Turn with me to Exodus chapter
21. Exodus chapter 21. The last time we met we looked
at the church in the wilderness as they were brought before Mount
Sinai And Moses went up as their mediator and received the law
of God, and returned again to give them that law as God had
given it to him. Exodus 21, verse 1. Now these
are the judgments which thou shalt set before them, if thou
by an Hebrew servant Six years shall he serve. In the seventh,
he shall go out free for nothing. If he come in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master hath given him
a wife, and she hath 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, and my children, I will not go
out free, then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He
shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost. And his
master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve
him forever." Now in the days in which we've
been studying, the days of Israel in the wilderness, a company
of people whom God had just shortly before delivered out of absolute
paganism. and bondage down in Egypt, idolatry,
rank idolatry. In that day, and especially out
in that wilderness and among that people, there were no kind
of government substitutes. There was no welfare. There was no government assistance
as we know it today. I don't even think some of you
in here are old enough to know, Most of us don't know anything
about that. There's been welfare around since I was young. I mean,
I know a little bit about it before that came along, but not
a whole lot. But some of you do. Some of you
lived in the day when the government didn't hand out that kind of
stuff. They didn't just hand it to you. You either worked
or you starved to death. But if a person, back in this
day, if a person who because of death or drought or disease
or whatever, it could have been the economy as it was in Naomi's
case, that great drought come through there and everything
collapsed and she went into another country for whatever reason.
But if a person become unable to pay their debts, They owed
money to this one and that one, and they couldn't pay those debts.
They were, under the law, able to sell themselves in servitude
to that person for that debt. But the Lord put limitations
on it. He said six days, or six years,
you're going to serve. No matter what the debt was.
Six years, you're going to serve on the seventh. Now, we're talking
about a Hebrew slave. We're talking about one chosen
of God. He's going to work six years and after that six years
on the seventh he can go out. Now the number six I believe
is important here because six is the number of man. That's
the debt he's talking about. Man's debt. Man's debt. Ruined man. Deceived man. Cursed
man. and represented even in the common
statutes of the law is the full debt of man. This is the first
thing the Lord is going to let you know about his civil statutes
is something about the debt of man and his obligation to God
for his sins. By Adam's fall, all his posterity
had been forced into a servitude which cannot be undone until
full restitution be made. In Exodus 21, chapter 22, and
chapter 23 is a series of statutes given to Israel. They've already
received the Ten Commandments, their moral obligation to God
and one another. Now he begins to give them the
civil laws. He begins to give them details
about what they need to do. But all through these various
statutes, the work of Christ and his redemption are typified.
And by wisdom, by wisdom given to us in Christ, we see how the
benefits of God's grace is bestowed on guilty sinner in these statutes. Every one of them, you'll see,
has something to do with how that sinner, how that restitution
is made for that sinner and restitution provided for him. I think it was Russell, but somebody
asked me last week after I concluded the message, are we to do what
the law says? Now that's a catch-22 question,
and I didn't answer him straight up. Because on the one hand,
yes, there's nothing in that law that's contrary to God. It's not contrary to love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's
not contrary to love your neighbors as yourself. It's not contrary
to God's nature and to God not to steal and so on. You go all the way through the
law, you won't find anything. The law is holy and just and
good. Paul said if there could have
been a law, could have been a righteousness given to you by this law, then
this law would have done it. Because there's nothing in there
contrary to God. Everything in there is up to
snuff. It's all good. It's all holy and just and good. But there's a problem. The problem
is man's ignorance. We don't even know what the law
says. You remember our Lord telling those Pharisees who boasted that
they knew the law, you remember what He told them? He said, here's
what you say the law says. It's what you teach. I've sat
in your schools. I know what you teach. Here's
what you teach. This is what you say that law means. Here's
what that law really says. So man's ignorant and he don't
understand that law. Number two, he don't have the
ability to fulfill that law. He can't do, he can't love God
with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He can't do it.
Can't do it. And so on one hand, yes. Yes. On the other hand, no. Depends
on how you're looking at it. You see what I'm saying? The law is holy and just and
good, and there's nothing in it contrary to God. But there's
a danger in trying to walk with God and interpret the laws by
statute. What I would rather that you
do is just look to Christ. What this law says by statute
is what God requires of men. What Christ is is the man who's
already done the statutes. Would I know how to interpret
this? Study this man. Study this man. I don't have to look at the statutes
any longer. I have the embodiment. I have
one who has kept every jot and tittle. He said not one jot or
tittle will pass from the law until all be fulfilled. He fulfilled
every jot and tittle of it. So I don't care what is the area
that you're having problems with. If you're having a problem in
a certain area and you don't understand what that loss is,
look to him. Look to him. There's the interpretation
of it. So that's what I'm saying. When
I'm telling you that we're not under the law, and we don't even
use the law as a guideline to walk by, we use Christ. Christ is my guideline. He's
my example. If I want to know what the law
says, I study Him. I study Him. So that's what I'd
rather you do, is just look to Christ, who is the embodiment
of the law. Here's what the scripture said,
great is the mystery of godliness. Everybody's talking about God.
