SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: It is a joy to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: It uh it has been a bit tricky working out schedules and all this, but by God's grace, I am blessed to be with you and getting to know the elders, the mission team, and and hopefully this morning many of you as well.
SPEAKER_00: Our passage, uh 2 Samuel 9, introduces uh an incredibly important theme that we see running throughout the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I want to introduce that theme to you this morning by sharing another story with you about a man that I got to know a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Oscar Chiquito.
SPEAKER_00: Oscar Chiquito lives in Guatemala.
SPEAKER_00: I met him in Guatemala, and his life is a story of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Oscar's uh father was an alcoholic when he was a young boy, and and uh and he, his his father, Oscar's father, would take this young boy Oscar with him uh to bars one after another so that after the father was drunk, Oscar could get his dad home uh back to his house.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was a very difficult upbringing, and uh his father did not let Oscar to uh go to school.
SPEAKER_00: He uh he instead made him work out in the fields.
SPEAKER_00: Their family was just ridiculously poor.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, mom would need to get up early and go at three o'clock every morning to uh to the capital city in order to sell fruit at the market, trying to eke out a living for their family.
SPEAKER_00: But people were praying, and God was ready to pour out his grace in Oscar's life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh God by his grace saved Oscar's father, his dad came to Christ, left the alcohol behind, and God gave Oscar a desire to study, a sharp mind to be able to understand well, and then he provided funding so that Oscar could receive an extraordinary education, and in fact, that included doing research at Harvard University.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Oscar lives with his lovely family in Guatemala, engaged in uh what some might say is the greatest profession in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's a missionary.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and so he's sharing God's love, sharing about the grace that he has received with many, many others.
SPEAKER_00: Oscar's life is a story of an undeserving kid who received much grace, leading to a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: And now he becomes a conduit of passing that grace and blessing on to others.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same theme that we'll see in our text today, 2 Samuel chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: The story that we see is one of the sweetest grace stories in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Incredible kindness, love, mercy shown to one completely undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, even beyond that, it offers us today a view into God's larger story of grace, his grace for undeserving sinners like you and me.
SPEAKER_00: Our main point, and I want hopefully that this this main point will be drilled into your mind and your heart, and you'll see that it's what our author is emphasizing through our passage.
SPEAKER_00: While deserving nothing, while deserving nothing, we just like Mephibosheth, just like David, we receive God's transforming grace so that we can become grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: We are transformed by God's grace so that we can be conduits, we can be channels of blessing, bringing grace to others.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna take a risk and I'm gonna pray again.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Pastor Jason, but I want to bow before our Father.
SPEAKER_00: Will you join me?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pause and acknowledge that we desperately need you.
SPEAKER_00: We need you every moment of every day.
SPEAKER_00: We need your spirit this morning so that this text, this passage is not just words, but that there are truths here that penetrate deep into our hearts and transform us.
SPEAKER_00: We invite you, Father, to work by your spirit to change us, to mold and shape us, to wrestle, grasp, understand, and and channel the blessing of grace in us and through us for your glory in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, just before we get into our passage of 2 Samuel 9, um, we need to hear a little bit of the backstory.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Jason gave us a few verses there, but I'm gonna take us uh a few steps back further so that we learn about these key players from our story.
SPEAKER_00: You see, years before, and you'll remember this from your own study, that years before our story takes place here, God has chosen David and uh as the anointed king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He's rejected Saul, Israel's leader at the time, and uh this prompted Saul to chase down, to try to hunt down and try to kill David.
SPEAKER_00: Very interesting relationship develops, though.
SPEAKER_00: It's quite surprising because Saul's son, Jonathan, becomes best friends with David.
SPEAKER_00: They develop a wonderful close relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, David makes a covenant with Jonathan to show kindness to him and to his family.
SPEAKER_00: It's uh quite remarkable that David would make that covenant, knowing that he is gonna become king, because in ancient Near East, in the days of uh of Saul and David and Jonathan, it was very common that an incoming king would completely wipe out and destroy the entire family of the previous dynasty.
SPEAKER_00: Just kill them all, and that was oftentimes the way things went.
SPEAKER_00: It would galvanize his own rule and authority.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not David's way.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God is blessing David and appointing David as the king of Israel, and at the end of 1 Samuel, we see that uh Saul and Jonathan and uh Saul's other two sons are killed in battle.
SPEAKER_00: God establishes David as the king of Israel then.
