The Lord Jesus declared the purpose
of his ministry when he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. The time which was appointed
before the foundation of the world had now arrived and the
Lord was declaring it. The Lord Jesus did not come into
the world as an afterthought, nor did He come to solve a problem
that had arisen in the creation. Rather, the world was created
for the very purpose which He now announces. This time is said
to be the acceptable year of the Lord. The meaning is that
it is a time which was approved or proper. All that God does,
He does on purpose and according to the good pleasure of His will.
So this was indeed the proper time since He ordained it to
come to pass when it pleased Him. God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the world, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better
than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they. While the sons of God are exhorted
to good works, it is clear that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
performer of all of the good works which manifest themselves
in the sons of God, with which the Father is pleased, and to
which they are ordained. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that ye should walk in them. For it is God which worketh in
you both the will and to do of His good pleasure. He is a perfect
performer and well-pleasing in His Father's sight. It is pure
folly and pride which would cause man to consider that he could
perform or bring anything to the Father in or by his own power
which would be considered well-pleasing. Yet even the vilest of sinners
is made pure in the Father's sight by that which Christ has
performed in his behalf, by his redemptive work, and does presently
perform in him by the operation of his Spirit. If the sanctifier
of God's people is perfect, and is that one alone whose righteous
needs are acceptable in his sight, how could it be possible that
the sons of God should ever become more acceptable by bringing some
imperfect act of obedience, regardless of its sincere motivation? For
it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth,
and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. There is no other approved
message which is to be preached by those so-called to this purpose,
which is not Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Paul plainly declared that there
are many Gospels which are preached in the world, but only one which
is true. Even as Peter proclaimed, there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. There is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. The preaching of this gospel
alone is that which is acceptable to God and is the very foundation
of that spiritual house, the kingdom of which the sons of
God are a lively or living part. Ye also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. There is no
other basis upon which the sons of God have any footing. These
sacrifices are favorable to the father because he delights in
his son. The clear emphasis on Peter's
exhortation to the saints is that it is truly a gift of grace
and a mark of favor when he enables his people to bear their burdens
in the same spirit in which Christ did his, who when he was reviled,
reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness, by
whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. This is the perfect work of Christ,
which he is pleased to carry out in his people. This is indeed
acceptable to God. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.