Exodus 21, and let me introduce you to this
custom which the Jewish people had concerning servants or slaves. In the first place, sometimes
you say, how did a person get to be a servant like this, a
slave? Well, sometimes a man would get
so far in debt and could not pay his creditors. So he was compelled by law. They didn't have any such thing
as bankruptcy. He was compelled by law to give
his services to his creditor. In other words, he owed a businessman
a great sum of money, and he would just become that man's
slave. He would become that man's servant. But there was a time
limit put on it. It says here that he will serve
six years. He would serve that man six years,
and then at the end of six years, the seventh year, this servant
was permitted to go free. His debts all settled, all paid
for. He owes nothing. Now he's just
permitted to leave the master's house and go completely free. Sometimes a man would be convicted
of theft. But instead of putting him in
jail, instead of putting him in prison, and him become an
expense on the government or the ruling powers, then they'd
just give him to a master as a slave. If he had stolen, guilty
of theft, they'd put him in this master's home, and there he would
serve as a slave. But again, there was a limit
put on the length of his service. He would only serve for six years,
And at the seventh year, the beginning of the seventh year,
he could go free. Sometimes a man who was extremely
poor, he had no job, he had no home, he had no place to live,
he had nothing. Well, he couldn't draw a welfare
check because he didn't have a welfare program. So he would
sell himself. as a slave, as a servant. He
would go to some wealthy man, and he would say, I have no place
to go, I have no home, I have no income, I have no job, I have
nothing. I want to be your slave. And
he would be that man's servant. But at the end of six years,
at the first of the seventh year, he was permitted to go free. Now then, here's where we come
to verse 5 of Exodus 21. Now watch this, "...but if the
servant shall plainly say, I love my master, and I love my wife
and children, I will not go free." Here's a man who has been serving
a good master, and he's happy with that master. He loves that
master, and he's married since he's been in this master's home.
He's married one of the young ladies in the home, or one of
the relatives, or one of the other servant girls. He's married
her, and they've had children. And he's happy, and he loves
his master, and he loves his wife, and he loves his children,
and he loves his work. Well, the law is that he's to
be set free. But he says, I don't want to
go free. I prefer to be a servant in my
master's house. I don't want to go free. Well,
then he shall be brought before a judge. That's what the scripture
says here. Then the master shall bring him,
verse 6, to the judges. It's going to be an official
thing. It's going to be a legal thing. And if this man, this
servant, shall plainly say, now underscore as I said the word
plainly in verse 5, he is not under any pressure. The master
did not get him drunk. The master did not promise him
a lot of things. The master did not twist his
arm. The master did not threaten him. If the servant shall come
before the judges, and of his own will, intelligently and willingly,
he shall plainly say, Let's make this thing clear now. You're
not being coerced. You're not being forced against
your will. This is your decision. That's
what the judges are asking him, if he shall plainly say, clearly
say, I don't want to go free. I want to remain with my Master. There is no pressure on me at
all. I love my Master. I love my wife. I love my children. I do not want my liberty, which
is available. I will not go free. Well, then
they perform a ceremony. It says in verse 6, then the
master shall bring him to the judge, and they shall bring him
to the door. Now some people say this is the
gate of the city where the judge is set, but I don't think that's
correct. I believe the door here is the
door of the master's house. That's where the ceremony takes
place. They bring him to the door of the master's house, and
he stands before the door, and they shall take his right ear
And they shall bore a hole in that right ear with an awl or
with a needle, a certain type of needle, and bore it to the
door. Now the ear is that with which
we hear, and the ear speaks of obedience. And the master shall
bore the ear. Not a servant, not a judge, the
master does it. It's a relationship between the
master and that servant. That servant loves that master.
And that servant intends to hear that master and serve that master
and obey that master in his home. And they're boring the ear to
the door with an awl indicating that he shall never again leave
the threshold of that master's home. That's his home from now
on. That's his place of service.
That's his place of dwelling in the master's home. And that's
where he stays from now on, and that's where we get the word
bondslave. That servant is no longer under
the law to remain, but he's under love. He's a willing, loving,
submissive servant to his master. And when the Apostle Paul opened
the first chapter of the Book of Romans, he said, that's what
I am. I am a bondslave of Jesus Christ. The master has bored my ear.
