Exodus chapter 21. All men serve somebody. We're either the servant of sin,
which is going to end in death, or we are the servant of righteousness,
servant of the Lord, terminate in holiness, eternal
life, always being with Him, being separated unto Him. But
we are going to serve somebody. We all serve somebody. Right
now, you that are sitting here, me, we all serve somebody. Either
Christ or we serve the devil, our lust, our flesh. And men
can't A preacher preaching the truth can't make a man into a
servant of God. Only the Lord can do that. It's amazing to me and it's really
been pressed upon me lately how you can preach the Word of God
and show several places, I mean back up what you say, show just
this is what the Word says. Sometime earlier this year I
was preaching somewhere and I had shown three, four scriptures. I believe I was showing where
the Lord's, I can't remember what it was, but there was some
doctrine I was showing. I showed three or four places
where it was just clearly said in the Word of God. As soon as
I got out of the pulpit, somebody met me and they said, well you
know Charles Spurgeon said, Yeah, but we just saw what God
said. Spurgeon's not inspired of God. I'm thankful for Brother Spurgeon. I'm thankful for John Gill. I'm
thankful for faithful men of the past when what they say is
right there in the Word of God and they help me get some light
on it. But when it doesn't agree with the Word of God, Even if
it's a brother that I dearly love, I'm not going to accept
that. I'm going to go with God's word.
You try to show, but men will hold the creeds, they'll hold
the traditions of uninspired men. This is what we've always
believed. And you can show right in the
Word of God. Just look at this. Look how clear
this is. I'm not saying believe me. I
don't want you to believe in me. I'm trying to say believe
the Word of God right here. Submit to Him. And men, unless
God gives them a heart and makes them submit to God and drop whatever
doesn't agree with God, they'll hang on to what an uninspired
man said over what God's Word said. I want to be brought to submit
everything to Him, everything to His Word and be His servant. Don't you? That's what I want. Well, we saw in Exodus 19 and
20 how that God starts this work of making His servant by using
the law as our schoolmaster. And He brings us to see the thunder
and the lightning and the quaking and the smoke in the face of
God's holiness, seeing we're guilty. He uses the law to show
us that. and he makes us cry out for a
mediator. When they saw the mountain smoking
and God was giving the law and they said they were all washed
up and thought they could come to God and they ran back and
said, Moses, you go to God and speak to God for us and come
tell us what he said. But we can't speak to God unless
we die. That's where God's got to bring
us to make us know we have to have a mediator because God's
holy and we're sinners. And when He's brought you there,
He brought them there, then He told them, He said, He sent Moses,
He said, God's proving you. He's proving you. He's assaying
you. Remember what assaying was? He's
proving that you're His, that He's truly created a new man
in you. You're the genuine article. And
He said, now here's what you'll do. He said, you'll come to Me
with a lamb, through blood, and you'll come to Me upon an altar
that's going to sanctify all your works. And that picture
is Christ. Once He's revealed the law to
us, made us here we're guilty, and He's made us cry out for
a mediator, He shows us, now here's how you can come. You
come through faith in Christ the Lamb of God, who put away
the sin of His people by His blood, and made us righteous,
and He's our altar who sanctifies all our service to God and makes
it accepted of God. And then after that, he begins
now in Exodus 21, he starts to give us some judgments, statutes,
civil statutes. And he says there in Exodus 21.1,
now the judgments, these are the judgments which thou shalt
set before them. And these judgments now typify
the Lord Jesus Christ. They're given, now he brought
us to this point where he made us to see the only way you can
come to God is Christ establishing the law for you. And Christ sanctifying
you, making you holy and righteous so that now God will accept your
service. And now He's going to show us
in a type, in a picture, how God brings us to willingly serve
Him. And it's not through law. It's
not law that makes us do it. He's giving a law here, but in
this law what He's showing is how God makes us willing to serve
Him. We declare to men we're not under
the law, we're under grace. The just shall walk by faith
and the law is not of faith. The rule we're under is we're
waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith. Faith which worketh
by love. And the way we're brought to
serve Him and our rule of life, when we say faith is our rule
of life, it's Christ, the object of our faith. who's making us
willing to serve Him. And when we talk about being
constrained by love, it's the love of Christ for us that makes
us love Him and want to serve Him. And that's what we see in
this next judgment, this statute. God provided these laws for men
who fell into debt. This was a law for a man who
fell into debt, couldn't pay his debts, or he had committed
a crime. And God made this law for that
man so that they could be bought as a servant, to be a slave,
a servant. They had to be bought now by
the person they owed or by the person that they had committed
a crime against and they could work off their debt. They could
make restitution by serving the person they had offended. God
provided this for the person that had been offended and for
the person that did the offending. For the person that was in debt
and the person that was owed. But God also provided laws here,
we are going to see as we go through Exodus. He also provided
these laws to tell those masters how they had to treat those servants
and how long they could serve, they could keep them serving
and when they had to set them free and what they had to provide
for them when they set them free. And so this was all mercy. Everything
about this was mercy. And we see in that what a good
and gracious God we have. We see something else in that.
