Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. I'd like to look at two verses
this evening, verse 23 and 24. The scriptures declare, ye are bought
with a price. Be not ye the servants of men.
Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with
God. Let's pray together. Our Father, have we rejoiced
this evening for your mercy and your grace that you've bestowed
upon this assembly. Lord, for the infinite compassion
that we behold. Lord, in the calling out of your
sheep, in the sustaining and the comfort of your people. We
pray this evening. Lord, would you bless your word
to our hearts? May Christ be honored. And these
things we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. Paul, the apostle, had spoken
in verse 22, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning
the true state of every regenerated sinner. And that's what we are. All that God has called out of
darkness, this is what we are. Sinners, saved by the grace of
God. In us, there is no good thing. That's what the Apostle Paul
says. We can with confidence declare what God declares. Paul
said, there is in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no
good thing. But to will, to will to serve
God, to walk after God, to will is present with me. But how to
perform that which I would I find not. I struggle with everything
that I do. So here's the state of a believer. They are in this world, providentially
placed in a place of service. Now all of us are somewhere. And all of us are found to be
servants. We're servants of somebody. I mean, we're bound to each other. We serve one another, loving
one another, praying for one another, encouraging one another. And Paul says in verse 22, He
that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's Freeman,
or as I said last time, freed man. A servant is God's free
man. Likewise, also he that is called
being free is Christ's servant. Now that's the highest What's the highest calling that
a person could be called to? The Apostle Paul said, Paul, the servant of the Lord. What a position! Number one,
that Almighty God would put us there and not leave us to ourselves. What if He left us to ourselves?
We think ourselves to be somebody. We're nobody. But to be a servant
of the Lord. So, if the Lord has called you
unto Himself, being a servant, don't begrudge that service. Don't begrudge or feel, as I've
said last week, that you're being robbed of any freedom in this
life. For though they be a servant
to another, Whatever it is, I'm married to Glenda, but I am her
servant. I'm the head of the household,
but I do all I can, Fred, for her. Whatever I can do for her
to make her life better, easier. trying to not complicate it like
I find myself doing often, unintentionally, but with an attitude of service
unto her. Don't begrudge. Don't begrudge
being a servant to another. In reality, you're the Lord's
freeman. You're the Lord's servant. We're
lively stones put in this glorious building of God's making, the
church, the bride. And we're placed just exactly
where the Lord wants us. Almighty God is ordering everything
for the good of His people. Freemen, freemen in the Lord. Listen to John 8, 36. If the
Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. If the Lord has made a man free
from the penalty, from the dominion, from the wages of sin, by the
shedding of his blood at Calvary, on that man's behalf, you're
a free man. That's freedom that we see through
a glass darkly right now. I don't know how to appreciate
what he's done for me, Carl. I don't. I don't know how. The Lord was made sin. I understand
that. I know I understand it in my
head. I believe it. I believe it. I
believe that he actually bore my guilt. Made me. He became me. at Calvary, and
God Almighty dealt with me in Him and put away my guilt. I believe that, but one of these
days, I'm going to know it like I want to know it now. One of these days, I'm going
to behold it. When I see Him, I'm going to see Him, the Scripture
says, as He is and be like Him. Now, can you imagine? Now you
talk about freedom. What do we have to fear? If a man is free from the bondage,
now listen to this, I wrote this down today. If a man is free
from the bondage of thinking that he must keep the law, that
is, that he must work for his own righteousness before God,
before the Lord calls a man or woman out of darkness, that's
what you believe. You believe it's up to you. Until
the Lord teaches a man or a woman the gospel of God, the gospel
of God's free grace. Men are telling you that all
you have to do is this, and you do it, and you rest in it. Because you don't know any better.
