All right, something useful. It is going to be an interesting morning. And I say that because we're getting to the stuff in the Bible that everybody skips. We are getting to the law. Dun, dun, dun. And I don't mean the laws in like, you know, Leviticus, but the laws and the descriptions of the things. Why should we not skip this like everybody else? You know the first good reason? It's in your Bible. God put it there, which means it's there for a reason. We can learn from it, we can be instructed by it, and therefore we should. With that said, we cannot apply the teachings of the Old Testament law directly to us today. Why not, you may ask, and the answer is because we are not that people in that world at that time living in that way. We have to take the understanding of the principles behind the law, the things that God is communicating that are timeless. and apply those things moving forward. And that will be the go through that. That means this morning is going to be less of an exegetical work and more of a lesson in hermeneutics. And if you have no idea what I just said. To exegete a passage is to go through and explain it like we try to on a Sunday morning as much as possible, line by line, to figure out what it says and then understand it rightly in our world. That is what we call exegesis. The flip side of that, which we never want to do, is what we call eisegesis. which is where we take our world and understanding and read it into the Bible to get its meaning. That is bad, never do it. We want to understand what it says and then apply that understanding to our world. Hermeneutics is the science somewhat, art a little bit, of understanding, interpreting, and then applying your Bible. In other words, the how of what we're doing when we do exegetical work. Does that make sense? Have I lost everybody? Have you fallen asleep already? I've lost 80, sorry. I promise you this will get a little bit better. I try to make all of this dry stuff as entertaining as possible, but some days I can't even help myself. I can't help it, it is what it is. So we are going to have a couple of little excursions today. So two long off-ramps, they are intentional. If we don't take those off-ramps though, there'll be dragons and we want to avoid them at all costs. So with all of those disclaimers said, you'll understand why I'm giving you all of these when we start reading. Exodus 21 verses one through 11. Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them. If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, but on the seventh, he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone. If he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out as a free man. Then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him permanently. If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing without payment of money. And everybody's going, I forgot stuff like that was in my Bible. I feel like I need to be on one of those infomercials, but wait, there's more, and there is, but not today. There you go, Denny. All right, so back to the beginning. Let's make sure this is our beginning of our first long exit ramp. These are the ordinances which you are to set before them. Remember, remember, remember, remember, remember. These are words from God to be written down for his people. Why, pray tell, do we want to write them down? so that we'll know them, but if we're the people at the foot of the mountain, that's the first step. We're writing them down so that, not the people at the foot of the mountain, but so that we, yeah, we would know them. And you're going, why do I need to know about the ordinances that God gives for Hebrew slaves in 1490 BC? And the answer is because it explains about the nature of God, the nature of relationships between people and God. It explains about us and the relationships that we have amongst one another. Those things are timeless. Hence, these things are recorded and written down for them and for us. Always remember this about your Bible. 2 Peter 1. Who's the author of 2 Peter? Just make sure we cover this. We call it Second Peter because it is an epistle of Peter. We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Peter's talking about the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John went up the mountain with Jesus, they saw him transfigured before them, shining brightly, the glory of the Lord. They saw him as who he is, as God incarnate. They saw that, they worshiped, they were astounded. What Peter's point is, what we're telling you about Christ is not just something we sat around one day playing cards, be like, hey, I got an idea. No, these are the things that we saw and that we understood. But more than that, Peter's gonna continue. So we have the prophetic word made more certain, to which you do well to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God. Why throw that in there? See, the foundation of the knowledge that Peter has is not that event. The foundation of Peter's knowledge of God and Christ is not him standing upon the mountain, seeing the glory of the Lord, seeing Moses and seeing Elijah. The foundation of Peter's knowledge of God is Scripture. The prophecies, promises, and narratives that are pointing to Christ. Christ, in that event, is the culmination. It is the fulfillment of those things. So Peter's foundation is not, hey, I saw this, listen to me. No, no, no, no. I saw this, and it's a fulfillment of all that God has promised to us that was written down by his prophets. That's the point going forward. That's why our New Testament has to be connected to the apostles, and it is. Yeah, we can do this today. So Matthew, apostle. Mark, associate of the apostles, traveling companion of Peter and of Paul. Luke, not an apostle, but an associate of Paul, traveling companion, had access in Jerusalem, Rome, and everywhere else to Peter, to Mary, to James, to everybody. John is an apostle. All right, all the epistles of Paul. Paul is an apostle. Peter, an apostle. James, not an apostle, half-brother of Jesus, but was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He's as close to an