(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right we're continuing this evening with the book of 2nd Samuel and tonight we're in chapter number 9 let me give you a little bit of review leading up to what we got going on here with Mephibosheth of course in chapter 8 we have the preservation of David and David is really just succeeding he's dominating as the new king in Israel and no one's able to necessarily stand up against him he's able to subdue the Philistines he's able to subdue Moab he's smiting all of these enemies and basically taking them over and we see him in chapters prior that God has basically given him rest from all his enemies round about doesn't mean he's not gonna experience war what this means is that he's just victorious all around he's succeeding all around he see he's seen achievements and progress in the furtherance of his kingdom and what this means is that you know it essentially frees him up to do something extra right you know when you're not constantly fighting battles and you're not constantly trying to defend yourself against the enemies of the Lord well it kind of gives you a little bit of time a little bit of more resources and free time to actually further the kingdom that you're in and so David because he has all this liberty because he has all these victories you know he's kind of thinking about what's a little something extra that he can now do now that he's not investing so much time and defending himself and running away from Saul well one of the things that he wanted to do is build a house of the Lord right so he's just like you know what I want to build a house of God and of course we see that God doesn't allow him to but rather designates that privilege for his son doesn't mean that David cannot participate in it because David essentially will provide all the resources that his son Solomon will need in order to build the temple and so we see that in chapters prior we saw in chapter 8 that he just continues to subdue and place garrisons all around the areas that he has defeated and he's basically establishing himself as just a very strong dominant monarch there in the land of Israel well the next thing that he wants to do in chapter number 9 because he's defeated his enemies he wants to build a house of God everything's going well you know the next thing he thinks about is well let me find someone to do good unto you know and this kind of shows you the heart of David that when he's prospering he's doing well obviously he has a lot of resources he's the king he's at the top per se you know he's not necessarily he's not being selfish about it he's not like well you know let me build myself a bigger house let me you know tear down my barns and build up greater instead he's like let me find someone to be a blessing too right which is why we we get into the person of Mephibosheth and primarily he wants to do good into someone of the house of Saul now this obviously speaks to the the nobility and the integrity of David due to the fact that Saul was his enemy right Saul was a man who wanted to kill him he spent so much resources and time seeking after David's life and and trying to kill him even when he was directly under him and of course David was running for his life but get in spite of their past in spite of you know all of the wrong and the evil that Saul did into David David didn't he kind of just looked past that and thought to himself you know what I need to find someone who belongs to the house of Saul because the majority of them are dead right he wants to find someone to do good unto and and so he finds him a Mephibosheth and he does that there so we're gonna go over that story and of course this is a very short chapter here but the beauty of this particular chapter is what it symbolizes what it pictures okay and we'll get into that as well just to be looking for number one 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 so the king is seeking out the lame okay the lame referring to Mephibosheth we're gonna see them in just a bit and he he wants to show him kindness he's feeling generous and the reason why is because it's not necessarily because he just you know loves Saul though he does you know it's primarily because of Jonathan Saul's son and the reason we know that it's because of that aside from his emotions that he's feeling towards Jonathan in previous chapters he made a covenant with Jonathan that he would be a blessing to him and his descendants thereafter you know Jonathan knew that David was gonna be the next king and they had a discourse about that and then what you have is is Jonathan basically telling David hey when you become the king don't forget me when you become the king don't forget my descendants and they if you remember that chapter he they basically make a covenant one with another and David essentially is a man of integrity because even years after Jonathan's already dead most of the house of Saul is taken out of the picture he's like I want to fulfill my covenant that I made with Jonathan even though he's not around anymore and let's find some one of his descendants to be a blessing too and so look at verse number two here it says here and there was of the house of Saul servant whose name was Zeba and when they had called him unto David the king said unto him art thou Zeba 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 Zeba said unto the king Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet and the king said unto him where is he and Zeba said unto the king behold he is in the house of Makir the son of Amiel and Lodabar so a couple things here that I want to talk about it's first and foremost the fact that the person he's referring to Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan and when it says that he's lame it doesn't mean that he's just like like a loser or like a nerd or something like that you know a lot of people would use that term today like you're lame lame in the Bible just simply means disabled okay he's handicapped and we saw in previous chapters that the reason he's handicapped is because once Saul was taken out of the picture the caretaker of young Mephibosheth dropped him okay and made him handicapped and that's why he's lame on his feet he's weak he can't necessarily walk he's handicapped and he's the only one that's left now this is a great story because we're gonna see that David the extent of his generosity the extent of his grace but the reason is such a wonderful story is because of what it pictures David of course picturing Jesus Christ and I would say that David is probably the person in the Old Testament who pictures Jesus Christ the most you know there's so many stories of David and so many things that symbolically represent Jesus Christ and you know I've heard so many arguments like how are you gonna compare Jesus Christ to David you know he committed adultery he murdered and all these things well yeah well there's if you're gonna try to pick someone to picture Jesus Christ someone who's perfect it's not gonna exist okay because