It has many mysteries. And one of the mysteries is that
it is a blessing to be a sinner. Not a blessing to sin, don't
misunderstand me. But it's a blessing to be a sinner. Because Christ came into the
world to save sinners. That's mysterious, isn't it?
It's glorious. Would you turn to Exodus 21?
Now, it's my prayer that every believer will leave this room
tonight awe-stricken with gratefulness for what God has done unto them. And it's my prayer that every
one of us will be able to sing with Mary, for he that is mighty
hath done great things unto me, and holy is his name. Now this is the law concerning
the Hebrew maidservant. Look in verse 11 of Exodus chapter
21. And if he do not these three
things unto her. Then shall she go out free without
money. I've entitled this message three
things God does unto the believer. I look back to verse seven. And if a man sell his daughter. to be a maidservant. She shall
not go out as the menservants do. Now, I have a hard time understanding
this. A man selling his daughter. I
don't believe I'd sell my daughter. But they did back then. They
did. Perhaps he was too poor to take
care of her. Perhaps he couldn't pay his debt,
so he sold her into slavery. What a wretched wretched thing. And yet we see the mercy of our
God in taking care of this poor little girl that sold into slavery. This girl would have been under
12 years of age. And here's what would take place.
Verse eight, if she pleased 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 that
he hath dealt deceitfully with her. Now the man who bought this
little girl, he planned either on one day marrying her perhaps
or giving her to his son in marriage, but all of a sudden she no longer
pleases him." The marginal reading says she becomes evil. in his
eyes. He has no favor toward her. He has no esteem for her. For whatever reason, what does
the scripture say regarding this little girl that the man no longer
is pleased with? He says, let her be redeemed. Bought back by one who was willing
to pay for her and free her. You see, he would have no right
to take this little girl he was tired of and had lost his favor
of. He didn't have any right to sell
her to a strange nation. He had dealt deceitfully with
her. Verse 9, And if he betrothed
her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of
a daughter. If he doesn't want her to marry
his son any longer, or if His son doesn't want to marry this
little girl. He is to treat her as a daughter,
as one of his own children. Verse 10, if he take him another
wife, her food and her raiment and her duty of marriage, shall
he not diminish if he takes another wife because she's evil in his
eyes? He gets tired of her for whatever reason. He's still to
provide for her and perform all of the responsibilities and the
duties of a husband to a wife. Nothing was to diminish. Verse 11, And if ye do not these
three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. If he doesn't do these three
things, redeem her, treat her as a child, and treat her as
a wife, She is totally free and he'll lose the money he paid
for her. Now we see God's merciful character toward this little
girl. You see the mercy of God in the law. You see in the law
the wicked character of man that a law like this had to be made
in the first place. You know, all the law, the law is for lawbreakers,
isn't it? It's for sinners. You see the
wicked character of man reflected in the law. But we also see the
mercy of God and the character of his mercy for this little
girl. But even more clearly, we see three things that God
does unto the believer. He redeems them. He makes them
his child. And he marries them. Now, if
we believe that, it'll cause us to jump for joy. He redeems
us. He makes us his children. And
he marries us. Now, back to verse 8 of our text. if she pleas not her master."
Literally, if she becomes evil in the eyes of her master. Her master looks at her and sees
one who is evil and nothing more. Now, when Adam fell, he went
from being innocent to being evil. And you and I, because
of his fall are born into this world with evil natures. We read in Genesis chapter six,
turn back there with me. This is a familiar verse of scripture,
but I think it's always important to look at these. Here's God's
testimony of man. Genesis chapter six, verse five.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination now get that. Don't let this slide
by every imagination, not even talking about the works. Now
he's talking about what goes on through the mind. Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Non-stop continually. We're born into this world as
a result of Adam's fall, evil people. And you know, the only
people who believe that are believers. Nobody else really believes that.
They believe that they're a mixture of good and bad. I might be bad,
but I've got some good. I've got some power. I've got,
I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I'm evil, completely evil. I have a, I have a hard time
with that, but you know, I know none of God's children do. You
know, when the Lord looked at his disciples and said, if you
then being And he talked to his disciples.
If you think being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children. Now when the Lord says that, do you do a double take?
Is he saying that to me? No, you know it's so, don't you?
You know it's so concerning you. Paul said, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? Do you know that about yourself?
It's true whether you do or not. Now believe it because the word
of God Teaches it. The Word of God tells us this.
