The Gift of Friendship: Embracing God's Love Through Connection

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Here this morning, we're going to be in the Word of God this morning, and we're going to be talking about friendship.

We're going to be talking about the topic of being a friend and what it means to have the truest friend in Jesus Christ.

So I want you to think about those two elements here this morning.

When we get into the word of God, we're going to be talking about what it means to be a good friend, and number two, what it means to have a friend in Jesus Christ.

The Bible has a lot to say about both of those topics.

And today being friend day, I thought it would be very appropriate to talk about those two topics.

What does it mean to be a friend?

What does it mean to be a good friend?

The Bible has a lot to say about that.

In Proverbs, there's a lot to be said about what it means to be a good friend.

You know, the book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom.

The book of Proverbs in Proverbs 18, verse 24, says, A man that hath friends must show himself friendly.

And there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

The Bible says there that to have friends, we have to be friendly.

And even though there's going to be times and places in our life where friends fail us, the Bible says that there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

A true friend sticks closer than a brother.

Now, the Bible also tells us in the New Testament that that friend that sticks closer than a brother in the sense of our salvation is Jesus Christ.

We're going to talk more about that as we go along here this morning.

Proverbs 27:17 says this iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

The Bible speaks of the importance of friends, encouraging others, challenging others, strengthening each other.

And the Bible uses that analogy of ironing, sharpening iron there.

So another one that you might be familiar with is in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 4, verse 9, says, Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.

Proverbs 27:9, Oil and perfume, or ointment and perfume rejoice the heart.

So does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

Meaning this.

There's a lot of things in this world that give us pleasure and satisfaction.

But a good friend is one of the beautiful things that God has given us in our life.

To have encouragement, to have joy over and over again.

The Bible speaks of importance of a friend.

There's another passage in Proverbs 27:6.

This is a difficult one.

It says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

You say, what's that talking about?

Says this, sometimes friends need to tell people difficult things.

And those wounds that are found in that difficult conversation are actually a good thing.

But it says that the kisses of an enemy are, are not good.

They're.

They're deceitful.

What that means is there's a lot of people looking for people to tell them what they want to hear.

But sometimes that's an enemy telling us what we want to hear.

That will lead us to a place of deceit and lies.

But when a friend tells us the truth, even as difficult as that might be, that is a blessing.

Over and over again, we see the importance of that when it comes to God's word and him explaining to us what it means to have godly friends.

And the.

The passage that I think of too is Proverbs 27:10.

Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not.

The Bible speaks of not forgetting about our friends and our Father's friend, which is actually going to play a.

A role in our lesson this morning, says, neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity, for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother that is far off.

And so it speaks of the blessing that a friend can be when one is close.

There's so many other verses that we could talk about when it comes to friends, one that maybe you're familiar with is Proverbs 17:17.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

The Bible speaks of that presence of a friend, that love of a friend, even in times of difficulty.

But we know that there's more to be said in Scripture about a friend that sticks closer than a brother when Jesus extends his love and grace for us.

When we saw In John chapter 15 this morning, Jesus says, you're no longer just my servants.

You are now my friends.

That's John chapter 15.

I think that's an amazing truth to explain this morning.

Because just as we are called to be a friend, when God calls us to do something in our life, he always gives us the perfect example.

So if God asks us to forgive, he's going to explain to us what it means to forgive.

And he's going to give us the perfect example in Jesus Christ.

God asks us to love, he's going to expect us to follow Jesus example in his perfect love.

And so if God asks us to be a friend, he's going to explain to us and demonstrate for us what it means to be the perfect friend.

And In John chapter 15, Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says, you're my friends.

He says, what does it mean to be a friend?

Well, greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends.

And so Jesus speaks of the sacrifice that comes with true friendship.

And then again, we know the greatest example of sacrifice is Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.

He says, I'm your friend, and I'm proving that.

Then he goes on to say in verse 15, in John 15, henceforth, I call you not servants.

So though we are called to be servants of God, it's more than just being a servant.

He says, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.

So he speaks of that separation of the master and servant relationship.

But then he goes further.

He says, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

The Bible speaks of this opportunity for a person to come in belief to the Lord through Jesus Christ and know him more than just that separated, distant relationship, but know him in a personal way as a friend.

A passage of Scripture that I think of when it comes to that is James chapter, chapter two.

Some of you know in James chapter two, verse 23, it speaks of a fella named Abraham.

Now, Abraham came in the Old Testament.

And the Bible is actually going to say here in James chapter 2, verse 23, that Abraham was called a friend of God.