SPEAKER_00: And uh in 2 Samuel 7, surely before our passage in chapter 9, uh God makes a covenant.
SPEAKER_00: He makes a covenant with David, as undeserving as David is.
SPEAKER_00: He makes a covenant with him to show grace and favor to him and to David's descendants after him by establishing an enduring house, a throne, a kingdom that would go on and on and on.
SPEAKER_00: David immediately acknowledges his own unworthiness.
SPEAKER_00: And he says these words in chapter 7, verse 18 Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
SPEAKER_00: David knows he does not deserve this blessing, this grace from God, an enduring house and throne.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not surprising now that David would remember his covenant with his friend Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story about God's grace in chapter 9 here that transforms not only a cripple, but God's grace that transforms a king.
SPEAKER_00: So follow along with me in chapter 9 as we walk verse by verse through our passage, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: We see this this chapter is an ancient grace story for Israel, and then after a little bit, I'll I'll bring it for us, applying it for us today.
SPEAKER_00: We first of all see that David is seeking an opportunity to show grace.
SPEAKER_00: Seeking an opportunity to show grace in verses one through four.
SPEAKER_00: David asks the question in verse one Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
SPEAKER_00: He's thinking of his friend, Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: David wants to show kindness to someone from Saul's family for Jonathan's sake.
SPEAKER_00: This word, we need to understand what this word kindness is.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually the same Hebrew word.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you've heard it before.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word for grace, kindness, steadfast love, favor.
SPEAKER_00: It's the the, did I say Greek?
SPEAKER_00: I meant Hebrew, uh, the Hebrew word chesed.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be careful when you say that.
SPEAKER_00: Chesed.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and it represents all of these.
SPEAKER_00: This is a rich word.
SPEAKER_00: It it's uh it's it's grace, it's kindness, it's steadfast love, it's it's favor.
SPEAKER_00: It's mentioned many times in our verse, and when things are repeated a number of times, you say that's probably important.
SPEAKER_00: Something that the author is emphasizing, verse 1, verse 3, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: In the Bible, there are three things that we need to know about this grace, this chesed.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, it is undeserved.
SPEAKER_00: It is undeserved.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, it cannot be earned or repaid.
SPEAKER_00: It cannot be earned or repaid.
SPEAKER_00: It is undeserved.
SPEAKER_00: You can't earn it, work for it, and deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly, it costs the giver.
SPEAKER_00: It is precious.
SPEAKER_00: That's the idea of Chesed here.
SPEAKER_00: This kindness that David looks to show to someone from the house of Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we continue along in verse 2, and uh the and Saul is or uh David is seeking out someone to show kindness, and they find Zeba.
SPEAKER_00: Zeba is a servant.
SPEAKER_00: You can kind of think of him as uh Saul's estate manager.
SPEAKER_00: He's a person of influence.
SPEAKER_00: He has his own sons and uh servants, we see in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And David is talking with Zeba now, uh, and he wants to reflect some of the goodness, the kindness, the grace that God has blessed him with, and he wants it to channel through him to someone else who is undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: And so Zeba points him to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to talk a little bit about Mephibosheth here.
SPEAKER_00: Who is this guy?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna hopefully pronounce his name right and not get all kinds of letters mixed up as we go through, mentioning it a number of times.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth is a son of Jonathan, and he's living in a city north of Jerusalem, east of the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, verse 4 talks about that.
SPEAKER_00: He is very likely hiding from David, just for the same reasons that I mentioned, that uh his life is in jeopardy being a descendant from Saul.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we learn about his backstory in chapter 4 of 2 Samuel, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: We hear Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet.
SPEAKER_00: He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan, that they had been killed, came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled.
SPEAKER_00: And as she fled in her haste, he fell out of her arms and became lame.
SPEAKER_00: And his name was Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: It's a tragic story that Mephibosheth grew up from five years old on, lame in both his feet.
SPEAKER_00: One of the questions that I asked as I was going through this passage and studying it is uh, why is Mephibosheth's crippled condition mentioned twice in our passage, chapter 9, and several times throughout the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's the most important thing that we can know about the guy.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it that the Bible mentions that so many times?
SPEAKER_00: And you know what, as I wrestled through that, I think it's to emphasize that Mephibosheth comes empty-handed.
SPEAKER_00: He can't work, he can't provide for himself.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, not only is he helpless, but he is, well, he's a descendant of Saul, Grandpa Saul, so he has no security in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He is helpless and absolutely has nothing to offer to David.
