Okay, open your Bibles, if you
would, to Deuteronomy chapter 15. We're gonna go to the Old
Testament tonight. Deuteronomy chapter 15, the name
of the message is release. Do you know that we are released,
beloved? We are released from our sins
by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll
tell you what, and it all comes by God's almighty sovereign hand,
according to His will, according to His will. Tonight, we'll see
here in Deuteronomy 15, our text will be found in verses 1 to
2, but I want us to read the first 11 verses to get the context
of what we're going to look at. At the end of every seven years
thou shall make a release. And this is the manner of the
release. Every creditor that lendeth unto
his neighbor shall release it. Do you know we owed a debt we
couldn't pay? And Christ paid a debt that wasn't
his. And we are set free because of
him. Look at this. He shall not exact it of his
neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lord's release. What a picture. Of a foreigner
thou mayest extract it again, but that which is thine with
thy brother, thine hand shall release. Christ is bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh, isn't he? Oh, he's the God-man. 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. He's talking about the promised
land here. Save, oh sorry, only if thou carefully hearken unto
the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all these commandments
which I command thee this day. For the Lord thy God blesses
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. If there be among
you a poor man of One of thy brethren, with 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. Now that's very similar to Galatians
6, where our brothers down and out, our sister, we're to go
and help them and lift them up, right? Bear their burdens. Especially
to those who are the household of faith. Right? Especially to
those who are the household of faith. But thou shalt open thy hand
wide unto him. Oh, hasn't God opened his hand
wide unto us, we who are his people? 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 of the 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 be sin unto thee,
thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved,
when thou givest unto him. Because that for this thing the
Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all
that thou puttest thine hand unto. And in verse 11, For the
poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command
thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother,
to the poor and to the needy in thy land. Excuse me. So we have in this chapter a
discourse, continuation of Moses' discourse from chapter 14 where
Moses was bringing forth some of God's laws on clean and unclean
animals and also on tithing. And here he brings forth what
the release, what the order for the release of debts every seven
years. Note the number seven too, the
number of perfection. And he cautions the people not
to withhold lending to their needy brethren on account of
the year of the release being at hand. Then he brings forth
in the latter part of this chapter, particularities respecting the
Hebrew servant and also concerning the offering of the firstling
of their cattle to God. But tonight I'd like us to focus
on verses one and two. where we see at the end of every
seven years, the Israelites were to release every man who was
a debtor. Every man who was a debtor from
the debt that they had accumulated and owed to them. Now, these
were other Israelites. We saw it doesn't apply to foreigners,
but it does apply to the Israelites. And they were to release their
debt. They were to release their debt. Let's look at verses one
and two, and again, I pray the Holy Spirit will illuminate the
scriptures for us and teach us gospel truths here, which were,
they're here in shadow, and they find their fulfillment in the
Lord Jesus Christ and him alone, who has what? He's released his
people, hasn't he? We're released, beloved. Think
of this, we're released from the payment of our sin, aren't
we? Christ paid it all. We're released
from the judgment of our sin. All our sins were judged in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? My oh my,
we're released from the wrath of God that was against us, against
our sin. Against our sin. The law had
a rightful claim on us, didn't it? Christ released us from all
that. He's a propitiation for our sins.
He paid it all. There's nothing left to pay for. He did it all. That's why he
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. There's no other way for a sinner
to be saved than through Christ. And that's why he said, you must
be born again. It's the work of God. It's an operation of God. And we have a great debt, which
we've accumulated. As humans, we come out of the
womb speaking lies, born dead in trespasses and sins. Think
of how many sins we've committed before the Lord saved us, and
how many sins we committed after the Lord saved us, and consider
the great debt. But aren't you thankful, beloved
of God, that Christ paid it all for them? So much so, brother
Zane, that God says, I don't remember your sin no more. We
remember him, don't we? Amen. Then never to meet, right?
Never to meet. You can go east and you'll never
go west if you're going east. You go around this world, you
go east, and you just keep going east, you'll always be going
east. You go west, you'll always be going west. And we know if
you go north and south, eventually you're going to hit the poles. So the Lord, what a picture he's
given us. What a picture he's given us.
