In Song of Solomon chapter 2, at verse 4, Song of Solomon chapter
2 verse 4, He brought me to the banqueting house and His banner
over me was love. He brought me to the banqueting
house. This is the place where we feast on the body and the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his banner over us is a banner
of love. It was love that caused him to
fulfill the demands of the law. It was love that caused him to
satisfy God's divine justice. It was love that moved him to
save his people. Oh, I pray that banner will fly
high this morning as we worship him together. Let's stand together.
Tom's going to come lead us in number 52 in the hardback teminal,
number 52. For our Scripture reading today,
if you would turn with me to Psalm 87. I think it was Greg's message
on Hosea that confirmed that this passage, I've looked at
this chapter for some time, and it's such a beautiful description. of the importance of the local
assemblies throughout the whole world. And so let's begin here. This is a psalm or song for or
of the sons of Korah. Now this is a picture of the
church, these sons of Korah. Now you know who Korah was? He
rebelled against God, against Moses and Aaron, and the air
swallowed him up. But, and rightly so, his children
should have been destroyed there, you know. And all the families
that sided with Korah were all destroyed, notwithstanding, or
nevertheless, the children of Korah died not. In other words,
the Lord spared them as he has spared us. His foundation is
in the holy mountains. Now I want you to notice one
thing here. His foundation, a single foundation, based upon the righteous
life of the Lord Jesus, His sacrificial death, His burial, and dying
for our sins, is the one foundation, is in the holy mountains. Now notice mountains is plural.
Now these are set-apart mountains. These are strongholds all over
the world. We only know just a few. I mean,
what we know of our own brethren. We have a holy mountain, Sarasota. We have a holy mountain here
in Apopka. But it's all in Florida, you
see, and you're going to see this. So his foundation is in
the holy mountains. And this is the local churches
all over this world. This is what the Lord has established.
The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings
of Jacob. Now, for other foundations... Now,
let's look at this foundation for a minute. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is Jesus Christ. The thing about
all of these holy mountains, they all speak the same thing.
They're all... Christ is the central issue of
this. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Now it says here, the
Lord says, enter ye in at the straight gate. Now, let's turn
to that here. In Matthew, Well, let's see here. For straight is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth. That's the verse of scripture
I want, but you know. Just go on for a minute. Enter ye in at the straight gate.
And so, let's see. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. So we see here these holy mountains,
this one foundation is also called the city of God. And in verse
4 it says, I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them
that know me, And our little phrase, here's a little key phrase
to this. I will make mention of Rahab
and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia and Tyre
and Ethiopia. This man was born there. Now,
who's Rahab? Rahab the harlot, a Canaanite. You know what else Rahab has? She is in the genealogy of the
Lord Jesus Christ. She's the one that spared, that
was a helper of Israel there. And there is another picture
of the church. Rahab the harlot. Aren't we all
a bunch of harlots? That's all we are. That's all
we are. And it was this scripture here
talking about Gomer and Hosea that really convinced me that
I'd like to read this. And Babylon. Now, in Peter, Peter
makes mention of the church at Babylon. We don't know anything about
it other than this, but it says, the church that is Babylon elected
together with you, saluteth you, and so does Marcus my son. The
church at Babylon elected together. There you see election. Election
here. To them that know me. Now this little word, know me,
is an intimate relationship. It's those, here you have Rahab
and you have Babylon, to them that know me, he's saying, behold,
Philistia and Tyre. Now one thing I noticed when
I was looking at these scriptures is that it said of the King of
Tyre, the King of Tyre was ever a lover of David. Now I like
what Greg mentioned the other day, it says, if you love me,
you've got to love my wife. Well, to love those that are
born of Christ, you've got to love their God too. And the king of Tyre was an ally
and he provided the materials, the wood and the cedars for David
as he built the city of David. And also it said when Solomon
took over as king, he says, he says, blessed be the Lord Jehovah,
because he has raised up a wise son for Solomon. lets me to know,
it sure looked like that he was a believer, but he was always
there. And so, here you see, out of
all the world, these are those that know and have an intimate
relationship with Ethiopia. Now what do you think about Ethiopia?