We see how sinful we are. Because he had to give that law
to make men treat their servants like they ought to be treated.
And make the servant treat the master like he ought to be treated. But let's read it now, we'll
see. And I want to show you this, verse 2. If thou by 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. If his master have given him
a wife, that is, if he came in with a wife, If he was married
when he came in, his wife would go out with him. But if his master
has given him a wife while he was in servitude, and she has
borne him sons or 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 to the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door, unto the doorpost. This thing had to be legal and
had to be done before many witnesses. And it says, and his master shall
bore his ear through with an awl. This is not just a little
prick like you get in your ears pierced. He bored through his
ear with an awl making a large mark in his ear. Sort of like
a brand, but a big mark in his ear, opened his ear. And he did
it before everybody, he did it legally so that everybody knew
this servant now is the willing non-servant of this master. He's no more a slave anymore.
Now he's serving because he wants to. He's willingly serving the
master. And it says, and he shall serve
him forever. Now this statute, this judgment
that God gave, this civil law God gave, shows us how Christ
brings his people to not need any law like this at all. He
brings us to not need this at all. You reckon after that servant
was brought and he said, I love my master, I want to serve him.
He was brought, his ear was pierced through. You reckon he had to
have that law anymore? No. He's serving His Master now
because He wants to. And that's what we see here,
how Christ brings us to rule our hearts in love and make us
willing to serve Him out of love and not needing the constraint
of law whatsoever. I've titled this, The Willing
Servant. Now this servant who loved his master, loved his wife,
loved his children so much that he willingly said, I want to
serve my master forever. This servant is Christ Jesus
the Lord, the Son of God. That's who's typified here. You
know the first five books of the Bible are written by Moses.
And all that Moses wrote and all the scriptures, period, are
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord when He was
on the road to Emmaus after He had arisen and He made Himself
unknown to the two disciples that were walking along and He
was talking to them and they were all down and out because
they thought Christ had died and that He was not really the
Christ. And the Lord said, and it says,
beginning at Moses, Right here what we're reading now, our Lord,
I'm sure our Lord taught them the gist of what I'm fixing to
teach you today. Showed them the sense of this
Scripture right here. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself. This whole book's concerning
Christ. God's going to have all eyes on Christ. We've seen that,
haven't we? We started this. This is our
Old Testament study. We started this in Genesis 1-1.
We saw Christ in the creation. We saw Christ in the animals
that God slew to make coats of skin to cover Adam and Eve's
neck. We saw Christ in Abel's lamb that he brought. We saw
Christ in Noah's ark. We saw Christ in Joshua. On and
on and on. We saw Christ in the Passover
lamb and the manna from heaven. And so now here we are, we're
seeing Christ in this willing servant. It's Christ we're talking
about. I want you to see this. First
of all, the Lord Jesus willingly, voluntarily became the servant
of God the Father. Christ willingly, voluntarily
became the servant of God the Father. Now the Hebrew servant
here in our text, at first, initially, he became a servant involuntarily. It says in verse 2, if thou buy
a Hebrew servant. But the Son of God from the beginning
voluntarily, willingly took the form of a servant. Go to Philippians
chapter 2. You're familiar with this, some
of you, but I want everybody to see it. Philippians 2 and
Mark Philippians 2. I'll come back here at the end.