Now, how could Abraham be called a friend of God?

Well, the Bible In James chapter 2, verse 23 tells us how Abraham was considered to be a friend of God and how we can be friends of God through Jesus Christ.

So In James chapter 2, verse 23, it says, and Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, abraham believed God.

He had faith in God, and it was imputed or given unto him for righteousness.

So Abraham found righteousness through faith in God, and God extended his righteousness to Abraham, even though Abraham sinned, even though we all sin, we can find righteousness in God through faith in God.

And then, and only then does it say, and he was called the friend of God.

We can be a friend of God.

We can have that personal relationship with him through having faith in him and trusting in what he did for us on the cross, trusting in the fact that he conquered death through the resurrection.

And we too can conquer death and have eternal life in him through Jesus Christ.

What an amazing truth that is, that we can be a good friend because we have the perfect friend in Jesus.

And I thought a lot this week about what passage of scripture will we go to to really dig in to see an example of this?

I think a really great passage of scripture that shows us not only, number one, how to be a good friend, but number two, what it means to have a friend in God through faith in Jesus Christ.

And what that salvation looks like is actually found in the Old Testament, Second Samuel, Chapter 9.

And so if you have your Bibles, we're going to spend the rest of the time in Second Samuel chapter nine.

And I need to set the picture for you here.

Now, I need to set the context to this historical account.

Most of you probably know a fellow named David.

In the Bible, he was the second king of Israel.

So it's the same David that slayed Goliath.

It was the same David that.

That killed the lion.

It was the same David who you know about that's talked about throughout Scripture.

But many of you know that David had a really, really close friend, a best friend.

His name was Jonathan.

They have a unique relationship because Jonathan's dad doesn't like David.

Well, at first he likes David, but over time, Jonathan's dad doesn't like David.

Jonathan's dad's a guy named Saul.

Saul, the first king of Israel.

Now, Saul was not necessarily what we would call a good king.

He didn't follow God's plan, he followed his own.

And when he found out that David would be the next king, he got upset.

And if you remember what happened, Saul tried to kill David.

He chased after him.

He threw a spear at him.

But the unique element of Jonathan and David's relationship was that Jonathan wasn't jealous of David.

Jonathan, David had a wonderful relationship.

Jonathan actually protected David from Saul, his father.

And in First Samuel, Chapter 20, David and Jonathan made a pact, a covenant, a promise.

And it was essentially this, I love you as I love myself.

And no matter what happens, we're going to take care of each other and we're going to take care of each other's family.

It was a promise made out of love.

It was a promise made in commitment.

And in Second Samuel, chapter nine, we're going to see years later, David keeping that commitment to Jonathan.

Now, Jonathan was killed in battle.

Saul took his own life in the course of a battle.

And what would happen typically in this culture was that when a king's family was.

Was taken away from the throne, what would happen is the new king would go back and kill every single person in that family to wipe out that bloodline so that they would not come back and try to take over the throne.

That was what it.

What it was.

So when Saul died on the battlefield and Jonathan died on the battlefield, all of the family of Saul began to panic.

And you can read about this earlier on in Scripture, but when that happened, there was a fella named Mephibosheth.

And I want you to remember that name here this morning.

Mephibosheth.

That's a hard name to say.

I was thinking all week, okay, what could I give him, like a nickname through this service?

But I said, no, I'm going to challenge myself and say Mephibosheth more than I probably can, okay?

So I might mess that name up.

And some of you that are having children in the near future, and you're having a boy, what a great name Mephibosheth is.

After the story, you're going to find out that that's.

That's a good name.

So earlier on in this passage of scripture, it's actually 2 Samuel, chapter 4, verse 4, when news was passed down that Saul and Jonathan died on the battlefield.

Mephibosheth was a little child, a baby.

And what happened was, is that his nurse was running with him and she stumbled.

And because of this accident, Mephibosheth had harm to his legs and he became lame.

He was not able to walk.

And so after that time, he was taken into hiding because he feared that David with.

With culture of that day would come and kill him.

And so he was hidden.

And so we're going to see now in Second Samuel, chapter nine, the account of this kindness that's not only extended to Jonathan himself, but the kindness that David extends to Jonathan's children and the family of Saul.

This is not the type of grace and gift that would normally be given in this culture.

This is going to be a beautiful picture of God's grace to us.

And so look at Second Samuel chapter nine with me.

We're going to just go through this passage and we're going to see number one, what it means to be a good godly friend.

But number two, the greatest friendship that we can find in a relationship with God.