SPEAKER_00: David has has no legal obligation to provide for or care for Mephibosheth, but he's seeking an opportunity to show kindness for a hopeless guy.
SPEAKER_00: You know, oftentimes when uh someone powerful comes to into a position of power and uh great influence when they're at their peak like David is, well, they tend to forget about the little guy.
SPEAKER_00: They get wrapped up in themselves, all consumed with their own authority, their own power, their own decisions, their own life.
SPEAKER_00: But David, in contrast, turns outward instead of inward.
SPEAKER_00: In this world in which we live, oftentimes the strong prey on the weak as a means of gaining more position and influence.
SPEAKER_00: But in the church, the church of Jesus Christ, the strong should serve the weak, seek them out, and look for ways to show grace and kindness to those who are struggling.
SPEAKER_00: So we see here that uh David is seeking an opportunity to show grace.
SPEAKER_00: Then secondly, there's a sub we are surprised as an outcast is surprised who receives grace.
SPEAKER_00: We are surprised as an outcast receives grace.
SPEAKER_00: Verses five through eight.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth comes before David in verse five, and you could just imagine the scene as as uh Mephibosheth is brought from Lodebar, and and uh and I just want you to imagine this for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: You see, uh David is at the height of his reign.
SPEAKER_00: He is Israel's hero.
SPEAKER_00: He is the most powerful man in the nation, the greatest warrior.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is in awe of him.
SPEAKER_00: He's at the absolute peak, and in contrast to David, in drags crippled Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth who has nothing, who deserves nothing, and uh he's filled with fear, probably.
SPEAKER_00: He is ready for his life to be snuffed out.
SPEAKER_00: What a stark contrast our story makes between David and Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: And the first reaction that we see of Mephibosheth in verse 6, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face, and paid homage.
SPEAKER_00: And David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, Behold, I am your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth shows honor, shows um humility, he shows submission before David.
SPEAKER_00: He is exalting this king, showing that he is undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth is undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: Right away, David responds in verse 7: don't fear.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that Mephibosheth is scared, shaken in his boots or sandals or whatever he was wearing.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and David says, Don't worry, don't be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: And then he proceeds to promise to Mephibosheth three things that he will grant to Mephibosheth because of his connection with Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: Repeated many times, that must be important to the author here.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, David promises all of Saul's land, that means all of his holding, all of his possessions, everything that Saul had would now go to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: Instantly, Mephibosheth becomes a very rich man.
SPEAKER_00: Probably the estate was quite substantial, and so it all now is given to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: Furthermore, the land of Saul would be farmed by others, uh Zeba and his sons and his servants and all of this, and the benefits would be given to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: We see about that in verses 9 and 10 of our passage.
SPEAKER_00: And then Mephibosheth, what's emphasized most in our passage, verses 7, 10, 11, 13, Mephibosheth will always eat at the king's table.
SPEAKER_00: He will always be welcome at the king's table to dine with the king.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth is in for a lifetime of great food.
SPEAKER_00: And those of you that have spent some time with me so far, you know I love food.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Food is a great blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth is set.
SPEAKER_00: He is gonna eat amazing meals for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_00: This is not only food that we're talking about, this is beyond kindness.
SPEAKER_00: Embedded in what David is promising here is that he is promising to take care of Mephibosheth, to provide for Mephibosheth for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 8, then, Mephibosheth knows that he deserves nothing.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, a short time later in uh 2 Samuel chapter 19, verse 28, Mephibosheth knows that he deserves death.
SPEAKER_00: He deserves death.
SPEAKER_00: And so he responds in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He pays homage.
SPEAKER_00: He bows down and says, What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?
SPEAKER_00: A dead dog?
SPEAKER_00: A term of intense self-abasement.
SPEAKER_00: He is useless.
SPEAKER_00: He is unclean.
SPEAKER_00: He is the lowest of the low.
SPEAKER_00: He is a dead dog.
SPEAKER_00: And as we see in our passage, David makes him a prince, like one of his own sons.
SPEAKER_00: A dead dog becomes a prince.
SPEAKER_00: So this outcast receives shocking, surprising grace.
SPEAKER_00: And that leads us to the final section, verses nine through thirteen, securing an outcome to grant grace.
SPEAKER_00: David makes sure that his plan is implemented.
SPEAKER_00: He now orders that the grace gift be imparted to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: All of Saul's belongings.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 9, now go to Mephibosheth, as in the communication with Zeba.
