I believe most everyone knows
that the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, a day of rest
for the Hebrew people under the Mosaic law. Sabbath in the scriptures
represents and refers to rest. Genesis chapter two tells us,
let me read this to you. And on the seventh day, God ended
his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it, he had
rested from all his work, which God created and made. Did you
know that the law of God also spoke of a sabbatical year? Which was a year of rest. Turn
with me to Leviticus. Third book in the Old Testament,
Leviticus chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25. In this 25th chapter of Leviticus,
we find God giving Moses the law concerning this sabbatical
year that was to be observed after the Israelites moved into
the land of promise. And in verse 1, we read, And
the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, speaking
to the children of Israel and saying to them, when you come
into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath
unto the Lord." Now that seems a little strange language, that
the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord, but we'll understand
more why it says that in a moment. Verse 3, 6 years thou shalt sow
thy field, and 6 years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather
in the fruit thereof. in the seventh year shall be
a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. And thou shalt neither sow thy
field nor prune thy vineyard. And that which groweth of its
own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, neither gather
the grapes of thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto
the land. So here we see that every seventh
year, there was to be no planting, no pruning for a whole year,
just rest. That sounds good, but as any
gardener or farmer who depend upon their gardens to eat would
tell you or upon their crops, they would tell you, well, what
are we gonna do the following year? What will you eat then? And then verse five and six explains. Verse six and the Sabbath of
the land shall be meat for you, for thee and for thy servant
and for thy maid and for thy hard servant and for thy stranger
that sojourneth with thee and for thy cattle and for the beasts
that are in thy land. shall all the increase thereof
be meat." Now, whatever the land yielded during this sabbatical
year, this year of Sabbath, would be their food. Whatever the land
produced would be what they ate the following year. And I know
what you're thinking. You're thinking the same thing
I thought. How is anything going to grow if nothing is planted?
How are you going to reap from something that you have not sown? And this is where faith in God
came into play. And verses 20 and 21 anticipates
that very question that I just asked. Look at it with me, verse
20. And if you shall say, what shall we eat the seventh year?
Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in increase. And God Almighty
says, look at what God says here. Then I will command my blessing
upon you. What a promise that is I will
command my blessing upon you in the sixth year and it shall
bring forth fruit for three years God's got it covered and You
shall sow the eighth year and yet eat and yet of old and Eat
yet of old excuse me fruit until the ninth year until her fruits
come in you shall eat of the old store God's gonna provide
In that six year, enough for three years ahead of time. You see God's people had no reason
to worry. God had promised to take care
of them if they'd only trust in him. Now, did you hear what
I just said? God's people have no reason to
worry. None. God has promised to take
care of us. Hasn't he? Can we rest in Christ
our Sabbath? The keeping of the sabbatical
year was an important sign of trust in the Lord. Isn't trusting
the same thing as resting? It is when it's in Christ. True
peace and joy come from trusting and resting in Christ our Sabbath. And isn't it something that God
would command his people to trust and rest in him? That's what
this pictures. Now turn with me to Deuteronomy
chapter 15. Deuteronomy chapter 15. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy chapter 15. This chapter also speaks of this
year of rest, this sabbatical year of rest that God had prescribed
in his law. And yet it adds a further command
to it. Chapter 15, the book of Deuteronomy
deals with a wonderful, wonderful transaction concerning this year
of rest. And also what is referred to
as the Lord's release. The Lord's release. Now look
at verse one, Deuteronomy 15. At the end of every seven years,
thou shalt make a release. Now that word release comes from
a Hebrew word that is also translated remission. It means suspension
of labor, rest, release. That's very interesting to me.
This release, this suspension of labor has something to do
with the cancellation of a debt. Sure. Sounds like something that
a true sin debt center would be interested in hearing about.
Are you deep in sin debt? Are you at all interested in
this release? Now verse two then gives us the
conditions, the instructions, and the manner of this release.
