environment. If you just improve his environment, his standard of living, then you will improve the man and he will be a good person. But in fact, evil doesn't come from the environment around us. Evil comes from the sin nature within us, and it is that which then affects the environment as a matter of fact. Like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled in the sight of God. They walk away from the Lord, and it may be that tonight that is a description of your spiritual feet, that they are crippled. And as Roman says, destruction and misery are in their ways. Well, there's a second application that I see here in chapter 9, and that is that grace is extended to us. Just as David extended grace and kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake, so God has extended grace and kindness to us for Jesus' sake. David did not know this man. He had never met Mephibosheth before this day when Zebra brought him before him, but he did know Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, and he had made a covenant with him. And when David looked at this man who has crippled and unable to walk, he saw not just Mephibosheth, but he saw Jonathan. And when he saw Jonathan in that young man, he loved him, and extended grace toward him. When you and I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are made accepted to God, not for our sake, but for Jesus' sake. From the moment that we trust Christ in God's eyes, from that time on, we are not seen just as ourselves, but we are seen in Christ. As it says in Ephesians, we are accepted in the beloved, accepted in his son. That is the whole basis of our salvation. We are not saved apart from Jesus Christ. These waters that we're symbolically moving on a little bit ago are waters which portray and symbolize our identification with Jesus Christ. And it is that union with him, that identification with him. It causes God to be able to look upon us with grace and with kindness. As kindness was was extended to Mephibosheth on Jonathan's behalf, so grace and kindness is extended to us by God for Jesus' sake. So Villa Martin has written a hymn that I love very much. I wish it were in our hymnal. It's entitled "In the Beloved." It says, "In the Beloved, accepted am I. Risen ascended and seated on high, saved from all sin through his infinite grace, with the redeemed ones according to place. In the Beloved, God's marvelous grace calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my Savior, and then he sees me in the beloved, accepted and free." I see a third application as we look at this brief story from David's treatment of Mephibosheth. It is that God's grace gives to us a place of great privilege. Mephibosheth lived. That alone would have been enough. But David was not content with that. He made Mephibosheth as one of his own sons. He in the first place restored to Mephibosheth all of his family inheritance. Everything that had belonged to Jonathan, everything that had belonged to Saul, and I think how much that must have been. He was the king. All of that, David restored to Saul's grandson. And then David extended to him a very special privilege in that day. He said, "From now on, you will eat at my table." That was not only a provision of food. David could have done that anywhere in the country, could have ordered the food be taken to him. But David wanted an identity to be established between himself and this one. And so he said, "You will eat at my table. You will be accepted as one of my own, indeed as I myself." And finally, he allowed him to live in the city of Jerusalem, the king city. According to verse 13, that is where Mephibosheth lived for the rest of his life. I'd like to make three simple applications from those same points. Number one, as he received an inheritance, so have we. By God's grace, we have been given a place of great privilege so that we are now called the sons of God. And because we are sons, we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We have been begotten or born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is incorruptible, that is unfading. In other words, it is an inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ that sin cannot taint. And it is an inheritance in Jesus Christ that time cannot diminish. It does not fain with time. That happens to earthly inheritances. Sin can taint it. There have been those that have actually refused the family inheritance because of the way that the money was made. There have been those who have inherited something from parents or grandparents and have regretted it because of the name that they received. Sin tainted the inheritance, especially in a time of inflation like we have been living in. Inheritance can fade away. Ask those young men who are growing up on the farm thinking that from their father, farmer, they were going to receive a family farm worth perhaps several hundred thousand dollars. And in the last five years, that family farm has dwindled to one-third of its former worth. We can't depend upon an earthly inheritance. That's why Peter says that our inheritance is reserved in heaven for us. We're not going to get it in this world. That is not God's plan. Our inheritance is in heaven. And when we are there with our Lord, then we shall share in that inheritance. And then by His grace, He has also extended to us the privilege of feasting at His table. Remember that chorus that we used to sing, "Come and dine," the master calleth, "Come and dine." You may feast at Jesus' table any time. He who fed the multitude changed the water into wine to the hungry calleth now, "Come and dine." God in His grace has called us to come to His very banquet table and to feast there. The Christian life, my friend, is a feast. It is not a fast. We are able to enjoy the riches of our salvation here and now by our feasting upon the grace of God. That's why Paul says with the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5, "Let us keep the feast." Now he wasn't talking there about the literal Jewish feast, although that was what he was drawing upon in the picture. But he was saying, "Let's feast upon Christ our Passover, who's been sacrificed for us." You will recall that after the lamb had been killed and the blood sprinkled in the appropriate manner, that first night of the Passover, that they cooked the lamb in a particular way. And while the angel of death was moving throughout Egypt, killing the first born of man and beast, God's people were safe, safe because of the sheltering blood that had been shed, the blood of the atonement. And there in their homes, safe and sound, they were feasting upon that lamb. Well that is our present privilege. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. And now we have the joyous privilege of feasting upon Him and knowing Him and walking with Him. That is the grace of God. That is our banquet spiritually. And then finally, God welcomes us into His presence. Just as David said to Mephibosheth, "You live in Jerusalem and feast at My table. My home is your home." So God now gives us the privilege of walking with Him day by day, annoying His presence. And someday by the grace of God, we are going to walk out of this world into the next and we will be with the Lord forever. God in His grace has extended to us that privilege that we will live in His presence in the New Jerusalem, physically and gloriously, forever and forever. Like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled in the sight of God. By grace, God's kindness is extended to us for Jesus' sake. Have you received that kindness of God? Have you received the Savior in your life? And then likewise, grace grants to us a place of great privilege. Are you enjoying the position that you have in Jesus Christ? Are you feasting upon Him? Are you living in His presence? As is your privilege? Don't settle for anything less than that. It is possible for us to go through life as beggars, as hungry beggars, when God has provided for us a rich inheritance in Jesus Christ and the privilege of feasting upon His Son spiritually. May that be our experience this week as we walk with God. I'd like for you to take your hymnal and turn with me to 545. [BLANK_AUDIO]