And there's a picture of God's grace and salvation through David's salvation to Mephibosheth.

So it says in verse 1 of 2 Samuel, chapter 9.

And David said, is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul?

So.

So David is recounting in his mind, okay, I made a promise to Jonathan, which by extension was.

Was a promise to Saul, something that he didn't have to do.

But he says, is there someone left that I can show?

What does it say here that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?

And so here in this passage, David is recounting the relationship that he had with Jonathan, and he wants to extend that love to anyone in that family.

And so.

So his actions here were not just based on feelings.

They were based on a decision, on a covenant, on a promise.

And so David says, I need to find someone.

If there anybody left from Jonathan or from.

From Saul, I need to find them.

Verse 2.

And there was of the house of Saul, a servant whose name was Ziba.

There's the servant named Ziba.

And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, art thou Ziba?

And he said, thy servant is he.

And the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him?

So he asked the same question.

He says, do you know of anybody.

Do you know of anybody that's left that I can show this type of kindness to, this type of grace, this type of mercy to?

And he goes on to say, and Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet.

Now we know why he's lame on his feet.

Because of the backstory.

But he says, yes, there.

There is one left.

And the king said unto him, where is he?

And Zeba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house of Major, the son of Emil, and lo, Debar.

So there's a lot that we can learn from verse four.

Number one.

David doesn't know where Mephibosheth is, so he's in hiding.

Why?

Why is Mephiboshef hiding?

Because he's afraid.

He's afraid of judgment.

He's afraid that he will get what's due to him, which is what?

Death.

That is what would happen.

That was his sentence.

Not because of what he did, but because of who his family was.

Someone before him committed sin.

And so.

So therefore, because of that he inherited that sin and he deserved judgment from David.

So he was in hiding.

He was afraid.

He was trying to save himself.

And we see that he had no standing because he's not even in his own house.

He's in the house of another.

Verse 5.

Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Major the son of Amiel from Lo Debar.

Now, when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face.

Now think about who Mephibosheth is, and think about his standing.

He's lame.

And in that culture, being lame meant you weren't able to take care of yourself.

Someone had to take care of you.

You had this big reliance on somebody else to feed you.

He couldn't work.

He couldn't work in the field.

He couldn't provide for himself.

He was in great need.

He was desperate.

And I can't help but think about Mephibosheth when I guess maybe the door was knocking and the servant shows up and says, hey, David wants to see you.

What?

Me?

How does he know about me?

First of all, number two, I don't know if I should go.

But no, he goes.

And he puts his full faith and trust in what David is about to do.

We see that through his posture in verse number six.

He fell on his face and did reverence.

He falls before David.

He says, david, you have every right to do whatever you want with me.

David, I'm going to humbly submit myself to you.

This is a picture of how we must come to God in faith.

We can't come to God saying, God, I've got everything taken care of in my life.

I've got it all arranged.

I got it all organized.

Now God just bless me.

That's not what true salvation is.

True salvation is knowing that I am lame, knowing that I am guilty, knowing that I have no future, that I have no hope, that really, technically I deserve death.

For the wages of sin.

The Bible says in Romans 6.

We talked about this last week.

For the wages of sin, the payment of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so here, Mephibosheth's humility because of his physical standing is the same type of humility that we must have when we come to God and plead with him to be our friend, to be our Savior, to be the one who forgives us of our sins.

He falls before him in reverence.

And David said, mephibosheth.

David calls out to Mephibosheth by his name.

He says, hey, Mephibosheth.

And what does Mephibosheth say?

He says, behold thy servant.

He recognizes his standing before someone who was far more powerful than he could ever be, both politically, socially, physically.

He comes before David and he says, what.

What are you going to do?

What.

What are you going to do?

I. I'm.

I'm your servant.

I'm.

I'm wholly given over to you.

Verse 7.

And David said unto him, fear not.

David's initial response to calm a fibosheth down, to give him assurance, to give him confidence, to give him peace, to say, don't fear.

There's no reason to fear.

And that's God's response to us when we come to him in our humility, when we come to him in our sin.

Maybe for some of us, when we come to him in our guilt, and we know what we deserve, we know who we are.

We.

Even if no one else in this world knows, God knows who we are.

And we come to him sometimes in fear.

Fear of condemnation, fear of judgment, fear of missing out, fear of whatever it is.

Folks, many of us in our lives because of who we are and because of our spiritual lameness, we are based in fear.

We are gripped in fear.

And God's response to us when we come to him is this.

Fear not.

Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven says, for God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

We know God's response to us is, hey, there's no more reason to fear.

