PIERCED EARS
Text: Psa 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.Psa 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

The Psalmist is saying that instead of sacrifices and offerings, God' real desire was for him to be attentive to His commands. God still desires US rather than things which we might bring to Him.

Rom 12:1 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.
Rom 12:2 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.

I. The opening of the ears

Exo 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exo 21:4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

II We are His purchased possessions
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

A. He redeemed us from a debt we could not pay.
1 Cor 6:19 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?
1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Cor 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
III We are not redeemed to slavery but to Liberty
John 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
A. Liberty must be used wisely
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
B. Note the basis for this service, as in the piercing of the ear is LOVE.
C. We will be rewarded only for WILLING service.
1 Cor 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!1 Cor 9:17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

IV The piercing of the ear identifies as a member of the household.
A. Paul's intercession with Philemon in behalf of a servant who had run away but now returns willingly.
Phile 1:16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
B. The Lord's sheep HEAR AND FOLLOW.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

V. His Wife's and children's relationship to his bondage.
A. If he had them beforehand they do NOT belong to the master since it is HE who was sold into bondage, not they.
1. A man who is saved but not committed to service places his family in danger. They will suffer with him.
2. When he commits himself to service, he usually brings his family along with him.
3. A man who finds a wife and children in the Master's service has no right to take them out with him if he leaves.