This congregation has been taught
to sing. There's some good singing here.
You sing out. I've asked Brother Frank Hall
to read the Scripture and lead us in prayer. Frank is pastor
of Sovereign Grace Assemblies in Kannapolis. We're about two
hours from here. Lord willing, we'll get to know
each other over the years. So Frank, you come here. Let's open our Bibles to Acts
chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. And in this chapter, Paul preaches
the gospel in Thessalonica. He's persecuted. He flees to
Berea. He preaches the gospel there.
Then he ends up in Athens and preaches the gospel on Mars Hill.
One man, one gospel, three cities. Acts chapter 17, verse 1. Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where was
a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must
needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that
this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. and some of them
believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout
Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto
them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered
a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the
house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren
unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned
the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason hath
received. And these all do contrary to
the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one
Jesus. And they troubled the people
and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And
when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they
let them go. And the brethren immediately
sent Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed,
also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a
few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of
God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came hither thither also
and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren
sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea. But Silas and Timotheus
abode there still. And they that conducted Paul
brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment unto
Silas and Timotheus, for to come to him with all speed they departed. Now while Paul waited for them
at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly
given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the
synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and
in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain
philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered
him, and some said, What will this babbler say? Others some,
he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached
unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought
him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine
whereof thou speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange
things to our ears. We would know therefore what
these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers
which were there spent their time in nothing else but either
to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things ye are too superstitious. The word is religious. For as
I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription,
To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare
I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is worship
with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth
and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds
of their habitation. that they should seek the Lord,
if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be
not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and
have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said,
for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is
like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee
again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them,
Howbeit, certain men clave unto him, and believed, among the
witch was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and
others with them." I pray that God would add His blessings to
that portion of His Word. Let's pray together. Our great
and merciful Heavenly Father, we thank You for another opportunity
to meet together in Your house to worship Your beloved Son.
We thank you above all other things, Father, for your unspeakable
gift of Christ Jesus, our Savior. Thank you for his precious redeeming
blood. Thank you for his obedience on
our behalf. We pray, O our God, that you
would establish us in the gospel and fix our hearts upon him who
loved us and gave himself for us. We pray, Father, that you would
grant us grace to number our days, that we might
apply our hearts to wisdom, that we might, by your grace, through
faith in your beloved Son, prepare to meet Him in judgment. Thank
you for this weekend. Thank you for every message.
Be with our brother as he preaches the gospel this morning. Grant
him acceptable words that magnify and laud our glorious Savior,
who freely laid down his life to save us from our sins. Thank
you for him. It's in His name we pray. Amen. Oh my God and Savior came. Lord Jesus was his name. King in a manger. For his own
a stranger. A man of sorrows. My breath, my sunshine, my all
in all. The Great Creator became my Savior. Well mettled in the hymn. What one ascension, bringing
us redemption. That in the heaven-abiding, not
one thing to hold in sight. To win, to save, to win, to save,
to win, to win, to win. My breath, my sunshine, my all
in all, a great creation. in Him. Without the offense,
flesh and blood is substance. He took the form of man. He built His kingdom on land. And now I know the worst way
to my end. Oh, how I love him! How I adore
him! By all in all, the Great Creator
became my Savior, and on the smallest wellness That's good. Oh, it's been a good few days,
