I remember one time I asked Brother
Don about a text that I planned to preach from. And I said, does
that text teach the points that I had in my notes? And he said, well, I'm not sure
if it teaches it or not, but your notes are all true. Study tonight, and as we look
at these things, I hope you keep that in mind, and if you go home
and say, well, I just don't think that text teaches that, well,
what I'm going to say is going to be true anyway. So, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn with me to Exodus chapter 21, I don't intend to Where are
you with these civil statutes given to Israel in the law of
Moses? But I did promise to show you
the gospel as it's figured even in these individual statutes
of the law. One of our young men asked me
Sunday morning out in the parking lot after the message. He said,
God said in Genesis chapter 1 verse 3 that He created light. And
then just a little ways down from that, he talks about putting
the sun in the sky and the moon in the night sky and the stars
in the heavens for times and see. He said, what kind of light
is he talking about back here? And I said, well, it could be
a general statement of light, kind of a general statement.
It's his opening address in the Word of God talking about the
light of God. Perhaps he's talking about all
that light as it is in one, but I said what I believe it is.
is a statement of the light of redemption that's going to be
from that time forward. Now, I believe that's what he's
talking about when he said, let there be light. This is that
redemptive light that's going to be in all creation, all providence. Everything that is from that
point forward is going to have this light in it, including this
little statue that I'm about to teach you from tonight. The
Apostle John goes to great lengths to tell us that Jesus Christ,
the Word, was the Creator of the world. Now, there's no reason
for him to say that, except to say that everything that is was
made by Him, made for Him, and carries this light in it. All
things. He said, were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. This is the light. The light of Christ. The life
of Christ. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse
15, He tells us that Christ is the firstborn of every creature.
Why should that be significant? What's that got to do with anything?
Why would he single out just the Redeemer when God the Father
was as much a part of it and God the Holy Spirit was as much
a part of it as Christ was? But here in this particular place,
he points out this fact, that Christ is the firstborn of every
creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him. Now, that's why,
that's why He tells us He's the firstborn of every creature.
These things were all created for Him. These things all have
something to do with His person and work. And He is before all
things. And by Him all things consist. He's before all things in purpose. And He's before all things in
appointment. And He is before all things in
importance, and He is before all things in glory. When God said, Let there be light,
He spoke of the light of eternal redemption that will shine in
everything that is. And the light of this redemption
shines even in these civil statutes of the law. Now often people
ask me, well, you just see figures and types and pictures and everything.
Don't you think those things have other meanings? Maybe they
do. I don't know. But I know this is the first
meaning. This is the first place we ought to look. And then if
we can get the second and third out of it, that's fine. But first
see this. First see this. Now what I want us to look at
tonight is the law of the maidservant. Exodus chapter 21, verse 7. And 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 a strange nation
he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with
her. And if he hath betrothed her
to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he take him another wife,
her food, her arrangement, and her duty of marriage shall not
diminish." That is, he's not to ignore her because he took
another one who won his affection. And if he do not these three
unto her, then shall she go out free without money. Now, this is just one little
portion of that law you'll have to go through. And as we go through
and study these books of Moses, perhaps we'll talk about some
of the other parts to this. But let me just see for now if
I can put this into a short summation, what I just read. Under the law
of Israel, the head of a household, this was an honorable man. This
was a man who had responsibilities. He had a wife, and he had children,
and he had servants. He was an honorable man. But
because of circumstances, he's now in a bind. And he can't sell
himself into slavery like the bond servants. because he has
these other responsibilities. He would be, in other words,
it would be like robbing from Peter to pay Paul. If he come
over here and sold himself into slavery, now he's got this over
here hanging over his head, his responsibility toward his wife
and his other children. And so he can't do that. He can't
no longer sell himself. But he could redeem his debt
from his creditor by giving his daughter to the man in marriage. She did not go out, I just read
that to you, as the men did, but upon better terms than the
men. Her servitude was not as a slave,
but as a bride to a substantial provider. And if my understanding
of this law is clear, she was given to him at a very young
age, somewhere around 12 years old, maybe 11, maybe 13, somewhere
along in that area is what the commentators say. And they're
going from all sorts of things in Jewish history, and I understand
that. But she was given to him at a very young age, and then
she served in his house. And time was given for her to
know him and for him to know her. A space was given. And meanwhile, she was under
his care. Now, because of the hardness
of men's hearts, provision was made for divorcement from this
espousal. An espousal under the Jewish
law carried with it as strong a commitment almost as marriage.