The master has bored my ear to the door of his house. The master
has bored my ear, and I am his forever. I shall never leave
the threshold of my master's house. They shall bore his ear
through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever, forever."
And that's what Paul calls himself. a willing, loving, obedient bond
slave of Jesus Christ. There was an old preacher who
preached in the state of Mississippi years and years and years ago,
where I was acquainted with the memory of this man. I never knew
him. He lived a long time before my time. But I knew Brother A.D. Muse in Louisville. I assisted
in his funeral. He died, Brother Mews died 20
years ago, and he was 64 at that time. And his friend was T.T. Martin, and this man I'm talking
about was the father of T.T. Martin, old M.T. Martin. So you
know how long ago he lived. But his ministry was during the
Civil War. He preached during the Civil
War and before that, but the main part of his ministry was
during and after the Civil War in the state of Mississippi.
And old M. T. Martin loved the gospel. He
preached the gospel. And after the South was devastated
and practically destroyed during the Civil War, they had nothing.
Their churches and their schools were threatened with complete
ruin. They were threatened with closing.
And M. T. Martin set out on a horse
and rode all over the state of Mississippi. for months and months
and months trying to raise money to keep Mississippi Baptist College
in operation. They say that three horses died
under this old man while he traveled all over the state preaching
Christ, preaching the gospel, and trying to get money to keep
this church in operation. And when the old man died, the
Baptists loved him. The people of God loved him in
that state. When he died, they wanted to
give some kind of credit to this man, some kind of praise for
all the years of service to the kingdom of God. So they buried
him under a little pine tree in a cemetery near Corinth, Mississippi,
and they wrote his name on the tombstone, M.T. Martin. Not doctor or reverend or father
or anything like that, just M.T. Martin. And under the name, They
wrote this sentence, a bondslave of Jesus Christ. And they felt
that was the highest acclaim that they could give to this
great old servant of Christ. A bondslave of Jesus Christ. I want us to note three things
from this scripture today. First of all, I want us to look
at our choice. Our choice. Then secondly, I
want us to look at our reasons. And then thirdly, I want us to
look at this ceremony, the boring of the ear. First of all, at
our choice. Here's a man who has served in
a home for six years. The end of that six years has
come. The seventh year has dawned. It's the morning of the first
day of the seventh year. And the master comes to him and
says, You've served me faithfully these six years, and we've had
a good relationship, John, but I have your papers here that
legally and officially set you free. Here they are. And John
said, Master, I don't want them. I don't want to go free. I want
to stay here in your house. I want to be your servant, your
slave forever. I don't want to go free." Now,
that's our choice. My friends, you can be free from
the yoke of Jesus Christ if you want to. You can be totally and
completely free from Jesus Christ. Our Lord has no unwilling disciple. Our Lord keeps no man, calls
no man, saves no man, redeems no man against his will. even the twelve disciples. One
day our Lord was preaching to thousands of people, and in his
message he talked about his sovereignty, and he talked about his purpose
and his providence, and he talked about his glory, and he talked
about his death and his blood, and he talked about the inability
of the flesh and our total dependence upon the Holy Spirit to reveal
Christ to us. And the people began to walk
off. They said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And
he said, you think this is a hard saying? Wait till you see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before. Wait till you see
him coming in the glory of the Heavenly Father and the Holy
Angel. And from that time, they walked
no more with him. These people all just left. And
there was the Lord Jesus standing with the twelve disciples. And
he turned to the twelve disciples, and this is what he said. Will
you also go away? You're free to go. I will not
keep you against your will. I will not detain you one moment.
If you want to leave me, if you want to leave my yoke, if you
want to leave my rule, if you want to leave my kingdom, you
go right ahead. I will not keep you. And the
disciples said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. O happy day that fixed my choice
on Thee, my Savior and my God! He drew me, and I followed on,
charmed to confess His voice divine. I am convinced that most
preachers make the Lord Jesus Christ sound like a beggar. He
is not a beggar. Our Lord is a King. Our Lord
is a Sovereign. Our Lord hath glory, and dominion,
and power, and majesty. He said all authority in heaven
and earth, all power over all flesh. He is the master, and
you can leave if you want to. You can go out. If you wish to
be free from the yoke of Jesus Christ, you may choose your own
master. You may choose as your master
the world. You may choose as your master
the flesh. You may choose as your master
the devil, the world, the flesh, or the devil. Bow to whomsoever
you please. Bow to whomsoever you choose.
