I want us to begin tonight in
Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. I want to repeat what you have
heard from this pulpit countless times because it is so very,
very, very important. This book is a treasure chest
full of rich treasures, incomparable treasures, riches worth more
than buckets of gold. But it is a treasure chest locked
and sealed to every person who doesn't have the key by which
it's opened. And the key to the treasure chest
is Jesus Christ crucified. The key to the treasure chest
is Jesus Christ crucified. This book was not written by
God the Holy Spirit to give us a code of morality, though certainly
it tells us how to live. It is not written to be a book
of history, of prophecy, or of religious dogma. It is written
to reveal Jesus Christ and him crucified. Look at what our Lord
says in Luke 24. Our Lord is walking along with
the disciples on the road to Emmaus and beginning in verse
27 at Moses and all the prophets. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets beginning in Genesis 1 Going through Malachi. No, he did not expound to them
every word in those many passages of scripture But he gave them
the meaning of the whole book Beginning at Moses and in all
the prophets he expounded under them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself The book is all about him, Jesus
Christ, the Lord. Verse 44, he said unto them,
these are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled. Now watch this, which
were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the
Psalms. That's the three divisions of
the Old Testament scriptures. the Pentateuch, the first five
books of Moses, the first five books of the Old Testament, and
the Psalms, all the poetic books, Job, Proverbs Ecclesiastes the
song of Solomon Psalms all of those take up the poetic books
and the prophets. Those are the divisions of Old
Testament Scripture He expanded unto them in all things written
in the prophets and Moses in the prophets in the Psalms Concerning
me now watch this verse 45 then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. You do not understand
the scriptures except you understand how the scriptures speak of Christ
the Redeemer. And said unto them, thus it is
written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission
of sins be preached in his name among all nations. So the whole
purpose of all the scriptures is to show us the necessity of
redemption by Jesus Christ, the necessity of grace and salvation
by Jesus Christ, and the blessed accomplishment of that redemption,
that salvation, and that grace. Everything recorded in the book
of God is recorded to teach us something about Jesus Christ
and our redemption and salvation in him. So that all the events
of the Old Testament All the miracles of the Old Testament,
all the historic writings of the Old Testament, all the things
that transpired in the Old Testament are things that were brought
to pass by the hand of God's providence purposefully to show
us a picture or pictures of our Savior. Everything that happened
was brought to pass to show us who Christ is and what Christ
did. this word of God as you teach
it to your children and you tell Bible stories. I was talking
to Diane about this earlier this morning discussing this very
subject. You tell Bible stories. Don't
just tell the stories. Don't just tell the stories.
Don't just relate the miraculous. It doesn't do anyone any good
to convince them of miraculous things. Nothing at all. Nothing
at all. When I was a boy, What little
I went to Sunday school I go to Sunday school I hear Sunday
school teachers talk about no one the ark and the creation
and I'd hear about Moses in the burning bush and Daniel in the
lion's den and all those things that I thought man This is better
than Aesop's fables. This is better than Jack London
tales. This is something this is something not once not once
Did anyone ever? teach anything concerning the
person and work of Christ from those stories. Not one time.
And I know why. They didn't know that's what
the story's about. They didn't know that's the meaning of the
scripture. They didn't know that's the intent. Let me show you what
I'm talking about. Back in Genesis 1, in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was, that
is the earth became without form and void and darkness was upon
the face of the deep. What a picture that is of our
creation by God and our fall in our father Adam. God created
the heavens and the earth and something happened. Darkness
engulfed the earth. Darkness was upon the face of
the earth and the earth became full of chaos without form and
void. So it was God created man upright. God created man in his own image
after his own likeness. And then we fail and darkness
and chaos filled our lives. Some of you here, your lives
are full of darkness and chaos. There's nothing in you but darkness
and chaos because you're ruined by the fall of our father Adam.