And he was a spouse to this woman. But because of the hardness of
men's hearts, God put in this a provision for divorcement from
his espousal. Now, he's very clear on what
he did. He said that this man, if this man She didn't please
him, and he didn't want to marry her, and he didn't want to go
on with this. It says very clearly in those scriptures I just read
to you that he dealt deceitfully with her. That's what they're
talking about. He made a promise, and he wasn't
willing to keep it. And his espousal could either
be, if he was a young man, it could
be for himself. Or if he was an older man with
a son, it could be for his son. Now, as this maiden matured,
if she didn't please her master, whichever one she was espoused
to, either the son or the head of the household, if her attitude
and disposition, if her behavior and her temperament, her comeliness
or willingness Whatever the cause, if he did not please, if she
did not please her master, he could then call on the father
of this child to redeem her back. Now, if she was 11 years old,
there's some time that went by, and whenever this transaction
took place, it was only for six years. After the seventh year,
they go out free. You understand? So let's say
she was sold in there for a six-pound note. Each year, a pound goes
off of that note. So let's say she'd been there
for three or four years, and now he says, no, I don't want
to enter into marriage with her. I want to get shed. But she's
already earned part of that back, you see. She's earned four pounds
of that note back. So then he can go back to her
father or one of her near kinsmen. And then they have the opportunity
to redeem her from this debt. You remember the case of Ruth
and so on. The kinsman redeemer, there was
one nearer than him that could have redeemed, but he didn't.
He didn't. And so it fell upon Boax. If she did not please her master,
he could then call on her father or a near kinsman to redeem her
from the balance of her debt. She could not be sold to just
anyone. And she was absolutely forbidden
to be sold to the heathen nations. That's what he's talking about
there, a strange nation. He could have got a lot of money
for her doing that. But then that servitude wouldn't have
been for six years. That would have been forever.
But now watch this. He who promised to take her to
wife and paid her father's debt became as responsible to her
as her father was to the debt. Can you see that in this text?
He became as responsible to this one that he redeemed. He paid
this redemption money. He agreed in this spousal. He agreed to take her to be his
bride. In doing so, he become as responsible
to her under the law of God as her father was to pay that debt
under the law of God. If he bought her for himself,
he must perform all the husband's duties to his wife, even if he
takes another bride, even if he don't like her. But he keeps
her as a bride. He has to give her equal time
in all things. If he bought her for his son,
he must then care for her as a daughter. He must do for her
after the manner of daughters. That is, he must provide her
with a suitable dowry, an honorable relationship by his son, must
take her in as his own daughter. But if he fails these three things,
if he fails to treat her as his bride, If he fails to faithfully
give her to his son, or if he fails to render to her his duties
as a husband, she is by God's holy law to be set free from
the debt and all money forgotten. Let me give you four things tonight
that I believe have the light of redemption clearly set forth
in this statute. First of all, her servitude was
brought about because of a debt her father could not pay. Isn't
that where the trouble was? That's where the trouble's at.
My friend, this maidservant is a picture of the church. And
God's elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, but they incurred a debt by their father Adam that they
could not pay. He could not pay. Now I thought
as I read this, what in, boy, you talking about unfair. Here's
this little daughter, 11 years old. How old is your daughter? She's seven, see? Four more years,
she'd be this, can you imagine? What in the world, what's she
got to do with his death? She's his daughter. What in the
world have I got to do with Adam's sin? I'm his son. I'm his son. You see what I'm saying? She's
a picture of the church. And though God's elect were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world, that's all true. But they incurred a debt by their
father Adam and were sold into slavery. But as it has to do with this
bondmaid, here's what I want you to see. God turned this thing
into a blessing for her. Because of this debt, she was
now espoused to a man who was able to take care of her and
able to redeem what her father lost. You remember when Boaz
stood up? He didn't just redeem Ruth. He
redeemed Naomi and that whole house when he stood up. I know that each man's sins is
his own sins, and he stands guilty for his own sins. But the reason
he sins, the reason he has a nature inclined to sin, is because he
is the son of a fallen man, and he inherited his heart and mind. The scripture says, in Adam all
die. That's what he's talking about.
