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Men, the title of my sermon tonight is Jesus in the Book of Second Samuel, Jesus in the Book of Second Samuel, and we've been doing a series up to this point where we've gone through every other book, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, and now Second Samuel, and we're seeing Jesus in every book. Now in some of the books it's crystal clear, it's obvious, and in some of the books there's a literal appearance of Jesus Christ, like in the book of Genesis and in Exodus and in Joshua we had literal appearances of Jesus Christ. Other books had prophecies talking about the coming of Jesus Christ and prophesying the Messiah, prophesying the Son of God would come. And other times it's symbolic where there are Bible stories and the people symbolize Jesus Christ in the story. Like for example, in the book of First Samuel we talked about how Jonathan pictured the Lord Jesus Christ and we showed that. In the book of Judges we really focused in on Samson as a picture of Jesus Christ. Well in the book of Second Samuel the character that we're going to focus on is David being a picture of Jesus Christ. Now the book of Second Samuel is all about King David. The book starts out at the death of Saul, Saul dies at the very end of First Samuel, and then David dies at the end of Second Samuel. So the book of Second Samuel is just a book all about King David and his reign, reigning in Judah and then reigning over all of Israel, his 40 year reign. That is what Second Samuel is all about. And there are pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the book of Second Samuel in regard to David. But we're going to focus in on one in particular, which is this chapter that we just read in chapter 9, the story of David and Mephibosheth. But before we jump into that, let's just talk about some of the other ways that David pictures Jesus Christ in the book of Second Samuel. Flip over to Second Samuel chapter 3 for example, Second Samuel chapter 3 verse 18. First of all, the main thing about Jesus is that he is the Savior. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. We'll look at Second Samuel 3 18, now then do it for the Lord has spoken of David saying by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines and out of the hand of all their enemies. And of course in Luke chapter 2, we have the same statement made about Jesus, how he's going to save them out of the hands of their enemies. Flip over to Second Samuel chapter 5 and you'll see that David was 30 years old when he began to reign. And we know that Jesus Christ was 30 years old when he began his ministry. Another interesting thing about Jesus and David is that both of them were anointed long before their reign actually began. Because if you think about it, David is anointed when he's just a young boy. He's anointed as king over Israel, but he does not end up ruling over Israel until many years later when he's 30 years old. And Jesus of course was anointed, Christ means anointed literally, Jesus Christ was anointed when he was on this earth and he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and he lived, he died, he was buried and rose again, but he's not actually going to reign as a king until the future. It hasn't even happened yet. There's a gap between being anointed and actually doing the reigning in both the case of David and Jesus. Not only that, but both of these men conquered Jerusalem and rule from there. David is the first one to conquer Jerusalem, the first king to reign from Jerusalem. And that's why Jerusalem is known as the city of David. Look if you would at Second Samuel 5 verse 7, nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion the same as the city of David, Zion being another name for Jerusalem, Mount Zion is geographically where Jerusalem is. So Jesus began his ministry at age 30, David began to reign as a king at age 30 according to Chapter 5 verse 4 there. And look how long he reigned. It says David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years. So he starts reigning when he's 30 and he reigns 40 years, right? Okay, well Jesus Christ starts his ministry when he's 30. What happened exactly 40 years later? A very significant event. That is when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the nation of Israel was scattered, the sacrifices stopped, the temple was wiped out, and that was just an end to that. That closed that chapter of the Old Testament. So that's kind of interesting that there's that 40 years after he's 30 years old, a significant event takes place. Not only that, but both David and Jesus were both betrayed by a close friend. David was betrayed by his friend Ahithophel and also he's betrayed by his son Absalom. And both of them crossed the Brook Kidron. You know when Jesus Christ on the night of the Last Supper, on the night of his betrayal, goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, he crosses the Brook Kidron, sorrowing and very heavy and sad. And David, when he's on the run from Absalom, also betrayed, also stabbed in the back, crosses the Brook Kidron, weeping and sad. So there's a lot of symbolism between David and Jesus. Of course, Jesus called the son of David and so on and so forth. But I really want to focus in on this story in chapter 9. This is a beautiful picture of David representing or symbolizing the Lord Jesus Christ in the story of Mephibosheth. It says in verse 1 of chapter 9, and David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. So a couple of things I want to show you right away about this young man, Mephibosheth, is that we see that first of all, he is of the house of Saul. Now the house of Saul should be David's enemies. Because if you remember, David is taking