You could find your place in 2 Samuel chapter 9. It is good to be back with you this morning. Having had my summer respite and returned about a week ago from that fabulous trip to the Swiss Alps, thinking about Many experiences and adventures. This trip was just jam-packed with excitement and adventure and awe. It was all I could do to contain some of my emotions at some of the things that God has created that I got to not just see on a screen, but right there in person. You know, we could also characterize the life of King David that way as well, as having highs, excitement, adventure, and awe. There are several low points, of course, in David's life, but many are the high points. So after about a year in Galatians, which we completed, returning back to 2 Samuel, to complete the study that we started on the life of David as the king, the man after God's own heart. And in returning, we find ourselves at a definite high point in David's life, and that's what we read about today. So would you stand please with me for the reading of the Word of God. 2 Samuel chapter 9, we'll read the entirety of the chapter. And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, I am your servant. And the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? Ziba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan. He's crippled in his feet. The king said to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, he is in the house of Mechir, the son of Amiel. at Lodibar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Micir, the son of Amiel at Lodibar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth, And he answered, Behold, I am your servant. And David said to him, Do not fear. For I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, all that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king commands his servants, so will your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micah. And all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, help us to be able to grasp and absorb the height of this precious narrative of the wonderful care of a king. For one who was legitimately to be considered an enemy. Help us, Lord, to see in this text not only the admirability of the behavior of David, but an expression of the beauty of the behavior of Jesus. Not just to someone out there with lame feet, but to us with lame hearts. And we lift up this prayer to you in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. Well, looking back a couple of years, we began this series of sermons on the life of David, and we went from the declaration of Samuel that the Lord had sought out a man after his own heart to be prince over his people to the anointing of David to his defeat of Goliath, to his flight from Saul, and then to his ascendancy to the throne. And we saw the covenant that God made with David for his descendant to reign eternally on his throne. And then chapter 8 provided a summary of the conquests of David. And now that we come to chapter 9, we are brought to a place where David, it would seem, has an opportunity to catch his breath. All of this stuff has been happening and it seems like maybe just for a moment there's a pause. Relative peace has settled in and God's eternal covenant has been established. David now has time to reflect. and to think about the past and to think about the future, to ponder. Now, many of you have asked about our trip to Switzerland, and I appreciate that you had so much interest in it. And I would love to share about it. I want you to see some photos. You said, can we see pictures? And so I put a few photos on the pre-service loop. So you could just, I mean, I took only a few, but that's what you got to look at. I could put a whole lot more, but at any rate, I was jokingly telling people that I had probably taken 600 pictures, thinking maybe I was exaggerating a little bit. But the other night, when I was transferring my photos from my phone to the computer, I found the actual number. It wasn't 600. It was 1,100. So anyway, I took those photos on the run. And we were on the move from place to place with schedules to keep and trains to catch. And the trip and its experiences every single day were epic ones, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. But the night before we departed, all the stuff was back in the luggage and We anticipated getting up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the plane back to the United States. And having just a little time, I took out my phone and began to thumb through some of those pictures, some of those photographs. And as I was thumbing through them, I just realized how many places and how much adventure and how many epic aspects there were of this trip that we had just taken. And I just became overwhelmed with the magnitude of what we had been able to experience. I had time to think and gratitude and amazement settled upon me afresh. Well, having received from the Lord his kindness in this way, I was like primed, primed to get home. It's time to get back to work. Time to get back into the idea of, Lord, what is it you want me to do? What can I do for you? And I think that's somewhat of how David felt at this time. Catching his breath in gratitude and amazement at the mercy of God in his life, it seems that David must have begun asking, okay, Lord, what