apostle as you can get without actually being an apostle. Jude, exact same thing. Hebrews, This is a fun one because there's argument throughout church history. I am going to take an official position. My official position has always been that Hebrews is a sermon from Paul written down by Luke. So it's from an apostle. First, second, and third John. John is an apostle. Revelation written by John who is an apostle. The entirety of your New Testament. Did I leave anybody out? No, I think that's everybody. The entirety of your New Testament contains testimony of the apostles. What they saw, what they heard, what the Holy Spirit empowered them to remember. That's what's going on at the end of Luke, in Luke 24. What the Holy Spirit preserved for them and commanded them to pass down to future generations. Those things are fulfillments in building upon what we have in the Old Testament. I said this over there, I told you I was using up all my Bible verses this morning. The Old Testament does not make any sense without the fulfillment of the New Testament. Conversely, the New Testament does not make any sense without the foundation of the Old Testament. They work together. The promises, the prophecies, and the pictures—see, I'm a good Baptist today, we have alliteration— are all pointing to the work of Christ, which is fulfilled and explained in your New Testament. That's the foundation for all of this. Christian, go back to the mountain. Nothing has changed. This is not, I am God in the cloud shaking the mountain with the thunder and all that. Listen to me, this is Moses. Set down ordinances, write these down for the people. put them down so that they will be remembered, not just by these people standing here, but by the generations of God's people who are to come. Now, this matters by way of example, because if we forget this, guess what we're gonna mess up? The short answer is everything. Everything. So here's an example that will help us out later on. So we're gonna use this example later on, so I'm gonna give it to you now. Deuteronomy chapter 24. Listen carefully, please. When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house. And she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's wife. And if the latter husband turns against her and writes a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance." All right, take a second. Summarize that in your brain. It's going to become important in about 10 seconds, all right? Matthew 19, some Pharisees came to Jesus testing him and asking, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? All right, now stop, what's the answer to that? It's a yes or no question, what's the answer? No, it is not lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all. And he answered and said, have you not read that he also created them from the beginning, made them male and female? And he said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. So they said to him, why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away? Second question. Did Moses command that they give a certificate of divorce and send her away? No. He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and marries another woman commits adultery. Those two passages build on each other. What was Moses saying? If you give your wife a certificate of divorce because why? You have found an indecency, you have found an immorality in her. The real Old Testament context of that is, you married a woman who you thought was a virgin and found out what? that she wasn't. See, that's the indecency. That's the immorality. It's what we would call fornication or adultery. That's the indecency. Moses is going, you've discovered this and then you've sent her away. Now that you've sent her away and you have done this, this is how you are to live. As Moses is saying, if you find an indecency and an immorality in your wife, get your certificates and cast her out. No, he's not what he's saying, he's saying, when you've done this, now we gotta figure out how do we live east of Eden? How do we live in a broken world? So this is the command that comes down. Excuse me, I keep stepping around to this side, I leave the water behind, that's not a good combination. Jesus rightly points that out because Jesus stands on what foundation? The foundation that was handed down in scripture. Notice Jesus' answer. It wasn't like this, and what does he start quoting? He starts quoting the Bible. He goes back to the institution of the covenant of marriage, which is in Genesis 2. He goes back to the foundation. Who makes marriage? God does. If God creates it, who gets to define it? God does. Therefore, that's why you get, well not therefore, that's why you get the thing that Jesus says, what God has joined together, let no man separate. And if you're a good King James person, I said with that, if you're gonna read it at a wedding, let no man tear asunder. You just sound like you said something important when you say tear asunder. Sometimes it works, you know. be a day. The point being what? No, the hardness of your heart, the sin of your life leads to brokenness of relationships. God is not blind or, the word just went right out of my head, or callous. towards your sin. Therefore, he accommodates your living in a broken world. He doesn't accommodate your sin, but he says, all right, you have to make decisions on what you do in light of the sin that you have lived. Therefore, this is how we should deal with this walking forward. That's the point Jesus is making. If you are seeking, as the Pharisees claimed to be, to walk in all of your ways honoring God, should this be a conversation we're having? No. Should this be a misinterpretation of the text of Deuteronomy? No. But the Pharisees are standing on what? Our brains. Our wisdom. Our traditions in history. They're not standing upon the word of God. Remember, tradition for the sake of tradition is pretty much always evil. Always. Tradition for the sake of tradition is pretty much always evil. Tradition for the sake of godliness, we evaluate. The words of scripture, we apply. Do you understand the difference between those