Sermon # 65 Leviticus Sermons
Title: God’s
Slaves
Text: Leviticus 25:35-55
Subject: God’s Purchased Slaves
Date: Sunday Evening – May 25,2003
Tape # X-62b
Reading: Ron Wood and Merle Hart
Introduction:
I have come here to call you
to the most ennobling, honorable and honoring of all things. I am here tonight
recruiting slaves. I am calling upon you to to voluntarily put yourself into
slavery, taking the Lord Jesus Christ as your Master (Matt. 11:28-30).
(Matthew
11:28-30) "Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. {29} Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light."
Let’s go once
more to Leviticus 25. Since the Lord God has redeemed us, since he has
saved us by his grace, he claims us as his slaves (vv. 42, 55).[1]
(Leviticus
25:42) "For they are my
servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold
as bondmen."
(Leviticus
25:55) "For unto me the children
of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth
out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
Read
this chapter carefully, and you will see that the Lord claimed rule over the
children of Israel, dictating to them what they were to be and do in all
things. He claimed the rule of their property, their families, their time,
their money, their affections, even their attitude toward one another and their
enemies.
And it is only reasonable that we consecrate ourselves to him as
voluntary slaves, devoted in all things to him.
(Romans
12:1-2) "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
{2} And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
The Holy Spirit tells us exactly what this slavery
is in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
(1
Corinthians 6:9-11) "Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, {10} Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
{11} And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God."
(1
Corinthians 6:19-20) "What? know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? {20} For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's."
"Ye are bought." This is that idea
of redemption which modern heretics dare to style "mercantile;" The
mercantile redemption is the scriptural one, for the expression, "bought
with a price" is a double declaration of that idea.
·
Christ
bought us out.
·
Christ
sought us out.
·
Christ
brought us out.
"With a price." How great the cost!
How great the sacrifice!
·
The
Father gave the Son.
·
The
Son gave himself: his happiness, his glory, his repose, his body, his soul, his
life.
(1 Peter 1:18-20) "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received by tradition from your fathers; {19} But
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot: {20} Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you."
How can we measure the price of our
redemption?
Measure it in the light of—
·
Gethsemane.
·
His
Betrayal.
·
The
Judgment Hall.
·
Calvary
(Made Sin—Forsaken—Deserted!)
Our body and spirit are both bought with the
body and spirit of Jesus.
·
This
is either a fact or not. "Ye are bought," or ye are unredeemed.
Terrible alternative.
·
.
If a fact, it is the fact of your life, a wonder of wonders.
·
It
will remain to you eternally the grandest of all facts. If true at all, it will
never cease to be true, and it will never be outdone in importance by any other
event.
·
It
should therefore operate powerfully upon us both now and ever.
·
You
are not your own provider; sheep are fed by their shepherd.
·
You
are not your own guide; ships are steered by their pilot.
·
You
are not your own father; children loved by parents.
·
We
are not our own to waste in idleness, amusement, or speculation.
·
We
are not our own to use.
·
We
are not our own to rule.
§
By
Creation
§
By
Redemption
§
By
voluntary surrender.
§
We
are altogether God's. Body and spirit include the whole man.
§
We
are always God's. The price once paid, we are forever his.
A. Glorify God in your body.
(1 Corinthians 10:31) "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
(Colossians 3:12-17) "Put on therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering; {13} Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. {14} And above all these things put on charity, which is
the bond of perfectness. {15} And let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
{16} Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. {17} And whatsoever ye do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the
Father by him."
B. Glorify God in your spirit.
§
Faith
§
Hope
§
Love
(Romans 11:33-36) "O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out! {34} For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or
who hath been his counsellor? {35} Or who hath first given to him, and
it shall be recompensed unto him again? {36} For of him, and through
him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen."
(Romans 12:1-2) "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. {2} And be
not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God."
[1] This passage is not to be read as an endorsement of slavery by God. Rather, the Lord God used that which was the custom of the day to teach us the gospel of his grace. The Word of God addresses men and women where they are. He does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11, using the customary veil of the day as a symbol of a woman’s modesty and submission to her husband. That passage no more requires women to wear a veil in public worship than this passage teaches us to practice slavery.