In the Old Testament scriptures,
it seems to me that everything revolved around the Sabbath day.
When God finished creation, he rested on the seventh day, the
Sabbath day. In giving the law, the Lord God
required the children of Israel to keep the Sabbath day holy. But did you ever notice how many
Sabbath days God required the children of Israel to observe? They were required to keep the
seventh day Sabbath, and then a seventh week, a 50th day Sabbath,
and then a seventh year Sabbath, and then a 50th year Sabbath.
This 50th year Sabbath is discussed in great detail in Leviticus
chapter 25. This will be our text this evening. The 50th year Sabbath was a year-long
Sabbath celebration. A year of doing no work, a year
of no labor, A year of not even picking up crops that grew by
themselves. A year of rest for the land of
Israel and the people of God in that land. This 50th year
was called the year of Jubilee. And that's my subject this evening.
The year of Jubilee, our text will be verses one through 55
here in Leviticus 25. This 25th chapter of Leviticus
and the year of Jubilee is more than I can comprehend. I don't
pretend to understand everything written here in this chapter
and again in chapter 27. And the only thing said about
the year of Jubilee in the entire Word of God is here in Leviticus
25. a few verses in chapter 27, and
one place in the book of Numbers. But I want us to read a few verses
from this chapter. I would encourage you to read
them all together, but for the sake of time, we'll just read
a few verses. I'll draw your attention to the
things involved in this year of Jubilee, and I trust God will
make it profitable to your souls. The sabbatical year which God
required Israel to observe every 50 years, this year of Jubilee,
was as all things in the law, all things in the Old Testament,
a portrayal, a picture of redemption and grace and salvation in, by,
and with our Lord Jesus Christ. I want so very, very much for
you who hear my voice and for myself, I want so very, very
much that every time you open the word of God, every time you
read any portion in Holy Scripture, you look for and expect to see
our blessed Redeemer, his word of grace to you, his mercy and
grace to sinners, his redemption, his greatness and his glory. Always read the book of God with
an eye to Christ. Look for him and you'll find
him and you'll not be disappointed. All right, let's begin reading
in verse one, Leviticus 25. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in Mount Sinai saying, speak unto the children of Israel and
say unto them, when you come into the land which I give you,
then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou
shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard,
and gather in the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall
be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field
nor prune thy vineyard. Verse eight. And thou shalt number
seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years. And the space of the seven Sabbaths
of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou
cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall
you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow
the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
and to all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you,
and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you
shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that
50th year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither reap
that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes
in it of thine undressed. For it is the jubilee. It shall
be holy unto you. You shall eat the increase thereof
out of the field. In the year of this jubilee,
you shall return every man unto his possession. And if thou sell
alt unto thy neighbor, or biased alt of thy neighbor's hand, you
shall not oppress one another. Verse 17. You shall not therefore
oppress one another. but thou shalt fear thy God,
for I am the Lord your God. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes
and keep my judgments and do them, and ye shall dwell in the
land in safety. The year of Jubilee was a season
appointed by God during which the children of Israel were required
by law to adjust all their social life according to this year. Things were to be measured and
measured in weight and measured in price according to the nearness
or distance from the year of Jubilee. Everything done in Israel
by this word given here in Leviticus 25 was to be done with reference
to this year of Jubilee. The children of Israel were to
treat property, material things, and one another in accordance
with their anticipation of the year of Jubilee. He portrayed
and typified, I repeat, the great work of our Lord Jesus Christ
in restoring chosen sinners to God. But not only restoring chosen
sinners to God, complete reconciliation by his obedience and blood, but
a complete restoration of all that was lost in the sin and
fall of our father Adam. A complete restoration of all
that we have lost by our sin and disobedience. A complete
restoration of perfect sonship in that which is called the glorious
liberty of the sons of God, the eternal Sabbath of everlasting
salvation. To many throughout the land,
the year of Jubilee was described as the accepted time, the day
of salvation. Jubilee was announced by the
blowing of a trumpet throughout the land. so that when the children
of Israel would have the celebration of Jubilee, a man would stand
with a trumpet and the blast of the trumpet would be heard
throughout all the land, proclaiming liberty to the captives. Of course,
that is a picture of the preaching of the gospel. The preaching
of the gospel is the blowing of the gospel trumpet, the joyful
sound of salvation in, by, and with the Lord Jesus Christ, of
liberty to the bond, of deliverance to the captive. Oh, rejoice and
give thanks. Blessed are these ears, for they
have heard the joyful sound. the sound of God's free grace,
God's great, free, sovereign, saving grace in Jesus Christ. If you read the Old Testament
scriptures and pay attention, there were four distinct, special
sounds of trumpet given in the camp of Israel at various times.
