What to Do When Someone Rides Off On Your Donkey | April 19, 2026 PM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Second Samuel chapter #16 Now if you are saying pastor, it seems

like we're going backwards in our series.

Are you sure about that? The answer is yes, I am sure we

are going backwards a few chapters so that we can go

forwards. And that'll make sense here in

just a moment. But we will go backwards this

evening so that we can go forwards and look at this young

man named Mephibosheth, who we had seen last time in the Word

of God as a man who was of the household of Saul, who was

fearing for his life. Why?

Well, because David was king and because Dave was king in those

days when one household became king, that the previous

household would oftentimes be eliminated.

We find that a lot of times in the Word of God, that doesn't

make it right, but that's just the way that it would happen,

particularly hello, in those days, that's the what would

happen. And so that doesn't make it

right, but that's what it was. Now, what Mephibosheth wasn't

anticipating was the fact that David was trying to find someone

of the household of Saul to show kindness unto him, to be able to

give him blessings and benefits of which he did not deserve.

On top of that, Mephibosheth had a physical handicap.

He was lame on his feet because of the fact that he had an

accident in his flight as a young boy from the Philistines

back at the end of First Samuel. And so here is Mephibosheth.

He has been granted ancestral land from Saul's family with

which he does not deserve, and has also given a place at the

table of King David so that he is taken care of continually.

Mephibosheth, by the way, is a picture of us.

And in that story, David is a picture of Jesus Christ.

Here we are. We are lame on our feet, if you

will. There's nothing within us that

would call upon us to be saved. There's no reason and no way you

can save yourself. But yet here's the king who has

done what. He seated us in heavenly places.

He's provided for all of our needs.

I'm the beggar and he's the king.

That's what we find in Mephibosheth.

But we haven't heard anything of Mephibosheth since then.

But in David's flight at that time when Absalom was trying to

take over the Kingdom, we find a couple of accounts.

The first, which we'll read before the Battle at Ephra Wood

and the second after the Battle of Ephraim Wood.

And that's where we are in our series right now about

Mephibosheth, and it's going to help us to understand a little

bit about some situations that we have happened to us in life.

You say what kind of situations? Well, we have the situations in

life that sometimes are our own fault.

I don't know about you, but I get in plenty of those myself.

Amen. But there are some situations in

life that happened that are totally out of our control.

There are situations in life that it's almost like we can

only sit idly by and watch it unfold in front of us because

the world is wicked and people are wicked.

No, no, yes, you and I have been saved by the blood of Jesus

Christ. That if we act within our

spirit, not our flesh, we're different.

But yet the world, who knows? Not the spirit and only the

flesh. They are looking for reasons to

tear you down, to cut you out and to find ways to do things to

you that which you really do not deserve.

And that's what happens in Mephibosheth in today's account.

He goes through something that he didn't deserve.

He goes through a situation that he could see it happening right

in front of him, but because of his lameness on his feet, he

couldn't even do anything about it but just watch it unfold.

And so we're understand some principles this evening that I

hope will be a help to us. The title of my message is this.

What to do when someone rides off on your donkey For the

longest test title I've ever had in my ministry, What to do when

someone rides off on your donkey.

Now that may not make a lot of sense, but by God's grace, I

hope in a few minutes it will make some sense.

And if there was a subtitle, it would be this.

You can't lose what you don't have in the 1st place.

You can't lose what you don't have in the 1st place.

Would you stand, please, for the reading God's Word?

Second Samuel chapter #16 and we'll begin in verse #1 again.

We are going backwards in our series chronologically here with

our text. I understand that.

But we want to see this unfold before the battle between David

and Absalom. And we'll look at the other

passage in just a moment, It says.

And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold,

Zeba the servant of Aphibosheth, met him with a couple of asses

saddled upon them 200 loaves of bread, and 100 bunches of

raisins, and 100 of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.

And the king said unto Zeba, What meanest thou by these?

And Zeba said, The asses be for the King's household to ride on,

and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and

the wine and such be faint in the wilderness may drink.

And the the king said, And where is thy master's son?

And Zeba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem.