That's what sin does for humanity. And then we read that the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the deep. The Spirit of God brooded
upon the waters. And as He did, God said, let
there be light. And there was light. And God
made the earth anew. So it is in the new creation
of grace God comes by his spirit through his word Moves upon the
heart of a sinner and causes that sinner to have Christ Revealed
in him and now he's made a new creature in Jesus Christ the
Lord When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden God
killed innocent victims, lambs, I presume. And he, with the skins
of those innocent victims, clothed our parrots before he shoved
them out of the garden, and thereby portrayed redemption by Christ,
who is the woman seed. Have it, sinners, must have atonement
by the sacrifice of the Holy Lamb of God, robed in His righteousness. We have no other way to stand
before God and be accepted of Him. Noah went into the ark and
Noah brought all the animals that God commanded him to bring
into the ark and Noah brought his sons and their wives and
his wife into the ark and the Lord shut the man. And when he
did, God poured down rain from the heavens and broke up the
earth beneath and a flood covered the earth. And as the waters
rose and the floods beat down upon the earth, Noah and his
family endured all the fury of God's wrath, as did everybody
else. But it never touched him. It
never touched him because they're in the ark. Christ is the ark. That's what the picture is all
about when we read about David and Goliath as a great story
but it's more than a story of a young Boy going out to meet
a giant with just five stones in the slain is more than that
It's a picture of Jesus Christ the Son of God coming into the
world to destroy the enemies of God's Israel to destroy Satan
and to destroy hell by his death upon the tree by his sacrifice
for us putting away our sins and Daniel in the Lion's Den
portrays how God's justice can be satisfied only by the law
being fulfilled. And over in Exodus chapter 20,
I want you to turn there. Exodus 20. God gave his law on Mount Sinai,
the Ten Commandments, as it's commonly called. And given those
commandments of God, he did not come down on Sinai to give men
a code of conduct. Those Ten Commandments were never
intended by God to be a code of conduct. First night down
at Burnside, I noticed they had a plaque on the wall. Many of
you came down and saw the plaque, those Ten Commandments. First
night I was there, I said, I recommend that if you're going to have
that hanging there, you put another plaque underneath it or over
it. John 19.30, it is finished. It is finished. The law was never
intended to be a code of conduct for God's people or for unbelieving
people. It was intended, it was designed
by God, given by God only to the nation of Israel. It was
never given to gentiles never given to the gentile world. It
was given only to the nation of israel Pointing us to christ
the redeemer showing us the necessity of redemption and grace by christ
shutting us up to him When the lord god came down on mount sinai
at the giving of the law He made this commandment in chapter 19
and verse 12 He said no man is to come to this mount No man
is to come to this mount. If you even touch it with your
hand, let him be killed. If you even put your hand on
this mount, that man is to be killed. When God came down on
Sinai's fiery mount, thunders and lightnings and clouds and
thick darkness covered the mount. And then the voice of a trumpet
blast was heard so loud and sure that all the camp of Israel trembled
with fear and quaked before the mount. Now that's a pretty good
picture of what happens any time a sinner hears what God's law
requires. What God's law requires. People
talk about living by the law. No, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. God did not give
10 recommendations. He did not give 10 suggestions. He gave 10 commandments. He didn't
say do the best you can. He said do this. Do this. God's law says be ye holy for
I am holy. God's law says walk before me
and be perfect. God's law says it must be perfect
to be accepted. God's law says the soul that
sinneth it shall die. The law of God reveals holiness,
justice, and truth. Any mere sinful man who dares
to touch it will die by it. Any sinful man who dares to touch
it will die by it. That means, Mark, if you attempt
to live before God by your obedience to the law, you're going to hell.
