We're back to Exodus 21. The title of the message is The Redemption of the Handmaid. Redemption of the Handmaid. Now I put my introduction in the bulletin. When I was looking at it yesterday, I decided to put that in the bulletin. A lot of my introductions I have been going back and looking at, and I realize they just make good articles for the bulletin. And that's what I've done with this this morning, so you can see my introduction, you can read it, and I hope you do.

But REDEMPTION is one of the greatest, if not the greatest theme of the Word of God. IT'S LIKE THE SCARLET THREAD FROM THE HARLOT'S WINDOW. IT RUNS ALL THROUGH THE BIBLE, THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. THAT'S WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT. THIS BOOK IS THE STORY OF REDEMPTION, OF HOW GOD HAS REDEEMED US FROM OUR SINS, FROM OUR BONDAGE, AND MADE US HIS, MARRIED US TO HIS SON, MARRIED TO HIS SON.

It's all through the Word of God. You know, when Adam and Eve failed, what did God do? He slew an animal, shed blood, and clothed Adam and Eve with the skin of that animal. And then the next thing we see is that Abel offers a better sacrifice than Cain. He brings a blood sacrifice, what God required Cain brings the fruit of the cursed ground, that's what he brings. And when God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, what had to happen first? A lamb had to be slain, blood had to be shed, because that firstborn of Israel was no better than the firstborn of Egypt. That really never jumped out at me until we started going through this. And it really jumped out at me that that firstborn, and I know this, but it's just like, you know how you know things, but you see it afresh again? And it just jumped out at me how that that firstborn was not one bit better than the firstborn of the Egyptian. Something had to die for that firstborn to go free. And God provided a substitute. He provided a substitute for that firstborn of Israel. We see that. That's the story of redemption. You can't read the Bible, and if you read it with your eyes open and listen to what it's saying, you can't not read the Bible and not see this story of redemption. God redeeming the people. He's redeeming the people.

When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died on Calvary's tree, He shed His blood as the price, the price of our redemption. YOU HAVE BEEN BOUGHT! And that's what makes doing what I'm doing so serious this morning. I'm looking at some people who have been bought. by the blood of the Son of God. You've been purchased. You're God's children. You're God's wife. You're His bride. And I have the responsibility and the privilege to stand here and preach to you this morning the unsearchable riches of Christ, the unsearchable riches of our Husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. You bought with the price And that price, as Peter said, is the precious blood of Christ. None like it! None like it! It's the only blood that can purchase us. It's the blood of God spoken of over in Acts 20.

In the selling of the maidservant, we see three pictures here that are going to unfold for us. And I hope by God's help to do that this morning. We see this, she may be redeemed. Christ has redeemed us. He's purchased us. I sent Craig a text last night and I said the theme of the message is redemption. And he brought us some good songs this morning. And the second thing is this, she may be given to the Son to marry. Christ has received us as His Bride. Then the third picture is this, she's fully provided for. She's fully provided for. Christ never diminishes His care, His love, or honor towards us, His people.

Now, I hope the Lord enables me. to deal with this this morning.

Now first of all we have in verse 7 the condition of the maid servant or the condition she's in. She's in a bad condition. Here we see a father, and I can't imagine this, I've been trying to some measure comprehend this. A father is so poor, the family is so poor The father has to sell her in order for her to be provided for. He can't provide for her no more. He's so poor. He's got to do that.

I called Marvin last night. I called Tom Hardy, and I called Paul Mahan. There's a story of Scott Richardson where his dad had And I found out more of the story this morning. It's a tough story. I'm telling you, it's a tough story. But to make it short, to keep the story short, because I had three virgins, and it's a good story. But his brother, I think it was Scott's dad's brother, I think he owned a funeral home, but his dad wanted a piece of furniture, so he basically sold Scott out. And he lived in the attic of that funeral home and did all the work for him for that piece of furniture. But there's a whole lot more to that, there's a whole lot more to his story is something else.