For he said, Today shall be the House of Israel, or today shall

the House of Israel restore me the Kingdom of my father.

Then said the king to Zeba, Behold, thine are all that

pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. And Zeba said, I humbly beseech

thee that I might find grace in thy sight, my Lord, O king.

Now you may not know everything that's going on right here, but

sure does sound like this guy Mephibosheth turned on David, a

man who had done so much for him has now said, I'm casting my lot

with Absalom. Now we're look at what that

means and why maybe not everything is exactly as it

seems here in this chapter, here in just a moment.

So why don't you be seated. We'll pray together.

Heavenly Father, we do thank You for this evening and for Your

word. What I know that there's some

people here this evening. They're going through some deep

waters. They're going through some heavy

issues. And certainly we can bring that

upon ourselves. And when it does happen because

of our sinful choices, we have to bring it to You, confess it,

and leave the reaping after our sinful sowing to You.

But yet there are times that we're just living life and this

wicked world tries to take advantage and do very difficult

things. Lord help us to see through this

text how we are to respond and we do ask it in Jesus name,

Amen. You'll remember that on this

flight that David and his men, he had about 600 or so men on

top of his own household and his family, that there was a lot of

them that needed sustenance as they went.

And there was that man Barzili. Do you remember him who came and

provided for the needs along with his friends as well?

And so as there are those who are coming to the aid of David,

there is this man named Zeba. Now we're not going to go back

to the original text of Mephibosheth, but if we were

that I just referenced in the introduction, if we were, we

would find that Zeba was tasked to be able to be the

householder, if you will, to be able to take care of the land in

a way that Mephibosheth could not.

So here is some land that is given to Mephibosheth, again,

ancestral land of their family, and he can't till it himself.

He can't take care of himself because of his physical

handicap. So David says you have this

person who has served you and helped you these years.

His name is Zeba. And So what Ziba is going to do

is he is now going to be the major domo, if you will.

He is going to be the person who is going to take care of all of

your affairs because you're not able to do so on your own.

And so it seemed like a pretty good setup of which David did.

Why? Because his land was taken care

of. And yet at the same time,

Mephibosheth could also dine at the King's table.

We can put it this way. No matter where Mephibosheth

was, he was going to be taken care of.

And aren't you glad as a child of God here this evening, that

wherever however you are, that your God will provide for your

needs? Matthew chapter 6 makes that

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

abundantly clear. You say, well, God hasn't been

good to me. Then you haven't been paying

attention because God has been good to you.

He's far better to us than we deserve in 100 lifetimes.

And yet here is Mephibosheth, a picture of us in our own

lameness and our own inability. But yet the king has smiled upon

us, and that wherever we go, hit her or yawn, that we're going to

be provided for, just as Mephibosheth was.

But now we're at the place where David's on his flight and he's

needing supplies. And here comes the same man

named Zeba, and he's saddled on his asses with loaves of bread.

200 loaves of bread, 100 bunches of raisins.

Personally not a big fan, but anyway, sure, if that's what you

want, that's fine. 100 summer fruits, a bottle of wine.

And so here he comes and David has some recollection of this

man named Zeba. And he says, what are you doing

here? What's going on?

And Zeba gives this story where he says and verse #3 and he

says, Where is thy master, son? And Zeba said of the king,

Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem, for he said, today shall the

House of Israel restore me, the Kingdom of my father.

You realize the accusation that is being leveled here by Zeba.

Zeba is saying David Mephibosheth has cast his lot

with Absalom. It's almost as if he's saying

that all these years Mephibosheth has just Biden this

time. He never really liked David.

He never really cared for David. He was just waiting for someone

to come along to knock David off his pedestal.

And as soon as Absalom was that man, Zeba says, you know what he

did? He made his way to Jerusalem and

he is now saying this, that Absalom is going to restore the

household of Saul in its totality and make Mephibosheth

at the head. Now you say, pastor, it don't

seem right and the answer is it's not right.

You say, but it's right here in the Word of God.

But remember, the word of God is accurately recording a

conversation that took place here.