SPEAKER_00: Zeba and his sons and his servants, that's 36 people by my count, will work and will farm Saul's properties, and then all of the produce from his land will be given to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10 says, Mephibosheth always eats with David in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It says in verse 11, like one of the king's sons.
SPEAKER_00: Repeated again in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: We're reminded at the end of our passage, just in case we forgot it, at the end of our passage, now he was lame in both his feet.
SPEAKER_00: He never ever deserved God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: But, but, uh, and David's grace.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we see that this dead dog is adopted into David's family and becomes a prince.
SPEAKER_00: The rest of the story, my friends, and you can check me out on this a little bit later in 2 Samuel 16 and 19.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth never ever got over the amazing grace that he had received from David.
SPEAKER_00: His humble, selfless love for David just shines out in the further communication that he has with David.
SPEAKER_00: He never got over undeserved grace and the king who bestowed it.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the story.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you're you're following along.
SPEAKER_00: You see the process that 2 Samuel 9 shows to us.
SPEAKER_00: But for the rest of our time, I want to bring that message that happened a long time ago that was recorded for a people in a different land.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to see that this message has a message for us today, an applied grace story for us today.
SPEAKER_00: This grace story applies to us, and we remember our main theme statement, right?
SPEAKER_00: While deserving nothing, we, just like David, just like Mephibosheth, we receive God's transforming grace so that we can become grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: So our first point here in our application is that we are just like Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: We are just like Mephibosheth, grace receivers.
SPEAKER_00: You may see, ah, I'm not nothing like Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
SPEAKER_00: But really, truly we are.
SPEAKER_00: And if we look, turn the pages of scripture, we see that we are all Mephibosheth before God.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, according to Ephesians 1 and 2, before Christ, before Christ came in, transformed us, changed our lives, we were, Ephesians 2 says, dead in our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We were following the world, the devil, we were disobedient, living according to the passions of our flesh, children of wrath before a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: But God.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2, verse 4 of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: But God, because of our connection with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, not only do we see that he shows mercy, but but God in Ephesians 1, uh, God says that he blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: That's for you and me, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Every spiritual blessing in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And then Paul goes on in Ephesians 1 to list what these spiritual blessings are.
SPEAKER_00: We were chosen before the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_00: He says that we were predestined, we were adopted into God's family, we were redeemed, we were forgiven, we were sealed in the Spirit, by the Spirit, we were raised up, Ephesians 2 says, seated in heaven all by grace.
SPEAKER_00: Undeserved, unearned, no way to repay these blessings from God.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Paul makes so crystal clear this truth in Ephesians 2.
SPEAKER_00: You're very familiar with it.
SPEAKER_00: For by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not of your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how Paul is repeating and repeating and repeating the same truth?
SPEAKER_00: Nothing of ourselves deserves God's grace, his goodness, his mercy, his love, his compassion, all these spiritual blessings that we have in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, Christianity and the gospel at its core is a message of grace.
SPEAKER_00: That through a radical act of undeserved love, Christ took my place, your place on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: The punishment for our sins went upon Jesus Christ on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: God's wrath was heaped upon him.
SPEAKER_00: He died in our place.
SPEAKER_00: And then his righteousness comes to me.
SPEAKER_00: Second Corinthians 5 21 makes this so clear.
SPEAKER_00: My punishment goes to Christ, and his righteousness comes to us.
SPEAKER_00: That is the message of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And because of it, we are forever transformed.
SPEAKER_00: Never ever forget that, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Never ever forget it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, as I think about it, embracing a grace awareness deals a death blow to uh what we might call is uh like an entitlement mentality, feeling like I deserve the good that I have.
SPEAKER_00: I worked hard for it.
SPEAKER_00: It's the American way.
SPEAKER_00: You work hard and you get what you deserve and these sorts of things, or I deserve something better than what I received.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, let me be painfully blunt here.
SPEAKER_00: You and I deserve nothing, nothing, but eternal separation from a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: We deserve hell.
SPEAKER_00: Because of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And yet in Christ, in Christ, we receive what we do not deserve.
SPEAKER_00: We receive God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You know, friends, until this entitlement mentality is broken, feeling like I deserve something better, or I have what I deserve, or or these sorts of thoughts, until this entitlement is broken, we will never fully grasp God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that separates you and me from the most despicable sinner is God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says he's the chief of sinners.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are right in that rank.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, friends, that grace is kindness for someone that does not deserve it and can never ever repay it.