If you come to me and trust in me.

And for some of us, including myself, there have been times in my life when fear has gripped me so much that I'm not able to do what I need to do.

And why do I have the fear?

Because my focus is on myself.

My focus is on my lameness.

And I realized I can't do this when I became a pastor.

I remember weeping, saying, I can't do this.

I've gotten myself over my head.

I do not have the capability to do what I need to do.

And that's what I believe, exactly what God needed me to see and to understand.

Because then that time is when an individual who recognizes his or her limitations can say, God, I need you to step in.

Paul said the exact same thing in second Corinthians.

Remember, when.

When he says, lord, I've got this, this, this thorn in my flesh.

Second Corinthians, chapter 12.

He says, Lord, I have this Thorn in my flesh.

I can't do what I need to do.

And he asked God three times.

And what does God say?

He says, no, it's okay.

He says, my grace is sufficient for when you are weak.

I am made strong.

So guys, it's okay.

There's no reason to fear when you see your inadequacies.

As Mephibosheth saw, I'm lame.

I can't do this.

I'm deserved death.

What can I do?

That's when God comes in the picture and shows us what true power is, what true love is.

And so David's going to extend grace and mercy to someone who does not deserve it.

So what does he say?

He says, behold thy servant.

David says, fear not.

And then he gives him a reason why not to fear.

And God always gives us a reason for us in our lives not to fear.

He doesn't just say, hey, don't fear, and then just leaves us alone.

In God's word, when he says fear not, he always explains why we can live in confidence, why we can live in that type of peace.

He says, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan, thy father's sake.

He says, hey, I'm not necessarily giving something to you that you deserve, but because of who your father is going to give you that type of love.

This is why you don't need to fear.

I'm going to take care of you.

I'm going to show you kindness.

I'm going to show you grace.

I'm going to show you provision.

I'm going to protect you.

I'm going to be the one that provides for you in every way.

So he says, I'm going to show you kindness.

Then verse seven, he says, I will restore the all the land of Saul, thy father.

So not only does he give him the minimal thing, like, hey, I'm just going to take care of you.

He says, I'm actually going to bless you abundantly above just taking care of you.

I'm going to restore to you all the land that is rightfully your families.

That's the beauty of what God does for us in salvation.

He doesn't just save us.

Even though that would be enough, it would just be enough if God says, you're no longer going to be stuck in your sin.

I'm going to save you and I'm going to forgive you.

But then God abundantly blesses us and says, I'm going to give you back what was rightfully yours in the in the original and what was rightfully ours in the original plan to be one with God.

Remember Adam and Eve?

They're walking in fellowship with God.

God is going to restore to us what it means to walk as a friend of God.

Just as Adam walked in the Garden of Eden in the presence of God, so we as believers can walk in the presence of God.

God brings that back to us.

And so, Mephibosheth, he says, mephibosheth, you're going to get my kindness, but you're also going to get the blessing of what it means to be in the family that you were designed to be in.

And he says, and will restore all the land of thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.

He says, okay, I'm going to give you kindness.

This is doing something for somebody.

I'm going to restore to you what was yours.

That's the land.

Then he says, I'm going to give you my bread.

Not the bread that you go earn, not the bread that you go make, but my bread.

And he says, I'm going to provide for you.

This speaks of God's provisions in our life.

We know the term that is found in the book of Genesis, Jehovah, Jireh, God will provide.

And actually that idea is actually a place, the place in which God provided a sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac and ultimately for us.

God is the one who provides for us.

If we think the things that we have in our life are because of us, we're missing the point.

James, chapter 1, verse 17 tells us that every good gift that comes to us is coming from God, no matter if we recognize it or not.

And so what we see here is that God gives us grace in his kindness.

He gives us rightfully what originally was ours, that restoration with him.

And.

And then what we see here at the very end is that we get God's provisions.

He feeds us, we get to sit at the table of the king.

Think about Mephibosheth.

He literally goes from being in exile, in hiding, and living constantly in fear.

I don't know if any of you guys have lived in hiding.

Hopefully you're not living in hiding right now.

But I don't know if there's been a period of time in your life where you feel like, man, someone's coming after me.

Someone's.

Someone's chasing after me.

That's a very stressful thing to be in.

You always have that constant pressure.

And so Mephibosheth was in hiding.

He was in fear of death.

He was lame.

He had nothing to bring.

He was just basically Sitting there, and probably in a peasant's home.