Philippians 2. And look at verse 5, Philippians
2, 5. He says, Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Now here's the mind of Christ,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant. And was made in the likeness
of men. He promised the Father this in
eternity in the covenant of grace. Remember Paul is a picture of
this. It's one place where imputation
is used like this where Paul said to Onesimus if Philemon
has, did I get that back? Philemon had owned Onesimus or
Onesimus had owned Philemon? Anyhow, he told the owner that
if his servant had harmed him in any way and owed him anything,
he said, put that on my account. Charge that to me. Impute that
to me. I'll pay it. That's what Christ did in eternity.
He said, whatever they owe you, I'll go and I'll pay it. Now
when it came time to pay it, it had to literally be put on
his account. before God would impute it to
him and charge it to him. But he said this from the beginning,
whatever they owe you, I'll take it. I'll pay it. I'll pay it. And so when the time came, our
Lord Jesus Christ, God of every God, the second person in the
Trinity, He voluntarily, willingly came down and took the form of
a servant. made flesh like unto His brethren,
made under the law. And He came to serve God in a
way His people could not serve God. To do for us what we could
not do for ourselves. He took our place. And the Lord
God said all through the Scriptures He would do this. He said in
Zechariah 3.8, Behold, I will bring forth My servant, the branch,
He said in Isaiah 52, you're familiar with this, Isaiah 52.13,
God said, Behold, My servant shall deal prudently, he shall
be exalted and extolled and be very high. And then He said in
Isaiah 53.11, He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied. By his knowledge shall My righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. This was the word that God said
and then when Christ walked this earth, you remember He was walking
this earth and He was with His disciples and they were arguing
about who's the greatest and our Lord said, whether it's greater
He that sits at meat or He that serves. Which one in your mind
do you think is the greatest? The person who sits down at the
table and is eating and is being served or the person who's doing
the serving and serving that person. Which one do you think
is greatest? We're backwards in everything we think because
of sin. The greater one, God said, is
he that serves. And the Lord said that day, I
am among you as he that serveth. He came to serve His people. And when He took the form of
the servant, it was voluntary, brethren. He said in John 6.51,
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. He said, I'm doing this willingly,
I'm giving this freely, willingly. He said, as the Father knows
me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the
sheep. I lay it down. He said, no man
takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. That's Scripture. This was
voluntarily. Our Savior illustrated His willingness
to give Himself and serve for His people that night when our
Lord bowed down and washed the dirty feet of His disciples. He did. He bowed down and washed
the feet of His disciples. He served us. He came to serve
His people. He said, I didn't come to be
ministered to, I came to minister to you. Oh, let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. Don't you want this mind to be
in you? Don't you want to be one who serves your brethren
instead of your brethren serving you? I want to be one who's listening
to the problems of my brethren, not one who's constantly telling
them all my problems. I want to be one who's trying
my best to help my brethren and do whatever I can to comfort
my brethren and point my brethren to Christ. I want to serve my
brethren. On whatever capacity the Lord
would have me do it, I pray, Lord, make me your servant. Don't you want that? It's through hearing of His work
like we see pictured right here. It's through hearing this gospel
and seeing what He did that He makes His children willing servants. This is it. You know men stand
up and they preach law and they preach works and they preach
morality and they're trying to create a people who are moral
and who serve God and appear honorable before this world.
