Series: Questions
Title: Wherein Shall He Sleep?
Text: Exodus 22: 27
Date: October 17, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Exodus 22: 25: If thou lend money to any
of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an
usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. 26: If thou at all take thy
neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun
goeth down: 27: For that is his covering only, it is his raiment
for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth
unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
The question
that God asks amounts to this, “If you take a man’s only raiment, wherein shall
he sleep?” The example is what some
might consider unnoticed by God. A poor
man comes to you and you lend to him what he needs. As a pledge that he will pay you back, he
gives you his only covering of night clothes.
God says, in verse 26: If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to
pledge,thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: 27: For that is
his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he
sleep?
A
sinner can put on a show of keeping the letter of the law outwardly. But he does not do so from a heart motivated
by grace. He will judge others and
accuse others of judging him. The Lord
Jesus said, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” (Mt 7: 1) But the moment we accuse someone else of
judging us we have set ourselves up as judges and begun to judge others. The Lord did not tell us to keep our eye on
someone else to make sure they did not judge us. He told us not to judge others. The Holy
Spirit said through the apostle Paul,
1 Corinthians 11: 31: For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged. 32: But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord,
that we should not be condemned with the world.
A
sinner will go on judging others and accusing others of judging him until God
makes his child to know it is God himself chastening us, to save us from being
condemned with the rest of the ungodly world.
If a sinner is never made to bow by God then is he a bastard and not a
son. (Heb 12: 8) But what is it that
brings God’s child to bow? The last
phrase in verse 27, God reminds us why believers are made willing to submit to
God and be gracious to those in need--“and it shall come to pass, when he crieth
unto me, that I will hear; FOR I AM GRACIOUS.”
Proposition: The believer’s motive in all our dealings with men arises
from God being gracious to us. God
reminds us in all our everyday dealings with men, to behold in needy sinners,
our own case as sinners in need of grace. It is God by his grace that has saved
us from what we once were.
I. BELIEVER, WE WERE ONCE STRANGERS TO GOD—Exodus
22: 21: Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt.
God
said to his elect among Israel, do not vex a Gentile stranger, nor oppress him,
for when you were slaves in the land of Egypt you were a stranger. You were vexed and oppressed when in slavery
by Pharaoh and his taskmasters. Who made
the difference? God alone, by his grace,
made the difference--“For I am gracious.” So God told his elect among Israel,
be gracious to the Gentile stranger for I was gracious to you.” We saw Sunday that Paul reminded the Gentile
Ephesian believers—you and I who believe—of the same thing.
Ephesians 2: 11: Wherefore remember, that ye being in
time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
The
natural Jews, who had not tasted of the Lord’s grace in their hearts, did not
have the spirit of grace in their hearts. Therefore, they vexed and oppressed
the Gentiles, calling them names of reproach and taking advantage of them in
many ways. So Paul says to the Ephesians believer, and to us, “Wherefore remember,
you were once held in reproach by self-righteous religious men, made to bear
bitter burdens and so on, but God showed you grace. So now do not play the
self-righteous, haughty religionists. Do not hold blind, unregenerate sinners
in reproach. Instead, be gracious as God has been gracious to us.” Brethren, in
our flesh, we were strangers to God.
Ephesians 2: 12: That at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
We were
dead, lost, without Christ, without hope, and without God in the world.
Ephesians 2: 13: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
God’s
grace to his people—to us who believe—was, and is, not based on any merit in
you or me.
Ephesians 2: 4: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us,5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Therefore,
God says, “In all your everyday dealings with sinners, remember they are
strangers to God—in the same condition we were in—so be gracious, for God is
gracious to you.”
Hebrews 13: 1: Let brotherly love continue. 2: Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares.
Let us
not vex, harass, oppress the stranger. They
may be one of God’s elect, everlastingly loved children of grace. Let us do what
we can to relieve whatever heavy temporal burden we can from off the stranger. And as you do, take it as opportunity to tell
them about our great burden bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell them how Christ
broke your Egyptian chains; tell them how he conquered Satan and his army in
the Red Sea of his blood for you; tell them how he called unto you in grace,
saying,
Matthew 11: 28: 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.
II. BELIEVER, WE WERE ONCE SPIRITUAL WIDOWS
AND ORPHANS—Exodus
22: 22: Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 23: If thou
afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their
cry;
Brethren,
we were the widow. A true widow in scripture was one without a husband, without
children, without extended family to care for her. That was us, brethren, when
we were dead in trespasses and in sins. Do you remember how lonesome it was to
be the widow?
Our
first husband, Adam, sinned in the garden and plunged us into spiritual
widowhood. All the sons and daughters of Adam died when he died. Spiritually, we were without a husband,
without a son or daughter or any brethren to provide for us. We were spiritual
widows.
But by
pure grace alone, Christ took us to be his bride from eternity past, when God
the Father chose us in Christ and betrothed us to Christ our Husband. (Eph 1:
3-4) Our Husband came to us and loved us.
Christ paid all the debt we owed and redeemed us from all iniquity.