now? What can I do? What do you want me to do?" Now, and apparently David got the answer. David, do you remember the covenant that you made with Jonathan? Do you remember the promise you made to Saul? Jonathan was the heir to Saul's throne. But he was also David's best friend and he was a lover of God and he knew that God had chosen David. to be king. And he was fine with that. And he had pledged his allegiance to David. But he appealed to David that once he was king and once his enemies were subdued, that he would show kindness according to a covenant that they would make. Kindness, covenant kindness to him and to his house, to his descendants by not killing them off. And David so swore to Jonathan. And then it was after that time that David spared the life of Saul and Saul admitted he knew that David would eventually become king and he begged and pleaded with David not to cut off his offspring after him and David swore. And now that things have settled a bit and it would seem that David is catching his breath, these oaths arise in the mind of David. And David is not a covenant breaker. He is a covenant keeper. And so he takes steps to fulfill the pledges that he had made. The focal point of this text is that for the sake of keeping covenant, David shows mind boggling kindness to a pitiful and undeserving enemy. And there are several matters to underscore as we break down the text. And I first, therefore, want you to notice the covenant search. The covenant search. King David, recalling the covenant that he made with Jonathan, wonders aloud if there's anyone left of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness for the sake of Jonathan. Now, what we need to know here is that this covenant that David made with Jonathan and the promise that he made to Saul didn't happen yesterday. for David. And it didn't even happen a week or a month ago. It happened not even a year ago, but years ago at this point. Fifteen to twenty years have now passed since David swore to Jonathan to show kindness to his offspring. David could have argued that, well, the promise was made so long ago. And he could have reasoned that so much has happened So much has changed. Circumstances just aren't what they were. He could have come up with any number of excuses to just forget the promise. But he had given his word. He had made the covenant. And he was not going to allow a change in circumstances or the passing of time to excuse him from the solemn vow that he had made. So, he instigated a search. Now, here's a good point for you and me to ask ourselves how faithful we are to the promises and the covenants that we have made with others and how faithful we will be to the covenants that we are yet to make in our lives. It's a mark of godliness to keep covenant and fulfill our word. Faithfulness is a part of the Spirit's fruit in our lives and so keeping one's word means keeping it even when there is personal cost. Psalm 15 includes among the characteristics of the godly this point. It says that the godly swear to their own hurt and keep their word. In other words, when you make a promise and it's going to hurt to keep it, you do it anyway because the promise is your word. So even when there is a cost to self, their word is a commodity of higher value. Hence it is that wedding vows promise to be faithful and steadfast for better or for worse, for richer or poorer. in sickness and in health. God's fulfillment of His promises to His people comes at inestimable cost to Himself. It cost His only Son, but that did not deter the Lord from fulfilling His Word. It cost Jesus. We know that the agony and anguish that the cross bore for Him caused him to cry out to the Father in the garden if there is some other way. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. He was keeping covenant. What about you and me? How easily we can tell ourselves, well, that failing to keep our word is okay because, I mean, the circumstances are different now. Or, it's been so long ago. But it is sin when we do not keep our word and it's a sin from which we need to repent. David kept his word here as the Lord himself does and we need to fulfill our word as well. It's a mark of godliness. Well, let's turn next to the covenant beneficiary. David engaged in a search. Is there anyone remaining alive from the house of Saul? David determined to find out. His people found Ziba, the servant of Saul, and he reported to David that, yes, there was still one descendant of Saul who was still alive. He was a son of Jonathan, and he was crippled. We learned back in 2 Samuel 4 that when the news came to the house of Saul that he and Jonathan were dead, there was hysteria as there might well be in the house of a king who's been killed and then concern for their well-being is up in the air and people need to find a place of hiding and protection. And so at that time Mephibosheth was five years old And we learned that his nurse grabbed him up in the midst of the anxiety and fear and trepidation, grabbed him up to flee. And he fell and became lame in both of his feet. Which is to say, you know, he just wasn't dragging one around. If anything, he got around, I guess, by dragging himself because his feet were lame. So that he was crippled was brought to David's attention. And that fact that he was crippled would