Like we all do, the Ethiopian eunuch. That's what we think
about. And don't you know that after the gospel was preached
to this eunuch and he went away rejoicing, what do you think
he did when he got back home to his queen, his majesty? He says, your majesty, you'll
never guess what happened to me. And you know what he talked
about? Just what was preached to him, Christ. where this man was born there. Now we could say we're talking
about the eunuch and all of these that
are mentioned, but I believe right here what we see this man
was born there was Christ was born there. Christ was born in
his church. And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her, and the highest himself
shall establish her." Now that word established is prepare her
as a bride. He's preparing her as a bride. Now, if you want to see election,
look at this next verse in verse six. The Lord shall count when
he righted up the people that this man was born there. The
Lord shall count, in other words, he's got a specific amount of
people, and he shall count when he righted up the people that
this man was born there. This and that man was born here.
Where does the new birth take place? In his churches. That's
the important place to be, is here in the churches. As well
as, now look at this, as well as the singers. Now you know
in religion what they do is they usually will have some outside
singers come in and all this, but who was born there? As well
as the singers, they were born there. As the players on instruments
shall be there. Now notice this, all my springs
are in thee. All my springs are in thee."
Now, outside of the church? No. All
my springs are in thee. Now, we could read this, all
my springs are in Christ. Because right here, you see a
total description in seven verses, complete, of the local assembly. And I just, you know, it's been
a blessing to me. Let us pray. Holy and gracious
God, we just pray again, Lord, that you will come, open our
hearts, our eyes, give us eyes to see and ears to hear this
glorious truth again of our glorious God and Savior, our Lord Jesus
Christ. And be pleased to meet with us
again. Cause us to go on our way rejoicing. before we ask it in Jesus' precious
name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. In thy name, O Lord, plussembling,
We thy people now draw near. Teach us to rejoice with trembling,
Speak and let thy servants hear. Savior, follow with thy blessings, Thus the Word thy power possessing
Shall declare from whence it came. Let thy Word be food to
nourish Those whom thou hast made thine own. Let thy people's
graces flourish And the glory thine alone God of our salvation,
hear us. Bless, oh bless us, ere we go. When we join the world, be near
us. Keep us safe from every foe. Please be seated. Your Bible's
with me to Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21. I want you to believe with me
that Christ so loved his church that he laid his life down willingly
for her. and redeemed her to himself." This is the great mystery concerning
Christ and his church. Paul speaks about in Ephesians
chapter 5 when he says, husbands love your wives even as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for her. That's what this passage
of scripture in Exodus chapter 21 is about. It's about Christ giving His
life for His church. And I pray that God will enable
us to see ourselves individually as part of that body of Christ,
the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ for whom He laid down His life. Now you notice in verse 1 where
the Lord tells Moses, now these are the judgments which thou
shalt set before them. Every time we come together,
what we're doing is we're setting the table of the judgments of
God. We're declaring how it is that
God has judged righteousness and divine justice in the sacrifice
of his dear son for the putting away of our sins. That's what
we're doing. And that's what the Lord told
Moses to do. He said, set this before them. That's my duty. My duty is to set God's judgments
before you. Now all the ceremonial laws and
all the civil laws that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament
were for the purpose of illustrating the judgment of God in the gospel. I've met religious people who
want to make the dietary laws of the Old Testament somehow
relevant to their Christian life and they take this law or that
law or this civil ceremony and they make it applicable to their
life and they miss the message. When the Lord gave the laws concerning
the cleansing of the leper. He was setting before us the
judgment of God, that that leper who was leprous from the top
of his head to the heel of his foot, not one clean, not one
square inch of clean flesh on his body anywhere, he was declared
to be clean. That was the cleansing of the
leper. When the Lord gave laws concerning
dealing with the one who was guilty of manslaughter, He gave
the cities of refuge so that that guilty manslaughter could
find a place of refuge and protect himself from the avenger of blood. It's a gospel story, isn't it?