hasn't it? The Lord has blessed us. I was
sitting there thinking, I said, the only thing I can think to
say about these services is wow. Wow. The Lord has spoken. I believe
He has. I was sitting there thinking
what Manoah's wife said. And he thought, he said, the
Lord's going to kill us when he saw the angel go up. She said,
he wouldn't have shown us all these things if he was going
to kill us. He wouldn't have done, no. The power of God in preaching
the gospel wouldn't be here like this if he was going to kill
us. So Don, you come and preach one more time. Thank you, Pastor. Before I preach to you, I want
to take just a few minutes to talk to you very plainly as a
friend and a friend with some experience. You know you're getting
old when you look at folks and they're gray headed and you've
been preaching to them all their lives. And I experience that
a good bit wherever I go. I am so honored, so delighted,
thankful for these pastors who've been here this weekend, with
Mike Sandin, Frank Stacey, and Mike Barton, Debbie, coming down
from Ashland. So honored by your presence and
you being here. God does everything just the
right way. God does everything just the
right way, at just the right time. Back a few years ago, I
was preaching up in North Wilkesboro, where I'm going this afternoon,
where the Mike Walker pastored for how many years, Mike? 15
years. I went and preached for him every year for 15 years,
all the time he was there. And at the same time, would preach
just a little ways north of him for Brother Linwood Campbell,
who pastored at Rock Creek. And then Southern Baptist Church,
they kicked him out and Linwood started meeting with some folks
in his home over in Boonville. And the folks at Cottageville,
West Virginia had asked Mike to come be their pastor. Mike
and I went out to lunch. Folks at Cottageville, most of
those folks I've known all their lives. I've been connected with
them since the mid-70s. And dear, dear friends, they've
been without a pastor for a long time. I mean, a long time. And God had sustained them, kept
them together. And Mike asked me, he said, Brother
Don, I need to ask you. He said, you think it's right
for a man to leave one congregation and go to another? And I said
to him, I wouldn't make that judgment for anybody. But I think
that if it's a situation where both the church he pastors and
the folks calling him, and he are convinced this is what God
would have them to do, indeed it's right. He told me the folks
who called him in Cottageville, and he was considering it. And
I said, Mike, you're in an unusual situation. It happened to be
that most of the folks he was preaching to in North Wilkesboro
had been under Brother Linwood's ministry at Rock Creek. And when
they kicked him out of Rock Creek, they came down to North Wilkesboro.
And then Linwood started to work over in his house, tried to.
And the folks he started with were all either dead or gone,
except for his family. I said, I just think, I don't
know, I think maybe then we'll make a good fit right here and
folks will be tickled to death to have him and his family come
down with him. And Mike accepted to work at
North Wilkesboro and they never missed a Sunday dinner. Next
Sunday, everything going to look great. God put Mike where he
needed to be, put Linwood where he needed to be, and now he put
John Chapman where he needs to be. I'm fully convinced, I am
fully convinced God has a work, a specific work for every man
he calls and sends to preach the gospel to do in a specific
place with a specific people. And he repairs those people for
that man and that man for those people. And it fit together like
hand in glove. It just works. It just works. I told your pastor this morning,
Unless I'm mistaken, two of the most important, profitable meetings
I've ever had in my life as a preacher with a group of people, were
the first meeting I had here with you. I came here and preached
for you in January, February, and Brother Rupert scheduled
a meeting, and I said, what about weather? He said, won't be any
problem down here. And I drove up the next morning, I woke up
and my Oldsmobile sitting over there in six inches of ice. And
we met around Rupert's dining room table, just a few men who
could get there, Betty and I think maybe Judy got over there with
Doug, I'm not sure. But just met for a few days and
God gave us a blessed, blessed time. And now, these many years
later, don't forget what God has done for you in giving you
Rupert Reichenbach to be your faithful pastor for so many,
many years. I'm gonna tell you a little secret.
I'm gonna tell you a little secret. I don't know a single gospel
preacher who could have survived with you what he survived with
you and you survived with him during all the trouble you had.
If it'd been Don Fortner, I'm like a bullet in a china shop,
but I'd have blowed everything up. I'd have lit the dynamite
and thrown it in. But Rupert patiently, wisely,
with divine direction guided you and God established this
solid gospel witness here. And don't ever do him the dishonor
or your present pastor the dishonor of comparing the two to one another,
except in the most favorable of ways, by the gospel they preach. And as God led you and you followed
your pastor, may God lead you as you follow your pastor now.
Many, many years ago, I went to here at the funeral of a dear
friend of mine, Brother Watson Dufour. He was Brian Dufour's
granddaddy. He was my dear friend in West
Virginia. And at his request, the deacons
in the church handled his funeral service. And Brother Harold Cole
made this statement as he prayed. I won't forget it till I die.
He said, Lord, we've followed our pastor as far as we can follow
him. Send us another one. God sent you another pastor.