certainly annoy most royals if they were seeking to do good to someone. I mean, kings want to surround themselves with pretty people, wealthy people, smart people, those who make the king and his entourage look good in the eyes of their subjects. However, Mephibosheth's lameness did not daunt David. He simply pressed for more information. Where is he? Well, he is in the house of Mehir, the son of Amiel at Lodibar. Why all these details? Well, I looked up the meaning of the name Mehir. It means sold, purchased, enslaved. I looked up the meaning of Lodibar. It means no pasture. Furthermore, I learned that nobody knows for sure today where Lodibar was actually located. It kind of disappeared. It's an oblivion. So these elements of the narrative suggest that this son of Jonathan represents a most undesirable condition. Mephibosheth was an enemy of the king because he was the descendant of the rival royal line. And you know what happened in those days. It happened all the time. A new king comes, the old king's family is decimated, eliminated, and moved away and killed, done away with, so that they will not be a threat to the current king. Mephibosheth was in Saul's line. He belonged to the previous regime. Such, as we said, were commonly eradicated. So here he was. He was an enemy to the king under the threat of death. Mephibosheth was lame and incapacitated and impoverished. He existed in a practical condition of enslavement. Unable to provide for himself, he was dependent upon the provisions of others. And in effect, he was lost in a land of obscurity in a backwoods town nobody was to remember. He was pretty much meaningless to the world. But look what happens. David himself takes the initiative. David goes after Mephibosheth. He sins for this pitiful man. Can you imagine? You know who you are. You know your situation. And every day begins as every other day had begun beforehand. There is Mephibosheth the cripple over in his corner, just existing and depending. And all of a sudden, there is a knock at the door or some kind of noise that exhibits the fact that an entourage from the king has arrived. at this place which seems so obscure. But here some household servant or somebody goes to the door, yes? We are looking for Mephibosheth, son of Saul. The king has summoned him to come and appear before him. Can you imagine what happened in the stomach of Mephibosheth? I knew this day was coming. I tried to hide. He begins to tremble with fear. His connection to Saul has finally caught up with him. He is an enemy of the king. He is a cripple nobody wants around, who can do nothing for himself, having no hope, living in the land of oblivion. And now he's being summoned by the king. And for him, that can only mean one thing. His miserable life is finally going to come to an end. He will die. Such is the condition of every single human being in a spiritual sense. We are already dead. We are without hope and without God in the world. We are enemies with God, belonging to His rival. By birth we belong to the prince of the power of the air who was at war with God. We are sinners by nature. We can do absolutely nothing for ourselves to change our situation or to change ourselves or to make ourselves acceptable to God. We are lost in the land of oblivion. Eternal death is the sentence that we all deserve. What are we to think that the king is calling out to us? And he does. He calls to us through the preaching of the gospel, and it is a summons to come and appear before Him. He calls us through the preaching of the gospel, it's a message that calls us to come, come to the King. If you haven't responded to that call this morning, I hope you will today. Understand that God is crying out. God has delivered an invitation through His Son Jesus to come to the King. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are. It's actually a very wonderful anticipation. Although you might tremble to think of standing before Him because you know who you are and you know what you're not and you know where you've come from and you know what you've done. But the King says come. We need now to direct our attention to the covenant purpose. David sins for the crippled son of Jonathan. He brings the man to himself. The text underscores that David brought him from the house of Machir. That is from the house of enslavement. Being bought, being sold. From the lost land of Lodabar where there is no pasture. And Mephibosheth, this is the first time in the chapter at this point that we actually hear his name. He came to David and he fell on his face in homage. He comes as the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. Did you see how David addressed him when he fell before him in homage? By name. Mephibosheth! He knew him not as a son of his enemy, but as a person in his own right with his own name. This is personal and it is intimate. To be known and to be called by name by the king is a privilege and it indicates a personal knowledge and a personal connection into which David had entered. David knew the cripple by name. And I want you to know that the Lord of the universe knows your name. And those who may have been sent with the gospel to call you to himself, they may not have called you by name, but when the call came through them for you to come, the Lord greets you by