Rev. David Holwick ZO King David series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 3, 1995
2 Samuel 9:6-10
|
I. The keeping of a promise.
A. Do you keep your promises?
A story from the battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.
In the frantic retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, Colonel Faith's
Task Force attempted to break out with over 500 wounded men.
The trucks were so overloaded they tied wounded on the fenders
and hoods.
As more soldiers were hit they had to be left on the side of the
road.
Chinese mortars and machine guns raked the column mercilessly.
Private Louse Grappo, 17 years old, lay in one truck with a
bullet through his leg.
He heard an explosion near his ear.
His shoulder didn't hurt, but he finally realized shrapnel had
pierced his helmet.
The twang of the steel helmet made his ears ring and the
concussion almost knocked him out.
"My God!" he exclaimed.
He had taken thirteen pieces of shrapnel and a large piece of
flesh was missing from his right shoulder.
Inside his mittens was a rosary.
"I'm a young kid," he prayed.
"I don't even know what it is to have a girlfriend, or to go to
a dance.
If you will just let me live to experience life, I'll go to Mass
and Communion every day for a year."
But he knew he was lying.
He thought about what he had just promised, then confessed,
"God, I'm [lying to] you.
I'm not going to do it for a year.
But I WILL do it for six months."
Then the youngster from Youngstown, Ohio, the baby of twelve
children, passed out.
He had prayed so hard his rosary had fallen to pieces.
The entire task force was stopped dead and cut to pieces by the
Chinese all night.
When Grappo came to in the morning, most of the trucks except
his were on fire.
He heard Chinese all over the place; ammo was exploding.
He peered out of his truck and saw what looked like a campground
with hundreds of people lying asleep, but they were all dead.
Only he and one other man were alive on his truck.
He got out, and unable to walk, crawled along railroad tracks
until he came to the frozen reservoir.
Chinese fired at him, but he didn't care if he died; he just
kept moving.
The next thing he knew, he was looking up at a Marine colonel.
#2866
1) At our best we are all keepers of promises.
2) We make promises to God, to others, to ourselves.
B. Promises should be sacred, and they recall God's promises to us.
II. Mephibosheth was not one to expect promises.
A. Not a popular name.
1) Pronouncing exercise. (say out loud)
a) Impress your neighbors and friends.
2) New York City reports that "John" is no longer in top 10 names.
a) Little possibility that Mephibosheth will land there.
B. Crippled by accident. 2 Sam 4:4
One of my greatest fears was dropping a baby.
I warned delivery nurse about it.
She said it never happened.
Then she almost dropped Sarah.
C. Hiding on the fringes.
1) He was in Lo Debar - "no pastures." 2 Sam 9:4
2) He was hiding out in desert.
D. Fearful of his life.
1) One day soldiers knocked on his door and he heard the
dreadful words, "King David wants you."
a) Typical for new kings to wipe out rivals.
1> (Similar to Saddam Hussein)
b) David himself not always against slaughter. 1 Sam 25:34
1> Saul's house was his mortal enemy. 2 Sam 3:1,6,8,10
2> Other members were killed. 2 Sam 4
2) Mephibosheth falls on floor before David.
a) Three most beautiful words he had ever heard:
"Don't be afraid." 9:7
b) 1,000 years later, a group of shepherds heard the
same thing.
c) 33 years after that women went to a tomb to prepare
Jesus for burial, and heard resurrected Savior say
"Don't be afraid."
3) We often live in fear, and miss out on blessings.
III. David remembers a promise.
A. David wanted to honor his promise to Jonathan. 1 Sam 20:14f
1) David didn't initiate it, Jonathan did.
2) He is a model of the dynamic involved in keeping promises.
B. David's kept his word above other considerations.
1) Circumstances under which promises are made may be
different from those in which they must be kept.
2) Jonathan has been dead for years.
3) He is placing his kingship in danger.
C. Keeping promises may be against our own self-interest.
1) David's kindness bears a cost, both real (food) and
potential (betrayal).
a) David extends generosity wider than promise required.
1> He is not soft or weak.
2> "God's kindness" means "kindness like that of God."
A> He is gracious as God is gracious. 2 Sam 9:3
b) Under Absalom's revolt, Meph.'s loyalty was suspect.