Oh my. Let's read verses one and two
again. At the end of every seven years, thou shalt make a release. Now this is a commandment. And this is the manner of the
release. Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor
shall release it. Look at that. The debt is paid in full. It's released. Canceled. Canceled. He shall not extract it of his
neighbor. He won't take his neighbor to
court. He won't go up and grab him and demand that he pays him.
No. Or of his brothers, look at this,
because it's called Jehovah's release, Yahweh's release. The Lord's release. Now this isn't something natural
for man, is it? Somebody owes something, I'll
tell you what, the bank won't release you early, will it? If
you owe money to the bank, they're not gonna say, well, seven years,
no. No, they're gonna make you pay
every penny, aren't they? This is why this is remarkable. It's
called the Lord's release. It's not natural to man. And this wonderful transaction
is called the Lord's Release, and it comes at the end of seven
years. And it's all according to the
gracious law of God for Israel, that there should be, first of
all, a rest one day in seven. And it's the seventh day, isn't
it? were to rest on the seventh day. Now we find our rest as New Testament
believers in Christ. We can worship Christ every day
of the week, which we do already. We don't have to have a particular
day because Christ is our Sabbath. He's our rest, that's what it
means. The Sabbath means rest. And then there were the feast
days, one month and seven. And then there came the seventh
year, a year of rest for the land, which they did not till,
but left it to lie fallow. And then after sevens were complete,
there came on the 50th year an extraordinary year of rest, which
was called the year of jubilee. Yeah, jubilee, yeah. So two things
happened at the end of every seven years. The land was to
lie fallow as a symbol of God's ownership of the land. That's
what that pictured. It pictured God's ownership of
the land. It's his. He's the owner of this
world. He's the owner of the universe.
It's his. It's his by creation, it's his
by dominion, by his sovereign rule, isn't it? Oh my. And seven is a perfect number. Seven is the perfect number.
Six days of creation and the seventh day, which was a day
of rest. So first of all, the land was to be left fallow, which
was a symbol of God's ownership. And then we see here, fellow
Israelites were to be released from their debts every seven
years. So Brian, if I owed you money, brother, and we were Israelites, On the seventh year, you'd release
me from that debt. Doesn't matter how much is being
paid back, that's not what's important, it's a release. And
God has promised to bless the Israelites for that. Think upon this, this command
was not for the Moabites, was it? It wasn't for the Edomites? It
wasn't for the Egyptians. It wasn't for any of those around,
the Canaanites. It wasn't for any of them, the
Amorites. It was for God's chosen people and them alone. And God's people would have delighted
to do this. They would have delighted to
do this. Now this passage teaches us that
the Lord commanded the Israelites that the creditor is to release
at the end of every seven years the debt that his neighbor owed
him. And they were not to extract it from them. They were not to
go back and say, you still owe me that. The debtor was fully released
by the creditor. Fully released. What a picture,
eh? What a picture. Oh, my. Now, it might have been
a debt he could never pay back in a lifetime, but they were
to be released from it. My, oh, my. Fully released. And it's called the Lord's release. Oh, what a type we see here.
What a type we see here, beloved. which the Lord himself gives
to his people. And oh, what a release we have. We who are born again, blood-washed
saints of God, we've been released from our sin. Amen, brother. The penalty of our sin? Gone.
The payment of our sin? Already paid for. The punishment for our sin? Already
dealt with. Christ paid it all. The wrath that was due us fell
upon Him in our room and place. We've been released. And whose
release is it? It's the Lord's release, isn't
it? Salvation's of the Lord, the scripture, Jonas proclaimed.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's He who releases us. Now,
and think of this, too. Who had we sinned against? God. The debt we owed for our
sins was to God. Christ paid our debt in full
before God. Hallelujah, he said. Oh, don't
get any better than that, doesn't beloved. I'll tell you what.
That's something for us to shout about, isn't it? Paid in full. Released. By the power of God. Oh my. The law giver himself,
think of this too. The law, we broke the law of
God. The law giver himself comes to this earth. The law giver
himself and fulfills that law. His law fulfills it perfectly
in our room and place, is our great substitute. My! And it's He who releases
us because of His work, His merit, His salvation, His blood, His
righteousness. And we are but receivers of this
mercy and grace, beloved, undeserving, hell-deserving sinners, saved
by the grace and mercy of God in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's wonderful. And note, too, it cannot be extracted
again. God won't say, well, you know,
I'm, I'm, no, no, you still owe. No, payment can't be made twice,
right? When Moses struck that rock, he wasn't allowed to go
in the promised land because that pictured, that pictured
Christ being struck twice and God says, that ain't never gonna
happen. The Lamb of God was smitten for
us in our room and place by God. Oh my, so that when the Lord
releases us, there's no other extraction again? That's wonderful. Oh, I love it. It's amazing. That's all you
can say, it's amazing grace. It's truly amazing. Freedom,
brother, amen. The lawgiver himself has fulfilled
his own law in the place of his people, fully releasing us, too. He's released us from the demands
of his law. He's made a curse for us, right?