Cursive is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. If you attempt to live before
God by your obedience to the law, you're going to hell. God's
law shuts us up to Christ. Listen to this. The righteousness
of God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and
prophets. This is the righteousness of
God, which is by faith of that is by the faithful obedience
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. So
the law was given that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world become guilty before God. Back here in Exodus 20,
verse 18. No sooner did the Lord God give
his law to Moses at Sinai than the children of Israel cried
out for an intercessor, a mediator, someone to stand between them
and God. All the people saw the thunderings
and lightnings and the noise of the trumpet in the mountain
smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood
far off. And they said to Moses, speak
thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us
lest we die. Moses, we can't come to God on
that holy hill. We can't come to God in his law. We can't come to God in his purity. We can't come to God in his holiness.
We can't come to God in his justice. You go speak to God and come
down here and tell us what God says. In that sense, Moses was
a representation of Christ, our mediator. That one appointed
by God to speak to God on our behalf and speak to us on God's
behalf. That one appointed by God to
bring us up to God and to bring us and the God in complete, perfect
reconciliation. While the people stood afar off
in verse 21, Moses drew near under the thick darkness. where
God was. And the Lord God began to speak
to Moses just after giving the law in terms of hope. So the
10 commandments were given and Moses by this, by giving, by
God, by giving this commandment through Moses, these commandments
through Moses, the demands of men, perfect righteousness. And
by those things shuts men out from himself by his law. And
yet he begins immediately to give a bearer of hope. He spoke
to Moses about an altar. An altar is a place of worship,
a place of sacrifice, a place of atonement, a place of hope.
Now I know you hear about altars, folks. used to have mortars benches
or altars. They said, come to the altar
and get saved. Come to the altar and pray through. Come, come
to the altar and rededicate your life. Come to the altar and just,
ah, what nonsense? What nonsense? You may as well
go to an altar in a Catholic church. You may as well go to
an altar at some synagogue somewhere. You may as well go to an altar
at some, some, uh, idolatrous temple somewhere. No, no, no.
We don't worship God at a physical altar. We worship God at an altar,
but his name is Christ the Lord. It reads this way, Hebrews chapter
13. We have an altar, whereof they
that serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat. If you
come to a physical altar, you can't come to this altar. If
you come to this altar, you won't come to a physical altar. That
altar is Christ the Lord. He's at the right hand of the
majesty on high. He is the altar. He is the mercy
seat by whom and in whom we draw near to God. God commanded Moses
concerning an altar, a place of sacrifice, and giving the
law, he opens this door of hope. He says in verses 22 through
26, Moses, you go down and tell that crowd of terrified sinners,
there is a way they can come to me. There is a way they can
come to me. If you would come to God, if
you would approach God, if you would draw near to God and find
acceptance with him, the only way it can be done is through
Christ the Redeemer. We must come to God and worship
him alone as God. He alone is God, who is sovereign,
holy, just, and gracious. You remember in Exodus 33, Moses
said, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, all right,
I will. I'll take you up in a mountain and put you in the cleft of the
rock. And I'll hide you there with my hand, and I'll pass by
you, and I'll show you who I am." And he passed by and said, I'm
the Lord, the Lord God. He said, I'm God who will by
no means clear the guilty. Who will by no means clear the
guilty. God who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. Now,
how can that be? Remember, those are two exact
opposite things. God says, I will by no means
clear the guilty. And he says, I forgive iniquity,
transgression, and sin. He said, I have mercy on whom
I will have mercy and compassion on whom I will have compassion.
How can that be? And Moses saw the Lord pass by. And I'll tell you what he saw.
He saw Christ pass by. And now he understood how God
could be just and yet justify the ungodly. He saw how God could
both not forgive sin and fully forgive sin. We speak about forgiveness
as if it were just pretending things didn't happen. That's
not God's forgiveness. The way God forgives sin is by
putting it away. The way God forgives sin is by
putting it away. And the only way sin can be put
away is through the sacrifice of God's own son, Christ, our
altar. We must worship God as he is
upon the altar that he's made. Look at verse 24. An altar of
earth thou shalt make unto me. You, uh, you pile together some
dirt. That'll do fine. We want to make
it a beautiful ornamental thing covered with gold and silver
and jewels of all kinds so it impresses us and impresses me.