This is the judgment of God given to us. These are gospel messages
when the Lord gave laws concerning the kinsman redeemer. And we
see that illustrated in the life of Boaz and Ruth and Naomi. What a glorious picture of Christ
reckoning with that kinsman. You remember when Boaz said,
there is a kinsman nearer to you than me. when he was talking
to Ruth. And he said, I've got to go reckon
with him first. And so Boaz went to that other
kinsman and he said, he said, Ruth and Naomi, Naomi needs to
be redeemed and you're the nearest kinsman. But if you redeem her,
you've got to redeem Ruth also. And Ruth was a Moabitess. And
what did that kinsman say? He said, oh no, I can't redeem
Ruth. If I do, she'll mar my inheritance. She'll destroy my
whole family. Now that nearer kinsman was the
law. That's what we just saw in the
previous hour. That was the law. And Boaz reckoned
with the law. And he said, if you're gonna
redeem her, redeem her. If you're not, I will. And he couldn't. He couldn't. The law can't redeem
you. But Boaz could. These are all gospel pictures,
aren't they? So it is with this that He's
given us here. The building of the altar that
God gave in the Old Testament. He said, don't use stones that
have been hewn with tools. As soon as you put your hand
to a stone to build an altar, you've defiled it. And what a
glorious picture. He said, don't make any steps
going up to the altar, for if you do, you'll only expose your
nakedness. And so it is. All these judgments
of God that are given in the ceremonial law and in the civil
law, the dress for the priest, the breastplate, and the mitre,
and the ephod, and all these things represented different
parts of the Lord Jesus Christ, the tabernacle itself. from the
one door that went into it, to the badger skin, to the holies
of holies, and everything in between, was representative of
the judgments of God. How is it? What is God's judgment
concerning me? What is God's judgment concerning
me? I want you to know the judgments of God. I want to know the judgments
of God. Paul put it like this in Hebrews chapter 1, he said,
God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake to our fathers
by the prophets. Now that's what he's talking
about, these Old Testament stories. God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his glorious
son, who is the express image of his person. This is the judgment. All these pictures, all these
types were God's judgment for sinners to be saved. Now I want to know what the judgments
of God are. In Isaiah chapter 42 verse 4,
He shall not fail. nor be discouraged till he hath
set judgment in the earth." Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, He
calls Him my servant, mine elect, who was not discouraged. He said He's going to set judgment
in the earth. Now I want to know what the judgment
of God is concerning my soul. And I want you to be concerned
about the judgment of God concerning your soul. Nothing else matters
compared to that. All the things that we get so
concerned about in this life, Solomon says, vanity of vanity. All is vanity. If we don't know
the judgments of God concerning our soul, concerning the putting
away of our sin, nothing else is going to matter. Nothing else. And it's not going to be long.
I mean, just a few more days. Just a few more days. And I promise
you, none of your possessions will be of any relevance to you
whatsoever. None of your human relationships
will be of any relevance to you whatsoever. I promise you that. I'm speaking on the authority
of God's Word and telling you what God says about this life.
It's a vapor and the things of this world that we get so caught
up in are irrelevant when it comes to the judgment of God
concerning our souls. Now God told Moses, set before
them my judgments. Set this before them. Make sure
that you point them to this. Tell them about the importance
of this. This is the only thing that matters. Turn with me to
Psalm 19. Psalm 19. We read this passage this morning
in the study. Look at verse 7. The law of the
Lord is perfect. Oh, God's law has to be fulfilled.