Galatians talks about to take us out from under the law that
had a claim on us. We've been set free. Liberty,
brother. Freedom in Christ. I don't think
we really understand how free we are. Now we're still tangled with
sin in this world, but oh my gosh, beloved, our sin's bought
and paid for. That's why we rejoice. That's
why we want to tell others about this wonderful salvation in and
through Christ and Him alone. It's the only hope for sinners,
right? My, so the lawgiver himself fulfills
the demands of his own law, pays the price that's demanded by
that law for our sins, dies on Calvary, sheds his precious blood,
is buried for three days and raises from the grave for our
justification, and is right now, right now seated at the right
hand of the Father, interceding for us. Oh, what great love drove Christ
to come to this world for his people. Eternal love. Oh my. How do we know? How do we know that the debt
is wiped out? Look at verse 2. He shall not
extract it of his neighbor or of his brother, because it's
called the Lord's release. This is absolute forgiveness
of the debt he owed. You remember when we were kids
and they had those stamps, paid in full, when you went to the
store? I've told you all, I used to
love getting them stamps and doing that, because I'd say,
Dad, can I stamp that? And he'd ask the teller, can
you stamp that? Oh, sure. And he'd go, oh, look
at that, paid in full. And you know what? At the time,
I didn't fully realize what that was. I do now. Because I was
just a little four or five year old. The thrill was stamping,
right? Now I know what that stamp means. There's nothing left to pay. Look at this. There's nothing
left to extract. It's a complete release, beloved. And again, we know that this
was according to divine command. And if it is and it was according
to divine command, then there's no extracting. There's no extracting it again. It's a picture of God's loving
kindness and grace and mercy to his people in and through
Christ Jesus our Lord. My And what three beautiful words,
the Lord's release at the end of verse two. It's the Lord's
release. It's His doing. They were to do this because
God commanded them to do this. And they were to do it in a right
spirit. With a pure motive because it's
the Lord's release. Christ came here with a pure
motive, didn't He? The love of God. He's God the
Son. The eternal love for His church,
the eternal love for the Father, the eternal love for the Spirit
drove Him to come here. And to release us from our sins
by the shedding of His precious blood. And they're not to give this
release in their name. They're not to say, this is Zane's
release, or Wayne's release, or Dave's release. They're not
to say that, are they? They say, this is the Lord's release. This is God's release. Oh. My, oh my. It's Christ who has accomplished
for God's elect, the complete payment of all our sins. God
incarnated in the flesh, therefore the release is His. And that
pitcher, in order to be a proper pitcher, must pitcher Christ,
right? And it's a full release, isn't it? With no extraction. Oh my! We could go out here clicking
our feet together. It's wonderful. No, no, I know
we can't because we're older now. But I'll tell you, if we
were young, we could go out there clicking our feet, couldn't we?