Sometimes there were memorial trumpets sounded to announce
the new moon, to call the people together for the joyful assembly
of worshiping God. There were battle trumpets sounded,
calling men to war, since they were called to gather together
the people of God, the men of God, to do battle with their
enemies. And trumpets of alarm, warning the people of impending
judgment, calling them to repentance. And here, the Jubilee trumpet
is spoken of in this 25th chapter. The Jubilee trumpet was different
from all the others. This trumpet sound was never
heard except once every 50 years. And yet the sound was so sweet,
so melodious, so anticipated that when the captive sinner
heard it, when the bondman heard it, when the man who had sold
himself into bondage heard it, when the man who had lost his
family heard it, when the man who lost his property heard it,
he knew immediately liberty had come. The day of liberty had
come. He'd never heard it, but once
in a lifetime. He'd never heard it before, but
as soon as he heard, he understood this is it. This is what God
spoke of by his servant Moses. This is liberty. So it is in
the preaching of the gospel. when God calls his poor, needy,
captive sinners to hear the gospel of his free grace, when he proclaims
peace, pardon, and reconciliation to guilty sinners by the blood
of Jesus Christ, sinners who have never before heard Recognize
immediately the joyful sound. This is what they've been talking
about. This is that liberty. This is
that freedom. This is that grace. This is that
redemption. What a joyful sound it is. What
a joyful day when the gospel jubilee trumpet first sounded
in the sinner's ear. The acceptable year of the Lord
began. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace. He breaks the power of canceled
sin. He sets the prisoners free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood avails for me. Now let me call your attention
to several things in this chapter connected with the year of Jubilee.
The first thing I want you to see is that the year of Jubilee
began on the day of atonement. Look at verse nine. Then shalt
thou cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month in the day of atonement shall you make the
trumpet sound throughout all your land. This is where gospel
preaching begins. I'm not waiting to think of something
to say, I'm waiting for you to get it. This is where gospel
preaching begins. The gospel has not been preached
until the atoning work of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed. where
there is no proclamation of atonement made, there is no gospel preached. And wherever there is a proclamation
of an atonement that is not finished, complete, and effectual, the
gospel is not preached, but rather a perverse, perverted gospel. There could be no joyful sound
apart from the sin atoning blood of Christ. The Jubilee trumpet
declared atonement blood shed. Atonement blood accepted. Atonement finished. The time
of atonement had been done. The day of atonement had arrived.
When sin is purged, iniquities put away, the people are forgiven.
The atonement proclaimed in the year of Jubilee. and the atonement
proclaimed in the gospel that was pictured in the year of Jubilee
on the day of atonement. was and is a limited atonement. Now use those words deliberately. Not limited in power, not limited
in efficacy, limited in purpose and design, limited in the people
for whom it was made. No one benefited at all from
the day of atonement except the Jews. Nobody. Nobody in the rest of the world
even heard about it. This was given to Israel alone. So it is with the death of Jesus
Christ. His death at Calvary is limited,
not in efficacy, not in power, but in purpose, in design, in
intent, in the people for whom it was done. Jesus Christ died
for his people. God's elect, the Israel of God,
died for those who are actually saved by his blood. Pastor, why
make such a fuss over this? Why insist on this so much? To
suggest even to suggest, let alone declare, as is commonly
declared throughout the world in this reprobate age, that Jesus
of Nazareth died at Calvary for anyone, just one person, who
perishes under the wrath of God is to declare that he is a failure,
he is no God, he is no savior, and your religion, your faith,
your Christianity is but a deceptive thing that you've received by
which you deceive others. Any denial of the atoning work
of Christ is a denial of his very Godhead. It is to say that
Christ died in vain. Not only was it limited atonement
for specific people, this atonement, as it's pictured before us in
the book of God, was an effectual atonement. That is to say those
people for whom the sin atoning sacrifice was made were then
in turn blessed of God because of the atonement. And the salvation
wrought for sinners through the blood obedience of Jesus Christ
when he gave his life at Calvary, he made an effectual atonement
an atonement that guarantees by grace and by justice and by
law that every sinner for whom Christ died at Calvary shall
be blessed of God with everlasting salvation because of the atonement
he made. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God,
was delivered unto death under the wrath of God because of our
sins. Our sins made his, and our sins
being made his, they were justly, righteously imputed to him. He
died to satisfy, to propitiate the wrath and justice of a holy
and angry God against sin. Well, the Rex read Ezekiel 11,
20, I believe is the text. God has no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth. God has no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth. The word pleasure doesn't refer
to laughter, happiness, delight. Rather, it speaks of satisfaction.