That's what they're trying to create. That's not how you create
it. By preaching morality and constantly
telling people what they ought to be doing and leaving out Christ
and not shutting sinners up to Christ and not telling sinners
how sinful we are. We have to be constantly hearing
we're sinners, we're guilty, we're unable to do anything and
we have to hear how that Christ came and served for us and did
all this for us and this makes you see the love of our Redeemer
in serving us and this makes you willing to want to serve
Him. Which one, let me ask you this,
which one makes you want to serve more? Somebody that comes in
And they're angry, and they start yelling at you and telling you,
you're supposed to do this, and you need to be doing this. And
if you don't do it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or somebody
that comes in and said, let me help you. and they take up the
work and they start doing the work and they make excuse for
you. I know you've been laden with
work and you've been busy. You got so much on your plate.
I know you're supposed to do this. Let me help you do it.
I'll help you. Let me take some of this burden off of you. That
makes you want to get up and go right to work doing what you're
supposed to do. Love is what constrains God's people, not
law. So thus He voluntarily, brethren. Now behold this, our Lord is
not going to make you be His servant. If we are not voluntarily
willing to be His servant, He is not going to have us serve
Him. But the way He makes you volunteer and want to willingly
serve Him, this is the power of God to make you willing. He
shows you how voluntarily and how willingly He came and served
for His people, for you. Secondly, the Lord Jesus served
God to make restitution for His people who could not do so. He came to make restitution to
God for us because we couldn't do it. And when it says there
in verse 2, If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve. Now, the Hebrew servant is a
servant because he sold himself because of either poverty or
crime. As we go later through Exodus,
we're going to see that, but just for time, let me tell you.
He's serving because of poverty or crime. That's why he's a servant. He sold himself into servitude. Now, six in Scripture is the
number of man. Everybody talks about the number
of the beast being 666. If you read the next phrase,
it says, it's the number of man. Six, six, six. And that number
is the number of incompletion. It's the number of failure. It's
the number of frustration. That's the number of man because
we didn't complete. God completed the work in six
days. We haven't completed anything.
We haven't completed anything. We failed. So God says a man
can serve six years. That was to be the length of
time of his servitude. Now all of this is picturing
you and me who sold ourselves into sin. We committed the crime
against God and Adam and by our own transgressions and we sold
ourselves. We're poor, we're bankrupt, we
can't give the law what it It deserves what it demands and
we sold ourselves into servitude, into sin, into bondage. But Christ
came willingly. He came willingly to serve in
place of His people, to establish the righteousness of the law
for His people before God. He came to pay God everything
His people owed and make full restitution to God for all our
crimes and all our debts. That's why Christ came. Listen
to Deuteronomy 9.24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression. to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision and the prophecy, to anoint the most
holy. This is what Christ was sent
to do. He was sent to put an end to the transgression, to
make an end of sins, to make reconciliation to God for the
iniquity of His people. He was sent to bring in everlasting
righteousness for His people. He said, think not that I came
to destroy the law. I didn't come to destroy it.
He said that because the Pharisees, because of his gospel, the Pharisees
said to him what men say to us. They said, you're anti-law. And
he said, don't think I came to destroy the law. I didn't come
to destroy the law or the prophets. I came to fulfill the law and
the prophets. He came to serve for his people
because we were in debt and we couldn't fulfill the law. He
came to fulfill it for us. Verily I say unto you, till heaven
and earth pass, one jot, one tittle, one dotting of the I,
one crossing of the T shall not pass till this whole law be fulfilled. Men say that we are anti-law. We have a great reverence for
the law, brethren. Believers have a great reverence
for the law because God's law demands perfection. God demands
absolute perfect righteousness in thought, word, and deed with
no sin whatsoever. And we're not going to bring
that law down to men's level and present it to sinners in
such a way that to make a sinner think he can fulfill it and keep
it. We're not going to do that because
of the honor we have for the law, the respect and reverence
we have for God's law. We're not going to do that. Rather
what we do declare is God's Son had to come and do it for His
people because we couldn't. That's before we were believed
and after we believed. We still can't keep that law.
And if you're honest, you know that. Don't you? We know we can't
keep the law. I want to. I cannot have graven
images in my house and we took the graven image down off the
front of this building. We don't want anything materialistic
to represent God in worship because worship of God is spiritual.