The Lord Jesus Christ told John, He said, Suffer to be so for
now, for we must fulfill all righteousness. what the Lord
Jesus Christ came to do was to uphold the hands of Moses to
satisfy the law so that the Amalekites could be defeated by Joshua you
remember when the Lord told through Samuel he told Saul to destroy
the Amalekites he said you go and you destroy them and And
he, well, as a matter of fact, he tells him, he says, kill men
and women, infants, suckling, ox, sheep, camel, and ass. Don't leave anything behind.
Now that was God's instruction through the prophet Samuel to
Saul, to wipe out the Amalekites, to not leave one living thing
left. And Saul went and he fought against
the Amalekites and God gave him victory, but he wasn't obedient. He kept Agag. And he kept the
best of the sheep and the oxen. And Samuel came and he said,
what is this that you've done? And Saul said, well, I've done
exactly what the Lord told me to do. And Samuel said, well,
what is the bleeding of this sheep and the lowing of oxen
I hear in my ear? And Saul said, oh, I kept those
so I could make them a sacrifice to the Lord. No. No. Later on, David is told, well,
the Amalekites attack Ziklag, where David lived, with his wife
and his children, and the scripture says that Abigail was taken prisoner. Abigail was the wife of Nabal,
the churlish man, the man, the hard man. You remember David
took Abigail to be his wife and she was delivered from this hard
man, the man of law, and given to a man whose heart was made
after the likeness of God, a man whose heart. And what a glorious picture.
Well, Abigail was taken by the Amalekites. And David, the scripture
says, went and destroyed the Amalekites like Saul was supposed
to do. And three times in that passage
of scripture it says, and David recovered everything. David recovered all. He brought it all back. He saved
his wife, saved his children, took all the spoils that the
Amalekites had taken from Ziklag. David recovered it all. What a glorious picture of what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He's recovered it all. Saul can't do it. The law of the Lord is perfect.
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord
is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. Set these judgments before them. Tell them about what I consider
to be judgment. Tell them what I've done in order
to judge their sin and to deliver them from the enemies of God.
Tell them everything. Lay it before them is what God
told Moses. Spread it out. More to be desired
are they... Look at verse 10. We're in Psalm
19 now. Look at verse 10. More are these judgments to be
desired than gold, yea, than fine gold, sweeter than honey
in the honeycomb." Oh, Moses, lay these judgments
before them. Lay these judgments before them.
Spread the table. Put out the meat and the wine. Cause them to know what I consider
to be important. for the things that would attract
their hearts and their attentions in this world are vanity. These judgments of God are more
to be desired than gold. They're sweeter than honey. This is our life. What else is
there in this world? What else is there? What else
is there? I promise you, there's just a
few days left. There's just a few days. All
be reminded of that. I've told you I'm going to remind
you of this every time we come together. And the Lord's reminding
me. I'm just telling you what God's
telling me. I'm telling you what God's telling me and how needful
it is for every one of us to be mindful of how brief and how
vain the things of this world really are and the only thing
that matters is the judgment of God. The judgment of God is the only
thing that matters. So what is this judgment? that
God tells Moses to lay before the children of Israel. Turn
with me back to our text in Exodus chapter 21. The judgment is that David has recovered
all. That as the bridegroom Not the
abusive husband, but the bridegroom who laid his life down for his
bride, who loves her and cares for her. That's the picture here. God's not giving rules and regulations
concerning slavery. He's talking about the judgment
of God in relationship to the gospel. This concerns your soul. This concerns your eternal life. This is concerning heaven or
hell. This is everything. If thou buy an Hebrew servant,
that's a slave. You bought a man off the slave
block and he's become your slave, but he's a Hebrew. If you bought
a man outside of Israel, then he could be a slave all his life.
