David and Mephibosheth 2 Samuel 9 25 Year Journey
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David and Mephibosheth 2 Samuel 9 25 Year Journey “Your throne shall be established forever” 2 Samuel 7.16 Dominion Dwelling Dynasty 2 Samuel 7: What Can I Do For God? (House) 2 Samuel 9: What Can I Do For Others? (Mephibosheth) Love God Love Others 1. Why David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love • And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” • 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” • 3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 1. Why David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love • 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” • 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. • 6 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 1. Why David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love • 7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” • 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?” David’s Covenant with Jonathan “Treat my family with this faithful love, even when the LORD destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.” 1 Samuel 20 (NLT) 1. Why David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love • 3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” •Hesed (Hebrew) •Loyal Love: covenant kindness, steadfast promise •“The mercy and favor of the Lord to undeserving people.” – Warren Wiersbe Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 4.4 (ESV) “An extreme example is the cruel treatment that the much later Assyrian king Ashurbanipal gave to those who ‘had plotted against me.’… ‘I fed their corpses, cut into small pieces, to dogs, pigs, vultures, the birds of the sky and (also) to the fish of the ocean.’” 1. Why David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love •7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, •for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan” •Why? Because I’m a promise-keeping king of loyal love! 2. How David Shows Mephibosheth Loyal Love •Two Extravagant Gifts: • 7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” “I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father” 11 So Mephibosheth ate “You shall eat at at David's table, like my table always” one of the king's sons. “Highest honor that any subject could enjoy” – Adam Clark 3. How Mephibosheth Responds to David’s Loyal Love •8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?” •Chapter 7 – David: “Who am I?” (Servant 10x) •Dead Dog •How? Humility – Recognizing he did not deserve the blessing 4. Why God Shows Us Loyal Love •3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” •The hesed of God! •“A man after God’s own heart” (Of His Choosing) The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness…” Exodus 34.6 (ESV) 5. How God Shows Us Loyal Love •David is the ONLY one who can show Mephibosheth this kind of hesed •Two Requirements: Power and Desire ‘Go quickly into the streets “You shall eat at and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, my table always” the blind, and the lame.’ Luke 14.21 (NLT) “Highest honor that any subject could enjoy” – Adam Clark 6. How we should respond to God’s loyal love •A. Humbly Acknowledge We Were Dead Dogs •Ephesians 2.1-3 (NLT) • 1Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. • 3 By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. 6. How we should respond to God’s loyal love •B. Gratefully Recognize We Are Sitting at His Bountiful Table •We WERE Dead Dogs – Not now!... •1 Corinthians 6 (NLT) • 9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.11 Some of you were once like that. • But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 6. How we should respond to God’s loyal love •C. Loyally Pay the Love Forward •When we aren’t receiving and resting in God’s hesed, we worry and we take. •When we are, we are free to give it away to others! .