every person in this world is a sinner every person in the Bible is a sinner so there's obviously no perfect picture which is why oftentimes these people or the animal sacrifices or whatever may be they're considered a foreshadowing right in other words it's not the actual figure it's just a foreshadowing of the actual figure you know the the the the lambs and the livestock that were sacrificed in times past during the Old Testament Levitical law you know those picture Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world and the Bible tells us in Hebrew chapter 10 that it is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins so no matter how many times they sacrificed animals in the Old Testament none of it was sufficient to give them eternal life right you know it was sufficient unto the day as far as atoning for their daily sin but none of it can actually take away the permanency or the totality of their sin the only one that can do that is Jesus Christ and without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin and what they needed is the eternal blood of Jesus Christ to atone for that and so the animal sacrifices although God commanded it for a certain period of time they couldn't save anybody okay the only one that can save is Jesus Christ and let me just say this is that you know this flies in the face of dispensationalism that tries to teach that salvation was different in the Old Testament that somehow those animal sacrifices provided salvation and you know when they would do those animal sacrifices that you know somehow I would forgive them of the totality of their sin and they would receive eternal life folks that's so stupid to even teach because of the fact that you know the Levitical law didn't always exist right that wasn't given to Moses until Mount Sinai which is in the book of Exodus but there's an entire book prior to that called the book of Genesis where the Levitical law was not given he said well how do people get saved in the Old Testament by believing on the Lord he said well how do they believe in the Lord if they didn't know his name Jesus Christ well you know God has been known through different names throughout history and he's revealed himself in different names throughout history the most common one of course is the Lord in the Old Testament obviously in the New Testament he reveals himself as Jesus Christ and in order for someone to be saved they have to believe on that name that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised them from the dead thou shalt be saved and the Bible tells us that there's no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved so obviously in times past during the history of Israel prior to the first coming of Christ you know they would believe on the Lord Jehovah God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that's what was necessary for them to be saved but after Jesus Christ came now that name was revealed that it was Jesus Christ and so they have to actually believe on that name but here's the thing is that salvation has always been the same though you know has the name been revealed a little more and a little more absolutely and you know from Old Testament to New Testament but it's always been by grace through faith 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 that any man should boast and in fact the Bible says in Romans chapter number 10 that the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth talking about the word of faith and that's a quotation from Deuteronomy okay before the name of Christ was even revealed and so salvation has always been the same the Bible tells us that to him referring to Jesus Christ give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believe it in him shall receive remission of sins so that also flies in the face of dispensationalism because dispensationalism will teach well yeah it's by faith in the Old Testament but they also have to keep the laws of God in order to be saved well hold on a second the Bible says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law and the Bible also says in Romans chapter number 4 that Abraham Abraham who's in the Old Testament believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness yeah but that's Abraham that's prior to the Levitical law okay how about David who was still under that Levitical law it says that David even described the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works and so over and over again we see the salvation has constantly been the same it's never changed it's always been the same we the only thing that's changed per se is who the people of God are from the Old Testament to New Testament okay and the fact that the name of God has been revealed more and more specifically in the New Testament now it's the Lord Jesus Christ which is why and we talked about this on Sunday you know throughout the New Testament you see disciples specifically Paul of course he's going throughout different regions of the Gentiles and he's preaching that Christ must needs have suffered and to and to be beaten and scourged and he says that Jesus is that Christ he's confirming that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophetic statements of the Messiah okay and so we see here that I chased a rabbit there but it's a necessary rabbit David is a great picture of Jesus Christ that's what I was trying to say David's a great picture of Jesus Christ obviously he's not perfect obviously he has mistakes but throughout his life he manifested qualities that would foreshadow Jesus Christ as many did you know Moses also pictured Christ Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Joshua pictured Jesus Christ in the Old Testament as many people in the Bible that essentially produce some sort of quality or did an action or had an exploit that would be further revealed in the New Testament you know people often say this that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed right so a lot of what took place in the Old Testament the foreshadowings the people they essentially brought light to the man Jesus Christ the Savior as King David did here and so here in this particular story chapter 9 we see that he pictures Jesus Christ because of course he's the king and Jesus Christ is the king of kings Lord of Lords but we also see that he seeks after Mephibosheth okay and Mephibosheth I believe symbolizes the unsaved symbolized all of us prior to coming to Christ right you say why is that because all of us were lame without Christ that's why okay you could use that in the most modern way or the most biblical way anybody without Christ is lame okay they're lame especially if they think there's something you know but in the spiritual sense you know they're lame because of the fact that they are spiritually disabled they're incapable of walking in the laws of God because the laws of God require perfection and you know unsaved people are incapable of obeying the laws of God perfectly you know the Bible says that the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be