Follow him, follow him. Follow him as he follows God,
and God will honor you even more tomorrow than he has all these
past years. All right, thank you, thank you,
thank you for being my friend, for praying for me. Turn with
me, if you will, to Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21 This chapter Is a chapter in which God begins
to give his civil statutes his civil judgments to Israel and
These next chapters, chapter 21, 22, 23, are all full of simple
statutes. Statutes given to Israel, remember
were given just to Israel. These laws were never given to
Gentiles anywhere at any time in history. They were given to
the nation of Israel and only to that nation because the nation
of Israel represented God's church, his true Israel, the Israel of
God. And the laws and statutes God
gave to the nation of Israel were all messianic. It'll help you enormously in
understanding the Old Testament Scriptures, to understand that
all the laws God gave Israel, the Ten Commandments, the civil
laws, the moral laws, the worship laws, the laws concerning the
priesthood, the tabernacle, every law God gave to that nation,
was messianic. They were intended to point us
to, to prophesy of, to typify, to portray redemption, salvation,
and grace by the Lord Jesus Christ. They had no other purpose. They were given for no other
purpose but to point us to the Savior. These civil judgments,
these civil statutes, begin with the law of the bond slave, Exodus
21 verses 1 through 6. This is the very first civil
statute God gave to the children of Israel. It appears to me that
this statute is the basis of all that follow the ones that
come after this. Let's begin reading here in Exodus
21 verse six. This very first statute given
to the children of Israel was a blessed picture of redemption
and grace by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now these are the judgments,
the statutes, which thou shalt set before thee. If thou buy
an Hebrew servant, six years shall he 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, and she have 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 under the judges, and he shall also bring him to the
door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awe, and he shall serve him forever. The servant spoken of here is
our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. He's the one typified, Christ
the servant. That's my subject this morning.
Christ the servant. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
son, he who is God the son, became God's servant. so that he might redeem and save
his people from their sins. Before the world began, he contracted
himself out as Jehovah's righteous servant, and he came in time
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, that is to serve
and to give his life a ransom for many. How beautiful it is
to see and know the Son of God in this relationship, as is described
here and throughout the Scriptures. The eye of faith sees the servant
and rejoices in his work. The whole of our everlasting
salvation hangs upon this man who is Jehovah and Jehovah's
servant. This man who by his servitude
to God brought in everlasting righteousness, put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself, arose from the dead and entered into
glory, having obtained eternal redemption for us. This Jesus,
as you read just a moment ago, He and He alone is the Christ. This Jesus, who by his obedience
as Jehovah's servant brought in everlasting righteousness,
by his obedience as Jehovah's servant sacrificed himself as
substitute for sinners and put away sin by his death. This man,
this Jesus, as he arose from the dead and took the reins of
universal monarchy, seated on the throne of David. This is
the Christ who obtained eternal redemption for us. And the scripture
says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. That's significant. Whosoever believeth that this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, who lived on this earth 2,000 years ago,
who suffered at the hands of the Romans and the Jews, the
cruelest of imaginable deaths, died as God's sacrifice, arose
from the dead, and fulfilled everything God in his law and
in his prophets said Christ would do. That Jesus, he is the Christ. Any imaginary Jesus who did not
absolutely, completely, totally, with finality, fulfill everything
written in the prophets about the Christ, he's a fake. And
you'll go to hell if you trust him. This is the Christ. This is the Savior. This is He
of whom Moses and the law and the prophets and the Psalms spoke.