things? We reject tradition just because we've always done this. And look, Cameron will vouch for this my entire life. You know the worst answer you can ever give me, which having lived in the South for a quarter century, you get this a lot. Why do we do it like that? Because that's the way we've always done it. Every time somebody says that, there's a part of the back of my head that just starts like. twitching and going, I can't function like that. No, that's not an answer. If that's the best way to do it, then explain that to me. If it's not, then explain to me why we don't do it the other way. There's gotta be a reason other than, well, that's just what we do. Same thing in your Christian walk. Well, that's what dad did, and that's what grandpa did, and that's all well and good, and they may have been wonderful, godly people. Why do you do it? And if the answer is because that's what my parents did, that's never good enough. You don't get to stand before God and go, well, pastor said, well, grandma said, well, my husband said. No, who do you say that the son of man is? That's the question that's gotta be dealt with. How do you live your life? On what standard are you building and constructing and walking in faithfulness? And if it's anything other than the word, then you have found a false standard. You're gonna be like the Pharisees going, well, why did Moses command us to do this then? And the short answer is, he didn't. Have you read your Bible lately? And the answer is, well, yeah, they have, but they read it how? Through the lens of their world going backwards. Our fancy technical theological term of the day is that is called eisegesis, understanding my world and reading it into the Bible. I want to understand the Bible's world and read it forward into mine. Continue on this exit ramp. Before we dive back in and get to verse two, we wanna do a little bit of contextualizing for our passage, because if we don't, we will isogete it. We cannot help it, especially when it comes to this topic. So, first thing, put this into your brain. When the Bible talks about slavery, it is not talking about your high school history class. Okay? It is not talking about your 10th or 11th grade United States history. 18th and 19th century New World chattel slavery is not the context for your Old Testament. The reason I say that is Exodus 21, 16. He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death. There any wiggle room in that? Is there some nuance there that we should be made aware of? No. Which is why faithful Christians for the last 150 plus years have said, what was going on in the Atlantic slave trade and what was going on in West Africa and the entire transportation. And it's unequivocally, because you can't make the argument, well, I didn't steal him. He's found in your possession and he's a stolen man. Yep, we have the big heavy rocks for that sort of thing. That is not the context that is going on here in Exodus 21. Biblical slavery is an apportionment of judgment, justice and grace, okay? And it depends on the group of people that it's dealing with that depends on how that is being applied. And the reason I say that is your Old Testament law makes distinctions between groups of people. Always remember this. How many categories of people are there? No, there are two. Remember this, I'm gonna do it again, you know I'm gonna do it again. There are two types of people in this world, those that like Neil Diamond and those that don't. And you know what the test is to figure out which one you are. Sweet Caroline. See, you are the Neil Diamond fans. If your brain went bah, bah, bah. If you didn't, and you're annoyed with me, you are not the Neil Diamond fans. Now, in all seriousness, there are. Wrong Neil. Other Neil, come on, Denny. We are hip, cool, and relevant with our Neil Diamond references from 1978. There you go, that's true of a lot of people. In the world, there are two categories of people. You have believers and you have unbelievers. That is true regardless of what section of scripture you're reading. When you get to your New Testament, the believers are the Christians, the unbelievers are the not Christians. When you're dealing in your Old Testament, the believers are supposed to be the people of Israel. What they in actuality are, are the faithful people of Israel. The unbelievers, by definition, is everybody else. Your Philistines are your unbelievers. The Egyptians are the unbelievers. The Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and all of those ites are the unbelievers. Your Bible deals with them and the law of God deals with them differently because they have different standing before God. An example of this is Leviticus 25. If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of Jubilee. He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. For they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. They are not to be sold in a slave sale. You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God. As for your male and female slaves whom you have, you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you whom they will have produced in your land. They also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you to receive as a possession. You can use them as permanent slaves, but in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another. Again, understand the context of the world you're living in. The Israelite cannot be treated like property. Why not? Because he is the redeemed man of God. He has a standing in the courts of God that says, cleansed, righteous, being sanctified. When Israel went into the land, what were they to do with all of the inhabitants of the land? They were supposed to kill them. All of them. Why? They were the instruments, the Israelites were the instruments of God's justice. His judgment upon that pagan people. They were sacrificing their children in the fires of Molech. performing abominable acts as worship to Baal. They were doing all sorts of pagan, idolatrous things, and the judgment of God abides upon them, both in this world and in the world to come. The Israelites