Look at it with me. And this, verse two, and this
is the manner of the release. Every creditor that lendeth ought
unto his neighbor shall release it. Now I'm gonna tell you something,
that's good news if you're in debt. Every seventh year, every
creditor, anyone who had lent to his neighbor must release,
forgive, cancel the debt. He must free the debtor from
any obligation to pay it. Notice the rest of verse two,
he being the lender shall not exact it of his neighbor, or
of his brother. And the Hebrew word here for
exact means to harass. In this sabbatical year of rest,
now stay with me, in this sabbatical year of rest, creditors could
not demand payment. They couldn't sue for payment. Boy, we live in a sue-happy society
today, don't we? We sue anybody for anything,
men will. They couldn't demand payment.
They couldn't sue for payment. They couldn't harass or give
the debtor any grief or trouble about it. Why? Because the debt is to be released,
to be remitted, to be forgiven, to be canceled, to be paid for. Why? Well, the last part of verse
two tells us because it's called the Lord's release. This is something
that God ordained and commanded to be done in his law. This was
part of God's law. This was appointed and commanded
by the Lord. It was for his honor. It was
for his glory as a gracious and merciful God. It was a picture
of God's intervention of divine grace, of sovereign grace in
the restoration of the desperate, fallen state, need, and horrific
debt of the poor and helpless whom He determined to save. That's
what this is picturing. That's what the Sabbath pictures,
a day of rest. That's what this sabbatical year
represents. God releasing, canceling, forgiving
and paying his people's sin debt. What a picture of our pardon,
our release and the remission of our sin debt. And very often
in scriptures, the word sin is referred to a debt that we owe. Now we're in debt to God's holy
law. God's law requires perfection
and oh my, we come up way short, don't we? Way, way short. We're in debt to His holy and
divine justice. We're so in debt to God and His
law that we're absolutely incapable of paying what is required of
us. And the only way our sin debt can be relinquished is for
it to be forgiven, canceled and released. We can't pay it. We're not able, we're incapable
of paying it. Are you getting the picture of
what this release of the Lord and this Sabbath rest is showing
us? Does this rest, this release,
spark your interest? Will you inquire of this release
of the Lord? Now, if these sin debts of ours
are not canceled, if they're not forgiven, if they're not
suspended, then those to whom they belong are gonna stand responsible
and bound to the punishment of God's law and the wages of sin
is what? Death. The soul that sins, it
shall die. That's a real problem. That's
a real issue. And in teaching us to pray, do
you remember what our Lord said? He said, forgive us our debts.
Forgive us our sin as we forgive our debtors. Only God can forgive
the great debt of sin that we owe. Now I know you know that.
Our sins were against Him and Him alone. That's what David
said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight. He's the creditor that we owe.
God is. Now. That is the premise of what
this chapter is about and what a picture it is of our condition
and God's remedy for it. And time won't allow us to consider
each and every verse here, but the study and consideration of
verse 15 should be profitable to us if the Lord be pleased
to make it so. Now look at verse 15. This is
what I want us to consider this morning. God speaking here says,
and thou shalt remember. that thou wast a bondman in the
land of Egypt. And the Lord thy God redeemed
thee. Our great God here calls upon
his people to remember. Remember two things. So let's
spend the remainder of our time doing just that. The first thing
that we are to remember is our bondage. Our bondage in the land
of Egypt and thou shalt remember that thou was a bondman in the
land of Egypt. The Lord calls upon Israel here
to remember their bondage in Egypt. In so many ways, our bondage
in sin parallels Israel's bondage in Egypt. In Romans chapter 7,
the Apostle Paul makes reference to every man and woman's fallen
state. And he wrote these words. He
said, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. And then he said this, sowed
under sin. Like Israel, you and I, because
of our sin are enslaved to a mighty power that rules over us. We've
been enslaved by sin. Do you see that? Have you experienced
that? Has God shown you that? You're
enslaved by sin, sold under sin. And Pharaoh, oh, I'm telling
you, Pharaoh was too firmly established on his throne and his army was
too strong for feeble shepherds to resist. and sinner in and
of yourself, you cannot contend with sin and Satan. Now I know
there are many today that go around and take power and authority
over Satan and they do it in the name of Jesus and carry on
with all kinds of nonsense. Let me tell you something, you're
no match for Satan. Satan is no match for God, but
you're no match for Satan. And even the archangel of the
Lord when dealing with Satan said, the Lord rebuketh thee.