My God wouldn't do like that. That's what men say all the time.
My God wouldn't do that. My God wouldn't choose. He wouldn't love Jacob and hate
Esau. My God wouldn't. Well, that's not the God of the
Bible. That's not the God of the Bible.
So great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. Everything I need to learn about
godliness, I can find in Christ. Everything. I don't know how
to act socially. Yeah, I do. All I need to do
is study Him. Just study Him. He's the only man who is both
God and man. And everything He did was a manifestation
of godliness. In Romans 8, verse 1, it says,
There is therefore now no condemnation, to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. He condemned sin in the flesh
in his everyday life, he manifested the truth. Every day in his life,
in his response, in his preaching, everything he did, he manifested
the true spirituality of the law. And then also, by his death,
he exposed all of our sins and shortcomings of those requirements
of the law. So Christ, therefore, is not
only our righteousness, but also our true understanding of what
that righteousness is. We get them both in him. And
he is in every way the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. Now in these first six verses,
and this first of many statutes, seems to me to be the very basis
of all the rest of these civil statutes that he's going to give
us. This is the law of the bond circle. And most of you are familiar
with this statute as it's referred to often by preachers and their
messages. I don't think I've ever heard
any man for any length of time who didn't at one time or another
come over and talk about the bond slave or the bond servant.
And there is, and I have used it myself on occasion to this
end, a clear representation of the sinner. If you want to look
at this verse in that respect, there's a clear representation
of the sinner coming to know his master while in his bondage
and coming to him on the day of his freedom, being justified
in Christ, believing in Christ, coming to Christ on that day
of freedom. He, by willing, by his own free
will, if you want to put it that way, by his own agreement, by
His own commitment, under no obligation, He gives Himself
freely to His Master to serve Him forever. Serves Him forever. So there's a good representation
here if you want to look at it in that respect, and maybe someday
the Lord will give me some liberty and an opportunity to bring that
message. But tonight I want us to look
at it for the primary reason it was preserved for us to study
it, and that is as Christ the servant of God. My first point
tonight in the very basis of all that I have to say is that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the bondservant spoken of here in
this text. This refers directly to Christ. In Isaiah chapter 50 and verse
5, it says, the Lord God hath opened mine ear. This is Christ speaking. He hath
opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away
back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plumped off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. He was, He was, and He is. the bondservant, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now the law of the bondservant
describes a man who would voluntarily make himself a servant to his
loving master forever. Forever. And while it might have
its rightful application to believers, I believe it primarily speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself who loved us and gave himself
for us. Let's look first at his office
as a servant. I've used this verse a lot also
in some of the preaching that I've done to you in Philippians
chapter 2 and verse 5. He said, Let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant. The form of a servant. That is,
he left the lofty grandeur of heaven, left that glory of his
father's house to occupy the body of a man and as a man to
serve his loving father forever. Forever. Free to go. But he wouldn't go. He wouldn't
go. And being found in passion as
a man, he humbled himself. That is the most That question
ought to grab everybody in here by their heart. And you just
sit and contemplate what he said. What a humbling it was to come
from heaven's glory into the body of a man. Think about that. And then he said, being in the
form of a man, he humbled himself. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death even the death of the cross, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now as the bondservant
served in humility and shame, till all his debts were satisfied. So the Lord served in humility
and bore the shame of the debts he willingly took upon himself
of ours. You think about that. Think about
what a humbling experience it would have been for a man who
had his own house, who was equal with the man over here that he
owed. But because of something that happened, those debts were
forced to be paid on him, and he had to enter into a servitude
for six years. And he served this man. Think
of the humility and shame. Now, at the end of the time,
and when all debts were paid, if the servant truly loved his
master, and was willing for his sake and the sake of his wife
and his children, he was to voluntarily come to the door and receive
in his flesh the permanent mark of the bond service. And from
this time forward, there'd be no shame, there'd be no disgrace, not in his duties and not to
his name, but a great honor and privilege bestowed upon him.