Should God send the whole world to hell? The whole world suffering
the wrath of God, finite creatures suffering the wrath of the infinite
God could never satisfy justice. Hell is everlasting because sin
can never be punished to the satisfaction of justice by mortal
suffering in hell. But the scriptures tell us, it
pleased the Lord to bruise his son. Oh, wondrous grace. God takes the sacrifice of his
son and he says, this satisfies me. And God proclaims that satisfaction
in the blowing of the gospel trumpet. Justice is satisfied. The trumpet is sounded in the
land of Israel by one man. It proclaimed the year of jubilee.
It was blown throughout the land. And so it is that we preach the
gospel this day. Here's the second thing, look
at verse 10. The year of jubilee began on the day of atonement.
And it began with a proclamation of liberty. Now listen to me,
liberty according to the demands of God's own law. It proclaimed liberty, liberty
according to the demands of God's own law. We're saved by grace,
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. We're justified freely by his grace through redemption. required, given to, and accepted
by God's own holy law. By mercy and by truth, iniquity
is purged. Look at verse 10. And ye shall
hallow the fiftieth year, sanctify it, and proclaim liberty throughout
all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee
unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession,
and ye shall return every man unto his family. Our Lord Jesus
tells us plainly in the fourth chapter of Luke's gospel. Turn
over there, let's look at it. Luke chapter four, Luke chapter
four. He tells us plainly that he is
the liberator. He is the one who proclaims liberty. He is the one who gives liberty. He is the one who obtains liberty.
Luke four, verse 17. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the
book and gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the
eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on
him. Let's see what he'll say now.
Let's hear what he'll say now. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now be sure you
don't miss this. The liberty proclaimed in the
year of Jubilee, the liberty proclaimed in the gospel of God's
grace is the blessed liberty of grace, but it is liberty demanded
by the law. Go back here to Exodus, or Leviticus
25. All the ceremonies that we have read about in the previous
chapters of Leviticus, all of the ordinances, all the commandments
given were given right at the door of the tabernacle. The tabernacle
was raised up and finished in Exodus chapter 40. Now in the
book of Leviticus, God gives his law to Moses and the children
of Israel right at the door of the tabernacle, but not this
law. This law was given way back in
Exodus 19 and 20 when Moses was on the Mount Sinai receiving
the law from God. Look at verse one. And the Lord
spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai saying. In other words, what
you're about to hear now, what Moses is writing now is a commandment
God gave him when he gave the 10 commandments. when he gave
the law on tables of stone to Israel. This is something to
do with that law. Speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, when you come into the land which I give you,
then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. The ceremonial
requirements we've seen in the preceding chapters were given
at the tabernacle's door. This law was given at Sinai because
the law of God being totally satisfied by the blood of our
substitute, the Lord Jesus. Demands. The law of God, being
totally satisfied by the obedience of Christ unto death, demands
the salvation of every sinner for whom Jesus Christ lived and
died as our substitute, our Redeemer, our surety. Grace reigns. Thank God grace reigns. But grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Grace reigns
through righteousness. God is gracious and God is just. God is merciful and God is true. God is holy, unbendable, immutable,
unchangeable. He will not sacrifice his justice,
his holiness, his truth, his righteousness on the altar of
grace and mercy and love. Somehow, all the attributes of
God must be honored in the saving of his people. And the only way
that can be is by a substitute being found. A substitute of
infinite merit and infinite worth who is willing to become one
of us and take on himself our sin and suffer all the infinite
fury of God's holy wrath. His law and his justice in the