right and you know you think of someone who is lame you think of the the lame disabled people in the New Testament they would cry out to the Lord right because they were incapable of going to him and he would often come to them so Mephibosheth in a sense I believe refers to or symbolizes unsaved people you know who has legs that are without strength and the Bible specifically says in Romans chapter 5 that and due to when we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly you know that God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and you know he loved us we love him because he first loved us and although you know we have to respond to the light that God gives us in order for us to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ ultimately it's God who essentially comes to us via a soul owner right you're like well where's the soul owner here well how about Ziba okay because in this particular story you know in verse number two it says there was at the house of Saul's servant whose name was Ziba when they had called him unto David the king said unto him art thou Ziba and he said thy servant is he so he sends Ziba to seek out you know Mephibosheth to seek out the person who's of the house of Saul in order to be a blessing to and Ziba I believe pictures that's owner you know we go from being Mephibosheth to essentially becoming Ziba right we're Mephibosheth because we were lame on our feet but then we come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ we believe on the Lord by faith and then God essentially transforms us into Ziba where we have to go out and find another Mephibosheth okay but the Bible tells us that he wants to show him kindness go to Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 1 excuse me and then we'll go to chapter 2 in just a bit look at Ephesians chapter number 1 Ephesians chapter 1 in verse number 6 says this because here's the thing is that even though Mephibosheth is of the house of Saul David is gonna be a blessing to Mephibosheth not because of Mephibosheth but because of Jonathan for Jonathan's sake and let me say this is that we are accepted not because of who we are right look at the Bible says in verse number 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace where he hath made us accepted in the beloved see any worth that we have as Christians only comes because of Christ it's not because you're good-looking or you think you're good-looking it's not because of your physical strength or your achievements or your talents or your giftedness or how moral you are the only reason you're accepted in the eyes of God is because of Jesus Christ you know the Bible says he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him a lot of people in this world are trying to essentially come to God on their own terms and show how much righteousness they have right oh I deserve heaven because I go to church I pray I read the Bible I live a clean life but God doesn't accept your righteousness the Bible says that our righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God the greatest righteousness you have is still filthy in the eyes of God and this is why the Bible says not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to what his mercy he saved us what's another way of saying his mercy his kindness right but yet you still have people today that will say well of course it's by believing on Jesus but you also have to do your part you know you gotta somehow do good works and repent of your sins and make sure you produce the fruits of the Spirit you know because by the by their fruits ye shall know them even though if you take that if you give them the Bible they wouldn't even know where to find that verse they'll say all these things they'll they pay lip service to believing on Jesus Christ by faith alone but then they'll say but you also have to do these things and what are they essentially saying because if you were to take that that school of thought and put it into practical terms they're basically saying we need the righteousness of Jesus but the righteousness of Jesus is not sufficient we also need our own righteousness and we need to integrate both and that's how we get eternal life but hold on a second last time I checked you weren't sacrificed for the sins of the world okay and if you want to be sacrificed for your sins there's a place called hell for you and you will essentially burn there for all of eternity because that's how long it'll take for you to pay for all your sins and let me just say this eternity never ends okay and so you know people have a really high and lofty view of their own righteousness and of their works thinking that that can save them well are you trying to say that you know because you know the argument is this well what you're saying is that if you believe on Jesus you can just go out and murder and rape and kill and molest it's like when they when people give me that example I'm like I've been saved for 15 years and I've like never thought that that's such a weird thing to say you're saying that I could just believe and go on and rape and murder like whoa dude out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak at first and foremost okay and I don't think anybody in here was just like as soon as they got saved we're like cool I've been wanting to murder someone for a really long time now I know I'm not gonna go to hell so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it and it's often the most wicked people who bring that example because guess what that's what they think in their heart they think oh man if I can just get a if I could just be saved then I can just live however I want no Christian actually thinks that nope no safe person actually thinks that folks why because we understand that first and foremost salvation is a gift but secondly you know salvation brings with it the fact that God becomes our Heavenly Father you know the Bible says but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even unto them that believe on his name and you know that makes for a great hallmark card you know calling God our Father but you know a lot of things that the hallmark card doesn't tell you is the fact that God who's our Heavenly Father will chastise us and punish us when we commit sins he doesn't do it in hell he does it here on this earth okay and that's another sermon for another day but what people fail to realize is that you can't integrate your own righteousness for salvation in order for you to be saved it has to be completely absent of your righteousness of your good works because at that point you're saying basically that the gift of God is just insufficient it's not enough oh man I need no but you've got to do something well you know what yet you have to do something thereafter but if you never do it you're still saved because to him that worketh not but believeth on him to justify a thing on godly his faith is counted for righteousness his faith is counted for righteousness that's what the Bible says and I don't care how many cute little