That's not anything that we, oh, he's too powerful a foe for
us. And sin, oh, what another powerful
foe. Too powerful for us, too powerful
for us. Satan works to penetrate from
the outside to destroy the souls of men and women. And then we've
got sin showing its subtle face and it works from within the
camp. Works within the hearts of men and women to destroy the
souls of fallen men and women, sinners. And I ask you sincerely
now, as I know how, apart from divine power, what man is he
that can break loose from sin's captivity? Are you going to do it in and
of yourself? What man can deliver himself from the bondage of sin? Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No. Can the leopard change his
spots? No. Then can you also do good
who are accustomed to do evil? Absolutely not. Can you and I
live righteously before God if not assisted by divine strength? No. Our deliverance, our freedom,
our liberty came from the same sovereign hand that Israel's
did. God said, I've heard the groaning
of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage
And I've remembered my covenant. That's the only hope you have,
Linda. That's the only hope that I have in this thing of salvation,
in this thing of being reconciled to God. God's going to have to
divinely intervene. He said, I am the Lord and I'll
bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And
I will rid you out of their bondage. And I will redeem you. Who will?
God will. Not you will redeem yourself.
Not you, but I will. And I'll redeem you with a stretched
out arm and with great judgments. And I'll take you to me for a
people. God said, I'm gonna make you
mine. And I'm going to be your God. And you shall know that
I am the Lord, your God, which bringeth you out from under the
burdens and the bondage of the Egyptians. Exodus chapter six,
verses five through seven. Oh, may God enable us to remember
how our slavery so degraded us. I recently read that many men
who have been institutionalized in prison, many who have spent
nearly their whole lives incarcerated, don't really want to be paroled.
They've become accustomed, content in their imprisonment. Being
a prisoner or a slave to the penal system very often degrades
men into contentment with their condition. And that was the case
with many of the Israelites who were in Egyptian bondage. You
say, well, how do you know that? Well, they were so trampled down,
they were so defeated, so stripped of any integrity that they actually
made themselves as content as they could in their enslaved
condition. And it's very, very obvious that that's the case
when you consider what many of them said once they were delivered. In Exodus chapter 14 verse 12,
they said this, is not this the word that we did tell thee in
Egypt? We told you before we ever left
Egypt when we said, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Our slavery to sin was meant
to destroy us. It was Pharaoh's intention to
destroy Israel while he personally gained from their slavery. Satan
will be satisfied with nothing less than the total and eternal
destruction of God's fallen creatures. Nothing short of total. Annihilation will satisfy the prince of this
evil world. How that parallels Pharaoh. Truly,
it does. The total overthrow of the soul
of a man is the aim of our determined enemy. And like Israel and Egypt,
dear sinner, without Christ, you're in the hands of a power
that will not let you go. Moses with the words of God in
his mouth proclaimed thus saith the Lord he walked before Pharaoh
and he said Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord the Lord says to you
let my people go And you remember what Pharaoh's answer was? He
said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel
go. I know not the Lord I Neither
will I let Israel go. And such is the language of sin
and Satan who have dominion over the enslaved. They too say concerning
you and I, I will not let them go. Our sin holds us captive. We're in great bondage to sin.
And child of God, remember, remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt. Don't ever forget that. I remember too well my bondage
to and in sin. I also clearly remember the day
that the Lord sent a messenger like Moses to me. And he spoke
to my heart and he said, Sinner, one has sent me to deliver you. You're in prison, and I'm sent
to bring you out. Who is this one I asked? His
name is I Am That I Am. He's God, who's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He is I Am. You see, friends, it's when you
and I remember our bondage in Egypt, our bondage in sin, is
when we're able to remember afresh our powerful deliverance from
it. That's the second thing that
our Lord calls for us to remember, and that's our redemption. Verse
15 again, and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the
land of Egypt, and, oh, there's something else, something far
more glorious to remember, the Lord thy God redeemed thee. Who is it that redeemed us? The
Lord thy God. He's the only one that can. We
cannot, we must not, and we shall not, by the grace of God, forget
these things. We're bondmen, slaves in the
Egypt of this world. But Christ, the Lord of lords
and the King of kings, hath redeemed us. I remember back before Teresa
and I got married, I was single and got myself in a little bit
of financial trouble. Somebody told me one time, I
went to buy something. They said, you've got good credit.