I didn't know any better. I believed it. But to be free
from the bondage of thinking. I can remember thinking Was I
truly sincere when I gave my heart to Jesus? You know, I know
this is going to sound funny. Some of you don't sound funny,
too. But I'm telling you, I can remember thinking, was I sincere
enough? Did I say the right words? Did
I pray the right prayer? Did I ask the Lord? as sincerely as I should, but
to be free from the bondage of thinking that I've got to keep
the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to them that believe. Now here's what the
gospel declares. Almighty God in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work. He said at Calvary,
it's finished. It's finished. He finished the
work of redemption. Pat, I don't even know what the
work is. I don't know what it is. But for the Lord to give
me a heart to believe on Him, I believe that He finished it.
That's what I believe. I believe He finished it. And
I believe when the Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased, you hear Him. I think to myself, I want to
hear Him. I want to be in Him, free from the fear of being cast
out from the presence or safety of the Lord. Free from that. If the Son of Man makes you free,
free from the penalty, the dominion, the wages of sin, free from the
bondage of thinking that I've got to please God myself and
merit my own salvation before Him, free from the fear of being
cast out. You know, I can tell you, I never
ceased to give the Lord reasons every day to cast me out. I never
ceased from giving Him reasons for that. but to be free from
the fear. When He says to His people, I
will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Somebody say, well, if you tell
people that, you're just going to give them a free reign to
sin. No. No. If the Lord ever calls
you out of darkness, you're going to understand the guilt of seeing
what you are and the desire to walk before God honorably. No, you're not looking for a
reason. A sinner called by the grace
of God, though he's a servant to another, that's where the
Lord's placed him. And remember this, he's the Lord's
free man. The world doesn't know anything
about that freedom. The world doesn't know anything about that
walk before God that an enlightened vessel of God's mercy understands. They know that they've been delivered,
rescued from the penalty of their sin. And sin no longer reigns
over them. They struggle with it. They war
against it. And so now, the foundation of
that freedom. What is it? All right, here we
go, 23-24. You're bought with a price. Be not ye the servants
of men, brethren? Let every man wherein he's called
therein abide with God. That's what I've entitled this
message, abide with God. That's the surety of freedom.
All right, let's look at this word, these two verses just for
a moment. Verse 23, ye. The first word in verse 23, ye. Paul's talking to somebody. He's
talking to those that have been called out of darkness. He's
talking to believers. Ye, everyone in particular, that
the Lord has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, called by God's Spirit from among the mass of humanity,
you've been redeemed. Ye are bought with a price. As I've said before, the glorious
accomplishment of the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, there was no blood shed in vain. The Lord shed no blood
in vain. If he laid down his life and shed his blood to make salvation
possible, died for everybody's sins, then
you're going to have to admit that there was a sense in which
he was a failure. He died, shed his own blood,
and there's people in hell, if that's the way it is, which it's
not. But if he died for everybody's sins, there's going to be people
in hell that he died for. There's going to be people in
hell that he shed his blood for, that he suffered for, and they're
in hell. That blood, therefore, based
on that, is shed in vain. You said, well no, it said he
shed it to make it possible, and all they had to do was accept
it, and then it would have been effectual. Well now, you've made
salvation to be on your works. See what I'm saying? I won't
fly. When the Lord Jesus Christ laid
down His life, He laid down His life for the sheep. That's what
He said. He said, I suffered for you. Paul said, ye are bought
with a price. You have been purchased, though
you be slaves or servants to others in this world. Nonetheless,
you're free men. You're freed men. You've been
purchased for God by the blood of His Son. Purchased for the
Lord. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world that you should be holy and without blame before
Him. Before who? Before the Father
who chose us in Him. And therefore in His sight, His
people are of inestimable worth. and they're His. The sheep of
God were a gift. They were given to the Son. Now,
I know they fell in Adam. They fell in Adam's rebellion. And therefore, because they fell
in Adam's rebellion, they came forth from their mother's womb
speaking lies, spiritually dead sinners. And they willingly come
forth from the mother's womb angry, vessels of wrath against
God. But they're still His. They're
still the Lord's. and he's eternally betrothed
them unto himself. They're his and he will have
them. They and their own pollution, they were truthfully, all of
us, the dregs of this world, unfaithful, undesirable, the
most unlovely of any exhibition of humanity. wretched sinners
of rebellion. That's what every one of God's
sheep come forth from their mother's womb, being, worms, maggots,
worthless, worthless. But Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners, sinners. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying. worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came to this world to save sinners, and listen to this,
of whom I'm chief. Paul said, you want to see the
chief of sinners. Well, I'm it. I'm it. And you
know what? Every believer will say that.