over after King Saul. King Saul and his sons died, and when David becomes the king of Judah, the rest of Israel rejects him and they make Ish-bosheth the king. And if you remember, Abner is trying to get a son of Saul on the throne all the time. And there was war between the house of David and the house of Saul, and the house of David got stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul got weaker and weaker, and eventually David takes over the whole kingdom. And at this point, David's ruling over the whole kingdom, and so these are his enemies, the house of Saul, and yet he says, is there any that is left of the house of Saul, verse 1, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? So this is David loving his enemies here. He wants to be kind and good unto someone that, humanly speaking, should be his enemy, but he wants to make peace with them, he wants to get along with them, he wants to reach out to them for Jonathan's sake. And so this young man, Mephibosheth, not only should he, humanly speaking, be an enemy of David, not someone that David would want to bless, but also the Bible says he was lame on his feet. He's not able to walk, okay? He had an accident as a baby. The Bible tells us that they were rushing out of the house and somebody dropped him when he was a baby, and he ended up being crippled as a result, and so he's lame on his feet. So this guy doesn't really have a lot to offer, humanly speaking. He's a crippled son of a family that is an enemy family, right? But David says, I want to show kindness to them, I want to show the love of God unto them. And obviously this pictures the love of Christ, which says, and if you would flip over to Romans chapter 5, and let's look at the love of Christ in Romans chapter number 5, where the Bible says in the famous passage that God commanded his love toward us, but let's back up a little bit to verse 6, chapter 5, verse 6, for when we were yet without strength, right? Like this guy was physically without strength because he's literally crippled, right? He's lame on his feet. Well, the Bible says when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. So what's the Bible saying here? You know, scarcely, barely, would you get someone to be able to die for a righteous man, would someone be willing to lay down their life for a righteous man. Yet peradventure means maybe, I mean maybe for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commanded his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God commanded, commending means to basically to praise, to extol, to elevate, to lift up. It's similar to our modern word recommend. You know, if I recommend something, I'm putting in a good word for that, you know. So what the Bible is saying here is that God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Basically he is extolling and exalting his love. He's saying, look, here's the difference between God's love and everyone else's love. Everyone else's love, yeah, peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. God's love is on a higher level because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And the Bible says in verse number 9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. And watch this key point here in verse 10. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So when we were unsaved, when we were unreconciled, unregenerate, while we were yet sinners, the Bible says that we were enemies, right? We were at enmity with God. Look at verse 1 of the same chapter, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So without justification, without salvation, we don't have peace with God, we're at enmity with God. But we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we see David representing Christ when we were yet without strength, here's Mephibosheth, without strength, he's an enemy, but he's brought nigh by the love of David, right? David's love, David's kindness, right? This picture is the love of Christ that bridges that gap of enmity between God and man. So if you would flip back to, actually if you would go to John chapter 13. So the first thing I want to point out there is just this guy is at enmity, humanly speaking, because he's of the house of Saul. He's without strength, he's lame, he's crippled, he has nothing to offer, and this is a demonstration of David's love toward him that he is brought to the king's house and blessed and so forth. But I want to make a special point about the fact that he's lame on his feet. See the feet have a special significance in the Bible, okay? The Bible often associates the feet with the gospel, okay? For example, in Ephesians chapter 6, when he talks about putting on the whole armor of God, he says, have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The Bible says in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So the feet are associated with the gospel. Well look at this passage in John chapter 13, this is where Jesus washes the apostles feet. It says in John 13, 4, he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself, after that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. He's saying, you don't understand what I'm doing right now, but you will understand later, so basically just go along with me here. Because here's Jesus, he's washing the apostles feet, all the other apostles are just letting him wash their feet, right? Because he's the boss, they're just saying, okay, you want to wash your feet, go ahead. But when he gets to Peter, Peter's like, whoa, wait a minute, you're washing my feet? Because this is a humiliating activity, right? This is humbling, you know, they should be washing his feet is the way they're thinking about it because they serve him and he's their master. But basically he says, you know, you'll understand it afterward. Verse eight, Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Peter is always a little quick to speak and blow off his mouth a little bit. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Watch Peter just turn on a dime. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Hey, wash my hands too. Because he says, look, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. A minute ago, he's like, you're never going to wash my feet. He's like, well, you know what? If I don't wash your feet, you don't have any part with me. And he's like, well, now I want to have part with you. So in that case, wash my hands and my head also. And watch what Jesus says. This is interesting. Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit. And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore he said, you're not all clean. So he says, you're clean, but not all of you. There's one of you that's not clean, right? Judas is not clean. But the rest of them, he says, you're all clean. Isn't it interesting that he says, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. And then he says, well, my hands and my head too. He said, no, no, no. If your feet are washed, you're clean every wit. You don't need any other cleansing than the feet being washed. That's all you need. And he says, you guys are clean, obviously talking spiritually, because he washed Judas's feet. So his feet were every bit as clean as the rest physically. But he says, spiritually you're clean, except obviously the traitor is not clean. Judas Iscariot is not clean. What does this mean? Look, the feet represent the gospel, and this is a spiritual picture where Christ is showing that the gospel fully saves. So getting their feet washed was a picture of getting the gospel, getting saved, believing the gospel. You know, cleaning your hands, that would be like if you also had to clean up your life, your actions, your deeds, because the hands represent the deeds or the actions that we do. Or, you know, the head, you could say, could represent our thoughts and ideas and things like that. He's saying, look, if you get your feet washed, you're clean every wit. The picture there is that, you know what, it's the gospel that saves you. The gospel is what makes you clean in God's sight. You don't have to turn your life around and change your actions and your thoughts and do all these other things. Because look, folks, we know that there are people out there who have perverted the gospel of Christ into a works-based salvation. Wash thy hands and thou shalt be saved is their gospel. Clean up your life and you'll be saved. Get the sin out of your life and you'll be saved. Turn over wrong, the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves us. It's not washing up and cleaning up our lives. It's not like, oh, I've got to get totally washed up, I've got to clean up every part of my life, I've got to wash my hands, I've got to wash my head. Nope. You just need your feet washed because the feet washed represents the gospel. The feet are associated with the gospel. So this guy who's lame in his feet, Mephibosheth, you know what that picture is? The fact that he's lame in his feet is that, you know, spiritually speaking, when it comes to the gospel, we're all lame. It's Christ that saves us, right? And this shows his complete inability to save himself. This guy's feet don't work. This guy's feet are broken, all right? This guy has to be carried by someone. And you know what? When it comes to salvation, your feet are lame as Mephibosheth. You are like a Mephibosheth before you're saved in the sense that you can't get to heaven on your own, you can't do this on your own, you are without strength to be saved. It's the gospel that saves you. So the washing of the feet pictured that in John chapter 13. Now go back to 2 Samuel chapter 9. So we see first of all that Mephibosheth is of the house of Saul which would make him a natural enemy. Mephibosheth is without strength because he's lame of his feet. He's crippled. And Mephibosheth is lame of his feet which pictures our inability to save ourselves. Any gospel that has to do with you doing the work yourself is a false gospel. The true gospel is the gospel where Jesus does the saving and all we have to do is believe, right? It's a faith alone for salvation. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast, okay? And so don't let anybody tell you, hey, in order to be saved, you got to clean up your life. You got to wash your hands. The Bible tells us draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts. You double-minded. But let me ask you something, do you have to do that to get to heaven though? That's an instruction to Christians, an instruction to people that are already saved saying, hey, get closer to God, draw nigh to God by washing your hands, cleanse your hands, ye sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded, right? Your mind is up here. Hey, the washing of the hands and the head is great but guess what? It has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is the gospel. Salvation is faith in Christ and that's it. So we see that with Mephibosheth pictured. Look at verse 4. And the king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amiel and Lodabar. Then king David sent and fetched him out of the house of Makar, the son of Amiel, from Lodabar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, behold thy servant. And David said unto him, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. So this is a picture of salvation where Mephibosheth is basically being brought into the family. And in fact, later on, it says that he's going to eat at the king's table. Look at verse 11. At the latter part of verse 11, as