name. He knows you personally, intimately, and with affection and kindness. The Lord calls the stars by name and He certainly knows yours, and He calls you personally to come. And that is His greeting to you when you come. If you've come to Christ, if you've come to the Lord and bowed before Him in repentance and faith, His word to you is, well, you put your name in the blank. Yes, by name He's called you. Mephibosheth responded in humility and homage and faith, I am your servant. And David then articulates his purpose in regard to Mephibosheth. We've already known that David's purpose was to show covenant kindness, show the kindness that was in keeping with the covenant he'd made with Jonathan in particular. In fact, it's clear and it should grip our attention that in verse 3, The king tells Ziba his intention is to show the covenant kindness of God. This is not just David's covenant kindness. This is the covenant kindness of God. David is even saying, I am going to demonstrate the person and being of God in my keeping of this covenant. And now that purpose and what elements there are in this purpose are made plain to Mephibosheth. We should see three aspects of that kindness. Number one, his purpose in the first place is elimination. Not elimination of Mephibosheth, but the elimination of Mephibosheth's fear. David aims to eliminate the fear of Mephibosheth. He says to David, David says, do not fear. How often we read that in the word of God and what a blessing it is. But he says, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. So, do not fear has one overriding message here. It's to say to Mephibosheth, I'm not going to kill you. I'm overturning the sentence of death that would come upon the enemies of the king. I'm not going to kill you. I did not summon you here to take your life, but rather to restore life and hope to you. This is covenant kindness. the covenant kindness of God. And it is the giving of the opposite of what is rightly expected. And so first, the first purpose of this covenant kindness is that the death penalty is eliminated. Now, the purpose of kindness in the second place is provision. So there's elimination of the penalty of death. And in its place there is provision. David says, I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father. And then we see in the later text how David called this servant back and said, look, you're going to be Mephibosheth's servant and you're going to work his land and you are going to bring the produce to him. And so there was going to be provision for Mephibosheth. And what it also meant was that Mephibosheth, whose inheritance was not currently in his possession, was going to be restored. The result would be an abundance of provision. He would no longer need to depend on Mechir. And he himself would be the possessor and he would be the landowner. No worries. Now, the purpose of David's covenant kindness in the third place is position. Elimination, provision, and position. Prior to this moment, Mephibosheth's position was essentially that of enslavement and dependency. Even before David, he falls on his face and proclaims himself a servant and that is the truth after all. It was only right for him to do so. But David responds with the promise that Mephibosheth, from this point forward, would not be treated as a servant. but would be treated as a son. You will eat at my table always. Mephibosheth was to eat at David's table like one of the king's sons. Grovel at the king's feet? No. He was to be honored as though he were a son of the king. He had a position being the king's son or being treated as the king's son. And now he was in authority over those who would be serving him. All in all, David's covenant kindness went, if you think about it, much further than that which he had promised Jonathan. What did Jonathan ask for? Just don't wipe out my family line. Well, David adhered to that part of the covenant, but he went so much further. He not only spared Mephibosheth's life, he lavished blessing upon him. He went beyond adequacy. He took him from Lodabar where there was no pasture. He brought him to green pastures. David himself prepared a table for him. But then we recall that David was not simply showing David's kindness. He was showing the covenant kindness of God. Then our minds go to that psalm written by David. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. My cup overflows. This is your Lord, if Jesus is your King. To receive the kindness of God is to receive an abundance, a fullness, a measure beyond calculation of kindness and provision and position. From Christ's fullness, John declares in John 1.16, from Christ's fullness we have all received. We've received from Christ's fullness and grace upon grace. We need to consider the magnitude as best we can of this grace. So let's just put into summary the covenant kindness of God exemplified in David. He embraces the lame. He seeks the lost. He overturns the enmity. He restores the inheritance. He feeds the hungry at his table. It's a beautiful powerful display of the covenant kindness of God through Christ to those he calls to himself. Once again David gloriously points us to Christ Jesus. David was undaunted by Mephibosheth's lameness. And Christ comes to the spiritually lame and pitiful dead in our trespasses and sins and