Exodus chapter 21, title of the
message, Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim it. Redemption is taught throughout the Word
of God, from Genesis to Revelations. You cannot read all the way through
that and not see redemption. Children of Israel, as our example, were redeemed
from Egyptian bondage. Listen to Deuteronomy 24, 18.
I'll read these to you. But thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed
thee before bringing them out that Passover land had to die. And this blood was put over the
door post, over the door post and the two side posts. And that
preaches redemption. Redemption. I read to you over
in Psalm 130, He shall redeem Israel. Jacob, that deceiver, From all
his iniquities, from all his deceptions, from all his wonderings,
from all his backslidings, he shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful
that we've been redeemed. We've been bought and paid for. He is. Listen to this scripture. Isaiah 43, verse 1. But now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not. He's not talking to the Philistines,
Hittites, Amorites. He's talking to Israel. He's
talking to his elect, talking to his children. Fear not, for
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. You belong to me. What a blessing. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. You know, this church at Corinth
had a lot of trouble. There was a lot of things that
Paul had to deal with here. And this is one of the things
that has straightened things out. 1 Corinthians 6.20, you're bought
with the price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. You're not your own. Look over in chapter 7 and verse
23. You are bought with a price. The price is the blood of the
Son of God. Be not ye the servants of men. You've been redeemed.
You've been bought. I'm looking. I'm confident. I'm looking at some blood-bought
Israelites. I'm looking, I'm preaching, I'm
speaking to some blood-bought Israelites. Now, back in Exodus
chapter 21, let me read you a few verses. I hope I can bring this
out. This is so beautiful. Look in
verse 7. Well, I tell you what, let me
go to verse 1 and then we'll pick verse 7 we're going to pick
up at. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before men.
Remember, these judgments are of God. God gave this to Israel. He gave this to his people. If
thou by a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in
the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by
himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him
a wife, 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,
my children, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring
him to the judges, and he shall also bring him to the door or
unto the doorpost. And his master shall bore his
fear through with an awe, and he shall serve him forever."
Now, we looked at this a few weeks ago, and that bond slave
right there is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the first picture
here. Now comes the church in verse
7. If a man sell his daughter to
be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men servants
do. If she please not her master who hath betrothed her to himself,
then shall he let her be redeemed. To sell her unto the strange
nation, he shall not have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully
with her. And if he hath betrothed her
unto his son, he shall deal with her after the matter of daughters. If he take him another wife,
her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall not be
diminished. And if he do not these three things unto her,
then shall she go out free without money." Now what we have here,
we have the case of a maidservant and how she's to be treated.
And she represents the church here. This is, I tell you, you're
going to see, this is beautiful. This is what God does to every
one of his children. Everyone whom he saves, he redeems. He makes them his children and
he marries them. You'll see this as we go along. If a man sell his daughter, verse
seven, to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the maidservants
do. Here we have a father. This is unthinkable. This is
unimaginable. But he sells his little daughter.
And in my study, and I found this out, she had to be under
the age of 12 years in one day. She had to be just a little girl. And he sells her, or he gives
her to this man whom he owes so much, he's so poor, he's so
broke. He had this man, this father who does this, had to
be so poor. that he could not take care of
her anymore. And so he lets this man have
her. And when he takes her, he takes
her under these stipulations. He will marry her. Or his son
will marry her. But he's so poor. I can't imagine that. So poor.
I know there's people back during the Depression had to split their
families up. Because they were so poor, they
couldn't take care of all the children. And here, he's so poor,
he can't take care of her anymore, so he sells his daughter. And this just jumped out at me
when I read this. This is the condition that Adam
put us in. Spiritual poverty. What can Adam
do for me? Absolutely nothing. He has nothing
to pay. Spiritually broke. And this is the condition he
has put us in. Spiritually broke. Well, she's
sold to another man who promises to marry her, as I said, or her
son marries her. And then it says here in verse
8, is she pleased not her master? Now, in my margin, it says, if
she be evil in his eyes, he has taken her in. She's not what
he thought, and he sees her as his slave, as his bondmaid, his
maidservant. And she becomes evil in his eyes,
and he doesn't want to have her. He doesn't want to have her no
more. Well, the Lord gave a law here. Here's the mercy of God. You can't run her off. You can't
discard her. You can't throw her in the trash
as though she was nothing. She's mine. She's got to be redeemed. You're talking about a child
of Israel now. You're not talking about one of these Gentiles. You're talking about one of the
daughters of Israel. Here's how you're going to treat her, because
this is how I'm going to treat my children. You're going to redeem them. She's got
to be redeemed. You can't just throw her out.
