I want us to look at the scriptures
for a few minutes. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 7. I'd like to look at two verses
tonight. In a few moments we plan to eat
and drink together in the partaking of the Lord's table. That blessed
privilege that was given us by the Lord Jesus Christ. in taking of the Lord's table,
it never ceases to amaze me the wisdom of the Lord to give us
two elements, a little piece of bread and a little cup of
wine. Two natural elements that we're
to remember Him by. And when we take that bread and
drink of that cup, that's what we do, we remember the Lord.
And I pray that as we remember Him, that it will be to His honor,
His glory, His praise, and our eternal good. Now, 1 Corinthians
chapter 7. The Apostle Paul had ended, we
stopped last week, or last time, with this verse, verse 20. He
said, let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was
called. Wherever the Lord calls you,
stay right there. He put you there. He ordered
your steps. We're predestinated unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. So as the
Lord orders the steps of all those that He's pleased to show
mercy, where He put us, stay there. If He's going to move
us, you'll know. How will I know? You'll know.
That's the answer. Yeah. How do I know when I'm
supposed to do something? You'll know. You'll know. He
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. He moves
His people where He wants them. He puts them where lively stones
built up together upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
A living building. A building of God. A building
inhabited by the Lord. And now He says in verse 21,
Art thou called being a servant, care not for it, but if thou
mayest be made free, use it rather. If the Lord has called you as
a servant, now that word, servant, three meanings that I could find.
Number one, a slave. Number two, a bondman or a man
of servile condition. That is one that serves for the
pleasure of others. If the Lord has called you and
you find yourself as a servant, if you're providentially, again,
placed in that position, If it's a position that you feel as though,
or if the world would feel as though, is beneath a man's dignity,
a woman's dignity, don't allow that responsibility. When he
says, thou art thou called, being a servant, care not for it. It doesn't mean don't be responsible
in it, or don't care about what you're doing, or don't treat
it with disrespect. Don't allow that responsibility
to cause great care upon your mind. You know, the world has
got this standard. And it's this standard that,
you know, you always, you always do whatever it takes to better
yourself. Don't ever, you know, don't ever
be pleased where you are. Climb the corporate ladder. Do
whatever you can do. I mean, get ahead by hook or
crook. Whatever you got to do, do it.
There's jobs out there, get them. Go for the tech, go for the gold.
You know, we only go around once in life. Go for all the gusto
that you can. The Apostle Paul says, under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, art thou called, being a servant,
a slave, a bondman, a servant, serving others. Don't let that
cause great perplexity in your mind. Take caution that it doesn't
troubled you. I'm just this, I'm just that.
Remember, the Lord put us where we are. I dare say that most of us, if
we would have started back, you know, high school, graduating
college, wherever you were, and you say, well, where am I going
to be? Well, we're all going to be doctors and lawyers and,
you know, we're going to be whatever. What are you going to be? I'm
going to be something. It's always a, you know, What if the Lord
doesn't put you there? What if He leaves you where you
are? Oh, well, I'll never do that. A believer is made to know
that. If you're where you are, if you're
a servant, if you're one that is placed in a position now that
you're serving, you're serving others. I'm going to make a statement.
I'm building up to something here. Be a good one. Serve with faithfulness. And don't look at your calling
as something that makes you a second-class citizen. God's people are not
second-class citizens. They're servants of the Most
High God. We're kings and priests unto God by the Lord Jesus Christ. Art thou called being a servant,
care not for it, but if thou mayest be free, use it rather."
Don't try to be freed from that place. But if you are freed,
if you are delivered, if you are taken out of that position
of a servant, whatever it is, You're there as a servant. You got a boss, you got a boss
who has a boss, and you think, I'm the guy down here, I'm the
woman down here. Don't go out of your way to try
to hook or crook, get out of it, but if the Lord frees you
by the good providence, make use of that freedom as it glorifies
the Lord. Wherever He puts you, 1 Corinthians
10.31, whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatsoever you
do, do all to the glory of God. I mean, I'm telling you, if you
flip hamburgers, do it to the glory of God. Adorn the gospel
that you love and believe. Honor the Lord. Honor the Lord. Brother Henry Mahan asked by someone what it was. I know what the situation was. Someone had gone out with me,
had gone out to get a bite to eat. And the group that he was
with, what they were going to do is they were going to make
a big scene there and they were going to hold hands and they
were going to pray together and listen. Remember the word of the Lord.
I've told you this before. Don't be as the hypocrites are.
They love to stand on the street corners and pray these long,
loud prayers to be seen of men. You can thank the Lord. Don't
make an open show before men. You can pray. Thank the Lord
for your food. Well, Brother Henry was not going
to go along with them. And they said, don't you think
we need to be good witnesses? And Brother Henry said, if you
want to be a good witness, leave them a good tip. Be faithful. Be faithful. Be honorable where
you are. Don't do it to be seen of men.