There was no end to that. But if you bought a Hebrew, if
a Hebrew got himself in trouble financially and had to sell himself
into servitude, the law of God was that he could only serve
for six years. And then you had to set him free. If he was a
Hebrew, he couldn't serve more than six years. If thou buy a
Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh
he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him." That's pretty simple. If when
he became your slave, if he was already a married man, then when
the six years were over, you had to let him and his wife go,
along with his children. If his master gave him a wife,
if he came in as a single man and the master gave him a wife
while he was a slave, then at the end of the six years he was
free to go out by himself, but his wife and children from that
union were to remain with the master. If his master has given him a
wife, and she hath borne him sons and daughters, the wife
and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out
by himself. And if the servant shall plainly
say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go
out free, then his master shall bring him unto the judges, and
he also shall bring him to the door and unto the doorpost, and
his master shall bore his ear through with an awe, and he shall
serve him for ever." Do you see the judgment of God in this story? Do you see the picture of Christ
and His church? The number six is the number
of man. He was to serve his master for
six years. Adam was created on the sixth
day. The number ascribed to man in
the book of Revelation is 666. It's the closest number to seven
but it falls short of the glory of that perfect number which
represents our rest in Christ. God rested on the seventh day.
Christ is that perfect seven and He came and He accomplished
what Adam couldn't do. What Adam failed to do, in Adam
all have died, yet in Christ shall all be made alive. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world and He served the Master for six years. And in those six years, He paid
the debt. He satisfied the demands of the
law. He offered up a perfect righteousness
to the Father. He became God's perfect man. He did what Adam couldn't do.
He did what you can't do and what I can't do. And at the end
of the six years, he was free to go out alone. But during that
time of service, Turn with me to Psalm 40. Look at verse 6 in Psalm 40. Sacrifice and offerings thou
didst not desire. Mine ear hast thou opened." Now
what was this servant to have? He was to have his ear bored
through with an awe. What was that a picture of? It
was a picture of his perfect obedience to the Father. The
Lord Jesus Christ said in John chapter 14, He said, The words
that I speak, they are the words of my Father. Why is it that
he was able to speak the perfect Word of God? Why is it that he
himself is called the Word of God? Because his ear was perfectly
tuned to the voice of God. He had his ear bored through
with an awe. And he had perfect faith. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. So
here we have a picture of Christ now, who is God's perfect man. Look, he says, Sacrifice and
offerings thou did not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of me.
in the volume of this book. It is written of Christ. This
book is not a rule book for Christian living. It is not a book to be
studied in order to achieve theological knowledge, in order to get doctrine
that will enable you to defeat someone else in an argument. This book is not given to us
in order to entertain our intellect or in order to get us to have
some knowledge of history. This book is about Christ. These
are they which testify of me. The judgments of God are all
about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? Do you know Him? Do you know Him? Not about Him. Nor can you quote some Bible
verses. Nor do you know some Bible stories. Do you know Christ? In the volume of the book it
is written of Him. Oh, I would urge you to seek
Him with all of your heart. He said, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. That's the rule and the reign
of the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne of your heart. That's
the righteousness that he accomplished in holding up the hands of Moses
so that Joshua could defeat the Amalekites. This is all about
Christ. Paul didn't say, I know what
I believe and I'm persuaded that it's true. He said, I know whom
I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. The judgment
of God is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if you don't know Him, you don't have anything. I don't care what
reputation you have in this world. I don't care what people think
about you. I don't care how many possessions you have. You have
nothing if you don't have Christ. Oh, but if you have Him, if you
have Him, you've got everything. You've got everything. It's been
a while since I used this illustration of the wealthy man and his son
that had that were collectors of art. And they had
collected priceless pieces of art all over the world, and man
was extremely wealthy. And the son died before the father,
and then the father died. And the father wrote in his will. that all of the art was to be
auctioned off. And so the auctioneer came and
he held up a picture. No one recognized it. It was