unable to do what is acceptable. Christ sets his love on those who have nothing to offer but wickedness and inability. David pursued this seemingly lost son of Saul. Likewise, Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. David overruled the enmity between himself and Mephibosheth at personal cost to himself. He sought an enemy and made him a son. Even so, Christ Jesus is our peace. Ephesians 2.16 says, He abolished the hostility, the enmity between us and God through the cross. He carried out covenant kindness at great personal cost to himself. While we were lost, weak in enemies, Christ overturned the enmity. And this is the point of Paul in Romans 5, 6 through 10, who writes, for while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous person, but God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by His life." David restored to Mephibosheth his inheritance. Even so, Christ has made us joint heirs with himself of the riches of God. Romans 8.17 says, Christ's followers are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. David brought Mephibosheth to his banqueting table to share the table with David's sons as though he were himself a son. And likewise, the Lord himself prepares a table before his sheep. Jesus said to his disciples, This just jumped out at me when I looked at it this week, Luke 22, 29 to 30. Jesus said to his disciples, I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. This is a foreglimpse of an eternal wedding supper of the Lamb. It is an image of fellowship and rejoicing and privilege that will forever be the delight of those who are in Christ's kingdom. And we are reminded of it every time we observe the Lord's Supper. As you breeze through the last half of this chapter, you see that everything that David promised, he performed. All those words that he spoke to Mephibosheth when he first met him, he carried out. Truly, he shows us the covenant kindness of the Lord. And Jesus will do the same. Everything he has promised, he will do. So do not refuse his call to come. If you have not already welcomed that call and bent yourself before him saying, I am your servant, today is the day to do that. And to know that his promises for you will be like, I'm not going to treat you like a servant. I want to treat you like a son. So respond to His summons. Humbly submit to Christ as a servant. And though you are an enemy of His throne by nature, He will rescue you from death. He will grant you the glory of being called an adopted child of God. Finally this morning, I want you to see the covenant response. One more aspect of this narrative needs to be highlighted and this is it, the covenant response. And what I'm talking about is the response of Mephibosheth to the covenant kindness expressed to him by David. Didn't that jump out at you? this Mephibosheth when he was bewildered by the purpose of David's kindness. In verse 8, Mephibosheth paid homage and said, What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Have you ever said to the Lord, Why me? Not, why did this bad thing happen to me? But why me? Why does anything good ever happen to me? Why did you choose me? Why did you call me? Maybe you didn't call yourself a dead dog, but I know that when the Lord really awakened grace to me, it was to show me that I had no claim on him. But his kindness to me was unimaginably and inexplicably poured out in abundance. Why? That's what Mephibosheth, this is his response. I'm a cripple. What king wants to have a cripple around? I'm a son of the king's enemy. I can't do anything. There's nothing to commend me to you. That's what he's saying. But why? What is your servant that you would show regard for a dead dog such as I? There can be no adequate explanation to the question why. He who was an enemy of the king has been sought out by the king and welcomed to the table of the king to mingle with the family of the king and to be known by name to the king, pitiful, undesirable, an enemy and lost and yet loved. It is truly astonishing. But it is the explanation of covenant It is kindness shown, not because it is deserved or earned, but because it has been promised by one who is faithful to his word and willing to give him himself in order to keep that promise. And it depicts in living color the reality of the salvation that is received by those who hear Christ call their name. and leave the enslavement of their sin and their incapacity for the privilege of his invitation to have our lostness removed, our enmity overturned, our heirship be restored and our place at his table to be guaranteed and established for all eternity. We are no better than a dead dog. Who are we that Christ should show regard for us? If this truth doesn't make you shake your head in awe, wonder, and praise, then it may well be that you have not even begun to grasp the essence and the richness of the gospel. You need to see in David the beauty and glory of the grace and kindness of God. You need to see in Mephibosheth a portrait of yourself apart from Christ. because it is an accurate one. Everybody wants to know. What was the favorite part of your trip? And did you get to see the Matterhorn? Because I was asking for prayer. Because I didn't want to travel all the way over there and see clouds. Because when the clouds come down, you don't see the