You can't sell her to a strange nation. You've got to let her
be redeemed. Here's the grace of God towards
sinners, that we have redemption. That we have redemption in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there's only two people
that could redeem her. Her father, but that ain't going
to happen. He won't put her there. Adam
can't redeem us. Can he? He couldn't redeem himself. He went and hid. And the Lord
slew an animal, covered him with skin. But she can't redeem herself
either. You can't redeem yourself. But
I tell you what, a near kinsman can. It had to be the Father
or a near kinsman that redeemed her. And we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ became bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He
became our Boaz. And He's the one who has redeemed
us. He's redeemed us. Now, the first
picture here is this. Let her be redeemed. And this is what God has done
for everyone whom he saves. He has redeemed us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture in Isaiah
44, 22. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return to
me. For I have redeemed thee. I have bought you. You are mine, lock, stock and
barrel. You are mine. Listen to Psalm 130. I read this
to you earlier, but listen to this. Let Israel hope in the
Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenty
of redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Listen to Hebrews 9, 11 and 12. But Christ being come out, I,
a priest, of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves." Here's how we are
redeemed. "...but by his own blood that
flowed through his veins. By his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained." Here's your eternal
security. You want to talk about eternal
security? Here it is. Having obtained eternal redemption.
The redemption that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal
redemption. That price will never run out. You know, I run out of money
sometimes, do you? I have some of the guys that
work. You know, there's a couple out there that are young, married
young. Constantly have to come in and
borrow money for payday. The price that was paid for us,
the blood of Christ will never run out. It will never lose its
power. Never. We have been redeemed
by the blood of the Son of God. Look over in 1 Peter. In 1 Peter chapter 1, let's look
at this familiar scripture. Verse 18, for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. That's redemption. That is redemption. Look over in Hebrews chapter
9. In Hebrews chapter 9, in verse 12, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, this is what I read to you. I want you
to read it out of the Word for yourself. Neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. It says over in 1 Corinthians
1.30, He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Redemption. Now, what does redemption
assure us? What does it assure us? Well,
first of all, it assures us acceptance. Not going to be kicked out of
the house. He's not going to be ran off. It assures us acceptance. It says in Ephesians 1, verse
6 and 7, that God has saved us to the praise of his, to the
glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted. We are accepted in the beloved.
It also assures us this, it assures us forgiveness. Look over at
Colossians chapter 1. In verse 14, in whom, that is in
Christ, we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. It assures us acceptance. It
assures us forgiveness of our sins. That's what it assures us. And
here's something else it assures us. Security. Security. No one for whom Christ died,
no one for whom Christ shed His blood will end up lost. You will
not end up lost. If the blood of Christ was shed
for my sins, God will not condemn me. There's nothing there to
condemn. In Him we are holy. Clean, washed. John 6, 39, this is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me,
I should lose nothing. I should raise it up again at
the last day. Redemption assures us acceptance. It assures us forgiveness. It
assures us security. It assures us justification. Look over in Romans 3. It says
in Romans 3, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. I'm glad that it stopped there,
aren't you? It could. It could. For many, it does. For those who perish, it does. But not for those whom the Lord
redeemed. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It assures
us justification just before God. That's what it assures us. And then here's something else
it assures us. Access to the throne of grace. Through Christ's redemptive blood,
we can come boldly, boldly, Not timidly, not arrogantly. That
boldly doesn't mean arrogant. It has nothing to do with arrogance.
It means confidently. We can come before the throne
of God's grace through the blood of Christ with full confidence
that we have His ear. We have His love. We have His
care. And we have that through the
redemption in Christ Jesus that we have in Him. Now, the second
thing that was to be done unto her in verse 9. She's to be treated
as a daughter. You see, if he takes her in,
this man takes her in, and he betrothed this little girl to
his son. Well, there's a picture, isn't
there? The father betrothing us to Christ. And you know what
it says? That father that betrothed that
little girl to his son, he's going to treat her like a daughter.