a portrait of his son that he had made. And it was basically
worthless compared to everything else, and everybody's thinking,
well, let's get to the real good stuff. And the butler of the family
saw the picture of the son being held up. Nobody bid on it. The
butler bid Ten dollars. And the auctioneer slammed the
gavel on the thing and he said, auction's over. The auction's
over. And everybody came from all over
the world and they were amazed. What do you mean the auction's
over? You just auctioned one picture. He said, Mr. So-and-so
put in his will that whoever bought the portrait of his son
got everything else for free. The butler got it all. He loved
the owner's son. He wanted a picture of the son. If you've got Christ, you get
everything. Everything. And if you don't
have Christ, you've got nothing. He is the judgment of God. He's
all and in all. Do you know Him? Ask God to make Himself known
to you. My duty is to do what Moses did, set before them the
judgments of God. And here's the judgment. If a
man buy a Hebrew slave, he's to serve six years. At the end
of that six years, he's to go out free. But if while he was
in servitude, during that six years his master gave to him
a wife, God Almighty chose for His Son a bride in the covenant
of grace, and the church was given to the Lord Jesus Christ
by the Father. And all the children of that
union that come through the new birth into the family of God
belong to God. And the Son, after having completed
The righteousness of God, he said, lo and the volume of the
book it is written of me. You still have your Bibles open
to Isaiah chapter 40? Look at verse 8, I delight to
do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40, I'm so sorry. Psalm 40, Psalm 40 verse 8, I
delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my
heart. In the volume of the book it
is written, this is my beloved son, he's the only one that I'm
pleased with. In Him, I'm well pleased. He's
the One who held up the hands of Moses. He's the One that satisfied
the demands of the Law. He's the One who offered Himself
up as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the demands of God's
justice for the sins of His people. Why did He do it? Because He
said, I love my Master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free. bore me to the cross, pierce
my ear through with an awe, take the staff of God and plunge it
into my very side. And a man shall cleave unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh." That's what God told
Adam. And when the Lord Jesus, how
did that union take place? God said, caused Adam to go into
a deep sleep and opened up his side and took from his side a
rib. And Adam said, this is now bone to my bone and flesh of
my flesh. She shall be called woman for she's been taken out
of a man. And when God Almighty took the sword of His justice
and opened the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, He made from the
Lord Jesus Christ outflowed water and blood, the scripture said.
And He made from the Lord Jesus Christ one flesh with His bride. He said, I'll not go out free. I love my wife. I love my children. Bore me through. bore me through. I'll be a servant of Thee forever."
That's the judgment of God. God is pleased with Christ. He's pleased only with Christ.
He's not pleased with you. He's not pleased with me unless
we're found in Christ. Not having our own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only righteousness that
God recognizes. That's the judgment of God. God
says, I judge you by a perfect standard. The plumb line. You know, we have a lot of modern
tools in construction today, don't we? You know, one tool
that's still used is the plumb line. And it's a whole lot more
accurate than a level. I promise you. Levels, you know,
they can be off a little bit here or there. But you put a
plumb line, and that plumb line is going to be perfectly accurate
every time. God's measuring us by a plumb
line. And those who don't measure up
to the judgment, he calls teetering walls put together with unbobbed
mortar. And they're tested by the plumb
line and they don't measure up to the plumb line. And those
who lean upon those walls, the scripture says, are going to
have those very walls fall upon them and destroy them. Christ is that plumb line. That's
the judgment of God. He's trying us by the truth of
Christ. We've got to be found in Him.
He's everything in salvation. He's everything. Look at verse
9, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. I
have not refrained my lips. Oh Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Oh, that's the judgment of God.
Lay before them the judgment of God. That's all I can do. Oh, but I pray the Spirit of
God will take this clear message of how God judges sinners. And how the bridegroom, the husband
of his bride, said to the master, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I'm not going
out without them. I'll stay here in the family
and I'll be your servant forever. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, We ask that You would give to
us the faith to believe what Thou hast set before us, Thy
holy judgments, and cause us to find our rest and all our
salvation in the glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in His name we pray,
Amen. Number 40 and the softback 10
mil, let's stand together.