were simply the means of judgment. You see this with Israel in the time of the judges. When the Israelites do the same abominable things, what does God do? He uses the pagan nations around them. He uses the Philistines and the Amorites and the Moabites to do what? To bring his judgment upon the faithless people. When they become faithful again, God does what? He delivers them, he raises up a judge, rescues them, redeems them, cleanses the land. This is the cycle you see in your Old Testament. This is why the Israelites can't be enslaved in this way, and why the foreign nations of Israel can. What's the alternative if you are the foreigner in the nation of Israel? If it's not slavery, it's what? It's death. Those are the options. There's no getting around this. You are to worship Yahweh faithfully, and anyone who does not worship Yahweh is to die. However, if they wish to live, there is a provision, and part of that provision is even the slaves of the household are to be subject to what? Discipleship. The goal is that you're supposed to be encouraging them to turn from their pagan ways and do what? serve and worship Yahweh alone. Conversely, here's the fun part. If that pagan Ammonite, who has chosen slavery over death, becomes circumcised, worships and serves Yahweh, what are they? They're an Israelite. They're an Israelite now. What happens on the seventh year? They're supposed to go free. They're an Israelite. They're a brother. Doesn't matter where they were, what are they now? They are the part of the people of God. They are now subject to the law of God, all of its attributes and all of its commands. Christian, this hasn't changed for us. You come in in the name of Christ and what are you? You're a brother. You're a sister. Doesn't matter where you came from. Doesn't matter what language you spoke. Doesn't matter what the sin was before that. In Christ you are clean. In Christ all of that is put aside. In Christ you are a new creation. Doesn't matter anything that came before that. laid down here in the law that is explained to the Israelites. There's a distinction. I've said this before. We should have more in common with the Christian on the other side of the world than we have with the pagan down the street. If we don't, there's something wrong with our Christian walk. There's something wrong with it. Now, is there a way to then advocate in this world and to instruct in godliness without violating the commands of God? And the answer is yes, and if you'd like an example of this, you can read your New Testament, even the little tiny books, because they're good for you. I have joked for years, we have the great Italian prophet is the end of the Old Testament, that's Malachi. In the New Testament, it's actually Malachi, you know that. In the New Testament, we have the great Jamaican epistle, Philemon. It's Philemon, yeah, okay, sorry. I'm always gonna make that joke, I don't care how cheesy it is and how bad it makes me look, I'm always making that joke, always. Philemon, verses eight through 16. Though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you, since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. You ever wonder where guilt comes from? That's landed on pretty thick, isn't it? I could make you do what I want, but I'm not like that. I'm an old apostle, apostle, who's in prison, apostle, in prison. I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is sending my very heart, whom I wish to keep with me, so that on your behalf, he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent, I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be in effect by compulsion, but of your own free will. For perhaps he was for this very reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? Philemon is a slave owner. He owns Onesimus. Onesimus has run away. Philemon lives in Colossae. Somehow Onesimus finds his way to Paul and somehow he hears the gospel and he is converted. Paul realizing this goes, well you're not a slave anymore because you are now what? You're a brother. You're free. You stand before God free. But guess who doesn't have the authority to do that? Paul doesn't. Philemon does. So what does Paul say? Philemon, here's Onesimus, here's the letter. Onesimus takes it back. I could tell you and command you to do what is right, but I'm just gonna lay it on real thick and let who deal with you. Let God do it. The Holy Spirit is so much better at his job than we are. Again, the dumbest thing I will say all morning. So Paul's answer is, you know what's right, you know what the command is, therefore, do it. The end of the letter. Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. Yeah, there's laying it on and then there's laying it on thick. Like Paul's making that peanut butter sandwich up here, like at this point with that, he's like, there you go, choke on that one, baby. Now, I point these things out because if you would like to make your cultural arguments, you make them from the Bible moving forward. This is why we don't read the slavery commands and go, well, how do you explain what happened in the 19th century in the Atlantic slave trade? I don't. It's a complete violation of everything that is taught in Scripture. So I don't use it as a category. I'm pointing that out again because the temptation of our brains is to read from our world and our experience and then start getting backwards into the Bible. It's eisegesis. We never want to do that. We want to understand the text and move forward. So in this world, The options in the land of Israel are simple. You're an Israelite, worship and serving Yahweh. Or you should have what done to you? Technical terminology? Those are the options. And if death isn't the thing that has been done for you, then you don't have any rights because the judgment of God abides upon you unless you would like to actually submit yourself and follow Yahweh and his commands and honor the one true God who has created this world and given you life and breath and provision and all of these wonderful things. Then we can talk about you operating rightly in God's people and his nation. Do