Who could be trusted more than one who had honorably paid his
debts, served in love, and accomplished all that the Master had given
him to do? Who could be more trusted? That bond slave, I tell
you, over and over in the accounts of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
there was always a servant that they trusted and sent. You remember
reading about it? Always. Why did they trust him? for the reasons I just read to
you. That's why. Who could be trusted more? This
man did what the law required. This man went above. He loved
his master. And he served him and he honored
his master and he paid all of his debts. Now, I personally
believe a ring of some sort was put in his ear. I don't think
they just bored a hole in his ear Everybody went around looking
at the hole in his ear and saying, well, that's the bondservant.
I think they drove that all through there and put some kind of a
ring in there, something in there that identified him as the bondservant. And this bondservant become ruler. He become ruler over his master's
house. He had a lot of things that was
now under him. He wasn't still in that humiliation
and shame. But I believe some sort of a
mark of distinction was put there, something that caused all of
the other servants in the house to treat him with respect. But
whether this is so or not, let me say that the Lord Jesus Christ
was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and
the chastisement of our peace was upon him. And his body, though
exalted to the right hand of God, yet bears the marks of his
willing servitude as Jehovah's servant. He bears the mark. He bears the mark. As Jehovah's
servant, He took upon Himself our flesh and bones forever. Preacher, I can't seem to get
any assurance of my friend. Look at who's sitting at the
right hand of God. There's a man, not an angel,
a man in glory. That ought to give you a world
of hope right there. He didn't take on Him the seed of an angel,
but the seed of Abraham. There's a man seated at the right
hand of God. Flesh of our flesh and bone of
our bone. A man who willingly sold himself
to pay our debts and satisfy the holy law of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is the servant of this text. And we could go
on and on talking about that servitude. and all that He took upon Himself
that was due us. And He did it willingly. And
then secondly, I want you to see what is behind this great
honor which He is about to receive, and that is love. Love. You remember in Matthew, they
asked Him which was the great law, and He told them, love. In Romans chapter 13, verse 10,
it said, Love worketh no ill, to his neighbor. Therefore, love
is the fulfilling of the law. It fulfills the whole law. In
John chapter 15, verse 13, our Lord said, Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. In John chapter 3, verse 16,
it says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. Love is the key to the
servitude of Christ. He loved us, that's what the
scripture said, and gave himself for us. He loved us and gave
himself for us. Now in the statute of the bond
slave, the servant was required to confess three things before
his master. He was to be brought to the judge
These were all people who said over the judgments of the people,
these elders of Israel, they were to bring Him before the
judges and before the house, all the other servants. Everybody
gathered out there to see what was going on and He came up there
and He had to make this confession before His master, the judges,
and all the house of Israel. He made these three confessions.
The first thing He must plainly confess is that He loved His
master. You're going to have to confess
that. I love my master. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
22. When we're talking about obedience
and civil statutes and that type of thing, and I'm trying to show
you even in our redemption, that the servitude of Christ is the
servant. He's Jehovah's servant. This
is the perfect servant. I'm trying to show you that the
motivation for all that He did was His love for His Father. That's what motivated Him. And
that whole law, He tells us, is hung upon the heart of those
who would serve God. Now watch this here in Matthew
22, verse 36. Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. Now listen. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. On these two. As our blessed
representative and substitute, our Lord lovingly served the
Father. He's called in relation to all
the benefits and all the blessings on the church in Ephesians chapter
1, the God and Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now before He even gets into
those blessings, before He even begins to tell us how we're blessed,
how we're chosen, how we're predestinated, how we're accepted, before He
tells us anything, He first gives the praise to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're chosen in Him to be blessed,
and the end of these blessings is to be holy and without blame
before Him in love. Now, I know lots of folks like
to detach that last thing, before Him in love, and they bring that
down and attach it to the next verse. But it's not detached
in the Scriptures. I mean, it's not attached to
that next verse. It's attached to this verse. Because this is one of the benefits
of the church being in Christ, and those requirements being
that we have to be before Him holy and without blame, In love. In love. My friend, there is
no other way you and I can stand before God in this fallen, sinful
state and be blessed with these three things except in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But the text specifically states
that this love must be publicly confessed. Now, turn with me
to John chapter 14. We're talking about Christ's
love for the Father who is the master of the debts owed. And now those debts are paid.
But he said, I won't go out alone. I won't go out alone. In John
chapter 14 verse 30, and you can read the rest of this at
your own leisure so that you know I'm not taking it out of
context. But he's talking about going
to the cross. That's his subject. He's getting
ready to go to the cross. And he said, Hereafter I will
not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and
hath nothing in me. Now I want you to listen to this
next verse. But that the world may know that I love the Father. And as the Father hath given
me commandment, Even so, I do." His going to the cross, his willful
going to the cross, was his public confession that he loved the
Father. Now he said, arise and let us
go hence. Alright, the second thing that
this bond slave was required to confess was his love for his
beloved bride. He was to say, I love my master,
I love my wife. I love my wife. Husbands, love
your wives as Christ loved the church. Now there's a distinction here.
