Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 15.
I must move along this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 15. I will not ask anyone for an
actual overt, outward answer, but do you remember my title
and my message for this morning? If
you don't, that's okay. I had forgot it myself. It's
been almost a month since I've been here. And I thought to myself,
if after having a month to prepare to preach for this message, if
I don't say something that's of some spiritual value, it's
going to be bad. It's going to be bad. The last
time I stood here was January the 24th of 21. This is a fifth
Sunday, fifth Sunday, finally been able to make it. Deuteronomy
15, let me read all of the first 18 verses. At the end of every seven years,
thou shalt make a release. This is not, as Joe said, a suggestion. This is a command. And the law
is not just 10 commandments. The Ten Commandments summarize
the hundreds of laws that were given by God through Moses. And here is one of those laws.
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. What
kind of release? And this is the manner of the
release. every creditor that lendeth ault
unto his neighbor. Do you see that? Now you understand
what that means, right? You loan somebody some money.
Let me just put it that way. You loan somebody some money.
At the end of every seven years, every creditor that lendeth ault
unto his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it of
his neighbor or of his brother because it is called the Lord's
release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact
it again. a foreigner. What was a foreigner?
Someone that may have, in God's providence, passed into the camp
of Israel at any given time but stayed there only temporarily
and then moved out again. But if this foreigner had indebted
himself or herself to one of the children of Israel, They
did not have to be released after seven years from that debt. Is
that what that says or not? That's what it teaches. Of a
foreigner thou mayest exact it again, but that which is thine
with thy brother, thine hand shall release, save when there
shall be no poor among you. For the Lord shall greatly bless
thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it, But here's the caveat. Only if thou carefully
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do
all these commandments, not just this one, not just the one given
with this one, but all the ones preceding and all the ones coming
after, which I command thee this day. Now here's a question. Did they? Did the poor cease
out from amongst the people of Israel? Never. Never. Why? Because they never kept
all the commands. Now God told them, if you keep
my commands, this law will basically be void because there'll be no
poor. No one will need to borrow money.
Is that not what he's saying? But the facts show that man,
by nature, is totally depraved. Preacher, I don't see that there.
Well, then your eyes are blinded. For the day that, amen, that's
an amen. For the Lord thy God blesseth
thee as he promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations,
but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations,
but they shall not reign over thee. Did that happen? No. No. No. And let me tell you
something, the only place that's ever fulfilled is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. I am not even here to preach
that one day God will do this for the Jews. Because he does
this only in Christ. If there be among you a poor
man, one of you, thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy
land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden
thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother, but thou
shalt open thine hand wide unto him, Don't sit down and ask him
what he has to back up this loan. Now you go to the bank and you
go to borrow money. In some cases they will let you
borrow certain amounts of money, it's usually very limited, on
your signature only. But you get over certain amounts,
they want collateral. They want something that in case
you don't pay, they can take that from you and recoup some
of the debt. Do you know any other bank that's
any different than that? If you do, let me know of one.
I will join that one. But thou shalt open thine hand
wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need
in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought
in thy wicked heart, saying, the seventh year, the year of
release, is at hand. Well, wait a minute, maybe it's
the fourth or fifth year. Since the last release. And he
wants a thousand dollars. I just don't see him paying back
that thousand before the seventh year gets here. Do you see where
God's coming from? So I'm not gonna give him, because
he's not gonna be able to pay it anyway, Joe. And I've got
to, by law, release it at the end of seven years. God said,
you don't do that. I don't care if it's the sixth
year. Hmm? Now this is the law. This is the law. Beware that
there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, the seventh
year, the year of release is at hand, and thine eye be evil
against thy poor brother, and thou givest him not, and he cry
unto the Lord against thee, and it shall be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and
thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him. There's
another one too. You like it. You loan the money
to him or her, and you like it when you do it. Now there's a
good one, Mason. There's a good one. Don't do
it grudgingly. Do it freely. Because that for
this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and
all that thou puttest thy hand unto. For the poor shall never
cease. Now he says it, doesn't he? for
the poor shall never cease out of the land. So what's he just
told them? You're not going to obey all these commands. Most people read that, pass right
over it, and don't even see anything about it. Just like God said
to Adam, he didn't say if you eat of that tree, did he? He said, in the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And yet God's command not
to eat of it still stood firm. Still stood firm. For the poor
shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee,
saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother and
thy poor into thy needy in thy land. Except for the foreigner. Correct? Now let's go on. And if thy brother and Hebrew
man or a Hebrew woman be sold unto thee and serve thee six
years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let them go free from
thee. If they've sold their self into
servitude. Whether it was a debt they could
not pay or it was they said, I will work X amount for you,