Let me show you five things here from Leviticus 21, one through
six. I won't be long doing it, but
I want you to get it. First, the Lord Jesus Christ
is Jehovah's servant because He chose to be Jehovah's servant. The Bonn servant here was the
servant of his master forever because he chose to be his servant. We understand and rejoice to
know that this servant is himself God, one with the Father, one
in being, one in greatness, one in glory, in all things equal
with the Father and the Spirit. In the eternal deity, our Lord
Jesus Christ is altogether equal with his Father. but he willingly,
voluntarily became God's servant, the servant of Jehovah, that
he might save his people from their sins. He became our surety
because he wanted us. He became our mediator because
he loved his God and our God, the glory of God, and for the
glory of God, in the saving of sinners, he came down here to
redeem and save his people as Jehovah's servant. You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? have it though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. Do you know how rich he was? In the splendor of his everlasting
Godhead, and yet he voluntarily emptied himself. He became poor
that we, through his poverty, this man who possesses everything,
who created everything, who owns everything as God, emptied himself. so poor that he was made sin
for us and took on himself all our debt that we could never
pay and satisfied the justice of God for us in the sacrifice
of himself. He became poor that you through
his poverty might be made rich. Oh, wondrous, wondrous grace
this is. Jesus Christ, our God. We're Trinitarians. We worship
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There are three that by record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. That's the plain statement of
1 John 5, verse 7. And yet our Lord Jesus Christ bows to become
Jehovah's servant. He stepped forth before the world
was in the old everlasting eternity, if I can use such language. Notice
how clumsy I am about that? That's because you and I can't
even think eternal, let alone describe it. in old everlasting
eternity, the Son of God stepped forth in time before time was
and said, Father, I will go and I will serve you for the saving
of my people, for the glory of the praise of your grace. Paul
writes a strange thing in Romans chapter five. He said, God be
thanked. that ye were the servants of
sin. Ain't that strange? But now you
become the servants of righteousness. You described it this morning,
talking about that lion, the Samson slough and honey out of
the lion's carcass. The Lord God Almighty created
this world and created Satan with a purpose and created man
and ordained the fall and ordained all the evil in this world. All
this transpired by that raging lion who would destroy us. So
that Christ might come and conquer, crush the serpent's head and
conquer the lion. and bring forth the sweet honey
of the gospel to the praise of the glory of the triune God. Nothing on this earth happens
by chance. Everything by God's decree, everything
for God's glory, and God's glory is wrapped up in it. This is just too good. If I couldn't
show it plainly from the scripture, I would think about it. God's
glory. God's glory is wrapped up in
the salvation of our souls. So much so that the spirit of
God describes God's elect, every believing sinner as being the
fullness of him that filleth all in all. As Christ fills all
things, as the God-man, our mediator, all who are members of Jesus
Christ are the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now,
let me show you in John chapter 10, hold your hands in X's 20,
turn with John 10. Let me show you what we mean
by our Savior's voluntary servitude. In John 10 and verse 16, the
Lord Jesus is describing himself. And he says, other sheep I have. He didn't say other sheep I'm
going to have, he said other sheep I have. They were given
him as his sheep before the world began in sovereign election,
which are not of this fold. Not of this Jewish fold or not
of this present fold. They're my sheep, they just don't
know it yet. Them also, look at this word, I must pray. It's binding upon me. It behooves
me. It's necessary for me. Them also
I must pray because I will it, because my father decreed it,
because I'm responsible for them. I'm the shepherd. And they shall
hear my voice. and there shall be one foe and
one shepherd. Now watch this next line. Therefore
doth my father love me because I laid down my life for the sheep. Now, wait a minute. If he's God
the Son, how can he say, therefore doth my Father love me, because
I lay down my life for the sheep? Because as Jehovah's servant,
he earned his Father's love. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life for the sheep. Back in verse
15, he said, I'm a good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Down in verse 26, the goat said, we don't like
that. He said, what are you talking to? I was talking to my sheep.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might
take it again. Now hang on till you see. In
chapter 17 in his prayer he said, Father, thou hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. And thou hast loved me with everlasting
love. So that all this work, that we
experience in time was finished before the world began. Hebrews
chapter four, the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. Romans chapter eight, verse 29, we were sanctified
and justified and glorified before the world began. Ephesians chapter
one, we were accepted and blessed in the beloved before the world
began. Second Timothy one, verse nine, we were saved in Christ
before the world began. That's what the book says. That's
primitive Baptist doctrine. I don't care if it's Buddhist
doctrine. If it's true, it's true. That's what the book says. That's what
the book says. So that Jesus Christ stood forth
as Jehovah's righteous servant, volunteering to redeem and save
his people before the world began, agreeing to do so upon penalty
of death, by which he would satisfy the justice of God as the Lamb
of God. And the Father said, do that.
and I'll give you the reigns of the universe." And the Lord
God Almighty, the triune Jehovah struck hands with the son and
the work was done. And God Almighty, the triune
Jehovah turned over to a man, a man who had not even come into
flesh yet, the reigns of the universe. And when the work was
finished, our Savior said, Father, now I finished the work you gave
me. Give me the glory. You remember
what he said, Pastor? That I had with thee before the
world was. He said, Father, show the world
I'm the Christ. Show the world I have all power,
all authority, because I have earned your love by my obedience
unto death. And in him, God loves us. as he loves the Son, to the same
degree, for the same reason, from everlasting, because this
work was done from eternity. That means that nothing is done
in time that wasn't done in eternity. Nothing we experience in time
of God's grace, but what was finished in eternity. And nothing
in time is going to ever alter what was done from eternity.