I don't know, Paul. You don't know me. That's how
a believer feels. These vessels of mercy, they
were rebels, born rebels against God. but He has bound Himself
to them, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their surety and their Savior. That's why He said, I'm your
husband. And He joyfully came into this world, made like unto
His brethren, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and He humbled
Himself and walked before God Almighty, made Himself of no
reputation, and walked before God and obeyed every jot and
every tittle of the law. In word, in thought, in deed,
he never disobeyed God. How do you know? God said he
didn't. I'm well pleased with him. But
Paul, the apostle, writing to the church at Corinth, and he
said, ye are bought with a price. What was that price? You know,
1 Peter 1, 18-24, as much as you know, that you were not redeemed,
you were not purchased with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation, listen to this, from your useless, empty,
foolish, and unprofitable walk in works religion. Vain conversation. What was it? It's vanity. It's vanity. You know that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by traditions of your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ. Blood that was precious
to the Father. And I'll tell you this, it's
precious to the people, to His people. To you, therefore, that
believe, he's precious. Precious. As a lamb without blemish
and without spot, his blood was actually human blood. Acts 20, 28 declares it to be
the blood of God. The God-man Mediator. That was human blood. He was made flesh. But there was one great difference. That blood was not polluted or
tainted with sin. That's the only blood that has
ever flowed through the veins of a human that had no sin in
it. I can't even imagine. I don't
even know what to say. But thank you, Lord, for your
mercy. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times, listen to this, for
you, for you. Redemption by the Lord Jesus
Christ was no afterthought with God. Almighty God, the Scripture
says, beheld the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
There was a Lamb slain in the will of the mind, in the sight
of Almighty God before a sinner was ever made, before man was
ever made, before a sinner ever walked this earth. And He was
eternally chosen and ordained of God to be the Savior of God's
elect. God chose him and chose all of
his people in him. He was the elect of God and in
him all of God's elect were placed. But in time, he was publicly
brought forth before men for the purpose of laying down his
life. Paul says, you're bought with
a price. And then in verse 23, last part, he says, Be not ye
the servants of men. Keep your eye toward Christ. Keep your eyes toward Him. Be
inwardly thankful and free of that plague of sin that easily
besets us, unbelief. But remember this, we're the
Lord's freeman. Don't muse upon the thought or
begrudge the thought of being another servant. Whatever may
be your outward condition, remember, we find ourselves servants and
in a sense bound or enslaved to another concerning our time,
our efforts, our energies, but no one can enslave the soul.
of a believer. Not when they look upon and realize,
I'm the Lord's servant. This is what the Lord's called
me to do. Lord, what would you have me to do? That's what Paul
asked him. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord?