God looked down from heaven. He saw every imagination, the
thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. That describes
my heart. That describes your heart. Believe it. But you know,
the only people who believe this is believers. Nobody else believes
this. They think, well, I might be bad. I might be 99% bad. But
there's some good in there somewhere. I mean, look, here I am in church.
Here I am wanting to know God. And a believer believes this,
though. Well, here I am. Here's what the Lord does for
every believer. Somebody that is evil. That's
this poor little maid's condition. She's evil. She's become evil
in her master's sight, and he no longer desires her. She's become evil. And listen
to this. We just heard that song, A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost had made him so. Listen to this scripture. Romans
chapter 5 verse 20 says where sin abounded, where sin overflowed
to where that's all there was, where sin abounded in that very
place, grace did much more abound. Is that good news to you? Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now, if she pleased
not her master, if she becomes evil in the eyes of her master,
verse eight, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he
let her be redeemed. let a ransom be paid so she can
be set free. Now I've sinned, I can't atone
for or pay for my sins, so thank God for redemption. Now she can't redeem herself,
she can't make redemption for her own sins, she can't atone
for her own sins, but let her be redeemed. Now this is one
of the cardinal truths, principal truths, most important truths
of the scripture, this thing of redemption. The Old Testament
gives so many illustrations of redemption. The children of Israel
were redeemed from Egyptian bondage. They were set free. They were
rescued. They were redeemed. In the Passover,
we find redemption, a payment is made. God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you in mercy. When a census was taken
in Israel, the only way you could be counted is if you had the
half shekel of atonement money, the redemption money. Whether
you were rich, whether you were poor, everybody had to pay the
same price, the redemption money, the half shekel of the atonement. You remember the laws of the
kinsman redeemer. If somebody lost what they had
and were unable to pay it, if you had a near kinsman who was
willing, he could redeem what you lost. Listen to this scripture.
As a matter of fact, turn to this one. Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Verse 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord For
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. You see, the blood of Christ
is redeeming blood. For you know you are not redeemed
with corruptible things, Peter said, such as silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ. Turn with me for a moment
to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Now I want you to zero in on this
passage of Scripture as the Lord enables you to zero in on what
I'm trying to say. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11. But Christ, being coming high priest of good
things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered
in once into the holy place in the very presence of God, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. He didn't just make us redeemable.
He obtained eternal redemption. I was redeemed. Go on reading. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctified the purifying of the flesh, talking about that Old
Testament ceremony, how much more shall the blood of Christ
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God. May you purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. And for this cause,
he's the mediator of the New Testament that my means of death
for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Now, this thing of redemption, what is it? It has something
to do with the blood of Christ. His blood is redeeming blood.
Well, here's the first thing that strikes me about this redeeming
blood of Christ. To be redeemed is to be forgiven. Aren't you interested in having
your sins forgiven? In whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. We have forgiveness
through this redemption. To be redeemed is to be justified. Listen to this scripture, Romans
chapter 3 verse 24 says, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now here's what
the blood of Christ did. It justified me. My sin was taken
away. It was blotted out. It was wiped
away. And I stand before God without
guilt. I'm more than forgiven. I'm not
guilty. Now, He forgives me, yes, but
I'm more than forgiven. I'm not guilty. I'm justified
in God's sight. And that's what the blood of
Christ actually accomplished. It took away my sin, and so I
don't have anything to be guilty about. Isn't that wonderful? The redeeming blood of Christ,
it makes me holy, perfect in God's sight. When God looks at
me, He sees somebody without sin. And if He sees somebody
without sin, you know what? That means I don't have any sin.
I'm perfect in God's sight. That's what the blood of Christ
does. To be redeemed is to be an object of God's love. Here
in His love John said not that we love God, but that He loved
us and gave His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. All the objects
of His love He redeems. Now listen real carefully. We
believe in particular redemption. We believe Christ actually accomplished
the salvation of everybody He died for. He didn't simply make
salvation possible and available. No, that won't do me any good.
He obtained eternal redemption for us. He redeemed the people
out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. He redeemed
the elect. He shed His precious blood for
those the Father gave Him. Nobody more and nobody less. And to teach that He died to
redeem all men, which is what most preachers preach and is
what most, you know that. But to teach that He died to
redeem all men, but it's faith that makes His blood work, is
to teach salvation by works. Nothing more and nothing less. If you tell me that Jesus Christ
died for the sins of Judas just as much as he did for the sins
of Peter, you know what you do? You take from me the only hope
I've got. Because the only hope I've got
is that Jesus Christ died for me. That's it. I've got no other
hope. The only hope I have is that
Christ died for me. Now, if you tell me that He can
die for me and I can wind up in hell anyway, you've taken
away the only hope I have. There's no gospel in that message.