But I do know this also, that during the Great Depression, that parents had to let some of their children go, they couldn't take care of them. I can't imagine that. I just can't grasp that, of having to sell your children because you're so poor you can't take care of them. That's just amazing to me, but that's what's going on here. Here is an Israelite man that is so poor that he can't take care of his family, but God is providing here a guideline law for this maid to be taken care of. We're going to see the gospel in this, we're going to see the mercy of God in this.

When you first read this, it sounds harsh, sounds a little harsh. But if you think about it, what would it be like without any guidelines? What would it be like? Like you go back to that Bondservant, which is a picture of Christ, which we looked at last week. If you go back to that bondservant who owed this man a certain amount of money and he couldn't pay it, well, God provided that he shall work six years and seven, he'll go free. Now what do you think would happen if man was left to himself to deal with that? I can tell you what would happen. The exact same thing the cartel does. He would be dead. You either pay up or you're dead. But God doesn't deal with His people like that. God's merciful, God's gracious.

Here she is and here the family is in spiritual poverty. And this law applies, now listen, this law only applies to the Israelites, God's people. Because this is a story of redemption. God's covenant people. And it carries with it spiritual significance for the church and for every believer. It carries a real spiritual significance.

Now first of all, I thought this betrays the condition into which Adam plunged the Lord's people. Spiritual poverty. When did we become God's people? Was it when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior? No, that is not so. We were God's people before creation. That's all through the Word of God. You can't read the Word of God and deny that. But in Adam, we failed. In Adam, we became spiritually poor. We fell into spiritual poverty, broke. That's our condition in Adam. That's the way it is. And I thought of something else when I was looking at this. This little girl was poor through no fault of her own. I became a sinner through no fault of my own. I was born one. Now, the choices I've made, I've made freely. If I hadn't fallen into Adam, I'd have fell by myself. I would have, but here's the wisdom of God.

HE LET US FALL IN ADAM THAT WE MIGHT BE REDEEMED BY THE SECOND ADAM. WE FELL IN A REPRESENTATIVE, WE ARE SAVED IN A REPRESENTATIVE. THIS IS THE WISDOM OF GOD. IT'S THE WISDOM OF GOD.

Now here also, in Jewish tradition or canon, this little girl had to be under the age of 12 years and 1 day. She couldn't be older than that, which emphasizes her helplessness or vulnerability. And now it says here that she was not to go out as the men's servants. First of all, when he purchased, when he bought her, he bought her to marry her, to betroth her, OR he bought her to marry his son. She would become, when she became of age, she'd marry his son. But here she's not to go out as the men's service, she was to live and work in her master's house, not go out into the field. But she's to be treated, she's to be treated as an Israelite maiden. She's to be cared for, she's to be taken care of. I heard someone say this, and it's so. Here's the first child labor law. You can't just put her out there in the field and make her work like the men. She is to be protected. She's to be taken care of in that house and looked after. Here's a picture of us living and working in our Lord's house. We've always, in the mind of God, in the purpose of God, we've always been in His house, haven't we? Maybe not by our own experience, but by Him, by His purpose, the eternal purpose, we've always been in it. We've been in that covenant of grace. He put us in that covenant of grace and took care of us, looked after us long before we were ever born. That's so.

And then he says here, If she pleased not her master that he is not pleased to marry her, this shall he let her be redeemed. And if he hath betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. But if the master did not desire to marry her, he could not cast her off. The Lord is seen to it here that she is well taken care of, that she is not treated She's not treated like someone from another country, a foreigner, a stranger. He says she's not to be cast off, she's not to be sold to a strange nation, a foreign nation, she's not allowed to do that. This is God's Israel, this is God's maiden, you can't sell her to a strange nation, you can't make money off of her. You don't make money off of her, this is not what it's about. It's about someone in poverty coming out of poverty. It's what it's about. And she's going to be redeemed. She has the right to be redeemed. This is a beautiful picture of God's grace to us before we ever knew Him. He took care of us. Who has taken care of you since you've been born? Who's looked after you? God has. Who brought you here? God did. God did.