SPEAKER_00: We uh we misunderstand grace if we receive God's gift of salvation, and uh, and then we think somehow we need to work to repay God.
SPEAKER_00: We need to somehow do something to earn this gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: It's like um uh we we feel like we need to earn his approval, earn his blessing, that we could somehow repay this gift as if picture the Niagara Falls.
SPEAKER_00: I've never been there.
SPEAKER_00: I've been to Victoria Falls in in uh Zambia, but but never Niagara Falls.
SPEAKER_00: Picture this amazing waterfall just pouring over of God's grace, just flooding over you.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace, and then we say, oh, but God's reservoir might be running out.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my little cup, and I'm gonna put a cup at a time into his reservoir to fill it back up.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: That's ridiculous! God's grace has no end, his love has is eternal.
SPEAKER_00: It is unmerited, undeserved, can never be repaid.
SPEAKER_00: It will never run out.
SPEAKER_00: In contrast to feeling like we need to repay some debt.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible says in Romans 12, we offer ourselves to God as our spiritual worship in response to what he has done.
SPEAKER_00: It is our joy-filled worship for the rest of our days.
SPEAKER_00: It is our response to praise God.
SPEAKER_00: We are just like Mephibosheth, grace receivers.
SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, our sincere response is to become like David, grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: David received grace, and now David becomes a channel of grace.
SPEAKER_00: While deserving nothing, we receive God's transforming grace, so we become grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: We become grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: So we see we are just like Mephibosheth, grace receivers.
SPEAKER_00: We ask the question: are we like David, grace givers?
SPEAKER_00: David received, remember 2 Samuel 7, received loads and loads of grace, and now wants to pass that grace on to others.
SPEAKER_00: He's been transformed by the grace that God has shown to him.
SPEAKER_00: And now he is transformed into a grace giver.
SPEAKER_00: Can that be said of us, friends?
SPEAKER_00: Can that be said of us?
SPEAKER_00: Are we quick looking for an opportunity, just like David was, looking for a chance to show grace to others around us, and not only to others, but also to show grace to ourselves, to forgive ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's toughest for some of us.
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve God's love, his mercy in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, amen.
SPEAKER_00: We're all in that camp.
SPEAKER_00: We don't deserve it, but God forgives us.
SPEAKER_00: When we lay ourselves and repent before God and ask us his forgiveness, he forgives us, we must also forgive ourselves and move on in that grace, that steadfast love with all of God's blessings coming upon us.
SPEAKER_00: My friends, uh, you would think that the longer someone walks with Christ, the more grace-filled they would become.
SPEAKER_00: You would think that because they would understand and everyday live in light of that grace.
SPEAKER_00: And yet sometimes, sometimes, just the opposite is true.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can become more judgmental, pointing the finger at well, at the faults of others, pointing the finger, blaming others, ignorant of our own unworthiness.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this does not belong in the church, it does not belong in the believer's life.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over in Scripture, we see this point coming out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus teaches it again and again.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, as I think about it, in the world's eyes, the mephibosheths in the world, the weak, the unlovely, the outcasts, well, in the world's eyes, they deserve to be tossed aside and and forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: But but God, but God says, all people have worth.
SPEAKER_00: All people should be treated as God's image bearers.
SPEAKER_00: So do we care deeply about some of those that the world has tossed aside?
SPEAKER_00: The helpless, the homeless, the suffering, the imprisoned, the unborn.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, people who need grace don't fit in our notion of what a person should look like to receive grace.
SPEAKER_00: They've got issues, they've got problems in their life, their words, their actions.
SPEAKER_00: They don't look like one.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just want to show them grace.
SPEAKER_00: No, there are difficulties there.
SPEAKER_00: And so we withhold grace, we keep them at a distance, and rather, what our attitude must be in the church, in the community, through our lives, is to take risks, to reach out.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that grace is precious.
SPEAKER_00: It costs the giver to reach out to them in love, just like Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: And watch how God's Spirit channels his grace through us to them, changing us in the process.
SPEAKER_00: As you show grace to others, God changes you.
SPEAKER_00: You grow up in your own understanding and appreciation of the amazing grace God has given you in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in my job, I have a bit of a unique job going back and forth to uh most times Africa every month, and I get the opportunity to draw near to some of the neediest people in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the neediest people in the world.
SPEAKER_00: I'm rubbing shoulders with pastors and in communities just after a cyclone hits Malawi and thousands are left homeless.