phrases you can come up with and yeah but if you really love him but if you're really saved but if you really believe but if you're really you know I miss that part that says but if you really it's not in the Bible I know your favorite false prophet of the month likes to say that a lot to guilt trip you into living a holy life you know what no one in here is being guilt tripped into living a holy life to keep their salvation because we know we can never lose our salvation I was is that given to them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand yeah but you can you can walk away from it though no one can walk away from God what are you talking about you know if I make my bed in hell there aren't there the Bible says no matter where you go on this earth you're God's always gonna be there he's always gonna he's always gonna find you and the Bible says I'll never leave you nor forsake you okay you can't walk away from eternal life because of the fact that the Bible specifically says and Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13 and whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and whom also after that you believed ye were what sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchase possession I know it sounds like a lot of complicated words but cookie on the bottom shelf it just means until you go to heaven or until Jesus Christ resurrects you you but what is he saying you're sealed forever and Ephesians chapter 4 specifically says that grieve not the Holy Spirit of God what does it mean to grieve it means when you sin you are grieving you're saddening the Holy Spirit right but listen to what it says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption notice the wording is not grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until you sin right he says you're sealed unto the day of redemption the day of redemption is referring to the resurrection which is when you die and then you are resurrected unless you are unless you stay until the second coming of Christ okay but we're we're accepted in the beloved and that's the only reason we're accepted in the eyes of God you know God doesn't esteem the human beings of this world because he feels like oh man this person is just so special because of their talents because they're so smart because they're so intelligent he loves people because he wants them to be saved and he knows that we are but we are but dust that we're very fragile and frail and our souls will spend the rest of eternity in hell without Christ but here's the thing the the condition is this you have to accept his son as your Savior bottom line there's no exception to that rule and you know what accepting Jesus Christ and trying to do works for your salvation at simultaneously don't cut it it's like oh sure God I you know I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior but you know I'm gonna also do works to confirm you're gonna be that person in Matthew chapter 7 that when you die first and foremost you go to hell and at the white throne judgment you're gonna be like didn't I prophesy in your name and in your name have cast out devils and in your name have done many wonderful works and I it's so it's like clockwork it's so funny these false prophets who always contact me because attacking one saved always saved they always bring that up because they're always like you got to do works and you if you don't do works you're not really saved and you know you could lose your salvation and all this nonsense and then it is like Matthew 7 and then I show I'm like where in Matthew 7 does it ever say that he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ he actually lists his works as a reason why he should be allowed into heaven I mean let's reread that right he's done many wonderful works he's cast out Devils he's prophesied in his name I mean these are all it's not he's it's not he's saying you know I walked a grandmother you know across the street or something like that and I gave to them you know I fed the poor so he's he's calling out some of like the most top-tier works there prophesying in his name means he's preaching in the name of Jesus you know he's casting out Devils and then just the top it off he's like I've done many wonderful works just in case I missed any and then what is what does God tell me he's like I never knew you depart from me you that work iniquity I never knew you and so you know it's funny that people want to use that to attack one saved always saved but it actually contradicts what they believe because of the fact that he's literally listing his works which obviously did him no good at the judgment scene and I would say no where there does it say Lord why if I believed on your son Jesus Christ no where does it say that actually says the exact opposite okay and so you know salvation is by grace alone in Christ alone and we are accepted in the beloved the Bible says you know behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God but why are we called the sons of God because of Jesus Christ so the Bible says not by works lest any man should boast salvation can't be of your works because if it were if it was by your works when you get to heaven you're like got myself here you know what'd you do Oh faith alone I not me I did some works you know I earned my spot up here no one can boast when they come when they get to heaven if they believed on Jesus Christ because Jesus did all the work and just remember this if you think you have to do works for salvation you're essentially saying the work of Jesus Christ is insufficient you're saying insufficient funds Jesus it's not enough I gotta also pay my part too doesn't exist my friends look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 6 verse number 4 says but God who is rich in mercy for his great love or worthy loved us even when we were dead in sins that's quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved and that's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus not because of us because of Jesus so what do we learn from the story in second Samuel we see that David does good into Mephibosheth not because of Mephibosheth but because for Jonathan's sake because of his covenant that he made with Jonathan and you know what God saves us not because of us not because we're lame not because we're anything special but rather because of the because of the fact that we believed on Jesus Christ okay and we're essentially believing in that covenant that Jesus Christ established which is called the New Testament according to Hebrews chapter number 8 okay but I also want you to notice that you know Mephibosheth is directly a son of Jonathan but he's also a son of Saul because he's a son of Jonathan right like he's related to both okay and if you remember Saul and Jonathan you know how do we how do we summarize Saul because summarize him in one word wrath right he's just a very wrathful man well how can we summarize Jonathan well essentially he's the disobedient son so Mephibosheth is a son of wrath and he's a son of