And what we see here is he goes from a place of completely utter despair and separation and has moved all the way from there, from the outside, to the king's table in Jerusalem, the most desirable place of all the world.

At that point.

He gets to sit with King David at his table and eat the same thing that King David is eating.

That's an amazing thing to think about, that he's sitting at his table.

And then that word at the very end of that verse, verse seven, continually, that speaks of the eternal presence that we have when we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior.

We have a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

And the Bible says that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We now have that fellowship with God.

We can walk with him continually and experience that provision not just for today, but for tomorrow and forever.

He gets to sit at the king's table continually.

What an amazing blessing that is.

Some of us forget that what we deserve is not sitting at the king's table.

Some of us don't deserve to be where we are, but because of God's grace, because of our faith in Him.

He restores us.

And he says, sit at my table, wear my robes.

There's this wonderful song, if you get a chance to look it up.

It's called His Robes for Mine.

His Robes for Mine.

My robes in my righteousness, the Bible says in Isaiah, are like filthy rags.

And so like my robes that I try to make clean are just.

They're just dirty.

The more I do in my life, they're more dirty.

They're more dirty.

And the Bible says that when God saves us, he doesn't just clean up our robes.

He takes our robes off.

He says, those are gone.

Those are.

Those are separated.

Those are over.

That's no longer who you are.

And then he gives us his robes of righteousness and wraps that around us.

His robes for mine.

I can't help but think that Mephibosheth, as he's sitting at the table, is also eventually going to have the provisions of David by way of food, but also by way of clothing, by way of protection.

Now he's in the king's.

For lack of a better phrase, he's in the king's inner circle.

I've been to Israel.

I've been to old Jerusalem.

I've been to where they believe David's old headquarters were.

And it was a place high up on a perch.

It was safe.

Mephibosheth doesn't have to worry about anyone harming him anymore.

He doesn't have to worry about his life.

He doesn't have to worry about his failures.

His.

His next meal, it is now provided.

And you as a believer, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior today, and he is your friend, as we saw in James chapter two, because of my faith, I can call God my friend, and he calls me his friend.

Because of that, you can walk in security, you can walk in confidence.

You can walk knowing that God has your back.

He has your front.

He has all of your sides.

It's no longer just something that I'm doing on my own.

Now I'm in the king's house.

Now I'm in the family of God.

Verse 8.

What's his response?

What is Mephibosheth's response to this?

It's the proper response that we're supposed to have when God extends his grace to us.

Mephibosheth could have said a lot of things.

He could have been like, well, now I'm back to where I should have been, David, you're actually giving me something that I deserve because I'm Saul's grandson.

I'm Jonathan's son.

No, he could have responded in pride.

But no, he doesn't respond in pride.

He responds in humility and gratitude.

He bowed himself, verse 8, and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

Mephibosheth understood really what he deserved and who he was.

Now he uses some strong language here.

I don't necessarily think you should call yourself a dog.

I'm not saying that that's the word of God Mephibosheth is speaking, but he refers to himself as someone in the lowest estate, the lowest level.

He says, why would you look at me and give this to me?

As low and as broken and as lame and as dirty as I am.

The dog in that culture was.

Was the lowest of low.

That's what they would use as a term, a derogatory term to somebody else.

And we understand that even in our culture today.

But that's what he's saying here.

He says, why me?

It's a.

It's a.

What we would say is that attitude of gratitude, that thankfulness that drives someone to humility, that drives someone back to worship and honoring God.

Verse 9.

Then the king said this.

Excuse me.

Verse 9.

Then the king called to Zeba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have been given unto thy master, Son.

All that pertained to Saul and to all of his house.

And so God is proclaiming what he has done.

He's sealing here what he has done.

David says, I'm going to seal this promise.

I'm going to make this promise public, not just going to keep this a private promise.

Sometimes we think that's how it is with God.

No God publicly declares us his child.

Verse 10.

Out, therefore, and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him.

So he says, hey, I'm going to provide people that will tend to your land.

I'm going to provide for you stewards of the land that thou, therefore, and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him.

Thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat.

But Mephibosheth, thy master son, shall eat bread always at my table.

So he says, even though I'm going to give him things that he can live on his own with, he still has access to my table.

Now, Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants then, said Ziba unto the king, according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do.

As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons.

So he doesn't just say, hey, Mephibosheth can come in as Jonathan's son, and he'll always be kind of in that stigma that he's not one of my sons.

No, he adopts Mephibosheth as one of his own, part of the king's family.

So it's not just a figure, it's not just a symbol?

No, he says, no, Mephibosheth is now one of the king's sons.