If you'll study these first six verses in Exodus 21, you'll find
that there's a distinction made here about the bride. If he came
in with a bride, he can go out with a bride. But if he receives
the bride at the master's hand, he can go out, but the bride
can't go out. Bride has to stay. The children
can't go out. Children have to stay. They belong
to the master. The only way he can have the
bride that the master give him is to serve the master forever. Now, this distinction made in
the precept here of coming in with a bride and receiving a
bride which was given to him by his master, and I won't be
dogmatic on this. Most of the time I'm dogmatic
on things, but I won't be on this. I'm just going to suggest
something here. And I can't really tie it together,
but if you look at it long enough, I'd just about wager that you're
going to find out that this is so. But these two brides is referring
to Old Israel and the Gentiles. Now you give it some study and
look at it for a little while and see if you can't see that
in there. The Jews and the Gentiles. The
Gentiles were revealed as his wife during and right after his
appearance in this world. Revealed to be his bride. and
revealed in the execution of his duties. Now all the requirements being
met, he's now a free man. He can go where he pleases. He
can do what he pleases. He can be wherever he wants to
be. But his beloved bride can't go with him. She belongs to his
master. His master gave her to him. And
should he leave his master, he must also leave his bride and
go out alone. Now there's all kinds of pictures
of this in the scripture. You remember old Jacob labored
for Rachel. But he didn't get Rachel. And
he had to labor some more. And you can go all through there
with Ruth and Boaz and Rachel and Jacob and so on. But the
one that not too many people ever think about and the one
I want to mention to you tonight is Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve. Rather than be separated from
his beloved bride, Adam would plunge himself under the condemnation
of God. You think about that. It said
Eve was deceived, but not Adam. Adam did what he did on purpose,
and he did what he did out of the love for his bride. And in
this federal headship, and in this act of love, because that's
what Romans chapter 5 is talking about, the manifestation of God's
love in the death of Christ. Paul declares that Adam, in Romans
5, verse 14, is the figure of Him that was to come. You ever
seen that? He is the figure. of the One
who is yet to come. Talking about Adam being a figure
of Christ. And I don't see, other than his
federal headship and what he did concerning his bride, I can't
find anything else in there that makes him a picture of Christ.
Listen to what Paul says over here in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Rather than go out alone, our
great Savior and Redeemer is publicly avowed to be Jehovah's
servant Forever. Now listen to this. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 24. He's describing all of those
things that happened in Adam and what happened in Christ,
and all of these things, and He's working His way up to the
end. Now listen to what He says. Then
cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule,
and all authority, and power, For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all." He's Jehovah's servant on our behalf forever, forever. He said, I've loved them with
an everlasting love. And then last of all, he must
confess his love for his children. In Galatians chapter 4 verse
4, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. The significance of the sons
and daughters in this text are those produced by Jehovah's servant
with the bride given to him of God. Does that make sense? Huh? Let me read that again.
The significance of the sons and daughters in this text are
those produced by Jehovah's servant with the bride given him of God. It was the bride that his master
gave him And those children while he was in servitude. So both
the wife and the children belonged to the master. Belonged to the
master. But they belonged to him if he'd
enter into this and become this bond slave, they belonged to
him. But it required his servitude forever. Forever. This is talking about all those
who are begotten of God by Him through the Gospel. Our Lord
said, Other sheep I have that are not of this folk. Them I
must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and they shall be one
foal and one shepherd. And in the high priestly prayer,
He said in John 17, verse 20, Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on Me through their words. So the servant of the text is
Jehovah's servant, his righteous servant, his faithful servant,
and his loving servant. And because of his great love
and faithful obedience to God, he now has the right to claim
for himself his beloved bride and all her children. They belong
to him. And all that he did, he did in
love. And so John tells us over in
I John chapter 3, he said, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. I love my master. He loved God. Nobody can question his love
for God. And he loved his bride. He loved
her. How did he? Forever. Forever. He's a high priest after the
order of Melchizedek forever. Isn't that what he said? Huh? And he loves his children. He
loves his children. Let's look at these bond slaves.
And we look at these statutes as we go through these statutes.
We're not just looking at statutes here that's telling us what to
do. This is telling us what he's already done. When you learn
what He's already done, you won't have any problem with the doing.
The doing will just be natural. That'll be the fruit of what
you come to know. Father, take the Word. Cause it to become a part of
our lives. Cause us to understand it. Cause
us to give us an appetite for it, that we study it, look at
it, long for it. Blessed what's been said here
tonight, for thy name's honor and glory, we ask it for Christ's
sake. Amen.