disobedience well unlike man or we as Christians prior to getting saved the Bible says that we were sons of wrath that we were children of disobedience children of wrath until of course we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and then we became sons of God amen and so go back to 2nd Samuel chapter 9 there now the covenant that Jesus Christ established the new covenant replaces that old covenant okay and the old covenant still had with it embedded the way of salvation the way we have it today the only difference is between the old and the new covenant would be essentially the meats drinks divers washings carnal ordinances we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore we don't have to do animal sacrifices we don't have to not eat shrimp or pork all those things you know are good amen you know every creature of God is good nothing to be refused according to the Bible and so it was a lot more strict in the Old Testament like you know our fellow believers our fellows our fellow spiritual ancestors you know they didn't they didn't bask in the joys and the delights that we do today man like you know if if some of these Old Testament believers can see us on that day when when brother Chevy got that pig what's that called what is it called lechon with that that roasted pig on the fellowship hall they'd be like abomination you know well in their time it was an abomination but for us it was it was it was girls great okay you know that's something that's changed from Old and New Testament but another thing that's changed from the old covenant to the new covenant is who the people of God are because in the Old Testament the people of God were the Jews the nation of Israel okay the twelve tribes if you were physically born into that nation you were automatically a part of the people of God listen to this whether you believed on the Lord or not because it's only based upon birth okay whether you're born into Israel understand however in the New Testament that is completely changed so the Jews Israel is no longer the people of God unless they are believers in Christ at which point they wouldn't consider themselves to be Jews because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile so they have their Jew license revoked okay it's just like you don't need this anymore you know let's take this let's take this Israelite license away okay and just put Christian to it oh where does it say Judeo Christian though there's no such thing so it doesn't exist okay so now that's that's changed so a lot of the believers in the New Testament in that transitional period when Christ was born down on the cross they transitioned from Old to New Testament and they were the people of God because of their birth but then they transition and continued to be the people of God because of the fact that they were saved so they believed on the Lord prior to Jesus Christ down on the cross and they remain the people of God they're essentially grandfathered in to that New Covenant okay but here's the great news is that now all Gentile that that offer is open to all Gentiles to become the people of God and to become the people of God is solely based upon whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not okay so you don't have to be a Jew to be a people to be a part of the people of God and in fact if you are a Jew according to the Bible and we're talking about people who adhere to the religion of Judaism you're not part of the Church of God you're part of the synagogue of Satan according to Revelation 2 and Revelation chapter 3 from the words of Jesus Christ by the way okay you know the Bible tells us you know if you are a Jew who adheres to the Talmud and you reject Jesus Christ which the vast majority of Jews do okay and you embrace Judaism you're not a son of God according to the Bible you're a child of the devil because the Bible says in John 8 44 ye are of your father he's talking to Jews ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father will you do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it so the Bible says and he specifically referred to the Pharisees who were members of Judaism they were the propagators of Judaism he said that there were a generation of vipers now let's do a little bit of a science lesson here okay so what is a viper it's a snake very good class okay and what is what is Satan often referred to as a serpent which is a what class a snake very good class exactly so if the Bible calls him that old serpent and the Bible refers to the Jews who were adherence to Judaism as the generation of vipers he's saying that they're the children of Satan okay not all Jews but those who embrace Judaism who embrace the Talmud you know and they reject Jesus Christ they're like oh no but they believe in God they just don't accept the Sun well if you don't have the Sun you don't have a father that's what the Bible says so you can say you they can say they believe and Elohim all they want you know they can say they believe in that and all they want but it's not true okay because according to God's economy in order for you to have God the Father you have to have God the Son that's the only way you know no man cometh unto the Father he said but by me so and Jews are not the exception to that rule so that is the the the the major difference between old the New Testament is that we are the people of God not because you're Mexican not because you are Chinese not because you are Russian or you know white or whatever it's because you've believed on Jesus Christ we're part of that spiritual house okay Jesus Christ opened up that New Covenant which the Bible refers to as a better testament by the way okay at his death and so this is what we see taking place this is what's being pictured here in 2nd Samuel chapter 9 you didn't know that there's so much in there huh but on a practical level you're in 2nd Samuel chapter 9 let's let's remove some of the symbolism and just look at it for face value what what's being stated here you know Mephibosheth he this is pretty sad actually if you think about it word Mephibosheth is at this time because he was part of like he was royalty at one point right I mean he's the son of Jonathan who's the son of Saul who at one point was the king of Israel you know he's part of that royal family so to speak right but now look at look at look at verse number four says the king said unto him where is he and Ziba said unto the king behold he is in the house of Makir the son of Amiel in Lodabar so now he's living with someone so he's like depending on someone else and you know when I think about this I think of how Satan and the world and the flesh literally leaves people who are just not saved you know just kind of leaves you depending on others or leaves you where you where you just don't have anything because there's a time when Mephibosheth had land he had houses he had you know he had security so to speak but then he was kind of it was all taken away from him right and it's not until he comes to the king where King David