for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. So he's being adopted as a son of the king. He's going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, right? He's sitting at the king's table. Is it because of his own merit? Is it because he's such a good person? Is it because he got all the sin out of his life? Is it because he actually went to physical therapy and learned how to walk on his crippled feet? No. It's all through the kindness and love of David that he gets to be part of the king's household and he's brought into this picture of heaven, you know, being able to feast with the king and live there and be taken care of and things are great for him, et cetera. So look what it says in verse number 3. It says the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? We know that Jesus Christ came to this earth because the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. So it was the kindness and love of God our savior. The Bible says in Titus chapter 3, after that the kindness and love of God our savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So the kindness and love of God the father, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So it's the kindness and love of God shown through David, shown through Jesus Christ is what's being pictured and this poor, miserable, without strength, lame enemy is brought in as a friend and not even just as a friend but as one of the king's sons. Right? This is a beautiful picture of salvation. Not only that, he says to him in verse 7, and David said unto him, fear not for I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Okay, so what is this picture? Well Saul his father is the reason why there would be enmity, right? I mean if there was going to be any enmity it's because of the strife that was between David and Saul. So there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But he says I'm going to restore you the land of Saul thy father. So in this symbolism, Saul would represent Adam, right, because Adam is the cause for the enmity between God and man because the Bible says wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. So Adam sinned and that's what caused this enmity, this rift between God and man that still exists today. Well the rift here that would have been there between David and Mephibosheth would be because of Saul. So Saul represents Adam and so what he's saying here is I'm going to restore all the land of Saul thy father. You could picture this as Christ restoring to sinful man all the land of their father Adam. Now if you would go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and Jesus Christ is referred to as the second Adam. Adam and then there's Jesus is the second Adam, right, which is interesting too because Saul is the first king of Israel and David's the second king, right, just like Adam is the first man and then Jesus is called the second man or the second Adam. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 15 22 for as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Look at verse 45 and so it was written the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. How be it that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven right again showing that Jesus Christ came down from heaven he's the Lord from heaven he is as is the earthy verse 48 such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So we look like Adam we resemble Adam and we inherited that sinful nature from Adam but once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ God creates a new creature within us that resembles the Lord Jesus Christ and that it's God's will it's our destiny to be conformed to the image of God's son and to bear the image of Jesus Christ the second Adam. Remember the Christmas song second Adam from above reinstate us in thy love right. So you know the song the second Adam that's what this is talking about Jesus is considered the second Adam right the first Adam screwed everything up and then the second Adam fixes everything is what the Bible is teaching here right as an Adam all die even so in Christ shall be made alive. Now what was Adam given you know Adam was given the earth basically he was told you know be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and God gave him the Garden of Eden and he lived in paradise and he owned the earth I mean God gave him the earth he said have dominion over the earth right have dominion over the animals and the cattle and over every creeping thing and so he was to have dominion over that but of course Adam messed that up and so Adam and Eve are thrown out of the Garden of Eden and then God placed those cherubims to guard the tree of life and man's thrust out of the garden and he has to work by the sweat of his face and the earth is bringing forth thorns and thistles and things go badly right and then things get worse and then God floods the earth and then here we are again things are pretty bad again right so the earth is filled with sin and violence and wickedness and everything like that but you know one day we're going to be restored to paradise and we are going to inherit the land we're going to inherit the earth that God had in store for Adam you know God's original plan for Adam to be on this earth and have dominion over it and so forth you know we're going to inherit that because the Bible says the meek shall inherit the earth the Bible says in Revelation 22 he that over cometh shall inherit all things and I'll be to him a father and he shall be to me a son and so this is what's going on basically Saul had some certain land certain land holdings and because Saul disobeyed the Lord and was not right with God he ended up losing his land ok so that's why it says here in verse 7 I will restore thee 2nd Samuel 9 7 I