Don't do it to draw attention to yourself. Whatever you do,
do it to the glory of God. Do it to the glory of God. Now
you know it's hard to have a big show and not do it for the glory
of me. That's just hard to do. Whatever you do, we come together
here. We're assembled in the name of
the Lord. We're going to thank the Lord
publicly. We thank the Lord privately. But we're standing out on the
street corner. Make sure that what you do, you
do it to the glory of God and not to be seen of men because
here's what the Lord said. You have your reward. You got
it. You got it. You have it. Now,
the scripture sets forth, if we're called being a servant,
cared not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. We may be called to a position
or a responsibility of servitude that binds or restricts the liberty
or the freedom that we once enjoyed. We may come to a point in our
life We're all of a sudden where before we had all kinds of liberty,
liberty to do what we wanted to do. We had freedom to, we
were just free. We could just go where we wanted
to do, when we wanted to do it. But providentially, now we've
been placed in responsibilities that we don't have that freedom
anymore. Maybe our parents are getting older. Maybe we do have
children that are sick. Maybe we, you know, we're servants
now. We're servants in capacities
that we weren't before. Providentially, the Lord has
placed us in a place where now we're being called a servant,
but don't let it perplex us. Don't let it throw us. If we find ourselves that demand
our every moment, don't begrudge that position of service. Why? The Lord ordered it. Did He not? Did He not put us
where we are? Did He not put us in this position?
Do you think that all of this happened by just luck or bad
luck? No such thing. He worketh all
things, and all things work together for good. to them that love God. Yes, but I don't have any freedom.
Well, obviously we don't need it. Obviously, that's not our
lot for right now. Are we a servant? Care not for
it. But if you're made free, use
it rather. And then the scripture says,
there's the reason that we're to not begrudge being placed in
a position of a servant. Verse 22, For, or because, he
that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman,
or he is the one that has been made free, or he's a freed He
that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman.
Likewise also, he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant."
The reason that a believer should be content in the state wherein
the Spirit of God has called him is because though he be a
servant to others in the natural realm, that man is a freed man
in Christ, spiritually, to do what the Lord's called him to
do. You say, I'm a servant. Yeah, but you're the Lord's freed
man. To do what you're doing. There's myriads of people in
this world that find themselves in what they call freedom. And
they're in bondage. Bondage to sin. Bondage in rebellion
against God. And here's the Lord's freed man. being a servant unto the Lord. Remember this, we were all children
of wrath, even as others. Sinners by birth, sinners by
choice, sinners by practice, servants of sin. But according to the everlasting
covenant of God's grace, Almighty God has been pleased to free
His people from the condemnation of their sins. free from the
state of bondage that the Lord knew that they would fall into
before they ever were born. Almighty God knew the state in
which they'd be found, fallen in Adam. And now being found
as the recipients of God's mercy and compassion, listen to me,
Wherever you are tonight, believer, in this world, no matter what
position you're in, whatever it is, in Christ, you're a free
man. You're a free woman. Free to
serve the Lord in that capacity. But think of the freedom that
we have in Christ, free. The scripture declares that we're
free from the bondage of the law's curse. Now every man, every
woman, apart from Christ, is under the curse of the law. They're under the curse of the
law. The Scriptures declares, though, for God's free men, free
men, freed men, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us. Now here's freedom. Here's freedom. And we're all going to die. We're
just here for a few more moments. I'm telling you just a few moments
longer. And we're going to stand before
God. And in that day, let me tell you freedom. Christ was
made a curse for us. Made himself answerable. For us. Let me read this to you. I quote this often, but I want
to read it to you. Psalms 40. Psalm chapter 40. Here's the Lord. That's the Lord
speaking. prophetically. But listen to
the words of our Lord concerning him being made sin. Psalm 40
verse 11 to 13, withhold not thy tender mercies. Look at verse
7 to make sure we understand who's speaking. Then said I,
lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I preach
righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O 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 lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation." Now let me ask
you this, who could say that but Christ? Who has come in the
volume of the book but the Lord Jesus Christ? Now listen to His
words. Now here he is, speaking prophetically,
being made a curse for us, pleading for his father's sustaining hand. Now here's the servant. Here's
the servant. We talk about being made a servant.
You know, we've got some responsibilities. You know, I've got some responsibilities
that have kind of got me bound right now. You want to talk about
a servant who made himself bound, answerable. Here he is making
himself answerable before the Father for his people. And he
says in verse 11, withhold not thy tender mercies from me, O
Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine iniquities, mine iniquities. He didn't say their
iniquities, which they were. But here, here is the substitute. Here's the substitute right here.
Mine iniquities. Do you think the Spirit of God
would have moved upon David to write that if they weren't truly
the Lord's? Were they truly the Lord's? Yes.