When we're adopted into the family of God, we're not just, hey, you know, you're on a lower tier.

But this guy over here who's a Christian and a better Christian, is more of a son than you.

No, the Bible says that we're all adopted into the family of God.

We all have the same access, we all have that same standing of receiving the benefit and the inheritance of what it means to know God in a personal way, to be his child.

Verse 12.

And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah.

And all that dwelt in the house of Zeba were servants unto Mephibosheth.

And so not only is David's grace to Mephibosheth a blessing to Mephibosheth, but it's A blessing to the family of Mephibosheth, to the next generation.

Same thing of God's grace to us.

God's, God's grace to us should be, if in a healthy way, not just a blessing for us personally, but a blessing for all those that are associated with us, specifically our families.

Speaks of a wonderful opportunity for a godly heritage, you might say, here today.

You know what?

I'm thankful for my grandfather or my great grandfather or grandmother or mother who passed this along to me.

That is a beautiful testimony.

I'm thankful to say that my grandfather got saved and he brought my family, my extended family to church and my, my father got saved and my dad brought me to church and I got saved and I brought my children to church and they got saved.

And that's a beautiful thing.

But some of you might say, that's not my story.

I'm first generation Christian.

I didn't get that blessing.

Well, that's okay, because now you get the opportunity to start that line and so that the next generation can point back and say, you know what?

My, my dad, my mom, my grandmother was the beneficiary of God's grace.

And I want to see that happen in my life.

And so what we can see here in this case is that, yes, it was because of that relationship with Jonathan and David, but because of that love and because of that friendship and because of that promise, many, many people were affected by that type of love.

Same thing should happen when it comes to God's love, man.

God's love should affect us individually, but it should also affect many that come in contact with us.

And so David here gives that to Mephibosheth, and it says that Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, verse 13.

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, he dwelt in the capital, he dwelt in the king's house, for he did eat continually at the king's table.

This, this speaks of, like, what's the rest of the story?

Because we, we could see all this happen.

Then we could see, like, Mephibosheth go, yeah, but then I'm not grateful anymore.

I'm leaving.

We see the testimony that Mephibosheth stayed.

But I want you to see something at the end of verse 13, because this is really interesting, because if this was a Hollywood movie, Mephibosheth would have his legs restored and he'd be out.

And Mephibosheth went out and became a, you know, marathon runner.

And.

But that's not what Happens here.

Though Mephibosheth is restored back into fellowship with the king, and though he's given provisions, we still see that there is.

At the end of verse 13, it was lame on both of his feet.

I think this is a picture of the fact that the mark of sin, the mark of brokenness in this world can still be in our lives.

But that's not a reason for us to doubt God's love.

I mean, decisions that I make in the past, God forgives and God restores.

But we can make decisions in our life that cause.

And it might not even be our fault, by the way, it wasn't Mephibosheth's fault that he was lame.

It was because his father, and ultimately his grandfather, was at battle and doing things that he shouldn't be doing.

His father was a good man, but his grandfather Saul was not a good man.

Mephibosheth Nurse fell wasn't his fault.

So sometimes things in our life that we have as burdens and as brokenness aren't our faults, even though many times they are.

Many times, because of our sin, we bring brokenness into our own life.

But sometimes things are out of our control, but we can't use as an excuse to say that God doesn't love me.

Why?

Because God proved his love to us.

Romans 5:8.

God commended or demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

David could say to Mephibosheth, david, as a king, King David, I love you.

And Mephibosheth could have said, yeah, but then why didn't you heal me?

Why didn't you get the greatest doctors to come in?

No.

Mephibosheth said, no, David, you proved your love to me by bringing me into your house.

He could have looked at the one difficult thing in his life and said, you know what?

No.

But he said, I. I'm here.

I'm with the king.

That's all I need.

And so the beauty here is that Mephibosheth weakness did not go away.

Mephibosheth's weakness did not go away.

But because of his weakness, David's strength was able to be seen in his life.

David's protection was.

So he's even more of a testimony for David that David would take in this lame person and protect him.

That's the same thing with us.

Sometimes God isn't going to remove our struggle.

He's not going to remove our thorn.

He's not going to remove our struggles in our life necessarily.

But what he will do is promise us that he'll be with us through that struggle.

And you know what?

When.

When God works through us in spite of our difficulties, we don't get the credit.

God gets the credit.

God is glorified.

And at the end of the day, as a Christian, as a believer, that's really what we want, that God be glorified, that I'm able to be used through him, in spite of my past, in spite of my difficulties, in spite of my limitations.