That's your privilege. This is a choice here. And if
the servant shall plainly say, This is my decision. This is
my choice. I will not go free. And my friend,
you may go free if you like. That's your privilege. And that's
what the Master is saying to the servant John here. John,
you may go. There's the door. Here's your
paper. You go serve whom you will. You don't have to stay
in my house one moment longer. There is nothing to bind you,
nothing to hold you. Go out if you will. And John
says plainly, I don't have the remotest wish to be free. Actually, my friends, the service
of Christ is real freedom. There is no freedom in the service
of the world. There is no freedom in the service
of the flesh. There is no freedom in the service
of the devil. Christ said, if the Son shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall experience
and know a real freedom, a freedom from the penalty of sin. Happy
is the man to whom God will not charge sin, freedom from the
curse of sin, freedom from the power of sin, freedom from the
wrath of God." And oh, what a sweet, what a sweet yoke it is. He says,
My yoke is easy. I have a yoke, but it's easy.
I have a burden, but it's light. Our Lord provides for us. He
says, Consider the lilies of the field. If God so clothed
the lilies, which today are, and tomorrow are cast into the
oven, how much more shall He clothe you? Consider the sparrows,
not one falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. Consider
His providence. He says, All things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. He provides for me, He protects
me, His providence works for my good, He comforts me, and
He promises me an eternal inheritance. What better freedom could I have? I don't want to go free. And
if the servant shall plainly say, I don't want to go free. Here is your freedom, John. I
don't want my freedom. You may go out, John. I don't
want to go out. You are free to leave. I don't
want to leave. You don't have to stay. I want
to stay. I choose Christ. I choose the
service of Christ. I choose the yoke of Christ.
I choose to bow under the scepter of Christ. I choose the government
of Christ. I choose as my goal the glory
of Christ. Now, don't you think for one
moment that you are under any pressure from God Almighty to
walk with Christ. You walk with Christ because
you want to walk with Christ. You live for Christ because you
are willing to live for Christ. Now, secondly, I want you to
look at our reasons. This servant shall come before
the judges, and he shall plainly say, Let it be clear, let it
be plain, not under any evangelism, or psychology of evangelism,
or pressure of the moment, or deathbed stories. This is a decision
that this servant has thought about for six years. This is
a moment that this servant has considered for a long time. This
is a matter that was settled in his own heart and in his own
mind. I'm going to stay with my master.
He looked out yonder, I'm sure he stood by the Master's gate,
and he looked out there at the pleasures of seeing for a season.
He looked out there at the world and he considered the advantages
and the disadvantages. I'm sure he did. He looked at
the requirements of the Master's house. He looked at the people,
the inhabitants of the Master's house. He watched the Master
day by day and talked with him. And all the time, shall I go
out or shall I stay? Shall I remain a servant in this
house, or shall I go out there on my own? What shall I do?"
Our Lord tells people, He says, count the cost. Count the cost. Some man said, Lord, I'll follow
you till death. He said, foxes have holes and
the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath no place
to lay his head. But I'll follow you forever if
any man follow me. Let him take up his cross and
deny himself, for he cannot be my disciple. Master, I'll follow
you. Whosoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is
not fit for the kingdom of God. You think about this thing. And
here are the reasons now this man gave. The servant shall plainly
say, It's my own wish. It's my own desire. Nobody's
speaking for me. Nobody made this decision for
me. I'm not drunk. I'm not under pressure. I'm not
under high pressure persuasion. This is my decision. Jesus Christ
is my Lord. My Lord, I made an intelligent,
willing, loving, confident choice. Of course, God the Holy Spirit
enabled me. Of course, God the Holy Spirit
convicted me. Of course, God the Holy Spirit
opened my eyes to see the beauties about me. and advantages of the
world. Of course, the Holy Spirit opened
my eyes to see the consequences of sin and the consequences of
serving any other master. But being enabled by God's Spirit,
this is my choice, and I'm going to tell you why. So they bring
him before the judges, and he says plainly, number one, I love
my master. I love my master. I love him. Can you say that? I'm not talking
about the church, I'm not talking about morality, I'm not talking
about the law, I'm not talking about the Word, I'm talking about
the Master. This man has served this Master
for six years, and now it's time for him to go free. And he comes
before the judge and he says, I want to remain a servant. I
want to remain in my Master's home. I want to remain as his
slave. I don't want my freedom. I don't
want to go out. I don't want to serve anybody
else, and here is the first reason. I love my master. I love him. The Lord Jesus Christ had been
crucified and rose again, and he appeared to his disciples
down by the water. The disciples had been out fishing,
and they came into shore, and our Lord had built a fire, and
he had prepared fish for them. And they were sitting there eating
the fish, and our master looked over at Simon Peter. And he said,
Peter, do you love me? Do you love me more than these?