for X amount. then you let them go free. But
look, and when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt
not let him go out empty." thou shalt furnish him liberally of
thy flock, out of thy floor, out of thy winepress, of that
wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give
unto him, because you was a slave one time too. And when you went
out, you didn't earn any of that booty the Egyptians gave you,
God made it happen. Did he not? It says they spoiled
the Egyptians. The Egyptians says, here, take
this gold. Take these animals, go, go. Thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God
redeemed thee. Therefore I command thee this
thing today. And it shall be, if he say unto
thee, that is this Hebrew brother or Hebrew sister says unto you,
I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee in thine
house, because he is well with thee. Then thou shalt take it
all, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall
be thy servant forever. And unto thy maidservant thou
shalt do likewise, that is if they decide they want to stay. Now think about it. Think of
the option, you get to go out free, with full booty, enough
to start a new life, as we would say, direct? But God lets us know, there will
be some of them that says, I don't want to go. That is probably
unthought of, if not even unheard of in our society, that such
a thing would take place, right? It shall not seem hard unto thee
when thou sendest him away free from thee, for he hath been worth
a double hired servant to thee in serving thee six years, and
the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. God's law demands two vital releases
here in our text. It demands it. The law demands
it. It demands remission and manumission. That is the release of all debt
for some. And I emphasize that right now,
just right now, for some. The release of all debt for some. That was remission. But it also
has here the release of the person himself or herself, right? The release of the person in
slavery. Now if you have a debt to someone,
there is a true sense in which you are a slave to that person.
You owe them. And go take out a loan on a car,
or a loan on a house, and don't pay for it, and see if what I'm
telling you ain't the truth. They will send John E. Law after
you, and you will have to deal with a headache of trouble. The
release of actual debt, that's remission. But there is the release
of persons in slavery. But there is this caveat. They're
either released with fullness, right? What was it? Emancipation, the Emancipation
Proclamation? It set the blacks free, but it
was not manumission. it did not provide them to start
over for a new life. And for many, many years, and
probably even still today, black folks suffered under the wicked
hands of wicked men. But God's law demanded manumission. You actually release the person,
but you give them enough to start all over again. Hmm. But there is this other caveat
with manumission. A person may, because of continual
loving submissiveness to that master, say, I want to be your
slave forever. But you couldn't have both under
law. So you see, you couldn't have
both under law. Your manumission was either you're
set free with full booty to start over again, or you remained servant
forever. That is, until you breathe your
last breath. The law, the scripture says,
has a shadow. But the law is shadow only. And remember, shadow is just
outline. That's all shadow is, is outline. It has no substance other than
the outlined point itself. It is just shadow. Now, lawmongers, got any of those
in here this morning? Oh, I know we got a few of these
couple back there so young, that's all they are right now is lawmongers.
They don't know anything else. Anybody out there? You lawmongers
take note. You say you got to worship on
the Sabbath day? You say you got to, then you
got to live this too. Do you hear me? You loan a brother
or a sister $100, and after seven years, they don't pay you back,
you gotta let it go. You gotta take the loss. Do you understand? There is no
caveat of the creditor getting back anything from the debtor
when the release is demanded. Yes or no? You basically eat
the debt. Is that not what this is teaching?
This is God's law. And when you release an individual
from servitude, you send them out full. You send them out full. And if they love you so much,
they can hang around with you till they die. So you lawmongers
take note and say, why do you call them lawmongers? Because
they pervert the truth of the giving of God's law. This law
is given to show us our sin and our sins. That's all this law is for, other
than to force us to say, I got to have something else other
than my own righteousness. And if you don't see that when
you read the law, you have still that veil over your face, as
the children of Israel did. All they seen was, okay, here's
the way we're supposed to live, and they could not. And it did not make them cry
out for the mercy of God. It made them do this. Joe, you
missed it. Going about, going about, going
about, going about to establish their own righteousness. So you lawmongers take, now I
won't call you Judaizers, you're a lawmonger. You pervert God's
law. You lie about the truth of God's
law, bragging about yourself and your own pride and your ego. The best righteousness we got
to offer is nothing but filthy rags in God's sight. But you
sinners take heart. You see any sinners here this
morning? Any sinners here this morning? Any sinners out there
hearing me this morning? The law cannot provide all three
of these. By default it can't provide all
three. Can it? Grace guarantees all
three. You know what I said? I said
grace guarantees all three. Grace guaranteed remission of
debt. Grace guaranteed that the person,
the person, not just the debt, the person be set free. But it
enables that person to say, you know what? I get full booty,
but I will not leave my master. Bore through my ear with an awl
to your door, for I love you and your house. The law can't
give you both of those, but grace guarantees it. Look at remission,
the release of all debt for some, some. See law versus grace. Law released
demanded the forfeit of the creditor. The creditor had to eat the debt. Is that right? It is in God's law. It is in God's law. Now, First
Community Bank, and I'm not throwing off on First Community, but you
know, the First Bank of Bethlehem, they may not do that, but God's
law demands that you're a creditor, and after seven years, you eat
the remainder if it's not paid back already. Let the first Baptist folk that
are so holy and righteous live according to God's law with you.