Well, that sounds like we are just on a stage, acting out a
play. Does, doesn't it? A play of life written for the
glory of the one who made the play. Back when I was studying
after doing some postgraduate work, one of the books we had
for theology class was a book written called The Unfolding
Drama of Redemption. The book was terrible, but the
title was great. This is what is going on in time. The Lord
God Almighty is wisely executing and bringing to pass and unfolding
upon the stage of time the drama of redemption. That we might
know God as we could never know him otherwise in the experience
of grace in redemption. So that Christ, though he is
God, volunteered to be Jehovah's servants. Number two, he served. He served. From the moment of
his birth until his final breath in this world, the Lord Jesus
served. He was ever Jehovah's righteous
and faithful servant. He said to his disciples, I am
among you as him that serveth. I'm the one who's come to serve.
When he came into the world, David describes it in Psalm 40
as our Lord speaks. And then the Holy Spirit tells
us this is Christ who spoke in Psalm 40. He said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O my God. He said, you prepared me a body
for this purpose, and now I come to do thy will, O my God. And in order to do God's will,
he took away the first that he might establish the second. He
took away all those things regarding law. and works that were written
in the book of the law, in the covenant of the law, by which
God said, do this and live, fail and be damned. He took the first
out of the way. Took it out of the way. I know
when first God teaches somebody the gospel, and you folks sitting
out there, you might be surprised at this, but I've been preaching
this message for a good while, and folks who like to live under
the law, they, I don't know why, some folks just love lashes.
They like to get whipped, they like to get beat up on all the
time. And they get upset over free grace, they just can't stand
it. One of the ladies in our congregation went out the door
one morning years ago, she said, Mother Dawn, have you ever heard
what folks say about you on the internet? I said, I try not to.
I try not to, but they just cuss and kill. I mean, they're just
mad because you're talking about freedom from the law. Talking
about freedom from the law. And we tend to want to hedge.
Well, the Lord didn't really abolish the law. Yes, he did.
He did. He didn't really put it away.
Yes, he did. He is the end. You spell that E-N-D. Or you
can spell it P-E-R-I-O-D, the period. Or you could spell it
full stop. Christ is the finishing of the
law, cause he fulfilled it all by his service to God for us
all. He's the end of the law. The
Lord Jesus Christ served. Look at verse two, Deuteronomy
21. He served, for six years. He served for
six years. According to verse two, that's
all he was allowed to serve, six years. If thou buy a Hebrew
servant, six years shall he serve, and in the seventh, he shall
go out free for nothing. How come six years? What day was it that God made
Adam? Sixth day. What is the number of the man
of sin, Antichrist? Do you remember? Six, six. Now folks get all bent out of
shape about that. I heard Maurice Montgomery lived on Choctaw Avenue
in Madisonville, Kentucky. Four doors down from him, this
fella had a house and tried to sell it. And he did everything
he could to sell that house. He had moved out and left the
house empty. The number, though, was 666. And that's where the Happy Goodmans
live. Folks are scared to death of number 666. That's the number
of Antichrist. That's not talking about a house
number. It's not talking about a credit card number. It's talking
about the number of the beast. Six, six, six. No need to be
afraid. That's the mark of man. It's
the number of failure. It's the number of frustration.
It's the number of defeats. It's the number of man. And man
failed everything. and He always has, He always
will. Our Lord Jesus Christ came down
here as a man to make up for man, to make restitution for
man, to make atonement for man, to make an end to sin, to make
restitution to God for transgression, to bring in an everlasting righteousness. Now I recommend that you take
the time to do as I did again earlier this morning and read
chapters 21, 22, and 23 at one setting. And you'll find that
the civil laws given to Israel are all laws requiring equity,
justice, and restitution. This is the place where you get
those laws that folks take out of context. You'll hear them
quoted on the westerns or quoted on the modern detective stories
where some religious fellow, he's all got to be a religious
fellow. He can't be an Islamic fellow or an irreligious fellow. He's got to be a religious fellow.
