Would you turn back to Exodus
chapter 21? We're going to observe the Lord's table tonight, and
Donnie Bell is gonna be preaching for us. Him and Cheryl are here
with us this weekend, and I'm looking forward to that. So glad
you're all here. I've entitled this message, The
Hebrew Bondslave. The Lord said in John chapter
five, verse 39, you search the scriptures and in them you think
you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. So we know beforehand with regard
to every scripture that it has this purpose to bear testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And beginning at Moses, the Lord
said, and Moses is the one who wrote this that I just read from
Exodus chapter 21. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things
concerning himself. And so We know ahead of time
with whatever we're dealing with, that it's concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of the scripture. So we know ahead of time what
this is about. I look back in Exodus 21. Now these are the judgments.
which thou shalt set before them. Now in chapter 20, we have the
10 commandments. And in chapters 21 through 23,
we have the civil law and the ceremonial
law, the feast days and so on, and the laws of the land. And the first civil law mentioned
is the law of the Hebrew bond slave. Verse two, if thou shalt
buy an Hebrew servant. Now this is a man, a Hebrew man
that could not pay his debts. He had become insolvent and was
in great debt and couldn't get out of it. He would be sold as
a slave in order to pay his debts. Or it could be a Hebrew man who
had been a thief. and had been caught and he sold
into slavery in order to once again make restitution for that
which he had stolen. And he was required to be a slave
for six years. That's a long time, six years
of your life. And on the seventh year, he was
to go free. and be a slave no longer. Now
this is true of a Hebrew slave. A Gentile slave was a slave forever. He couldn't go free like this.
This was true of a Hebrew slave. Look back at Deuteronomy chapter
15. I want us to see the kindness of this law. Verse 12 of Deuteronomy chapter
15. And if thy brother, Hebrew 1512,
and if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year
thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him
out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty. Thou
shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy
floor, and out of thy winepress, that wherewith the Lord thy God
hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him, and thou shalt
remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the
Lord thy God redeemed thee, therefore I command thee this thing today. And it should be, if he'll say
unto thee, I'll not go away from thee because he loveth thee in
thine house, because he's well with thee, then thou shall take
it all and thrust it through his ear in the door and he shall
be thy servant forever. Verse three of our text. If he came in by himself, he
should go out by himself. That's only reasonable. If he
were married, then his wife shall go out with him. She won't be
required to stay there, she's free as well. Verse four, if
his master hath given him a wife, now this is not a Hebrew wife,
this is a Gentile wife. If his master hath given him
a wife and she hath born him sons or daughters, the wife and
her children shall be her masters. And he shall go out by himself. Now, Hebrew woman would have
been set free, but a Gentile woman, if he married this Gentile
woman who was a slave and they had children, they still belong
to the master. He could go out, but they had
to stay. Verse five. And if the servant shall plainly
say, Now you can imagine how a man who owns slaves would try
to keep them slaves. And he would do all kinds of
things to manipulate them to cause them to stay slaves because
he's gonna be the loser by this. But if a man shall plainly say,
this is voluntary, this is not involuntary, it's no longer involuntary
service, it's voluntary. This is what he wants to do if
he plainly says. If the servant shall plainly
say, I love my master and my wife and my children. I will not go out free. I love things the way they are.
I want it to be this way forever. Then his master, shall bring
him unto the judges. This is to be done publicly before
the judges. This is the thing of justice
and righteousness. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges, and he shall also bring him to the door or
unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with
an awl. Now this is more than a piercing.
His master will bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall
serve him, how long? Forever. He is no longer an involuntary
servant. He is now a willing servant forever. Now here we're given a beautiful
picture of the Savior. He is preeminently the servant
of God, and He's called so in the Scriptures. Now, I realize
He's equal with God. He's the Son of God. Equal with
the Father. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And there's no way that I can
extol the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ properly. but do
you know he is preeminently God's servant? Let me show you that
from the scripture. Turn to Isaiah chapter 42. This
is God speaking. And he says concerning his son
in verse one, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. You know the reason you're elect
if you are? Because he's elect and you're chosen in him. In
whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. This is talking
about the work of the cross. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break. What's weaker than a bruised
reed? He won't break it. The smoking flax He shall not
quench. What is weaker than a smoking
flax getting ready to go out, just barely showing? He said,
I won't quench it. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. The Lord can't fail. I love that,
don't you? Whatever he intends to do, he
does. There's no failure with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Till he hath said judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. Look in verse 19 of the same
chapter. Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf as my messenger that
I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect
and blind as the Lord's servant? Look at Isaiah 52. This is the
way his father speaks of him. Verse 13, behold, my servant
shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. Now there's no question who that's
talking about. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 11
in chapter 53. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."