Law released demanded forfeit by the creditor. We see that
clearly in verses one through three. I will not read them again.
Grace secured payment to the creditor for the debtor without
the debtor's ability to pay. You understand that? Now if you
don't understand that, I don't care how long you've been professing
to believe in grace, you've never experienced God's grace. Grace
secured payment to the creditor for the debtor without the debtor's
ability to pay. Galatians 3 verse 13. Listen to what it says. Galatians
3 verse 13 puts it this way. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. but not by some magical thing. I mean, there are people who
actually think the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all
sin, and you do realize that's our debt to God, don't you? Our
sin and our sins is our debt to God. We owe God death. Final, ultimate separation from
God. Not just physically dying. Animals
do that. They're not sinning. But I mean
death, absolute, total separation from God. And yet it says Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. He took on the actual debt. You see it? He was made to be
the debt. Can I say it that way? Is that
okay for me to say it that way? For Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How? By bringing you to repentance
and faith. No, that's not it. We're gonna
see that in manumission. This is remission. This is the
remission of debt. Look, how did he redeem us from
the curse of the law? Being made a curse for us. So if you are redeemed from God's
law, Christ did it when he died as a curse on that tree. That,
for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree,
and that included the sweet, blessed son of God himself. You wanna see how bad, the law
tells us what sin is. You wanna see how bad sin is?
When God looked upon his dear blessed son and seen him bearing
our sins in his own body on the tree, God the Father turned his
back on the son. But then look at that, the blessing
of Abraham might come. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? 2 Corinthians 5, 21, you know
it. For he, that is God the Father,
hath made him, God the Son, to be sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I could not pay
that debt, but God don't just let it go and eat the remainder,
does he? No sir, God will have full payment
for our debt. He did, in Christ Jesus. He was delivered, how? He brought
us to God, how? The just for the unjust, how?
Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Romans 5 verse 6 puts it this way, you know the passage. I
wish somebody accused me of going there too much. They haven't
yet. Romans 5 verse 6, for when we
were yet without strength. Do you see that? No ability to
pay. What does it say? In due time,
Christ died for those that owe the debt. If you don't owe the
debt, he did not die for you. You hear what I said? If you
do not owe the debt, oh, but preacher, all sinning comes short
of the glory of God. Go ask him and see. Go out here
and ask him. Go to Walmart today. Ask everybody. Ask everybody. That used to be
everybody was a sinner. That ain't so anymore. I'm telling
you folks, even that, everybody used to say, well, I'm a sinner.
But we're all sinners, don't you know? There are people today,
boy, no, I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. Grace secured
the payment. All, yes listen, all owe God
because of sin. But who is God's neighbor? And
who is God's brother? And who is a foreigner? Remember
the creditor in the scenario of grace is who? God. Now I know one man tried to obfuscate
When our Lord said, love your neighbor as yourself, he said,
well, Lord, who is my neighbor? Anybody not? But we're taught
the creditor ain't you and me. God's the creditor. We're the
debtors. We owe him. Who is his neighbor? Who is his brother? And who is
the foreigner? We'll go on, Romans, chapter
five, verse six, for when we were yet without strength in
due time Christ died for thee, who? The ungodly. Now, change your question at
Walmart. Are you ungodly? Now we see the sinnerhood start
to die off real quick. Many may say, well, yeah, we're
sinners because all sin comes short of the glory of God, but
I'm not ungodly. Who did Jesus Christ die for?