you see the difference? Those are the standards. Christian, again, this is actually how we're supposed to look at the world. We're supposed to look at the world and realize that as a believer, the unbelieving world is something else. Now, we're not them, so I don't get to enslave them and demand things from them, but I get to proclaim the gospel. I get to walk in holiness. I get to call a spade a spade, and when they do the right thing for the wrong reason, I get to say what? Hey, the blind squirrel found one. Good job, go team. And when they walk in their iniquity and their sin, we say what? No, that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. As a matter of fact, here's how this is supposed to work. So our culture is different. The world that God has given to us operates differently because we are not a people in a Christian nation. We are a people in a pagan world, proclaiming and shining a light, seasoning with salt a world that so desperately needs to see and hear. So, with that said, now the exegetical portion of our program. Let's actually look at these and make sense of them as we go forward, because again, they have bearing on our world. If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years. But on the seventh, he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone. If he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master and he shall go out alone. Okay. Believe it or not, all of this makes sense, and I have to have my notes for this, because even I can't keep all of this straight in my brain. You can't imagine me not being able to keep something straight in my head, can you? You weren't supposed to laugh that much. I do have some feelings, not many, but some. Why is this man a slave? More than likely, 90% of the time, why is this Hebrew a slave? Financial ruin. Now, in a nation where every tribe and every family has been allotted a portion of lands that will supply for their needs, more than likely, why is he in financial ruin? He didn't do something! He is mismanaged, he has walked in sin, he has done something to cause this calamity. Typically, not every time, sometimes bad things just happen in the world, I get that. But he is in this position because he has not managed things well. So for a short time period, he is now being managed himself. He is being cared for. Remember, the command is he goes free, right? Every seven years he goes free. He's like a hired man. It's like hiring a ranch hand. Vernal will get this one. It's like hiring somebody on the farm. Only this one doesn't get to leave and you get him for seven years. Now, why this though? Why can't, if, so he comes in, if he comes in married, when he leaves, he leaves how? He leaves married. If he comes in single and he gets married, how does he leave? He leaves single. Why? That's a good question. In this world, what's one of the prerequisites to marriage? Gotta have a little cash. Gotta have money. Typically, there's a bride price that is paid, and the reason that is paid is supposed to be for the protection of the bride. Because this is an agrarian, patriarchal society, a woman growing up in her father's house is protected by her father and her brother. She is provided for by the work of the family. When she is married, that responsibility moves from father to husband. If he dies before she has children to take over the work of her husband, what happens? In a lot of cases, she defaults back to her father. All right, that's why the bride price exists. That was supposed to be money set aside by the family so that if something happens and she comes back, she has still been provided for by her husband. There is a means, there is a starting point. We can acquire land, we can engage in trade, we can do things with this money so that we can provide for this woman who we weren't expecting to come home, but now is, so we gotta do something. Now, does this financially ruined Hebrew now slave have this kind of money? No, so where did the money for his wife come from? The guy who owns him, for lack of a better description. Now, when you send him out, do you trust him to manage his finances right away? No. So if he's got a wife and children, well, what's gonna happen if he falls back into old habits? Yeah, so no, they don't go with you, they stay with the person who can do what? Provide and protect them. So, that's why this is given in here. Now, will this be a permanent separation? And we're gonna come back to that because this isn't the time to tackle that. As this man goes out, will he be broke when he leaves? See, you would think that. Deuteronomy chapter 15. When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor, from your wine vat. You shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore, I command you this today. So on the seventh year when he goes out, It's not like, all right, go figure out some life. No, you send him out. with provision. You send them out with a family starter set. Here, you've been here for seven years or however long. You have now learned, hopefully, you've been paying attention. You see how a household runs, that runs well. Now here, go start and be successful. Because remember, the ancestral lands will be returned if they've been sold at the Jubilee. So he gets a fresh start. It's almost like everything that's come before has been wiped away, and it's like a new person has gone back out. This is a picture of salvation, people. This is what God does for each and every one of his people, and it is encoded in the law of Israel. So you have fallen away completely. You can't even take care of your own life anymore. We have a provision by which your brothers can pick you up, care for you, instruct you, and then send you back out redeemed and ready to start again. This is, again, why we have Christian charity. Why do we love? because we have been loved. Why do we show grace? Because grace has been shown to us. See, these are the commands, they are not new, they are built upon the foundations that are given by God to his people. Hence this, if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out as a free