He's not talking about this grave out there on earth that you're
going to die and they're going to put you in a box and bury you under that
ground. That's the end of it. But he's
talking about spiritual death. And they all die because of this
fall. By one man, sin entered into
the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. But if not for this death, if
not for this debt, you see what I'm saying? If God had not allowed
man to fall, there'd be no redemption. There'd be no espousal. There'd be no husband for the
bride of Christ. Sin is the unpaid debt of Adam
that demands payment. Now, before anything can take
place concerning the law of the maidservant, there must first
be a reckoning of the debt. The first thing that had to happen,
somebody said, has to say, I owe this debt. I owe this debt. This debt must be paid. This
debt must be paid. He didn't ignore the debt. He
didn't say, well, won't you just marry my daughter? And then we'll
be kin and we can just forget the whole thing. Oh, no. No,
no, no, no. The debt had to be, the redemption money had to be
paid. The debt had to be settled. There
must be an acknowledgment of it. Listen to this, in 1 John
1, verse 8. He said, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Now, some of you wonder, well,
why don't you go out here when these men throw all these accusations
around? Why don't you go out there and
argue with them? Because they've never acknowledged this one thing.
And I hammer on it every message I preach. I try to. There's got
to be an acknowledgment of the debt. They're not going to be
in a spousal. This ain't going to happen until
somebody said, I owe the debt. How can I get out of this debt?
What's going to have to take place? The debt has to be settled. You see what I'm saying? You
see this? Even in the law of God, even
in these simple statutes, God just hammers on this thing about
the justice and holiness of God. This debt must be paid. And the reason for this espousal
of redemption is because of a debt. that we cannot pay. I've preached
to hundreds in my lifetime who could never make any sense out
of the gospel because there was never an acknowledging of their
sin. The first thing the Holy Spirit
of God does in a man is convince him of his sin. Until sin takes
over his whole thought pattern, his whole motive, everything.
When sin comes into the picture, it slays him. He's a different
man. He's not proud and wanting to
argue now. He's a guilty sinner who can't
look you in the face. He'll come and he'll sit down
on the pew with his head down. He thinks everybody in there
can see that he's a sinner. Everybody in that place, their
eyes is on him. He can feel it. I've sat in the
pew and felt that very thing, that everybody in here knows
me for what I am. Everybody in here. And they all
did because they all were in the same spot. Those who knew
God. Men talk about election as if
it were some kind of a horrible breach upon man's rights. They
talk about God's right to choose as though it were some kind of
infringement upon the human race and unfair to the rest of the
world. That's because they don't know
they have a debt. Huh? They don't know they're
guilty before God. I tell you, Brabus, he might
have argued about election before he went in that cell, but when
they come and told him another was chosen to take his place,
I bet you he wouldn't argue with you about election anymore. He
knew what it was. There had never been an acknowledgment
of the sin. And this was agreement reached
by the Redeemer and redemption money exchanged because he loved
her who was promised to him by the exchange. This man agreed
to this. The father didn't just push it
off on him. He agreed to it. He agreed to it. Why did he agree
to it? Because he saw he loved this woman. He loved this woman. And when we're talking about
the Lord and His love for His elect, it didn't have anything
to do with what was in the woman. The Lord knows what's in natural
man. That's why He made this provision. If things didn't work
out, she'd go back to her father. There's no such provision in
this other, in the redemption of Christ. And then secondly,
I want you to see this. She was not sold to be misused
or corrupted. She wasn't sold as a harlot,
she wasn't sold in that capacity, but she was redeemed with the
promise of marriage. That's what this redemption was
all about, was to take her to himself and become one with her. Her redemption was paid in full
by one who loved her and promised to make her his bride. This man,
though he were able, was not willing to redeem all the widows
in Israel. Just this one. Just this one. A certain man. A certain man
agreed to redeem a certain man. You see that? He didn't want to redeem all
the widows in Israel, only the one he purposed to have for his
own. And He would in time have her to know Him and to know His
heart and to know His glory. She'd be one with Him and share
His name and share His riches and share His house. She'd be
His and He'd be hers. You know, if you read in Jeremiah,
you'll find in there where it's talking about Christ and said,
His name shall be called the Lord our Righteous. It's long
about in the 20s somewhere there in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23 or something
like that. His name shall be called the
Lord our Righteousness. Then it goes along and it says
quite a few and it gets up there in I think in the 30s somewhere
along in there in the chapter. And then it says, it talks about
her name. Talking about his church. It
says her name shall be called the Lord our Righteousness. She
wears the same name he has. She'd be his. He'd be hers. And because of this espousal
of redemption, she was guaranteed her husband's attention. Why would the Lord consider me?
