“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?”—2 SAMUEL ix. 1.
ALTHOUGH this portion of Scripture is neither a parable nor a type, it is quite legitimate to make spiritual use of it. David’s enquiry here is like the call of the Gospel sent forth to sinners. In making this use of it I shall mention the points as I proceed.
1. The person who sends forth the call—King David.
King David is now king of the twelve tribes of Israel, and who seeks to do good to his subjects, even his enemies. In like manner the call of the Gospel is sent forth by God, who is King of the universe, and who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in redemption, and who invites sinners to Him through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ, that He may do everlasting good to them. Seeing, then, that it is God that invites you to come to Him, you have the highest authority to obey the call. You need not ask permission of a minister, priest, or any fellow-creature. This is a great privilege. “Arise, then, for the Master calleth thee.”
2. The persons to whom the call is addressed.
King David’s call was to those of the house of Saul. You know that Saul was a great enemy to David. The call of the Gospel is to enemies. All the human race are enemies in their minds to God, and showing their enmity by wicked works (Col. i. 21). Sin is the cause of this enmity. It caused enmity between God and man and between man and man. It is as an enemy you are called, and not better than an enemy. You are called to come as an enemy to be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.
David’s call was to any one of the house of Saul. The call of the Gospel is universal, addressed to each and all to whom the Word of God comes. “Preach the gospel to every creature.” “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Any sinner who hears the Word of the Lord—young or old, rich or poor, yea, the chief of sinners—is invited. So long as you are in the land of the living you are invited. But the call is not to sinners who have passed from time to eternity. David’s call was to any “left of the house of Saul.” Many of that house had died. The call was not to them. In like manner the call of the Gospel is not to those that have died, but to those that are living. Many of our fellow-sinners have died since we were born, and the great majority died in their sins, and are now lost for ever in the place of everlasting despair. What a wonder that we are still left to hear the gracious call of the Gospel!
3. By David’s inquiry there was a person found—Mephibosheth.
The Gospel call will find some sinners who will, by grace, obey the call. What was the condition in which this man was?
(1) He was an exile, far away from Jerusalem.
The seat of worship—where the name of God was known, and where the Gospel was proclaimed.
(2) He was in poverty, having lost the inheritance.
Having lost the inheritance that belonged to him by birth, being of the royal family. So are sinners. By sin we lost God, His image, and all that belonged to us in our first creation. We are, by nature, far away from God—like the prodigal—and in exile, fearing the execution of the sentence of death: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
(3) He was lame in both his feet.
How did he become lame? By a fall. When his father and grandfather were killed in battle, his nurse fled with him at the age of five years, fearing that they also might be killed; and in the hurry the child (and probably the nurse too) fell and broke his two legs, and thus he became lame. In like manner sinners are lame in both feet. How did we become lame? By a fall—a far worse fall than the fall of Mephibosheth. The nurse in whose arms we were was the first Adam, and when he sinned and fell from the state in which he was created, we sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. Pelagians do not believe this, but by their practice they prove that they are lame. Their practice contradicts their theory. What are the feet on which we are lame? We are lame on the foot of faith and we are lame on the foot of obedience. When man sinned he ceased to believe God and he ceased to obey His law and to walk in the way of His commandments. This is true not only of the first man, but also of all his posterity that descended from him by ordinary generation. You have only to look at men’s practice as they are in a state of nature as an evidence of this. Some are avowed atheists—all are practical atheists—and do not walk in the way of God’s commandments. The Sabbath day will show that sinners are lame on both their feet. They do not believe the Word of God nor obey His law.
4. A messenger was sent to bring Mephibosheth to King David.
The Gospel must be sent to sinners, or they must come to the place where the Gospel is preached before they can come to God. Some, in ignorance of the Scriptures, are of the opinion that the heathen may come to God without the Gospel message, but there is not one instance of this in the history of the human race. It is therefore a delusion, and a sign that those who hold this view are not taught of God. They make a Bible of their own heart. The commission given by Christ to His apostles, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” condemns this false idea.
5. The reception Mephibosheth received when brought to David.
David spoke kindly to him. He was full of fear when he appeared before the king. Perhaps he thought that on account of his grandfather’s enmity to David, he was sent for to be killed. So David said, “Fear not.” When the sinner appears before God under conviction of sin he is afraid that God will punish him for his sins. But, like David, it is to show kindness to the sinner God cites him to appear at His bar. It is a work of great kindness on the part of God to convince sinners in a day of mercy of their sins, that they may cry for mercy, while others are left to discover their sinfulness in eternity in the place of everlasting torment. But it is a greater kindness to speak peace and comfort to the guilty sinner through the blood of Christ—to pardon all his sins and to remember them no more—and that on a ground on which He is just and the Justifier of Him that believes in Jesus. “Who is a God like unto thee” that does this?
6. David restored to him the inheritance.
David restored to him the inheritance that belonged to Saul but which was now in the possession of David, and at his disposal to give to whomsoever he pleased. And withal Mephibosheth was now to live in the royal palace, to be fed at the king’s table, and to be attended to as a prince. What a contrast to his condition in Lo-debar! When the sinner is reconciled to God through the blood of Christ the inheritance which he forfeited by sin is restored to him; God is the lot of his inheritance, his portion; life eternal, grace, and glory are his; and he is now adopted into God’s family and has a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. He lives in the palace of the King; is fed at the King’s table, eating the bread of life and drinking the water of life; and when he is prepared for heaven—made “all glorious within”—by the work of sanctification, he shall be brought with gladness into the Father’s house above, to join the happy company there in the everlasting song, “Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever, Amen.” This is no fable or an imaginary thing. It is God’s word of truth.
7. All the kindness shown to Mephibosheth by David was done for the sake of another—Jonathan, his father.
In like manner, all the kindness God shows to the believer—both in the state of grace and glory—is shown to him not for the sake of any merit of his own, but entirely for the sake of Jesus Christ, who alone merited all the blessings of salvation for His people by His obedience unto death. This is clearly revealed in the Word of God, and all who are taught of the Lord know it. It is in judgment hid from those that perish. Oh, sinner, pray that God may open your blind eyes to see the way of salvation by Jesus Christ.
8. The kindness which David showed to Mephibosheth was in pursuance of a covenant.
David and Jonathan entered into a covenant, in which David bound himself by an oath that he would show kindness to Jonathan’s posterity, which he now begins to perform to his needy son. In like manner, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, entered into a covenant, the Father promising to give eternal life to Christ’s seed or posterity on condition that the Son should perform His part of the covenant, which cost Him His humiliation unto death. This is the covenant of grace, which is everlasting, “ordered in all things and sure.” When Christ fulfilled the conditions of the covenant the Father said to Him, “Ask of me, and I will give thee.” Christ shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.
9. Although Mephibosheth was now in the palace of the king, living not at his own expense but at the expense of the king, yet he was still lame on both his feet.
The believer, notwithstanding his privileges, as justified, adopted, and made a new creature in Christ, is still lame on both his feet; not, however, so lame as he was in his natural state. He is lame in his faith and he is lame in his obedience. It was to His disciples Christ said, “O ye of little faith.” The believer is lame in his obedience. He is not yet perfect in his obedience. He never yet managed to think a perfect thought, speak a perfect word, or perform a perfect action. If he is a preacher he finds that he never preached a perfect sermon, never prayed a perfect prayer—that is, without sin in some form mingling with his endeavour after new obedience. This keeps him from depending in any degree on any thing he does as a ground of salvation, in whole or in part. He is shut up entirely to Christ’s finished and perfect work as the only ground of his hope for eternity.
He is imperfect in his nature. Sin still dwells in him; it dwells in all the faculties and powers of his soul—in his mind, will, and affections. There is saving knowledge in his mind and there is ignorance in his mind; there is willingness in his will and there is rebellion in his will; there is holiness in his affections and there is unholiness in his affections too. Grace and sin dwell together in the soul of the believer. The “new man” and the “old man” dwell in the same house. If a murderer dwelt in the same house with you, how dangerous your condition would be! What would you do to protect your life? You will say, “I would put the murderer in one room, and I would live in another apartment and lock the door.” But you are to remember that there is no partition between grace and sin in the soul. Hence your danger. You need, therefore, to be always on the watch, and however watchful you may be, it is God only that can protect you from your enemy. The struggle between grace and sin shall continue till death, when the believer shall be completely, and for ever, delivered from sin and all imperfections, and shall enter heaven perfectly holy, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” It shall not be known on his appearance that he ever sinned. There shall not be any lameness in him then.
10. The effect that David’s kindness had on Mephibosheth.
(1) Thankfulness.
“He bowed himself before the king,” which was an expression of gratitude for the benefits bestowed on him. When you give a penny to a needy beggar he takes off his cap, bows to you, and says, “Thank you.” How much more thankful Mephibosheth was for the dignity to which David raised him, and the blessings which he conferred upon him!
(2) Humility.
There can be no doubt but his bowing to David was a token of his humility. David was a king, and he a poor man, and to receive such favour in the sight of the king, instead of puffing him up with pride, had the effect of humbling him.
(3) A sense of unworthiness.
He said, “What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?” A living dog may be of some value, but a dead dog is worthless and loathsome.
(4) He is now willing to be David’s servant.
Lame as he is. If he could not walk to serve the king, he could use his tongue to speak well of him to all with whom he came in contact. “Thy servant,” he said.
The application of all this to the believer is obvious. The believer is thankful to the Lord for raising him out of the dust, and lifting him out of the dunghill, in which he was by nature, and setting him with the princes of His people. Indeed, he never thanked the Lord in sincerity and truth till he was converted. But now he sings in the language of the Psalmist—“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Not only so, but he desires that others would praise Him—“Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
But he is not always in a frame of mind to thank and praise the Lord. The Pharisee, like a machine, could thank the Lord at any time he liked, but his thanks were lip-thanks. They did not spring from grace in the heart. There are many professors of religion of that kind. Such are as ready to sing vain songs as they are to sing praise to the Lord, yea, readier, for it is more congenial to their carnal taste. But if the believer is not always able to sing praise to the Lord, he will not sing the vain song. He will leave it to those who think that they can serve two masters—Satan and God—a thing that is impossible. He is dependent on grace for every duty. When he gets an evidence of his interest in Christ, he resumes his work—a pleasant work—of thanksgiving to the Lord for His mercy to him. “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness: to the end that my glory may give praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.”
Like Mephibosheth, the Lord’s loving-kindness humbles him. There is such a thing as proud humility, which is to be found in nominal professors of religion for getting a high position in the Church or in the State. When Samuel told Saul that he was to be king over Israel, he (Saul) showed great humility—“Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?” Wherefore, then, speakest thou so to me?” But Saul showed in his after life that his humility was not real. It was quite different from the humility of Saul of Tarsus after his conversion. When the Lord exalted him to the high position of an apostle, he said, in sincerity and in truth, “I am less than the least of all the saints.” The greater the favour the Lord showed to him, the humbler he became. He did not say merely that he was less than the least of all the apostles, but “less than the least of all the saints.”
Is it a fact that the believer considers himself less than all his brethren and sisters in the Church? If he is in a healthy state, conscious of his own unworthiness and the Lord’s mercy to him in not dealing with him according to desert, I believe it is a fact. He esteems all of whom he is sure that they are in a state of grace, better than himself. He does not wonder so much that the Lord would save other sinners as that He would save himself. This is really the experience of the true Christian. What brought him to this estimate of himself? The loving-kindness of the God of salvation. Nothing else could do it. Although he should be suspended over hell-fire for many years under law work, that could not work true humility in him. It is God’s grace in Christ that humbles the proud sinner and keeps him humble. We are not, however, to think that there is no pride in him at the humblest. There is, but that causes him pain and sorrow, and it forms part of the evil “that he would not.” It is a member of the body of sin and death, under which he groans for deliverance.
The loving-kindness of the Lord produces a deep sense of unworthiness in him. What did Mephibosheth think of himself when David showed him such kindness? Did he say he was worthy of it? No, but he said in effect, “I am no more worthy of it than a dead dog.” This is what grace works in the believer. He is made sensible that he is no more worthy of salvation—in the sense of meriting it—than a dead dog. He is saved by grace—the free favour of God—the original source from which every blessing of salvation flows to the sinful children of men. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus iii. 5).
Those who think that they can merit salvation are under a great delusion, and are ignorant of God’s plan of redemption. This gracious plan is hid from the wise and prudent but revealed unto babes—those that are born again of the Spirit. Not only does the Christian not merit salvation by anything he did in a state of nature; he does not merit it by anything he does in the state of grace. Although he would do the largest amount of good works by grace during his time on earth which any Christian ever did, he is at death as shut up to free grace as he was when he began his Christian course. He cannot—yea, he will not—claim salvation on the ground of anything he has done or suffered in the Lord’s service. He is a debtor to free grace entering heaven.
May the Lord add His blessing to these remarks, and to His name be the praise. Amen.