man, then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him permanently. Yowzers. That's a big step, isn't it? Why has he got to go to God? And the doorposts, so odds are we're going to the tabernacle. I mean, we're going to church and then we're like, all right, hold still, don't move. Why? Why is this step such a big deal? The answer is in what we just read in Deuteronomy. Why does the master send him out with provision? Because the master is supposed to remember what? that my people, I and my family were slaves in Egypt and God redeemed us and gave us a land and a standing and has provided for us so that as I fulfill this picture in my brother, I do the same thing. For that brother that didn't turn around and say, no, no, I don't want that freedom, I reject that freedom. That's not how the Israelites are supposed to walk. That's not how the Christian is supposed to walk. John 8, Jesus told to them, truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin, and the slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son does remain forever. So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed. This is supposed to be the motivation of our lives. This is what Paul builds on in Galatians 5. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. See, in Christ, we are supposed to walk serving Him, outside of the concerns, outside of the worries and the yokes of this world. That's again why I made that little joke about the little D and their R after their names, depending on what channel you watch. Because when I am more committed to that D or that R, you know what I'm no longer committed to? Yeah, I've missed something somewhere. I've missed something somewhere. But my commitment is supposed to be to Christ and to Christ alone. Which is why, regardless of what side of the aisle you do something good, we say, good job. You do something bad, we go, wrong answer. Let's find again, start over. Because we walk in godliness. We are free from sin, free from its effects, free from its power. Reborn in Christ. The Israelite is supposed to be walking in this. To reject this redemption, to reject this means no, no, no, no. We mark you because you have fallen in such a way, not that you are no longer a part of God's people, but you are no longer able to demonstrate it, you are no longer able to disciple it, you are no longer able to walk in it. We need to take care of you and everybody needs to know that, so what do we do? That's why you get the mark. Look, let's be honest, even in Christian life, you have that friend. Love them, they're sweethearts, do anything for them, but every couple of days you do what? How are things going? Making sure, just kind of checking in on you, seeing how it, and you know that for the rest of your life you're gonna do what? You're gonna keep checking in on that person because they need somebody to do what? Check in on them, walk with them, bear their burdens, walk together. Now, that's the male side of the story. I'm gonna try to be polite and discreet for the second half of this. We're gonna do a good job, but we have to be delicate here because, well, you're mostly all adults in here and you can handle this, so, shall we? Verse seven, if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. Why not? I'll answer that with a question. Why would a man with a little bit of money pay for a young woman? Yes, that's the reason. Regardless of who she is, the reason why he's forking over money now is the reason why he's forking over money then. Okay? That's just, be an adult, understand, that's the reason. Therefore, this is a slightly, well not slightly, this is a completely different situation. If she is going to be expected to perform a wife's duties, she should be treated with a wife's rights. Does that make sense? Okay. That is why she does not go free as the male slaves do. You don't get rent a wife in the Levitical law and get to hide it by saying, well, she wasn't really a wife. I just kind of paid some money to, you know, do some stuff. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. Again, remember the problems we had in Matthew 19. Jesus said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it has not been this way. So even the law of God is protecting the sanctity of these relationships. and the specialness of that action, all right? Verse eight, if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her. See the difference here? If he can even come up with an immorality or he can come up with a reason, he doesn't just get to go, all right, get out of my house, woman. She must be redeemed. She is to be honored. She is to be cared for. This would also connect us to our aforementioned male slave who got married. So, that, making a mess up here. Male slave comes in single, single, if I can speak English. Master pays for a bride. Male slave goes out with provision. He's learned something. He's managing his life. He's caring for his finances and his affairs. What is he now in a position to do? He's in position to redeem her, to repay the bride price, to actually reimburse the man who took care of him and his family all of that time and did all of those things, and the family will be reunited. If he never gets to that position, she and any children are cared for because she has already been set aside and protected. So to answer your question, it wouldn't be a permanent separation earlier. That man now has an opportunity to manage his life, to manage his finances, to take care of things and to redeem his family by showing what? That I can be responsible, that I can care for these things. Likewise here, you don't get to pay some woman's father for her services and then say, all right, get out of the house lady. No, I don't want her in my house anymore. That's fine. You're evil, but that's fine. The community, the family can do what? They can make sure she is protected. They can make sure she is provided for. They can make sure she is not having to live a life of brokenness. This is a protection in the law. Once again, if you're going to be expected to perform a wife's duties, you should be given the rights of a wife as well. This is the wisdom of God on display. What we look at is the Old Testament law and go, that doesn't even make sense. Let's put it this way. Do you feel confident that the city council in Rockford or that the legislators, don't laugh already. I lost Denny that quick. Or the legislators in Springfield. Or the congressional representatives in D.C. Do you feel confident that they can write a law that we will be applying in 20 years? 