restores everything back and in fact he not only gives him the land of his of his father listen to this he gives them a portion of the king's meat every day so what does that tell us well the Bible says in the New Testament that Jesus Christ listen to this is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think so you know Mephibosheth comes before the king and he's probably like you know really scared because he's thinking my household is the enemy of the king so he comes humbly which is the only way you can come before the king by the way right and David restores everything that he lost okay I don't want to get in my head ahead of myself here but one thing that I want also point out is the fact that Ziba took care of his job Ziba went out and he sought after Mephibosheth and you know what as Christians as soul winners our job is to seek out the lame the lost the blind the dumb those who are without Christ to go on to the highways and hedges and look for those who can't necessarily come to Christ on their own terms we have to go out and get them there's plenty of people that are kind of walk walking through our doors we're gonna give them the gospel and they're gonna get saved here at church and thank God for that but for the most part we have to go out there that's why we go throughout Anaheim and Santa Ana and Los Angeles and South Central and Compton and Barstow and Belize why because Belize ain't gonna come here I don't even know we exist so we have to go out and get them you know and look there might be someone out there who's actually sincerely seeking the Lord they're not saved or seeking after God they're essentially responding to the light that God has given to them but that's only gonna take them so far because no one is just gonna get saved by responding to the light that God gives them they need someone to open their mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel they need a soul winner to come bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ they need you they need us they need our church and we can't relinquish that responsibility to another church and look we know a lot of good soul winning churches in this country right but you know what just because we know a lot of good soul winning churches doesn't mean well another church will do it so let's just chill back and not do anything Oh faithful word does a lot of soul winning so we don't need to really do a whole lot Verity Baptist Church they do a lot of soul winning so we don't really have to do a whole lot you know Mountain Baptist Church over West Virginia they do a whole lot of soul winning so we didn't have to do much no we still have the responsibility to go out there and get the lame and we have to do it in a way where it almost seems as though we're the only ones doing it because it provides a sense of urgency because we don't want to depend on other people we want other people to do their part but we have to do our part to to go out there and give them the gospel hey Ziba go out there and get my fiba chef who's that one soul out there who's that person who's that family who's that mother who's that father who is that child who's that teenager who's that young adult that is responding to the light that God gives them you say I don't know then knock on every door until you find them I don't know where that person is at then spend the rest of your life looking for them and the good thing is when you do soul winning is you're gonna find many of them that's why so wanting should just be a regular thing that we do as a church throughout the year you know I don't want to I don't want to burst I don't I don't want to spill the beans too early but you know we got over a thousand people saved this year over a thousand people that called upon the name of the Lord yes you heard right called upon the name of the Lord okay you know it's not a scam calling upon the name of the Lord is not a scam you know these these these Instagram influencers are getting too big for their britches they're like I'm an Instagram influencer now you know I'm just gonna start teaching the Bible even though they probably never read the Bible in their life but they want to they want to call calling upon the name of the Lord a scam you say what are they doing they're scamming people's what they're doing so what do you mean they're scamming people they're scamming people out of eternal life because they're not even saved so they're hindering others from entering into the kingdom of God as well they're taking away the keys of knowledge because they're not entering in themselves they're false prophets well he's a young guy maybe doesn't know better then he needs to take down the video and shut up and stop trying to make videos just to get views you know if he doesn't know what he's talking about go to the man of God and go ask him don't just you know and it's always like these these videos where it seems like they're like you just interrupted a podcast or something let me but let me just tell you something a no podcast happening in those videos they recorded that you know just to kind of get you know content out there or whatever this guy has no idea what he's talking about he's like the sinners prayer nowhere in the Bible just talk about the sinners prayers like what are you talking about any person who calls upon the name of the Lord that's considered a sinner's prayer you know why because it's a sinner who's praying to ask God to save them hello he's like they're confessing things that they don't know that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus I mean it's crazy folks but this is the world that we're living in and I don't know where I was going with that but be a zeba win people to Christ get Mephibosheth help him and and you know when Mephibosheth came to the king his physical state per se didn't change by the way like he was still disabled because that's something that took place prior to him you know it took place it's not something he couldn't control you know someone dropped him and he became disabled he became handicapped it's not like he met the king and then it's just like whoa I'm able to walk now you know just like look at me now given there's people when Jesus Christ was here they were able to do that but David is only a picture of Jesus Christ he's not Jesus Christ okay you said what's the point of what you're saying what I'm saying is when someone comes to Christ who is spiritually handicapped guess what that handicap sometimes doesn't go away they get to be a part of the king's household they get to partake in the daily meats they get to you know the king gives them all types of privileges and blesses him but guess what he's still lame on his feet and you know what when you come to Christ your temptations don't just vanish don't just go away it's like oh man I'm saved now I'm never gonna struggle with alcohol again I'm never gonna struggle with smoking pot and doing mushrooms and fornication and stealing and lying I'm never gonna be tempted to do these things no you're still lame