GOD HAS PROVIDED REDEMPTION FOR US! HE'S PROVIDED A REDEEMER FOR US! YOU KNOW, THE FALLEN ANGELS HAVE NO REDEMPTION! THINK ABOUT THAT! THEY HAVE NO SAVIOR! NO REDEEMER! NO MESSIAH! THEY CAN'T SING THE SONGS WE SANG THIS MORNING! THEY CAN'T SING THEM! BUT WE DO!

You know, Psalm 130 declares that He said, Let Israel hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is plenty of redemption. Plenty of redemption! You see, if somebody is going to redeem her, they have got to come up with the redemption price. Not everyone had the price. Not everyone was qualified. And neither were kinsmen. Not everyone. You know, her father could not redeem her. He could if he had the money, but he sold her. He has no money to redeem her. A close relative could redeem her. Like Boaz redeemed Ruth, like Boaz did her.

But here's the first picture. Let her be redeemed. Don't sell her to a strange nation. She can't be kicked out of the house. Let her be redeemed. Here is the gospel. Here's the gospel. Christ is our Redeemer. He's our near kinsman. He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The Son of God came into the world and became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that He might redeem us from our sins. He has the right to redeem us and He has what it takes to redeem us, blood. So you're not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. The precious blood.

He's our elder brother. And by His own blood He has obtained, it says over in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 and 12, He has obtained eternal redemption for us. It'll never be done again. We're never going to be sold again. We're never going to fall again. We're never going to be poor again, ever. Oh, what we're about to experience.

Tom and I were talking yesterday and we were talking about glory and how we can't even imagine it. We can't even imagine what we're about to experience. Paul said, I went to the third heaven and I saw things that were unlawful to utter. In other words, we have no VOCABULARY to explain what He saw! There is no vocabulary for it! Oh, what we are about to experience!

But what we have is an ETERNAL REDEMPTION! We won't have to be redeemed again! Our redemption is by His BLOOD! It's eternal and it is effectual. It's effectual. No one's going to come back and ask for more. It's effectual.

Now what does redemption assure us? This eternal redemption, what does it assure us? IT ASSURES US ACCEPTANCE. We are said in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 and 7, TO THE PRAISE OF THE GLORY OF HIS GRACE WHEREIN HE HATH MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED, WE ARE ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED, IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE.

And that s the second thing it assures us, not only acceptance but forgiveness. We are forgiven! You know that God has forgiven me of all my sins, and every day I ask the Lord, forgive me of my sins. And yet I know that when Christ died for my sins, they were all forgiven. They were all cast behind His back, wherever the back of God is. That's an amazing statement. But they cast Him behind His back. We have forgiveness. Our sins are blotted out like a thick cloud, it says in Isaiah 44. God said, I have cast, I have blotted out your transgressions, your sin as a thick cloud. I've redeemed you, you're mine.

In Colossians 1.14, listen, In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And our sins are many, but they're all forgiven. And you know, when God forgives sins, He forgets them. You know, you and I can forgive someone, right? But there's a lot of things we don't forget. We can forgive, we can truly forgive, but you still remember it. I can't even explain this, but God forgives us our sins and they're forgotten. He remembers it. The scripture says He remembers our sins no more. He doesn't even remember them.

Now only God can do that. Only God can forgive something so thoroughly that He can't even remember it no more. And here's another thing it reassures us, security. CHRIST SHALL LOSE NONE THAT THE FATHER HAS GIVEN TO HIM TO REDEEM. Listen to John 6, verse 39. And this is the FATHER'S WILL WHICH HAS SENT ME, THAT OF ALL WHICH HE HATH GIVEN ME, I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING, BUT SHOULD RAISE IT UP AGAIN AT THE LAST DAY. I LOSE NOTHING. I LOSE NOT ONE THAT I HAVE REDEEMED. NOT ONE SHEEP WILL PERISH.

We have the promise of God on that. Not one shall perish. Here's something else it assures us, justification. He has justified us freely through the redemption, it says, as in Christ Jesus. We're cleared of all charges. Nobody can do that but God. A judge can pardon you, a judge can have mercy on you, but a judge on this earth can justify a guilty man. But God can. God can wipe it all off the books. It didn't happen. It didn't happen, it's gone. I remember it, but it's not on the books. No charge, no charge.