And so David's grace to Mephibosheth, I believe, is a beautiful picture of God's grace to us.

But at the same time, David's friendship to Jonathan and ultimately extended to Mephibosheth is a great example of how we should extend the friendship of God to others.

Sacrifice giving to people what they don't necessarily deserve, withholding people, withholding things from people that they don't or that they do deserve.

I should say it's that connection piece.

It's that understanding that David understood the love of God so that he could show this friendship to Jonathan and ultimately to Mephibosheth.

We, if we truly understand what it means, as James chapter 2, verse 23 says, to be a friend of God, we should then know what it means to be a friend to others.

It doesn't mean that we have to be a friend to everybody.

It's impossible to be.

I can't be everyone in the world's friend.

It's just not physically possible and not realistic.

But the Bible does say that we can be friendly, that we can show the gift of friendship to those that are there before us.

Because, you know, for most of us, it's not a matter of having too many friends.

Even though some of you might say, I've got so many friends, I can't keep up with everyone.

Now with Facebook, you know, we say we've got thousands of friends, but how many.

How many of those people that are friends on your Facebook page are really your friend?

That's another big question.

So most of us aren't having the problem of having too many friends.

Most of us have the problem of not taking care and maintaining the friendships that we actually already do have in Christ.

And so what I would explain and what I would encourage you and challenge you to do is think about this example of friendship, of David's side of things.

Who in our life can we extend that friendliness to that love, to that grace?

To go back to what we talked about the very beginning, Proverbs, what does it mean to love a Friend, not just in the good, but love a friend in time of adversity.

True mark of friendship is that they're going to be with you through the difficulty.

And if that's the kind of friend that I want to have in my life, I want friends that are going to go shoulder to shoulder with me in battle.

Okay, I want.

I want.

I want that friend that's going to say, I'll stand in the foxhole with you through your struggles and through your problems.

That's a true friend.

And so if that's the friend that I want in my life and probably that you want in your life, how about we be the friends as the Bible says in Proverbs?

How about we be the friends to people that we want to have in our life?

You know, I'll have some people say, well, Pastor, I want to marry a really godly person.

I want to have a, you know, let's say it's a man.

I want to have a godly wife.

I want to have a wife that respects the Lord.

I want to have a wife that prays.

I want to have this and this and this.

I say, okay, that's great.

Look for that, pray for that.

But also be the type of spouse that you are looking for.

Be the type of Christian that you are desiring in your life.

The same thing goes as a friend.

If I want to have godly friends, and if I want to have friends that are going to lift me up, how about I lift up other people and be the friend that I need to be so that those friends will come to me?

Because the Bible does teach this principle.

It's not worded this way.

The Bible teaches the principle that we will attract those that we live.

Like my dad used to tell me all the time, hey, birds of a feather flock together.

And I'm like, dad, stop saying that.

You know, just.

That's so weird.

It's embarrassing for me.

He's like, don't hang out with that guy.

I see things in his life that are happening.

And I'm like, well, dad, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna influence him for Christ.

He says, son, maybe that person's coming to you because of the way that you're living in your life and you're attracting that crowd.

The Bible does speak very much about picking the right friends.

Doesn't mean that we hate people, but there are certain people that we need to choose that, hey, I want to be around them.

Good.

Because the Bible actually says that bad company corrupts good manners.

Good, good conversation.

So What I would say is this.

If I want to be around people that lift me up in Christ, the best thing to do is lift them up in Christ, because I will bring people in that reflect what I am.

And so what we see here on this case is that David.

What.

What could.

What really could Mephibosheth bring to David?

Nothing.

What did he bring to David?

Nothing.

It actually probably on the paper was a physical drain.

Oh, we gotta feed Mephibosheth again.

Someone's gotta move him from this place to this place.

That.

That's how we kind of see sometimes friendships.

Like, we're going to be kind to someone, but, like, look at the inconvenience for me.

We don't see any mark of that.

We see David saying, you know what?

I'm going to love Mephibosheth because I love his dad.

I'm going to love Jonathan because God loves me.

I encourage you to think about that type of friendship, that type of love.

And the greatest.

If God asks us to do anything, he's going to always give us the example.

And the example is what Jesus Christ did for us.

That's friendship.

If you go back to that John 15 passage, we won't turn there necessarily.

But what does Jesus say?

He says the greatest love that a friend can have is to give himself for them.

And Jesus proved that love.

He demonstrated that love.

And so, friends, today, if you're here today with someone, don't look at them and say, you're not that type of friend.