Now, without question, this servant is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father's equal who willingly became the divine servant, subordinate
to his father. Equal in all ways, yet he became
the divine servant. Now turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 40. I need to give you these scriptures to set this
up. Psalm 40. Verse six. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Sacrifice and offering thou
didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. He had his ear,
his ears bored through with this all. This is exactly what this
is talking about. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required? Then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's written of me,
I delight to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the
flesh. Now, sometime around 2000 years
ago, I don't understand this, Jesus Christ took on flesh. What a stoop. The eternal, uncreated
Son of God, the one who inhabits eternity, who is so vast that
the heavens can't contain Him. He stooped to become flesh, and
He will always be the man, Christ Jesus. willingly did this, just like
the Hebrew servant. This was a stoop, but this is
what he wanted to do. He willingly became flesh. At this time, he said, I am choosing
to do this. I'm doing this voluntarily. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. beginning in verse 11 of Hebrews
chapter 2. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. You know, that's
one of my favorite scriptures. He that sanctifyeth. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. They who are sanctified at every
believer. They're all of one. You know what that means? That
means I'm utterly united to and one with Jesus Christ. So that
when God sees me, he sees his son. Now for that cause, he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to own me as
his brother. He's one of mine, I'm proud of
him. I'm proud of him. He's just like me. There's no
difference. Let's go on reading. And again,
I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God has given me. Now remember that servant
wouldn't leave his children. He said, I love my wife. I love
my children. Keep that in mind as we read
this passage of scripture. For as much then, verse 14, as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same. That's why it became flesh. That's
why he had his ear bored through with an awl. This is speaking
of the Lord Jesus. For as much then as the children
are takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death, he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham,
wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren. Now stop there for a moment.
It behooved Him. It was beautiful. It became Him
in all things to be made like unto His brethren. Am I flesh?
He was made flesh. And He did this willingly. Am
I sinful? He was made sin on Calvary Street. In all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren. And he did this willingly. He
did this because he wanted to. And what happened as a result
of him doing this? That he might be a merciful and
a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. Now, hold on. You know what that means? That means
that through his death, he made complete satisfaction. The sins were put away. They
are no more. That is what he did. He made
reconciliation for the sins of the people. 1 John chapter 3
verse 5 says, He was manifest to take away our sins. Now listen to me believer, they're
taking away. You know the sins you feel real
bad about right now? They're not. They've been taken away. They've been purged by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made complete reconciliation
so that God is satisfied with you. He doesn't see anything
wrong with you. You see all kinds of stuff wrong with yourself,
but he doesn't. That's how real the power of
the blood of Christ is. For in that he himself hath suffered,
being tempted, oh, that's talking about when he was made sin. He
never sinned, you know that, and I know that, but what's worse,
he was made sin. And because of that, he is able
to succor, to help them that are tempted. Now, why did he
do all of this? Why did he make this stoop? Why
did he become a man? Turn to Philippians chapter two. Verse five. Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, he thought it not robbery, to be equal with God. Now, what if I thought myself
to be, in and of myself, equal with God? You would think nothing
more blasphemous and untrue could possibly be said. But this man,
The Lord Jesus Christ thought it not a thing to be grasped
for, thought it not a thing to be reached for, because He was,
He is, He's eternally equal with God. What did He do? He made Himself
of no reputation He made himself vanity is what that means. And
took upon him the form of a servant, that Hebrew bond slave. And was
made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. The son of God humbled himself. and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now, why did he do this? Why
did he do this? First, because he loved his master. He loved his father. He said,
I do always those things that please the father. He said, I
came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. That's why I came. Love to His
Father. He came to do the Father's will. I love Matthew 121, the opening
page, the opening chapter of the New Testament, thou shalt
call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. Now that's what he came to do.
He came to save his people, his family, his wife, his children. He came to save them from their
sins. And beloved, that's exactly what
he did. His last words for the cross
were, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And then
he gave up the ghost. I love the majesty of that. He
gave death the permission to come and take him. It couldn't
take him. And he said, you can now. You
know what he said right before that? It is finished. What I came to do, I did. All the sins of everybody he
died for have been put away. Whatever the father sent him
to do, he did it. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. By one offering He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He did this because of His love
for His Father. But get this, He became flesh
because of His love for His people. He loved His wife. He loved His
children. The church is the bride of Christ.
His body, His children is each individual Believer, I and the
children which thou hast given me, because we're flesh and blood,
he, the eternal son of God, became flesh and blood. And he did this
willingly. Mine ear hast thou opened. He does not want freedom from
this. Just like the Hebrew servant.
I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children.
I will not go away. He became flesh forever. The ear was opened by the Father. I'm willingly doing this. You
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though He was rich,
yet, for your sakes, for your sakes. He became poor that you
through his poverty might be rich. He said, as the father
hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now I can't, I don't, you
know, when I think of his love for his father, I think, you
know, there's no way he could compare his love for his father
to his love for his children. That's, that's the way we naturally
think. Can you imagine him loving you the way he loves the father?