Here's something else it assures us. Access to the presence of God. Free and bold entrance to the throne of grace. Hebrews 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Come boldly! Come boldly into the presence of God! We can do that at any time, at any hour, any minute, we can do that! God says come! You know in the Old Testament we read of these kings, you couldn't just barge in, could you? You couldn't just go in! Even Esther, She had to wait for the king to give her the nod that she could approach. Even his wife, she had to even get permission from him to approach him. But God says, Come ye sinners, poor and needy, come to the throne of grace, cast all your cares on Me.

Now here's the second thing. The son marries her. You see, this master bought her, but he may have not bought her for him to marry, but for his son to marry. If he had betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If the master does not marry her, he may give her to his son. Oh, the gospel is all over that, isn't it? THE FATHER HAS GIVEN US TO THE SON TO BE HIS BRIDE. HE'S TAKEN US POOR, POOR SINNERS, AND GIVEN US TO HIS SON TO MARRY. AND THIS UNION MAKES US JOIN HEIRS WITH CHRIST.

Now did you notice in the reading of this how her position changes? Once the son marries her, she's no longer treated as a maidservant. How does he treat her? As a daughter. They didn't call them daughter-in-law back then. They didn't call them daughters-in-law or son-in-law. You know what they called them? Son and daughter. They didn't call Abraham grandpa. They didn't call him grandpa. And he called Sarah, grandma, grandmother, whatever you want to call them. They said, Abraham's our father. When you was in the family, you were son and daughter. You weren't in-laws. You were son and daughter. You were part of the family. She was to be treated just like he treats her daughter. Or his daughter, I mean. That's beautiful. That's beautiful.

You know, our Lord said this in John 15, 15, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord doeth. I've called you friends. You're my friend. You're my friend. For all things that I have heard of my Father, I've made known to you. I don't call you servants, I call you my friends. If she marries the son, She's not the maidservant no more in the house, she's the daughter in the house.

Now what does this secure for us? It secures a place in God's family, married to the Son, children and heirs of God. Romans 8, 16, The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Boy, we can't get a hold of that, can we? We're children of God. You know, when God created the family structure as we know it, it's a picture of Christ, the Church, and His family, His children.

Here's something else that it secures for us. and provision. We are told in 1 Peter 5-7, casting all our cares on Him, for He careth for you. This is a special relationship. Here's a new position. She goes from being a maidservant to being a daughter.

1 John 3-2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. We're not going to be sons of God when we die. We're sons and daughters of God now. He looks after us as sons and daughters now. We're His now. Sons and daughters of the King of Glory, of the God who's so immense you can't even comprehend Him, you can't even begin to comprehend God. And I have sons and daughters of His sitting here this morning? Well, you think he doesn't care for you? Oh, he cares for you. You say, if he cares for me, why is the thing so hard? That's why he cares. That's why they're so hard. He cares for you.

My dad disciplined me. My mom and dad disciplined me. They didn't discipline the neighbor's kids. I never saw my mother or father give one of the neighbor kids a spanking. They gave me up plenty of them. That's because they loved me. They loved me. I was their son.

And then here's a third thing. It's her ongoing provision. If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish? If the master or his son Marries her and takes another wife. The first was not to be neglected nor treated differently.

Now I know in our minds right now, red flag comes up. Another wife, polygamy. Listen, there's some things we have to understand here. There are some things God allowed, but it doesn't mean it's right. Does it? He allowed Adam to fall. Does that make God the author of sin? No. He allowed this, especially at this time, for us to have this picture, this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never endorsed it, but He allowed it.

The picture here is of Christ and His church. Every believer, and I see this in Solomon, every believer is married to Christ. You know that? He's married to His church as a whole, but yet He's married to every one of us individually. The Lord Jesus Christ is married to every one of us individually. Are you jealous of that? I'm not. I'm not. I'm not jealous of that.