There's no good news in that message. No, His redemption redeems. He accomplished salvation for
everybody that He died for. Now, listen to this scripture.
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. Now, the
first thing that was done for this little girl, she was to
be redeemed. But look back in our text. It says in verse nine, and if
he had betrothed her to his son, And his son doesn't want her.
He shall deal with her after the manner of a daughter. The master was to deal with her
as a child. Now, when God saves somebody,
he redeems them. There is children. I'm a child of God. God's my father. If I'm a believer,
if He's redeemed me, that means the God of glory is my Father
and I am His child. Turn to Hebrews once again, chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 11. For both He that sanctifieth
And they who are sanctified are all of one. For the witch cause,
he's not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I declare thy
name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing
praise unto thee. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given
me. For as much then as the children
That's whatever a believer is. He's a child of God. For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had power over death. That is the devil. Now, I'm a
child of God. He's my daddy. He's my father. He loves me. And he's God. Now you're talking about something
that's glorious to be a child of God. Children by adoption. I'm His adopted child. I remember
when I was a kid, I used to think that would be rough to be an
adopted child. But actually, it's a blessing.
A blessing to have Him adopt me. Listen to this scripture
from Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself. Because
we're redeemed, we are adopted into his family. I'm an adopted
child, but I'm more than an adopted child. I'm also a child by birth. He hath begotten us again. to a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Born of God, of His own will
begat He us through the word of truth. James 1.18. What an
incredible privilege. 1 John 3.1 says, Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we sons of God. I'm a child. He said, you deal
with them as a child being sons birthed by him. We're we have
his nature. Don't children have the nature
of their father. That which is born of the spirit. His spirit. Second, Peter one, four says
we're partakers of the divine nature. Children born of God
and children as heirs of God. Now let's think about what a
child is. If I'm a child of God, that means I'm an heir of God.
That means I have an inheritance. Romans 8 says joint heirs with
Christ. What does Christ have coming
to him? Everything that Jesus Christ
has coming to Him as God the Son, I've got coming to me. What
an inheritance I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
I'm rich. I'm so rich. And that's true
regarding every believer, untold riches. I'm not talking about
material stuff. Although if the world belongs
to the Lord, it belongs to me too. I'm his child. I mean, this
is all mine. And this is true of every believer.
This is my father's world. It's mine too. But the spiritual
blessings we have in Christ Jesus, we're heirs of God. We have the fatherly pity of
God. Listen to this scripture from
Psalm 103, As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers
that we're dust. And he pities us. I'm dust, I'm
ashes, I'm like Abraham said, and the Lord sees me grown underneath
the burden of my sin, and there's fatherly pity. That's my boy. That's my child. And there's
true fatherly pity for men. Children have their father's
name. This is the name wherewith she shall be called. Talking
about every one of God's people. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. I
got my father's name. What's your name? Jehovah Tzidkenu.
Really? Really. That's my name. What's
your name? Jesus Christ. Now, wait a minute. If I'm united to him, if I'm
in him, That's my name. That's my name before God. Aren't
you Todd anymore? Yes, I'll always be Todd. I'll
be nothing more than Todd. I realize that. But being united
to Christ, in Him, I have His name. Children always have access
to the Father, in whom, Paul said in Ephesians 3.12, we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. I'm always
welcome. I'm always welcome to come into
his very presence. You know, when we, when we sin,
we have a tendency to think we can't come into his presence.
We kind of wait to, we feel better or feel less guilty or try to
do something to make up for it, which is nothing but foolishness.
But do you know that there's no time when I don't have immediate
access into the very presence of God if I'm one of his children.
Isn't that wonderful? As children, we have His provision. God takes care of His own. You
see, if God be for us, who can be against us? Now, when I'm
talking about His provision, yes, everything I need physically,
materially, everything I need, I'm going to have. I realize
that. You know, isn't it stupid to worry about material things?
The Lord's going to take care of you. You know, the very hairs
of your head are all numbered. A sparrow doesn't fall to the
ground without your heavenly Father. Are you not much better
than sparrows? You know, you can't even add
a minute to your life. The Lord says, why do you worry
about anything? You can't do that which is least.