And you can say, look here at our altar. Oh, look here at our
altar. This is something. This is magnificent. This is wonderful. Look what
we made. God said, no, you pile some earth
together that I've made and make me an altar. Thou shalt sacrifice
their own thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings thy sheep
thine oxen in all places where I record my name I will come
to thee and I will bless thee We must come to God on the altar
that he has made that is Christ Jesus the Lord trusting Christ
alone contributing nothing ourselves Contributing nothing ourselves
the verse 25 If thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. You just pile
some rocks together, pile together some things that I've made. For
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. What? You mean we've got some rocks
here and you take a chisel and just knock off the rough edge?
You polluted it. you polluted it. If you touch
it, you polluted it. God gave a law concerning the
Sabbath day. And if a man went out and picked
up sticks on the Sabbath day, you got to pick up some sticks.
He's to be put to death, stoned to death. Stoned to death. Because he picked up sticks on
Saturday? No. No. Because he dared to violate
what was represented in that Sabbath day, the rest of God's
saints in Christ crucified. The salvation of God's elect
in Jesus Christ crucified. God still sends sinners to hell
for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. He still sends sinners
to hell for attempting to contribute something to God's salvation
in Christ Jesus the Lord. You remember when David brought
the ark of God up out of Obed-Edom up to Jerusalem? He's going up
there to to build a house for God, a place where God would
be worshipped. What could be more honorable?
What could be more noble? What could be a greater work?
He's made great plans and great sacrifices and he's going up
to build a house for God, a place for the altar of God, for the
mercy seat. And as they went along, They got the Ark of God
on a new oxcarch, and they're pulling it along, and it crosses
a ravine. And there was a fellow by the
name of Uzzah who saw the Ark of God tip. Just tip a little. It just tipped a little. And
Uzzah did what makes good sense. He did what any rational man
would do. He said, oh, we can't have the Ark of God in the mud
hole. And he reached out and put his
hand on the ark. That's all he did. He just put
his hand on God's ark and immediately God killed him. God still sends
sinners to hell for touching his ark. You see that ark represents
Christ the Redeemer. That ark represents the finished
work of Christ. That ark is a type of Christ,
our propitiation. And if you put your hand to it,
you've polluted it, you've defiled it, and God will destroy you
for it. We must not attempt to come to God by anything we do. We come to God trusting Christ
Jesus alone. And we must not attempt to come
to God by degrees. Look at verse 26. Brother Bob Harmon will not mind
me telling you this story. I can't remember whether this
was my first visit out to Hokumba or not, but I had been preaching
for him. Brother Gene Harmon and I were
out there preaching, and on the way to services on Sunday morning,
Brother Harmon said to me, I'm going to preach before you this
morning. And after I get done, if you don't mind, I'd like for
you to critique the sermon. I thought, oh, my soul. No, no, please. I got that. But he got it and
preached in front of me. And he preached on steps to salvation. And everything he said was heretical.
Everything he said was heretical. Now, if he had gotten up and
said the sun is pink and causes the earth to get cold, I'd have
let that go. Because that doesn't matter.
If he had got up and said that men ought to wear long hair and
earrings, I'd have probably, well, I might not have. I'd have
let that go. I'd have let that go. But he got up and announced
nothing but works salvation. Nothing but work salvation. Oh
no, talk about saving by grace, but these are the steps. These
are the steps you got to go. I turned around and looked at
brother Gene Harmon and I said, I'll give you a hundred dollars
if you'll preach. I'll just sit here and hold up because I knew I've
got to tear to shreds everything this host pastor has said. I've
got to do it. That's not being rude. That's
being honest with the souls of men. That's not being rude, that's
doing what God appointed me to do. And thank God he broke the
man's heart, God saved him, and we've been good friends ever
since. But the sermon had to be torn down. Look what God says
here in Exodus 20, verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
unto mine altar. And here's the reason, that thy
nakedness be not discovered thereof. Now, I don't remember the first
time I heard this foolishness, but I've got a feeling that some
folks who interpret the Bible have some real problems with
perversity. I heard that the reason the Lord
didn't allow steps to go up to the altar is so that nobody get
under steps and look up your skirt and see your nakedness.