No, but don't do that.

But say this.

You know what?

I'm thankful that a friend, that someone that would care about me enough to bring me to church.

Think about that.

Because think about if you had a friend that wasn't willing to tell you the truth about what they believed, that really wouldn't be a friend.

Regardless of whether or not you believe in what we're talking about here today, at least someone said, hey, you know what?

I want you to believe what I believe because of the kind of hope that I have, because that's what true friendship is.

True friendship is telling someone the truth and trying to give them the hope and the love that we have extended at the church.

But ultimately that has been extended by God.

So as a friend, tell people about what Jesus Christ is doing for you.

And then don't just stop at telling them.

Show it to them.

Jesus didn't just stop when he.

When he.

When he, like, I love you.

All right, that's it.

No, I love you.

And let me show you and that's the picture of love here this morning.

So I thought that 2 Samuel chapter 9 with Mephibosheth was a great picture of an example of David as a great godly friend.

But then also the picture of how we can be friends with God when it comes to that picture of Mephibosheth coming into the house of David is a picture of the sinner, the broken one, the one who falls short, how that one can come and sit at the table of the one true God.

And here this morning, I don't care if you're a guest with us, a friend, a member, the greatest thing that you can do, the greatest decision that you can make, is to be like Mephibosheth.

When God calls our heart and brings us to a place of conviction and that place of decision, that we respond the way that Mephibosheth respond in humility and in desperate need of a Savior.

We all need a savior this morning.

The only way that we can find a Savior is through faith and reliance in God and God alone for our salvation through Jesus Christ and what he has done.

What did he do for me?

We've already talked about it.

We have a cross here in our building in more than one place.

And the reason why we have a cross up is not because it's a status symbol.

It's not a symbol of.

Of fashion.

It's a mark of death, believe it or not.

And so we have a mark of death here.

Why would we have a mark of death?

Because someone loved us enough to die for us.

The only one who actually matters, the only one who the Bible says knew no sin, became sin for us and died on a cross.

But the reason why we don't have Jesus hanging up on that cross anymore is because Jesus isn't on the cross anymore.

He says it is finished and in the tomb.

He conquered death through the resurrection.

So if anything, we have an empty tomb.

The empty tomb proves that God conquered death and that because of that, he can give you everlasting life.

And so this morning, we're going to have a time of response here.

No pressure.

No pressure from me.

The only pressure that you might feel is something called conviction that comes from God.

And the Bible says that when I trust in that, at that moment, there's something called justification.

I am declared righteous.

And in that justification, in that declaration of righteousness, I'm promised everlasting life.

I'm promised that relationship.

I'm promised to sit at the table of the King.

And so here this morning, may we all Respond to that.

But then number two, if you have responded in faith to Jesus Christ, what's your response to that?

Are you Mephibosheth that says, lord, every single day, I'm thankful for you giving me that provision, this seat at this table, this opportunity to be protected by you provided through your provisions?

Or do we get to that place of an ungrateful spirit, a spirit of complaining, a spirit of doubt, a spirit of apathy?

Are we the type of friends that we need to be in our own life to the people that are around us?

Maybe we are not.

I know in my life so much because of my selfishness, I miss out on opportunities to be the friend that I need to be.

And so maybe here today, you just need to recommit yourself to the Lord to say, lord, I. I'm thankful that you call me friends in my salvation.

And may I be the example of friendship to those around me by way of sacrifice, by way of service, by way of honesty, by way of love.

And so I'm going to ask if you're able to.

To stand with me, every head bowed, every head close.

This is a moment of invitation.

You can respond.

A couple of different things you can do.

You can come forward and you can kneel here at the steps in the front and make a decision for the Lord.

If you need Jesus Christ as your savior, come forward.

And we've got some people that can show you in the Bible what it means to know Jesus as Savior here today.

But maybe you're just here today as a church member, as a.

As a believer, but God has pressed upon your heart certain things.

Come forward here today.

If you can't come forward, if you don't feel comfortable coming forth, hey, just do business with the Lord right there.

Talk to him.

He can hear you wherever you are.

But take that spirit of humility, even if you need to take the posture of humility here this morning.

Go before him.

Ask him for grace.

Ask him for mercy.

Ask him for strength.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

Thank you for this historical account this morning of what it means to be a friend and what it means to know your grace and your forgiveness.

Lord, we thank you for your love.

Pray that you work in this time of invitation.

We love you.

In Jesus name, Amen.

It's a music place.

Follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Foreign.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon.

You can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.