But he says, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now, the reason he willingly
became flesh, the reason he willingly went to the cross, the reason
he willingly had his ear bore through is because he would not
be in heaven without you. I want you to think about that. Heaven would be incomplete. His body would be incomplete. He himself would be a failure
if anybody for whom he died went to hell anyway. Now listen to me. That preaching
that says God loves all men without exception, And Christ died for
all men without exception and has made salvation available
for all men without exception. If you'll just do your part and
make what he did work for you, there's not a drop of gospel
in that. It makes the grace of God. It makes the love of God.
It makes the atonement of Christ meaningless. And there's no gospel
in that message. Here's my gospel. that Christ
loved his wife and he loved his children and said, I will not
be separate from them. I'm going to be with them eternally. And he went and he said, mine
ear hast thou opened. And his ear was bored through
with the all out of love for his people. And even now as I
speak, there is a man in glory, a real man with his ear bore
through representing all of his people. What a merciful and faithful
high priest. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Now, dare I believe that
I am one of these people? Dare I You know, people present
the gospel kind of like God would be unfair if he didn't die for
everybody and didn't save everybody. You know, a believer doesn't
feel that way. No believer does. They know that whatever God does
is right and just and holy and true and fair and perfect. Dare
I believe that I am one of these people for whom he had his ear. Two questions, and you can answer
that. Two questions. Number one, do
you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living
God? Now, let me remind you, I'm not
asking you if you know you're saved. Forget that. Forget that. Just get rid of
that. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the son of the living God, God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king? Do you believe that? Yes, I do. Here's the second question. Do you believe that you're a
sinner? I'm not asking you if you're
a believing sinner or a repentant sinner or an elect sinner or
a born-again sinner. Are you a sinner? Just a sinner. That means you're evil. That means you cannot not sin. That means you can't look down
on anybody for anything. Do you believe you're a sinner?
Well, listen to this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If you believe He's the Christ,
the Son of God, if you really believe you're a sinner, that
all you are is sin and that you can't do anything but sin, you're one of these people He
came for. For sure. For sure. He became flesh for
you. He died for you. He worked out
a perfect righteousness for you. He put your sins away and he
is representing you even right now at the right hand of the
Father. Now, I love the way John says,
these things have I written unto you that you sin not. I wish
I could say this the way it ought to be said, but no believer ought
to ever sin, for any reason. Don't think sin is ever okay. It's not. It's grievous. It grieves God the Spirit. Grieve
not the Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed into the day of
redemption. Sin is never under any condition. Sin is never okay. These things right I do that
you sin not when you do. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And here's why his advocacy works,
his propitiation. He's the propitiation. That's
a big word. What it means is the sin removing
sacrifice. He removes it. That's why he was made flesh
for you. He bore his ear that he might
be with you forever. I love my wife. Now in closing,
let me briefly show how this also is a type of the believer. Human religion is about wages. Service out of hope for reward
or out of fear of loss. That would summarize all human
religion. Service out of hope for reward. I'm gonna be rewarded by God
for this. or fear of loss. I'm afraid I'm
gonna lose X, Y, Z, whatever it might be. I'm afraid I'm gonna
go to hell. I'm gonna, you know, just what's gonna happen to me?
Fear of punishment. That's what human religion is.
Hope for reward or fear of loss. That's where it's religion. Do,
do. The gospel is, it's already done. The only motive for service is
love. There is no other motive. Not
for hope or reward. It's done. Not out of fear of
loss. You can't lose anything. You're
complete in Christ. All you're left with is love. The Lord said to his disciples
in John 6, 66 and 67, as he watched the crowd leave, will you also
go away? No, we don't want to. Where would we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. We are willing
to bear the painful bore through the year, to deny ourselves,
to take up our cross daily and to follow Him because we love
our Master. In my case, There's never been a better master
and there's never been a worse servant. Alas, and did my savior bleed
and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done? He groaned upon the tree, amazing pity, grace unknown. and love beyond degree, well
might the sun in darkness hide to shut his glories in, when
Christ, the mighty maker died, for man the creature sinned.
But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself to
thee. Tis all that I can do. We love Him, our Master. We love His people. Do you know
everybody that loves Christ? You can't help but love them,
can you? I don't care how weird they are. I don't care how much
you may disagree with many things. I don't care if they're even
like me. Anybody that loves Christ, we love, don't we? Now this boring of the year was
done publicly. This was a public official thing. We want all to know, and this
is how I want to be identified, as his willing slave. Paul, a bond slave of Jesus Christ,
separated unto the gospel of God. Now that's the only thing
I want to be known as, a willing servant. I hope you never get away from
this. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder
how he could love me a sinner, condemned, unclean. For me, it was in the garden. He prayed, not my will, but thine. He had no tears for his own griefs,
but sweat drops of blood for mine. He took my sins and my
sorrows. He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary. and suffered and died alone. When with the ransomed in glory,
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love for me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for thy
servant, our savior, who willingly took upon him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of sinful man. And Lord, how
we thank you that he took the sins of his wife and children,
and they became his very own, and he put them away. And Lord,
how we desire to be nothing but willing servants of him. We ask in Christ's name that
you bless this message to our understanding, to your glory,
and to our good. In Christ's name we pray.