Why? Because the word of God is

accurate, Amen. It's accurately reporting a

conversation that took place. It is not saying that what Zeba

said is true, it is just saying this is what he said and this is

what he said. He has made it clear that he

that Mephibosheth is gone and Zeba brings all of the fruits of

Mephibosheth's land and gives it to David.

He's concocting the story now, if we've learned anything about

David that here when he's on this flight, his mind is

distracted at best. Why His son is trying to kill

him. His son is trying to take his

Kingdom. He's likely found out at this

point about it. Well, it's not happened yet, but

the he knows that there's some very specific things that are

happening that are awful. And he also knows deep down in

his mind, a lot of this is my fault because I didn't handle

the sin in my household the way that I should.

And he can trace it all the way back to him and Bathsheba.

So he's not thinking right. And so he hears this story.

He sees the wine, he sees the summer fruits, he sees the

bread, he sees the raisins, he sees all of these things here.

Yes. And by the way, I know raisins

are dried grapes, all right. I still don't like them.

Don't dry them all right, Just eat them the way that they are.

But anyway, David in his confusion says in verse #4

Behold thine or all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth.

And Zeba said, I humbly beseech thee that I might find grace in

the sight of my Lord, O King David, legally, which he could

do as the king said this, if that's the way Mephibosheth

feels about me. I'll tell you what, Zeba.

Everything that Mephibosheth has, it now belongs to you.

You own it all, lock, stock and barrel.

And we're going to see here in just a moment, that's exactly

what Zeba wanted. No, he was double dealing here.

No, he wasn't right in what he said.

The Bible is accurate in what was said.

But the Bible is going to make clear to us here in just a

moment, again with perfect accuracy, that Zeba was nothing

more than a traitor to his master.

That Zeba was nothing more than a power hungry, money grubbing

loser who saw a weak man Mephibosheth and took advantage

of a man with a physical handicap.

So what takes place next? Well, everything we've read over

the last few weeks and months, right?

That there's a battle that takes place and there's Absalom.

He got hung by his hair and he wasn't supposed to die.

But Joab says, you know what? I'd probably prefer that he's

dead. Joab kills him.

A bunch of other guys come around and finish the job and

there's this great morning from David and Joab says, hey man,

snap out of it. You keep crying like this,

people going to think you care more about your son that was a

rebel, then the people who faithfully served you this day

out in battle. And so he stepped out of it.

And then they're going to start going back to Jerusalem and

David on that trip. And I'd encourage you to go read

some of these chapters yourself in their totality.

David's going to meet a lot of those same people that he met on

the way over the River Jordan to Gilead.

He's going to meet a lot of them on the way back, and we're going

to get a little bit of a more revealing look at some of these

circumstances that we've seen before.

So now we're going to go to chapter 19.

So go to Second Samuel chapter #19 and verse #24.

You know, it's a beautiful thing when the preacher knows where

the text is. I'm so, so thankful.

All right, here it is, Second Samuel 19, verse 24.

2 Samuel 19:24

I know I was drowning this morning.

All right? And so David is greeting some of

these men, some good, some not. And he gets to verse #24 and it

says it's a Mephibosheth. The son of Saul came down to

meet the king. He neither dressed his feet nor

trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes.

From the day the king departed unto the unto the day he came

again in peace. Now stop right there, just a

moment. Why is that important for us?

Because it's showing the fact that whatever Mephibosheth is

about to say is genuine. There's certain things you can

fake, but you can't fake facial hair that was not there, that

has grown over a certain period of time.

You can't, you can't fake the fact that you've not washed

yourself for for months or weeks, probably more weeks is

what it was. It's very clear that this man

was in great distress. And so Mephibosheth arrives on

the scene. It's very clear from his

countenance. It's very clear from the way

that he's carrying himself that he has been in great distress

for some time. And it says in verse 25.

And it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the

king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou

with me, but him. And I have to imagine that David

asked this question with hurt and his heart, because David up

to this part thinks, look at all I did for this guy.

I cared for him. I think he genuinely loved him.

And he said, but you turned your back on me.

You stabbed me in the back thought my son was going to give

you back the entire household of your family.

What Mephibosheth, why would you do that?