I wish they'd never told me that because I tried it out. Boy,
I'm telling you, I tried it out. I bought a truck that I couldn't
afford. I couldn't afford the truck,
but I had good enough credit to buy it, so I bought it. And
I got behind on my payments. And boy, every day I went to
the post, to the mailbox, and there was a, seemed like every
day anyway, and there was a late notice. They started out, you
know, friendly reminder, and then they got to where they weren't
so friendly. The last letter or notice that I got said, if
we don't have the payment in our office by such and such date,
we're going to file charges. We're going to collect this by
any means we deem possible. begin to sell some things and
I begin to scrap the money together and I went down to the bank and
I said, I need to make a payment. It's a little behind us. And
the lady started typing in on the computer and kind of shook
her head. And of course, I immediately
thinking the worst. They've been turned that over to collection,
you know. She typed a little bit more and kind of shook her
head and I said, is there a problem? And she said, yeah. She said,
this loan is paid. I'm like, no, I think that's
wrong. I don't think that's the case.
No, it's paid, she said. I see it right here. It's paid
in full. My mother and my father had heard of my trouble, and
they went down and they paid that note off. And I'm telling
you, that bank teller was like a, she had a message of good
news to me. She said, the loan is paid. And
you know what? I didn't know it. I didn't know
it until then. I'm telling you, dear sinner,
if you're one of the Lord Jesus Christ, your note has been paid. You may not know it, but I'm
here to tell you, like that bank teller told me, your loan is
paid in full. You don't owe that debt anymore.
Oh, what a glorious, glorious thing. My parents' payment of
my debt was a marvelous, kind, and gracious thing to do. And
they did it because they loved me and they wanted to help me.
But their remission, their payment of my debt cannot compare with
what my Lord has done and paid for me. Child of God, He took
your nature. yet without sin and became your
next of kin. And as your near kinsman redeemer,
he has the right to redeem you. You know, my parents had the
right as my parents to go down and pay that note. They didn't
have to, but they did. It was their right to do so. Your kinsman redeemer has the
right to redeem you. And it was with great price that
you and I obtain this freedom. The Lord said, I gave Egypt for
thee. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Saba for thee. And there are two means of redemption. There's redemption by power. And there's redemption by price.
And true redemption for the child of God includes both. God, by
His sovereign power, delivered Israel out of Egypt. Pharaoh
learned that there was great consequence in disobeying the
word of God. God began to send those plagues
one after another. And when God was finished, with
Egypt, they were begging Israel to leave and offering them parting
gifts to go. Here, leave and take this with
you. Power of God's deliverance. That was redemption by power.
It was full redemption. Not a single soul in Israel was
left behind. Isn't that amazing? No telling
how many millions of folks there was. And had Moses not said,
not a hoof shall be left behind. Beloved, not one whom God chose
and loved will be lost. Not one. This is full redemption. God's redemption is full salvation. None for whom Christ died shall
be lost. All for whom Christ died will
also be fully saved. The believer's redemption is
not just made possible. No, it's made certain. And all
God's elect who were once unwilling, gonna be made willing in the
day of his power. Oh my. Redemption by power. And then
there's redemption by price. Peter said, beloved, we were
not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold. How were we redeemed then, Peter? He said, I'm glad you asked.
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Oh my, I'm telling you you're
bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit. which are God's, you're bought
with a price. Be not ye the servants of man. When you remember that you were
bondmen in the land of Egypt, you will remember that it was
the Lord God that redeemed thee. Every time I got in that truck
and drove it, I thought about my redemption. I forgot about
the, I thought about the payment that the one who loved me paid. You'll no longer be a servant
of men, but the servant of God when you're revealed these things.