you're still disabled you know God has can bless you and help you to walk better he can help you and feed you and provide for you but you know there's certain things that we're just gonna deal with for the rest of our lives so why can't he just take it away from me because if he took it away from me you just die that's the only way the only way for God to take away your temptation of sin is just to kill you on the spot you want that is that what you want you want to just die right now you know I'd rather just fight temptation every single day die daily right let not sin have a reign over my mortal body so I can serve Christ and be an instrument in the hand of God to reach people turn people to righteousness then to get saved and then just God just kills me because I just don't want to deal with the temptation of sin we're always gonna deal with the temptation of sin no once you say once you're saved you just never sin thereafter it's just never gonna happen okay then apparently you don't need the resurrection then that's what the resurrection is about is to give you a body that is completely absent of sin and it's completely unresponsive to the temptations of this world so you're saying you're already like glorified that's what it sounds like when someone says you're never you know these these these street preachers repenting or sin street preachers they want to tell you to turn from your sin you're never gonna desire to sin did the ray comforts of this world take his butt back to New Zealand where that garbage belongs telling people that he doesn't sin you liar but he's basically saying like he's in his resurrected form because that's the only time we're actually gonna be in that condition the only time you're never gonna struggle with your thought life the only time you're never gonna struggle with doubt and fear and lust and greed and covetous is when you're resurrected you're like well that's miserable no because God has provided ways for you to overcome those things listen to this on a daily basis you know but you have to actually make the the effort into reading your Bible every day and walking in the spirit and and being in church you know what I mean reading the Bible memorizing scripture singing songs living a spiritual life you know yeah it's hard when you're just that's all you're surrounded with when you're around your bunch of friends who are drinking and smoking pot yeah of course you're just gonna keep doing that because that's what all you're surrounded with yeah when you keep your your whore of a girlfriend around all the time and she's always trying to sleep with you yeah you're not gonna really have it your fornication are you are you you know that's always just gonna be around but you know when you put away those things from yourself when you put away the bad people when you when you separate yourself from the bad company from the boyfriends and the girlfriends and the temptation you put away temptation from you guess what you have a higher chance of succeeding and not giving in to sin and living a righteous life yes it is possible okay but you're still lame so you know I'm sure you know Mephibosheth probably had some crutches now he had servants to kind of help him but guess what the dude was still lame that didn't change so our encounter with the king doesn't change the sin nature it's it's always gonna be there it doesn't change the spiritual disabilities that we possess they're always gonna be there okay look at verse number six now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul was coming to David he fell on his face and did reverence and David said said Mephibosheth and the answer 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 he bowed himself and said what is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am what did we see with Mephibosheth it wasn't like well finally I was wondering where you're gonna like start like reparations are due about time you know you only killed you know a part of my father's house and you know so where is the stuff at you know actually he was very humbled by it he didn't come with a attitude that he deserved this in fact he thought to himself like how if I'm like like why would you even want to do any kindness to me I'm just like a dead dog I don't deserve it so two things that we can learn from this is that you know in regards to salvation one thing that God does require of you that's on your part when it comes to salvation is humility right what am I talking about well you know anybody who gets saved has to recognize that they're wrong which requires humility right it's not like well I already know that but you're not saved yeah I'm not saying but I already know everything everything you tell me I already know all of it you know obviously anybody who get all of us who have gotten saved we had to come to the point where we recognize you know what I'm actually wrong about this because I thought it was by works I thought it was by repenting of yourself I thought it was by keeping God's commandments I thought it was by all these things and you know what you're right and I'm wrong the Bible's right and I'm wrong you say what does that do well the Bible says that God gives grace into the humble and every human being if they're gonna come to the foot of the cross if they're gonna get saved they have to recognize that first and foremost Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation and they have to recognize that they're wrong you say well what's part of recognizing that they're wrong you know recognizing that they deserve hell because I don't believe anybody who doesn't believe they deserve hell can be saved if someone tells me like I want to believe on Jesus Christ but I don't believe I deserve hell that person can't get saved because the very essence of Jesus being called the Savior is the fact that he's saving you from hell so if you don't believe you deserve hell but you want him as your Savior what do you what do you need him to save you from my sins all your sins that are gonna take you to hell so you have to believe that and you know what you have to recognize admit and say you know I'm a sinner I deserve help and I want to be saved but this also teaches us just from a a Christian just practical perspective principle is that we should never think that we just deserve everything right no matter where we came from or who we are you know and I think December is a great month to think about that so I love November December because it kind of just smacks me right in the face that I just don't deserve what I have because you know as Christians we could easily get like proud and arrogant and think and just kind of have a spirit of expectation and this is just like well this is what I deserve I deserve my wife I deserve my kids I deserve all these things because I'm serving God but we deserve hell you know so it's it's important that we recognize that you know God has been good to us he's been kind to us he's given us so much exceedingly abundant yeah but I don't have as much as