Ephesians 5: 23: For the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24:
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be
to their own husbands in every thing. 25: Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26: That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish…30 For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Then he
called us to his side and said to us as he did to Gomer, “And I said unto her,
Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou
shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.” (Hos 3: 3)
Believer,
likewise, while in our flesh we were the orphan. We were without father or mother, sister or
brother. We were enmity against God in
our flesh, hating God and hating one another. (Rom 8: 7; Tit 3: 3) But because
God chose to be gracious to us BY HIS GRACE ALONE! He called us and revealed Christ our Everlasting
Father and God our Father and that by his grace, we are sons of God. (Tit 3:
4-7)
1 John 3: 1: Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God.
He
brought us into his church—“Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all.” (Gal
4: 26) Now we are in the family and
household of God—“of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Eph
3: 15) We have a heavenly Father who
provides all for us. We have a mother through whom Christ our Head provides for
us. (Eph 1: 23) We have brothers and sisters by whom Christ provides for us. So
God says to you and I, saved by his grace, “Be gracious to the widow and the
orphans as I am gracious to you.”
James 1:27: Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself unspotted from the world.
The
fatherless and widows include all needy sinners. As we visit them to help
relieve their temporal affliction take it as an opportunity to tell them how
you were a spiritual widow and orphan. Tell them about God our Father chose us
in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Tell them about Christ our Everlasting Father—the last Adam—who is also
our Elder Brother was faithful in saving us from our sins and declaring God
just and the Justifier of those who believe on Christ. (Rom 3: 26)
Hebrews 3: 5: And Moses verily was faithful in all his
house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken
after; 6: But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we
hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
III. BELIEVER, WE WERE THE POOR MAN—Exodus
22: 25: If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt
not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. 26: If thou
at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him
by that the sun goeth down: 27: For that is his covering only, it is his
raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when
he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
Brethren,
we were the poor man. We “sold ourselves for nought.” (Is 52: 3) When God began his work of grace in our
hearts, he first made us to see that our sin had stripped us of all our raiment
of righteousness. Our fig leaves were of no use. For many he makes us to know that our “decision”
was of our flesh but we had not been made willing in the day of his power. (Ps
110: 3)
Then he
made us see that our creditor was God himself and his divine justice. So we had
nothing with which to pay. Like the poor
man in our text, “Wherein could we sleep?”
We found no rest for our souls because we had no raiment to cover the
shame of our nakedness before God. But God’s
grace hedged us up so that as he says in verse 27, “we cried unto God.” And God
says, “it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I
am gracious.” And it came to pass that
when we cried unto God, he did indeed hear us.
He
showed us Christ who willingly was made a curse for us and redeemed us from the
curse of our creditor—the law. (Gal 3: 13)
Christ ravished our hearts as we beheld him on that bitter cross bearing
our sins, bearing what we deserved. He
brought us to cease pining for our self-righteous selves. He granted us
repentance from exalting our self by feeling sorry for ourselves and finding
fault with others when he brought us to see that we don’t deserve the least of
his mercies; when he brought us to mourn for Christ as one that mourns for his
only begotten son. (Zech 12: 10) And as it says in verse 27, “before the sun
went down” God said, “Bring forth the best robe—the robe of my Son’s perfect
righteousness”—and he clothed us. (Lu 15: 22; Rom 4: 3)
For the
first time, we lay down stretched out upon God’s bed, dressed in Christ’s raiment
of righteousness, and we found sweet rest to our souls. For then, verse 27, “Christ became our only
covering.” Christ is our raiment wherein
we now can get a good night’s sleep and rest from all our works. Our conscious is
purged from our sins and from our dead works. And why? Why all this kindness to us? God says, verse 27, “for I am gracious.”
Ephesians 2:7: That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
So
brethren, God says when you behold that poor, needy sinner, remember that you
were once the poor needy sinner. Lend to
him whatever temporal thing he needs, like as God has given to you—expecting no
interest in return. And Christ said, “While you are giving him your temporal
coat, take it as an opportunity to give him your second coat.” (Mt 5: 40) Tell him
about Christ, the Raiment that never grows old, which no moth can corrupt. (Is
51: 8)
Brethren,
is there any downcast, needy sinner in this earth in whom we cannot behold the spiritual
condition we ourselves were in before God?
God says, “Therefore, be gracious, for I am gracious.”
Psalms 145:8: The LORD is gracious, and full of
compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
The
grace of God toward the child of God makes the child of God to see himself as
nothing but full of fault. Therefore his grace makes us cease finding fault
with our brethren. His grace makes us cease
taking advantage of those in need and gives us a heart to be gracious as our
God is gracious to us.
The
grace of God makes us willing to cover the sin of our brethren, instead of
exposing it, because by God’s grace our sins are now put away and God remembers
them no more. (Pro 10: 12; Ps 103: 12; Heb 10: 17)
The
grace of God makes his child willing to bear the burden of our brethren,
instead of giving them a heavier burden by our backbiting. His grace makes us
willing to restore our brethren in the spirit of meekness, rather than emptying
them with a Pharisaical eye. (Gal 6: 1) Because
by grace, we now see that we are what we are—complete in Christ, as Christ is in
glory so are we in this earth—by the grace of God. (1 Cor 15: 10; Col 2: 10; 1
Jn 4: 7)
Oh, if
so be that we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, how can we be anything but
gracious! (1 Pet 2: 1-3) This is not the letter of the law for the letter
killeth. (2 Cor 3: 6) The believer is not under the law but under grace. (Rom
6: 14) This is the spirit of the law—the weighter matters of judgment, mercy
and faith—given us in the new heart by God’s grace. (Mt 23: 33) This is “faith which works by love” because
God has been gracious to us! (Gal 5: 6)
Amen!