He'll quote Scripture. Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Arm for an arm and a leg for a leg. Ox for ox and ass for
ass. And that's the way the book says.
Because God requires restitution. God requires restitution. You
get to the book of Leviticus and the restitution required
was increased. Not only do you make restitution
for the thing lost or the thing stolen or the thing kept back
from God, but you add 20% to it. So that the restitution is
better than, greater than that which is restored. And our Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world and said, I came to restore that
which I took not away. He came as Jehovah's servant
to make restitution of all things back to God. He begins with redemption. He finishes with judgment. Then
in the last day, a time appointed when he shall make restitution
of all things to God. Oh, I'm anxious for this day. I mentioned to this, Craig Soon,
the son of God, is going to display exactly how it is. Everything
that ever has been is to the praise of the glory of God. every good thing and every evil
thing, everything among the sheep and everything among the goats,
every event in history, every act of man, every act of devils,
every act of angels, every act of God. will render praise, honor,
and glory to him who has come as Jehovah's servant to restore
everything to the glory and praise of our everlasting God. The Lord
Jesus, as Jehovah's servant, in the full age of a man, lived
perfectly in righteousness. The whole age of a man, doing
his father's will, When he was a boy, he said to his mother,
wished you not that I must be about my father's business. It
wasn't that he dishonored his mother. No boy ever honored his
mother like he did. But there was something more
important than the honor of his mother. He must do his father's
business. He said, as he got older, he
said, I must be about my father's business. He told his disciples,
I'm among you as him that serveth. And so he did all the days of
his life. But there's a third thing here
in Exodus 21. The servants, according to God's
law, had an option. Had he chosen to do so, he could
have gone out free. Thank God our Savior chose not
to go out free. He could have, even when he was
in Gethsemane, but he was overwhelmed. His heart broke within him and
his sweat, great drops of blood falling to the ground. And then
he said, oh, father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, thy will be done. Three times he prayed. Let this
cup pass from me, as he anticipated being made sin for us. Oh, the breaking of his heart,
as he anticipated being made sin for us. And as he was in
the garden, after that night of prayer, Judas came to betray
him. led a band of soldiers. And Peter
grabbed his pocket knife and wiped off that fella's ear. And
the Lord Jesus put it back on him and he said, he said, Peter,
don't you understand I could now, use the word now, call my
father and he'd send 12 legions of angels to take care of me.
He could have gone out free anytime. But he steadfastly set his face
to go up to Jerusalem, determined. Have you ever been really, really
thirsty? I have to take a lot of medication.
I take more medication than I do food. And I wake up a lot of
nights, in the middle of the night, my mouth's so dry, I can't
hardly get it open. You ever been that thirsty? Do
you know how good this is? I keep cold water, ice in it,
all night long by my bed. I do, she does. And I wake up
in the night, I drink it. Oh, that's good. With greater determination than
a thirsty man ever took a drink of cool water, the Son of God
went to Calvary to suffer all the terror of God's
wrath. to satisfy God's justice, to
redeem our souls, because he said, Lord, open my ear. I love
my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I won't go out. I won't go out. Why? Because I love my master. And I love my wife. And I'm thankful
to put it in that order. I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I love my
God. And loving my God, I love my
wife, the wife of my heart. There are numerous things given
in the scriptures to give us some example of our Savior's
love for us, But nothing compares, I don't think, like the love
of Adam for Eve. And this is the fourth thing.