will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father you know what that means is that right now that land is not under Saul's control it's not under the control of Saul's house David has to restore it right so right now David has that land he has to restore that back to the house of Saul showing that the house of Saul has lost it how did the house of Saul lose their land how did Saul lose his kingdom how did his sons not inherit it because of sin because that he rebelled against the Lord he disobeyed and so he lost that just like Adam lost the privilege of paradise and having this wonderful earth in its perfect condition before it was cursed by sin and so David says to Mephibosheth here I'm going to restore that to you and Christ is basically telling us hey I'm going to restore that to you because of the fact that he's going to come and make all things new and there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and there's going to be paradise the tree of life and when you read those final chapters in Revelation 21 and 22 it reads a lot like the beginning of the Bible doesn't it you know the beginning of the Bible you got the tree of life you got gold you got the rivers you got the fruit and everything like that guess what you have all the same things at the end you come full circle to that and so Saul here pictures Adam and Mephibosheth is the son of Adam or namely us right we're lame we don't deserve heaven we don't deserve to inherit the earth we don't deserve salvation we can't earn it ourselves we can't get there ourselves we're too lame to get there ourselves we are without strength but through the kindness of God through the love of God Christ reaches out to us and makes us this offer that says come eat at my table come be as one of my sons and inherit the lands of Saul or inherit the lands of mankind or inherit the earth basically the Bible says in verse 8 of second Samuel 9 and he bowed himself and said what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am so look at the attitude here the attitude of Mephibosheth is humility right when he first shows up what does he say in verse 6 now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul was coming to David he fell on his face and did reverence right so I mean he just falls on his face before David just total respect total humility total fear so he falls on his face and does reverence and said behold thy servant that's a humble thing to say right and then in verse 7 David said an imp fear not for I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake and will restore the all the land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually and he bowed himself and said what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am and this is the exact attitude that gets you into heaven humility and his pride that will keep people out of heaven because in order to go to heaven you don't have to do any work you don't have to clean up your whole life you don't have to jump through any hoops or join a church or live a great life do a bunch of commandments look the one thing you have to do is humble yourself before the Lord because you have to accept that free gift you have to take it on faith and you have to accept it freely you have to admit that you're a sinner and that you don't deserve to go to heaven you got to admit hey I'm doomed I'm damned without Christ I'm not going to heaven and you have to put all your faith and trust in Christ and it takes a humble person to do that and when you talk to people that aren't saved people who believe in another gospel you know where they're where they messed up is with pride because they'll say like oh well you know I go to church I've been baptized I live a good life I haven't done anything that bad yeah I'm going to go to heaven because I do this and I do that and I did that right and then when you start telling them that it's free that it's by faith then they'll point to somebody else and say oh you mean to tell me that that guy's gonna go to heaven when he did X Y & Z what are they doing they're basically trying to say well I'm better than other people these other people I don't want them to go to heaven even if they believe in Christ because they're too sinful but I should get to go because I'm this and I'm that that isn't I mean that's pride right the saved person realizes that we can only go to heaven by the grace of God and that there's no way that we're good enough to go to heaven we're sinners we don't deserve it we either go free or we don't go at all you either take salvation as a gift but it takes humility to take it as a gift sometimes you try to offer someone a gift and they won't accept it because they'll say no I'm gonna pay for this no no no I insist let me pay for it no no I'll pay it takes a humble person to let other people pay for you to let other people give you a gift to let Christ pay your way into heaven a lot of people have this attitude well I'm gonna do it myself I've literally had people tell me to my face if I go to heaven I want to earn it myself isn't that a prideful attitude to even think that you could earn it yourself is pride and arrogance and just refusing to just drop to your knees before the God of the universe and get on your face and say God I am nothing I'm a dead dog save me I'm sinful I'm wicked look look at the disciples is that their attitude when Jesus came to Peter you know what Peter said to him he told Peter they wanted him to follow him they wanted to be one of his disciples and Peter said depart from me I'm a sinful man he basically told Jesus pick someone else I'm a bad person that's when he told him and Jesus said no you know you're coming with me he said fear not you know from henceforth thou shalt catch men and