20 minutes? Now, the reason I point that out is because this is one of the reasons why we have celebrated for years in this country the brilliance of our Constitution. Because it has actually withstood and functionally governed a people for two centuries plus. That's still a drop in the bucket to the perfect law of God that can explain human condition, can explain the protections afforded to a free people in godliness, and can function regardless of society, regardless of culture, regardless of people, no matter where they are, who they are, or what year they're in. That's why this matters. This is the wisdom of God, and as I mentioned earlier, or I mentioned next door, 1 Corinthians 1, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. In other words, what we esteem and look at as this ancient document, oh, what does it know about our world? They didn't even have iPhones back then. For everything you claim is ridiculous, there is wisdom and protection in the word of God. Verse 9, if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. See, if he's getting a wife, then he treats her like what? Like a wife. If he's procuring this relationship for his son, is she just that woman we bought for our kid? No, that's your daughter. That's your family. She gets all the rights, privileges, and protections due to that woman. That would also be a protection for the male slave who has gone out single, even though he was married. While he goes out to rebuild his life, what does he know is true of his wife and children? They'll be cared for, they're protected, they're like a daughter in that household. They're not just some woman who I'm waiting to get my cash back. Now, would that have happened in Israel? Probably, because people are what? Sinful. Is that the right use of the law? No. If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. In other words, even if you violate the covenant that you have made, even if you violate the relationship, does it go away? No! She doesn't get half, she gets all of it. And the new wife you try to get, you know what she's entitled to? All of it. You know what that should tell you? No, it should tell you, don't do this! When people go, well, how come David takes all these wives and Solomon, who, Solomon had a mental disorder, I'm convinced of this. You ever had that friend in school that was so smart they didn't have any common sense? I'm almost convinced there are days that was Solomon, because he had, what, it was like 300 wives and 700 concubines? See, what did I just say? He's just so smart, he's the smartest man in all the world, and yet he's like, I'll get married again, yeah, that was a good idea. No, the point here is you can't reduce anything. So you can't be like, well, I bought this woman, now I'm gonna go buy that woman. First of all, you shouldn't be buying that woman. Why not? Because you already bought one. You don't get two. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. If you're dumb enough to do that, not because women are terrible, but because you're breaking God's command, you don't get to say, well, now you'll get half and you'll get half. No, they're both entitled to all of it, which is why you can't manage this because it doesn't work. I can't give everything to everyone. Again, if she's expected to engage in wifely duty, she should have wifely status and protection and rights. I'm trying to be polite about this. I'm doing it so far. There's a joke that I wanna tell that I just can't. So if you wanna know, you have to ask me later. Not that it's that terribly inappropriate, it just doesn't forward what we're doing. I'm trying to be organized here. Again, if you wanna understand this. You ever want to understand this going forward, this is what the New Testament is building on. So, 1 Corinthians 7. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. See, Paul is building on commands like this. No! You're married to this woman! How should you act? Like you're married to this woman. This one I will tell. Years ago when we were first married, I was working at, I was managing a breakfast area and working on the front desk of a Holiday Inn Express in Washington, North Carolina. And I got such a big laugh because at the time we said, we've just been married, we're broker and broke. I think I was making like six bucks an hour. Yeah, broke, broke, broke. And they had an opening for a housekeeper. And Cameron was a college student at the time. Our housekeepers were miserable because sometimes they would show up and we'd have four or five of them and it was great and we could get all the rooms clean and turned around like they're supposed to be. And sometimes one of them would show up and I'd have people trying to check in and I'm like, I'll have a room in like 20 minutes because I have one person trying to clean all these rooms. So we had an opening and Cameron got the job. And the little woman who worked for me, who ran our little breakfast area, who put out all the food and made sure the cinnamon rolls were hot and all that good stuff was Barbara Ann. And I had such a laugh because one of... One of Barbara Ann's friends came in and was staying for the weekend and was having breakfast and just had to run over to Barbara Ann because she was so distraught. Barbara Ann comes to me laughing, she goes, my friend just came in and goes, I have to tell you this. Didn't you tell me that man was married? I was that man, by the way. And Barbara Ann goes, yeah, he's married. Well, you need to talk to him because I think he's running out on his wife with that housekeeper. And that housekeeper was my wife. Now the point of that is, I interacted, even in a professional