This is wonderful, isn't it? What a salvation. What a salvation
we have through Christ. You know, the most powerful motive
that a Christian can have for forgiving the debts of others
is this. It's for Christ's sake. You ever
noticed you can't stay mad at people anymore? You can't hold grudges anymore
against people? We can forgive people for Christ's
sake, can't we? Now we can get stinking mad,
can't we? I'm not saying we can't. We can get angry, we can get
mad. We just can't keep it that way. Before the Lord saved me,
I could get mad at people that I'd probably never talk to them
again in my life. But I can't do that anymore. Can you? We can't. When we consider how much God's
forgiven us, it makes it easier for us to forgive other people,
don't it? We have to remember we were there. Especially if
they're religious or they're just lost. We were there. We
were there, beloved. Praise God. He released us in
Christ. Forgiving us all our sins. So can you and can I forgive
someone who's wronged us for Christ's sake? Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Because if we think about the
great debt, the great debt that we could
never pay. And God says, I don't remember
it anymore. That shows us here, right? These
people were to forgive the debt and forget it. Not extract it
again. That's what that means. If you're
not going to extract it, you're forgetting it. It's gone. My oh my. Can you forgive your
brother or sister who's wronged you? If you can, then that's true
charity. That's true Christian love. And now I've had some folks wrong
me pretty bad, and I know some of you have too, who profess
to be believers. But we have to let it go, don't
we? we have to let go, pray for their salvation, or pray that
the Lord would, if they're not saved, pray for their salvation,
and then if they are saved, pray that the Lord would work in their
hearts. My oh my. That's true Christian
charity, isn't it? I was talking to Josh today about Someone I'd been, had a roll
with about two months ago. And I said, I finally had to
stop, start talking to him again. I couldn't be mad at them. Even
though they called me some despicable things. I couldn't be mad at
them. And he said, I understand, Dad.
And I said, you know, the scripture says, pray for our enemies, right,
brother? Pray for those who despitefully
use us. Love our enemies. Yeah. Love
them. Yeah. When we were unlovable, right?
Yeah. Well, we were his enemies. Yes,
brother. My. So with that in mind, I just
let the situation go. Start talking to him again. I don't need an apology. Be kind
to them. Yeah. My prayer is that the Lord
would save the man. That's my prayer. I thought,
well, it wouldn't be a very good witness if I didn't talk to him
anymore, would it? I'd be just like the world then. See, we can get caught up too,
I love it. I'm speaking from experience
here. You gotta just let it go. Whatever it is, we just gotta
let it go. You know why, too? I found something else. Have
you found this? I know Dave and Zane and I have been talking
about this before, that when we're harboring something against
somebody, it's usually not hurting them. They're not even aware
of it, probably. There you go, brother. Dave said
we're drinking the poison, which is right. We're the ones that
are getting bitter. But when you let it go, it's
like a weight just comes off you, beloved. It's wonderful. Oh, it's wonderful. And only
God can rot that in us, right? And isn't it neat? Because before
we were saved, we would never be like that. We'd never be like
that. Man, I could be so mad at somebody
for months. I can't do it anymore. Praise
God. Is it true for you too? I know,
Zane, we've talked about it. It's true, isn't it? My, we just
can't stay mad at people. Now we grieve. Now we pray for
them. Now we cry for them. Tears for
them. My, oh my. What a change God wrought, see?
And when we think of the release of us from our sins, that should
make it easy for us to forgive other people, right? Oh my. Oh my. Yeah, we have to. Yeah. He loved, we love him because
he first loved us. As Dave said, when we were enemies
in our minds by wicked works, he still loved us. Man, I'll
tell you what, that just brings me right down to my knees. Brings tears out of my eyes. What a great God. What a forgiven
love. So our love towards men flows
out in acts of mercy, in deeds of kindness, which spring from
the fact the love of God is now shed abroad in our hearts. We're not the same people we
were. Moses wrote of Christ. Our Lord
said to the two on the road to Aramea, so fools and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into glory
in beginning at Moses? Well, we're reading Moses works
tonight, aren't we? We're reading one of the books,
the Holy Spirit had him pen. The true author is the Holy Spirit,
but he was the instrument. that God used to pen these words.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. The
Scriptures there is the Old Testament. So Christ expounded unto them
all the things. Concerning him, now we're still
learning, aren't we? I don't think we're gonna learn
all of them. But could you imagine that walk?
Oh my! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here,
that's me, that points to me. Oh, my. We get it, and we go,
oh, my, look at that! Because we haven't seen it before,
right? I think this would be system
overload. Look there, Luke. Luke 24. Those fellas, they must
have been on a high for weeks after that. Oh, my goodness. Oh my, oh. Next point is the release the
Lord gives to his people. Let's read verses one and two
again of Deuteronomy 15. At the end of every seven years
thou shall make a release. And this is the manner of the
release, every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor
shall release it. He shall not extract it of his
neighbor or of his brother because it's called the Lord's release.
Now turn if you would to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter
three. Oh, the mercy of God is just
set forth before us here in this text. How wonderful our great
God is to us. How full of mercy and grace he
is. And again, this isn't for the Moabites. This is being written
to the Israelites, right? This is not for, think of this
too, it's not for the Moabites, it's not for the Edomites, it's
not for the Egyptians, it's not for the Philistines, it's not
for the Syrians, or any other nation around Israel. It's only
for Israel. It's only for Israel. See, people
get all hung up on limited atonement. This was written just to Israel.