this person yeah but what do you have though and who knows maybe somewhere down the road you're gonna have more than that person so who cares you know and so take time and obviously November is done but you know take time in December to be thankful for what you have and and recognize like why God should look upon a dead dog such as us you know yesterday I was as I was studying this I was thinking to myself you know like I don't deserve this church so thankful for my church I'm so thankful for my church members for the people that are in my church I'm so thankful they're like I'm a Baptist I'm so thankful that I was reached by Baptist like I'm so thankful that I was reached by independent fundamental Baptist so thankful that they gave me a King James Bible to the right way of salvation like I'm thinking for my wife my kids I'm thankful for just not my church members but just my friends in my church you know just the people that I have like we just came from Belize look at all the souls of you guys it's like so much is being done like I'm just thankful for it I was sitting in my home and I'm thinking myself I'm so thankful that I have what I have a home drinking a Coke Zero just reading the Bible my wife does the dishes and makes me a sandwich come on I mean this is great you know I have my kids and and and the drive me crazy but it's just like at least I have kids that drive me crazy amen and you know every once in a while we need to be like Mephibosheth and not think to ourselves well this is what I deserve though we need to be like Mephibosheth and think to ourselves who am I that I should have what I have who am I that I should have this church or or be born I mean America's wicked folks but you know what I I'm glad I was born here though no matter what people think where people think I was born okay you know anytime I mention Guatemala they're like so when did you leave Guatemala I wasn't born there right my parents you know I'm thankful to be born here I'm thankful to be born in California where all the normal people are at just imagine being born like in Texas or something thank you who am I imagine being born like like in Florida just to put things into perspective well how about this imagine being born in communist China in India in Southeast Asia I mean thank God we're born here thank God we're in Anaheim thank God that he's just has seen us through so many trials even within the last five years you know we need to have this Mephibosheth mentality and not think to ourselves well this is what we deserve though isn't this what we deserves in this book no we don't deserve this everything you get after salvation is like a cherry on top just be thankful for it and continue no matter how long you're safe and I've been saved for 15 years it's it's tempting to just kind of be like well you know I've been serving God for this long time but you know this is what I deserve I'm just being honest with you you know because this is what God promises is someone who serves him but you know what that thought should not enter into our minds and when it does we need to cast it down and think to ourselves you know what I'm so thankful for what God has done over these last 15 years I'm thinking I get to just stand up here and preach God's Word and now I have to listen to like pre-tribulation rapture and Zionism and all this nonsense and you know I'm thinking of in a church where fags and pedophiles aren't allowed in I'm thankful for that we're trainees just can't walk up in here and just want to have story time with our children so I mean the list can go on and on folks of all the things that we should be thankful for and and think about Mephibosheth here when we do those things verse 9 says then the king called to Zeba Saul's servant and said unto him I have given unto thy master's son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him and thou shall bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread always at my table now Zeba had 15 sons and 20 servants then said Zeba unto the king according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants so shall thy servant do as for Mephibosheth said to the king he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons this is great he's like you're gonna be like my family and sit at my table and you know what Mephibosheth was not a part of the house of David but he became part of the house of David you know the Bible also compares salvation to the adoption of children and you know the Bible says that that eight you know we shall see people from the east and the west sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the children of the king that shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and God is basically saying and by the way east and the west I mean that's us we're part of the West amen we're gonna be in the kingdom of God eating at the table with Jesus Christ not because of who we are what tribe we're from because our faith in Jesus Christ so how long we're gonna be there forever verse 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah and all that dwells in the house of Zeba were servants of the Mephibosheth so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame on both his feet what a wonderful story here and I'm sure Mephibosheth the day he woke up he wasn't he probably thought like well he's just another day being lame he never thought that the king was actually gonna come to him and restore everything that was lost and provide for him and just give him exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask her thing and you know what our lives are not over so that exceeding abundantly above is still coming down the road we could look back over the last couple of years whether you've been saved or how long you've been in church you can list all the good things that God has done for you but you know it's not even over yet you know in John chapter 4 the best juice the best wine was put out at the very end there that man the best is yet to come you know in the Christian life the best is always yet to come you think it's good now it only gets better here after amen let's pray father we thank you so much for this great story thank you so much for King David and of course Mephibosheth and and and Ziba and what they exemplify to us help us Lord as your people especially during this time in the month of December as we think upon the birth of Christ Lord help us to have the same mentality as Mephibosheth and not think that we deserve anything we don't deserve anything from your hand Lord we're so thankful for salvation that was gifted to us through Jesus Christ and I pray that you'd help us to be thankful for what we have and shed a tear here and there just to think upon the goodness of God and I pray that you would help us Lord to look forward to all the things you're gonna do in and through our church and into our lives and continue to cultivate a heart of gratitude within us all to be thankful for what the King has done for us we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen