1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,920 It will be challenged by as well. 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:18,200 Let's take our Bibles now and open them together to 2 Samuel chapter 9. 3 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:28,360 Chapter 8 of 2 Samuel is a summary of David's victories recounting the growth of his kingdom. 4 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:36,360 Saul's warfare was basically one which was defensive by nature. 5 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:41,720 He was often defending himself against some enemy of the Lord which would attack the people 6 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:43,720 of Israel. 7 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:45,640 David's was just the opposite. 8 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,840 David's warfare was primarily offensive. 9 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:57,520 David took the offense in moving out his armies into the enemy's territory and claiming that 10 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,960 for the Lord God. 11 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:04,320 Probably the secret of David's success is found in the last part of verse 14 in chapter 12 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:08,440 8 where it says, and the Lord helped David wherever he went. 13 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,360 Undoubtedly, that is the reason for David's great successes and for the enlargement of 14 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,360 his kingdom. 15 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:20,880 Now from that summary of his warfare we come in chapter 9 to a very specific instance that 16 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:27,280 occurred regarding a man by the name of Mephibosheth. 17 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:33,720 Then David said, Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness 18 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,320 for Jonathan's sake? 19 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:41,640 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Zeba, and they called him to 20 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,320 David and the king said to him, Are you Zeba? 21 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:46,920 And he said, I am your servant. 22 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:53,240 And the king said, Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the 23 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,880 kindness of God? 24 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:01,800 And Zeba said to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both 25 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,600 feet. 26 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:12,400 Now we read earlier why he was crippled when Jonathan and his father were killed on the 27 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:22,120 hills, the mountains of Jezreel, and the word came back to home regarding their tragic deaths. 28 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:28,440 The nurse quickly picked up this little boy who was five years of age at that time and 29 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:33,640 in haste she dropped him. 30 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:38,880 And we don't know any more details than that whether the dropping of the young lad caused 31 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:47,560 his ankles to be broken or if she dropped him out of a moving cart of some kind, but 32 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:55,280 the fact remains that that drop caused him to be crippled in both of his feet. 33 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,240 And so the king said to him, Where is he? 34 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:05,560 And Zeba said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Amiel in Lodibar. 35 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,520 Then King David sent and brought him from the house. 36 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,520 And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his 37 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,000 face and prostrated himself. 38 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,000 The thing that he expected was to be killed. 39 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 That was the customary thing when you were a member of a royal family that had been taken 40 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,840 out of power. 41 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:31,960 You were killed because you were potentially a threat to the new king. 42 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,540 But he had a surprise coming. 43 00:03:33,540 --> 00:03:37,160 David said, Mephibosheth, he said, Here is your servant. 44 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:43,140 And David said to him, Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake 45 00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:50,720 of your father, Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather, Saul, 46 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,080 and you shall eat at my table regularly. 47 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,720 Just the opposite of what this young man expected. 48 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:03,120 Again, he prostrated himself and said, What is your servant that you should regard me, 49 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,920 a dead dog like me? 50 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:12,120 He looked upon himself as of no more value than a dead dog, which wasn't worth a whole 51 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:13,120 lot. 52 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,480 And he said, You have looked upon me with kindness. 53 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:22,320 And the king called Saul's servant Zeba and said to him, All that belonged to Saul and 54 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,400 to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 55 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,000 And you and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall 56 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,200 bring in the produce so that your master's grandson may have food. 57 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:40,640 Nevertheless, Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall eat at my table regularly. 58 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,440 Now Zeba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 59 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:52,040 Then Zeba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, 60 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,480 so your servant will do. 61 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,600 So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons. 62 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,980 And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. 63 00:05:03,980 --> 00:05:08,320 And all who lived in the house of Zeba were servants to Mephibosheth. 64 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:13,460 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king's table regularly. 65 00:05:13,460 --> 00:05:18,520 Now he was lame in both feet. 66 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:25,160 We see here a record of the special treatment of Mephibosheth, who at this time was probably 67 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,400 around twenty years of age. 68 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:34,880 The reason for his special treatment was because of his relationship not just to Saul, that 69 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:41,720 was significant, but especially because he was the son of Jonathan. 70 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:47,440 You may recall that Jonathan was David's dearest friend. 71 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,200 He and Jonathan were as close as blood brothers. 72 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,520 He loved Jonathan. 73 00:05:53,520 --> 00:06:01,520 And when Jonathan was killed, you recall that David lamented loudly and longly because of 74 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:07,920 the death of this man who was as dear to him as a man could possibly be. 75 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,040 And now here is Jonathan's son. 76 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:18,520 And because of the covenant that he had made with Jonathan, David was kind to Mephibosheth. 77 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:24,240 That covenant is found back in 1 Samuel chapter 20. 78 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:32,760 Back when Jonathan was befriending David, when Saul was after his life, in chapter 20 79 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:36,560 verse 42, Jonathan said to David, 80 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:43,360 Go in safety inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 81 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:51,440 The Lord will be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever. 82 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:59,160 So that was the recounting of the covenant that these two precious friends had made together. 83 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:05,560 They would look after one another's descendants, and they had sworn before the Lord to keep 84 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:06,560 that promise. 85 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:13,920 And so that is the reason for David's inquiry now some 15 years or more, 20 years or more 86 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:15,520 later. 87 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,380 He wants to keep that covenant. 88 00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:24,440 I think furthermore, he wanted to attempt to end any conflict with Saul's house and 89 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,120 thought that this would be a good way to do it. 90 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,200 What we see in this chapter is what a great man David was. 91 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,100 Not that he was so great in himself, but God made him great. 92 00:07:35,100 --> 00:07:37,800 He was a man after God's heart. 93 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:46,000 He's a man who reflects here what he calls in verse 3 the kindness of God. 94 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,480 David could as well have killed this man. 95 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:56,520 That would have been allowable within the customs of that day. 96 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:02,440 But God is so in his heart, and he is so after God's heart, that his desire is not to do 97 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:08,560 that, but rather it is to show the kindness of God. 98 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:15,220 This chapter also contains some wonderful spiritual lessons for us by way of application. 99 00:08:15,220 --> 00:08:19,540 David illustrates here the kindness of God in his actions. 100 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:23,240 There are three applications of that that I want to make, and then we'll quickly be 101 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:24,520 on our way. 102 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:31,820 Application number one is this, that like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled, crippled 103 00:08:31,820 --> 00:08:34,240 in the sight of God. 104 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:43,920 Here is a young man whose feet caused him to be unable to walk and to be normal. 105 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:51,800 God has a report in his word on the condition of the spiritual feet of the sinner. 106 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,440 Listen to these words, for example, from Romans chapter 3. 107 00:08:55,440 --> 00:09:00,720 Their feet are swift to shed blood. 108 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,340 Destruction and misery are in their ways. 109 00:09:04,340 --> 00:09:09,600 That is God's description of the crippled feet of the sinner. 110 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:17,520 He furthermore says in Proverbs 1.16, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed 111 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,160 blood. 112 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:25,720 Proverbs 14.12, there is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are 113 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,000 the ways of death. 114 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,280 That is the direction that the crippled feet of the sinner take him. 115 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:40,040 And finally from Isaiah 53.6, this word from God, all we like sheep have gone astray. 116 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,560 Our crippled feet have led us away from the Lord. 117 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:50,720 And so like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled, crippled in the sight of God. 118 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:59,040 But thank God the Christian can say as did David in the Psalms, Psalm 56.13, Thou hast 119 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:05,560 delivered my soul from death, wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk 120 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:08,480 before God in the light of the living. 121 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:15,500 He testifies further in Psalm 116, for thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes 122 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:19,280 from tears, and my feet from falling. 123 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:25,820 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 124 00:10:25,820 --> 00:10:31,440 David expresses there the experience of every person who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. 125 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,840 The feet that were crippled and which led us away from God, our feet in whose ways were 126 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:42,960 misery and destruction, our feet which were swift to shed blood, our feet which led us 127 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:50,200 in the ways of death, those feet have been healed by the power of God. 128 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:56,960 We have been delivered from death, from tears, and our feet from falling. 129 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:02,320 Of course, man likes to think of himself much differently than this. 130 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:07,440 Humanism says that man is inherently good, that there is the spark of divinity in all 131 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:13,900 of us, that that spark simply needs to be fanned to life in some way. 132 00:11:13,900 --> 00:11:18,320 Some say that Jesus came to show us how good man can be. 133 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,960 Indeed, that is just the opposite. 134 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:30,040 Jesus came that we might see how holy God is and how completely lost we are. 135 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:37,760 Jeremiah had it right when he said, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, not innately 136 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:45,080 good, not with a spark of divinity, although certainly there is something of the image 137 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,780 of God left in every man. 138 00:11:48,780 --> 00:11:54,800 But man by his nature is sinful and separated from God. 139 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,960 Humanists try to tell us that man is evil from his environment. 140 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:05,800 If you just improve his environment, his standard of living, then you will improve the man and 141 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:07,600 he will be a good person. 142 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:12,640 But in fact, evil doesn't come from the environment around us. 143 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:19,720 Evil comes from the sin nature within us, and it is that which then affects the environment 144 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,580 as a matter of fact. 145 00:12:22,580 --> 00:12:26,760 Like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled in the sight of God. 146 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,160 They walk away from the Lord. 147 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:38,120 And it may be that tonight that is a description of your spiritual feet, that they are crippled. 148 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:44,080 And as Romans says, destruction and misery are in their ways. 149 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:49,880 Well, there's a second application that I see here in chapter 9, and that is that grace 150 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,720 is extended to us. 151 00:12:52,720 --> 00:13:00,480 Just as David extended grace and kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake, so God 152 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:07,520 has extended grace and kindness to us for Jesus' sake. 153 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,540 David did not know this man. 154 00:13:11,540 --> 00:13:18,240 He had never met Mephibosheth before this day when Zeba brought him before him. 155 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:23,360 But he did know Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan. 156 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,080 And he had made a covenant with him. 157 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:32,280 And when David looked at this man who was crippled and unable to walk, he saw not just 158 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:37,360 Mephibosheth, but he saw Jonathan. 159 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:44,760 When he saw Jonathan in that young man, he loved him and extended grace toward him. 160 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:53,520 When you and I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are made accepted to God, not for our sake, 161 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:54,880 but for Jesus' sake. 162 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:01,680 From the moment that we trust Christ in God's eyes, from that time on, we are not seen just 163 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:07,400 as ourselves, but we are seen in Christ. 164 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:14,640 As it says in Ephesians, we are accepted in the beloved, accepted in His Son. 165 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,080 That is the whole basis of our salvation. 166 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,640 We are not saved apart from Jesus Christ. 167 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:29,080 These waters that were symbolically moving a little bit ago are waters which portray 168 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:35,160 and symbolize our identification with Jesus Christ. 169 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:40,880 And it is that union with Him, that identification with Him, that causes God to be able to look 170 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,920 upon us with grace and with kindness. 171 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:52,560 As kindness was extended to Mephibosheth on Jonathan's behalf, so grace and kindness 172 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:58,200 is extended to us by God for Jesus' sake. 173 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,360 The Villa Martin has written a hymn that I love very much. 174 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:02,760 I wish it were in our hymnal. 175 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,800 It's entitled, In the Beloved. 176 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:15,720 It says, In the beloved accepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated on high, saved from all 177 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:23,840 sin through His infinite grace with the redeemed ones accorded a place. 178 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:31,960 In the beloved, God's marvelous grace calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. 179 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:37,160 God sees my Savior and then He sees me. 180 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:43,520 In the beloved, accepted and free. 181 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:51,120 I see a third application as we look at this brief story from David's treatment of Mephibosheth. 182 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:57,800 It is that God's grace gives to us a place of great privilege. 183 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,480 Mephibosheth lived. 184 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,680 That alone would have been enough. 185 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,500 But David was not content with that. 186 00:16:05,500 --> 00:16:08,720 He made Mephibosheth as one of his own sons. 187 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:16,400 He in the first place restored to Mephibosheth all of his family inheritance. 188 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,520 Everything that had belonged to Jonathan, everything that had belonged to Saul, now 189 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,120 think how much that must have been. 190 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,200 He was the king. 191 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:29,920 All of that David restored to Saul's grandson. 192 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:34,680 And then David extended to him a very special privilege in that day. 193 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,080 He said, From now on you will eat at my table. 194 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:43,760 That was not only a provision of food. 195 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:45,600 David could have done that anywhere in the country. 196 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,520 He could have ordered the food be taken to him. 197 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:56,360 But David wanted an identity to be established between himself and this one. 198 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,520 And so he said, You will eat at my table. 199 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:07,000 You will be accepted as one of my own, indeed as I myself. 200 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,480 And finally he allowed him to live in the city of Jerusalem, the king city, according 201 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:12,680 to verse 13. 202 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,760 That is where Mephibosheth lived for the rest of his life. 203 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,520 I'd like to make three simple applications from those same points. 204 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:26,000 Number one, as he received an inheritance, so have we. 205 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:32,840 By God's grace we have been given a place of great privilege so that we are now called 206 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,000 the sons of God. 207 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:40,380 And because we are sons, we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. 208 00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:50,000 We have been begotten or born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is incorruptible, 209 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:51,000 that is unfading. 210 00:17:51,000 --> 00:18:00,680 In other words, it is an inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ that sin cannot taint. 211 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:05,860 And it is an inheritance in Jesus Christ that time cannot diminish. 212 00:18:05,860 --> 00:18:10,240 It does not fade with time. 213 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,160 That happens to earthly inheritances. 214 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,560 Sin can taint it. 215 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:21,820 There have been those that have actually refused the family inheritance because of the way 216 00:18:21,820 --> 00:18:25,860 that the money was made. 217 00:18:25,860 --> 00:18:32,520 There have been those who have inherited something from parents or grandparents and have regretted 218 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,360 it because of the name that they received. 219 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:40,120 Sin tainted the inheritance. 220 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:45,200 Especially in a time of inflation like we have been living in, inheritance can fade 221 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,520 away. 222 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:53,640 Ask those young men who are growing up on the farm thinking that from their father or 223 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,360 farmer they were going to receive a family farm worth perhaps several hundred thousand 224 00:18:58,360 --> 00:18:59,840 dollars. 225 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:06,140 In the last five years that family farm has dwindled to one-third of its former worth. 226 00:19:06,140 --> 00:19:09,120 We can depend upon an earthly inheritance. 227 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:15,440 That's why Peter says that our inheritance is reserved in heaven for us. 228 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:17,340 We're not going to get it in this world. 229 00:19:17,340 --> 00:19:20,240 That is not God's plan. 230 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,500 Our inheritance is in heaven. 231 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:29,280 And when we are there with our Lord, then we shall share in that inheritance. 232 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:35,240 And then by His grace He has also extended to us the privilege of feasting at His table. 233 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:40,280 Remember that chorus that we used to sing, come and dine, the Master calleth, come and 234 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:41,700 dine. 235 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:45,800 You may feast at Jesus' table any time. 236 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:51,840 He who fed the multitude changed the water into wine to the hungry calleth now, come 237 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:53,640 and dine. 238 00:19:53,640 --> 00:20:00,680 God in His grace has called us to come to His very banquet table and to feast there. 239 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,400 The Christian life, my friend, is a feast. 240 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,400 It is not a fast. 241 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:15,200 We are able to enjoy the riches of our salvation here and now by our feasting upon the grace 242 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:16,200 of God. 243 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:22,600 That's why Paul says with the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 5, 8, let us keep the feast. 244 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:27,800 Now he wasn't talking there about the literal Jewish feast, although that was what he was 245 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,520 drawing upon in the picture. 246 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:36,480 But he was saying let's feast upon Christ our Passover who has been sacrificed for us. 247 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:42,960 You will recall that after the lamb had been killed and the blood sprinkled in the appropriate 248 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:49,920 manner that first night of the Passover that they cooked the lamb in a particular way. 249 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:57,280 And while the angel of death was moving throughout Egypt killing the firstborn of man and beast, 250 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:05,480 God's people were safe, safe because of the sheltering blood that had been shed, the blood 251 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,200 of the atonement. 252 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:13,600 And there in their homes, safe and sound, they were feasting upon that lamb. 253 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,440 Well, that is our present privilege. 254 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:21,800 Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. 255 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:28,360 And now we have the joyous privilege of feasting upon Him and knowing Him and walking with 256 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:30,960 Him. 257 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,360 That is the grace of God. 258 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:36,120 That is our banquet spiritually. 259 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:41,640 And then finally, God welcomes us into His presence. 260 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:47,880 Just as David said to Mephibosheth, you live in Jerusalem and feast at my table. 261 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,080 My home is your home. 262 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:56,760 So God now gives us the privilege of walking with Him day by day and knowing His presence. 263 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:03,320 And someday by the grace of God we are going to walk out of this world into the next and 264 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,160 we will be with the Lord forever. 265 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:11,600 God in His grace has extended to us that privilege that we will live in His presence in the 266 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:18,920 new Jerusalem physically and gloriously forever and forever. 267 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:27,240 Like Mephibosheth, sinners are crippled in the sight of God. 268 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:35,600 By grace, God's kindness is extended to us for Jesus' sake. 269 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,480 Have you received that kindness of God? 270 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,160 Have you received the Savior in your life? 271 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:48,800 And then likewise, grace grants to us a place of great privilege. 272 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,440 Are you enjoying the position that you have in Jesus Christ? 273 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,480 Are you feasting upon Him? 274 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:58,600 Are you living in His presence as is your privilege? 275 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,840 Don't settle for anything less than that. 276 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:11,120 It is possible for us to go through life as beggars, as hungry beggars, when God has provided 277 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:17,280 for us a rich inheritance in Jesus Christ and the privilege of feasting upon His Son 278 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,160 spiritually. 279 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,240 May that be our experience this week as we walk with God. 280 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:45,080 I'd like for you to take your hymnal and turn with me to 545.