The sacrifices were only for Israel. Not for anyone else. Israel was chosen out of all
the nations, not because of anything in them or anything in the people,
but because it was God's will. That just pictured the church.
That just pictured the church, beloved. And who did Christ die
for? He died for his sheep. Who were the atonement sacrifices
for? They were for Israel. My oh my. Look at this here. Oh my. We know the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and this release is called the
Lord's release. Look at this in Galatians 3,
verses 22 to 26. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. That's all of us, right? Every
son and daughter of Adam. Everyone. The only one who wasn't
sinless was the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, that the promise by the
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. There's
that clause again, them that believe. But before faith came,
we were kept under the law and shut up under faith, which should
afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to what? What did the law do? What was
the purpose of the law? We see it right here. He was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that's
God-given faith, right? And that faith has one object,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God are given this faith, are given this
faith. It's wonderful. But after faith
came, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. What? Well, we're
released, aren't we? We're released from the law,
aren't we? Now, folks say, well, you talk like that, you sound
like an antinomian. I am not an antinomian. I don't believe
we can go and do whatever we want, and I don't believe God's
people will do that. My oh my, the very people who
say that, they fall into sin just like you and I do, beloved.
My, when we realize we're all a bunch of sinners, we're gonna
give praise and glory to God that we're not under the law
anymore. Right? Oh my. But after the faith has
come, we are no longer under schoolmaster, for ye are all
children of God by faith in who? In Christ Jesus. That's the key
right there. My. So the release in our text, think
of this, the release in our text is the release of bankrupt, they're
bankrupts, aren't they, really? They owe a credit, they owe their
creditors and they can't pay it, right? They may have been
bankrupt, they may have been facing bankruptcy and go to those
creditors and say, I'm gonna be bankrupt, brother, if you
don't help me out. And then they have mercy on them,
help them out, don't they? Oh my. Think of how we're born
into this world. We're bankrupts. We're absolutely
bankrupt. We're bankrupt of any righteousness.
Right? We can't, we, there's none righteous,
no not one. We're bankrupt of any goodness.
There's none good, no not one. We're bankrupt of paying for
our sins. Right? We're bankrupt of being
justified before God by anything we do? Here's the eternal question.
How can a man be just before God? That's the most important
question that shall ever be asked. How can a man be just before
God? Only in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no other way. Because it's the Lord's
release. The only way for us to be saved
is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way for us to
be just before God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was raised for what? Our justification. This is wonderful, I'll tell
you what. The best news we've ever heard, isn't it? Best news
we've ever heard. Since, what's God say? Since
I heard the good news, I ain't heard no more bad news. That's
true. That's true, isn't it? Oh my. So we were bankrupt before God. We were bankrupt before the law
of God. We were bankrupt before the justice
of God. All we did was owe. Right? All we did was owe, beloved. And through the infinite mercy
of God, God's covenant love in Christ Jesus, our Lord, his people
were justified from all things, fully, freely forgiven. Still sinners, we're still sinners,
but praise God, we're set free in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
been released from the debt of our sins. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
4. What deliverance, what freedom
we have, beloved. And think of this in light of
these words that our Lord proclaimed. God incarnate in the flesh proclaimed
these wonderful words. Look at this. Luke 4, verses
17 to 19. Oh, this is just wonderful, beloved. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach
deliverance to the captives, in recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bereaved, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. What's the next verse say? Brother
Dave, can you read that next verse? Luke 4, 20. No, Luke 4, verse 20. That's okay. No, no, that's okay. Luke 4, 20. So he's told them
here. He's read the book of Isaiah.
He said about the acceptable year of the Lord. And I believe
in the next verse, he says, these things have been fulfilled in
your ears, hasn't he? Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yep. What's the next verse? Look at that. Fulfilled in your
ears. Right there. That's what I was
looking for. Right there. Isn't that wonderful? He says this, he says, he says,
he anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor in verse 18,
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, recovery of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty,
freedom, freedom, them that are bruised. And then further what
Dave read, man, isn't that wonderful? Released, brother. Right in their
presence. These words are fulfilled in
your ears. Could you imagine that? We read this in awe, don't
we? It's just incredible! It just
gets me so excited, I'll tell you. It's absolutely amazing. Let's go back to Deuteronomy
again. And take note also that the man who was here set free
at the end of the seventh year Did he pay for anything to be
set free? Did he say, well, I'm going to
pay him 50% of what I owe still? He didn't pay nothing, did he?