2) Not keeping a promise may pose a greater risk to our
character and our relationship with God.
a) Many today do not keep their promises today.
b) God does.
IV. Material blessings and restored relationships.
A. Land given back.
1) Returning property could backfire if misinterpreted. see 16:3
a) Mephibosheth later expected whole kingdom, perhaps
misinterpreting David's words. 16:3
b) David means farmland, so he can be self-sufficient.
2) David is going out of his way to be unusually generous.
B. Guest at royal table.
1) Ambiguous - Lame and blind not allowed near David. 5:8
a) David knew what it felt like to be unwelcome at a king's
table. 1 Sam 20:29
b) Perhaps keeping an eye on him. Can be a metaphor for
house arrest. 2 Kg 25:29 = Jer 52:33
2) But David seems to have no ulterior motives.
a) There were easier, cheaper ways to watch Mephibosheth.
b) In effect, Meph. is incorporated into the family. 9:11
V. God's promises are made to be kept.
A. He promises to accept cripples and make them whole.
1) People may reject us but God does not.
B. He accepts us into his family and invites us to his table.
1) Eating at God's table is a wonderful image of salvation.
2) We must accept his invitation to take part.
C. God gives graciously, expecting nothing in return but faith.
VI. Have you kept YOUR promises?
Richard Speight was on a plane and took out a Bible to begin
working on a Sunday School lesson.
This caught the attention of the man sitting next to him.
However, Richard didn't want to engage in conversation.
He had work to do.
Then he noticed the man had a Bible of his own and decided
to talk with him.
The man was a new Christian who had a powerful story to tell.
Things had gone from bad to worse and then to unbearable, the
stranger said of his life.
At first it was a single drink to be sociable, then it was two,
then several.
Before long, there was a bottle in the desk drawer to make the
long afternoons more bearable.
"You wouldn't believe how much booze I could put down in a
single day," he told his seatmate.
"I would start with a juice glass full in the morning."
He spent a lot of time trying to make his new business successful,
but it went nowhere.
Eventually his wife and children, in tears, left him.
"All I wanted was my friend, the bottle," he said.
A business trip took him out of state one day.
"I was drunk, driving a rental car," he said.
I pulled up to an intersection.
The cross street I was facing was a main highway," he remembered.
He thought he had stopped, but in his drunken state he rolled
through the busy intersection and was hit broadside by a truck.
"I was thrown out of that car with terrific force.
My body skidded along the pavement; all of my clothes were
torn off.
I was naked, bloody, raw, and battered, but I was alive."
He continued his moving story.
"The next thing I remember was two medics standing over me."
They thought he was dead and so did a policeman.
"I watched him as he felt my pulse and listened for my heartbeat.
He said I was dead, too."
But they decided to take him to the hospital.
He could not make a sound.
"I prayed and prayed the whole time.
I promised God that if He would help me get their attention, if
He would help me get out of this, I would never touch another
drop of alcohol again, and I would be His servant forever."
"The next thing I remember is sitting on a gurney in the
emergency room, talking to the doctor.
The medics and the policeman were still there.
They were absolutely astounded!"
He was not seriously injured.
After he was cleaned up, he was released.
He decided to get some rest, so he checked into a local motel.
He bought a six pack of beer, opened a can and laid down
in bed.
Flipping through the channels, he encountered Billy Graham
leading a crusade.
"He was looking right at me, pointing a finger," the man
recalled.
"You have made promises to God today," Dr. Graham said, "that
you haven't kept."
This hit home.
"I buried my head in my hands," he recalled, "and leaned over,
almost touching the ground with my face.
I had admitted my weakness to myself for the very first time."
In this time of struggle he discovered answers in the Bible.
"The Holy Spirit came into my body and into my life," he said.
The Spirit gave him the strength "to open those beer cans, one by
one, and pour that beer out.
That's the hardest thing a drunk can do," he testified,
"I couldn't.
The Holy Spirit did it for me."
#2751
A. God is inviting you to join his table.
B. His promises are for YOU. Accept them now.
(Study notes are extensive but omitted)
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Create HTML Help, DOC, PDF and print manuals from 1 single source