But yet, We're idolaters in our hearts. There's plenty of idols
in my heart come between me and God. I can't say I've ever fulfilled
that law. I don't want to do anything to
harm my brethren, to commit murder, and if Lord help me, I'm not
going to commit physical adultery on that woman. I love her. But my heart's desperately wicked. I've never kept the law. Not
now and not before I knew God. That's why God sent His Son. He came to serve in the place
of His people. To serve God the Master. So from
His birth through all His days, He served God perfectly, brethren.
That's why He was born of a virgin. He wasn't even conceived in sin
like me and you are. He came forth from the womb and
I guarantee you when He came forth from His womb, I guarantee
you He didn't cry. You and I, as soon as we hit
that cold air, we scream out because we are angry about it.
I guarantee you, he came forth and he was an obedient child
from the moment he hit the open air. And he went, when he was
eight days old, he went to the temple to be circumcised because
that was the law. And Paul said, and every man
that is circumcised, he is a debtor to keep the whole law. And he
did. He kept it all. He walked before
God perfectly. He was constantly, thoroughly,
always in thought, word and deed about his father's business.
And as Scripture says, and he did always that which pleased
the Father. Always. And he did that. He did it for his people. And
here's the third thing. In the seventh year, the servant
had an option. In the seventh year, the servant
had an option. Look here now, verse 2. At the
end it says, in the seventh year, in the seventh year he should
go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
should go out by himself. If he was married when he came
in, his wife would go out with him. But if his master has given
him a wife and she's born sons or daughters, the wife and her
children should be her masters. And he'll go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife,
My children, I will not go out for him. Then his master shall
bring him to the judges, and he shall also bring him to the
door or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with it all, and he shall serve him forever. Turn over
to Matthew 26. Our Lord Jesus Christ came, and
He willingly served willingly took the form of a servant, and
he willingly served the Father all the days of his life. And
then it came time for him to go to the cross. But our Lord
told Peter, remember when the soldiers came to cut off, and
Peter cut the soldier's ear off? What our Lord says right here,
He tells Peter, Peter, I've got an option. I can go out free. Look here, Matthew 26, 53. Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels? You don't think He'll
deliver me from this? But look what He says next. But
how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must
be? God the Father whom he served
hath given him a wife and some sons and daughters. He was given
a bride in eternity. His elect. God's elect. And as he walked this earth,
God had caused her to bear many sons and daughters to him. Those
he'd called out. And there were many more that
had yet to be called out. Sons and daughters. Elect children
of God. Now, if he had gone out without going to the cross, he
would have gone out by himself. He would have gone out by himself. But he is the willing, righteous
servant of God. And he said, I love my master.
I love my wife. I love my sons and my daughters. I will not go out free. He said, Peter, put your sword
up. Put your sword up. Christ loved God the Father perfectly. With all His heart, soul, mind,
body and strength. And He loved His bride. He loved
all God's elect the same way. And therefore, He would not go
out free. He would not go out free. He
knew what he was facing and he would not go out for it. This
is why Paul called it the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Brethren, aren't you thankful
that having loved his own, he loved them until the end? Aren't
you thankful? He wouldn't go out for it. So
what was done next then? Look at verse 6. Exodus 21. Then
his master shall bring him unto the judges. Immediately, our
Lord Jesus Christ, after He was there with Peter, He was leaving
the Garden of Gethsemane. The soldiers came and by His
willing consent, He allowed them to arrest Him. And they took
Him before some judges. They were corrupt judges. They
were just trying to protect their political position and protect
their false religion. That's all they were doing. They
were corrupt judges. But our Lord Jesus was brought
before the just judge of heaven and earth. He was brought before
the just judge of heaven and earth. And everything that our Lord
did in being made sin and bearing the wrath of God in the place
of His people. Everything that He did was perfectly
right and perfectly just. It was all done in righteousness.
It was all done in justice. You know, I want you to be sure
to hear this. When I'm saying Christ was made
sin, and I show you in the scripture, it said Christ was made sin.