Who did he die for? Ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. And you
wanna see what a sinner really is? For if when we were, what's
that say? Enemies, oh, I'm a sinner, but
I sure love God not as a sinner you don't You have been you've
either deceived yourself or somebody else has come along and deceived
you they pulled the shell game trick on you Because if you're
a sinner, you're ungodly if you're ungodly you're a sinner If you're
without strength, you're a sinner. If you're a sinner, you're ungodly.
There is no middle ground or opposite way. I You're either
gonna take up all three of those debts, no strength, sinner, and
ungodly in God's sight, or you're nothing but a self-righteous
Pharisee. Self-righteous Pharisee. Jesus
Christ even said this, I didn't come to call the righteous. Now
if there weren't some, he wouldn't have said that. There are some,
but they're righteous in their own eyes. that are not righteous
in God's sight. Our Lord told some folks, you
are they that justify, that is declare as right, declare as
right. You are those that justify yourselves
among men. But that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Christ said
I didn't even come to call the righteous, I come to what? Call
sinners to what? Repentance. Repentance. Repentance. That's a change of
heart, a change of mind, a change of will, a change of action. All of it. All of it. There's a lot of people
repented. They were free willers, now they're
Calvinists. But they live unto their own ungodly, sinful, strengthless
flesh. And they think their sins are
remitted. but there is also manumission. Do you hear what I said? That is the release of the actual
person. Now you know the passage. When
I begin to read it, some of you probably already know it. So
I won't even tell you what it turned, I'll just read it to
you. Look at what our Lord said. As he spake these words, many
believed on him. And I've heard preachers, well
they didn't really, the book says they believed on him. Now
let's quit apologizing for the word of God. The problem is what
kind of belief was it? Where did that believing come
from? Let's quit saying, well, they didn't really believe. I
heard, and I'm not throwing off this, the preacher preaches the
truth of grace. He said, well, they gave some
kind of evidence that they believe. God knows their heart. He knew
that in their old heart, they believed. Because that's what
it says happened, doesn't it? But look at what he says. Then
Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue. What, wait a minute, did we just
read something about a slave continuing? If you continue in
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make What? You free, not just freed
from your sin, not just released from the debt of sin, but you
shall be free. Look, more than that, they answered
and said unto him, now here it is, these are the same Jews that
believed on him. They were saying, this is the
Christ. This is the Christ. That's what
they were thinking. This is the Messiah. This is
him. They believed on him. But it
was something they'd worked up within themselves. Now folks,
that is frightening to me. How could I know the difference?
And ye shall know the truth. The truth shall make you free.
But then they answered, we be Abraham's seed and never in bondage
to any man. They were lying. At this very
moment, they were under Roman bondage. But religious nature,
religious belief will lie to itself to accommodate its own
ego. Yes, sir. That's right. We be
Abraham's seed, were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, ye shall be made free? Now they heard the truth, and
the truth now offended them. Yes, sir. Jesus answered them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the
slave of sin. Amen. And I will not try to lessen
that by anything. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. Now, here's the
kicker. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free. This takes an act of the Son,
not an act of you. Their believing was an act of
them. That's where it's at. Even in
this small place, I've seen many people come, boy, they hear a
message and there's tears run down their cheeks. Boy, they
just all tore up and they go right back out, just right back
to where they were before. And they believe. Well, I believe
as much as that preacher does. No, but you don't believe by
the work of the Son of God. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, You shall be free indeed. Indeed. You see, law is just
shadow. Grace, Christ, is substance. It's substance. The law required
one or the other. Release with fullness or release
to continual loving, submissive, manifest servitude. Correct?
One or the other. Christ makes the person free,
and he frees us. And folks, now turn with me to
Romans 8. You know these passages, but hopefully maybe God will
either say it to us this morning for the first time or say it
to us again if we need to hear it again. Freed with fullness,
Romans 8 verse 31. What shall we say to these things?
I'm not gonna go back and look at them. You know what these
things are. Four dollars, predestination, calling, justification, glorification,
right? What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
what? What? What's it say? Freely give you all things. So whether I see it or not, feel
it or not, or think it or not, I have all things. Right? Look at another one. Maybe
this will maybe bang up against your brain even more than that.
We'll look at 2 Peter chapter one. Simon Peter, a servant and
apostle of Jesus Christ, to those that have obtained like precious
faith with us, how? Through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Faith is not a work of man, faith
is a work of God. Now faith you must have, believe
you must, but it must come from a work of God or you will not
stick around. Somewhere along the line, you'll
be offended and you'll start to trickle away. Trickle away. You'll trickle away from both
the master and his house. What's the house of the master?
Where the family lives. Isn't that a part of our text?