And he mephibosheth verse 26 answered, My Lord, O king, my

servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will

saddle me an ass, that I may ride there on and go to the

king, because thy servant is lame, and he has slandered thy

servant unto my Lord the King. But my Lord the King is as an

Angel of God. Do therefore what is good in

thine eyes. For all my father's house were

but dead men before my Lord the King.

Yet did thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine

own table. What right therefore have I yet

to cry anymore unto the king? Now stop right there.

Can you imagine? I want you to visualize this

here for just a moment, because the Word of God is alive.

The Word of God, God is real, that we're talking about real

stories. And sometimes you see something

just in passing, but you have to flesh it out a little bit in

your mind to understand exactly what took place.

And that's what happens here. Mephibosheth hears this is what

really happened. And the fact is the Word of God

makes it clear just because of the way his countenance is, the

way that he is so distressed. It's very clear that

Mephibosheth here is the one who is telling the truth.

And so he finds out that Absalom is about to try to take over.

There's going to be a coup that takes place from his beloved.

And so he is troubled. He says this.

Wherever David goes, I need to go.

I need to be with my king. I need to be with my friend.

But he cannot go and meet David on his own again because he is

lame on his feet. So he goes to a servant, the one

he was supposed to trust. And he says to a servant, I want

you to saddle me a donkey. I want you to get me ready so I

can go out and meet David. And so I can imagine

Mephibosheth sitting by the window.

I can imagine Mephibosheth just waiting for Zeba to pull the car

around, if you will, so that he can go where he needs to go.

And there's Mephibosheth and he's out looking at that window.

And he goes, well, there's Ziba, and he says there's the donkey.

All right, we'll just pull it on over here, you know, Get Me Out

there, You know, put me on the donkey.

I'll go. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait. Where's where's he going?

He's going to the gate. Like, oh, come, Zeba, come back,

come back. He's opening the gate.

He he's riding away, He's he's got food, he's got wine.

That he that I'm supposed to be the one that's going to David.

What what's he doing? Why is he going where Zeba come

back? And there's not a.

Thing he can do about it as he watches that donkey go away.

And I bet somewhere in his mind he had a little bit of an

inkling this isn't good. Perhaps there was somewhere in

his mind he knew. You know, Zeba may not be

someone who is trusted. But certainly along the way,

word was brought back to Mephibosheth and said Zeba went

and told the king that you were in cahoots with Absalom and he's

cut you out. This land that you're sitting

on, it's not your land anymore, Mephibosheth.

David took the deed and gave it to Zeba.

The man. Who stole your donkey has now

stole your land and everything that you have.

Now if I was to. Summarize this in 2 words.

They would be this not fair. It's not fair taking advantage

of a man who physically could not take care of himself.

And now Mephibosheth has been cut out, seemingly of the

blessings of the land which was given to him.

But did you notice Mephibosheth's response here?

Mephibosheth's response was not one of while he's giving the

information of what happened, his his response was more David.

I'm just glad. You're OK, my King.

I'm glad that you were restored. His attitude was right.

So this is where I want to put myself in the Word of God for a

second. Maybe you can do the same here.

Let's pretend we're David here. David wasn't thinking right.

We know that David was in the right mindset as he was on his

flight from Jerusalem out to Gilead.

David makes a choice to inherit Zeba and disinherit

Mephibosheth. So now if I'm.

David and I get the full picture.

I say hold on just a second, Zeba, come over here,

Mephibosheth. I've made a mistake.

Here's what we need to do. Zeba.

That deed I gave you, I'm giving it back to Mephibosheth.

You've done it wrong. No.

No, you you lied. You lied.

You manipulated. You cut your master out of the

blessings of which I've. Who do you think you are, Zeba?

No, you get nothing. In fact, I'm throwing you in the

prison. You are not to be trusted.

You are not someone who should be trusted with such great power

and authority ever again. You shouldn't pay for your

crimes. If I'm David, this is what I'm

doing. And if you're David, I would be

honest with you. It's probably what you're doing,

too. Amen.

That's not what happened. Our version is fair.

No, I'm not trying to change the word of God tonight.

I'm just saying the way that I think it should have happened

seems to be pretty fair. Mephibosheth didn't deserve to

have what happened to him. But what did David say?