Jesus recruited Peter and you know I don't think that Peter was a horrible person he turned out to be a great guy he turned out to be a great preacher and do a lot of great things yeah he made some mistakes and had some problems but of course he's a great man of God greater than anybody in this room right the Apostle Peter and yet what did he think about himself did he think oh yeah I'm the best guy I'm gonna be like one of the top three apostles I mean it's gonna be in one breath Peter James and John you know the top three guys right was that his attitude hey I'm gonna write a book called first Peter then I'm gonna write a book called second Peter all right was that his attitude no his attitude was hey you know what I'm not worthy I'm not worthy you know what Mephibosheth's attitude was I'm not worthy what was the attitude of the centurion that said Lord I'm not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed and you know what Jesus said I've not found so great faith no not in Israel so the guy who had the great faith is the same guy who said I'm not worthy in those exact words I'm not worthy you know what that's what it takes to get into heaven folks it just takes an attitude that says I'm not worthy please save me and put all your faith and trust in the death barrel and resurrection of Christ not in your good works not in you cleaning up your life and getting all cleaned up and and now you're gonna get to heaven because you repented of all your sins and turn from this and turn from that no folks it's humility and faith in Christ a proud person cannot be saved they you cannot be saved unless you're willing to admit I'm a sinner and I need Jesus to save me because if you're gonna try to do it on your own and you don't you know or if Jesus is just kind of part of your program you're not going and you know what the Protestants they have a really tricky way sometimes of twisting this thing around because you know the the motto of the Protestant Reformation was sola fide faith alone and that's a great motto amen they had the five solas right and sometimes they just talk about the three solas but you talk about sola fide faith alone sola scriptura scripture alone sola gratia grace alone right by faith by faith alone all right help me out how's it go I faith alone through grace alone to God there we go by faith alone through grace alone everybody gave backwards through faith alone by grace so somebody help me I'm drowning on stage there we go all right you know sometimes you just have a mental block by grace alone through faith alone to God alone be the glory right that's the motto that's the anthem of the Protestant Reformation sola fide sola scriptura sola gratia hey the motto sounds great too bad they don't believe in it anymore at all and many of the people back then didn't even believe in it but it's a great slogan you know it reminds me of politicians who have a lot of great slogans but then when they get in office they don't do what they said they were gonna do you know read my lips no new taxes okay they make these wonderful promises you know government's not the answer to our problem government is the problem you know they have these wonderful slogans but they don't always come to fruition do they well that's kind of how the Protestant Reformation was great slogans sola scriptura amen is that what the Protestants believe down at the Presbyterian Church the Lutheran Church the Reform Baptist Church are they on sola scriptura no no they're on a lot of church tradition and church fathers and you've got to have the Bible explain to you the Bible says you have no need than any man teach you the same anointing teaches you of all things in his truth and is no lie even as it had taught you you shall abide in him the Holy Spirit teaches us the scripture you don't have to have church fathers and tradition and history to understand the Word of God you can actually just you and the Holy Spirit in the Bible understand the Word of God we can get together as a church and we gather together and we open the scripture and we can read it and the Holy Spirit can guide us into all truth we don't need to figure out what the church fathers said what did Augustine say you know what did Thomas Aquinas say or what did this guy say we don't care it doesn't matter to us right but if you talked if you tell that to one of these Protestants they'll be like well that's not what sola scriptura means because they have some watered-down explain away thing where well scripture alone but and then when you say yeah faith alone you know what they'll say well yeah but faith never is alone you know that's like their little slogan like yeah faith alone but we know faiths never alone well then that's a stupid slogan if faiths never alone then why did you make a slogan called faith alone hey everybody I got a great idea for a slogan let you're ready for this slogan faith alone well faith never is alone but isn't that a great slogan though folks this is what they say they literally say yep faith alone but faith never is alone then that's a stupid slogan why is there hello sola fide doesn't exist sola fide doesn't exist faith alone doesn't exist doesn't exist faith is never alone doesn't exist that's garbage you can't have it both ways it's either faith alone or faith is never alone pick one you can't have but you can't have a song and say by faith alone faith never is alone by faith alone faith is never alone by faith alone faith is never alone you're crazy you have multiple personality disorder is it by faith alone or is faith never alone those two ideas do not compute I mean it gets me frustrated talking to them gets you frustrated right talking to these people did it's like well yeah faith alone but faith never is alone