Our savior would not go out because, he said, I love my master. I
love my wife. I love my children. I won't go
out. I'll never give this up. I'll
never give this up. Had he given it up, he would
forever have been alone. But as I love my master, I want
the glory of the triune God to be adored and displayed magnificently
forever. And I love my wife, my church,
my bride, and the children born to me by her. I love them. I
will not go out free. And so the Lord Jesus suffers
for us as one who loved us, gave himself for us. The Apostle Paul
writes in Ephesians 5 about husbands and wives. And he says, wives,
you reverence your husbands. And husbands love your wives
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Now if Brother
Chapman should decide to do a series of studies on marriage and families,
you know good practical stuff. Everybody loves that practical
stuff, doesn't mean a hill of beans. Everybody loves it. And if you start preaching right
here, Brother Mike comes and Sandy, and they say, boy, we
needed that. It's going to help us. And that
comes through for weeks. And then after a while, they
say, man, I sure do wish those Parkers had been here. They need
to hear that. That's where it always leads to. I don't mean
nothing, that's what it always leads to. You start to feel good
about yourself, start judging somebody else. But Paul said,
hang on before you go crazy. I'm not talking about a husband
and wife. This is a great mystery. Man takes a wife and they too
become one flesh. Well, there's a sense in which
Shelby and I get, you folks have been married a while, you know
what I'm talking about, you kind of get molded together. We'll start to say
something, but we'll say the same thing at the same time.
We'll be thinking the same stuff, have the same taste. She's learned
a lot since she married me. But if you think we're the same,
You don't have good eyes. She looks a lot better than I
do. She's considerably smaller. And nobody argues with me about
that. She's a lot smarter than me. Nobody argues with me about
that. But we're not the same person. Paul said, I'm talking
about Christ and his church. When Adam said, he looked at
Eve, what do you say about me? Wow. He looked at Eve, he said,
wow. Wow. for this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife." Hang
on, he didn't have a father and mother to leave. Adam knew exactly
what he was saying. Paul said, I'm talking about
Christ in the church. The Lord Jesus is utterly in the totality
of his being. In all his power, in all his
majesty, in all his grace, he is utterly devoted to us. How does he love us? Like Adam,
that first man was a similitude, a picture, a type of the Lord
Jesus. Adam saw Eve take the fruit. And nothing happened. God didn't
tell Eve what he told Adam. Eve wasn't the representative
of Adam. Adam was the representative of Eve. And she was deceived
by Satan. But Adam knew full well what
he was doing. And rather than be parted from
his wife forever, he willingly took the fruit. and ate damnation to himself,
plunged himself into sin, and deservedly, under the wrath
of God, the cause of his great love for Eve. Yonder there is our great husband,
the Lord Jesus, Jehovah's righteous servant. He who knew no sin and
did no sin and could not sin. Willingly, he made our transgressions
his transgressions. Our iniquities, his iniquities. Our sins, his sin. Our guiltiness,
his guiltiness. And pledged himself under the
wrath of God that he might never be parted from the wife of his
love. He loved me and gave himself
for me. The servants refused to go out. One more thing. Turn to 1 Corinthians
15. I'll show you this and be done.
We're told in verse six that once the servant had his ear
bored through with an awe, he shall serve forever. He shall serve forever. What on earth is this talking
about? He shall serve forever. First Corinthians 15, verse 24.
Then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, and when he shall have put down all
rule and all authority and all power, For he must reign, aren't
you glad? He must reign till he has put
all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. For he has put all things under
his feet. But when he saith all things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did
put all things under him. That is, Jehovah is not put under
him. The triune Jehovah is not put
under the God-man. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, Then shall the Son also himself be subject
to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. The Lord Jesus at the last day
as Jehovah's servant shall bring all his church, all his elect,
all his sheep, and he will say, Father, Here they are, just like
I promised. Not one is lost. Here they are,
holy, and without blame, and without blemish, and without
reproof, chaste virgins, just like I promised. And then we're told in the parable
that our Lord gave in Luke's gospel, this Brother Hubert Montgomery
read this one night before the Lord took him home, Tear went
down his cheeks, he said, old man, he said, that's just more
than I can understand. Scripture speaks of the day when
the Lord Jesus will gird himself. As he washed his disciples' feet
before he left this world, he'll gird himself and serve us. Serve us at the fountain of living
water. wiping away all tears from our
eyes, flooding our souls with the knowledge of God. In Christ, Jehovah's righteous
servant, amen. Well, again, you know, Paul said he was taken
to the third heaven. He had heard things that were
unlawful, not possible to utter. I felt like we came close to
that this morning. Just amazing what God has done
for us to speak to us here this morning. this little crowd here.