I'm Jesus. The one you're persecuting. Lord, what would you have me
to do? Almighty God puts us here. It's
where He keeps us until He's pleased to move us somewhere
else. Galatians 5.1, concerning the liberty that we have. Stand
fast, therefore, because you're the Lord's freemen. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. to the bondage
of legal observances, outward works and bondages. Paul says,
don't be entangled with that again. Brethren, verse 24, let
every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God. In closing, I want to just look
at these words here and consider how sweetly The apostle addresses
the church at Corinth. Brethren, brethren, ye who are
of the household of faith. I think about when Saul of Tarsus
was converted on the road to Damascus, the Lord sent him into
the town there, Damascus, and he sent a man, a preacher, sent
a preacher to him. Whenever God's gonna speak, That's
how he does it. He speaks through a preacher
and through the foolishness of preaching. And he sent this man
Ananias. And he said, I want you to go
over to this certain house. There's a man over there, Saul
of Tarsus. And Ananias told him, he said,
Lord, you know, we've heard about this guy. In fact, he's got letters
of authority from Jerusalem to take your people and take them
back. He said, you go and you tell him that I'm the one that
called him. He said, he's a chosen vessel
unto me. And this servant of the Lord, Ananias, went over
there, and this is how, when the Lord told him, he says, he's
a chosen vessel unto me. And Ananias, who just a moment
before, was begrudging having to come over and see this salt
of Tarsus, and this is what he said. Brother Saul. Brother Saul. Doesn't that have
a sweet sound to it? You know, brother. Brother. Brother
Saul. Brethren. Brethren. You who were bought and redeemed
for the same price. Here we are. We're brethren. Those that the Lord has called
out of darkness that are here tonight. Let me tell you something.
The same blood that redeemed me redeemed you. That was the
same blood. The same sacrifice on that same
day. Almighty God says concerning
His people, I've loved you with an everlasting love. The same
love that God Almighty loves one of His people, He loves the
other one with His people. chosen in Christ in the same
electing grace by the Father. We've all been dug out of the
same pit of pollution by the mercy and compassion of God. And by the grace of God, all
of God's people are going to spend eternity together in glory. We're going to spend eternity
together In glory. We believe the same gospel. We're kept by the same power. And we serve the same true and
living God. And Paul says, Brethren, let
every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God. You know he didn't say, abide
in God, abide in Christ. Who's going to keep themselves
in the Lord? I love Brother Scott said, wherever
God puts a man, that's where God keeps a man. If He's ever
put you in Christ, you're going to eternally be in Christ. But
he said, abide with God, abide with Him. There's the heart desire
of every regenerated sinner. I want to therein abide with
God, desiring constant communion with Him, recognizing that He is accomplishing
His will and purpose in all things. Therefore, where He puts us until
He's pleased to move us, abide with Him. If He's put you in
a place where you can hear the gospel, abide with Him. When things are not going the
way we think they should or could, rest in the Lord to take care
of us. He's working these things out
for our good and His glory. He who has eternally loved us
and redeemed us and called us and placed us where we are, abide
with Him. Shall He surely not order our
steps, our lives according to His perfect will? Abiding with
the Lord is to be thankfully content that where He's placed
me is the most secure place I can be. Therefore, whatsoever you do,
whether you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, do it
all to the glory of God. I do understand that there was
a people that was following him, a great multitude. I know that
there's been people that have followed him for a while. throughout
time. Others walked with Him for a
while, but the scripture says in John 6, that after the Lord
declared His sovereignty, He said, you know, no man can come
to Me, except the Father, which is, you know, called Him, you
know, unless the Lord Father keeps Him. No man can come unless
it's given unto Him by My Father. And they heard that saying, they
said, that's a hard saying. Who can hear that? And they left.
And they went back and they walked no more with Him. And then the
Lord, remember, asked His disciples, will you go away also? And Simon
Peter gave the only answer that a believer can give. Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Abide with Him. Abide with Him
where He's honored. Abide with Him where the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. Abide with Him where He's pleased
to meet with two or three. He said, I'm in the midst of
you. Abide with Him if two or three are here. And they're meant
here to come together to be with brethren and hear the gospel
of God's grace. Christ is here. And if He's here,
shouldn't I be? Abiding where He's pleased to
bless His Word in the salvation of His people is the sure sign
of regeneration. I'm going to make this statement.
This is the last verse. where he's been pleased to bless his
word in the salvation of his people is a sure sign of regeneration. Listen to Matthew 10, 22. And
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that
endureth to the end shall be saved. Abide with the Lord. I pray that God bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.