do you did you just just sit down and think about what you just said yep salvation but I just I literally just read a college Bible college textbook last night that said the salvation is by faith alone but faith is never alone but it doesn't make any sense it does this does not compute these guys would never make it as a computer programmer they get thrown off the job all their programs a crash you know what I mean like it would they be typing in their programs everything would crash nothing would run it's so stupid and then here's another thing that it said in the same book I was reading the next breath it said this well you know grace is free but it's not cheap it's free is less money than cheap well yeah it's free but it's not cheap though oh man yeah we know it's not cheap because it's paid for by the blood of Christ which is not cheap but how much do we have to pay nothing well it's not cheap you know did you know that people who believe in salvation by faith alone are called cheap grace who's heard that term they'll be like oh you guys believe in cheap grace no I believe in free grace cheap grace is too expensive for me it's too you know what I don't like about cheap grace it's too expensive it's not cheap enough I want it cheaper than cheap I want the cheaper than cheap cheapest grace cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap all the way down to just free just zero cost me zero cost me nothing Jesus paid it all and you want to know what real cheap grace is I'll tell you what cheap grace is well if you repent of your sins you'll be saved that's you holding up a dirty ragged $5 bill of hey look at me I repented of my sins you know don't mind you know my sleeve tattoo I just got the other day you know forgot to repent of that sin don't mind the beer and the and the partying isn't it funny how these Calvinists all love to drink beer and get tattoos funny they didn't repent of that sin well that's not a sin cuz you know tattooing your body is just biblical really because the Bible says thou shall not print any marks on your body now look obviously our church is filled with people with tattoos that got them before they knew better we're not sitting there going out as a church getting tattooed and we don't have people going out and getting new tattoos or teaching their kids to get tattoos guess what about tattoos they're permanent okay but here's the thing these people out there that want to call what we believe cheap grace they're the cheapest stinking cheapskate gracers in the world because they think that their good works which are a filthy rag are gonna pay their way into heaven that's the cheapest grace I've ever heard of our grace that gets us into heaven is the most expensive thing you can imagine because it's paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ doesn't get any more expensive than that folks the blood of Christ let's put the blood of Christ up against your stupid works and you know what the blood of Christ will put your works and your repent of your sins of the shade my friend but this is the kind of nonsense that spiritually blinded people will say they're blind folks you'd have to be a blind person to say oh well faith alone but faith is never alone folks that is not a logical that is a non sequitur that doesn't make any sense well faith without works is dead okay but you just said faith without works doesn't exist how can faith with our works be dead if it doesn't exist faith without works exists and it's dead and it exists and the Bible says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness so if you don't have the works but you have the faith you're saved if all of your works are burned up the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 3 yet you yourself shall be saved yet so as by fire you will get into heaven and have no rewards but you'll get there if you believe in Christ it's faith but here's how they twist this here's how they twist it with their sola gratia grace alone here's what they say well yeah we have to repent of our sins to be saved and clean up our life and do good works and live a good life but it's God who gave us the grace to give us the ability to do the works this is what they this is how they twist this so they're like well yeah but it's you know it's not I'm not saved by works because I couldn't have done all these works if God hadn't have given me the ability so it's like oh I'm doing all these works cuz God made me do it so he gets the glory for the stuff I do so God gets the glory for the stuff I do because he gave me the repentance he gave me the grace to live a good life folks how do you think the Roman Catholic Church can get up and say that salvation is by grace when they openly teach that you have to do works to go to heaven how can they get up and say it's by grace well here's what they say well because it's because without God's grace you can't be a good person so God gives you the grace that allows you to be good and then you're good so then you go to heaven because you're good because you're a good person you go to heaven and God gave you the ability to be good and you know Protestants are teaching the same thing the Protestants will sit there and tell you the same thing of like oh well God's grace is what gives us the ability to repent of our sins repentance is a gift from God and so God gives us the repentance so yeah you know we have to repent of our sins to be safe but because it's God that did it you know well then that's him not us folks this is just a repackaging of work salvation you have to do the works but God's the one who gave you the ability to do the works so therefore it's not work salvation is grace wrong is faith alone salvation friend so they forgot the sola fide put the sola fide back in Protestantism and you know I'd be a Protestant if it weren't for Protestants because I love all their slogans I love all of them to God alone be the glory sounds great grace alone scripture alone faith alone I mean it all it sounds wonderful I love it it's great too bad they don't believe in it now I'm sure many people back then did believe in it and went to heaven but you know what a lot of people back then didn't believe in it unfortunately Martin Luther and John Calvin thought that you had to do works to be saved and a lot of people felt that way and and basically you know there's this great movement that happened where the Bible was being published and printed and people are reading the Bible but then you have a bunch of bozos that spend page after page after page writing books explaining to you why sola scriptura isn't really sola scriptura and why sola fide isn't really sola fide you know what I mean they just find a way to turn things on its head look the gospel simple don't let anybody beguile you from the simplicity that's in Christ here's the simplicity you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you're saved now that's cheap wrong it's free you believe on Jesus you're saved it's the grace of God that saves us not because well he empowers us to do good things that earn our way into heaven that's garbage okay it's the grace of God because when we believe he regenerates us and adopts us as his son okay now look does God give us power after we're saved to overcome sin and do great things if we walk in the spirit sure but that's not a requirement for salvation and many people get saved and they continue to walk in the flesh many people get saved and they don't do good works they're still saved and this lordship salvation garbage is a perversion of the gospel of Christ it's just a backdoor work salvation is what it is you know faith alone means faith alone and this is a slogan that you can trust around here because when we say faith alone we mean faith alone put the alone back in faith alone I mean it's only two words folks can we just keep both it's me it's not a complicated slogan faith alone what a radical concept yeah I made that up faith alone yeah that's me I made that up really because isn't that what they were all shouting in the process of reformation soul of feed a I didn't make that up folks but it's been perverted and corrupted by people who took a slogan that they can take from the Word of God where the Word of God says you're saved by faith not of works right but then they find ways to explain it and twist it well folks this Mephibosheth story is a beautiful picture of salvation because I don't see Mephibosheth doing any works here I don't see Mephibosheth earning anything and I don't see after he sits at the king's table I don't see how he has to just start taking therapy lessons to learn how to walk in order to continue staying at the table and he didn't say you better mind your table management Mephibosheth you better know which fork is the salad fork the dinner fork and the dessert fork no you know what Mephibosheth had to do you know what Mephibosheth has to do just show up and sit down and eat his food and you know what we're saved by grace through faith we show up we sit down we partake of the benefits and you know does God want us to do good works absolutely but do we have to do good works to be saved absolutely not and look you're looking at a church that's a working church here I mean this church does a lot of work for the Lord but not because we're just trying to make sure that we're actually saved we got to make sure we're really saved so we got to do a bunch of work to prove to ourselves and the people around us that we're actually saved I already know I'm saved you know and you know what whether I go to the bar next Sunday or whether I go to church next Sunday I'm saved and I'm not gonna go to the bar I've never gone to a bar I never will go to a bar God willing but you know what if I went to a bar I'd still be saved because it's impossible to lose your salvation if you lose your salvation then God's gonna have to stop being God because he promised us eternal life before the world began and the Bible says that God cannot lie if God is a lying God then he becomes like the demons that the Greeks are worshiping that we talked about this morning right the true God of the Bible he makes a promise and he sticks to it and he promised us eternal life just like this promise was made to mephibosheth and it's a beautiful picture of our salvation it's Jesus in the book of 2nd Samuel let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for this great story Lord and and it's frustrating Lord how many people are out there teaching false doctrine and just trying to complicate the gospel it's the gospel is so simple it's like taking a drink of water it's like eating a piece of bread it's like going through a door all it takes is just being humble all it takes is just believing on Jesus thank you so much for making it easy for us to go to heaven thank you for making it a free gift Lord and Lord I pray that you would just confound and destroy the false teachers out there who teach that salvation is by works Lord and help those who are mixed up in this work salvation help them to be saved Lord help the glorious light of the gospel to shine through it cut through all that jazz where they try to twist the gospel and help people to be saved Lord and when we knock on their door I pray that they would be receptive and that they would hear the preaching of your word and be converted and be saved by putting their faith and trust in you alone and realizing how lame they are spiritually and how they need you to be the sole Savior and in Jesus name we pray amen