You know, Solomon was allowed to have all these, I think what he had 700 wives or something. I mean, of course, Solomon was a sinner like you and I, and he messed up. But it's a real picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and all those whom he's married to. As I told Vicki before, I said, Christ is your real husband. Call on him first before you call on me. Call on him first. He's our real husband.

And Christ, listen, only this can happen with Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ loves all His people the same. IF HE TAKE ANOTHER WIFE, HER FOOD, HER ARRAIGNMENT, HER DUTY OF MARRIAGE SHALL NOT BE DIMINISHED. Our Lord loves all His people the same, and none are diminished in His affections or His provision.

What does this assure us? This assures us an intimate relationship with our Lord. This husband, this master, this son, whichever one she married, her relationship with him as a wife was not to be diminished. He couldn't favor one over the other. It was not to be diminished. Here's what we have. We have purity of union in Christ. You see, if it wasn't for our sinful minds, we could really understand what's being said here. Titus said this, Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Nothing is pure, all you can think of is sinful things, sinful thoughts,

Boy, if we could see this in the real spiritual light, that the Lord loves every one of His brides, He loves every one of them the same, He provides the same. One's not preferred above another, that's so.

Here's something else it assures us, His unfailing love. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. He gave Himself for it. Husbands in Ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it

Here's something else that assures her honor Honor married to the king YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING? YOU'RE MARRIED TO THE KING! ALL THE MULTIPLE RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST SPIRITUALLY. ALL THOSE RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE.

You know when the queen walked in, she got the same honor that the king got. Proverbs 31 25, Strength and honor are her clothing. He's speaking there of the woman who fears the Lord. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Here's something else it assures, and I'm going to close here. It assures her a sure and abiding place. Now I'm wondering where she's going to live next, what's going to happen next. John 14 3 and this is one of my favorite favorite verses and chapters if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also we have a sure and abiding place in his house he's provided a place for us he has

THE REDEEMED ARE ACCEPTED, FORGIVEN, SECURE, JUSTIFIED, ADOPTED, PROVIDED FOR, LOVED, HONORED, AND FOREVER UNITED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, FOREVER MARRIED TO HIM. He'll never cut us off. He'll never run us off. It says, If she please not her master, if you look in the margin, if she's evil in his eyes, you and I will never be evil in his eyes, EVER! He'll always be pleased with us. He'll always be pleased with his bride, ALWAYS! And she'll ALWAYS BE! And this is something that just We'll have to wait and experience it. But she'll always be that bride.

I mean, how long are you a bride? For a day? And you go home, you're married, then life takes over and it rolls on. You neglect each other. Children come along, you neglect each other, don't you? Work gets in the way, you neglect each other. Think about this, with the Lord it's like you just got married every day. I'm trying to put something into words here that I can't reach and get a hold of. You're on your honeymoon every day. Every day! You're never neglected. It's never to be neglected. It's never to grow old. IT'S ALWAYS FRESH! AND THE LOVE IS ALWAYS BURNING! THE LOVE IS ALWAYS BURNING! AND OUR LOVE GROWS COLD DOESN'T IT? YOU KNOW IT DOES! YOU KNOW IT DOES!

IT'S LIKE YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE MARRIED AND YOU HAVE CHILDREN. MY MOTHER HAD SEVEN CHILDREN And I'm sure by the time the last one left home, her and dad probably looked at each other and said, who are you? You've got seven kids, they take up a lot of time. They take up a lot of time and then they're all gone and the house is empty and it's like, oh, which one are you? Who are you? Not which one are you, it's who are you? But that's not so with our Lord. IT'S ALWAYS FRESH! THE LOVE IS ALWAYS BURNING! IT NEVER DIMINISHES! THIS IS THE LAW OF THE HANDMADE! THE REDEMPTION OF THE HANDMADE! GOD HAS PROVIDED REDEMPTION FOR US! HE'S PROVIDED HIS SON FOR US TO MARRY! HE HAS PROVIDED OUR PROVISION FOR ETERNITY!