Oh, my beloved, he didn't pay nothing. He didn't pay a cent. And did he seek it? Nope. He didn't seek it either,
did he? It's the Lord's release. So he
didn't pay anything towards that release. He didn't seek the release. It's all the Lord's doing. We didn't seek our salvation.
We didn't pay anything for it. It's all the Lord's doing. What a picture we have here,
beloved. What a picture. Let's read verses one and two
again. And we'll see the full and free mercy of God in Christ
in forgiven sinners, how it's pictured right here. At the end
of every seven years, thou shalt make a release. Notice there's
no conditions upon that release. This is something God's commanded.
And here's the only condition he gives. Every creditor that
lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it. And then here's
another, he shall not extract it of his neighbor or of his
brother because it's called the Lord's release. You can't buy
it, you can't pay for it, it's the Lord's release, beloved. Oh my. Oh yeah, brother. Scott Richardson
used to say, put that in your pot and smoke it. Oh my, isn't that wonderful,
beloved? Oh. And so when the Lord sets
poor sinners, souls at liberty, when a bankrupt sinner is born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, they are, as Spurgeon said, sent
away with full hands. We are loaded down with benefits,
the scripture says, daily. My, oh my. How can this be? Well, we who
are the redeemed of the Lord, Old Testament saints and New
Testament saints, in Christ have all our debt wiped out, obliterated. So wiped out, so obliterated,
that God will remember it no more. Now I'll tell you why. That's wonderful news for sinners,
isn't it, brothers and sisters? That's wonderful. I'll tell you
one. So what a picture we have here.
Oh, what a picture we have here before us. And how free we are
in Christ. All because of the sufficient
sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All sins shall be forgiven and remembered no more. The debt
is being paid in full. We're washed in the precious
blood of Christ. I saw you washed in the blood,
right? Oh, we're washed, beloved. We're
washed clean. And then so much so, we're so
much so washed clean that it says here in verse two, he shall
not extract it of his neighbor or of his brother because it's
called the Lord's release. What a release. What a release. And then our
Lord Jesus Christ watches over us, like he has even before we
were saved, all the way until we get home to glory, where we
will be in his presence forever. Oh my, what a day that'll be.
Oh, how gracious and merciful is our great God to poor, bankrupt
sinners such as we. Oh, the great debt of our sins,
gone, released from the debt. Remember, as I mentioned earlier,
we had a debt we could not pay. He paid a debt he did not owe. And what are we? We're set free. Liberty, liberty, liberty. Just
like we've been learning in the book of Galatians, eh? Freedom
and liberty. Oh my. Now this release too,
think of this too. This release was commanded and
appointed by God for His glory. Because it gives Him all the
glory, doesn't it? It gives him, we don't bring any money. We
don't bring, empty hands, right? Empty hands. We come empty handed
before, the only thing we have is our sin. And it's already
been paid for. Oh my, my oh my. And it was, it's his blood that
was shed that's paid our debt, that paid the debt we owe. We're
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, beloved. And all men are debtors to fulfill
the law of God, but we're bankrupt. We can't fulfill one. We can't pay the price demanded
by the law for one of our sins. And if you break one of the laws,
you break them all. Right? Oh, and all we can do Oh, all we can do is beg for
mercy by the grace and mercy of God. Just like these in this
text in Deuteronomy 15, we have no ability to pay our debt. Oh, what a picture is here for
the believer in Christ. How much greater is the release
of all our sins The release from all our sins than the release
of the money those folks owed in the Old Testament. How much
greater is the release that we receive from God? Because he's the one we owe the
debt to, isn't he? Oh my. We're free from the condemnation
of our sins. We're free from the punishment
of the debt we owed. And Christ paid it all, so much
so that we're forgiven of all our sins and transgressions.