Yes. He bore our guilt in His own
body. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
back and put to shame that wish me evil. Here's the servant. Are you called a servant? Don't
begrudge that for the joy that was set before him. He set his
face like a flint, didn't he, to the cross. Here's the servant. We've been made free from the
lost curse. If those words are ever applied
to me in the day of judgment, I have no hope. I have no hope. Freed from the law's curse. Secondly, freed from the penalty
of sin, the wrath to come. Romans 6.23, For the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. If I'm under the curse of the
law, If I'm freed from the curse of the law, I'm freed from the
penalty and the wages of that curse. If I'm under the law of
the curse, if I'm condemned, I'm going to tell you what's
going to happen. God's going to cast me out. The wages of
sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Listen to John 11, 26. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me. You know what that means? Those
that don't believe in themselves. Whosoever believeth in me shall
never die. Believeth thou this? Do you believe
that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God to God's
people is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord? What are
we freed from? The curse, the condemnation.
Whenever a man, woman stands before a judge and they're found
guilty and that gavel comes down and says, guilty. Well, you're
under the curse of the law now. Whatever the penalty is, if there's
any justice, it's going to be carried out. We're delivered
from the curse and we're delivered from the penalty of that curse.
And we're free not only from the curse of the law and the
penalty of sin, but we're free from the dominion of sin. The
dominion of it. Romans 6, verse 14, "...for sin
shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the
law, but you are under grace." In regenerating grace, the Spirit
of God comes to the recipients of God's mercy. Those that the
Lord has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And He comes to them in time, when it pleases the Lord. When
is a man or a woman going to be converted? When it pleases
the Lord. to call him out of darkness.
He comes under this message right here. The message that gives
all the honor and glory to Christ. And the Spirit of God comes to
him in power and speaks to him in power. It removes a stony
heart. That heart by which sin had dominance
over a person. It dominated him. There was nothing
there of any love or faithfulness before God. Sin dominated them. But now we're free from the dominion
of sin. Now, the presence of sin is still
there. But I tell you what a believer
does not want to do. They don't want to sin. would to the Lord that I was
as faithful as I know I ought to be, I should be, and find
myself at times wanting to be. Somebody said, well you said
that awfully funny. Have you ever found yourself
never, never wanting to rebel against God? Nope. We do. As soon as we do it, we repent
of it. Lord, I'm sorry. I find myself
doing the same things over and over and over that I was guilty
of before. Sin doesn't have the dominion
over God's people. Sin is grievous to God's people. We abhor that old man. We war against it. And ask the
Lord for forgiveness and help. Lord, direct me. Don't leave
me to myself. Why? Because sin doesn't have
dominion over you anymore. You're under grace. We're delivered from the yoke
of Satan. Listen to Colossians 1, 12 and 13. Given thanks unto
the Father which hath made us meet, or partakers, of the inheritance
of the saints in light. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. And I'll tell you one other fear
or freedom that we have. We're delivered from the fear
of death. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, the scripture says, for as much
then as the children or partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage." Because we, the objects of God's mercy, are human. We're human beings. Because we
are human. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world being made flesh to redeem his people from their
sins. Now, to suffer God's judgment
and wrath in the stead of his people. Christ had to be made
in the likeness of sinful flesh. He had to. Why? Because God cannot
die. But to destroy Satan's power
of death toward his chosen, that power that was given him by permission,
God Almighty, being made flesh, could now experience death. And he died The God-man died
for his people, suffering their penalty. I lay down my life for
the sheep. That's what he said, John 10,
15. He suffered sin's penalty for his elect at Calvary and
destroyed for them Satan's power and force. over his sheep. And in so doing, he completely
delivered them. They're free now, free completely,
not being held in bondage anymore from that haunting thing called
death. Now there is a, there's a natural
feeling. I mean, we're, I heard Brother
Scott say we're all created to live forever. And there's an
anxiousness about death. I know that. But I'm going to
tell you something. God's people know this. The Lord's going to deliver them.
They know that. And that's deliverance from that
fear. And now in closing, being freed
from the bondage of the lost curse, free from the penalty
and the dominion of sin, free from the yoke of Satan's stronghold
in the fear of death, we're gloriously declared to be Christ's servants. The greatest freedom we've ever
known. God's people gloriously, lovingly declare, I'm the servant
of the Lord. Listen to this, Romans 1-1. A servant of Jesus Christ. A servant. Doesn't it just thrill
your heart to say, I'm the Lord's servant? Who are you? I'm the Lord's servant. What
do you do? Whatever He's called me to do.
Where do you go? Wherever He leads me. How long
are you going to be there? As long as He leads me there.
Then what are you going to do? Whatever He calls me to until
He calls me home. I'm the Lord's servant. I'm not my own. I'm not a servant of Satan or
man. I'm a servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's sheep, chosen in Him, redeemed
by Him, called unto Him, made willing in the day of God's power,
they bow to Him in true liberty. serving the Master. Who are they? They're the Lord's freemen. Freed men. May God bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.