She's your daughter now. And you're going to treat her
like a daughter. She's going to have all the rights and privileges of a daughter
because she is now your daughter. Here's the second thing God does
to everyone whom he saves. He makes them his children. You
are, and this is humbling to stand here, you are the children
of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are his children.
It says in verse nine. And if he had betrothed her unto
his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. He shall deal with her as one
of his children. If we are redeemed, that's the
first thing that's got to happen. Redeemed. We are made the children
of God at the same time. Think about that. Sheila, children
of God, could you be more secure? Could you be more protected?
Could you be more loved? Could you be more cared for?
Children of God. You know, the scriptures, this
is amazing scripture, the Lord says this to his disciples, now
listen. If you being evil. Know how to give good things
to your children. How much more shall they give
to the Holy Spirit? To them who ask for it. How much more does God love us?
There is no way, there is no way to put a measure on it. We can wear out each other's
affections. We can do it. With enough sin,
enough problems, enough heartaches. We can wear them out, but not
God. Not God. Not Him. Listen to Hebrews chapter 2. Let's just go over and read it. I've got these all written down,
but you really need to read them for yourself. Hebrews chapter
2. Look in Hebrews 2.11, it says
here, For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again,
behold." Now listen. Behold this. Give attention to
this. Don't let this go over your head. I and the children, which God
given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
hath the power of death, that is, the devil. I and the children. You're God's
children. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood. Get a hold of this. You are,
you believe the gospel. This is written to God's people.
It's written to the church, written to those who believe. You are
the children of God. Now, what does that secure for
us? What does that assure us? Well, you parents already know.
I mean, your mind should be racing now. Those little ones laying
there not even paying a bit of attention are looking around.
Some of them are. They don't know what this means
yet. But I tell you what, you parents know what it means. It
assures us a place in the family of God. The Spirit, it says in Romans
8, 16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. He wouldn't bear that witness
if we were not redeemed. It assures us, and this thought
last night was just, excuse me, it was so comforting. It assures
me a place in God's family. Christ said, I go prepare a place
for you. If I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may
be also. We're going to be with you. She had a place in that
family for the rest of her life. That maidservant, that bond-slave
maidservant. She had a place in the master's
house because of her son, because of his son, forever. Forever. And here's something
else that assures us. Partakers. of the divine nature. Are not children, are not they like their parents? Are they
not partakers of the genetics of their parents? Listen to this
scripture, 1 Peter 1.4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers. That's more than just fellowship.
That is a partaker of the nature of God, your Father. Partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world. It assures
us a place in God's family. It assures us of being partakers
of the divine nature, because we are not only children by adoption,
we're children by birth. Children by birth. That which is born of the Spirit
is what? Spirit. You know, and this is so, but
it doesn't say this. That which is born of the Spirit
is spiritual. Now, that is so, but that's not what it says.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Part of the divine
nature of God. Partaker of the divine nature.
And then here's something else that assures us. Care and provision. You're afraid of running out.
You're afraid your job is going to run out. You're afraid that the cabinets
are going to go bare. I don't think anybody here is
afraid of that right now because we're not going through a Great Depression,
but your health, that could run out and your job could play out. The Lord will provide. That's
what it assures me. Papa will provide. That's what assures us. Our spirit, we are the children
of God. It says in another place, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
You know what that means? Papa, Papa. I love it when Cole calls
me Papa. He calls me Papa, but a lot of
times he says Papa. And I almost pay him to do it.