Well, go to verse #29. And the king said unto him, Why

speakest thou anymore? Thy matters?

I have said, Thou and Zeba divide the land.

Now stop right there. It's almost like David said, I

don't know who to believe here. I don't know what's going on.

I don't know if you've ever done.

This as a parent, I've done this today, but you got two kids that

are arguing. You don't know who's right, you

don't know who's wrong. You just want it to stop.

And you say, look, I don't know what's going on, but you both be

quiet. And I kind.

Of feel like this is what David's doing here.

He says. This I named Zeba's over here,

but Fibba's over here. Who knows who's right?

He says. I'm not talking about it with

you anymore. Here's what's going to happen.

You just take the land and divide it.

Now that's better than nothing. But again.

What happened to Mephibosheth by Ziva was not fair.

And now what David has done is almost legitimized what Zeba has

done. And now instead of Zeba being

the servant and Mephibosheth being the master, now what's

happened is they are equal stakeholders.

And basically Zeba got away with it because he ended up stealing

half of everything that Mephibosheth owned.

And that's not fair. I read this, I don't like it.

I read this and I look at Dave and say, what are you thinking,

man? You, you can't see this man

who's obviously in distress. You can't see this man who

obviously has the physical scars, the physical signs of

being in distress all this time. And here's this Zeba, here's

this character who just happens to come in at the right time

with bread and summer fruits and wine and raisins.

He comes with all these things and he sweet talks you.

And now he ends up getting half the land.

It's not fair. Now I got a problem with that

and look at some of your faces, some of you got a problem with

this. You know who didn't have a?

Problem with it, Mephibosheth. Let's look at verse #30.

It says this. And Mephibosheth said unto the

king, Yeah, let him take all. For as much as my.

Lord, the King has come again in peace unto his own house.

That's a. Response.

I guess. Not a response that I think is

warranted on its face, not one that myself and my spirit thinks

is satisfactory. But Mephibus just says listen,

my king, if Zebra wants it all, I don't care.

I'm just glad you're OK. He said well.

Pastor So the next verse is when David comes to his senses and

then says, Toto, I'm just kidding.

I, I, I, I really made a mess of this.

No, see, but you get nothing. Mephibosheth You get everything

back. The next verse, David's on to

the next issue. And now he's greeting Barzili,

who was the one that brought many of those things that helped

give them comfort in the desert on the way there.

And David's treating him with great kindness, seemingly a

kindness of which it doesn't feel like he's extending to

Mephibosheth on the surface. That's the end.

Of the story, that's it. I got nothing more for you

tonight. Oh, I got to play more

preaching, don't worry. But that's all.

I got nothing more from the Bible.

About Mephibosheth. Somebody got excited for a

second, like I'm not crazy. We're not we're not releasing at

5:40, all right? But there's nothing more that's

said here. And this is in its face

completely and totally unfair. But there's something that

Mephibosheth understood here that I think that we need to get

into our minds here tonight, and that's this.

Mephibosheth, realize what to do when someone rides off on your

donkey. Just leave it to.

God. Remember the title?

What? To do when someone rides off on

your donkey. This is what happened to

Mephibosheth. He says this, I leave it to the

Lord. Now why could he say that

Mephibosheth rightly understood that nothing, that he had

belonged to him in the first place?

What did? What did Mephibosheth boy hard

saying Mephibosheth so many times in one sermon.

What did Mephibosheth have before David?

Nothing. Nothing, Mephibosheth

understand. Understood, David, before you I

had nothing. And with you now I have half.

I'm still ahead because in the end, it's not really about what

I have, but who I have in verse #30 He made clear.

It's not what I have, it's who I have.

David, I have you and that's enough.

Now can I remind you who we are? Befibishad, may I remind you who

David is a picture of? Christ, what do we have before?

Jesus Christ. Nothing.

Are there times that now you're not going to want to answer

this, so don't answer it out loud.

Now, when I say that somebody inevitably answers out loud, but

don't answer out loud, but there are Are there times when it

seems like God's unfair to you? No, he's the answer.

No. I'm just kidding.

