1. Illus. of horse thief
• Back in days of old west, a man was accused of stealing a horse.
• His lawyer said to him, “Don’t worry, I’ll see that you get justice in that courtroom.
• With a guilty look on his face the man replied, “Mister, I don’t want justice, I want mercy!”
2. Isn’t that what every one of us needs? Unless you are sinless, at some point in our lives all of us have messed up. Sinners like us don’t need justice (hell), we need mercy!
3. There is a word in the NT that describes God’s mercy: grace! Grace has been defined as, “the unmerited love of God.” Perhaps more appropriately, grace could be defined as, “God’s mercy that we did not earn, that we do not deserve, and that we can never repay.” There is an Old Testament equivalent to the word “grace.” It is the Hebrew word “kesed,” and it is usually translated as “kindness” or “loving-kindness.” It is that word that David uses in our text today.
4. Text: David is looking for a way to demonstrate “the kindness of God” is any of Saul’s descendents. When he finds out about Mephibosheth, he demonstrates the mercy and grace of God in how he treats this crippled young man.
5. Today: David’s gracious treatment of Mephibosheth is a perfect picture of God’s gracious treatment of us.
6. How is David’s treatment of Mephibosheth a picture of God’s grace to us? In at least three ways.
I. God’s grace seeks us out when we are crippled and impoverished
1. See
Vs 1. Mephibosheth didn’t seek out the king. The king took the initiative and sought out Mephibosheth. Does that sound familiar? I John 4:10. God took the initiative in seeking us out.
Vs 2-3. The servant says, “there is this one guy. He is Jonathan’s son, and he was 5 when his daddy died. But you need to understand something, David. He isn’t going to fit in around here. He is…crippled!”
Vs 4. Don’t you love David’s response? “Where is he?” Ziba tells him that Mephibosheth is living in a place called “no pasture” living in the house of another family.
What does this fellow Mephibosheth look like? According to 2 Chronicles he is crippled by a fall (I find that ironic!!), and according to our text he lives in poverty and desolation.
2. What a picture of the sinner outside of Christ! We are crippled by sin. We live in spiritual desolation and poverty! There is absolutely nothing in us that should make the King seek out us out…but He did!
3. Principle: Grace seeks us out when we are crippled and impoverished.
4. Illus. of orphanage
• I heard about a man one time that started an orphanage.
• Filled with little children who had no parents, but children of a very special kind. Not those who were cute and adorable, but those who had disfigured, mangled, or crippled, those that no one else wanted.
• One day he heard about a little girl was in his city whose parents had died in a fire. She herself was horribly disfigured and scarred.
• He approached her and asked her how she would like to live in his orphanage. She said, “You don’t want me. I’m ugly. Nobody wants me.”
• Do you know what he did? He picked her up, and kissed her scars, and said, “you are exactly the kind of little girl that I want to be a part of my family!”
• That is exactly what grace did! When we were crippled and scarred, Grace sought us out and said, “You are exactly the kind of person I want to pour out my love and favor on!”
5. You might say, “Well, that may be true of others, but I wasn’t all that impoverished when I became a Christian. I was a pretty good person!” See Romans 3: 10-18
6. Grace seeks us out when we are broken and impoverished!
II. Grace gives us the blessing that belongs to a favored other
1. See
Vs 1. For Jonathan’s sake.
Vs 7. For Jonathan your father’s sake!
None of this happened to Mephibosheth because he was handsome or smart or athletic. He was none of those. It happened because David loved a favored other named Jonathan, and he was willing to give to Mephibosheth the blessings that he would have given to Jonathan.
2. Principle: The grace of God means that we are blessed and honored for the sake of Another! His name isn’t Jonathan…its Jesus!
3. Illus of my wife’s dog
• I don’t like dogs, and I especially don’t like that dog. He is the most aggravating dog in the universe to me. If it was just me the dog would die of lead poisoning.
• However, I love my wife and my wife loves him!
• I treat that dog like royalty because of my love for her! I will go miles out of my way to buy a certain type of dog food he likes. I pet him and do all kinds of things for him.
• I bless that dog for my wife’s sake.
• That is exactly how grace operates! God blesses us for the sake of Jesus!
5. Let me show you something. Ephesians 1:6. Grace makes us accepted in the Beloved. In other words, grace allows God to look at me through His Son Jesus Christ! See Ephesians 2: 4-7. Wait…it gets better. See Romans 8: 15-17. I am a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. Everything that Jesus earned by His death, burial and resurrection…I get to share in that as if I had earned it!
6. Application: Grace doesn’t give me the blessings I deserve. Grace gives me the blessings Jesus deserves!
III. Grace makes family out of enemies
1. See vss 5-7. When a new king ascended to the throne, it was customary to kill all of the old king’s descendents. It was commonly understood that the descendents of the old king would be your sworn enemy, and if possible, they would make their own claim to the throne.
2. When the king sent for Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth expected that he was going to his execution. The king wanted to say a few words, maybe assemble a crowd so that others would be warned, and then cut off his head. Instead, David said, “I’m going to treat you like one of my family. You are going to eat at my table and enjoy my blessing, just like you would if you were my natural born son.”
3. Isn’t that what Grace has done for us as well? The bible says we were the enemies of God. See Romans 5: 8-10. Yet because of grace, God has forgiven us and brought us into His family.
4. Principle: Grace makes family out of enemies.
5. Illus of adopting murderer of son
• Chezlaw Godlewski was a member of a teenage gang that was terrorizing the German countryside.
• One night, broke into remote farmhouse of Wilheim Hammelman family.
• Shot and killed 9 family members. Godlewski was the one who pulled the trigger. Mr. Hammelman himself was left for dead, but miraculously survived.
• The German courts were outraged, but because of Godlewski’s underage status, they were limited in what they could sentence him to.
• Amazingly enough, when Godlewski became eligible for parole, Wilhelm Hammelman appeared at the hearing and said if they would parole the boy who had shot and killed his family, he would adopt him as his son and take care of him.
• “If Christ has forgiven me, how can I not forgive this young man?
• Isn’t that a picture of what grace has done for us? Grace made family out of enemies!
6. See vs 7. The one time enemy now gets to eat at David’s table. See Phil 4:19. Now, because we are family, we have access to our Father’s provision! We get to eat at his table!