mountaintops. That happened in Lucerne. But it didn't happen at the Matterhorn. So what was that magical high point? For me, it was without question our trip to a mountain peak called Klein Matterhorn. And there is a place they call Glacier Paradise. And to get there, you go up to a place of 12,740 feet and you get there by Cable car and gondola, what's the difference? I don't exactly know, but one's bigger than the other. When we were on the cable car, we were like five, six, or eight. When we were on the gondola, 10 or 16 people could fit in there, and it was the last leg of the trip. And if I could show you pictures, maybe your stomach would flop a little bit because you're up and you see where you're going is like the tip top of a mountain and there's a hole in it and that's where you're going. And all you see is these cables and they don't go straight there. They go down and then up steeply to get there. But anyway, so this is like filling you already with this is this is this is epic. Although for a moment, it didn't feel epic when everything came to a halt and we just kind of swung in the air and looked down at the glacier and looked back up. But when we got to Klein Matterhorn, there's that place called Glacier Paradise. And from that vantage point, you have a spectacular view of numerous mountain peaks, including and especially the Matterhorn. And I was so taken by the whole thing that I couldn't keep the tears in my eyes. I tried real hard, but a couple of them trickled down my cheek. It was like, yes, a place like this is not just a picture. And God made it. That was without question the high point. But we might also ask, what is the high point in the life of David? Some may say it was his defeat of Goliath. But others suggest that the chapter that we have studied today is the high point in David's life. It's certainly one of, if not the height of the exemplary part of David's life because In this act of covenant kindness, he clearly gives a taste of the glorious covenant kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our proper response is just like that of Melchizedek. If you are a believer in Jesus, you should not be able to stop yourself from asking And when you do, that doesn't make you want to run away from Christ. It makes you want to cling to Christ. Because you have realized that you don't have any hope in your own two feet or in your own strength. You have realized that He is your only hope. And that that hope is not just a hope not to be written off one day. But it is the hope to be made much of, for death to be wiped away, and for riches to be given, and for His place, a place at His table forever to be guaranteed. It makes me think of Roman Revelation 3,20, I'm standing at the door and knock. Anyone hears my voice, I will come into him. We'll have dinner together. That's what Jesus died for. Eradicate our sin. And establish our relationship. With God. You're in either one of two positions in that in regard to that either today, you haven't yet entered into that. You haven't entered into that relationship. And obviously, clearly, I think you would see the main need of your life today at this very moment is to come. Come embrace Him who died for sinners like you. To bring you to Himself. To take you out of your misery and pain and exclusion. And bring you to the King's palace. Come! Why would you wait? Why would you hesitate to say, I'm your servant? And at the same time, now, if you're in the other position, you've embraced Christ, then think anew what it is he's done for you. And when you do, how can you not want to repeat the words of Mephibosheth? Why would you do this for a dead dog like me? That's a question that is the expression of wonder, and awe, and gratitude, and a life that would flow from that that says, thank you, I can't believe it, but I've got it, and I want it, and I love you. To God, to Christ, let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, thank you for giving us a glimpse of the reality that is involved when a child of the world, a child of Adam, a child of the prince of the power of the air, is welcomed into the presence of King Jesus and comes and bows down and says, I am your servant. Thank you for showing us what the sinner is brought from. And thank you for showing us what the sinner is brought to. And thank you for showing us that you delight in doing just that. That our inadequacies, that our incapacities are not something that makes you want to cast us off, but makes you want to seek us out so that you can remedy our troubles. Remedy our sin. Remedy our rebellion. Remedy our stains. Remedy our pain. And that remedy is found in the cross and the joy is found in the fellowship and being treated like a son. Thank you. I pray that the reality of the gospel that's shown here would just be so real to each of us, especially to those in this room who haven't yet bowed the knee to Jesus, but they would today, right now, and wouldn't even leave this place until they started telling people that this change has happened in them. And so, Lord, help us as a church to be ready as we look for you to bring people, to bring Mephibosheth, more Mephibosheth into the kingdom, to be ready to show them the kindness of God, welcoming and discipling, loving and blessing. We pray in Christ's name, amen.