All of them. And our sins were imputed to
Christ, and I call it the great transfer. Our sins were imputed
to Christ. He's still sinless, dying on
that cross, right? And his righteousness is imputed
to us. Oh my. Oh my. It's amazing. And I believe that's the white
garment in heaven, is the righteousness of Christ. When it says the saints
are clothed in white, oh man, that's Christ's righteousness.
My oh my. Everything that God demanded
for our sins in payment, Christ paid it all, covered it with
his precious blood. The handwriting of ordinance that was against
us, he blotted it all out, beloved. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
7. Luke chapter 7. Oh my. God forgives us freely,
fully, and all at once in Christ Jesus the Lord. And I'll tell
you what, all who trust in Christ, their debt is forgiven. They have the forgiveness of
all their sins in and through Christ. The only way for a sinner
to be saved, right, is through the blood and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way, I love the
fact that the Holy Spirit regenerates us and makes us willing and gives
us faith to believe, God-given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Because
we'd never choose Him. We could never pay the debt,
could we? What a great God. Look at this in Luke chapter
7. We're going to close with this. We'll start in verse 36
and we'll read all the way to verse 50. Luke 7, 36. And one of the Pharisees
desired that he would eat with him. Now remember these Pharisees,
right? They were religious men, the
who's who in Israel. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet, sat down to eat. And behold, a woman
in the city which was a sinner." Oh my. Oh my. Look at that. One of us. One
of us, eh? Behold, a woman in the city which
was a sinner. Now, she's known that. She's
known. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meeting in the Pharisee's house, bought an alabaster box
of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and
began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Oh, now here comes the religious
Pharisee. This woman's brought glory to
God. But these Pharisees, they look for anything. See, he's
not getting the attention, is he? These Pharisees, they loved to
praise a man, didn't they? This is his own house. Why is
she not coming up to me? And then he's disgusted, because
this is a notorious woman. How do we know that? Well, she
called a great sinner. She didn't know one. She didn't
know one. Now when the Pharisee which has
bidden him saw it, he spake within himself. He didn't even, note
here, he didn't speak this out loud. He spoke, we speak within
ourselves a lot of times, don't we? And it's a good thing we
don't sometimes say the words that we speak within ourselves,
right? Right? But God knows, look at this,
God knows everything we think and speak within ourselves. Look
at this, this is amazing. He spoke within himself saying,
this man, and I could just hear it, he's speaking, he's disgusted,
isn't he brother Zane? He's disgusted that the Lord's
allowing this, that this sinner woman's there touching his feet. This man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who, in what manner of woman this is that
touches him, for she is a, she's a sinner. Can you just hear, even within
his mind, the drippings of self-righteousness? Oh my. Praise God she's a sinner
just like you and I, right? Let's see what the Lord does.
Let's see what he says. Oh, and Jesus saying unto him,
Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. Now remember, he didn't
speak a word outward. He didn't speak a word outward.
But see, our God knows the intents of the heart and thoughts of
man, doesn't he? Look at this, and Jesus answered
unto him saying, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. Oh
my, this is the king of glory. I have something to say to you.
Oh, he said, Master, say on. Look at that. He don't think
he's a master. He just says that. The Lord's
not his master. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. See, this woman knew she was
a sinner and she knew she was a great sinner. She knew she
sinned against God. No, she goes to the only person
in that house who could forgive her of her
sins. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I have entered into thy
house. Thou gavest me no water for my
feet. Now it was tradition, part of
the culture. When someone came in your home,
Dave, if I came to your house, you'd put a basin of water there
if we were in Israel and I'd wash my feet. Yeah. And it was a sign of respect.
But she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the
hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, no greeting,
no greeting. But this woman, since the time
I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. She's humbling herself before
him, isn't she? She's kissing his feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint. And again, that was part of the
culture too. If I came into your place again, David, you'd anoint
my head with oil. It was just part of being, it
gave off a sweet perfume. Look at this. My head with oil,
thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with
ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, now look at this. Oh, he's God. Look what he says
to her. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins which are many are forgiven. Released. Released. She's a great dinner. Released. Oh, it's wonderful. For she loveth much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto
her, thy sins are forgiven. Look at that. He said it right
to her. He's God in the flesh. And he
said, thy sins are forgiven. Oh, this is wonderful, isn't
it? And they sat at meat with him
and began to say within themselves, who is this that forgives sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. All I can say is
amen and amen. That's all I can say. Brother
Brian, would you close us in prayer?