There are times it. Feels like God's being very

unfair to us. God, I'm trying to get ahead.

I can't get ahead. I'm getting behind God.

I thought our family was going to be in this way.

Our family's not in this way. In fact, my family's torn apart.

I thought I was gonna get a. Promotion at work, but instead

somebody got promoted. That really is kind of a liar

and a cheat. You know I.

I thought that my health was going to be good.

I've taken care of myself. But yet, despite the fact that

I've worked very hard at taking care of my body, it feels like

my health just gets worse and worse and worse, and we can get

to the place where we feel that just doesn't feel that life is

fair. Here's the problem.

Life, in many ways as we look at it, is not fair.

And we should be. Grateful that life isn't fair.

So why would you say that if life is fair, you belong in a

devil's hell. And so do I.

Let's just stop right there. The fact that he.

Saved us the fact that He seated us in heavenly places, the fact

that He gave us that which we could not deserve because we

were lame in and of ourself and we could not perform the natural

functions that we were supposed to.

But yet the King saw us in our need and saw us in our disgrace,

and yet cleaned us up and gave us everything that we have.

You may not have much, but you have him.

So what do we do if someone rides off on our donkey?

We say it's OK because I still have him.

You know, there's a great issue of life, or great principle of

life rather, that would help us when it comes down to the things

we think we have that we lose that really for the believer,

you can't lose what you don't have in the 1st place.

What do we say? My car, my house, my clothes, my

money, my wife, my children, all is ours.

You know, I try to be. Careful as a pastor.

I I say. You've heard me say this before.

I try. I try not to.

Rather, this is my church or my people, my pulpit.

Why do I not use those kind of terms?

Because it's not my church, it's his.

It's not my pulpit. It's his.

You're not my people. Now listen, you're my people in

the sense that you know, this is where I feel loved and this is

where I belong. This is where God's called us.

You're my people, but you don't belong to me.

All of it. Is his.

Now you would rightly say Amen about that, about me, but

everything that I just mentioned are all gifts of the Lord as

well. My spouse.

I'm thankful for Diane. Thankful doesn't even cover how

I feel about my wife, but I know this.

She's a gift from the Lord in my life that God directed her,

directed her from Scotland to Australia to Scotland to

Oklahoma. Didn't see that one coming and

put our paths together. That's just a start.

She's a gift from the Lord. My children.

They have 4 amazing children. They are typically gifts from

God. Some of you caught that they're

gifts from the Lord when I was a as a young adult.

I think I should be a father like I I need to I need to be

parented into adulthood basically, But yet they got be

quiet. All right, But he said that's

right. That was not the time to say

that's right. Was that you?

Was that Rick all right, So no, it was not Rick.

Don't do that right. So don't confuse me right now.

All right, I'm going to end up going to Matthew chapter 4

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

again. But yet God saw fit to make me a

parent and have children who's made I've made mistakes more

than I could count on my arm. But yet the God saw fit to make

me a parent. It's a gift, you know.

I, I don't believe I'm going to, you know, make it on the Forbes

500 list of richest people in the world.

I don't think I would make it on the Forbes 5 million list of

richest people in the world. I mean, I'm making 5 billion.

I'm not sure, and you may not either, but God's given us a lot

financially. He's taking care.

Of us more than we deserve. Our health may not be all that

it ought to be or that we like it to be, but you're still

sucking oxygen right now. You're still above ground right

now. What does that mean?

God has you here for a purpose. It's a gift, the job that you

have. If if.

You are working if you're able to work at.

However, that situation is but. But that God.

Would place you in a place where you could be a light for him and

also still meet the needs of yourself or your family.

That's a gift. The successes that you have,

that you know, skills that you know certain things about life

and that you've been able to have success in certain areas.

Well, Pastor, that's because of the sweat of my brow and because

of my, my muscles and my and my brain.

Who do you think gave you all of that?

You see it all. Belongs to him.

So when he deems that some of that no longer belongs to us,

the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, and blessed be the

name of the Lord. What do we do?

When we see someone ride off on our donkey, well, we're like

Mephibosheth. What right, therefore, have I

yet to cry anymore to the king? Let him take all he says.