He made Him sin. He laid on Him the iniquity. He bore in His body our sin. That's what it says. And I just
imagine the pushback Paul got when he said that. But that's
what it says. And what I'm saying to you is,
is God didn't charge the Lord Jesus. He in Himself was just
dying for the unjust. He's spotless. He's laying down
His life for His people. But God didn't just impute or
charge sin to Him and treat Him like He was sin. That's not what
happened, brethren. That wouldn't be just. What I'm
saying to you is God However God did it, He constituted him
to really be sin. Before the eye of God, before
the law of God, before the judgment of God. That's not saying anything
about in his body or anything about corruption in him. That's
just talking about before the law of God. He's constituted
to be sin. So that God justly could be in
accordance with every other scripture where God says, I will not condemn
the just and I will not overlook the wicked. God poured out wrath
on him because it was the just thing to do. He's manifesting
the righteousness of God. How the judge always does right. And I'm saying this to you too.
You know, when Adam was made sin, he was corrupted. but not
Christ. He's the God-man. And what you
see Him saying in the Psalms is, I am without strength. My strength is failing. But He
kept looking to the Father. He kept looking to God the Father. He wasn't corrupted by it. He strove against it. He wasn't
corrupted by it. But what I'm saying to you is
this too. He really did you know, shame and the feeling of guilt
and the feeling of having rejected the father. All the
feeling of our infirmity. He really was touched with that.
And my point in this is it was just more, there's, I sometimes
wish I could tell you some things. I just, I think it's better off
not saying it. When a man is going to use a
doctrine of eternal justification, you know we preach Christ was
We were justified in the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. We were justified at the cross. We're justified
in our experience when He gives us faith. And we'll be justified
one day when we stand before God and He declares us just before
the whole world. J.C. Philpott preached that. Fourfold justification. And if
a man, if you're sitting in a room and you're talking to some men
and you know those men, you realize these men are fixing to use the
doctrine of fourfold justification and try to cause a division amongst
my brethren. And then later, they hear this
doctrine of Christ made sin and they say, ah, that's a better
doctrine to use and they totally drop the doctrine of justification
and use the doctrine of Christ made sin. With first-hand experience
of this happening, sitting in the room with men that do this,
that tells me they don't care nothing about the doctrine. Nothing. All they care about is trying
to get whatever pulpit they're trying to get and get the following
they're trying to get. That's it. But I'm not going to, just because
men do something like that, I'm not going to change my doctrine
and change what I preach and say, oh it was just a, all it
was was a legal transaction. It really, is that all What Christ
did to Christ, is that all it is to you? He said, is it nothing
to you? Do you not behold the sorrow? It's like no other sorrow anybody
ever endured. I'm not saying Christ was made
a sinner. A sinner is a rebel. A sinner
is somebody that Adam took that fruit rebelliously against God.
That's a sinner. Christ was not made a sinner.
Christ was made to be looked at by God as the one guilty man
standing in place of all His people. In Himself, He's just
laying down His life for the unjust. But before the law of
God, when it came time to pay it, God couldn't just charge
it to Him. God had to justly make it a just thing for Him
to pour out wrath on Him. And God did that. And for him
to be a merciful high priest, he had to know something about
our sin. And he knows everything about
it. He was touched with the feeling of it. He was tempted in all
points as we are. But he himself never sinned. And men want to twist my words
and tell people, don't go there, don't go to his friends, don't
assemble with them because they're preaching Christ was a sinner.
That's a bald-faced lie. That's a bald-faced lie. That's
not what we're doing. We're preaching what we've always
preached. But this thing was done justly.
He brought him to that judge and it was done justly. And it
was done publicly. It was done also at the door
or the door post. Everything Christ accomplished
was accomplished before many witnesses. He said this thing
wasn't done in a corner. It was done publicly for all
to see. And his master shall bore his ear through with an
awe. His master opened his ear, he marked him so that everybody
knew he was the willing bondservant of his master. Turn to Isaiah
50. The Lord Jesus gives a better
commentary on this than I can. Isaiah 50, right here. This is
Christ speaking. Isaiah 50 verse 5, The Lord God
hath opened mine ear. And he spelled that in a direct
relation to that willing bondservant. He's saying, I'm a willing servant
of my Father. He's put His all through my ear.