stead of his people until justice is fully satisfied. Until justice can demand no more. Until truth says enough! and
that sacrifice is Jesus Christ the Lord. He has satisfied the
justice of God, and by that justice satisfied, we are justified with
God. And now we have liberty, legal
liberty, just liberty, righteous liberty. Liberty, I can turn
to John 3.16, or I can turn to Exodus chapter
20. I can turn to the gospel, or
I can turn to the law, and I can say, here, the gospel demands
my liberty. Here, the law demands my liberty. Here, grace demands my liberty. Here, righteousness demands my
liberty. See, yonder, that's my substitute. He's accepted of God. He's satisfied
all for me. We have judicial liberty, spiritual
liberty, glorious liberty by the blood of Jesus Christ. Not
for any other reason. Not for any other reason. Just
because of our Savior's obedience. Here's the third thing, look
at verse 35. The year of Jubilee was a time of forgiveness. What
forgiveness? And if thy brother be waxen poor,
and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him,
yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live
with thee. The text is speaking about a
poor wretch who had lost everything. Either by failure in business
or by miserable laziness, maybe even by some dishonesty, he lost
everything. He became impoverished and he
had to sell his house and then his property and finally sold
himself into bondage. When the year jubilee came, when
the trumpet sounded, He got up and walked home with
no fear of reprisal. Took possession again of his
family, of his house, of his land, completely forgiven of
all the debts he owed. His debt did not bar him from
joy and jubilee. His debt qualified him for the
joyful sound. I'm the one for whom this sound
is made. I am the one for whom the trumpet
is blown. So it is in the preaching of
the gospel. Not the righteous, not the righteous sinners Jesus
came to call. I try my best for many reasons
to expose your sin in mine. I want you constantly aware of
it. I want you constantly aware of it. And when you accuse me
of such, you've done me no wrong. The only plea I have before God
is my sin. Like David, I cry to God, pardon
my iniquity, oh Lord, for it is great. What a way to pray. What a way to pray. Lord, forgive
me, because I've done wrong, but you know the wife I'm married
to, you know the husband I'm married to. I've done wrong,
but you know, my neighbor, I just, I couldn't tolerate it anymore.
No, no, no, no, no. Pardon my iniquity, oh Lord. There's not one excuse in the
world for it. It's great. And Christ Jesus
sounds the jubilee trumpet and says, pardon is yours. complete,
free, everlasting forgiveness. Fourth, the year of Jubilee was
a year of rest. Look at verse three. Six years
shalt thou sow thy field. Six years thou shalt prune thy
vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year
shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord,
Thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. Now watch
this, that which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest, thou
shalt not reap. Neither gather the grapes of
thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. Like the jubilee trumpet, the
gospel of Christ is a proclamation of rest. Of rest. Now, we know that we are to rest
in Christ, but there's something expected of us. We know we're
to rest in Christ, but you've got your responsibility. We're
to rest in Christ, but we still have to keep the law. We're to
rest in Christ, but we still have to keep a Sabbath day. We're
to rest in Christ, but you've gotta perform good works for
your sanctification. We're to rest in Christ, but
there's something for you to do. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. I'm at rest. I'm at rest. Now, I don't know how to do much,
but I know how to rest. Man, when I get done working,
I'm done. I'm done. Let me tell you something. 53 years ago, I quit working to
please God. I quit working for God to have
mercy on me. I quit working to win God's favor. I quit working to make myself
more holy. I quit working to give myself
a closer relationship with God. I quit working for anything that
has anything to do with God, salvation, grace, and eternal
life. Now I can just picture the Gentile
neighbors who saw the children of Israel if they'd ever kept
the year of Jubilee. Here are these fellas. Sitting
on their long back porches in the balmy southern sun, drinking
lemonade and having cookies. And the fields are out yonder.