I don't even have a right. You realize how powerful that

statement is? I don't even have a right to cry

to you. But yet here our.

Heavenly Father bids us to come and prayer to him.

He may not give us. Back that which is lost, but He

will take care of us. We could be like Job as I just

mentioned. Naked came out of my mother's

womb. Naked shall return, hit her.

The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. I think of John.

On the Isle of Patmos, served the Lord faithfully was the one

disciple that wasn't martyred, at least as history tells us.

But yet there he. Is exiled on the Isle of Patmos.

What is he deserving of? To be there just preaching the

word of God, but in the midst of the world coming down on him and

saying we're going to hold you down?

He says I was in. The Spirit on the Lord's Day and

what happened? We have the Book of Revelation.

God takes away, God gives when someone rides off on our donkey

and it's not our fault and it's not anything that happened

because of what happened to us. It's just been perpetuated on us

by the world or by situations or standards or or situations or or

that have taken place. What do we do?

We just say, Lord, you're in charge.

I'm not. Whatever you put in my hand,

I'll receive with gratefulness. There are Zebas out in this

world that are out to get us. No, there are people who.

Are out there that know you're a believer and want to take

advantage of the fact that you're a believer.

They want to take advantage of your good graces.

They want to take advantage of your kindness.

They want to take advantage of you just because they don't love

the Lord and Jesus said you think they treated me bad.

How do you think it's going to be when I'm gone they're going

to treat you bad as well. And so this is what's going to

happen to us. But yet Despite that, even with

what the world brings upon us, Matthew Chapter 7 verse 11 tells

Matthew 7:11

us that our Father loves giving good gifts to us.

Despite all that the world tries to take away, He still loves

taking care of you. One of the things I love doing

as a parent is giving my children gifts.

I love seeing their face when you give them a gift.

I would, I realize now as a parent what people always say,

you know, and about, you know, I'd rather, I'd rather give the

gifts than receive them. And I thought that's crazy.

I'd rather receive the gifts, you know, But when you see your

child's face light up, it's something that they wanted.

You think, man, that's pretty cool.

That's pretty cool. And here's our Father, our

Heavenly Father, who derives joy out of giving us good gifts.

Well, how? Could we be upset at him?

For what he's. Done to us what he's, quote, I

should say, done to us, when all he's done to us is provided

everything that we have. By the way, if you lost

everything, believer, you know what You'd still have salvation.

For it is the gift. Of God, not of works, lest any

man should boast. Satan can't take your salvation.

Once you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you belong to Him.

And that's a gift that can't be taken away.

That's right. You know, even if you lost

everything in this life, and I'm not saying that I hope that you

do. I certainly hope that I don't,

but even if you lost everything in this life.

And you had Jesus. Christ for eternity.

Do you think you'd be up in heaven saying, man, I'm glad I'm

up here with Jesus, with you for eternity?

But and what happened down there, you took everything away

from me. I When you're in the presence of

Christ, those things will just fade away.

I'm not. Saying that the difficulties and

hardship of your life are unimportant.

I'm not saying that. I'm saying they do need to be

put in perspective and then the perspective of a great God.

You know, one of the best parts about all this, and I think

somewhere in the back of Mephibosheth's mind, he

understood this. What did he lose?

He lost his land. He lost the financial means of

the crops which were being grown.

He owned all of it. Now he owns half of it.

But there's one. Thing that he didn't lose.

It's never mentioned. Here, and that's this, that even

if he didn't have anything left, where was he still always

welcome at the King's table? That even if he had lost

everything, he still will be provided for by the hand of the

King. If you lose.

Everything. And I don't hope you lose

everything. But if you lost.

Everything or I lost everything? You will still be provided for

by the hand of the King. Why?

Because he's a good king. It's not about what it is, it's

about who it is. David says.

Mephibia says. David, I have you.

That's enough. It's so easy to be able to look

at the situations of life and and to to twist them so out of

proportion that you're you get angry at God.

When I found. Out and I know some of you have

been or newer here, but I so I'll, I'll try to tell the story

without belaboring it, but it's been on my mind a lot this

weekend with with brother Steve being here back in 2020.