Now he wasn't talking about the other disciples. Our Lord never
has pitted one man's devotion against another man's devotion,
not at all. He doesn't say, who do you love?
Who loves me the most? John, do you love me more than
Peter? Peter, do you love me more than James? That's not what
he's saying. I think he's talking about these boats and these fishing
nets and the things around in the world. Peter, you know, after
the Lord was crucified and he met with the other disciples,
he said, I'm going back fishing. That's the way he earned his
living. That's the way he supported his family. Peter was married,
had a family. That's the way he supported his
family. His mother-in-law lived with him. And he supported them
by fishing. That was his life. His whole
life was getting up in the morning and mending his nets and heading
out to sea and watching the waves and casting the nets and bringing
in the fish. That was his life, going to the
market, taking the fish he caught and selling the fish. And the
Lord Jesus looked at him and said, Peter, do you love me more
than these things? And Peter said, Lord, I love
thee. And Christ looked at him again, and he said, Peter. He
asked him the second time. He said, Do you love me? Lord,
thou knowest I love thee. Well, feed my sheep. Preach my
gospel. Give your life in my kingdom
if you love me. I don't want you preaching if
you don't love me. I don't want you trying to feed the lambs
if you don't love me. I don't want you going forth
in my name if you don't love me. But if you love me, feed
my sheep. And he asked him the third time, Peter, do you love
me? We love him because he first
loved us. We love him because he came down
from his glory and covered his Godhead in human flesh. He took
upon himself our nature. We love him because he faced
the law, born of a woman, born under the law. and obeyed it
in every jot and tittle as a man, tempted as we are, yet without
sin. It was a real temptation. He
really hungered. He really thirsted. He really
knew anger. He really knew the trial. He
really knew the test. He knew the brutality of the
flesh. He really knew sorrow. He really
knew loneliness. He really knew hatred. He really
knew pain. He was tempted in all points.
He really knew poverty, as we are, yet he never sinned. We
love him because he went to the cross, he bore that awful tree,
bearing our shame and reproach and stripped and nailed to a
cross. He died for our sins, and we
love him. And we love him because right
now at the right hand of God, he intercedes for us. And he's
coming back again, and he said, if I come back, I'll receive
you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. I don't
want to leave because I love my master. I love my master."
And that's the first reason this servant gave. He stood before
the judges there, and they said, You can go pray. You can be your
own boss. You can be your own master. You
can be your own captain. You're free to go. I don't want
to go. Why don't you want to go? I love my master. I love my Master. That's it. I want to be his servant. There
are people in churches for a lot of reasons, but the saved are
there because they love the Master. There are people who have adopted
religion for a lot of reasons, but the saved have received it
because they love their Master. People have walked down church
aisles and been baptized united with different organizations
for a lot of reasons, but the saved are there because they
love the Master. And there are people who read
the Bible and pray for a lot of reasons, but the saved do
it because they love the Master. And there are people who preach
for a lot of reasons. They preach for fame and popularity
and money. They preach for a lot of reasons,
but the saved do it because they love the Master. They love the
Master. And there are people who go to
church on Sunday morning for a lot of reasons, but they do
it because they love the Master. And some people go on Wednesday
night, and they do it because they love the Master. That's
the whole thing. I don't want to go free. I don't
want to be my own boss. I don't want to. I want to stay
with my Master because I love Him. I love Him. All right, tell me another reason
why you want to stay. Well, I want to stay because
I love my wife and I love my children. I love those in the
household of my master, and I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave. You know,
there are a lot of folks who go around with their resignation
in their hip pocket all the time. If you make them mad, they say,
I'll leave. If you don't do things just like they want you to do
them, they'll leave. If you don't sing what they want
to sing, they'll leave. If you don't preach like they
want you to preach, they'll leave. They'll leave. But this servant
says, I'm not going to leave. I love the people of God. I want to stay with them. I don't
want to leave. I don't want to leave. Listen
to Ruth over here. Turn to the book of Ruth. And
this is a beautiful story here. Here, Ruth was—Naomi, you know,
the mother-in-law of Ruth, said to Ruth, she said, Now, you go
on back to your folks and live with them, and I'm going over
here. And Ruth looked at her in verse
16 of Ruth 1, and she said, Naomi, don't make me leave you. Entreat me not to leave you.