What are you doing? Having lemonade. Not going to
work today? No. When are you going to work? Not. What about
your fields? They're rested. How do you expect
to live? I'm going to rest. I'm going
to rest. I'm gonna wait for God to produce
what's needed for me, and he promised he'd produce it for
three years while I don't do anything. I would've just rest. I would've just rest. Look at
those sluggards. Those lazy, good-for-nothing
Jewish bums. Look at them. They won't work
for nothing. I know that's how the Gentiles
thought about them, because I know that's how they think about you
and me. Look at those people. They don't observe the Sabbath
day. They don't keep laws, they don't have regulations, they
don't tithe. How do they expect God's blessing? Just by God's bounty. How do
you expect God to bless you if you don't do anything? That's
the only way he will. Stand fast, therefore, my brother,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. And no matter
what anybody says, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Verse 19, here's the fifth thing. The year of jubilee, this year
of rest, when nobody worked. When the servants and the maidens
didn't work. When the ox and the ass did nothing
but eat, they didn't work. In the year of Jubilee when nobody
worked, it was a year of unparalleled bounty. And the land shall yield
her fruit and you shall eat your field and dwell therein in safety. Oh, what a gospel God has given
us. In Christ, we're made to dwell
in complete safety in a land of infinite bounty. Here we lie
down in green pastures and fear no evil. Our treasury is the
unsearchable riches of Christ. God says all things are yours
for ye are Christ and Christ is God's. We've been brought
by grace into liberty. The glorious liberty of the gospel
brought into fullness. Let us therefore be careful for
nothing, but in all things give thanks. Sixth, look at verse
13. The year of Jubilee was a year
in which every man who had lost his inheritance had it returned
to him. Returned in totality, free and
clear, with no mortgage, no lien of any kind, no strings attached. In the year of this jubilee,
you shall return every man to his possession. No strings attached. No mortgage to pay, no lien,
nothing to make up. Just take possession of what
you lost. All that we lost in Adam, Christ
has restored. He said, then I restored that
which I took not away, and more. The law of God required that
the man who had injured someone and taken something of his or
stolen something, he was not only to restore that which the
man lost, but he was to give him 20% more than what he'd taken
to start with. Why that law? Because in Christ,
he not only restored that which we lost in our father Adam, in
the fall of Adam, that which we forfeited by sin, but he restores
to us all the bounty of God's infinite grace in heavenly glory
in this thing called eternal salvation. One more thing, look
at verse 17. In the year of Jubilee, the children
of Israel were required by law to love one another. And I love
the way it's stated. You shall not therefore oppress
one another, but thou shalt fear thy God, for I am the Lord your
God. You shall not oppress. I've said this before, and I
think it bears repetition often. People talk about love. They
talk about love. And they have no idea what they're saying.
No idea. Sam, you're the youngest person
here tonight. Listen to me. When you love somebody, I'll
give you a synonym. Write it down. It's called commitment. It's not lust, it's commitment.
It's not passion, it's commitment. I love that lady. I'm committed
to her. Lock, stock and barrel, committed
to her. Committed to her. With the totality
of my life, committed to her. All you got to do is challenge
it and you'll find out. Committed to her. Any danger
arises, even in my old age, you'll find out I'm committed to her.
Committed to her. That's what love is. It's commitment. Commitment. Commitment requires
that you do nothing to oppress, nothing to injure, nothing to
harm, nothing to press down, nothing to oppress, but only
do good. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples. If you have love, commitment
to one another, do no injury, no oppression, no hurt, but only
good. Be you kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. That's the message jubilee and
we live on the tiptoe of faith in anticipation of one glorious
jubilee celebration. Soon Christ shall appear in his
glory and we will hear the trump of God, the voice of the Archangel
and the dead in Christ shall rise first. and we which are
alive and remain shall be called up together to meet the Lord
in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And we shall
be with the Lord in jubilee liberty. It's called the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. Oh, what liberty awaits us. What liberty awaits. And though
we've never heard the trumpet of God before, and we've never
heard the voice of the archangel before, as soon as we hear it,
we will know the joyful sound and walk forever in liberty. Oh, may God make that liberty
yours for Christ's sake. Amen.