I was just having a tooth removed.

I had a sore tooth that had been bothering me for a while.

I'm ready to have the oral surgery over in Brockton.

I'm in the chair. They've already got my vitals.

They're ready to go to take out the tooth and and the doctor

comes and says, hold on, hold on a second.

There's something I didn't see here before.

I'm just checking the last time. There's a there's a little bit

of a mass inside your jaw. I can't, I can't do this today.

And he said the words that none of us want.

You just want to hear that live around here.

You need to go to Boston. You know what I'm saying?

When Brockton doesn't cut it, you got to go to Boston.

And that's what I did. Within a few days I found out

that a non cancerous tumor, but a very aggressive growing tumor

in my jaw and it was going to require major surgery, could

have been out in the hospital for two weeks.

I'll just be out of the pulpit for 8 weeks.

And it was a thing. And, and, and the reason I think

about it with Brother Smith and talked about it was because when

I was in the hospital, his wife Becky came and took care of my

family and took care of, of, of the everything on behalf of my

family while Diane was trying to come help me at the hospital

because it was still in the middle of COVID and you can only

have one person come for five hours a day to come come check

on you. And I couldn't talk because my

mouth was wired shut. So I needed someone to help on

my behalf, take care of things because I had some medical

needs. And sometimes I didn't even know

we're going on because I was so medicated out of my mind.

All this is going. On, you know, I got this cut

here, some of you've commented on, on that big guy.

It wasn't a knife fight that I was in Dorchester one day.

You know, it was a it was, was just surgery that took place.

And I'll tell you, I was in the midst of all that and there were

there was a couple days I was laying in that hospital and I

got to this woe is me place of saying God.

I planted a church. We worked hard here.

You know what I've done? For you.

I don't know how to try to be. Humorous about it.

I'm I'm being serious. You know what I've done for you

and here I am I'm in my late 30s I'm laid up on my back I've got

a bone taken out of my of my leg to be able to rebuild my jaw.

I used to run all the time for years and it's hard for me to

run right now to be able to do those things that I enjoy doing

and because of of that, like I knew that I was going to be laid

up. I didn't know how I would be

able to talk. I didn't know how to be able to

preach all these things. I was at the point is like.

Why now here Here's the. Thing.

My. Story.

It's it's a big one in my life. But that's just my.

Life. Because each and every.

One of you have stories that are equally as painful, maybe not

physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

Now you're just being. Faithful to the Lord and all of

a sudden someone you trusted did something to your money, and

maybe it's gone. Someone you.

Trusted you told them some very. Intimate.

And deep things about your life. And they use that information to

hurt you with someone else. You knew that you're.

On the fast track at your job and that you were going to be

just going up, up, up, up, up until one day you got called in

the office and say go up, up, up, up, you're out with no rhyme

or reason. You could be feeling.

Great. And all of a sudden you have a

routine checkup. The blood work's off, and the

next thing you know, we could go on and on and on.

Here's the thing. I could make the application,

but you're already making the application in your mind, I'm

pretty sure. What do you do?

When someone rides off on your donkey.

You know it. Really comes down to this.

Thank the Lord you had the donkey as long as you did.

And move. On in trust and faith that the

king will take care of you there's.

A lot of bitter. People out there.

They're saved by the. Grace of God we had.

They're bitter how God has treated them.

If you're going to spend an eternity with Him in heaven, you

probably ought to get that settled down and know that that

good God who saved your soul is good, whether he gives or

whether he takes away. Now, I'll be honest to you,

looking back several years at what happened to me at that

time, I'm careful to say I'm thankful for what God did with

me through that time. Because if he thinks I'm really

thankful, he might do it again. Because I got another jaw, I

still got another side, and I don't want him to do that.

But I can see all that God did in my life to strengthen me, to

help me to prepare my future. And I would I want it.

To happen again? No.

But did I know God was with me every step of the way?

When I thought He forsook me, they was actually drawing me

closer. God.

Cares for you. The King.

Will take care of you if your donkey is gone.

Thank the Lord you had as long as you did.

But keep on going. And doing what God has called

you to do. Thank you for.

Listening to the sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist

Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.