The remission of manumission? Look. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of our Lord, of Jesus
our Lord. Now look at it. According as
his divine power hath given unto us. Not will. That's right. Do you see it?
Now what tenths is this in? It's already passed, correct? According as his divine power
has given unto us all things that pertain. Now we're gonna
see what these all things really are. Does he give me a million
dollars? Has nothing to do with it. I can have these all things
and have a million dollar or no dollar and I still got these
all things. You understand? I can be indebted
to man up to my ears as we say. And yet, oh God, nothing? And
yet God has richly bestowed upon me the riches that the mind cannot
even fathom. Look at it. According as his
divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life,
and that's physical life as well as spiritual life. God will give
you enough to keep you alive in this world till your time
comes to die and then he'll take you to glory to be with Christ.
And if that's a dollar or a million dollars, he knows best. And when
it comes to spiritual life, he has to breathe on you to give
it to you. And then he'll send the gospel
messenger along to preach the word of God and that life will
join with that life that's in that preached word and you will
be converted. You will bow to Jesus Christ. According read it again as his
divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and
godliness hell Through the knowledge of him that hath called us unto
glory and virtue and he said but preacher. I don't see it
I Don't see those things Paul put it this way we walk
by faith Not by what? Some of you, sight. But yet we
want to see it. Now don't we? I don't see how
I am set free with full booty. Reckon it to be so. Believe God. Believe God, look, whereby are
given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises that by
these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. He
didn't say you don't have any lust. You've escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. While you're concerned
about the master and his house, Everybody else is concerned about
the booty and what is it? Because remember grace gives
you both Grace gives you full booty, but it also says Lord. I'm not going anywhere Stick
my ear up against that doorframe Take it all and run it through
my ear. You know what? That's going to
prove from here till the day I die. I am yours I love you,
and I love your house, and I don't want to depart from you. Now
folks, that is salvation. That's just not how you serve
God and get a lot of rewards. I know there are people that
are actually taught, believe in Christ as your personal Savior,
and then later they're told you accept Him as your Lord. It's
not so. You can't have a little bit of
law and a little bit of grace. I want the freedom, I want the
magnification in the booty, but I don't want my ear bored at
the door. You will have your ear bored
at the door or you don't belong to the master. Even though he's
given you full booty. Full booty. Again I say, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and
besides this now, here's some things to do. Give all diligence. Quit watching the TV so much. Quit playing your games so much.
Quit worrying about going out and doing your things so much.
Give yourself to these things. Add to your faith, virtue. To
your virtue, knowledge. To your knowledge, temperance.
Not abstinence, but what? Temperance in all things. And
to temperance, patience. And to patience, godliness. And
to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if you do, for if these things, I'm sorry, I said that wrong,
didn't I? For if these things be in you, There's the caveat
under grace. Are they really in you? There's
the caveat. Are they really in you? For if
these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither
be barren nor unfruitful in what? In the master. You get caught
up with the master. Is that not what the one under
manumission could do by law? It was either release in full
booty or bow to the master forever. Under grace, we are released
with full booty and we bow to the master and say, it's all
still yours. In other words, as I've read,
and that's part of why I read to you what Henry wrote, Paul
said, I have learned. Today, you might say, I'm taking
that step today. I'm bowing to Christ today, but
you're gonna have to bow to him tomorrow. And the next day, and
the next day, because today's bowing is not gonna be sufficient
for the rest of your life if you live more than today. If
you wake up tomorrow, you gotta bow again. And you wake up the
next day, you know what you do, Mac? You bow again. You say,
put my ear to the door and bore a hole. Hearing? Who's the door? Who's the master? Who's the house? Who's the head of the family?
Jesus Christ, the Lord. I'm telling us, myself and you
included, that Jesus Christ is what it's all about. And until
you fall in love with him, you don't know what salvation is.
And I'm not being mean. I may sound mean, but I'm not
trying to be mean. I'm just, I am not, I can't ease
it in the back door to ya. And I don't know how to smooth
it to ya. That's just who I am. You're either gonna bow in submission
to Christ or you'll perish. One or the other. Christ paid
my debt. Christ made me free. Christ loaded
my pockets with spiritual booty. Did he not? He's given me all
things that pertain unto life and Godness, whether I can see
it and feel it and understand it or not. Isn't that good? But I don't often feel it. I
rarely understand it. I never see it. But I believe
it. I believe it. Christ so loved
me that I say, thrust not your throat. Jesus Christ, make me
your slave forever. Where are you?