Don't ask me to leave. Don't ask me to return from following
after you or where you go. Where you go, I will go, and
where you lodge, I will lodge, and your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God, and where you die, I want to
die, and where you are buried, I want to be buried." Don't make
me leave. Boy, don't you wish you had a
church full of folks like that. Don't preach and don't make me
leave. Oh, that's a white horse of another
color, isn't it? Preacher has to be awful careful that he doesn't
make them mad, because they'll leave. And the Lord doesn't do
things just like folks think he ought to do them. They'll
leave. But this servant here said, I don't want to leave.
And he said, the master said, you're free. He said, I don't
want to go. Don't make me go. I love my master, and I love
his people. I love this house. I love my
wife, and I love my children. Don't make me leave." I couldn't
stand it if I had to leave you. I love you. I read a story about
an old preacher in England. He preached at this church. I
wish I could call his name. It's on the tip of my tongue,
but I can't. But it's a true story. He pastored
this little church out in a little village. And he'd been there
for a long time, 12, 13, 14, 15 years. And they couldn't pay him a decent
wage. They didn't have any money. They
were all farmers, and they paid him with chickens and hogs and
eggs and stuff like that, you know. And the old man, he had
a family. He had a wife and children, and
he's a great preacher. I've got books by him. I can't
remember his name. But he wrote a lot of outstanding
books, preached some great things. He was a well-known preacher.
And his fame spread to London, and so a big church in London
called him. He went up there and preached,
and they wanted him to be their pastor. And they promised him
about ten times what that little church was paying him. And they
promised him a parsonage, one of the most beautiful parsonages
you could imagine. He was living in a little old
thatched-roof house down here in this village. So he came back
and told his wife. I've accepted that church, and
we're leaving after next Sunday service. Monday morning we're
leaving. So he preached Sunday morning, Sunday night, and handed
in his resignation, and the folks came to help him pack the next
day. And they got the wagon out there, and they were carrying
furniture out, and everybody was crying. They were just crying,
the preacher was, his wife, and the members of the church, everybody
was crying. And they kept loading that furniture. And they got everything out of
the house, every dish, every cup saucer, every piece of furniture,
the rugs, everything out of the house, piled on that wagon. And
he got up in the seat, his wife and his children piled up in
the back, and he took the reins of the horse in his hand, and
he looked down at one of his deacons. And the deacon looked
up at him and said, Well, preacher, we'll always love you, but we
wish you wouldn't leave. And he sat there and looked at
him for a few minutes, and then he threw the reins down, climbed
down off the wagon, got his wife down. He said, unload that furniture.
I can't go. And he stayed there the rest
of his life and died there. Now that's what I'm talking about
here. The servant said, I don't want to go free. I love my master. That's first. You can't love
the people of God unless you love God. You can't love the
children of Christ unless you love Christ. But brother, if
you love Christ, you'll love his children, every one of them.
And you'll have a heart that bleeds for them, and a heart
that breaks for them, and a heart that prays for them, and a heart
that weeps for them. You'll have a heart that lives
for them, and you cannot bear to leave them. I don't want to
go, he said, because I love my children. And then he says the
third reason. He said, the judge said, say
it plain, man. He said, I love my master. I
love my master. Oh, I wish folks would fall in
love with Christ. I love my children. I wish folks
would fall in love with one another. Love covers a multitude of infirmities. Love covers a multitude of faults. And then he finally just said,
I will not go free. That's it. I'm not leaving. I'm
not leaving. All right, let's watch the third
thing, and I'll close. Look at the boring of the ear.