setting, with my wife differently than I did Barbara Ann or Marion, the other housekeeping, the housekeeping supervisor, or any of the people, to the point that a complete stranger seeing me for the first time was like, something's different here, something is odd in that relationship. I just, I thought that was hysterical, so I thought you'd share, I appreciate that. That's what's going on here. There's supposed to be a difference in how you relate to that woman versus how you relate to all the other women. If there's not, change how you relate to all the other women and change how you relate to your wife, okay? And by the way, women, that goes for you too. There should be a difference in how you relate to your husband versus how you relate to all the other men in the world. If there's not, change how you relate to all the other men in the world and change how you relate to your husband. There's a different standing. Why? There is a joining of humanity in marriage that is just different from shaking hands. Is that a polite way of saying it? There is something special and important about that act that changes a relationship. This is why we try to tell teenagers, don't do that if you're not married. This is why we try to tell people, don't do that with 27 people before you get married, because it's a piece of you, literally and figuratively, and it changes how you relate to a person. I mean, you can go, some of you are divorced, and some of you have had relationships many years in the past, There's a different way that you relate to a former spouse than just somebody you even went on a couple of dates with. And there's even a different way you relate to somebody you went on a couple of dates with to somebody you just met. how you are connected to the rest of humanity is important. And God protects that in his law because God created us to operate in such a way. And when we walk away from that, we are not abiding in the owner's manual on how we are supposed to live in this world. Meaning we are engaging in our sin and we are letting our flesh be the guide. I want to be grounded in godliness built on the foundation of his word, not grounded in, as the New Testament puts it, my lusts and desires of the flesh. And those go towards food or sex or money or anything in this world. I want to be able to say to those things, no, because I serve something higher and better. Now the other part of this is, if I have gone astray in those areas, I return to God and I am cleansed how? Completely. This is the lesson of scripture. Mentioned this earlier, it doesn't matter where you were. Doesn't matter what was going on. In Christ, you are new. In Christ, you are clean. In Christ, you are restored and stand before the Father. This works for both sides of the equation. It is a protection for those walking in godliness, and it is a salve, it is an ointment for those who have recognized their sin. And God is basically pleading with these people to walk in that way and protect these things in that manner. Hence the conclusion. If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing without payment of money. So if he's not willing, he can't sell her. The family doesn't even have to redeem her. She gets to do what? She has to walk away. Why does she get to walk away? The sons of Israel are my servants. They are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh, your God. She gets to walk away because she's free in Christ. She is free before the God who has redeemed her, before the God who has ordained her and who has protected her. By the way, Christian, guess what's changed? Matthew 11, Jesus tells everyone, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's how we walk. We walk in godliness, free of sin. Does that mean you won't sin? No, but you are free from its power. You are free from its call. When we answer the call of sin, it's not just because, well, you know, that sin was just so amazingly powerful. If the Holy Spirit was dragging me in the direction I was supposed to go in, and that sin was just so strong, it just, you know, it couldn't be helped. No, that's dumb, and what's the rule? Don't do dumb things. No, every time we fall into sin, it's not because sin was that powerful, it's because we were that weak. And that's what the command is. What is Christ telling you? No, walk in me and you are free of them. And you are yoked to Christ. Who breaks that yoke? That's what Jesus told him in John 10, what? All that the Father gives me, I will lose none. Because who can snatch them out of the Father's hand? Nobody. And Christ and the Father are one. You can't get away. You don't want to get away. But when we fall, we have an advocate. We have a sacrifice. We have a savior. And in those moments, we are clean and we start again. And if we fall, we have an advocate and we have a savior. Is that an excuse? No. And if you treat it like one, I have bigger concerns for you than what you have just fallen into. That's just an honest assessment. But as we are striving and as we are walking, we will realize the sin in our lives. And we recognize that for that too, Christ died. But He hasn't forgotten me. He hasn't forsaken me. He hasn't left me. What was my reminder to you with communion this morning? Till the end of the age. Amazing when everything works together in a service, isn't it? It's almost like I thought about it for a second. Almost, almost. These things work because Christ works. The promises are secure because they're God's promises. My pathway is firm because it's God's pathway. No fear, no worry, no forsaking. And that's why I don't have to be afraid of a passage like this. Because we can handle difficult subjects and we can talk about them honestly. Why? Because they come from God. And he has provided a way that makes sense even in our world. No matter what our technology is or how smart we think we are or how advanced and enlightened we have become in our world, the wisdom of God still matters and still applies in how we relate to him and how we relate to one another. Be grounded in the word. trusting that God's foundation is secure. Let's pray.