He's opened my ear. And I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back, We're made by His righteous obedience. Made
righteous by His obedience. I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore
shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is
near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that should condemn
me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall
eat them up. Our Lord Jesus said, He's near that justifies
me. He's near that justifies me. He hung there on that cross bearing
the just wrath of God in place of His people. until justice
was totally satisfied. And then he cried out and he
said, it is finished. It is finished. All the debt
that his bride and his children owed to God, he paid it. This
Hebrew servant was there because he owed a debt. Christ took our
place and he paid all the debt his people owed. We owed restitution
to God. That Hebrew servant was there
because he was making restitution to the one that he had committed
a crime against, the one he had stolen from. Christ made full
restitution to God for His people. He gave them above and beyond
but what we owed Him. and it's all paid in full. And our text says of that willing
bondservant, and he shall serve Him forever. He shall serve Him
forever. Look back at Philippians 2.8. It says, being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and he became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him. He highly exalted God, and God
has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, things
in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. He served
Him forever. He raised Him from the dead.
Now, go back to our text. Let me close this up. Christ
is willingly serving the Father right now, bringing this Word
to each of His people. And He comes to us who sold ourselves
into the slavery of sin and we've been serving in bondage for six
long years. We're incomplete, we're frustrated,
we haven't fulfilled anything. But through the Gospel, He declares
the seventh year has come. Jubilee has come. The Spirit
declares in our hearts that because Christ paid it all, we're free
and we can go out free without money and without price. We're
free to go. We're free because Christ made
us free. And when He makes you hear this,
when He makes you hear, when He makes you see what He bore
on that cross, and He makes you see what He did for you, He makes
you see what an awesome price He had to pay to make you free.
And He comes and He says to you now, you're free from the law.
The law has no more claim on you anymore. The law is done
with you. It won't say anything else to
you. He makes that person say, I love
my master. Oh, I love my master. I love
his bride. I love his children. I will not
go out free. I'm not going to go out. I want
to serve Him forever. I want to. And so the Lord puts
His mark on you. You remember the mark? We are
the circumcision. Here's the mark. We worship God
in spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
we have no confidence in the flesh. And He makes you... And look,
I want to show you something. Deuteronomy 15.13. This is so...
Oh boy. Look here. Deuteronomy 15.13. When God's law said when the
servant was set free, the master had to do something for that
servant. Look here. Deuteronomy 15.13. When thou sendest him out free
from thee, Thou shalt not let him go away empty. Thou shalt
furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor,
and out of thy winepress. Of that wherewith the Lord thy
God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him. You're going to
give him. Can you imagine that? Here's
somebody who's served and he leaves and he's getting ready
to go out free and the pastor gives him all this, heaps all
this on him to send him out. Well, the Lord comes to us and
He says, you're free, you're free. But listen to what He says,
Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Cry unto Israel,
speak ye comfortably to her, and tell her her warfare is accomplished,
her iniquities pardoned, she's received of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins. He not only put away our sins.
He not only justified us. He gave us His robe of righteousness. He gave us His holiness. He gave
us free redemption. He gave us everything above and
beyond what we lost like we saw this morning. And He says, now
you're free. You don't have to do anything. You're not required by law to
do anything anymore. And we say, I love Him. I love
my bride, I love my sons and daughters, and so we serve Him
because we want to. He's made us willing by what
He did. He's such a loving Master. That's
what we mean, brethren, when we say we're not under law, we're
under grace. That's what we mean when we say
we walk by faith, constrained by love. Beholding by faith what
great things our loving, wonderful Master has done for us. He's
so good to us. It's so good in His house. It's
not like being a servant at all. And He's done so much above and
beyond for us. We want to willingly serve Him. That's how He's made us willing
by His power. By His love. And so we want to
serve Him. That's the difference between
law and grace. Alright. Brother Art.