And you know, the effect these things have on a child of God is so amazing, quite the opposite
of what most think. Hear folks tell me all the time,
things like, and we've talked about this, well, you believe
in that. Those doctrines of grace and
election and all that. Y'all think y'all the only ones
that God saved. Men think that we're proud of
the fact that God chose and elected some people before time ever
was. But I'm telling you, the glorious
gospel of substitution and God choosing and calling sinners
before they ever were is a most humbling thing. The children
of God become humble. God's people are made to be humble.
Why? Because they remember the pit
from which they were dug. And Teresa and I were talking
about it this morning on the way to church. How easy it is
to forget that. How easy it is to get upon our
high horses of spirituality and talk negative of others when
we ourselves were once in the same condition. It was God's
divine intervention, mercy and grace that plucked us out of
Egypt. When we remember who it was that
redeemed us, it humbles us. We know we didn't deserve it.
We didn't do anything to earn it or merit it. It was the grace
of God in Christ given to us. It's a gift. Just poor, miserable
slaves. who would be in hell if not for
the sovereign grace of God in Christ. God's people are humble. God's people are grateful. Oh,
let me tell you, they're grateful because they've received the
greatest of all God's mercy. What is that? Liberty? Freedom? Forgiveness of sins? They've
received that remission, that release that comes with this
sabbatical year of rest. Oh, they're made to be thankful
and grateful for God's mercy, love, and grace in Christ. And
we received this gift from the very nail scarred hand of our
great Redeemer. Here, take and eat. This is my body, which was broken
for you." And as he holds out that hand of mercy and grace,
we see those nail-scarred hands. And we know who it was that redeemed
us. God's people become patient.
If you're suffering, if you're ailing, or if sometimes your
spirits are cast down, if you're poor and despised, yet say to
yourself, why should I complain? And why should we? Oh, my lot
may seem hard, yet it's nothing in comparison with that, what
it would have been if I had been left as a prisoner in the land
of Egypt. I'm no longer in bondage to my
sins. God did not leave me nor forsake
me then. And he certainly will not leave
nor forsake me now. They that wait upon the Lord,
oh, patience. They shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and
not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Oh, the redeemed
of the Lord are humble. They're grateful. They're patient
and they're hopeful. Are you hopeful? Oh, The child
of God is hopeful. Why? Because it does not yet
appear what we shall be. You were a bondman in Egypt.
The grace has set and made you free. I heard someone, I'll probably
mess this up. That's why I write down notes.
But I heard someone say that you can have a bird in a cage
and you can set him free, and he's been set free. But if he
comes back and he's grown so much that you can't put him back
in the cage, then he's been made free. Christ didn't only set
us free, he made us free. Big difference. Big difference. He has set and made you free
from sin and he'll keep you from falling and he'll preserve you
till the end. Oh, isn't that so hopeful? I
got a great hope. Yes, I do. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, how much
more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life? Oh, child
of God, the redeemed of the Lord are a humble people. They're
a grateful people. They're a patient people. They're
a hopeful people. And let me tell you something
else. They're a zealous people. Are you zealous in your service
to and for Christ? You ought to be. You ought to
be. Why? Because we were bondmen
in the land of Egypt. And the Lord, our God, hath redeemed
us. What then can be too hard for
us to undertake for His sake? We must give all our being to
Him who has purchased us to Himself And we must continue to do so
as long as we live. Lord, make it so. Give me a heart
to serve. Cause my conscience to be seared
for the concern of lost souls. Cause me to always be found doing
your work for your glory and for your honor. Remember what you were? slaves
to sin. Remember what God has done for
you? He redeemed you by His blood. You remember who and what you
are now? Children of God, join heirs with Christ, redeemed,
purchased, released to eat at the King's table forevermore.
Go fetch my fibber shaft. Go get him. Mephibosheth comes before the
throne of the king. He says, what is such a dead
dog as I? Who and what am I? And David
said, sit down at my table and eat forevermore. Oh my, remember,
remember. that you were a bondman in the
land of Egypt, and remember that the Lord God, thy God, hath redeemed
thee. He purchased you. Oh, my, the
debt's paid. That's the gospel, I believe,
my friends. That's the gospel. May God enable
us to truly believe it.