That's not what he's talking about. That's not what he's talking
about, no. What's he talking about? Do you remember what ham
uncovered? when he found Noah in the tent
drunk. He went in and said, come here,
Sham and Ham. I want to show you what the old
man's really like. I've always told you he's a hypocrite. I've
always told you he was he was not what he said he was. Look
here. And he uncovered his father's nakedness in a drunken stupor.
And Sham and Ham went in backwards and covered their father, refusing
to look upon his nakedness. When the Lord says, if you climb
up by steps to my altar, you show your nakedness, that is,
you only expose your sin. You only expose your sin. You can't come to God by degrees. You come to God trusting Christ
for everything all at once. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Trusting Him for everything.
That means It's not a process you go through. You don't first
have to know this and feel this and experience that and go through
this. No steps. You come to God right
where you are right now without moving a muscle. Don't even move
your lips. Just right where you are. Come
to God, believing his son. Now, I want us to look at the
first statute God gave to Israel after giving the law. Exodus
21 verses 1 through 6. Here the Lord God begins to give
his judgments, civil statutes to Israel, statutes by which
he portrayed and typified redemption, grace, and salvation by Christ.
The very first civil statute given to Israel was a blessed
picture of redemption and salvation by Christ the Lord. Exodus 21
verse 1. Now these are the judgments, the statutes, which thou shalt
set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant,
six years shall he serve. I suggest you underline that.
Six years. And in the seventh year, I believe
I'd underline 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
wife, she shall have born and she shall have born him sons
or daughters. The wife and her children shall be her masters
and he shall go out by himself. I believe I'd underline that.
He'll go out by himself. Verse five. And if the servant
shall plainly say, be sure you underline this. I love my master,
my wife. and my children, I will not go
out free. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges, and he shall also bring him to the door or
unto the doorpost. And his master shall bore his
ear through with an awe, and he shall serve him forever. Now this law describes a man
who would voluntarily make himself. By no compulsion, except his
own will, he would voluntarily make himself a bond slave to
his master for life. That man is Christ Jesus, our
Lord and our Savior. The servant spoken of here is
Christ, our Redeemer in type and in picture. This is Christ,
our servant, or Christ, the servant, the servant of God, our Savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ, here's the first thing to understand,
became Jehovah's servant willingly, voluntarily. He became Jehovah's
servant, not for himself. But for us, he stood forth. God's law requires perfection. God's law requires holiness. God's law requires satisfaction. You can't do it. You've broken
it. You violated. You're going to hell unless something
happens that God alone can do. And Christ steps in and he says,
I will be servant to God. Give me your people and I'll
make them free. Give me your elect and I'll redeem
them. Give me your elect and I'll make
them righteous Give me your elect and I will bring them home to
glory and as our Lord Jesus Assumed responsibility for us as the
surety in the everlasting covenant. He voluntarily Subjected himself
to the father's will in all things. So when he came into this world
in Psalm 40 before the world began We read about Lord Jesus
lifting his hand as the surety, as the servant of Jehovah, and
he says, Lo, I come, I come to do thy will, O my God. Hebrews
chapter 10 the Apostle writes and tells us as our Lord Jesus
enters into his mother's womb and again as he comes out of
his mother's womb Breaking the womb as the firstborn he comes
forth and says lo I come to do thy will oh my God and the Apostle
explains to us by inspiration by the which will We are sanctified
made holy and perfect through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. The Lord Jesus promised to do
his Father's will. He came here and did his father's
will. By the accomplishment of his
work as Jehovah's Servant, we now in him are sanctified, made
perfectly holy before the Lord God Almighty. This subjection
of our Savior to the Father needs to be understood. It is indeed
a voluntary thing. If you have some Mormons come
to your doorstep, are some Russellites and Jehovah's Witnesses come
to your doorstep and you let them in the door. First thing
they're going to do is try to show you that since Jesus was
obedient to the Father, He cannot really be God. He's got to be something less
than God. Well, that's nonsense. When you're
reading the Scriptures, as our Savior spoke of himself as the
Good Shepherd, And it says, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. He says, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. He said, I lay down my life.
