Enslaved By The Master

October 10, 2021

Series: Misc Sermons

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Scripture: Exodus 21:1-6

Yes, God gave ten commandments but there were many more laws for the Jewish people. Here in Exodus 21, we see the topic of slavery. In this time if you had a debt so high you couldn’t get out of, you were sold to the lender to work off your debt. This wasn’t as bad as what we know of slavery. Six years the person is to serve but on the seventh, the person is to be set free. The key to all of this was not to be in debt to anyone. No matter the debt or how large, the seventh year of serving the debt was to be set free of ALL debt. In our lives, we are a sinner no matter what we do. We can’t work off our sin debt or pay it off. Every man and woman is born into sin because of the curse of Adam and Eve. No person can claim to be clean. One can run all they want from the debt of sin but there’s nowhere one can run to remove all of one’s sins. We are all equal at the foot of the cross. All are sinners no matter how great the sin is. We are all a slave to sin. Yet, something happens to a lost person at the time of salvation. Jesus offered Himself to be sold as a slave only to purchase you. What a great price that He paid for our souls.

What are you going to do as a saved person? You were a debtor to someone else the devil, but now you are in debt to Jesus Christ. It’s no fun to be a slave to the devil because of his abusive nature. Yet, being in debt to Jesus Christ is a thrilling joy everlasting. Being a slave to Christ is a free-living experience.

So what does Exodus 21:1-6 have to do with anything? We read that the debtor is in slave to the lender for six years and then the seventh he is free. We see this BUT, what happens if the debtor doesn’t want to leave? This puts a whole different perspective on what we know about slavery. If the person wanted to stay he had to go before the judge to explain why he wanted to stay. 

  1. Because he loves the master. For the born again, the master purchased us and continues to bless us regardless of how filthy we are compared to Him.
  2. He loves his wife. The physical side of this is that the master blesses the man with a wife and if you have a wife you more than likely have children. If the husband or wife was to turn their back on Christ then the other would still stay with Christ. On the spiritual side of things, if a person is to turn their backs on the church/other saved they will still stay with Christ while the other walks away.
  3. He loves his children. Physically speaking think about how it would be if they were walked out on by the believer in the house. Spiritually, the pastor has fed the people of the church, and others have grown up under him.
  4. A price had to be paid. He was to be taken to the doorpost and place his ear against it and pierced through his ear. This was to forever mark him as a servant to the master. Spiritually Christ has marked His children His forever. Christ was pierced by His father forever. Baptism is a public marking of being a Christian. It’s also no secret that the life of a Christian is full of being marked for the master’s sake.