Huh? Because He loved me. Why did
He love me? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But He did. And
when He paid that redemption money, He obligated himself to
give me his attention. You read that law. So the buying of the maidservant
was to settle a debt her father could not pay. And her buying
at the price of redemption was not to serve as a slave. She
didn't go out as the men went out, but she went out upon better
promises. But as a grateful bride, Bought
out of poverty and despair and promised to the Son of God. What do you think about that?
It was the Father's purpose to redeem this fallen daughter to
be a spouse to His Son. Now listen to this. The Kingdom
of Heaven is like unto a certain king who made a marriage for
his son. Doesn't that just sound like
that, Law? It was His design It was his intention. It was
his purpose before the world began. And then thirdly, because
of the promise of redemption, he must perform all that was
promised or else release her with all her debts fully paid.
When the redeemer of the maidservant obligated himself, he becomes
responsible to her in her redemption as her father was to his own
debt. Now let me tell you something. If the Lord were to lose one
for whom he died, just one, he himself would be the biggest
loser. He'd be the biggest loser. He'd diminish his own character.
You think about that. His own character by breaching His promise of redemption. Listen to how the Scriptures
describe this in the statute. He can only give her up to her
own father or near kinsman, verse 8, seeing he dealt deceitfully
with her. If the Lord were to put away
one, for whom he paid the redemption, he deal deceitfully with her.
And there's no deceit in him. There's no deceit in him. You
know, I can't quote this scripture verbatim, but it goes something
like this. Though they believe not, though they believe not, yet
he cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself. You want
some assurance? Here's the assurance. It's not
in you and not in your faithfulness. It's in His. It's in His. He promised an affection, this
man, if He were to give you up, if the Lord were to give you
up, He would have promised an affection He did not have. He
would have promised you something He was unwilling to give. and
promised you a name He was not ready to share. For the Lord
to be unfaithful in His promises would be for Him to lose His
Godhead and all accountability would be gone from you. This thing is not about money,
it's about the character of the Redeemer. This is eternal life
to know God. It's to know Him. I listen to
people talk about God. Kathy and I were talking about
this going down to the hospital today. They talk about God changing. God can't change. He's immutable. God willing to show to the heirs
of promise the immutability, the unchangeableness of His counsel. I am the Lord, I change not.
He is willing, more willing than you are to receive it. He is
more willing to show you this immutability, this knowledge
of Him in redemption that He confirmed it with an oath. He
not only made the promise, but like He told Abraham, He said, I swear by myself because
I can swear by no greater. Got God's oath, God's promise. Now back here under this statute,
this man, there was no certainty, no immutability there in his
account. So he's going to take this woman,
anything might not work out. You know, she might have a big
mole under one eye or something, he didn't like her. She might
have had a bad disposition, wouldn't listen to him. Whatever the reason. So provision was made because
of the hardness of their heart. to get back out of the contract.
But God doesn't want out of His contract. And He's not going
to change. And He was so willing to show
to the heirs of the promise, the immutability of His counsel,
that He confirmed it with an oath. Because of the promise
of redemption, He must either love her and treat her as His
bride, or loose her of all her responsibility to Him. And then fourthly and lastly,
because she was the daughter of Abraham, she could not be
sold again to the heathen. God has redeemed us from this
world. He's promised this redemption.
He's paid this redemption. And He cannot, under the justice
of God, again turn that believer back. He can't sell you back
to this world. And I will turn you back to this
work. Guaranteed by that price of redemption and that promise
of a spousal that's connected with it. God give us an understanding,
even of these little statutes, if we can just see Christ in
them, we can see the value of the statute. Our Father, we thank
you for this night. We thank you for your Word. As we study Read the Word of
God. Oh, how we see this red thread
of redemption sewing together even the statutes, not only the
prophecies and promises, but the very statutes of the Law.
We see these things figured and laid out before us. We thank
You for it. Use this message tonight for
Thy name's honor and glory. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.