I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take
it again. This commandment have I received of my father. Well
there, you see, he can't be God because he is commanded to do
something by God. His obedience, his subjection
to the will of the triune Jehovah was altogether voluntary because
of his great love for us. Every now and then, it doesn't
happen often, every now and then, every now and then, Shelby has
a day that she requires of me. I mean, she needs of me. At least
she thinks she needs me. And I will say to her, all right,
honey, second Tuesday next week, that's your day. That's your
day. And whatever you need, I'll do it. You call them honeydew
days. Now, I don't have many of them.
Let me tell you a little something about Shelby. Now, I know you
can't sense this by looking at her standing beside me. But if
I want to, I can whip her. I can still pick her up and throw
her across the room. I really can. Now, you might not think
that. She's a tough gal, but I can do that. And she can't
make me do anything. No need to try. Now, she has
ways of persuading me that I enjoy, and that's perfectly all right.
But she can't make me do anything I don't want to do. I'm just
a little too big for that. And it's not going to happen
in my house. But on those honeydew days, if I give her one, she'll
have a list before the day starts. They will take you from daylight
past midnight and you won't begin to get done. But that day I do
what she says. What's next, honey? What's next,
honey? Because I voluntarily subject
myself to her. You understand that? The fact
that our savior is Jehovah's servant. is not an indication
that he's less than God. No one but God could do what
he came to do. No one but God could satisfy
God's righteousness. No one but God could satisfy
God's justice. But our Savior came here saying,
Lord, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. And he voluntarily
subjected himself to the Father's will, which is the saving of
his people. Number two, he served. He served for six years. For six years. The Lord Jesus
served. Reckon why the first statute
requires that a man who sells himself as a slave is to serve
for six years. Six. That's the number of man. Man was created on the sixth
day. Six throughout the scriptures represents man. People have this
idea concerning Antichrist, he's going to have 666 tattooed on
his head, and folks are just terrified by it. That's Antichrist! That's Antichrist! I can't have
a telephone number or credit card got 666 on it. Don't be terrified by 666. That's
the number of man. It's the number of frustration,
failure, and defeat. Antichrist's not going to harm
God's elect. Antichrist is not going to harm God's church. Antichrist
is not going to harm God's people. This number six then is the number
of a man. Our Lord Jesus walked on this
earth as a man serving God for six years. That is for the full
age of a man. For 33 and a half years he served
Jehovah. For 33 and a half years, every
day of his life, with every breath of his being, he served the Lord,
fulfilling all righteousness, doing the will of God. He said
to his mother, don't you know I must be about my father's business? I must be about my father's business
while he was here. He said to Peter, he said, he
said, don't you know that I've come here to do the will of him
that sent me? I've come here for this purpose,
not for himself. He served four men. He brought
in everlasting righteousness by his perfect obedience unto
the Lord Jehovah and did his father's will in all things.
He did that as our representative. I say this so often, I'm almost
reluctant to repeat myself. And yet I know that this must
be repeated because we're so reluctant to believe what God
says. When Christ obeyed God as our
representative, as Jehovah's servant, we obeyed God in him
perfectly. Every child of God, every one
of God's elect, every believer perfectly kept God's law. Every believer perfectly fulfilled
God's law, every one of them. And when Christ died upon the
cursed tree, all God's elect, that is every sinner who looks
to Christ alone for acceptance with God, fully satisfied all
the fear of God's justice. I was crucified with Christ. Can you get hold of that? When
he died, I died. so that God in his holiness cannot
justly require any more from me. I've given him perfect obedience
and complete satisfaction in the person of his son. Now, understand
this thirdly. Had he chosen to do so, Jehovah's
servant could have gone out free. He could have gone out free.