And we have the guarantee of our Father's provision for everything
we need materially, but more so, I've got His spiritual provision. I have righteousness before God.
I have the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's my righteousness. I have redemption. I have a sin
payment. I have the grace of God that'll
never be taken from me. Well, let's put it this way. Here's the way to summarize this.
Colossians 2, verse 10 says, In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete. Complete. Complete in Him. You've got His
fatherly provision, and you've got His fatherly protection.
What a protector. The Lord's my shepherd. I shall
not want. And as His children, we have
Him guiding us. Now, this is so comforting. I always wonder what I'm supposed
to do, don't you? You wonder what step you ought
to take next. And you ask the Lord to direct
you. You want to be guided by the Lord, don't you? You don't
want to be left to yourself. But you know what the scripture
says? The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Every
step you take. You didn't know it. You weren't
really cognizant of it. You weren't aware of it. But
you know he ordered it, every single step. He says in Psalm
32, verse 8, to every believer, I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye."
We have his fatherly chastisement. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and he scourges every son he receives. Now, I don't want to
be chastened, but I'll tell you what. I want to be chastened,
don't you? I'm not saying I'm looking for
the Lord to chasten me. I'd rather get out of it. But
I want to be somebody the Lord loves. For whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. And he scourges every son that
he receives. So every believer, we're redeemed. That makes us perfect before
God. And this is real. This is real. And we're children
of God. God's my Father. through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And not only are we redeemed,
not only are we children, we are married to Him. Exodus chapter 21 verse 10 says,
her food, her arraignment, and her duty of marriage. That's
every responsibility of marriage. It's not going to diminish at
all. I'm married to the Lord. Now,
it's great being redeemed. It's great being a child of God. But if something can be greater,
this is. I am married to him. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 25, Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without You see, His bride is His beautiful
bride. I have no spot, no wrinkle, or
any such thing. When the Lord Jesus Christ looks
at every one of His children, He sees someone who is so attractive
to Him, so beautiful to Him. We have the beauty of the Lord
Jesus Christ upon us. We really do. That's my beauty
before God. And the Lord will never divorce
us. He said, I hate divorce, and
He will not divorce His people. And here's something that's glorious.
How many times have you thought when you were thinking of the
Lord's relationship with you and the way He was married to
you, and you think that He, well, He puts up with you. It's almost
like being in a bad marriage. You know, He doesn't believe
in divorce, but He'll go ahead and stick it out with you because He doesn't
believe in divorce. You think of yourself that way, but that's
not the way it is at all. The Lord's perfectly happy. He's
happily married. He finds in you that which He
is completely satisfied with because you're just like Christ. That's the real you. The part
that you're disappointed in, that's not the real you. That's
going to be put away, blotted out, it's going to be gone. It
already is gone. And one of these days you won't
experience it. When you die and you're brought into the very
presence of Christ, that's the real you. And the Lord Jesus,
is not just putting up with a bad marriage because he doesn't believe
in divorce. He sees you as his beautiful, perfect bride that
he is completely satisfied with. He has no reason to be unhappy
in this marriage because of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
to Revelation chapter 19. I love this scripture. Verse seven. Let us be glad. And rejoice. And give honor to him. If you believe. You're redeemed. If you believe he made you a
child. If you believe you're married
to the Lord. If you even want these things, you've got them.
If that's what you want, you have reason to be glad and to
rejoice. This is real. Let's go on reading. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his
wife, that's every believer, hath made herself ready. And
here's her beautiful wedding gown. You know, they make a big
deal about women's wedding gowns. Well, here's what the lamb's
wife wears. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. Now, is that the good
work saints perform? The righteous deeds of the saints?
You got any deeds that are fine, linen, clean, and white that
you feel that good about? Know what this is. What is the
righteousness of the saints? The righteousness of Jesus Christ
the Lord. That's my righteousness. That's
the righteousness of the saints. To her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen
is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Right,
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
And, you know, heaven is compared to an eternal wedding night. That's what every believer possesses. Poor little girl, her daddy sells
her. She's taken in, and the fellow
that bought her, she becomes evil in his eyes, and he has
no desire for her. What's to be done for her? She's to be redeemed. She's to be made a child. She's to be married. Those are
the three things that the Lord does for the believer. Now, aren't you amazed by that?
And aren't you eternally grateful for the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Let's pray together.