So they bring him, they bring him to the door of the house.
And the ear, what is the ear? The ear is that with which we
hear. Turn to John, chapter 10. And
here's the reason they bored his ear. They bored his ear because
he's going to listen only to the Master's voice. He's not
going to be entreated, John chapter 10, he's not going to be enticed.
He's not going to listen to anybody else's voice. His ear is bored
to the door of the Master's house, and Christ said in John 10, 27,
My sheep hear My voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. They hear my voice. Their ears
have been bored. Their ears have been bored. They
hear my voice. Another shepherd they will not
hear. Another shepherd they will not
follow. They hear my voice because their ear has been spiritually,
supernaturally, sovereignly, providentially, powerfully, on
purpose, bored with the needle of God's love. And that ear is
tuned to Christ. Brethren, I tell you, I can stand
up here and I watch people's faces while I'm preaching, and
I can preach about the love of Christ and the grace of Christ
and the mercy of Christ, and I can just watch it. I can watch
it going into your very hearts. I can watch you receiving it.
I watch you, your ears just, they seem to get bigger and bigger.
They seem to be directed straight like radars to the Word, because
your ear's been pierced, and you can receive His Word. I watch
others, and they're not too much interested. Their ears are not
tuned to the Word of God, they're not tuned to the voice of Christ,
they're not tuned to the voice of the Spirit, they're not tuned
to the mysteries of the gospel, they're tuned to something else,
and they're not comfortable. But oh, this servant, after they
bored his ear, he went around there just waiting on the master
to call him. I love my master. What do you say, master? comes
running, the master says, I didn't call you, John. I knew you called
me. I didn't call you, John. Well, I was listening so intently
I just knew you called me. Well, I didn't call you, John.
And then the ear was bored by the master. Now, here's an important
thing. And this is something that's
a real conflict and a real problem. I think a lot of people that
we have in the churches today The master hadn't bored their
ears. Some evangelist comes into town, you know, and preaches
a high-pressure sermon and drags them down the aisle. Or some
preacher comes to town, you know, with a story about how he was
converted from this to this, and they are in this, so they
get converted unto him from this to this, and they make decisions,
and then our children are put under pressure and all. But this
man here, the master bored his ears, the master himself. the Master Himself, salvations
of the Lord. The new birth is by the Spirit
of God and by the power of God, and regeneration is a work of
God. We are His workmanship. This
work was not entrusted to a minister or entrusted to a servant or
entrusted to a judge. The Master Himself bore this
servancy. This was a relationship between
Him and His servant. And he did the work. Salvation
is not something the church does for you, it's something the Lord
does for you. Salvation is not something the preacher does for
you, and when he leaves, you lose that salvation. Salvation
is something the Lord does for you. Salvation is not something
that the law or the ceremony does for you, it's something
Christ does for you. And you are, I love my master.
My salvation is the relationship between me and the King. He bored
my ear, he pierced my heart, he gave me a new nature, he walks
with me, he talks with me, and he's my Lord." And then the ear
was bored to the door of the Master's house, and the Scripture
says here that that servant will serve him forever. That's what the Apostle Paul
was talking about when he said, I'm a servant. I'm a bondservant
of Jesus Christ. I belong to him. I know about
these other masters, and they're hard taskmasters. My master is
a good master, and I love him. And I've got a wife and children
down there in the master's house, and oh, they're my precious to
me. And I just will not leave. And there's no way in this world
that I'll ever leave. That's the perseverance of the
saint. I'm his, and he's mine. Our Father, take the word, and
get glory to Thy matchless name, and work in the hearts of Thy
people to love Thee more, and the hearts of those who know
Thee not to seek the Lord. Lead us, O God, to seek Thee,
and seeking Thee to find Thee. and finding Thee to love Thee,
and loving Thee to serve Thee. Give us a saving, living, loving
relationship with Christ, one that can never be broken. Bore
our ears to the door of the Master's house, and let us serve Him forever. In His name we pray, amen.