Even after becoming servant to Jehovah, if this servant wants
to go out and leave, he's welcome to leave. He served his six years.
Now he can go out free. But if he does so, he must leave
behind his wife and his children. Our Savior said to Peter, don't
you know that even now I could pray to my father And He would
give me more than 12 legions of angels? But then how shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled? How can this type of the servant
be fulfilled? How can the prophets be fulfilled
that require the Son of Man suffer and die? He could have gone out
free. But fourthly, oh, bless His holy
name, He would not go out free. He refused to. He refused to. And here's the reason given. I love my father. I love my wife. I love my children. The servant would look at his
master and he would say in the seventh year, in the year of
grace, mercy, In the year of perfection, in the year of finality,
he'll say to his master, no, sir, no, sir, I won't go out. I'll be your voluntary bond slave
forever. And here's the reason. I love
you. And I love my wife and I love
my children. I will not go out. And he'd go
with his master to the doorpost and his master would take an
awe. and run it through his ear, and say, by this you testify
to everyone you're my slave forever, always to do my bidding. And he said, put your all right
here. Put it right here. I'm yours. Neither turned I away
my back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, willingly suffering
all for us. because of his love for God,
the glory of God, and his love for his wife, his family, his
children. I wonder if we can find parallels
to it anywhere in the scripture. I'll give you two. When Jacob
fell in love with Rachel, he made a deal with Laban, her father. He said, I'll serve you seven
years for her. And he served seven years for Rachel. Man,
she must have been some kind of gal. He served for seven years
for Rachel. And I don't know how they did
things back in those days, but somehow or another, he was tricked. The wedding dresses must have
been something else in those days, because he didn't know
who he was marrying. And the next morning when he
woke up and turned the covers back, he had married his ugly,
homely, Leah. And he was fit to be tied. He
went to Laban and said, I bargained for Rachel. And Laban said, well,
I couldn't give the younger sister before the older one. He said,
serve me for Rachel, too. He said, all right, I'll serve
you seven more years. And this is what Scripture said. They
seemed to him as but a few days for the love he had for Rachel.
Oh, what a picture of our Savior's love. More than that. Adam in
the garden, with his eyes wide open, knew what he was doing. Eve was deceived, but not Adam.
He knew exactly what he was doing. Rather than lose Eve, rather
than be parted from Eve, rather than be separated from Eve, Adam
took the forbidden fruit and willingly because of his love
for Eve, plunged himself into sin and death and condemnation
for Eve. The last Adam, the Lord Jesus,
with his eyes wide open, took our sin and made it his own,
took our guilt and made it his own. took our shame and made
it his own and willingly, voluntarily, because of his love for his people,
plunged himself into sin and death and condemnation. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder How he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean, but he did. And therefore, he became Jehovah's
servant. And the Lord God says concerning
him, he shall not fail till he has set righteousness and judgment
in the earth. One more thing about this servant.
The last word of the law. He shall serve forever. Forever. I remember Brother Hubert
Montgomery reading back in the office one night years ago that
passage in Luke's Gospel where our Lord gave the parable and
he said, the master will gird himself in the kingdom of God and serve them. And the old man just wept. He
said, that's something. That's something. For eternity,
for eternity, the Son of God shall take us by the hand and
lead us by fountains of living waters and feed our souls with
himself in the glory of Emmanuel's land forever as the servant of
God. because of his love for his father
and his wife and his children. Oh, thank God for him who served
for us and shall possess us forever by his grace. Amen.