SPEAKER_00: Famine and drought in Kenya leaves the Maasai pastors that I'm working with.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it leaves them and their families starving because there's no food and their cattle are dying.
SPEAKER_00: Economic and political upheavals in Burundi, in eastern DR Congo, where I'll be in another week and a half, are forcing refugees to flee from these areas into these jam-packed refugee camps where you have hundreds of thousands of refugees all living just jam-packed next to each other.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the persecution that is tragic and continuing on in Northeast Nigeria, where I just was uh not in the Northeast region, but in Nigeria.
SPEAKER_00: I was just there a couple weeks ago hearing story after story of persecution of widows now because their pastors have been taken away, or their husbands have been taken away who are pastors and and killed.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, 90% of the churches in Rwanda have been closed by the government, the political different maneuverings and and these sorts of things, and the pastors are left destitute.
SPEAKER_00: How do they provide for themselves?
SPEAKER_00: How do they care and minister to their people?
SPEAKER_00: There are um stories that I could share with you this evening.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get a chance to share, and uh I'll I'll be sharing more stories with you of uh extremist Muslims in Somalia who God saves in remarkable, miraculous ways.
SPEAKER_00: And then they come down into the Kenya coast to Mombasa, and I meet up with them and I give them training in how to handle God's word, how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ coming from God's word, how to plant a church based upon God's word, and they go back into Somalia, back into northern Kenya, where there's intense persecution, knowing that they likely, for sure, they'll be put in jail, they may likely be killed for their faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, story after story of opportunities to show grace to those most in need.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you this morning, Pastor Jason, the other pastors, elders, leaders, and this church family here at Faith EV Free.
SPEAKER_00: It is churches like yours in partnership with me that uh and others that are making a difference in the world, showing grace.
SPEAKER_00: When you contribute, when you pray, when you partner with us, we are able to bring God's grace, God's blessing, God's help, physical and spiritual help to those who are most in need, showing grace and blessing to them.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's kingdom at work.
SPEAKER_00: And we're reminded again, while deserving nothing, we receive God's transforming grace so that we, all of us, can become grace givers.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, I want to end with um just by reiterating very briefly uh a few of the ways that the story of David and Mephibosheth, Mir, Our own spiritual experience.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Mephibosheth was a crippled outcast, helpless to change his situation, and we likewise are spiritual outcasts, helpless to save ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: David takes the initiative.
SPEAKER_00: He shows grace to Mephibosheth.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It is not our initiative, it is God who takes the initiative in our lives by his grace to save us.
SPEAKER_00: David shows Mephibosheth kindness because of his connection with Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: And God shows us kindness because of our connection with Jesus Christ, because we are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Although Mephibosheth feels unworthy, he says he's a dead dog, and yet he humbly receives the king's gift.
SPEAKER_00: And although we not only do we feel unworthy, we are unworthy, yet we humbly receive God's gift of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Mephibosheth receives kindness, he receives riches, he receives a lifelong seat at the king's banquet table.
SPEAKER_00: And in Christ we receive life, we receive eternal riches beyond measure, and we receive a forever seat at the great banquet in heaven with the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_00: When you worship God and you take communion together, that's just a foretaste, a little appetizer of the great banquet to come.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to end by sharing with you about this banquet, Revelation 19.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words that we read in verses 6 through 9.
SPEAKER_00: Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.
SPEAKER_00: Let us rejoice and exalt and give glory, give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
SPEAKER_00: He was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said to me, Write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the great banquet that one day we will enjoy with God Almighty in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to me, These are the true words of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, we stand in awe.
SPEAKER_00: And we praise you today and every day for your gift of grace, for salvation, and every spiritual blessing that we have in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we admit today, we clearly state we do not deserve your grace, your goodness, your kindness in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We can never repay it, but we humbly accept it by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we offer to you our eternal worship, our praise, our thanksgiving throughout our lives and on throughout eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, please forgive us.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us for sins of pride, for sins of entitlement, feeling like we deserve something better, for sins of self-righteousness, looking down on others, and replace these with a deep abiding humility, a thanksgiving, a worship of you for all our days.
SPEAKER_00: Open our eyes, Father.
SPEAKER_00: Open our eyes to all that we've received and how specifically we can become grace givers in this church, in our community, to all others.
SPEAKER_00: By your spirit, Father, move us to take risks to show grace to others.
SPEAKER_00: You have loved us, Father, when we did not deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: And we worship you.
SPEAKER_00: To you be the glory and the honor and the praise now and forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.