I would. He didn't know it. I'd pay him
to do that. I love that. Papa. You know, we try to be
so formal in our prayers, don't we? We try to make sermons out
of them. Don't make a sermon out of them. Yeah, we can say
our Father which art in heaven, or we can say Papa. We can say
either one. And then here's something else
that assures us. Heirs of God join heirs with Christ. What
belongs to Christ? Everything. I'm telling you right
now, everything's yours. Just that our Father in His wisdom
gives us what we can handle at this time, or He takes from us
what we can't handle, what needs to be taken. It assures us His
care and provision, which I didn't read, I meant to read this to
you, 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth
for you in a way you can't even comprehend. He cares about the
hair that falls from my head. He cares about that. He said
not one of them will perish. Look over in Romans 8. Heirs
of God. In Romans 8. Where am I at? 8.17. Well, let's go back to
16. The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. And so be that we suffer with him that we may be
also glorified together. Joint heirs. What he has, I have. What he is, I am. Is he holy? So am I. Righteous? So am I. Accepted? So am I. Loved? So am I. Heirs, my soul. This is what
makes preaching humbling. Speaking to the heirs. Would
you like me to read the will this morning? Well, I am. I am. And a new name. It assures us
a new name. You know, Vicki, I told you this before, but when
we first got married, she told me, she didn't tell me this for
a long time, but I'm going to do it now. She said she practiced
writing my last name, you know, Vicki Chapman, instead of her
old name, her maiden name. But she said, I just write that
out. A new name. A new name. What's our new name? Now are
you the sons of God. Now are you the sons of God.
Not later. Now. You're the sons of God. Now the third thing to be done
to her. You can't catch what I have.
You were born with it. The third thing to be done to
her. If he took another wife. And
that was allowed in that day. And it said right, it said it
was allowed. Just like Adam was allowed to fall. It doesn't make
God the author of sin. God made Adam and he made Eve.
He brought him one wife at a time. But here it is allowed. I can
see the mercy of God. This is God giving the law to
Israel. How to deal with this maidservant,
because this is the way he deals with his children. Those whom he saves. If he take him another wife,
her food, this maidservant, her food, her raiment, and her duty
of marriage shall not be diminished. He shall not love the other more
than he loves her. Christ does not love any one
of his children more than he does the other. And it says here,
she had to be treated as a wife. She couldn't be set aside. She
could not be ignored. She couldn't be slighted. You
are to treat her as a wife. And how is a wife to be treated?
Love. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's how she's
to be treated. And that's how God treats you.
That's how he treats his children. Here is another blessing that
God does for those whom he saves. He marries them. We are married
to God in Christ. Can you believe that? Now, what
does this assure us? What does it assure us? Here's
one of the things that assures us, now listen, an intimate relationship with
God. Don't be afraid of that. To the
pure, all things are pure. To the impure, nothing is pure.
Your thoughts are going to go out there. But it assures us
an intimate relationship with God. She's not to be ignored.
I want you to notice something here. In her duty of marriage
shall not be diminished. This has to do with the bed. He could not ignore her and push
her away and say, I like this one better. It assures a close,
intimate communion with God always. Always. And here's something
else it assures us. His love. His love. I just quoted this to you. Ephesians
5, 25. Husbands, love your wives. Even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, this
assures us of his love. Love is love. Never, never fails. Never. And here's something else
it secures for us in Proverbs 31, 25. Honor. Strength and honor
are her clothing. You're the bride of Christ. He decked us with His righteousness.
He robed us in the beauty of His righteousness. We were made
beautiful through His comeliness. Honor. You know, the king steps
out. And they all bow. They all give reverence. I tell you what, when that queen
steps out, they also give reverence. That's the king's wife. You dislike
the queen. Go ahead. Go ahead. That's the king's wife. And she's
to be honored. You go over to England where
they still have this little bit of kingship and queen. You treat her differently than
you do just to common people. When you meet her, greet her,
she's to be treated differently. The king's wife. Honor. And then last of all, here's
what it assures us, a sure and safe abiding place in his paradise. My wife lives where I live. We are going to live where he
lives. Now, this is what God does for everyone whom he saves. He redeems them, he makes them
his children, and he marries them. How sweet is that? It doesn't get any better. It
does not get any better than that. To be redeemed, to be bought
by the blood of Christ, to have my sins washed away and this
poor vagabond be made into a son or daughter
and to be married. The Lord doesn't love the Jews
any more than he loves Gentiles. We're all one. Christ, if God
saved a Jew right over there in Israel, if you could run his
lineage all the way back to Abraham, he would not be more loved than
you and I. How dear Christ. Go home and look at that. You've
been redeemed. You've been made a child of God.
And he's married you. Here he is.